happy friday to me

i love shoes... and after months (no exaggeration) of waiting... these finally came. i ordered them, received them, needed a larger size, returned them, waited, waited, waited... and then my online tracking showed they were delivered... but not to me. so someone in town is probably (dishonestly) walking around in these. but thankfully, they sent me a new pair after filing a claim, blah, blah, blah and now they're here. i love shoes (even if i might be mistaken for a european or a wrestler or a breakdancer in these)

Seattle, anyone?

You want to win a trip to Seattle ($800 value)... just go here and check out the giveaway details.... http://www.rachelthurston.com/blog/

You're welcome!

I just have to brag

Check out this video of my niece, Siena.

Isn't she so cute!!!

http://nicknjenna.blogspot.com/2010/01/sing-long.html

The Happiness Project

This is going to be a part of my new year's resolutions. I know a lot of people like to post their resolutions or goals publicly but I like to keep mine to myself. I write them in my journal and review them periodically. But here's one I just came across and am willing to share. http://www.happiness-project.com/

It's not that I think I'm a particularly unhappy person (right?), but I really want to make this more of my focus in life. Life will always be filled with ups and downs, some are more predictable and others just catch us off guard. No matter what, I am going to be happy. Even though I'm home alone this week :( and it's winter (I love summer and sunshine) and my heart feels extra tender lately, I'm going to be happy. So learning more about this new project is what will keep me busy this week, along with ballet tonight, my new museum training class tomorrow, a friend in town this weekend, knitting, using my new Bosch mixer, continuing the organization projects I started a week ago, sending off my SIL's b-day gift (sorry, it might be a bit late), "calendaring" the next few weeks and we'll see what else comes my way. And of course, getting enough sleep.

Sometimes I wish...

that this could be my job http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=9267880.

I went to the wild mustang auction earlier last year and although I know little about horses and round-ups (especially of wild mustangs), sometimes I wish I knew a lot. And had a horse of my very own.

My company is currently building in a small-ish town and I think about moving up here some days. I think I would like it. Shopping wouldn't be an issue - I like shopping online. They have a few cute restaurants, for days I'd like to eat out. More than one grocery store. Multiple gas stations. I think they have a movie theater, if not there's one within a 20-25 min. drive. They even have a store for boots and jeans. And yes, I did stop to look for my perfect pair of boots. I'm still on the hunt. They didn't have any that said "Mandy". I'll find 'em.

Here's another great reason - I took these pictures on my drive to check progress at the lot.

A fairly large herd thought the middle of a field would be a cozy place on a wintery day.

Another herd was looking to find more cover above the golf course.

Side note - maybe I should change the name of my blog to "Title... Post" - I seem to exhibit a pattern here.

an idea for my knitting

hat by me, cute little girl by my brother & sister-in-law

I've been debating about opening up a little Etsy shop to sell my knitting projects, but obviously just haven't made the commitment (or kept enough of my projects to sell). So here's my latest idea, let me know what you think.

I found this website before the holidays and knew that I could definitely do something like this. The hats are simple, classic and definitely something I could make in mass quantities. But I also don't think it's something I could make a living from, nor do I think I would want to anyway. I like my job and I also like the idea of not having arthritic hands by my 35th birthday.

This leads to my next idea for this venture. Since I'm not looking to really make money from this venture, why not use the money I would earn to help others. I've been thinking a lot about my little brother that passed away from cancer almost 22 years ago (wow, that sounds like a really long time). I think about him a lot during the holidays, the anniversary of his death (that's approaching next month) and I have dreams about him sometimes. I know there are a lot of races or other such events that people dedicate to lost loved ones, but maybe I could use this talent of mine to dedicate to my little Tony's memory. I could knit hats for kids going through chemo, or use the money from selling these hats to donate to families to help with their expenses (as meager as it may be).

So what do you think?

Now I just need to figure out the logistics of it all. I know someone I could ask for help in creating a website, or I could even just create a blog with a little paypal store. But I'm not really sure how it would work financially. Do I need to set up an LLC, or a charitable organization, or how do I report this money to the govt., etc., etc.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Oh, I also need a name for this little shop of mine.