Valentine's Day Ideas, Recipes & More

(Don't ya love my new office mug?? - found it 50% off)

Here I was saying I didn't have any blog fodder, then I go and whip out three posts - go figure. :)

Breakfast in Bed - Menu Suggestions? From Apartment Therapy's The Kitchen
We do have a white tray we keep the mail in that would serve quick nicely as a breakfast in bed tray. Hint, hint to the husband. :) Unless of course I wake up first, which is more likely, so this may backfire on me.

Valentine Oatmeal & Cookie Bars - from Chubba Gurl - Um...? Yum!!

Valentine's Giveaway at Pink Chaulk Studio (for all those fellow fabric fashionistas) Winners will be drawn Monday!

How to Make Valentine's Love Boats

Love to Print Giveaway at Design For Mankind - Only 24 hours to enter!

Ecojotter February Giveaway: Love According To You

TONS of Valentine's fun at Please Sir

Heart Shaped Foods for Valentine's Day

Squirrely Valentine Paper Cutting Proj.

Kate Spade Valentine E-Cards

Valentine Round Up at Party Perfect

Funny Stuff

You all should read my husband's blog - he had the day off today and was feeling pretty hilarious apparently! I love how he makes me laugh!

Much more blogging than I've been able to do in the last few days!

Matt's Micellany

Web Finds Wednesday

I rarely get much feedback from my Web Finds Wednesday post - I should probably stop doing them, but I love it....and it a kind of archive for myself to keep track of the cool, funny or inspiring things I find out there on the web. So, bear with me for another Web Finds Wednesday!!! (hear the echo??)

Pattern to Knit A Cat Sweater from Craftzine - Cracked me up this morning!

Fellow local blogger, Melly, from the blog Miscellany is suddenly made famous on the popular blog Bakerella for her crafty cupcake endeavors! Check it out and send her congrats - pretty cool!

So, I knit, sew, read, garden, compost, ride the bus - etc - so much dorkiness for one girl...sigh, but it is not enough. I've been itching to learn to cross stitch - no joke. I mean just LOOK at these marvelous patterns from Sublime Stitching. This isn't your Grandma's embroidery we are talking about! Plus, there is a giveaway on Creature Comforts!!

My husband wonders where I get all my crafty ideas from - sadly half the time they are not from my own head - but rather inspirations from marvleously crafty bloggers like Cherry's Jubilee. I love, love, LOVE her Countdown Tree!!

Web Finds Wednesday

LunchTimeDeals.com - Too bad there isn't an Indianapolis version...yet!

Indianapolis Restaurants Open On Thanksgiving Day - For those of you who don't have to battle the traffic and rush to 40 different feasts this holiday - if only that were the case...sigh.

Thanksgiving for Idiots from ReadyMade Magazine - One day we will have our Thanksgiving (hubby and I) and I will get to make a turkey or something. I've heard lots of good things about brining - this is an idiots guide to just that!

Black Friday Resources - It's almost here, not sure if I'm going this year or not...we'll see.

Pumpkin Cocktails & Desserts at Hostess with the Mostess - Did someone say yum?!

Sad Magazine News - Another good mag (Cottage Living) bites the dust.

A Few Good Blogs & More!

Had a pretty crummy start to my day - but it's going to be better from here on out!

These funny blooper videos of news reporters falling from Vat 19 are sure helping me out of my funk.

Reading some great posts from marvelous bloggers helps boost my mood as well!

Here are just a few of my favorites!

Matt's Miscellany
In Blue Ink
A Flower For You
Layers of Meaning
Ashley's Closet
Momma Val
Return To Rural
Prairie Vision Design
Alphabet By Design
Little Miss Ella James
Our Family
12:1 Worship
Goose Juice

Web Finds Wednesday!

ACCORDING TO GEEK SUGAR, TODAY IS NATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY - WOHOO! DUNNO IF I CAN KEEP IT UP FOR MUCH LONGER AS I FEEL AS IF I AM SHOUTING AT YOU ALL - SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO - HERE'S MY LIST OF WEB FINDS FOR THIS FABULOUS WEDNESDAY!

ReadyMade Magazine's Smart Uses for Simple Things
Now I know what to do with my used up mascara brushes and how to open those pesky plastic packages that always cut my fingers - marvelous!

Crazily Creative Pumpkin Carvings From Pumpkin Way
Getting geared up with lots of inspiration to carve our creations soon!

10 Signs You're Frugal at beingfrugal.net

Sewing Tutorials
Oh my goodness - I've found the mother load! Between this and Whip Up I am golden!!

Web Finds Wednesday

Fun stuff I've found on the web recently:

Man Punches Shark to Save His Dog

Dem Candidate Called "Wacky" For Suggesting People Walk or Ride Bikes

Great Links at Sew Mama Sew

Cute Giveaway at Super Hero Journal

Enjoy!!

Join the Squirrel Chatter Minions

Getting pretty fancy with the blogging efforts here lately. You should join in the fun!

1. Follow me on Twitter (not that I am twittering too often)

2. Add Squirrel Chatter and Confessions of a Design Junkie to your Reading List
(This is really cool! Blogger has set up a snazzy new "Blogs I am Following" feature where you can add blogs either by copy and pasting in the url or straight from your Google Reader into a special list. It is like a fan club and favorite blogs list of sorts. Here's a link for more info.)

3. Join My Blog Network on Facebook
Apparently for it to work I have to have 20+ readers. Sigh. So help me out and join my reader list!

LOLDogs - Finally!

I have throughly enjoyed the website LOLcats: icanhascheeseburger.com and always hoped a dog version would pop up! Well, that day has come and oh, how sweet it is! :)

Visit LOLdogs: ihasahotdog.com


see more dog pictures

Web Find Wednesday!

This is great - you gotta check it out!

(hint) Click on the link above and scroll over the little letters and numbers at the bottom of the screen.

There's A New Blog In Town!

No, I am not staring yet another blog - lol!

BUT I know someone who is new to the blogosphere and doing a pretty darn good job for being a newbie! Everyone go visit her and show her some bloggy love. :)

http://halflotus.blogspot.com/

I love LOLcats!

Apparently I can't keep myself away - I am addicted to the internet. Dad had to go fix a tire on the vehicle we are driving tomorrow and I should be napping after my trip - BUT I am checking my Google Reader and blogging - as usual. LOL.

Anyways...on of my favorite blogs - is LOLcats.

I can always count on them to give a good smile everyday. Here are a few of my favorites.


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


more cat pictures


ok ok..that is enough. :)

You get the drift.

It's Official - I am addicted to StatCounter

Forget getting addicted to email or reading the tons of posts in my Google Reader - NOW I am finding myself addicted to checking my statcounter. Especially now that more and more wonderful people are visiting my blog! Woohoo!

Statcounter is a free service that you can imbed code into your blog or website to count your websites, analyze your keyword searches, and see where people are visiting from and who are regular visitors, what browsers they use, etc.

Now don't get all worried that I can actually "see" who you are - I can't. But I can get a general idea - for example, I have a visitor who has become a regular who gets to my blog from Facebook - and their IP address lists them as being from Winter Park, Florida...hmmm? Let my sleuth mind work for a second... if they are from Facebook that means I know them and have listed them as a friend...so who can it be? Either my Aunt Erika who lives in Florida or my husband's old frat brother who lives there and just joined Facebook. See what I mean? You can start to figure it out...but really who are you from Winter Park, Florida?

Who are all you marvelous people who visit my blog? Some of you I know, like Tina from In The Garden blog has an IP from Tennessee and Carol from May Dreams - anyone who comments regularly. And the one person I have who visited me from Brazil and who got to my blog via Facebook must be my classmate from IUPUI who is now located in Brazil - hello, Ana if you are reading this! :)

I am not trying to be nosy - I am just interested in who reads my blog and flattered that you chose to visit! So speak up, leave a comment, I would love to know who all reads and what posts interests you, etc.

I have really found that what is so gratifying about writing a blog is not just the actual act of writing and coming up with posts, but the interaction between your readers and between fellow bloggers. So tell me who you are already! :) (but really if you want to remain hush hush and incognito that is fine with me too - I am just happy you visit my blog) :)!

A Few of My Favorite Blogs

To update you on the status of my Google Reader use I checked my trends today and found this short overview about my usage: "From your 324 subscriptions, over the last 30 days you read 14,388 items, starred 177 items, shared 35 items, and emailed 43 items."

Needless to say, I like Google Reader. I find it to be a very useful way to keep track of my favorite blogs, to find new blogs through my favorites and to organize and compile of my favorite posts through starred items and tags. I am keeping a tagged list of posts about gardening to help me out this spring with the new garden my husband and I are planning, tags about crafts and things I would like to try to make eventually, tags about cool design ideas or resources, and on and on.

Here is a list of my favorites:

Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary - it always brightens my day to read about Steve and Alayne's latest efforts

Hostess with the Mostest Blog - great for entertaining tips and ideas

Robin's Nesting Place - great gardening ideas and inspirations from a fellow Central Indiana resident

GiggleSugar - always good for a laugh or a pick me up during the day

Worst.Mama.Ever. - I am not a mom yet, but these stories still make me laugh :)

Itty Bitty Kitty Committee - another great website to warm the heart

Design Sponge - amazing

Creative Curio - Learn, discuss and explore the realm of Graphic Design.

Stumbleupon

My newest discovery and latest addiction - Stumbleupon! According to Wikipedia StumbleUpon is a web browser plugin that allows its users to discover and rate webpages, photos, videos, and news articles. These webpages are typically presented when the user—known within the community as a Stumbler—clicks the "Stumble!" button on the browser's toolbar. StumbleUpon chooses which new webpage to display based on the user's ratings of previous pages, ratings by his/her friends, and by the ratings of users with similar interests. i.e. it is a recommendation system which uses peer and social networking principles. There is also one-click blogging built in as well. Users can rate, or choose not to rate, any webpage with a thumbs up or thumbs down, and clicking the Stumble button resembles "channel-surfing" the web. Toolbar versions exist for Firefox, Mozilla Application Suite and Internet Explorer, but also works with some independent Mozilla-based browsers.

This web browser plugin is very handy for moments of boredom on the internet. If you want to find something cool but do not know where to start - start with Stumbleupon. You sign up for a free account, enter in your interests, download the plugin for your browser, and then it the Stumble! button and it takes you to a website that matches one of your interests. Very cool! You can also rate the sites that pull up as being good or bad...etc. I found some pretty interesting things this way and saved myself from boredom on several occasions. :)

Here are my latest finds!

The Story of Charlie the Cat - very heartwarming!

A Real Fairy Tale Home

Inspiredology

Forget E-vite, Think Pingg!

I have always shuddered a little when I received an e-invitation via E-vite and just about fainted when I actually considered using the program myself. HORRID - that is all I have to say - horrid by way of design and there is NO WAY to work around their terrible templates - I've try to customize my way out of it and ended up giving up and just sending a jpg of my printed invite via email to my friends.

But TechCrunch enlightened me to today about a new free invitation website out there called Pingg and, boy, does it look a world of a lot better than anything E-vite could ever create.

Finally, a simple, easy AND well-designed e-vite system. Can't wait to try it out for myself!

Great Website Find

Great little online shop I stumbled upon today - the Curiosity Shoppe: Crafts, Kits & Curios for the Creatively Inclined. They have all sorts of marvelous little items.

Random Web Searches

I use the web a lot and it is rather funny to sit down and take note of the searches I make in any one day. For example, today I searched the following:

1. Venus Fly Traps
Yup, that is right my friend - venus fly traps. I bought one for my husband after seeing one at Kroger of all places and we have replanted it into a little terrarium of sorts and it is really thriving - I was expecting it to die within a few days..well, it isn't and I wanted to learn more about their care etc.

2. Herron School of Art Alumni Association & Board
I will be attending one of their meetings next week and wanted to know more about their role at IUPUI and Herron and the kind of activities and program they promote, etc.

3. Pure Simplicity
At the Bath and Body Works Semi-Annual Sale hidden away by itself on a 75% table I found my favorite face wash of all time - Rice Pure Simplicity Skin Balancing Face Wash - it smells so great and keeps my skin looking amazing. I thought that Bath and Body Works had discontinued the line long ago and low and behold there it was! After speaking with a store associate it sounded like they would not be carrying the product any longer - so I am Googling it see if I can't find alternative locations to buy this great wash. Sadly, I am not having a whole lot of luck in that search.

Converting Paperweight from LBS to GSM
Recently got a new printer at work and have been having issues with it left and right - especially in reference to printing on cardstock - which was never a problem on our older model printer - not to mention that the new printer labels all paper weights using GSM and my paper is labeled in LBs. So I have to convert the weights to see if the paper I have in stock with be new-printer-friendly or not.
Here is site I used to find my conversion table. - PaperMojo.com

It Pays to Have an Opinion - Quite Literally

For quite awhile now I have been getting involved with many online survey programs, opinion based websites, etc. Being the Marketing Department for where I work, I understand how important it is to have feedback and how very hard it is to get anyone to actually give it you sometimes - even if you ask - several times. Usually no one is going to comment unless they are really perturbed about something or really blown away about how awesome it was. But those are skewed results, you are ALWAYS going to have those people at both ends of the spectrum. After having sent out a few surveys of my own at work and realizing how hard it is to get anyone to respond I try to be sure to participate in any of the surveys that are sent my way - surveys for events I attend, services I use, etc - because now I know how hard it is to get feedback and I know how valuable it is. Valuable not only to those collecting it but also to me. In fact, I signed up for an e-rewards program that actually takes your profile and finds different surveys that are relevant to you - and they pay you for each one you fill out - I am up to $60 in e-rewards so far! Now granted, I can only redeem this money as "points." For example, I can cash in $15 of my points for $15 in rewards bucks at Borders - BUT you can only do that once in a year - kind of a little snag there since I could easily use all $60 of my points at Border and there isn't really anywhere else I want to use my points. The other programs are kinda "eh" - for example, I can cash in $50 of my rewards bucks for 10% off a purchase of $200 or more at some jewelry place - not really something I am even remotely interested in doing there folks - but they are adding more ways to redeem your points all the time so I guess I will just keep adding up my moolah and pray for the day they add Starbucks Points or Target Points or something.

What brought this whole post on was something I got in the mail today at work. It was $5 Starbucks Card sent to me from a company whose survey I just recently filled out. I honestly cannot remember what survey it was or if I actually even filled it out but I am overjoyed at my shiny new card and a my free hot drink awaiting me at the closest Starbucks - Tazo Chi Tea here I come!

So next time someone asks for your opinion - give it to them - it is worth more than you think - literally.

Another survey site I enjoy and you should too!
www.yelp.com

Google Reader is MARVELOUS

I enjoy reading blogs. I have friends who write blogs and blogs that cover my favorite interests - but I was never very good at checking them regularly. Often I would forget the url or just forget about them. I had known about RSS feeds and what they are and had heard of RSS Feed readers that allow you to subscribe to all sorts of RSS feeds and allows you the read them all in one place. But until I signed up my for Gmail account I had never really found a format I liked or wanted to take the time to set up. Then I found Gmail, iGoogle, Blogger, Google Documents and Google Calendar and was impressed - everything I ever wanted to do on the web accessible from one place. I can log into my Gmail from that page I can go to my Google Documents containing word and excel documents editable from any internet browser, and my Google Calendar where I can keep track of everything from one page online instead of trying to fight with syncing my iCalendar from my Mac to my online account. Well, one day I was exploring the many capabilities that a Google account has and found Google Reader. And now I am addicted. I have 223 subscriptions, and over the last 30 days I have read 12,286 items, starred 390 items, shared 6 items, and emailed 15 items. It is crazy. I have subscriptions to knitting blogs, friends blogs, rss feeds streamed in from newspapers, Facebook, and MSNBC. I am an avid subscriber to blogs about design, shopping, living green, fonts, fitness and health, Martha Stewart, gadgets, and more. And everyday, it seems I find something else I want to subscribe to. One really nice thing about Google Reader is that it frees up my email. If I can subscribe to an RSS feed from an enewsletter and read it from Google Reader instead of having it delivered to my inbox - I can save my email for communication to friends, family and work instead and rely on Google Reader for all my random newsletter subscriptions and news updates (well, at this the ones that have that capability). It saves time by allowing me to view all my favorite blogs from one webpage instead of having to visit 223 different urls I can see them all on one page. And I can star posts I like for future reference, email them with one click, or share them. While it saves time on one hand it also has created and ENORMOUS distraction for me. Instead of checking maybe 10 blogs every now and then, I now check 223 and I spend about an hour a day doing so. It is almost a game now, I see that I have 539 unread posts and I keep scrolling and scrolling through them all until there are none unread. It is an addiction I tell you! But I love it! It has brought the world of blogs and rss feeds to my finger tips and I find myself learning something new everyday and keeping more up-to-date on what is going on in the world.