Sunday, December 20, 2009

she & him second album = hooray!

i was sooo excited when i saw this tweet from zooey deschanel!

i loved their first album...

and i'm so excited for their second one! i love how their voices blend, so pretty.

ugh, they are too cute together.

here's a little clip of one of their songs, "change is hard."

btw, i LOVE craig furgeson..."this is actually a cd, i've just got very tiny hands" ...haha).

p.s. this amazing movie comes out today!

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

woot woot, look who's in an article!

one of my husband's friends posted on facebook that she was doing an article on etsy and wanted to interview some etsy sellers. my husband told her that sure, my wife could answer some questions. i felt kinda silly but it was also kinda fun, because i really do believe etsy is awesome and it's the perfect solution to let me stay home with my daughter and craft and make a little money, too.

after a lovely chat with ms. mattson, she sent me a link to where it was published in the hard news cafe, the online newspaper for utah state university, where i also went to school.

now that i'm practically a celebrity, who wants my autograph? :)

Thursday, December 10, 2009

cat deeley is my hero.


first off, lemme just say "so you think you can dance" is one of my FAVorite shows. i love the sonya and mia michaels and wade robson routines and how some of the numbers can just take your breath away.

one of my other favorite parts is CAT DEELEY. she's so nice and funny and british and really sweet to all the contestants. you can tell she really cares about the contestants (unlike some tv hosts we know whose name rhymes with brian peecrest). can i just say, i am in LOVE with her wardrobe. she used to be a fashion model and now is what they call a "tv personality" - not really sure why they're a personality when they're just a tv host. maybe it's like the same difference between a secretary and an "office assistant."

ANYWAYS, she wears some of the most fantastic things. being a model has definitely rubbed off on her fashion tastes, i think.

except for this. this was bad. i think it was a tribute to farrah fawcett. but still - BAD.

PLUS, she's dating the actor who plays royce king, the jerkface finance of rosalie in eclipse. so...bonus twilight points there, i guess. ha.

p.s. here's one of my favorite couple dances. so intense and good.


p.p.s. this is my favorite group number EVER. and it's even the 100th episode special version where wade robson dances with them (guy with red gloves that takes a bow near the beginning.) SO GOOD.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

100 sales on jellabee jr!


yee haw! what a good feeling. thanks to all you fantastic buyers!

Monday, December 7, 2009

tv: shy ronnie!

i love the digital shorts on snl and i love andy samburg and i love rhianna for doing this.

here's the newest digital short with rhianna from this last saturday december 5th. love love love.

Friday, December 4, 2009

music: celtic woman

have you heard of them? their voices are so beautiful it blows my mind. they show their specials on pbs and they're always on at like one in the morning and i ALWAYS stay up and watch it til the end. last night was their christmas special and i've seen it before but i still sit there like a yokel with my jaw dropped because they sing like angels.

they're all from ireland, hence the "celtic" women and they just have these pure, soprano voices and when they sing together their harmonies are insanely beautiful and never out of tune. yes, the whole production is slightly cheesey with the costumes and the band and that weird little fiddler girl that jumps around while she plays...but who cares because it's unearthly how they sing.

here's one of my favorites "panis angelicus":


and hold on to your brain hat because their rendition of "over the rainbow" is amazing:


if you want to see more just go to youtube and type in "celtic woman". it's rediculous how much happier i am after listening to some of their songs.

Wednesday, December 2, 2009

i think i might have a teensy crush on anthony bourdain


if you haven't heard of anthony bourdain, then you must be unlucky enough to not have the travel channel (yes, i realize that was a double negative...doesn't make it untrue).

the travel channel in and of itself is awesomeness, except for this tool:

UGH, i can't STAND andrew zimmerman. yeah, i guess it's amazing that he eats all this crap, and by crap i mean LITERALLY CRAP, but every time i look at him i just think "glutton." and his voice is annoying. but i'm sure he's a very nice man.

anyways, back to mr. bourdain. i think he's funny! yeah, he's older and is definitely hanging on to his ramones t-shirt loving glory days but i think he has a real appreciation for just good food, not weird food or bugs as food, but exotic, new, interesting, different good food.

it's so funny how he uses the EXACT same cadences when he does his overvoicing, or whatever you call it. it's like he's reciting poetry and is talking in rhythmic sentences or something. and i like going "NOoooo rez-er-vay-shunnnnns" with him at the beginning of the show.

and forgive me, but i may or may not think he's slightly attractive. kind of like in a george clooney meets jack sparrow sort of way. (i love you husband).

plus, i read somewhere that he's going to be on yo gabba gabba...what will happen when 2 worlds of awesomeness collide? i guess i'll have to wait to find out.

(this pic was posted on the yo gabba gabba blog in september - funny blog to read if you're a fan of the show.)

Monday, November 30, 2009

pocket mirrors!

the blessed day has arrived. i got my pocket mirror machine + mirror parts in the mail and i am in LOVE. the possibilities are endless. one of my favorite ideas is buying thrifted children's books and cutting out cute paper clippings.

and yes, i did feel a tad wrong about cutting up a book...but i figure it's re-purposing and they're getting a new life...right? right. :)

here are some of my favorite mirrors with the book clippings:

Possum in a Tree

Three Plums

Scolding Mom (ha i love this one)

Four Owlets

Happy Racoon (i think this one's my favorite).

there's some with stamps and scraps of fabric, too - but i just love the ones with book clippings - each one is so unique!

and of course i had to have a cute little bag + tag to package them in. gotta protect those mirrors!


it's rediculous how much i love my new pocket mirrors and those little muslin bags.

all of these mirrors and more can be found in the jellabee shop!

Friday, November 27, 2009

pop songs can be good for the soul

i love my jenny lewis and my arcade fire but sometimes i just like the POP. ya know, the kind of music you sing really loud to in your car on the way home from work when you've had a hard day and you just want to yell. (i may or may not have yelled along to my chemical romance's "it's not okay" one or two times on the way home from my old work where i was a secretary in a financial advisor's office...)

they're also the kind of songs you dance to alone in your house - i find that beyonce's "single ladies" is an excellent song to dance like an idiot to in front of your baby while they're in their high chair.

and although they're not in the mainstream pop arena, sometimes "that's not my name" by the ting tings is the best choice for dancing like a crazy person in front of your tiny helpless audience.

my latest pop addiction is lady gaga. i just spent the last couple days looking up pretty much all of her youtube videos. it's so sad, i know. she's just a pop singer but i LOVE her craziness: the makeup, the costumes, the performances. and i know she's definitely not some people's cup of tea and she's not my favorite singer, but you can just tell she knows EXACTLY what she's doing. dancing + crazy costumes + multiple catchy hooks per song + hype + rumors + crazy videos...there's definitely a formula to becoming a famous pop star and she's got it down pat. and i don't think she'll have a britney-esque breakdown from the fame and the pressure because she's not growing up in the biz and she won't go through the awkward wholesome to scandelous transition - she's already there. and i think she feeds off the fame and media and she'll just get more crazy and more fantastic.

i love her entertainment value, or her showmanship, or whatever you call it when she's performing. bascially, i just love it anytime when singers aren't boring. and, i really do think she's talented. she was a songwriter for the pussycat dolls and other pop people before she wrote songs for herself. she's a classically trained piano player and i think she's got a pretty good voice, pretty sassy.

anyways, i appreciate the fluff music because it's kind of escapist...but i wouldn't go so far as to say i like miley cyrus. that's just going too far.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

dial's soothing white tea hand soap


i realize this is a bit rediculous and totally random. BUT - this hand soap is awesome. i really like foaming hand soaps because they rinse off your hands quickly and don't leave residue, and i used to buy them from bath and body works. then they started selling foaming hand soaps at walmart and this scent by dial smells rediculously good. and i like the clear bottle + the clear soap inside, just nice and simplistic.

the scent is called soothing white tea and smells clean and fresh, kind of coconut + vanilla + rain + fresh cut grass + awesomeness. i don't know, it's hard to describe. and if i continue to describe it or talk about this hand soap anymore, i'm going to sound like a crazy person - and a commerical for dial hand soap.

anyways, it's only about $2 and i love it when i find something i like better that's cheaper than the more expensive brand. yay!

Thursday, November 19, 2009

movie: stranger than fiction


this is one of my top 5 movies. the acting is SUPERB and the whole story is so funny and sad and romantic at the same time.

if you're not familiar, harold crick (will ferrell) is an IRS auditor who suddenly one morning hears a female british voice (emma thompson) narrating his life. i think this is will farrell's straightest performance ever, and even though i pee my pants laughing every time he plays one of his stupid/arrogant/angry characters, i really really loved him in this movie. (he even got nominated for a golden globe).

he's a solitary person but he doesn't mind it. he just goes through the motions, kind of detached but not depressed. hearing this voice definitely shakes him up and changes how he would normally react to people around him. most prominently, the love interest, ana pascal (maggie gyllenhaal).

i just find myself smiling during the entire movie as the story unfolds and bizarre things keep happening - not in a slap-stick way, it's not that kind of movie. it's contemplative and sweet but funny and entertaining, too. and the music rocks, i bought the soundtrack. (favorite track: "whole wide world" by wreckless eric. download it NOW.)

and the story is compelling, but the characters are the shining points for me. each one is so important in how they relate to harold because he used to live his life independent of them, and suddenly they become very important to him.


dustin hoffman as the literature professor harold goes to for help and emma thompson as the narrator are awesome, of course. i think they were perfectly cast. queen latifah as emma thompson's assistant was kinda blah for me but an interesting choice.


my favorite scenes are with ana and harold. i have always loved maggie gyllenhaal from the first time i saw her in a movie because she is always just so REAL. even when she's stuck in crap movies like "mona lisa smile" she still makes you believe her character, and you like her even if she's flawed. and in this movie she's just totally confident, unselfconscious and unrepentant but also sweet and caring. she also makes me want to own a bakery and live in her apartment.

anyways, it's kind of one of those carpe diem movies but not in a sappy way. most importantly, it's an awakening for harold crick. he used to go through life unchanging but change is what ultimately makes him happier.

wow, that kinda sounds like i just wrote an essay for this movie and that last paragraph was my "conclusion." how funny. i just can't break those english major habits, i guess.

wow, i kinda wanna watch it right now...see! i even convinced myself! ha.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

house idea: dinner table chairs

one day when we get a bigger house that warrants a bigger table with multiple chairs, i would love to work on this idea. it would take some time to gather all the chairs i liked from like craig's list or thrift stores but it would totally be worth it and, i think, really fun every time i scored a new chair.

while i do love the picture above with the different colored chairs, i was also thinking maybe all different styles of wood chairs, then all painted white + re-upholstered with the same fabric. that way, they look like a set but each chair is carved differently. in the pic below, it looks like 2 sets of chairs, but i would want every chair to be different. because that's how i roll.

either way, i could start with the first pic and later convert to all wooden/painted chairs. then i could put the cute metal/non-wood chairs around a small circle table in the breakfast nook that i'll have one day, too...the possibilities are endless! ha.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

new headbands!

i just added some new headbands to the jellabee shop yesterday! it's about time, i'd kinda been neglecting that shop while i was focusing on jellabee jr for a while.






i think this one's my favorite. i just love the combo of that purple ribbon and green leaves.






all of these are listed in the jellabee shop with more details, pictures and prices.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

crafty coupons

who doesn't love saving money?! in this down economy...haha just kidding, i hate that phrase.

if you're a crafter you're probably already aware of where to get these coupons but i certainly appreciate them, so i'd thought i'd share.

joanne's

go HERE to sign up for their emails AND mailing list where you'll get at least one coupon a week through your email or regular mail (look for the email sign up box). more often than not, they'll send out multiple coupons. AND you can use both the regular mail and email coupons TOGETHER at the store. awesome.

joanne's definitely has the best deals on fabric and that store is crazy with discounts. and it's nice to know that there is always at least one coupon available anytime you want to go. and of course, with email you can just print out as many as you want and maybe take your husband with you and make him wait 5 people behind you in the check-out line with half of your purchases so it looks like you're not together so you can get more discounts...some may say this is dishonest, but i say it's thrifty. my husband says it's embarrasing, but he does appreciate the money saved. so there.

hobby lobby

hobby lobby is a bit more stingy with their coupons. you get one a week via email but half the time it's a very specific coupon for like 40% off spray paint or something like that. every other week you get a normal 40% off any item in the store coupon. go HERE to sign up for their one weekly coupon or go HERE to just print it off their website. and i've never seen a regular mail mailing list for hobby lobby, i don't think they have one.

i like hobby lobby for their clearance section and scrapbooking paper. their decor stuff is pretty annoying because they stack it really precariously in the middle of the aisle and i feel like i'm going to go knock over some glass rooster or something(and it smells like potpourri) but they put wire ribbon, fabric remnants and paper stacks on sale alot.

michael's

i don't believe there's a regular mail mailing list for michael's either, but every time i get a stack of grocery store coupons in the mail there always seems to be a michael's 40% off coupon tucked in there. (why do they all have 40% off coupons? is that like a craft store rule?) so next time, don't automatically throw all that waste of paper away! go HERE to sign up for weekly email coupons from michael's. it won't always be a 40% off coupon each week, sometimes they're only 20% off, but at least they have multiples coupons sometimes. (cough cough hobby lobby).

the dollar bins at michael's rock. i get my best stamps and ribbon there so hunt for the dollar section next time you're there. and you get an additional coupon on your receipt after you make a purchase. then you can come back again and make another purchase and recieve yet another coupon. it's a vicious cycle.

anyways, those are my crafty coupon secrets. happy money saving!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

sharon shinn is my favorite.

*sorry, this is a long post. but if you're looking for a new series of books to read, this series is one of my favorites.

as a former english major, i am constantly atoning for 4 years spent reading literature that i was forced to read by college professors. i still read the ol' work of literature now and then (most recently, pride and prejudice) but i think there's a part of everyone that enjoys the fluff. for me reading is an escape and i'd rather read fiction that anything else. or us weekly (which i realize is mostly fiction...). i feel like i should be improving my brain by reading great works of literature but for pete's sake sometimes i just want to read some meaningless highly entertaining FLUFF!

have you heard of a little book called twilight?

haha just kidding. while i do love the twilight series (just like all the other 20-something moms like myself), my favorite fiction writer is sharon shinn. you know those books you can read a million times and never get sick of? your comfort shelf books? her books have been on my comfort shelf since i read my first novel of hers, "archangel." yep, the word "angel" is in there and yes, it is about angels. but i promise you, it is nothing like you'd expect. she is an exquisite fantasy writer and blends the realms of fantasy and science fiction effortlessly. now don't get me wrong, whenever i hear the words "fantasy" and "science fiction" being applied to a book, i think of faeries and aliens - BLECH. but i would say the fantasy/science fiction ratio in her series is 90%/10%. she constructs this completely believeable world that is almost exactly like our own...except there's angels.

i don't think the premise is too confusing. it's in the future and a sect of people have left earth because of violence and nuking ourselves to oblivion (there's no writing about earth, it's all on the current planet) and they find a new world that is similar to earth's atmosphere, except it had super violent weather patterns making it almost uninhabitable. they needed to use their technology to control the weather but wanted the future generations to forget all connections with any kind of technology. why? because they want to live peacefully with zero technology because that's what destroyed their former planet.

now this is where it gets interesting. to make it possible for future generations to control the violent weather while at the same time cutting off all knowledge of technology, scientists grafted giant wings onto the backs of some men and women (and altered their genetic makeup so that they could produce more angel offspring in the future). these angels would be responsible for controlling the weather by flying into the sky and singing "prayers" to "jovah" that would abate a storm or ask for rain, thereby making it possible to live on their new planet. by withholding their knowledge of technology, the original settlers would ensure that the future generations would think that the angels were "praying" to a "god" - although it is actually genetically altered men and women singing aural cues to give orders to the ginormous spaceship orbitting in the sky above them all. and they had to give them wings because the spaceship can't hear "prayers" from the planet's surface, they have to be sung as physically close to the spaceship as possible.

sound confusing? each combination of notes in a song an angel sings is like a code asking the spaceship, or who they think is jovah, for a certain request. over time, people viewed the angels as religious leaders rather than just convenient weather controllers.

oh, and also, if the majority of the people did not get together every year on the same exact day and sing the gloria to assure the "god" that they're living in harmony, the spaceship will "smite" them all with lightning bolts and everyone dies. hence, harmony is essential. although, technically, just because some songs are sung every year on the same day doesn't mean a spaceship cares whether or not someone is unhappy or someone dies, etc. but the people of samaria don't know that...

anyways, that's just the set-up. the first book takes place hundreds of years after all that has taken place and the religiously centered technology deprived society is already in full swing.

and of course, there's romance - something that makes any story worth reading to me. not the kinky romance novel kind - just good ol' fashioned love stories.

she also explores societal issues: slavery, social cast, race, religion, commerce, politics, power, etc. she creates this completely believeable world that practially mirrors our own, and more importantly, she creates completely believeable characters. you genuinely care what happens to them, just like i care about what happens to jim and pam on the office because, yes, they are real people to me...ha.

i wholeheartedly love this series. and pretty much anything else she writes.

here are the titles, covers and a snyposis for each book in her samaria series:

(side note: i think the covers are made to grab people's attention and don't really convey the actual tone of the story)

book # 1: "archangel"
"Through science, faith, and the force of will, the Harmonics carved out for themselves a society that they perceived as perfect. Diverse peoples held together by respect for each other and the prospect of swift punishment if their laws were disobeyed. Fertile land that embraced a variety of climates and seasons. Angels to guard the mortals, and mystics to guard the forbidden knowledge. Jehovah to watch over them all... Generations later, the armed space cruiser Jehovah still looms over the planet Samaria, programmed to unleash its arsenal if peace is not sustained. But an age of corruption has come to the land, threatening that peace and placing the Samarians in grave danger. Their only hope lies in the crowning of a new Archangel. The oracles have chosen for this honor the angel named Gabriel, and further decreed that he must first wed a mortal woman named Rachel. It is his destiny and hers. And Gabriel is certain that she will greet the news of her betrothal with enthusiasm, and a devotion to duty equal to his own. Rachel, however, has other ideas..."

book # 2: "jovah's angel"
One hundred and fifty years have passed since the tenure of the Archangel Gabriel and his angelica Rachel, a time of peace and stability. But now, great storms are sweeping the lands, the deserts flood, and the skies rain down death and destruction. Then the proud and beautiful Archangel Delilah falls victim to the rage of wind, as she is torn from the sky, her wing broken. She can no longer soar in the heavens, guiding and guarding those below. She can no longer be first among the angels. Never before have the oracles had to choose a new Archangel while one still lived. And though Jovah's anger blows all about them, still they must consult him. His choice - the angel Alleluia, a solitary scholar of undistinguished lineage. Now the fate of the planet rests with the reluctant Archangel Alleluia, who believes in her duty and her god. And her fate in turn, may well depend on the mortal Caleb, a man who believes only in science - and himself.

book # 3: "the alleluia files"
Legend has it that the Alleluia Files contain the truth about the god of Samaria. Now, a child raised in captivity among the angels will journey the length and breadth of her world to seek the documents that will alter the face of Samaria forever...

*and then, just because she's awesome, shinn wrote TWO MORE books for this series:

book # 4: "angelica" takes place 200 years before book # 1, "archangel."
Two hundred years ago, the god Jovah created a legion of land-dwelling angels, led by an appointed Archangel. Now, Jovah has a new appointee: Archangel Gaaron. For his life-mate, his Angelica, Jovah has chosen a woman named Susannah. Slowly, an unspoken affection develops between the two. But there is a terrible threat besetting the land--and the true hearts of Archangel and Angelica may never be known.

book # 5: "angel seeker" takes place a few years after "archangel" ends, so it gets to revisit some of my favorite characters from book one.
Award-winning author Sharon Shinn returns to the fascinating world of Samaria in a richly romantic tale that begins where Archangel left off. In that time, the women who craved the attention of angels were known as angel-seekers, a term used with awe by some-and scorn by others.

Elizabeth was born to wealth, but circumstances forced her to live as a servant in her cousin's household. Determined to change her life, she travels to the town of Cedar Hills, hoping that an angel will take notice of her, and take her as his own.

Rebekah is a daughter of the Jansai tribe, raised to hate the angels. But when she finds an injured angel near her village, she defies her upbringing to care for him.

In time, these two women, whose paths will cross, will both find what they long for, in surprising-and dangerous-ways.

all right, i know this post has been a novel unto itself, but i promise you if you like twilight or romance or fantasy at all, then you will immediately buy all 5 of these books and enjoy some fluff-reading bliss.

(for an entire list of sharon shinn's books, go to her website here. after you read these books and fall in love with her writing, i would next read the twelve houses series.)

Sunday, November 8, 2009

new covered button snap clips!

i found these scrapbooking accents at a craft store and got REALLY excited to go straight home and put them on some felt snap clippies. i really loved how they turned out!

combo A

combo B - love that lil' ladybug!

combo C

combo D - this pair is my favorite. i love the color palette and little paisley.

combo E

combo F

all of these are listed in the jellabee jr shop as "Pair of Covered Button Snap Clips / Combo A" (or B, C, D, E, or F) for $5.50 per pair. i love these clippies!
 

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