Another Lovely Mail Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Matt surprised me this morning with the cutest white owl figures. I'll save a pic for my Week in Photos post this weekend. ; )  He came to my office for lunch, and we're going to a banquet tonight for dinner. Lots of yummy seafood! Can't wait! : )

But now on to some mail. I'm still really behind on these, so don't be surprised to see things from several months ago... (I know, I suck!)

I think I'm farthest behind on incoming goodies, so I'll just post those today. Enjoy!

Some cute stickers from a Swap-bot swap



Love the Hershey Kiss stamp!




I think this was doodled on an envelope and I just thought it was adorable :)




A pretty handmade bookmark I received in a swap




Love the polka dots and stamps on this one!




From a Mail Art swap. Can't go wrong with a chocolate bunny theme! ; )




Another Mail Art envie... I loved this one! In case it's too tiny to read, around the lady it says, "Officer? I'm calling to report ugly mail art. She's wreaked havoc on the zip code..."  Ha, ha!




The back of that one (I didn't think it was ugly at all! I loved it!!)




A Halloween Mail Art swap (See, I told you they were old!)




Cute owl stickers on a card I received



Pretty elephant stamp from Thailand



Cool vintage stamps. Gotta love James Dean!




Pretty Postcrossing Postcard



Another swap-bot letter



Pretty card inside : )



A lovely package I received from the wonderful Gracie




Beautiful Australian stamp



One of the lovely postcards Gracie sent me. I had mentioned to her how much I adored these on one of her blog posts... She's the sweetest! : ) (It came from this Etsy shop)

And I think I'll leave it there for now. Sorry this was so picture heavy... I still have quite a few posts to catch up on my mail, so please be patient with me! : )

And I hope you have an extremely lovely Valentine's Day, whether you celebrate it or not. Any day that celebrates LOVE is alright by me!

101 in 1001: Number 56

56. Buy a pair of Toms shoes

Yay, another goal met on my 101 in 1001 list! : )  I have been hearing how awesome and comfortable TOMS shoes are for several months now, so I decided back when I was making my list that I wanted to own a pair. And when I saw these on Gracie's blog, I knew I must have them!!!




TOMS


So adorable, right!? Well, only one store in Montgomery sells TOMS, and when I checked they said they didn't have that style but were getting a big shipment at the beginning of February... So I mustered all my inner strength and waited to see if they got them in. (This was around Jan. 31, which I realize is only 1 or 2 days away, but trust me... it took a LOT of inner strength to not order them online right there on the spot!) The biggest "reason" I gave myself to wait was because I wasn't sure what size I'd need. I usually range between a 9.5 and 10 (yes, I know I have big feet but I am 6 feet tall... if they were tiny I'd probably tip over!)  ; )   And so I waited until the next day and headed to Kinnucan's.

Unfortunately, they did not receive my cute little heart TOMS. I figured I'd try on a pair (or 5) anyway to see what size I'd need, and I ended up really liking another pair. Since my inner strength was so burnt out from the workout it received the previous day, I ended up purchasing these:

On another note, how do you take a cute picture of your foot? Ha, ha... Anyway, I love them! They are definitely very comfortable. I figured they wouldn't be at first while I was breaking them in, but I haven't had any problems with them at all (as far as blisters or anything like that). It almost feels like you don't even have shoes on, which I love! : )

I still plan on getting the cute hearts pair, but as of today Kinnucan's hasn't gotten that design in... so it looks like I'll just have to order them online. No big deal though. I love getting mail, after all!

Are any of you TOMS fans? They are just a tad on the pricey side, but not that bad really... especially when you consider that when you buy a pair, the company donates a pair of new shoes to a child in need. How awesome is that!? So definitely worth the price, in my opinion. : )

Hope you're having a great week!

Tagged again

Felicia over at Open Up The Sky tagged me a couple days ago, but since I just tagged a bunch of people myself, I'm just going to answer her questions. : ) Thanks for the tag, Felicia!

1. If you could invite any 10 people in the world to a dinner party; fictional or real, dead or alive, famous or not, who would you invite?

Jesus, Alice in Wonderland, Elizabeth Bennett, Jimmy Fallon, Matt, Summer, Ashlee, Emma Stone, Stephenie Meyer, and Kristen Wiig



2. What is something that you have always wanted to do but have never had the chance to?

Be on Saturday Night Live


3.What skill do you wish you had and why?

I wish I could masterfully play any song anyone requested on the piano. I love music, and I'd make a killing in a piano bar! ; ) (This stemmed from a dream where I claimed to be able to do this, and some jealous girl told me to play 'Baby Got Back' and I ROCKED IT!!!) Ha, ha...


4. What's your most favorite dessert that you can never resist?

Milkshakes


5. You're stranded on a deserted island - what 3 books do you take with you?

The Bible, Pride & Prejudice, and Where the Sidewalk Ends


6. You're at Subway - what do you get on your sandwich?

A 6-in turkey breast on wheat bread, with pepperjack cheese, lettuce, bell pepper, light mayo, honey mustard, salt, pepper, and a little vinegar


7. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? What do you do now?

I wanted to be a ballerina. Now I want to be a mother and a novelist. At the moment I'm an Admin Asst. for my Dad.


8. What is your nervous habit?

I shake my foot while I'm sitting. If I'm really nervous, I pick at my fingernails until there's nothing left.


9. If a blog were having a giveaway, what would really entice you to enter?

It being something I'd like to have with an easy way to enter


10. If you were a colour, which colour would you be?

Pink!


11. What is your favourite quote and/or verse?

My favorite quote comes from an old Considering Lily song: "Everything's dark when your eyes are closed..." My favorite Bible verse is 2 Timothy 2:23: "Don't have anything to do with foolish and stupid arguments, because you know they produce quarrels." (NIV)


BONUS: What is your favorite thing about snail mail?
 
I don't know... I've always loved getting mail. I guess in a way it makes me feel special to think that someone took time out of his/her day to write me a letter. : )

And the winner is...

Hey y'all. I'm stuck at the house for the rest of the week... I went to the Dr yesterday because I had a cough and low fever I couldn't get rid of. I figured it was just a bad cold or sinus infection or something, but it turns out I have early signs of pneumonia. Isn't that crazy!? So anyway... I'm on 3 different meds and am supposed to go back Thursday for a follow-up.

But on to some good news... I had 6 entries for my Mail Love giveaway. I was going to make a little video again to reveal the winner, but since I am in no state to be on camera I decided to use an online random number generator instead. So the lucky winner is:

Congrats Laura of Life with Laura! Just send me your address and I'll get your prize to you! : )  It may have to be next week though since I'm stuck at the house. ; )

Hope you all are having a great week...

My Week in Photos

As of yesterday morning, I had only taken 1 picture this week... But Matt and I attended our first Supper Club of the year with some of our church buddies, including Lisha of Everyday Adam and her daughter Lauren of not your everyday cinderella, and I took a few pics to make up for it. During church last Wednesday, Matt and I were in a skit where Matt played an old man/bowler and I played a sort of dumb valley-girl type. I meant to take a pic of us then... Matt in his hat, glasses, and Hawaiian shirt and me in my side-ponytail and bright peace sign earrings... but I forgot to. : (  Oh well. Here are this week's photos:



One of my favorite times of year... Girl Scout cookie time! : ) I was a little bummed that they changed all the cookie names (except thin mints) but they still taste the same!




The lovely table Lisha set up for Supper Club. I'm hosting next month. : )




Sydni and Lauren



The yummy baklava Dan made

So I remembered to post this time but forgot to take pictures throughout the week... hopefully this week I'll do both! ; )

Monthly Goals: February 2012

Hey Guys! I saw this over on My So-Called Chaos and thought it was a great idea! Miss Angie set up a Linky Party so we could all share our monthly goals with each other and support one another. I make goals all the time, but regretfully procrastination and a busy schedule often get in the way of me reaching them... So maybe if I start posting them on here and have someone to hold me accountable I'll finally get them all done! : )

You're supposed to start out by reviewing your goals from the previous month to see how you fared, but since I'm just joining this I don't have any from January... So here are my February goals:

• Finish unpacking the office
• Hang at least 3 things on the walls (which are still bare except for a clock over the fireplace)
• Lose 8 pounds (a healthy 2 pounds a week)
• Drink more water
• Catch up on my penpal replies

And I think I'll leave it at that for this month. So what are your goals for February? Do you want to link up with your goals too? Click on the link below, and check out My So-Called Chaos for more info.

Let's Play Tag

Hello lovelies! I was tagged by Allison of A Few Sprinkles Short of a Sundae. Click on the link to go read her answers too! : )

Here are the rules:

1. You must post the rules
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself in the blog post
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post. (or as many as you like)
5. Let them know you’ve tagged them.

12 Fun Facts About April:
 
1. The summer before my 8th grade year, I attended a sort of science camp at Clemson University, and during one of the classes, I stuck my entire arm into a cow's stomach. They had sewn a screw-top onto the side of a cow (not sure why) and they let us take turns sticking our hands in. But they also told us they had placed some silver dollars at the bottom of the cow's stomach, so I went all in! (They had lied, by the way...) It actually wasn't that gross... It was pretty warm, but it just looked like wet grass. (Sorry if I just grossed you out!) ; )
 
2. I've never done a cartwheel. I've always been tall (and a little awkward) and not very flexible, and I was pretty timid when it came to any form of gymnastics when I was younger. So, I never really tried or cared to try to complete a cartwheel. (That's why it's on my 101 in 1001 list.)
 
3. I went to a concert several years ago and spent the entire time yelling for them to sing one of my favorite songs of theirs. They never did, which bummed me out until the next day, when I realized it wasn't one of their songs!!! I felt like such a moron... Ha, ha!
 
4. I was voted "Most Original" out of my senior high school class. I was up for a few different superlatives, but that's the one I wanted, so I was very happy! : )
 
5. I have what I call "polite" road rage. Bad drivers really aggravate me, but I don't flip them off or anything. I usually smile really big at them (while calling them an idiot to myself... that's not very polite though, is it?)
 
6. The first time I met a couple of my husband's cousins, we ended up playing a game where each time you won a round, you made up a rule that everyone had to follow. One of my rules was that everyone had to call me Princess April... I must have had a lot of authority in my voice when I made my declaration, because it's been almost 9 years since then and they still call me Princess. (I don't mind at all, of course!)
 
7. My name is April, my birthday is in April, and my anniversary is in April... and I won a car last April!
 
8. I still have the little yellow bunny doll that was waiting for me in my crib when I was born. His nose is long gone, but if you wind him up, he still plays a lullaby. : )
 
9. I would love to open my own gym for women only where the only type of exercise is dancing goofy to loud 80's music.
 
10. When I was 4 I had two imaginary friends named Ham and Yoo-hoo and an imaginary boyfriend named Frank, who had blonde hair and a mustache.
 
11. When I'm driving by myself I like to take turns a little faster and make race car noises.
 
12. I frequently break out into song... sometimes it's a real song, sometimes it's something silly I make up on the spot. But it usually ends when I worry that someone heard me. ; )
 
Allison's Questions to Me:
 
1. Who inspires you and why? Anyone who overcomes some big obstacle to reach for his/her dreams inspires me. I guess I just respect their focus and determination.



2. Do you prefer skill games (Risk), chance games (Life), trivia games (Trivial Pursuit) or wordy games (Scrabble)? I love playing all kinds of board games, but if I had to pick a favorite it'd be trivia games.


3. Do you take a daily vitamin? Do you think you should? I purchase vitamins but then forget to take them... I know I need to though!


4. What are your strange habits? I've already discussed a few (race car noises and random singing). Others include bouncing one foot at all times while sitting and frequently making to-do lists that are left lying somewhere around the house undone


5. Do you like your name? Why or why not? Yes, I like my name. Sometimes the jokes get a little old, but "April" reminds me of springtime and flowers, so what's not to love!? ; )


6. If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Everywhere! Italy, England, New Zealand, Australia, France... you name it, I want to go there!


7. Oreos – regular or double stuffed? Either, as long as I can dunk them in milk. Mint oreos are my favorite though!


8. Tell me about your pets. I have one dog at the moment. A 9-year-old shi tzu mix named Chewbacca (Chewy for short). I got him as a puppy right before Matt and I started dating. His parents were my cousin Ashlee's two dogs, Diddle (shi tzu) and Minnie (pekingese/pug mix). He is very smart and very spoiled! : )


9. Do you want (more) children? When Matt and I married, we decided on having (at least) 4 kids. The reasoning behind that was that he wanted 3 boys (to carry on his last name) and I wanted at least 1 girl... Since we've been struggling with infertility though, I'd be happy with just 1! Of course, we'll adopt if it comes to it, and maybe even if it doesn't. But I'm getting hopeful that this is the year we get pregnant!


10. Who is your favorite TV character and why? My new favorite character is Jess on New Girl, because she reminds me so much of myself... At least she reminds me of my inner self. I'm not quite brave enough to share all that craziness with the world! : )


11. What piece of technology can’t you live without (phone, ipad, laptop, etc)? I would say my laptop because you can do just about everything on there... talk to people, watch tv/movies, play games, listen to music, read books, etc.


12. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be? I used to think the perfect place to live would be on the lake, but the older I get, the more I think I'd love living on the ocean... Beautiful sunrises, walking along the shore, falling asleep to the sound of the ocean. Yes please! But I'd want to live on a semi-remote island, not a big tourist area.

My Questions:
 
1. What would your dream job be?
2. If you were stuck on a deserted island, what 5 things would you want with you? (you can't say a boat, or something like that...)
3. If you could own any car, what would it be?
4. What inspired your blog name?
5. What is your biggest pet peeve?
6. What was the last book you read? Do you recommend it?
7. What is one thing on your Bucket List?
8. What era in time do you think you would enjoy living in for a week?
9. If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
10. What was your biggest epic fail moment of 2011?
11. If you could have any super power, what it be and why?
12. If you had $500 of free money to spend on anything, what would you buy?

And here are the blogs I'm tagging:
Overthinking Mama
Letters, She Wrote
Gracie Bella Butterfly
Summer's Laughing Place
Everyday Adam
Penpal of the Week
not your everyday cinderella
Roots and Wings
Grin & Bear It
Life with Laura
My So-Called Chaos
SuperMom...I think not!
 
Alright ladies... it's your turn! And even if you're not tagged, I'd love to read your answers so feel free to jump in! : )