Joyous Juror

Ha! Hardly...

Today I woke up at my normal, crack-of-dawn time (5:30). I showered, make-uped, and even breakfasted. Wow! By 7:30 I had parked my car and walked to the Circuit Courthouse. Where I sat and waited. Then they called all of us to the registration counter. After which point, I sat and waited. And waited. Luckily I had been forewarned about said "waiting" and had brought my laptop with me. I actually got a lot done on the digital scrapbook I'm currently working on.

But back to the verbena.

I chose a seat in the very last row near a wall outlet. I plugged in my computer and got to work. I couldn't help but notice that NO ONE sat near me. There was obviously a buffer of empty seats around me, most likely because of all my coughing and sniffling. We all sat miserably for several hours. Then the bailiff came and started summoning people. I realized he was reading down the list in alphabetical order. So I held my breath and crossed my fingers. He called McCorey. Then Taylor. PHEW! I was free. So at 11:15 I marched back to my car and drove back to my house. Of course I'm still on-call for the next week, but I'll just have to take this one day at a time.

...and right now, it's nap time!

Bad Karma

I'm not sure what I did to deserve this, but I'm sick. Stupid summer cold. So I decided to take the day off tomorrow to rest and feel better. To make matters worse, I had a voice mail waiting for me when I left work today. Telling me that I MUST report to jury duty tomorrow. At 8 AM. UGH! The timing just seems horribly unfair.

Sew Mama Sew - Giveaway Day (Part 3: The Winner)

So excited to show you my finished clutch, and even more excited to share it! (I think it's my cutest one yet!).

The winner is Stephanie, who said:
Thank you for the great giveaway. My name is Steph, and I've been crafting since I can remember. I started by learning how to embroider from my grandmother, but now I also do a lot of sewing, cross stitch, and painting.

I hope you all had as much fun "playing" as I did. Don't wait until the next SMS giveaway to come back and say 'hi'!

The End of an Era

I never really watched Oprah's show, yet nonetheless, I felt compelled to watch her final episode today. And I was touched. It made me regret not watching her show sooner! I came away with two quotes that I wanted to post here, so that I can come back to them again and again for reflection. I hope maybe you'll be able to find some meaning in these words as well...

"Please take responsibility for the energy you bring to this space." - Remember that we impact those around us with our words, our actions, and even our thoughts.

"Do you see me? Do you hear me? Does what I say mean anything to you?" - Everybody wants to be heard and to know that they matter. Everyone wants to be validated.

Giveaway - Day 2

Confession: I stayed up WAY past my bedtime last night just exploring everyone's blogs. I barely entered any of the giveaway contests because I would get so caught up reading! I hope you're having as much fun with Sew, Mama, Sew!'s giveaway day as I am.

To see my own giveaway post, read below (or go here: http://beepsnrays.blogspot.com/2011/05/sew-mama-sew-giveaway-day.html)

Sew Mama Sew - Giveaway Day

Welcome fellow bloggers! When I heard about Sew, Mama, Sew!'s Giveaway Day, I thought it might be fun to participate and meet new people. So here I am, giving away my very first thing!

I first started sewing as a little girl. My mom taught me counted-cross stitch and signed me up for a sewing machine class. At the time, it didn't really stick. But here I am--more than 20 years later--loving it! I reconnected with sewing because of my dear friend Cobble. About a year ago, we decided to take a quilting class together and the rest, as they say, is history. I've found that my absolute favorite part is choosing fabrics and playing with color combinations. Browse through my blog to see.

Up for the winning is one gathered clutch (made following the tutorial from Noodlehead). I'm working on my giveaway clutch right now, so I don't have a picture to share, but here is a picture of one that I made for my sister:

*Update: I've selected and cut the fabrics for this clutch. I can't wait to see the finished product... it should be cute when it's done!

To enter this giveaway, leave a comment introducing yourself and sharing a little bit about your own crafting history. I will choose a winner after 3PM EST on May 26th (make sure that your email address is on your blog/profile so that I can contact you).

Yes, I'll ship internationally!

Read my lips.

No diet.
No bedtime.
No exercising.
No expectations.
No responsibilities.

(at least not for tonight!)