A Year in Review

So, today is December 30th 2015 - aka New Year's Eve-Eve, which means 2015 is almost over. It is also special for one other reason. Today also marks 10 years of togetherness with Sam! 10 years ago today he asked me, "Do you wanna like, be my girlfriend?" and I responded, "Sure!" Best decision I ever made. Sam is my best friend and my rock and I can't imagine life without him. Even though these "anniversaries" don't count now that we're married, I'm going to say it anyway - Here's to the next 10! <3

2015 has been a great year overall, of course there are always things that happen that just plain suck, but let's just stick to the positives. This year: Sam got a new job that he LOVES, where he can use his creativity and skills and I'm so super duper happy for him. In addition to that, we had a jam packed summer of visiting friends and family, traveled to Cape Cod, we had breakfast with Marc Maron, bought an iMac, bought a house, went to our 10 year high school reunion, saw lots of live music, met lots of new babies, wait - did I really say bought a house?!

That's right. I did and I still can't believe it. Last year, I wrote a list of things to accomplish in 2015 - here is a refresher:

1. Get better at blogging!!!!! I'm not afraid to admit that sometimes, I just don't know what to write about. Other times, it gets put on the back burner and by the time I go to write a post the topic is no longer relevant. No joke. I still have written on my "to do" list to blog about my camping trip from JULY. Sorry, friends.....guess you'll have to wait for next year's camping trip.

2. Create more designs! This is a give in. There will always be another design to make. My sketchbook is filled with ideas that are just waiting to come to life. 

3. One goal that I'm so, so hopeful to obtain is to reach 100 sales by my first Etsyversary. This is a goal I set when I first opened my shop and it remains. My Etsyversary is April 29th and as of today, I'm at 60 sales. 40 more to go...eek! I still think this is obtainable, but I'm beginning to have my   
doubts.

4. SAVE SAVE SAVE!!!!! Sam and I have been saving to buy a house for years and years. With the mountain of student loan debt we have between the two of us, and things popping up like car repairs and weddings, and amazing trips to California, this is no easy feat. We have decided to really get serious this time (like we haven't said that before) and try to cut back on frivolous spending and just save. Anyone that knows us, knows that we aren't really frivolous spenders to begin with, I freaking LOVE a good bargain, but there is always room for improvement.

5. Did I mention that my 10 year high school reunion is this summer? Maybe I'll finally get those Carrie Underwood legs or maybe improve my volleyball skills, or do something cool like invent something like Romy and Michelle did before their high school reunion. 

6. Read more books! I love to read, but usually I'll read one book as fast as I can and then go weeks before reading the next one. It'd be nice to be a bit more consistent and read a little at a time, all the time, like normal humans do. Also, it'd be nice to up my Jeopardy game a bit.

I thought when I wrote this list that I was overreaching, but turns out that I wasn't at all. Okay, so I didn't read as many books as I wanted or write as many blog posts as I wanted (we all know that) and I will always want to add more designs to the shop. With that said, I did create new designs, I did read some books, and I did get some blog posts out - these are things I'll always want to be better at. Also, it turns out my volleyball skills aren't too bad either because I definitely wasn't the worst one at our reunion. I'll consider that a success. Big things are, I did reach my goal of 100 orders, which is huge for me, and we were able to save enough to buy our first house!

Speaking of the house, in my last post I mentioned how crazy it has been lately...with the actual process of buying a house, then closing on it, packing up the apartment we've lived in for 6 years, then moving and unpacking, in addition to the holiday madness, working full-time, working on orders, and being a cat mom of two. The house is still kind of a mess. Most of our clothes are in garbage bags, while we have been trying to find a new dresser set. Needless to say I've rocked some interesting outfits the past week or two that may or may not have been clean. The to-do list is never ending, but I'm sure it will always be. The important part is that it's OUR house and we're in it together and it's just an amazing thing. Cheers to that!
Now, over the next couple of days I'll work on a new potentially unobtainable list for 2016 and seriously put my clothes away.

Talk to you soon!

-- Alison --

We bought a house!

It's me again, your long lost friend who's not really great about keeping up with this blog. At least I kind of have an excuse. The past several months, Sam and I have been house hunting. We weren't planning on buying anything until the spring because who wants to move in the winter? Well, turns out....we do!

Our realtor found us the perfect little house chocked full of charm and character and wait for it..... a wood burning fireplace! We fell in love with it and decided to jump on it. The holidays are stressful and busy enough, adding the process of buying our first house, working full-time, celebrating birthdays, Thanksgiving, packing, and moving has been interesting. Good news is, it's almost over! Closing day is Thursday and then we can move in and get settled-ish in time for Christmas. Cross your fingers this freakishly warm weather hangs in there through the weekend and we don't get a giant blizzard.

This might also be a good time to share that I most likely won't be baking any Christmas cookies. I hope I'm still invited to Christmas.

So, not that it hasn't been quiet already...the next few weeks will continue to be while we get unpacked and settled in. It's been tough to try and come up with new designs with all of this stuff going on, so I'm excited to get back to the grind once we are moved in.

The house is pretty much move-in ready, but there are a few projects I have in mind to put our touch on it. I plan to post some before and after shots, but that will all depend on how our good our diy skills end up being...ha!

So, stay tuned!

-- Alison --

Hotel Welcome Bag

Have I mentioned how much I love what I do lately? No? Yes? Well guess what, I'm gonna say it again. This job rocks.

A lovely bride ordered her wedding invitations from me recently (these ones!) and then asked if I could make some matching items to put in a hotel welcome bag for her guests. I'm not sure if you've seen this idea on Pinterest, but I LOVE the idea. Actually, I love the idea so much that it's something I did at my wedding. :) Our guests were so happy to have a few little snacks and drinks waiting in their rooms for them when they checked in (and also when they returned to their rooms after hitting the open bar). They were also super fun to put together.

If you Google or Pinterest "hotel welcome bag" or something similar, one million different versions of this will pop up. I was going to link the pin I used as a go-by, but it appears to be broken, so here is the photo from the pin.

When we put ours together, we used simple kraft paper bags with a baggage tag that said something witty, I'm sure, to match our "vintage hotel" theme. Inside there were: two water bottles, an apple, assorted bags of chips, a bag of candy, a couple of homemade cookies (if you know our family, you know this was a must have), and that's all I can remember right now. They were a huge hit!

The awesome bride that is making these for her guests is really going all out. She asked me to design custom water bottle labels, custom stickers to put on the packages, a cute little welcome note, and - my favorite - a caricature drawing of her and her fiancé to stick on the outside of the bag. I'm so excited for how they all came out and think they will be a great addition to her welcome bags!

Water Bottle Label

Welcome Note

Stickers

And....Drumroll..

ddddddd ddddddd

dddddddddd


ddddddddddd

ddddddd
ddddddd



ddddddd

dddddddd




dddddddd


ddddddddd

Caricature Sticker for Outside of Bag

So, if you're planning a wedding and there's a hotel involved - keep this idea in mind! It's a small little detail that your guests will truly appreciate and you can have a blasty blast putting it together.

-- Alison --

Do the thing.

It's really amazing how quickly time passes. It's almost the end of August, which makes me really sad because this was the fastest summer ever and there was so much that I wanted to do that I didn't. However...fall is pretty sweet, so I'm kind of looking forward to it. Pumpkin everything is almost upon us.

Since my last post, a lot has happened. Sam and I have continued to live as movers and shakers and have had plans nearly every single weekend. Sam also got a new job, which has been a long time coming and he couldn't deserve it more. I've managed to squeak out one new wedding invitation design which you can find here, which is less than what I was hoping for, but I'm super happy with how it came out so at least there's that!

More recently, things have happened that have really rocked my world. I've lost a dear friend, one of my oldest and first friends. Over the past few years, we hadn't seen each other much, but had always remained in contact and when we saw each other it was as if no time had passed. We were still little kids dressed up as princesses waving to cars in her front yard or in high school writing in each other's yearbooks about being bffs 4lyf and then falling apart and then regaining our friendship, and then going to college together and seeing each other nearly every weekend at house parties and just laughing our asses off. There will never be anyone else like her. She was truly unique. She was so full of life and not afraid of anything.

The shock of her passing has really got me thinking about things. Life is so freaking short and if you want to make something happen, do it. Or at the very least try your freaking hardest. So, with that said. I really want to put everything I have into The Invitation Oven. This little shop is my dream. It's more than a job, it's something that I'm passionate about and would LOVE to do all day every day. It's knowing that every order I process is a little piece of paper announcing someone's special day and spreading that joy with their friends and families and random people they have to invite because that's how it goes. It's so special and intimate to be involved in these milestone events and I love every second of it.

With that in mind, I'd like to say thank you to my friend. Thank you for showing me how fragile life is and how you should make your time here matter.

So, dear reader, whatever your thing is...do it!

Here's to making things happen!

-- Alison --

Lately. June Edition.

So, turns out it's June 26th, which means...June is almost over and I haven't written a single blog post this month! Time to change that.

June has been freaking crazy. Actually, we have been running around pretty much non-stop since Memorial Day weekend. I kind of made a mistake this winter, while I was cooped up inside going stir-crazy - I sort of planned a lot of summer activities. We have been all over the place this month, which means we have spent little time at home. Which is good. It's important to get out there and do things! But... the sweatpants-wearing, Netflix-watching, chip-eating part of me misses the couch a bit. Good news is, the next couple of weeks are pretty wide open and there will be lots of time for that, as well as hopefully creating some new designs.

So. Want to know what we've been up to this month?

Here's a run down:

The first weekend of June, we were supposed to go on a long weekend boat trip with my bro, Dave. Unfortunately, the day before we were supposed to sail out...one of the engines stopped working and it was going to be a week before it could get fixed. So, after stewing over what to do for a couple of hours we decided that we'd head to Cape Cod. None of us had ever been there, so we went for it. Good decision.

We took our time driving out there, we stopped at a bunch of little towns along the way until we made it to our final destination of Provincetown. What a lovely place. I love the houses there and all of the gardens. Every single house has shaker shingles and rhododendrons, and they are all so cute and quaint. We spent a lot of time walking down the main drag, going into some cute (and....just...weird) shops. We flew kites on the beach, ate lobster rolls, raw oysters, clams. We went to a karaoke bar that had a drag queen DJ. We climbed to the top of the Pilgrim Monument (which is 252 ft, by the way). This is where I realized that I'm much more afraid of heights than I originally thought. Oops. Shortly after we did this we headed over to the Breakwater Walkway, which I had noticed on the drive into town. It's this walkway that stretched across the bay over to this beachy area with two light houses on it. We got there and began walking... from the road it looked pretty easy. It looked rocky, but flat, and it didn't really look that far. We began walking - in flip flops and no water. I was wearing skinny jeans. We quickly learned that this may have been a mistake. The walkway was made up of giant rocks that weren't completely touching, so there were big gaps in between that we had to jump over. There was climbing and careful footwork, and just a lot more nimble cat-like moves than we had planned on. Oh, and also - we learned that it was 1.5 miles.. one way. We made it across. Thirsty and tired, but we were happy that we made it. We trudged around the beaches there for a while and took in some of the sights. We hadn't noticed how lovely it was on the walk over since we had to look down the whole time. It was a beautiful, sunny day. There were two light houses, which were way farther away than we thought - so we admired them from a distance. After spending a while there, we decided to head back. That's when someone said to us "Hey, did you guys notice all of this poison ivy?" We had not, but we realized that we had definitely been walking around in it the entire time. This really just reminded us of how unprepared we were for this adventure and that we had to walk back across those rocks another 1.5 miles. Even though it wasn't rainbows and butterflies the whole time, I would do it again. Mental note: next time - wear sneakers, shorts, and bring a freaking drink.

Okay, I guess I wanted to tell you more about our Cape Cod trip that I knew before I started writing. Here is a quick rundown of the other things:

- Memorial Day weekend we spent in Cambridge, MA visiting friends from college. They took us to Harvard Square, where we ate a ton of awesome food, went to a record shop, explored the stunning Harvard campus. We went into Boston for a bit for dinner and a had quick walk through the Boston Public Garden. My favorite activity was kayaking down the St. Charles River. That was so fun. I have done plenty of kayaking, but never any "urban kayaking." 

- My aunt Paula (Paula Who?) did stand up at a comedy show at the Kallet Theater in Oneida. She was so great. She was by FAR the best one that performed that night. The whole place was cracking up. Plus, she ended with a McAllister dance party. Who doesn't love that?

- We saw Mike Gordon at the Papermill Island, which is like.... RIGHT down the street from our house. Mike gave Sam and I high fives. No big deal. The show was great. They had touch screen pads at the front of the stage that lit up during a couple songs and you could play along. They also had LED guitars.

- The day after the concert, we headed to Doylestown, PA to visit our other friends from college. We spent that Saturday tubing down the Delaware River, being all like George Washington. We each blew up our tube. (Just kidding. Sam pretty much blew up everyone's tube.) They also had a floating cooler! We put that in the center and tied up to it, so we were one big floating party. It was so fun. If you have never been tubing - do it!!!! It's so, so fun. All you need are two cars, tubes, and a few hours to do nothing, but relax.

- And, lastly, just this week we went to see Todd Snyder at the Westcott in Syracuse. He had an opener, John Craigie who was SO GOOD. I loved him. His stories and songs were hilarious and he was super talented to boot. Todd, of course, was great. I don't know a ton of his songs, but Sam knew every single one. I had never been to a concert like that. It wasn't really the type of music to dance to (which is a relief for me). It was so casual, everyone sat down and just listened to his words and appreciated his talent. Definitely go see him!

So. Here we are now. It's been a crazy past few weeks. I'm ready to do nothing this weekend and all of this travel has given me a ton of inspiration for some new designs. Stay tuned for those! :)

What have you been up to so far this summer? What are you looking forward to doing that you haven't done yet? Let me know in the comments!


-- Alison --

High School Reunion

What a crazy month this has been! The shop is busier than ever and I'm loving every second of it. While I have it on my mind, I'm going to tell you about a cool project that I was working on a few posts ago, but couldn't elaborate on. 

Well, guess what - now I can!

This summer is going to be my 10 year high school reunion. How time flies. I'm definitely more anxious than excited at this point, but the planning committee has done a freaking awesome job organizing it. There is going to be a band, a photo booth, drinks, food, games, and beer! (Thank God.) Maybe I'll actually write about it in my blog after and tell you how it goes, or maybe I'll have it on the "to do" list and it will be our 20 year reunion before I get around to posting it. You know how good I am at posting regularly! ha

Anyway. The planning committee approached me about designing the invitations for the reunion. OF COURSE I said yes! I was honored and excited to take on this project and I think they came out pretty great, but am still not totally believing that this is a real thing. Right? Didn't we just graduate?

As for the design, I thought maybe I could incorporate the school mascot but remembered our school was stripped of it’s mascot when we were seniors (we used to be the Oneida Indians) and I don’t think it was ever replaced with anything. So, we are now the Oneida Nothings. So, to keep it “school spirity” I just used our colors – orange and blue – and went for a simple, yet fun design. I even got to throw in a witty one-liner, so was real happy about that.

We had originally decided on a 5x7” invitation with a separate 4x6” RSVP card, but then decided to do something a little more efficient. We ended up with one piece that could be folded up and mailed out, no envelopes necessary. (Thank you to Michele for doing the folding, addressing, taping, and mailing!) The invitation was the top half and the RSVP was a postcard on the bottom half, separated by a perforated line. All that guests will have to do is tear off the RSVP, stick a stamp on it and mail it back. Which reminds me… I should probably mail ours in. Oops. 

These were kind of difficult to photograph, since they are such a unique layout, but they give you an idea at least. Nadine's address was also blurred out for her privacy. I know all of you readers wanted to mail her flowers for doing all this hard work, but you will have to find another way.

-- Alison --

The Invitation Oven turns ONE!

Today is a freaking awesome day. Here's a run down:

1. I went to the dentist. Why is this a good thing, you ask? Because I'm a freak and I enjoy going to the dentist. Mostly because I'm 27 years old and have never had a cavity (okay, in my adult teeth.. baby teeth is another story). Every time I go to the dentist and he says "you have lovely teeth, see you in 6 months" it amazes me. My luck will end someday, but for now I will enjoy my cavity free ride.

2. After the dentist, I treated myself to Dunkin Donuts. Ordering anything from Dunkin Donuts is a gamble because they NEVER EVER get your order right. It doesn't matter what you order or which Dunkin Donuts it is, either. One time Sam ordered a bagel with "half the amount of cream cheese you normally put on." What did they give him? A bagel with cream cheese on half of it. I'm talking like a half moon cookie. My other favorite is ordering a "large coffee and a medium coffee" and getting one extra large coffee and two mediums. Anyway. Today, I got my bagel with cream cheese and my coffee (don't tell my dentist) and it was perfect.

3. I actually like my outfit today. Lately, I'm on a maxi dress / skirt kick. This is kind of unfortunate because I'm short and it's hard to find one that isn't meant for a 7 foot tall woman. Maxi skirts are an illusion. They make it look like you tried to look nice, but you actually feel like you are wrapped in a blanket. Might I say that they trump sweatpants??? Because you know, they aren't pants! Nobody likes pants.

4. During my lunch break, I went to the park and ran 2 miles. This makes me super happy because I got to be outside on this gorgeous 69°F day with bright blue skies and sunshine. It also makes me happy because I haven't been able to run at all the past two weeks because of having bronchitis. Man, it feels good to be able to breathe again!

5. All of these things are amazing on their own, but the main reason why today is so wonderful is that it's my first Etsyversary!!!!!!!!!

The Invitation Oven is now 1!

Ah! I'm such a proud mom. This year has been such a learning experience for me and I have loved every second of it. I love being a part of the Etsy community and working with the most creative and amazing customers. And..... as I've mentioned to you, when I opened my shop I made the ambitious goal of 100 sales by my first Etsyversary.  WELL, not only have I met this goal, I exceeded it! As of this second, I have 134 sales. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported my shop and listened to me blab on and on about invitations this year. I can't wait to see what this next year brings! :)

-- Alison --

Purrfect Desktop Background

As some of you may know, Sam loves two things more than anything. First - our record player. After listening to Sam hint about how much he'd like a record player in the months leading up to our first anniversary, I decided that would be the most perfect gift to get him. To top it off, I got him "The White Album," which had our first dance song on it. Nothing like listening to your first dance song to bring back that awkward moment of not knowing how to dance in front of everyone you know. Hey, at least we were in it together.

The second thing Sam loves the most are these two little men:

Moose Orangecat and Charles Skywalker Bucket

Last weekend was Record Store Day. Unfortunately, I have had bronchitis for the past 13 days so we were unable to attend. So, to make up for it I made Sam this fun little desktop background. I thought I'd share it with you all in case you are all in need of a new wallpaper! Let me know what you think of it in the comments! I'd also love to know if you found any treasures on Record Store Day!

Click for full size (1920 x 1080)

That's it for now. I have to go start stretching my legs for the kidney walk tomorrow!

-- Alison --

Lately. March Edition.

I was feeling inspired to write a post today and then realized that I have little to nothing new to mention to you. Except for the following:

1. Sam and I welcomed a new member to the Kenyon – Orangecat – Bucket family.

Meet Mac. He has settled into his new home quite nicely. We’re just loving him. I guess the “impulsive buyer” beat out the “saver” once again. Good news is. This wasn’t really a splurge. This was a calculated and justified purchase. Okay...maybe I'm still trying to justify it. Mostly, it was a reward for reaching my goal of 100 sales. Not only reaching it, reaching it over a month before my first Etsyversary. The shop has been quite busy the past few months and I’m loving every minute of it!

2. Last weekend we went out to the booming metropolis of Webster, NY with Dave, my bro, to see Marc Maron at The Comedy Club. We weren’t sure what to think when we first walked in. You have to walk through a bar called, “Daisy Dukes,” to get to the comedy club. Now. If you have ever been to the Daisy Dukes in Syracuse, this bar is EXACTLY the same (sans mechanical bull, which is good – especially if you are there for your bachelorette party wearing a thrift store wedding dress and approached repeatedly by creepy dudes asking you to ride it with them… I have said too much. I don’t know anything about that.) Even the logo could pass as the logo for the Syracuse Daisy Dukes. Upon receiving our round of stale beers, we asked about it and turns out – Nope! No relation. I’m telling you about this for a reason. Hang in there.

So, the doors open and we get seated pretty darn close to the stage. The actual comedy club is really nice. It’s cozy and comfortable. Intimate, I’d say. The opener was great. His name is escaping me at the moment. Then Marc came out. So good. So funny. He discussed everything from ice cream to cats to his childhood (at the request of some drunk lady in the crowd). I loved it. He made a joke referencing a sewing convention that was going on at the hotel he was staying at. Crazy thing is there was a sewing convention going on at the hotel we were staying at, too! We were at the same hotel.  I believe my face was just a smile, no other features, through the entire show.

After the show, we stood in the meet and greet line. Sam and I got a photo with Marc, introduced ourselves, and tried our best to blurt out witty one-liners. We were able to convey that we had also noticed the sewing convention. The sewing convention was no joke. They were there all day. They were still there after midnight when I went to the front desk to get a toothbrush. My mind was obviously blinded by excitement while packing and I forgot mine.

The following morning, we went down to get our share of the luke warm, plastic looking continental breakfast, when in comes Mr. Maron! He stopped at our table and we chatted for a while. We talked about Daisy Dukes and the band that played after the show. Marc described it as “Tragic. Like a one woman dancing kind of thing.” Which was so accurate. Perfectly said.  We also got another photo with him in front of…you guessed it…the sewing convention. (Pardon my hair. I also forgot my hairbrush.)

Later that night, I was catching up on Girls and he was randomly in the episode. I thought “No big deal, we had breakfast with him this morning.”

It was such a great weekend.

3. Turns out I had a lot more to say about #2 than I thought. The last thing I wanted to mention (now that you are wondering if you are still reading my post or have you been reading War and Peace?) is that I have been working on a really cool project lately. I can’t quite share it with you yet, but I will soon! :)

Stay tuned, readers!

-- Alison --

Monty Python Invitation

Hello there!

I hope you're all staying warm and cozy during this exceptionally crappy winter we've been having. If you're reading this from somewhere warm, I don't think we can be friends right now.

My area is no stranger to getting a lot of snow, but it seems that ever since the Superbowl it's been non-stop. We are running out of places to put the snow in our yard and there are piles of it that are taller than me! It's crazy. To say I'm ready for Spring would be an understatement.

Good news is that I have been too busy to notice any cabin fever the winter tends to cause. You guys have been amazing! As of today, I'm at 88 sales. That's only 12 away from my goal of 100 by my first Etsyversary! I don't want to count my chickens before they're hatched, but I'm starting to feel super confident that I'm going to reach my goal!!!!!! :D :D Cross your fingers for me! And maybe your toes, too.

I've had the privilege to work on some really cool stuff lately and I wanted to share with you one of my most favorite projects to date. I was contacted by a friend of mine, Jill. She is having a joint 30th birthday party this summer with her husband, Tim. This is not just any party though. It's a Monty Python theme. I have to be honest - I have only seen The Holy Grail and I think that was in my 6th grade class - which looking back seems super inappropriate. I know, tisk tisk. These are CLASSIC movies that EVERYONE loves, so I really should watch them all. While we are on the subject, I might as well tell you that I didn't see Star Wars until I was 26. Even then it was the first three movies. I haven't even seen the other three. So, I guess I just kind of suck.

Anyway. Jill asked if I could illustrate some of her favorite characters and create a design that is similar to the Halloween invitation that I made with the critters dressed up in costumes. Here is a close-up of each character that Jill requested:

Knights of Ni

 




The Black Knight

(post "flesh wound")

Patsy

(with coconuts)

Tim the Enchanter

And, finally, the "Dead Guy" who isn't really dead

And here is the whole invitation (with some changes to her personal info, of course).

-- Alison --

Immediate Satisfaction

Today, I'm trying my best to stick with my resolution (or well.. one of them) to blog more. I don't have much to share right now other than my current thoughts. This week, I'm having an inner struggle that seems to resurface every so often: 

immediate satisfaction vs. long-term satisfaction

There are times in life when you just need to jump into something spontaneously and other times when you need to sit down and think about it. Sometimes I have a hard time with that and can be a bit impulsive. Examples of this: in college while filling out yet another student loan application, the little voice comes in and says "go ahead, Alison, take out a little extra! You need it NOW - don't worry about the next 20 years of your life paying this back tenfold. You should really go shopping instead... RIGHT NOW!" Or "Girl, switch it up - GET BANGS! Don't worry, you will look just like Taylor Swift!"

I don't feel like I'm alone in this, though. Right? ... Doesn't everyone struggle with this?

As I've mentioned, (and even listed it as another resolution - ha) Sam and I want to buy a house. Like, real bad. We're trying to save our pennies and we've been really good about it. Until... duh duh duh.... Sam's laptop dies. We're now sharing a computer and it's terribly inconvenient.

So, what does my brain immediately go to? "OH!!! This is actually great! A blessing in disguise! LET'S BUY A SUPER FANCY IMAC!!!!! WE NEED IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!" "We won't be able to buy one once we have a house, anyway - since you know, all of the money will be gone!" I mean, we kinda do need another computer and I've always wanted a mac.... why wait!? Life is short? Right? ORRRR do we do the smart thing and just suck it up, take turns with the laptop, save the potentially $2000 a mac could cost and put it in the house fund instead?

Sigh. Making decisions is hard. And yes. I do realize what a first world problem this is.

At least this weekend my mom and I are going to the SPA! Yes, my fabulous brother got us a gift card to get massages. After reading the description for the massage we are getting, I have no cares left in the world. Forget everything else I said and just read this:

THAI POULTICE MASSAGE

80-Minute

Let tensions drift away while you enjoy an unforgettable traditional hot Thai massage, unchanged since Thailand's Ayutthaya period (14th century), when a hot pack was administered to soldiers returning home from war with muscle aches and bruises.The cloth poultice, filled with all organic green tea, lemongrass, rosemary, lavender and spruce will open pores and impart a deep medicinal heat to your muscles, releasing tensions and revitalizing your entire body. After the poultice application, you will be treated to a Royal Thai and Aromatherapy Massage with peppermint and mandarin essential oils. Popular with athletes, this wonderful treatment is especially beneficial for anyone experiencing soreness due to physical activity or stress.

ALSO, the super bowl is this weekend. Which means, squares. I'll probably hit it big with my squares and then buy ALL THE THINGS. Nothing to worry about.

-- Alison --

Happy New Year!

Hey, friends!

It's me again, your long lost pal, here to wish you a very happy new year! It's been a whirlwind over here lately. I've just been plugging away with the daily routine and then BAM it was Christmas and then... New Year's! Time just seems to be flying by, it's nuts. Do you realize that it's now 2015? I mean - my 10 year high school reunion is this summer! Sigh.

Since it's a new year, I've put together a list of things I'd like to work on. Last year, my goal was to start up The Invitation Oven. Sure, I didn't get to actually opening up my Etsy shop until the last day in April, but hey.... I did it! Soon to follow would be launching my very own website, creating over 30 brand new invitation designs, and making it to 60 sales! I'm super proud of myself for how far I've come in just the past few months, but with that said I have so much more to do.

Here are some things I'd like to work on this year:

1. Get better at blogging!!!!! I'm not afraid to admit that sometimes, I just don't know what to write about. Other times, it gets put on the back burner and by the time I go to write a post the topic is no longer relevant. No joke. I still have written on my "to do" list to blog about my camping trip from JULY. Sorry, friends.....guess you'll have to wait for next year's camping trip.

2. Create more designs! This is a give in. There will always be another design to make. My sketchbook is filled with ideas that are just waiting to come to life. 

3. One goal that I'm so, so hopeful to obtain is to reach 100 sales by my first Etsyversary. This is a goal I set when I first opened my shop and it remains. My Etsyversary is April 29th and as of today, I'm at 60 sales. 40 more to go...eek! I still think this is obtainable, but I'm beginning to have my doubts.

4. SAVE SAVE SAVE!!!!! Sam and I have been saving to buy a house for years and years. With the mountain of student loan debt we have between the two of us, and things popping up like car repairs and weddings, and amazing trips to California, this is no easy feat. We have decided to really get serious this time (like we haven't said that before) and try to cut back on frivolous spending and just save. Anyone that knows us, knows that we aren't really frivolous spenders to begin with, I freaking LOVE a good bargain, but there is always room for improvement.

5. Did I mention that my 10 year high school reunion is this summer? Maybe I'll finally get those Carrie Underwood legs or maybe improve my volleyball skills, or do something cool like invent something like Romy and Michelle did before their high school reunion. 

6. Read more books! I love to read, but usually I'll read one book as fast as I can and then go weeks before reading the next one. It'd be nice to be a bit more consistent and read a little at a time, all the time, like normal humans do. Also, it'd be nice to up my Jeopardy game a bit.

What about you? What are your goals for the year? Let me know in the comments!

And incase you missed my Facebook post. I'm currently offering 15% off in celebration of the new year! Check out the coupon below.

-- Alison --