It's Friday, Friday...

First of all, don't you just like love ADORE the new blog design? :) I had so much fun doing it!

Just wanted to say Happy Friday to everyone, and wish you all a fantastic weekend! I plan to stay up late tonight for a change (IF I make it), attempt to actually sleep in tomorrow (IF my body will let me), and make jewelry ALLLLL day long! Haha, that may not sound all that great to you, but it sounds WONDERFUL to me! Happy Weekend, everyone!

Oh, and two randomly related quotes to share:

Haha, at this second one. This is so very much me!

Something NEW!!!

Drum-roll please! I finally did it! I finally started my Etsy shop!!! I have been wanting to/ talking about/ planning to start one for probably well over a year, but it simply never happened... until now!

Here I am, the creator of this,(if I do say so myself) really really pretty jewelry! Today is parent/teacher day, so I'm wearing only jewelry that I have made in the HOPE that I will receive a few inquiries about it. Then I can sweetly direct them to my Etsy shop where they can purchase one of these beauties for themselves.

I really love each and every piece that I make! If I don't, I take it apart and start over. Making jewelry has been a passion of mine since my freshman year of college (which seems sooooo long ago).

These bird nest necklaces are some of my newest pieces. And when I say new, I mean hot off the presses. I literally got the supplies after church, sat down and made six of these beauties AND photographed them... all last night. I absolutely adore how they turned out, and this one has already sold on my etsy shop... a few hours after being listed.

I am kinda sorta really proud of my photography skills in some of these pictures. Just had to throw that in there. :)

Thanks for letting me share a few of my favorites with you... My shop address is: www.etsy.com/shop/SimplyMeOriginals

Pizza, Packages and Fall Outfits

So,I'm sorry, I'm a girl, and this is going to be a girly post. First of all, I was very excited about stopping by the Post Office yesterday, because I had TWO packages waiting for me. One was my order from Amazon. What does a package from Amazon always mean? BOOKS!!! Yaaayyy, can't wait to dive into their open pages! Well, one of the books is a gift for one of my besties (hehe, I'm not saying a word more, but I'm super duper pumped about it), but the other two I will read.

My second package was the shoes I ordered from Target!!! Yaay, books and shoes! How could I ask for more! Since I never ever get to Target :( and if I do, they always happen to be out of my size), I decided to risk it and order online. They were soooo cheap, and buy one get one 1/2 off! SCORE!!! I order two pairs of suede flats- one in Mushroom (a brownish gray) with a cute little ruffle, and a pair of leopard print flats. I have wanted some for ever and ever and ever. Well, I opened the box and swooned over both of them. LOL. I planned my outfit today around my shoes, how pathetic is that! I must admit that I <3-ed what I ended up wearing. I got a new mustard corduroy skirt, paired it with a brown sweater, and a matching necklace and earrings with multi-shaded brown and leopard print beads. That, paired with my new "kitty" shoes turned out so so cute, and fall-y on top of it. Sorry to keep rambling about it, but I'm just happy!

Couldn't decide which one I liked better. :)

Last night, I made one of my favorite easy meals- blooming pizza bread. This was my second time making it, and I made some definite improvements to the recipe. It turned out DELISH! Sorry, I'm not a skilled enough blogger yet to say, click HERE (in red) and the recipe magically pops up. All I can recommend is the wonderful invention of the google button. LOL

So, here's the top of my outfit. I left home without taking a full-body shot, or at least attempting to, and knew by the time I get home a million hours later, I wouldn't be picture worthy. That brings up an interesting point.... why is it that girls (me at least) seriously deteriorate throughout the day? I go to school looking at least half way decent, and go home looking rough rough rough. Just a thought. At least I teach Kindergarten- that's my excuse. :)

And here is the bottom of my outfit. lol Not the greatest, I know, but I was trying to show the color of the skirt and shoes. Give me props- I tried. Anyway, Happy Friday everyone. Have a fantastic weekend. I intent to be lazy all day tomorrow, and shuffle around the house in my pajamas until noon. :)

A Random Fall Day

First of all, let me just say, GO CARDINALS!!!! Awesome start to the World Series!

Do you think this hurt? It hurts me just looking at it. I'm sure adrenaline kicked in and he felt no pain then, but what about this morning? LOL

If I had a ton of time (and skill) I would totally do this! I actually wore a cardinals shirt last night to church, not knowing that I would be involved in our Patch Club program, and would have to be up on stage handing out microphones and helping with the program. Not that it's a big deal at our church or anything, but I prefer to be a little more dressed up. I know no one minded though, because... hello... it's the Cardinals! Ha!


Item number two. I am currently obsessed with Kate Middleton. She is so classy and cute, and her clothes are perfection. Here are a few of my "royal favorites":

Gorgeous Jenny Packham dress

Soft dove gray dress by a London designer and Jimmy Choo pumps

A gorgeous Zara print dress and a hat only the British could get away with. Sigh... :)


And lastly on my plate today is my kiddos. Of course I always have to mention them. Because, let's face it, I don't really have that much of a life outside of them. This year I have Hailey, the Pastor's youngest granddaughter. She is so cute, and is constantly at my side. I think she may be already turning into a girly-girl, though, because she always wants to take pictures with me on my phone. We usually end up blinded because of the flash, and see spots for a full five minutes following out "photography session". It's well worth it though, not because of the picture quality, but because we giggle the entire time we are doing it.

I always tease her that our hair is the same color, and I'm going to cut hers off and glue it to mine. Then she will be bald and I will have long hair. That sends her into fits of giggles, and so today she came up with a solution. She stood behind me and draped her hair over my shoulder. I must admit that I like the look (okay, use your imagination ;) and am excited because as of right now I'm attempting to grow my hair out.

We really do try to get cute pictures, but they usually turn out like this, or worse...

We were finally able to get one that we both agreed was "cute". :) After our photo shoot, I was cajoled into playing basketball, soccer, volleyball (all with a rubber ball that had the consistency of a beach ball) as well as "Sugga Sugga, Suuu Suu" (the train game). Haha, at least I'm getting a little exercise inside on these chilly fall days when we can't go outside for recess.

The Pumpkin Patch

This weekend I was able to take a quick trip home to Indiana with a friend and her children. I had such a wonderful visit with my parents, and were able to surprise my grandparents with a visit.

Don't you enjoy the subtle tribute to the Cardinals in the background? Ha! I must admit... I've jumped on the band-wagon and am a Cardinals fan full-force. So excited about them going to the World Series!!! Go Cards!

Don't my grandparents look amazing for being in their 90's??? My grandpa just turned 98 last Wednesday.

Today we went on our first field trip of the year- the the Pumpkin Patch.

We all loaded onto a van and headed out into the country.

There were so many fun things to do: a "sand box" full of corn

An awesome hay slide

Panning for "gold"

Okay, aren't the ADORABLE??? :)

There was also a small petting zoo, and we got to pet the cutest animals!

And then we went to the Pumpkin Patch! Each student was able to pick out their own pumpkin, and we took a hayride to get the the field.