I am, in fact, a paper geek.

That being the case, why not share my obsession with the rest of the world?

Creativity is in the air in our house.  Andy recently blogged about his very cool canoe trip on the Wisconsin River and started picking up the guitar again.  And I’ve been crafting up a storm.  Why, you ask?  Well, it just so happens that I recently opened my own shop on Etsy – the website to buy and sell handmade items.  I’m huge Etsy fan and frequent shopper, so why not join in the fun?

Paper Geek is my pride and joy – a collection of some of my favorite items that I have been making and giving as gifts.  While I definitely won’t get rich off of it, I’m having a blast selling this stuff.  Another excuse to craft and another way to make people smile.

I’m currently in the process of re-stocking and listing items since being the lucky “victim” of a sneak attack by The Handmade Movement two weeks ago - I was humbled and honored to be “attacked.”  So anyway, stop by and have a look when you have a chance.  And if you know someone who might like my stuff, pass the link along. 

So that’s what I’ve been up to.  Stop back for updates.

But for now, back to my geekery. . .

MP

Monkey business!

Ever notice how much CRAP kids have these days?  I will digress momentarily into one of those cliche “when I was a kid” rants, but bear with me.  When I was a kid we got a couple of gifts from our parents and a little cash from grandma and grandpa.  A cake, some streamers, and maybe a few balloons that my mom blew up herself — no fancy helium.  And we thought it was great.  So I am always amazed at the massive pile of gifts that my nieces and nephew get for their birthdays.  I have on many occasions observed kids opening a birthday gift and giving it about 5 seconds of attention before tossing it aside to open the next 25. 

So Andy and I are trying to move away from toys and other random stuff for gifts.  For our niece and nephew’s (the twins) 6th birthday, we decided to give them an experience — a day of fun with Uncle Andy and Aunt Meghan.  Who wouldn’t want that?!  It’s as much a gift for their parents as it is for them, really.  The plan is to take them to lunch then an indoor playplace called Monkey Joe’s.  We will finish out the day with ice cream.  Andy might be more excited than they are.

Anyhoo, I didn’t want to show up empty-handed to the party, so I made them these appropriately-themed bouquets.

They were actually pretty easy to make thanks to my Cricut and my Xyron 500.  I made the monkeys using the circle shape from the Celebrations cartridge – I think I did 5″ for the head, 4.25 for the mouth, 2.75 for the ears and 0.5″ for the eyes.  The other pieces were made using Celebrations and Doodletype.  I used an envelope template from Paper Source and banana print paper from the Reminisce Monkey Business line for the envelopes (4 bar).  A note in the envelopes told them about the plan for the day.

I decorated the pots with ribbon and put flower arrangement foam in the bottom of each.  I then attached the cutouts to wooden skewers with hot glue.  Once everything was arranged, I topped it all off with some yellow crinkle paper.  Since I used scrap for the cutouts and raided the kitchen drawer for the skewers, the whole project cost me only about $6.  It probably took me about two hours total over two days to make them.

This type of project is also great for centerpieces.  I have made them for baby showers and birthday parties — I included a few examples below. 

The monkey bouquets were a big hit and most importantly,  the twins are super excited about their big day!

MP

 

I love spaghetti.

nataliedee.com

Decorating tip: Pottery Barn “on the cheap”

I won’t pretend that I’m not flattered.  I have had several friends tell me that they dig my taste when it comes to decorating.  Some have even asked if I would come over and decorate their houses.  I wish they weren’t kidding.  The idea of spending someone else’s money to redecorate an entire room is my idea of the ultimate fantasy.  While I am no professional decorator I have found that friends like my ideas so I have decided to share some of my favorites here on my long-neglected blog.

I get a few catalogs that I like to think of as my own version of porn.  One example is the aforementioned Paper Source catalog.  But paper isn’t the only thing that gets me hot.  Picture me turning a Pottery Barn catalog sideways, carefully eyeing the gorgeous subject of a photograph from every possible angle, mumbling “Oh yeeeeeaaahhh” to myself.  That, my friends, is the life of a home decor junkie.

But let’s be real.  Pottery Barn is generally pricey — some would say overpriced — and I sometimes just can’t bring myself to pay their prices for the objects of my desire.  So I find an alternative or — no surpise here — do it myself.

Take for example these framed photographs that caught my eye this past summer.  Lovely, yes?

But this set of six framed photos will run you around $199 (although I think they’re on sale now).  Since something like this was perfect for the family room I was decorating I decided to create my own framed photos of nature.

While on vacation in Marquette I did some hiking in the woods behind our house, snapping photos of pretty greenery.  I tried to take advantage of the sunlight whenever possible.  I also took some pictures on the beach of Lake Superior.  Back in Waukesha I took some photos of plant life while walking Steve at Minooka Park.  I am not much of a photographer, but when all was said and done I had several great photos to choose from.

I enlarged the photos to 8″x10″ and purchased simple black frames with a white mat from Kohl’s.  A grand total of $40 later, I had my own series of framed photos .  These photos are not only special because they were taken in a place that is important to me, they look pretty darn good on my wall (if I do say so myself).

I would advise that if you decide to do a similar project that you order matte prints.  They look much nicer in a frame.  I neglected to check that box when I ordered these and I couldn’t bear to waste these prints.

Anyway, if this idea floats your boat but you don’t want to wait until spring to take your own photos, feel free use these photos that I took and never used.  And if you love the look of the apothecary jars, go to TJ Maxx or Marshall’s.  They have a wide selection at very reasonable prices.

Happy decorating!

MP

Steve’s Spot

Hope your Halloween is a DEVIL of a good time!

AP, MP & SP

Forever seems like yesterday

9:37 a.m., 10/7/08

Two years ago today about this time I was getting bobby pins shoved into my hair while I tried to breathe deeply to calm the butterflies in my stomach.  My whole life I had wondered what my wedding day would be like.  I had always pictured a magical day.  As luck would have it that’s exactly what we got.

It was unusually warm and sunny for an October day in Marquette, MI.  The leaves were at their peak color and there was a slight breeze in the air.  On any given day this alone would have put me in a great mood.  The fact that I was marrying the love of my life made it the most awesome day I have ever experienced.

So happy anniversary, baby.  You are my forever.

MP

Forever – Ben Harper

Not talking about a year, no not three of four
I don’t want that kind of forever in my life any more
forever always seems to be around when things begin
but forever never seems to be around when things end

So give me your forever
please your forever
not another day less will do
from you

People spend so much of their time every single day
running ’round all over town giving their forever away
but no not me I won’t let my forever roam
and now I hope that I can find my forever a home

So give me your forever
please your forever
not another day less will do
from you

Like a handless clock with numbers on an infinite of time 
No not the forever found only in the mind
Forever always seems to be around when things begin
But forever never seems to be around when things end

So give me your forever
please your forever
not another day less will do
from you

My favorite season

It’s hard to explain how excited I get about fall.  Monday was the first official day of fall and my mood was magically lifted as a result.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful and the leaves are starting to change color.  On Sunday we made our annual trip to The Elegant Farmer in Mukwanago to pick apples and peruse pumpkins.  I am looking forward to going on hikes to take in the fall beauty.  I can’t wait to wrestle Steve into a humilating yet adorable Halloween costume.  I am giddy at the idea of sitting outside on a cool night around a warm fire.  I vow to spend as much time outdoors as possible to enjoy fall — my very favorite season.

MP

Musical Bliss

Andy and I love music.  In fact, it’s one of the things that brought us together.  Back when we were friends and living in the Chicago area, one of our first road trips together was to Summerfest to see Jack Johnson and Ben Harper.  Since then we have seen a lot of shows together.  This entry is way overdue because two concerts we went to this summer were especially exciting and worthy of some blogging.

The first was the Madison Roots Festival on August 2.  I have never been so excited for a show — three of our favorite artists in one place in an outdoor venue.  Just when I thought the day couldn’t get any better we realized that we were able to watch the musicians hanging out “backstage” from where we were standing.  The picture to the left is John Butler Trio bassist Shannon Birchall hanging out “backstage” while Tristan Prettyman played.  The highlight for Andy was when he got to see his favorite member of JBT, drummer Michael Barker walking around backstage.  As Barker scanned the crowd, Andy (the tallest guy in the crowd) happened to catch his eye and gave him the peace sign.  Consistent with his super happy on-stage presence, Barker gave Andy a huge grin and a peace sign back.  We thought it was so awesome.  We’re nerds.

I was pretty much in heaven the whole day.  It was our second time seeing Tristan Prettyman and she sounded great.  In my opinion, Tristan sounds best when she is live and even better when she is performing by herself with just her guitar.  I have a huge girl crush on her.

It was our fourth time seeing John Butler Trio and my only complaints are that I wish they could have played longer and I would have liked to have heard more songs off of Sunrise Over Sea — mostly Peaches and Cream and What You Want.  JB usually gets the crowd involved with Peaches and Cream — the first time we saw them in concert they played it. The crowd was so into it and the sound was amazing.  A favorite moment at every JBT show is when JB performs Ocean.  It’s mesmerizing to watch and hear live and I get the sense that he loves toplay it even more than we love to hear it.

And last but not least, G Love and Special Sauce. . .have I mentioned that Garrett Dutton is the one man I would probably break my marital vows for?  He’s on my “list.”  I think this was show #7 for me and Andy has lost count since his first show in 1999.  Obviously we keep going for a reason.  If you have never checked them out, do it!  They have been around since the early 90s so it’s about time, yo!

Everyone already knows I squeal like a schoolgirl every time I see GLaSS and I always have a great time.  But considering the fact that Superhero Brother just came out, it was a bummer that they did not play Wiggle Worm.  I was ready to sink that ship, shake those hips!

I thought I just might die when Tristan joined G Love on the stage to perform Beautiful, one of my favorite songs.  The finale was sweet — Tristan’s drummer, JBT and GLaSS all came together on stage to sing Sympathy for the Devil.  Tell me, baby what’s my name. . .

Well, anyway, I had the time of my life. 

Then a few weeks later Milwaukee Irish Fest rolls around. We try to make it to German Fest (to give props to Andy’s people) and Irish Fest (to celebrate my people) every year if we can. This year my dad and his wife Mary came up and I was pretty pumped to go.  Even better, my favorite Irish band was going to play on Saturday nght.  Fantastic!  So of course I come down with the world’s worst cold (probably a sinus infection) and on Friday night I could barely drag myself out of bed to get some water and soup. You would think that a ridiculous amount of sleep would cure me, but oh no — not with this cold.  Saturday I pulled myself together and we headed down to Irish Fest.  Despite breaking into cold sweats at the drop of a hat and sneezing every tenth step I was pretty glad to be there.  I only thought I was going to pass out once.  Good times.

After enjoying some delicious reuben sandwiches, we settle in to see the band I had been looking forward to, Solas.  I first saw Solas in Marquette, MI.  It was probably 1997 or 1998.  My mom took me and we both had an awesome time.  She bought their CD and I pretty much wore it out.  At Irish Fest they put on a great performance complete with an Irish dancer.  It’s not possible to sit still when you see this band.  If you don’t find yourself dancing in your seat (as I am known to do) you will at least notice your foot spontaneously tapping to the beat.  The night ended with the opportunity to meet the band.  I had them sign my Irish Fest T-shirt which is next to impossible, even with a Sharpie.  I am going to omit the photo Andy took of me with the band because not only did I feel like death warmed over, I looked it.

So that’s it.  August was a month of musical bliss.  The next concert on our schedule is Jason Mraz in November at The Rave.  Concert booyah!

MP

Wow. I won.

I am feeling happy and humbled all at the same time.  I found out this past week that my entry was chosen to represent St. Luke’s in the Wisconsin Hospital Association’s Employee Pride contest.  Andy and I get an overnight stay at the Kalahari Waterpark and Resort in the Wisconsin Dells and we will attend an awards ceremony where my entry will be read.  So the good news is that my primary purpose for entering – sharing my story to help spread awareness about the importance of compassionate care — is being achieved.  The awkward part is that we traditionally publish the winning entry in our newsletter and I am the editor.  But I think I found a clever way to address that.  My boss loved it anyway.

The bonus?  The Kalahari has an arcade.  With skeeball.  And I am a skeeball FREAK.  I love it.  And I kick ass at it.  W00t!

MP

Tag! I’m it!

It only took me a month to get around to this.

The rules:
Link to the person who tagged you.
Post the rules on your blog.
Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog.
Tag seven random people at the end of your post, and include links to their blogs.
Leave a comment on their blogs so that they know they have been tagged.

Seven random things about me:

1. I was born without wisdom teeth.  Booyah to that.
2. I have some very strange pet peeves, including people with nose whistles.  Seriously — blow it.
3. I started my career in fund raising and although I switched careers this past year, I can’t seem to stop myself.  I’m a passionate person and I have fundraising skillz, so why not?  Most recently I got my fix by serving as Chair of the Communications Committee for the American Heart Association Heart Ball, which was an awesome experience.  Even the centerpieces were heart healthy, not to mention oh-so-cute.  That’s celery around the outside of the vase. 
4. I modelled and did commercials as a kid for a mall in my birthplace, Bowling Green, Ohio.  I thought I was soooooo cool.
5. I hate, hate, HATE cheesecake.
6. 6. I have a scholarly obsession with Jell-O.  I research it, write about it, and present papers about it.  I even collect vintage Jell-O recipe booklets and advertisements.  For research, of course.
7. I am ridiculously anal retentive about cleanliness but my dad is 100 times worse so it’s no mystery where it came from.  It was a huge adjustment for me when we got a dog and I clean up after our cleaning people because they miss things and move things around which drives me BATTY. 

I tag Jessie, Andy, Jess, Krista, Sarah, GH, and Emily. 

MP