badass

 After winning my first giveaway, I seem to continue to win! Not everything, mind you, but now that I have won my third giveaway my excitement level has only increased. This giveaway was put on by Restless Hearts Yonder for Pussycat Vintage. I just started reading Nicole's blog and I have already fallen in love with her honesty about all that she does as well as her gorgeous dogs.
Aren't they sweet? I especially love the brindle and motion of the foot. So precious. To read an interview with Nicole, click here. Here are a few photos from her blog (all photos in this post are by Nicole and her family). Be sure to check out the rest of her blog!
I am so appreciative of being picked! I won a shop credit to her shop, Pussycat Vintage. I can choose from all the items in her shop...here are but a couple that caught my eye:

If only my feet were a size 5.5!

Living vicariously through other people's tattoos.

Ok, and one more photo of her fur babies. I cannot help it!
Tomorrow my flight leaves for a vacation home. I need to pack my last minute necessities everything tonight and then I'll be on my way.

Last weekend, Tater curled up on the couch next to me and was just super cute. The last photo of her shows her favorite toy--the kong.

 While my officemate is away on vacation, I thought I would take you on a journey through our office. The decor often changes and I still don't consider it complete. My officemate and I decide on a theme for the month. I have been working more Spring into the mix lately. I had these leftover doilies from a project and we decided to make a doily door.
 I love these little outdoor tealight holders. I bought two of them to hang in our office. I'm still waiting to buy some moss and then nestle a LED tealight inside each one.

 We were very exuberant in our St. Patrick's Day decorating, so we went more subdued for Easter.

 This poor plant is from Ikea. It was once a bright, spikey green. Unfortunately, most of it is a light green husk now. When I was gone for four days, all of a sudden the bright green reappeared, so I still have hope for it. The pot I found at TJMaxx.
 This little owl is from Target. It has a couple more siblings a few photos down. They were all way too cute to pass up.

 One of our colleagues gave us another plant, the Wandering Jew. After we killed the first one, this second plant has thrived. Look at all the new green leaves!
 Here is a white owl sibling to the blue one pictured above. It is peaking out at you from the soil.
 The red potted plant on the left was a gift from another colleague. We are still trying to nurse that one back to health. I thought it was doing better until the middle of it turned black last week. The middle plant is the Wandering Jew again. In front of it are three pom-poms that I made--one aqua, another green and a third marigold. The green potted plant was one that I purchased from a chain grocery store on the East Coast. The pot it is in is from a local antique store. It is one of my favorite pots. The framed print is from a gallery in Anchorage, Alaska. When I was there for a training and taking my first professional exam, I had wandered into some stores while I had a free moment. This print caught my eye and came home with me.
 Have I mentioned that I work in a former convent? These "modesty panels" are installed in each of the windows on every floor--and there are a lot of windows! This way, others on the outside could not peek at the nuns.
 The windows, like the rest of the house, are old and full of character. Did you notice the wood paneling in these pictures? The whole house has it!
 I cut this nameplate out of a cardboard box, painted it with a few coats of chalkboard paint and then drew the stripes on with pieces of chalk. I love how it turned out! It is one of my favorite pieces in the office. The calendar I printed from Skip to My Lou on sketchpaper, punched holes into it and hung it with a repurposed ribbon from Anthropologie packaging.
 I ordered this magnetic paper holder from Fab.com. It doesn't work the best, but at least it holds a picture of my dog and a few papers.
 The Paper Mama made these fabulous printables for Easter. Although they did not make it up in time for Easter, they were (somewhat) on time for Greek Easter. I think they have a fun Spring flair about them and so decided to enjoy them for the rest of the month. The tray/plant stand is from Ten Thousand Villages and the framed piece is one that I made in graduate school. More about the blue runner/scarf later in the post...


 Aren't they adorable? Great work, Chelsey!
This scarf I received from my mother for my birthday this year. I love that scarves work for more than just accessories...they also make great decorations!

I am thrilled with this office more and more and was excited to be able to share it with you today.

The weather here has been shifting between Spring and Summer quite regularly. I guess this makes it more like Spring in that it hasn't settled yet. During this time, Ryan has visited NYC to interview for a scholarship for law school. He will start in the fall and we have been talking how we will do this move together. So far, I am going to stay here, at least until the following Spring, so that I can continue my fabulous day job. We will visit each other, too. At least it is much closer than the 1,000+ miles that separated us while in Alaska.

We considered briefly adopting another beabull. We love Tater Tot so much and it has taken so much work to get her where she is now (behaviorally). We went to visit the male beabull at the shelter and quickly remembered how much work it was when we first got Tater. He is very sweet with lots of energy. We introduced Tater and this dog...and she wasn't so smitten. I saw now that he is adopted and I hope that he has found a good forever home to train him and give him lots of love.

 Ryan also joined rugby this spring. He hasn't been injured too badly and he enjoys having a new sport to play. Tater and I go to his games on the weekend and cheer him on.


I have been working on some more crafts as well and I look forward to posting more about them. I recently updated my blog look. Although it is busier, I enjoy that it no longer has standard fonts and a boring background. Check it out here and let me know what you think.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin I just began a Bloglovin' account. With it, you are able to follow other blogs as well. I know there are many of these services around and I wanted to try this one out.

 A couple weeks ago, I won a giveaway put on by the lovely and talented Kinsey of Sincerely, Kinsey blog. The giveaway prize is pictured above; a necklace from Destiny Ray Jewelry Design. The prize arrived yesterday and it is very adorable.

I had been awaiting this moment as soon as I was notified that I was the winner of the Barnacle Bags Giveaway. Lissa, the creator behind Barnacle Bags, was in NYC getting more sewing lessons and I had to wait until she returned home for her to send my bag. It was worth the wait!

Someday I will post photos of me using the bag, but for now I have a few of it resting on a chair. The first couple photos are of the bag before it was unwrapped. I love the card and the washi tape use. I used the purse right away that evening to pick up Ryan from the airport. It held all of my necessary items and wasn't super heavy to tote around.

Thanks again, Lissa!