Currents:

Currently listening to: Twilight Soundtrack (Favorite Track: Flightless Bird, Iron & Wine)

Currently reading: Breaking Dawn (4th book in Twilight Series)

Currently watching: Clips from Twilight


And an obsession is born....

Prince Edward Island

I use SiteMeter to track visitors to my website, and recently someone from Prince Edward Island - an island in Canada, near Nova Scotia- visited my site. I know most of you are probably like "Ok, big deal, get a life" UNTIL I tell you that I would DIE to get to go to Prince Edward Island (also know as PEI) for SO many reasons...

1- That is where Anne of Green Gables was set and filmed (one of my all time favorite books and movies!)
2- It is an absolutely beautiful island with coasts, cliffs, fields, lakes, etc... they are breathtaking!
3- I have thought for a while that if I ever get married, I might like to honeymoon on the island, and/or, if I was to ever write a book, I would want to rent a little cottage in the middle of nowhere on the island and isolate myself and just write and live, enjoying all the island has to offer!
4-I think there are other reasons, I am just such a spazz about it!

So to WHOEVER YOU ARE! from PEI, thank you for visiting my blog, I hope you enjoyed it, and I REALLY hope to visit your amazing island one day!

Its Been A While...

Its been a while since I last posted, and a major reason for that is my new job, that keeps me exhausted all the time! I started working at the City Hospital at a "tray passer" delivering trays to patients rooms. The job starts at 6 in the morning, and I walk mile after mile each day, until 2:30. Therefore, I go to bed sometime between 7 and 8pm... I know, pathetic. Its a steady job, and the hospital has great perks, but it is definitely exhausting. So because of all this walking, this is what happened:



Also, because of all the walking and sweating each day at work, I have been losing more and more weight, and of this morning, my total weight loss since May is 26 lbs! I haven't weighed this for almost 4 years. Its a great feeling to know that I am disciplined enough to be healthy and get some exercise (some at the hospital, and some through Curves!). Lately things have been looking up, and that is such a good thing :)

Bacon Brownies?

If you look at ONLY ONE MORE web page today, please look at this recipe for Bacon Brownies. "BACON BROWNIES?!?!? THAT'S DISGUSTING!" you may say... or perhaps, you don't think anyone would be bold enough to combine two great tasting foods in to, what can only be described as stomach-churning-queasy-gut-dry-heaving-ness-non-food, but you'd be wrong. Just click on the link, I dare you...

Reader warning: if you've just eaten bacon or brownies,
or you tend to have morning sickness, I don't advise clicking...

+ =

Nights in Rodanthe

Tonight I went and saw the Nicholas Sparks adaptation of his book, "Nights in Rodanthe", starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. For all you Nicholas Sparks fans,
this is the 4th book to film!
-Message in a Bottle
-A Walk to Remember
-The Notebook
-Nights in Rodanthe
(I dont think I am missing any... am I?)

Is the movie worth seeing you may ask?

Yes, would be my answer, however, I must advise, I am a sucker for stereotypical chick flicks! (My friend Mark says I like every movie, so my opinions don't hold much weight... but I respectfully disagree!) Gere is his "hunky" self, and Lane was truly believable in her character.

Was this a chick flick, yes, I'll admit, but it was also sad, touching, and full of growth and forgiveness. It seems that Nicholas Sparks... at least in the books I've read... whether intentionally or not, has written some sort of biblical message into the story. Forgiveness, acceptance, redemption, trust, surrendering, are all themes I have seen in the books.
If you want to purchase some of these books, here are a couple I have read and would recommend:

Warning: if you cry easily (and I do!), please be sure to bring tissues, so you don't end up wiping your snot and tears on the shoulder of the person next to you - whether you know them or not! -


Alright, that's all that I'll say about the movie... you can go see it for yourself!

Highlight of the day:
Made my first Etsy sale! Sold a scarf that I recently crocheted! Its pretty neat that someone wants to buy something that I created!

The shop is complete! (at least for now...)..

See the side bar for an etsy preview! Also... afghan is being crocheted as I finish out the great season premier of Greys!

My Etsy Shop is UP!

Hey Everyone!

My Etsy Shop, shystiches, is finally up! Right now I don't have any handmade items in it, just supplies (cigar boxes) and a vintage item, but later today I plan on posting some scarves that I have made over the last year or two!

I am in the process of finishing an afghan that I have been working on forever, and am super excited about that... I don't know if I will be selling it, or keeping it to be sentimental over my first afghan :)

I found a couple books on Amazon.com to learn some new crochet stitches, so I don't have to keep doing the same simple stitch over and over! Yay!


Tonight I might finish the blanket... that is if I can peel my eyes away from the 2 Hr. Season Premier of Grey's Anatomy! I am SO GLAD its THURSDAY!!! Plus I'll be taping The Office, since its on at the same time! (darn those station programmers! don't they know not to put two of the best shows on two different networks at the same time!)

I'll post some pictures of my handiwork when I get home from work later! In the meantime, check out my Etsy shop for a preview of what is to come!

Emmy Awards, Lost and The Office

I am assuming a lot of you saw all, or at least some of the 60th annual Emmy Awards tonight. And I'm not gonna lie... it got off to a pretty crappy start.

The five nominees for best reality/something show were the "hosts" for the evening, and they prepared NOTHING for the NATIONAL broadcast!!! They even admitted it while on stage.. they thought that that would be more funny than some planned lines and jokes. However, that idea flopped big time! Some of the winners/presenters even cracked a couple jokes referring to the hosts as just "talking for 12 minutes" etc. Over all, bad idea regarding hosting... next time, stick with what has worked in the past... one host, funny lines, good laughs.

Sadly, my favorite shows did not win any Emmys, (however some were nominated).


Grey's Anatomy didnt win anything, however, I am sure nobody minded seeing Patrick Dempsey in his tux!


LOST was nominated for an award or two, but didnt win. Now that I think about it, they didnt show any of the stars from LOST either... they are probably in Hawaii filming some amazing new episodes!


(This GREAT photo came from http://stillhisgirl.blogspot.com/2008/04/you-can-buy-new-stuff-but-you-cant-buy.html and I of course used it because of the picture above of the LOST cast!)
And lastly, my NEW FAVORITE SHOW! The Office! Did not win any, though they were nominated for some, and Steve Carell did get some on screen time... and helped provide the first big laugh of the night!!! (You could see the man who playes Dweight behind him laughing!)

Over all, dissapointing, save the few stars who were genuinly funny and graceful! The hope that has come from all this? I am SUPER PUMPED about the season premiers of The Office and Grey's Anatomy this week, and still anticipating the next season of LOST!

Richard Gere

On Sunday, Bekah, Allison, my dad and I watched Pretty Woman (Richard Gere, Julia Roberts). Such a classic! The chemistry between Vivian and Edward is amazing to watch... and one thing we kept noticing was how DREAMY Richard Gere was/is (well, my dad didn't notice, but we girls did!). My dad kept saying "You like Richard Gere in this? You should see An Officer and a Gentleman."

So the girls and I decided one day (when we all have the time) we will have a Gere-athon and watch all our favorite Gere movies in the order they came out, because it seems that he gets more and more handsome with age! Some of the ones we thought of were: Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, First Knight, Chicago, An Officer and a Gentleman, and Shall We Dance... am I forgetting any?

I did a little imdb.com research and found out that Richard is an accomplished musician, is currently 59 years old, and was born in Philadelphia. In Pretty Woman, when he played the piano at the hotel... he played a piece that he had composed himself!

Ok, enough about some movie star that really is just like the rest of us...(except for the fame of course).

Wedding Photos

Today I am going to highlight some blogs/web pages that have some fun and creative ideas for weddings, and then add some ideas of my own :)

This blog has some great wedding photos... they seem light and breezy, with vibrant colors. If you are getting married in San Diego, keep them in mind!

Here is an Organic Chocolate Wedding Cake... pretty interesting, and a nice change of pace from the typical buttercream cake!

Here is an environmentally good way of registering for [recycled] dishes.... someone on Etsy takes old plates and adds to them to make them funky and elegant to use as your current dish set!

This is a SUPER cute idea for your wedding party, and/or special friends who come to your wedding and plan on partying hardcore! You could do a variation for each table at the reception too!

I've got an idea for themed weddings: drinks! Now, before you say, "there goes abby, thinking about drinking again!", here me out! You could have a Coffee Wedding, a Chai Wedding, a Coca Cola Wedding... do you have an obsession with Dunkin Donuts Coffee? Give each guest enough to brew a pot the next morning, along with a mug, or flavored cream! Some people collect Coca Cola memorabilia, and you could give each guess a small glass bottle of the pop, so they can enjoy the beverage, and keep a piece of the wedding. You could wrap tea bags and a honey stick with cloth or ribbon as favors. Each table could have a different roast, or flavor name, instead of just numbers... there are so many ideas!!!

Any more ideas? There are so many possibilities to the "Drink" themed weddings. And a great part is it depends on each couple, so its so personalized!

Dumpster diving night 2:

A couple nights later (see last post) we went out again and found some more gold! (not actual gold mind you...)

Findings:
MP3 player
T9 Graphing Calculator
2 containers of laundry soap
2 large (new) rubbermaid trashcans (which we desperately needed!)
new fabric
a CUTE brown couch with wooden carved legs,
5 Boxes un-opened animal crackers
and so much more I cant even remember it all!

Photo From:
Google image search: dumpster diving... its eerily familiar!

Gilmore Girls update:
Season 7, Episode 17 (5MORE TO GO!)
This episode will NOT load!!! I am getting desperate!
Lorelai and Christopher: split up (forever I hope!)
Rori and Logan: arguing, but they've done that before...
Lane: about to BURST with twins!
Luke: still in love with Lorelai, but may not know it.....

I promise to write about something else besides dumpsters and GG soon, but right now, its a major part of my life! :)

Dumpster Diving!!!

Tuesday night Ryan, Austin, Josh and I went dumpster diving around Kent. People's leases are up today so they are moving out so that new students can move in. As a result, students are throwing EVERYTHING out! Some of the things we got:

Beautiful IKEA bookshelf
Two vacuums (one working, one... not so much)
A reclining couch
A bar with leather accents
A FULL bottle of rasberry vodka
A barely burnt candle
Cleaning products (Fabreez, 409, Windex)
A fancy office chair
A aerobed.. no holes!
A nice arm chair
Rubermaid container on wheels as tall as me!
3 nice rugs
A brand new mop bucket
Couple lamps
A nice dresser

And maybe more... I cant remember it all... Its so amazing what we found, and a sad reminder of how wasteful so many people are! All of that stuff listed above would have ended up in a landfill for hundreds of years... and maybe it still will one day, but at least for a while we kept it all out.

Isle Runners and GG

New found lovely blog! Look at the colors of the flowers
and the beautiful cake. I think the isle decorations are my favorite!

(pictures from blog mentioned above)

Update on GG: I'm in season 6, episode 3.
Luke and Lorelia: Still together!
Rori: Still living in Pool House!
Dragonfly Inn: One kitchen fire.
I'm lovin' it!

Tonight Ryan, Jamie and I are traveling to Pittsburgh to help Jamie in moving her stuff from Kent back to PA. Despite the nasty Steelers, Pittsburgh is a pretty sweet town... GO BROWNS! hehe

GG!!!!

So this summer I was able to watch LOST in it's entirety, and I was HOOKED! I cant wait 'till the next season starts! So after I finished that, I thought, well, what's the next series I can watch in it's entirety?! And, probably because its so popular with Allison, Bekah, Tabitha, Shanna and Jamie, I picked The Gilmore Girls.

I've made it to season five, and I was ELATED when Lorelai and Luke finally got together... but now, he told her he needed time to think, and she is in bed crying, and stupid Taylor is selling ribbons, and oh my, its all just falling apart! This is what it's like now:

I think it will get better, but how?!?!

I love this show... but what should I watch when I finish all those seasons? ;)

e.e. cummings

Yesterday my sister Bekah reminded me of one of our favorite poems by e.e. cummings.
It's titled: I carry your heart with me (I carry it in my heart). I don't know why, but we can't read it without crying. In fact, I don't thing that either of us completely understand even what it means, but the second we discovered it, it meant something to us. Here it is in it's entirety:

i carry your heart with me(i carry it in
my heart) i am never without it(anywhere
i go you go, my dear and whatever is done
by only me is your doing, my darling)
i fear
not fate(for you are my fate, my sweet)i want
no world(for beautiful you are my world, my true)
and its you are whatever a moon has always meant
and whatever a sun will always sing is you

here is the deepest secret nobody knows
(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide)
and this is the wonder thats keeping the stars apart

i carry your heart(i carry it in my heart)

My favorite part is this: "(here is the root of the root and the bud of the bud
and the sky of the sky of a tree called life;which grows
higher than the soul can hope or the mind can hide)"
When that part is read aloud it is like music to the ears... it's such fluid poetry, and so descriptive and pleasing to the senses.

Greeting Cards

Last week I was able to make some greeting cards to give to Jamie for her birthday.

This is Jamie:

She works for the CCO and because of the nature of her job, she writes more notes/thank-yous than most of us :)

Here is a sampling of the cards:

I am thinking of making sets to sell on etsy.... we'll see.

Oh, Bridget also helped with the designs because she is just so crafty!!!!

This is "Bridge":

(Bridget will be moving into the house I live in next month and I am just SO excited!!!!!)

family from the country...

Last week my Aunt Reba and Uncle Fred from North Carolina came to visit us up here in Ohio. We haven't seen them for 3 years, and while we stay in touch through phone and email... spending late nights on the porch drinking sweet tea cant be substituted.

Thats Fred, Reba, Mother, Father and nina

My sisters, dad and I all knew they were coming, but my mom (Reba's sister) did not. So she came home from work Tuesday and there they were just sittin' in the foyer to greet her. She was super surprised and we were all just so excited to spend time with them. Reba and Fred just have a way of being so kind and funny and country... we (especially my sisters and I) just soak it up. Our accents that are dormant from living "up north" start to seep out, and soon we are drinking sweet tea and sittin' on the porch like its our job! (Being raised by a mom with an accent, it cant help but rub into our language). For some reason, we don't do that kind of stuff so much "up north" I think people stay inside more and always go go go, so the idea of porch sittin' doesn't surface very often. So to say the least, we had an amazing couple days with them, and they left all too soon! However, they made sure to tell me before they left that I have an open invitation to go down and live with them whenever I'd like....

Maybe there could be a lot more porch sittin' in my future...

Promises

Its a pleasant evening here in Kent, OH... (at least while a fan is blowing on you...). I promised pictures of our bingo game at my family reunion, so here they are!

Bingo has been a tradition at these reunions for as long as I can remember... everyone brings a couple prizes, and when you win a round, you get to pick your prize. We laugh with each other, get annoyed with each other, and laugh some more. Its a great family time :)

I have a confession to make: I use tea bags more than once. When at work, I use the same tea bag about 3 times... I get the same taste with all three cups, and I don't waste extra tea. I have heard that some frown upon this saying it is either not as tasty, or just plain gross. I however, don't care what the haters say. Its good, it saves money, what more do you need to know?

I found this website yesterday and it is the most amazing thing I have ever stumbles upon in my LIFE. There is so much there to read and learn and be entertained by, I felt like I had ADD when I was on it because there was so much good at once, my mind couldn't concentrate on just one thing! Here is the story of how the author of the site met her husband "Marlboro Man" and how she became "Pioneer Woman". I think that her life may be most like the life I want. City living would be nice for a time, but ultimately living on a ranch in the middle of nowhere with kids and animals and hay and tractors and a big kitchen... that's the dream :)

Part of this blog was to talk about weddings and ideas for them and my life as a Wedding Planner, so I think maybe I should do something with that too! I want to share with you all a particular NE Ohio Photographer who's skills are superior and who's blog is a delight to read. Genevieve Nisly Photography is just delightful and definitely saved under my "favorites" for photography available here in Ohio. (check out their blog and the pictures taken in Mexico!).

Thats all for today. Have a delightful weekend everyone!

I am back to blogging today, mostly from the prodding of Ryan. I just forget to do things like this, and he is a pretty helpful reminder :)

another funny picture:

Photo by Antonis Giannelis / Greece

This week was.... ? I don't really have a word for it. We did have our 23rd Annual Eddy Family Reunion with I planned. I'll post some pictures of our bingo game later... (no, I am not joking) :)

Last week my dad brought over my sewing machine and table... and I am super excited about what I can do with that... I will post pictures as I create...

Thats all for now. Pictures later.

Update on the gardening... check out Ryan's Blog for pictures of our plants.... I am super excited about the spinach! I can practically taste the yummy salads we will eat later this summer!

Found some more crazy wedding photos today on this website here is a sampling: (some are funny... and some are not)...

She looks MAD!


I can only imagine the sad story behind this face!!!

My youngest sister (Bekah) called me 18 times yesterday asking me to bring her some books to read.... she is 16 and on summer vacation, and our mother has never let us just sleep all the time or watch a lot of tv on vacations (I don't think she understands the word "vacation"), but anyways, Bekah decided to use her time to read and look busy instead of being bored and roped into doing chores and yard work (smart girl!). One book she asked for was "The Nanny Diaries"... its a pretty good book, and the movie isn't bad also... here are some of the books I gave her:

I've slowly been able to get her interested in things like Anne of Green Gables, and books of that time period... one day when I was sick I made her watch the movies with me... I grew up watching them and always cry when Matthew dies, laugh at Anne's silly stubbornness, worry when Gilbert gets sick, and cry in the end while Anne and Gil are on the bridge.... after Bekah watched them with me, I think she feels the same way! A lady at my church whom I babysit for recently gave me the WHOLE Anne series (books), and I cant wait to read them all! Bekah also asked for those to read! I bet none of those other girls at Hudson are doing that this summer... but maybe Bekah can influence them a bit! :)

The rest of today:
Finish work.
Austin moves in.
Watch 3rd Season of LOST (my new favorite show!!!).
Dinner at the Brysons.
More LOST!!!.

Kairos Garden

Ryan and I planted a garden a couple weeks back... sometimes we forget to water it (oops!) but its been raining lately, so we've been covered. We planted pumpkins, cucumbers, peppers, radishes, 5 different herbs, watermelon and spinach! We are so excited to eat fresh salads later this summer! Our cucumbers have already started to come out! I was listening to the radio today and they had people calling in giving gardening tips... and I realized there are some pretty neat ways that plants work with each other and the earth to help everything to grow, so I googled some books on this stuff and came up with:

Those two look like good starters for those who want a green thumb!

And one more thing (maybe to protect that thumb - and the other 4):

They have different sizes and colors! Check them out!

I think having something fun to wear will motivate us "gardeners" who are not always eager to go play in the dirt...

Barn Wedding reprise...

Since my post on barn weddings (see below), I have had so many people tell me they want a barn wedding! That was super encouraging... one, because that meant people were reading my blog, and two, because I may be on to something with this theme wedding idea...

There could be many variations to a barn wedding:

Totally Country: Checkered tablecloths, horse rides, square dancing at the reception...

Victorian Country: Deep colors, sweeping sheer fabric, brass table decor, ivy...

Simple Country: Barn, hay, chairs, more hay...

Life stuff:
House fire this week: 1
Police car run-ins: 4
Trips to Little Italy in Cleveland: 1
Dunkin Coffees: 2

Regarding the house fire, no one was hurt, and no structural damage (thanks to an observant hero/neighbor)... caused by a cigarette... not by a person at our house though. Through it we got to meet a couple neighbors that we hadn't known yet, so that was a good thing!

Little Italy was great, though when they say "little" they really mean it!!! It was so teeny! But fun none the less... We went out to celebrate Eric's 23rd Birthday. It was the "fab five" (Eric, Shanna, Jamie, Ryan and me) and while getting ready for the evening, it was brought to our attention that there were NO pictures with the five of us together (we have been friends for like 3 years) and we were appalled, so we made it a point to take one... however, we took it with Shanna and Eric's camera, so we may never see it again, because those two take lots of pictures, but never do anything with them!!! I'll post it if I ever get a copy :)

This is Shanna and Eric (I planned their wedding! One year ago July 14)

Disturbing photo of the day...

The other day I found a picture that
I thought was funny at first,
but then disturbing the more I looked at it:

First: what are those creepy boys doing in the back?

Second: WHAT in heaven's name is she wearing?!

Thirdly: What is the groom thinking?!!?!!

Update:

Still raining.
Number of free iced coffees yesterday: 2
Interesting website discoveries:
www.wardrobeexchange.com
One more person moved out of Kairos yesterday.
Her room was awfully empty last night.
However, someone else moved right in,
but posted no monkeys on the wall....

Free Coffee!

Yesterday was such a rainy day.

I had so many plans for what I would do after work, but because of the ridiculous rain, all the plans had to be put on hold. So instead, I drove to Dunkin Donuts because I had a Free Pepperoni Pizza coupon, but when I got there, they told me they didn't have the equipment to make them yet, but they gave me a free donut (score!) and I drove down the road to the next Dunkin Donuts (yeah, there are that many in NE Ohio) and they had the pizzas, so I got a free pizza and a 63cent Polar Pop from Circle K. I then drove home and decided I would take a "Rainy Day Nap" for like half and hour or so.... hehe. I went to sleep at 3:38 pm, and woke up 4hrs later at 7:47 pm. I couldn't believe I had slept that long... so I went downstairs where Ryan, Jamie and Mark were cooking macaroni salad, and I helped/slept while they really did all the work. Then, (naturally) I decided I wanted to make banana pudding, but I only had the bananas and the vanilla wafers, not the putting so I went to the store to get that! mm mm!! it was delicious!

Then Jamie and I watched Grey's Anatomy online... THEN took the quizzes to see which cast member we were most like... I am Izzie and McDreamy, and Jamie is Izzie and George. It was a great day, but not all was lost... I went on a walk with Mark at like 1:30 for almost 2 miles.

The real reason for this post is this website:

http://www.etsy.com/storque/section/spotlight/article/
handmade-wedding-series-eat-greener-food-with-emily-of-eco-c/1460/

The author of one of my favorite books ( Eco Chic Weddings ) and one of my favorite web pages (www.Etsy.com) came together on one page and talked about weddings going green, and how to support Fair Trade, organic, local, or handmade producers while still having the wedding you've dreamed of. Read the article and let me know what you think!

ps- Today is FREE iced coffee day at Dunkin Donuts!!!