It happened again.

Thank you to my faithful readers and I apologize for going missing in action again. But that was the last time. I have been in Columbus, Ohio since Saturday and just got back last night. We had our Thirty-One National Conference.

It was an awesome trip with over 10,000 happy screaming women as we learned all the new exciting stuff for the fall/winder season.

 We got to see lots of new and exciting products. I am in love with the new Go To Tote in Navy Dancing Dots. I actually got to pick it up and try it out. I am ordering this the minute Fall products go live on August 1st.

We got to see a lot of ideas with Solution Sets that can help simplify and organize your life. 

And I got to see the new brown faux leather purse from our Jewell by Thirty-One line. 

I got to meet Janet Kincaid, who is the creator of the beautiful jewelry line we carry called JK by Thirty-One. 

I am in love with all the jewelry products.

I am very excited about the new personalization. The new Icon is the heart. 

AND you can now do up to 3 lines of personalization and up to 16 characters per line on some items. 

They are using heavier outline thread for the icons so they show up better.

In addition to the Thirty-One fun, I got to sign the Pink Heals Firetruck in support of cancer. This was dear to my heart because I have lost loved ones to Cancer and I have many Cancer survivors in my family so I really wanted a chance to sign this for my family.

In our spare time, I got to go to The North Market.

I had the best popcorn and the best glazed donut I have ever had. 

We got a sneak peak at pics of the new Christmas line. 

It is going to be a lot more Christmas items than usual.

Then on Monday, three of us walked to The Short North District of Columbus.

It was jammed packed with unique stores and boutiques. My favorite was a store called Global World. It was awesome.

I met a lately who had blue hair...on purpose. But just for conference.

And we even had one of our Thirty-One sisters get engaged on stage. She thought she was getting a free purse, but the boyfriend was on stage with her and when she got the purse he reached in and got a box and flipped it open, got down on one knee and proposed. She said YES of course. It was awesome. 

It was a fabulous trip.

Where's Waldo...

I'm not sure where Waldo is, but I know I've been MIA these past couple of day. Every morning I get up and think "I don't have time to do my blog. I'll do it when I get home from work." Then when I get home from work, fix supper and do dishes, next thing I know I am going to bed thinking "Oh no! I forgot to blog." But hopefully things are settling down and I will be back to normal soon. 

Not much has been happening these last two days. My friend, Theresa, is coming to work across the street from me for my bosses wife who happens to also be my friend. We are very excited about it. She will be the wedding planner at a new chapel that my friend Stevie is opening up. Theresa and I both love cats. I have several cute cat figurines, one which I keep in my office. So I told Theresa I wanted to find a cute one for her desk when she gets her new office. So in traditional Brenda/Theresa method, we both started Googling cat figurines. Here are some cute ones we found:

 

Simple, cheap and adorable

I was shopping this weekend and found the neatest thing. Chalkboard tape. Since I am obsessed with chalkboard stuff lately, I had to get a roll. It was about $3-$4.00. Then I had to find some craft ideas for it. I already had some chalk. As I was putting up dishes, I went to stick a Mason jar in the cabinet when inspiration hit. So I gathered my supplies....

I rolled the tape around the jar to get a measurement to cut the right length, allowing extra for overlapping.

The awesome thing about this tape is it is not sticky as you pull it off. I actually has a peel off paper backing on it. So when you cut it you don't have to worry about it sticking to everything. So I peeled the paper off. 

I slowly started putting it around the jar, smoothing out any wrinkles as I went. Oh, and did I mention it is removable. So if you get it uneven, just peel it off and try again. 

I had left plenty for overlapping so I was able to finish it off nicely.

Then I stuck my markers in it and wrote on the tape. Now I'm off to search the cabinets for more smooth jars so I can do one for Pens and one for Pencils. 

This was just so fun and so simple. Not to mention it feels good when you can do a craft from start to finish in 5 minutes. 

Sunday Funnies

We can all use a little humor in our life. Hope at least one of these makes you chuckle today.

And my personal favorite....

In the mood to knit....

I am in the mood to do some knitting. I actually want to do a project I can finish. I would like to do a scarf with K2 P2 pattern.

This is beautiful. It would be easy to do a ton of squares and sew them together. 

Whatever I decide to do, I am going to set myself a deadline to make sure I get it finished.

It's in the genes

There are certainly some things that you inherit from your mom and your grandmothers. That is the case with me. I have so many things that my home can NEVER be without. To me, I find great comfort in the familiar when I am home. For example, I have crocheted doilies all over the place. They are end tables, tops of shelves, dressers, everywhere. I love my doilies.

Yarn. I learned to knit from my mom when I was younger and I still love doing it today. Especially with warm scarves for winter. I just love a knit scarf. I don't do it much anymore and it can take me 7 years to finish a scarf. But I always have knitting needles and yarn for when I am ready to pick up and knit awhile.

Tablecloths. Mom and I are so much a like. We rarely do placemats. We love our tablecloths. And if it has roosters on it, that's even better.

Aprons. Enough cannot be said about the wonder of aprons. I have about 8 or 9 myself. A woman can never have enough aprons. Seeing this picture also reminds me how we always had things hanging on the line. Not very many people still use a clothesline today. 

Lace curtains. Oh how I love pretty lace curtains. 

And thanks to my Mom and my Mamaw Eden you will always see artificial poinsettias in a vase somewhere in my house from Thanksgiving through Christmas.

Embroidered scarves. I love to embroider. I remember mom making doilies, pillow cases, scarves, dish towels, tons of awesome stuff. I haven't done this in years. I need to do it again. 

A crocheted afghan is a must in any home in my mind. I have one like this that is oranges, browns and golden yellow for fall. Mom and Mamaw Eden made these a lot. I have never learned to crochet so I can't make them. But I do love them.

The primary set on the Pyrex mixing bowls. Mom used these so much. Me and my sister can remember what she used each one for. To me the yellow one always brings back memories of homemade peanut butter cookies where she had to cover the mix and put it in the fridge for 3 hours before making them. The red always was used when she made her homemade chocolate cake icing. I have a set like it and I ALWAYS use the red for that same recipe of icing that she handed down to me. 

So many wonderful memories just from walking around my house and seeing some of the same things that Mom and Mamaw Eden had.