Kay, so I haven’t been blogging nearly as much lately and I’d really like to get back to writing more often. Problem is the past few months have been rather difficult ones for me and quite honestly I hope to forget them someday so having them memorialized on a blog just isn’t something I want to do. Thus, the ‘sunny-side up’ posts. So, I think I’ll just start a ‘sunny-side up’ series so that I can remind myself that in the most difficult times (and there are certainly people going through more difficult things than myself) that I do have things to be thankful for and blessings to count.

Recent blessings:

The sweetest most thoughtful secret santa gifts from the beautiful Kim (aka OliveJuice). Digital gift certificates to some of my favorite online stores, a certificate to Itunes ‘cuz she knows how much I love music, a beautiful Christmas shopping list to print out which I loved so much that I think I’m going to start printing weekly shopping lists that are pretty to look at. :) And then in 2 separate packages I received this GORGEOUS crochet hook holder with the most plush pretty blue velvet interior and another amazing floral fabric on the outside that I’m thinking would make a great spring bag. Incredibly thoughtful and so beautifully made. And the second package was the cutest cupcake pin cushion. I had actually seen these online and passed on buying it for myself at the time but had just recently been thinking how badly I needed a new pin cushion with no idea how to find these fun one’s back on the www. Apparently someone told Kim about my love for cupcakes and she knew just the perfect gift. Thanks again so much Kim. You’re the best secret santa EVER! :)

And then my sweet friend Jayne just won’t stop sending me packages. Awhile back she sent a care package that was filled with new sewing magazines for my sewing passion, a luggage tag for our upcoming trip to Chicago (although embarassingly I didn’t realize that that’s what it was until I saw one on HER luggage when she arrived LOL), and then a very cool silver bracelet that has engraved on it "a friend might well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature" AND a funky chunky colored glass ring that is sooo me. And just last week I get this package for Christmas with a pendant I know she picked out just for me at this time.

I LOVE these soldered pendants and have actually been collecting supplies to make them but they intimidate me and I’ve never tried soldering before so the idea of burning myself or permanently engraving myself with hot metal scares me a bit. 

Anyway, I wanted to acknowledge these sweet gifts and also the friendships that mean so much to me. I take them for granted more than I should. Leeandra, your random text messages checking in always brighten my day and I’m saving the Christmas card you sent because the saying on the front is begging to be included on a future Christmas LO. :)

Kay, I know it’s been like months since I talked about posting a list of my tags in ACDSee and how I use the program. Is anyone still interested in that info or are all of you already using the software and loving it? I promise if there’s still interest I will put together a post by the end of the week.

I’ve been doing pretty good on my to-do list so far. I need to work on getting in the pilates workouts and my creativity seems to be on a permanent hiatus as far as scrapping goes so I’ve been reading Living Artfully and included a quote from the book for my January desktop as a reminder to do whatever it takes to find that creativity back. 

Rather stressful day and week ahead but my goal is to keep up with the ‘sunny-side up’ posts to give life some balance.   

Oh, and I almost forgot, I was up late last night marking down the remaining bags in the boutique 25%! First come-first serve so email me (srostrowski@hotmail.com) with the name of the bag you’re interested in and I’ll send out an invoice and request for shipping info to get it out to you right away. Some of my favorite designs are still available and if I get some time and some sunlight hours at home to take pictures in the next day or so there may be a couple more added at the close-out prices so keep checking back. We wanna make room for some new designs we’re working on for the new year and we’ve also been working on more hair accessories (think headbands and cute crocheted flower clips) which were a hit at the last craft show. :)

Kay, I had answered the Christmas tag but didn’t get back to blogging in time to post it before Christmas so if anyone’s REALLY interested in those answers let me know but for now I’ll post the A-Z tag answers for Kim:

A – Available or single:  Neither
B – Best friend:  Jill
C – Cake or pie: Are cupcakes not an option? Yellow cake w/ lots of buttercream frosting. My only real sweets weakness
D – Drink of choice: Milk   
E – Essential item you use everyday:  I’ll go with a similar item to Kim’s eyelash curler, for me it’s mascara.
F – Favorite color:  I don’t think i have a favorite. Lately I especially love green, a deep rich color green but I also have been a big fan of orange for quite some time now and the perfect shade of pale blue is way up there on the list too.   
G – Gummy bears or worms:  Neither. Anything that squirmy and squishy has no business being a candy in my book.    
H – Hometown: Holland, Michigan
I – Indulgence:  Most recent indulgence would be a bottle of this. Had been out for a couple weeks and it’s amazing how happy I am just to have soft healthy hair again.   
J – January or February:  January, the whole ‘new beginnings’ aspect of it plus my birthday’s in January.    
K – Kids & names: not of the human kind. Koda (my cavalier spaniel) and Tori (my himalayan cat) if you count them. Actually working on a LO of the two of them for an upcoming magazine assignment so you’ll get to see them soon.
L – Life is incomplete without?  My faith and some of the most amazing supportive friends anyone could ever ask for
M – Marriage date: May 28th
N – Number of siblings: 4
O – Oranges or apples:  Apples
P – Phobias or fears:  spiders, snakes and rodents. Ewwww!
Q – Fave quote: "Dwell in possibility"  Emily Dickinson – I’m just going to leave Kim’s answer since it’s on a plaque above my door and it’s definitely one of my favorites too. :)
R – Reason to smile: Tough one to answer lately. Most recent thing that made me smile is the adorable photo of Eva and Isa on their Christmas card.
S – Season: Wouldn’t really want to give up any of them. One of the things I love about Michigan.
T – Tag 3 or 4 people: I’m so behind on blogging that I’m probably the last one to do this one. Anyone who hasn’t yet consider yourself tagged and link me so I can check out your answers. :)
U – Unknown fact about me: In my bathroom, all the bottles (shampoo, conditioner, face wash, etc) have to be facing the same direction if they’re out, in the shower or on a shelf. Always facing forward so you can see the front of the packaging. And ideally the packaging should all coordinate with the bathroom. I acknowledge the wierdness of this as it was actually supposed to be included with my wierdness list a while back but never got around to taking a picture to include in the post.
V- Vegetable you don’t like: Can’t decide between brussel sprouts or asparagus. YUCK!
W – Worst habit: impatience – another one where I’m just going to leave Kim’s answer since it definitely fits.
X – Xrays: I can’t think of any other than dental x-rays off hand.
Y – Your fave food: Chicken Club Brunch Ring (modified recipe from Pampered Chef) Just made some the other night. Yummy! :) Aside from that I’m pretty much always in the mood for Italian.
Z – Zodiac sign: Aquarius

frame credits: Rhonna Farrer – 2 Peas Vintage Labels

I’m off to do some final Christmas shopping. I have 2 tags to post and a Christmas sale on the boutique blog that i’ll be back to finish up later as well as some pics of the most thoughtful gifts from some of the sweetest people on earth.

I wanted to quick post a link for a template that I made yesterday though. I was doing these balanced to do lists at the beginning of the year and got out of the habit and decided I had to get back into these. The idea came from a post that Shannon did around that time and I just took the idea and ran with it and decided to try and make them fun to look at so I’d be more inclined to check things off through the week. The things we do for motivation huh? So if anyone else needs that type of motivation you can download the template and make your own list with your favorite papers and embellishments.

Here’s mine for this week:

and you can click *HERE* (updated link-2/17/07) to download the template. Please leave a comment if the download expires and I’ll keep it up to date. Back later with some purse sale announcements and those tags. And I’m working on pretty gift certificates to send digitally or print out for the boutique so if anyone has some last minute shopping to do and you’d like to give a gift certificate leave a comment here or email me and I’ll get the info to send one out before the holiday. :)