Bar Champs!

Well, TGIFriday's Barchamps has come around again and we all had a super time. All the tables sold out nearly two weeks before and over $1200 was raised for the Make-A-Wish Foundation!
Here's our third place winner, Chuck!I was trying to upload a video of one of the sets, but for some reason it's not working right now. I'll have to mess with blogspot a little more later...

Yes Yes

So today I've been doing some mad online listing for my vintage etsy store, Holypotato.

The bulk of it has been my mother's mug collection, which has been quite an ordeal in itself, convincing my mother to part with them. There are three large tubs of mugs and about a hundred that are already in our cupboard. Most of them have never even been used and sat for years on the wall of our old house.Tomorrow is the Bar Champs at TGIFriday's and I'll be filming the flair from my reserved table. It's a bartender competition where they each compete for style and accuracy. I have a ton of fun every year and this year's is supposed to be even bigger and better!
Well, back to listing... gotta get this done before tomorrow!

it's about time...

I should have written this post weeks ago, but I'm having such a hard time keeping up with the blog.
I'm writing today about JeweledFibers!
I won her Give-Away for a gift certificate and picked out some amazing earrings!
Here's some pics:
I think the blue ovals are my favorite, but it's so hard to choose! Her shop is FULL of fabulous jewelry at great prices (and the customer service is top-notch!).
Check out JeweldFibers' shop HERE.

wonderful wednesday

It's wonderful because I'm off work. What did I do today? I gardened!

Look at these beautiful baby serrano peppers!

And I have a little watermelon! I had no idea it was even there. The little guy was hiding under a pineapple leaf:

I've been trying to pick up extra hours at the job - more money is always welcome, but in turn have completely forgotten to blog. So without further ado, here's a new treasury I'm in by Bambuca!It's gorgeous and I'm pleased as punch to be a part of it.

In other news, Allen and I are on a tiny two day stay-cation. It was supposed to be a three day camping trip, but we ended up both working the first day, which was a total bummer. Yesterday morning, however, we got up early and headed to the dog beach with Bach.
The air was super windy and the waves were choppy so we didn't go swimming, but just waded out as far as we could without hitting the rip current. Our sweet pup still had a blast and we were all tuckered out and heading home by noon.
Hopefully we can head out again next week!

Milk-Bone Theft Prevention Device:

New things

So, my little sister got a boat.

Just a little boat. She's trying to get her commercial fishing license, and hopefully soon after, a lucrative pasttime. She already has the first level license for shore fishing and has been turning quite a profit this summer. She'll be a senior in high school next year; I'm pretty proud!

I've been trying to get some new items listed in all three of my Etsy shops. This little flamingo cosmetic case is the first of many to come:

All in all, it's been a pretty good week. My day off is tomorrow and I hope to be productive. I really wanted to take advantage of the tax-free 'Back-to-School' weekend so I could get some new clothes and shoes for work, but the restaurant business has been very slow this week and I've had to scrape through the savings account to pay bills. Allen, luckily is making some overtime the next few weeks, so hopefully we'll still be able to go camping at the end of the month. We haven't been camping in at least two years,, so we're long overdue :)

tuesday

Hooray for today! I'm very excited to announce two new additions to our Etrelle's shop:Two adorable leather change purses!

I have a to more lying around just WAITING to be listed online, so we'll see how much I can get accomplished today. There's also a to of beads waiting to be put into my Blenderbach store, also.

But, mostly I'm excited because today is Allen and my anniversary and while I'm not entirely sure what we'll be doing this evening (my poor guy has a cold) hopefully next weekend we'll be able to dart out of town for a few days and go camping! I'm typically not big on camping. I love nature and the great wide outdoors, but not necessarily sleeping and eating and relieving myself in it. However, for some reason Ive been dying to go out and spend a night outdoors. I blame the books I've been reading.
There are actually way more state parks and camping sites in Florida than I was ever aware of. We're still not 100% decided but I'd really like to visit Koreshan State Historic Site on the west coast of Florida. It's the location of a spiritual group that settled there in the early part of the twentieth century and died out by the 1960's. Fits in perfectly with my current Christopher Hitchens read. (almost done!)

ridiculous fascinations

Silly Bandz.I love these ridiculous things.

I was first introduced to them by a (adult) co-worker of mine who was given hers by a child on the beach. I thought they were cute and when I saw a package in the checkout line at CVS I bought them and brought them to work to split with my co-worker.
Since then I've been collecting them via donations (noted and not).

Working at the restaurant full time I've noticed that these adorably overpriced accoutrements must certainly be a pet peeve of parents everywhere. While I can see them as a silly hobby, it's apparent that they've become a menace to peace and quiet in much the same way as Pokemon cards and Pogs and Slap bracelets.

Luckily for me, children are easily distracted and messy. Cleaning up the tables after the patrons have gone, I've made a game of collecting these little bands that get left behind (and I'd like to think that this is much to the relief of the parents who now have one less plastic toy cluttering up the carpet and counters at home).

Hooray for fads!

and the winner is...

EtsyCerra!

She wins this cute bug coinpurse:

Congratulations and thanks for entering!

I really want to list some of the huge mug collection online, but I'm not sure where the majority of them have gone. They were in two giant storage tubs and when my mother moved everything around for her yard sale we forgot where we put them. But I'm sure they're around somewhere.

Here's another mug from the cabinet; a cheerful Christmas collectible:

whataday

My morning started off brightly with a hot cup of coffee and a hopeful outlook on the day. Of course, it soon came crashing down and I had to postpone most of my scheduled itinerary to deal with interruptions and shennanigans and now I have a stunning headache which I hope to dispel with a hot shower and nice long nap.

I did manage to get some lovely pictures of my garden early in the day.

My serrano pepper plant:

And my newly-transplanted corn has begun to grow:

Maybe I can spend the evening curled up on the couch with a good movie and a giant bowl of ice cream with hot fudge.

more treasury fun

Featured in TWO more treasuries!

First this beeeaaauuuutiful and bold one called There's A Bright Idea by CheersToJuly:

And this colorful and supremely super treasury called To The Rescue by LysanderNViviana:

GIVE-AWAY!

It's that time again! Time to host another GIVEAWAY!

This time I'm offering this cute coinpurse for the insect-lovers.

It's made from a bold blue metallic leather and soft brown leather in the front. Closes with a segma snap. The beetle is a thick 3-D sticker which has been sewn onto the leather.

These little coinpurses are durable and holds a heck of a lot of change!

To enter you simply go check out our leather shop HERE and come back to leave a comment about your favorite item. That's it!Don't forget to leave your name and a way to contact you (etsy shop name or email address).
For extra entries you can:

#1 - Follow my tweets at twitter.com/etrelles (please leave a link for your twitter account)

#2 - tweet about this giveaway (please leave a link for your twitter account)

#3 - Blog about this giveaway (please leave a link to your blog post)

Please leave a new comment for each entry.

This contest ends at 11:59 pm EST on July 29th. The winner will be announced the following day.

Things for Tuesday

I wish I didn't have to work today, but, well, you know. Bills.

I'm trying to post new coffee mugs again. If you've followed my blog for awhile, you may remember that I was posting pictures of my mother's enourmous mug collection. I've recently cleaned out the cupboards and am once again trying to use a new mug every day.

Here's one I found of my sister's (it has her name on the other side):

And in garden news, I've torn out some old, dying tomatoes the cucumbers that never really were to make room for new peppers. I also have three watermelon seedlings to get in the ground but I haven't decided where to put them yet because they'll need so much room.
Check out these awful creatures that were devouring my tomatoes earlier in the week:

Soooooo sleepy.

Finally picked up Allen's buddy from the airport last night. Late last night.

Our original plan (because Allen had to work the closing shift) was for me to pick up Buddy when his flight came in at 11:20pm and then drive to pick up Allen from work at 1am. Unfortunately, the flight had been delayed almost two hours so I ended up driving all over town to go back and pick up Allen at 1am and then drove BACK to the airport and finally collapsing into bed around 3:30am.

Woke up late and kicked the boys out to go do fun Florida things. Now maybe I'll be able to get some items listed online..

Treasury Madness

Our Etrelle's goodies are in TWO treasuries!
This first one is called Beauty is Truth, Truth Beauty... by jenglo:
And this bright yellow treasury called A Little More Sunshine by loftyambitions:I love them!

It's that time...

Time for work.
I'd really like to be able to call my work day 'over' at 2 pm but unfortunately my job doesn't need me to clock in until 10:30am which demands I work much later in order to accrue some substantial hours. Maybe I just need to manage my time better.

Ah, well. Sunday, you're so close!

Things from the closet

I've been trying to keep my HolyPotato etsy shop stocked, due to my mother's growing Pile Of Things in The Garage. We've come across a couple old original paintings and fun retro toys. My mom and aunt even took one of the paintings up to Antique Roadshow and found out that was worth a grand! (I didn't get a picture of it, but it's an oil painting by Pierre Bertrand, who, by the way, I couldn't for the life of me find anything about through an intense Google search).

I have a ton of these Playbills; various dates and performances.and these cool cards:Still a TON more. Wish me luck!

Wonderful

It IS a wonderful Wednesday.
My co-worker asked me to let her work my shift tonight so she could bank some extra money for her 21st birthday bash (she rented some rooms at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for the occasion - a much better plan than my own 21st) and I'm taking the day off.
So my fabulous day has been spent tooling around in the garden, playing facebook apps, and eating these awesome Key Lime cookies from Bob's Bunz in Islamorada:
My mother's friend went down to the Keys for a few days, leaving her dog here with us. When she came back, she brought us the gift of cookies! These things are DELICIOUS! I think I'm the only one in the house eating them, too, which is very strange considering we're all Key Lime fans (and cookie fans).
But hey, I'm not complaining - more for me! (Thank goodness there's two bags!)

Happy 5th oF July!

Because I missed the Fourth.

It's been raining for two days straight now and, although we definitely needed the rain, I had just planted some pepper seedlings outside, which I'm afraid will fall victim to flooding. Of course, I've had the past two days off (why wouldn't it rain the whole time) so I've been able to go out and check on them frequently.

Some good news, though: My first strawberry flower!
And my garden harvest from yesterday:There's some tomatoes of various sizes, banana peppers, spinach and mesclun lettuce, and one small onion.

I wish that I had the foresight to buy some fireworks this year. I was so busy working and dealing with other issues that I had completely forgotten the 4th of July until a cashier asked me on Saturday if I was "gearing up for the Fourth". Even though I had no plans my neighbors decided to go all out this year shooting off exploding devices of all sizes, shapes, and colors. It really was a lot more noise and commotion than years past, and I think that was due to the constant rain. All the saturated grass and soil must have set people thinking there was less of a chance of setting fires with stray rockets and falling embers. The past two years were a drought during the Fourth.Print by Ibilbs14

So I got quite a show and a relaxing evening, despite my garden anxiety.

I hope everyone had a great Independence Day!

plants plants

I've become a genuine gardener. I only say that because I figure I spend more time in the garden than with any other hobby. Which is actually a shame, because I need to get drawing.
But I find the process itself relaxing, despite any effort I have to put into it, and the payoff very rewarding. It makes my heart leap to see how large my basil has grown, or how fruitful the tomato harvest is.
I'd love to do a seed or seedling swap, but first I have to dig through my collection and see what I have left. A lot of my seed packages were left out in a summer rainstorm I lost quite a bit.
Does anyone know of any good swap websites? I used to use folia.com, but haven't been there in a while.

And now, for my newest listing:
Snack Cracker Stickers!

oh, hi monday

Today was fairly relaxing. I vacuumed the bedroom and planted my dill in the backyard garden. That's enough for one day, right? Oh, and I planted some more marigolds around the garden, to repel pests and weeds. My cherry tomatoes are fruiting like crazy but unfortunately have been attacked by insects. I'm pretty sure they're aphids and I want them gone. Which is why i planted the marigolds. If you know of any other natural cures for pests, please let me know. I want to keep the garden pesticide-free but I'm getting frustrated at the lack of options.

Photo by BeautifulDarkLight

Allen had a rough day at work so I'm using that as an excuse to pamper us both by getting some Chinese take-out and curling up to watch our newest Netflix movie.

Sweet!

Happy Father's Day!

I haven't been able to keep up with blogging due to an overly-hectic workweek, and of course, today was spent focusing on Dad. My plan was to clean up the house for my dad so he could just come home from his favorite Father's Day (or any day) activity - fishing - and just relax. Unfortunately I was held up at work and had just enough time to vacuum and hang some artwork that had been sitting to the side.
But we got to hang out for a bit and chat, which is always the best part of Father's Day anyways. Sharing and talking with dear ol' dad.

Love you dad-O!

Monday garden Skillz

I'm trying to get some gardening and listing and cleaning accomplished today, since Ill be working non-stop throughout the week. The rain has subsided and my garden has been divided into clear winners and losers.

My cherry peppers have exploded:
And my cucumbers, although not showing fruit yet, are becoming enormous. I had to put up a cage in attempt to steer them away from strangling my tomatoes.My squash, radish, and cantaloupe unfortunately didn't make it. Most of my lettuce was destroyed as well, but a few of the larger plants hung on.
Now to clear room for more plants!

OH NO!

It has rained so much over the past two weeks that our soil is now inundated with water - our yard is a swamp! More importantly - my garden is a swamp! Most of my older and larger plants seem to have survived the worst of it (5 inches of water above soil level for 24 hours!) but my newly planted lettuce and peppers are now squishy lumps of decomposing green matter.

My garden just a few days before:

Now the water has receded but the soil is still heavily saturated and I see more rain clouds on the horizon. I had thought to dig a trough out of the garden to release water, but considering that the rest of the yard is still a swamp, I don't know where I could go with it.
It seems to me that the best solution would be to slowly raise the garden after harvesting the crops, so it eventually becomes a hill. Or making a series of box gardens, but That will take money and help from the cousins, since I'm not as handy as I'd like to be.

another monday

..... in the garden!

My cantaloupe has a baby fruit!Right now its about the size of a baseball, but the plant is starting to yellow and weaken. This always seems to happen with my vine fruits. Cucumbers, peas, and squashes; they've never really produced a harvest.
Does anyone have any advice or tips?

birthday day

Now it's my cousin's birthday. He's turning 25 and wants to go bowling.
I adore my cousin, and would normally looooove to go bowling, however, I've had such a stressful week, all I want is to spend my Sunday in solitude and peace and quiet; maybe to finish up some personal projects and relax.
But my cousin had a worse week. He was fired last night.
So I'll be going bowling.