Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Turkey Day everyone!

If you're traveling today, please be careful! Continue reading >>

Free Shipping!

Kind of spur of the moment...

I've decided to offer FREE SHIPPING on all purchases made in my Etsy Shop, Ladyhawke.Designs. This offer will run now, November 26 until Tuesday, December 2nd!

Etsy Buy Handmade ladyhawke34

Continue reading >>

The sickness is here...

Eric is sick. I dunno if it's a cold or what but he didn't sleep very well last night as he was blowing his nose or hocking luggies every 15 mins or so... egh.

Didn't get much sleep last night either as he was waking me up. And the little one got up at quarter til 6 this morning and climbed up into bed with us.

I broke down this morning and got a large Chai Tea Latte on the way in to work.

Caffeine.

Must. Have. Caffeine.

But wait...it gets better! We get out of work early today! Yay! :)

Have a fabulous day all! Continue reading >>

I've been tagged!

My blogging friend, The Empty Envelope has tagged me!

The rules:
* Mention the rules on your blog.
* Tell six quirky yet boring, unspectacular details about yourself.
* Tag six others
* Go to each person’s blog and leave a comment that lets them know they are tagged.

Rules, schee-mules! I'm gonna break the rules and not tag anyone else! :p

But I'll tell 6 quirky, yet boring details about myself...

1. I don't wear makeup! All I'll put on is moisturizer & chapstick.

2. I love couture! Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Dolce & Gabana, Narciso Rodriguez & Carolina Herrera.

3. I used to play ice hockey. Pre-bambino, I played for 5 years on various rec league teams. When I first started playing, I played 3 days a week.

4. Clowns freak me the heck out! Eck. John Wayne Gacy, Poltergeist & Stephen King's It don't help out the utter evilness of clowns...

5. I've got a funky Midwestern accent. My 2 younger brothers & I were born in Marysville, OH and I'm the oldest. Eric yanks my chain when I say certain words - museum, anything ending in -tion, etc.

6. I've got a cool (but fading :( ) scar on my thumb from an Andean Condor. Continue reading >>

A great flash of inspiration this weekend!

So I was sitting at my moms this weekend watching some tv and got a crazy brainstorm!

Thankfully I had my jewelery making supplies with me and made a pair of awesome earrings.

Dig them!

What do you all think? Yay? Nay?

They've been listed in my shop.

I've been feverishly making extras of my stuff to take to that holiday craft show that my work is doing and I'm getting these flashes of creativity. I'm gonna need to get a notebook to record them all.

In other news...I totally got creeped out by some older dood on the bus this morning. I was just sitting there jamming to my tunes and I feel this slight caress on my shoulder. I glance at my shoulder and notice some dood had rested his arm along the back of the bench seating and was caressing my shoulder. Eh, yuck! Continue reading >>

And so it begins...

The holiday craziness, that is...

I was MIA this weekend as Eric's mom had here Thanksgiving festivities on Saturday. Good food, great company!

I felt like I had to be "on" all weekend though. That gets tiring after a while though. You know what I mean?

When I worked in the Shows dept at the Columbus Zoo, I had to be "on" because we were in the public eye all the time but once I got home, I was too pooped to do anything.

But I have to say that Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. It's not commercialized like Christmas has become and it's all about stuffing yourself with great food & hanging out with family. Good times :)

I hope everyone has a fabulous Thanksgiving where ever you are!

Gobble,gobble :p Continue reading >>

Newest earrings - Simply!

I've listed a pair of new earrings, Simply, in my Etsy shop!

Whatcha think?

We've bought a replacement LCD screen for our digi cam! And now we wait...

I wish it could be put into a teleporter and whisked to us in a blink of an eye.:) We miss our digi cam! Continue reading >>

Pineapple as a pizza topping...

We ordered pizza from Papa John's last night for dinner since I didn't feel like cooking and neither did Eric so pizza it was!

We decided to go for the Hawaiian BBQ Chicken. I had never had pineapple as a pizza topping & Eric had had that particular flavor before & liked it.

Well, I loved it! I loved it so much that I had 4 slices! :O

In other news...we had an interesting convo this morning at breakfast. It went something like this....

Eric: "Did you kick me in the back last night?"
Me: "What? Really? I don't know if I kicked you."
Eric: "Well, my back is sore in one general area."
Me: "I'm sorry if I kicked you. I didn't know I kick when I'm asleep."

So needlessly to say, I felt really bad. Who knew?

Eh.

Have a great Friday everyone!

:) Continue reading >>

Rented Tropic Thunder last night...

And you know, I was a bit disappointed with it. It was funny, but there were parts of it that was just not funny, like they were trying to hard. And they always show the funniest bits in the trailers...and it wasn't just this movie but for all movies in general.

Robert Downey Jr. playing an Australian dood that plays an African American was funny as all get out though! The interaction between him and his castmate, Brandon T. Jackson was great!

Don't let my poo-pooing of the movie prevent you from renting it! The beginning of the film was hilarious! :)

We have Wall-E to watch tonight! We (Eric, Nick & I) saw it in the theaters when it came out & we loved it! Continue reading >>

Awards & Project Wonderful!

My blog friend, The Empty Envelope has given me a couple of awards! Woo!

I've got to pass them along to 5 other bloggers...

Meekiyu's Dream
Four Dog Day
Pickles on Pizza
Solace in Wonderland
Motif Design

I'll add Angela Michelle Dolls to the list!

Check out all these great blogs!

I found out about this great promotion website, Project Wonderful! It's where you can bid for ad space on all different types of websites. You can select which types of sites you want your ads run, how long you want to run them and you can also do campaigns. It's a great way to get some exposure for your blog, website or shop. :)

You can also sign up to be a publisher to run ads on your own site. I'm giving it a try here as you can see. There's a small ad space on the sidebar to the right and there's ad space along the footer of the posting area for button ads. If you're interested in ad space, just click on the '...your ad here...' links within the space.

I'm not really sure where to put the ad spaces and settled on where they are now as I don't want y'all to be inundated with ads when you're here...thoughts?

Thanks! :) Continue reading >>

Business cards for my Etsy shop!

Looky! I've created & ordered some business cards for my Etsy shop, Ladyhawke.Designs. :)

Whatcha think? Continue reading >>

Thanks for the well wishes!

I spent some time last night sorting out what I'd like to bring to the little craft extravaganza at work. Then I got to work making extras of those pieces...

Whoo-doggy! I only got some earrings done, but I'm thankful that I've got some time to prepare.

I completely forgot that the Blue Jackets were playing last night. And thankfully I did because they apparently played a real stinker of a game too losing 7-2 to the Edmonton Oilers. Oy. Reading the game recap at the Columbus Dispatch, it looks like our special teams play, power play & penalty kill, killed us. Our netminder letting in 4 goals in 11shots in the third period didn't help either...

I bet there will be a team meeting this morning and practice will be a toughie. They have 3 days including today to work on special teams as they fly down to Hotlanta to play the Thrashers on Saturday night. Continue reading >>

Going to do my first arts & craft fair!

So I just got an email here at work regarding the upcoming Holiday Arts & Craft fair on Dec 3rd & 4th and I think I'm gonna do it!

I just sent an email saying that I'm interested...

I'm so nervous and excited all at the same time! Aahhh!

What do I do? Which items do I want to bring? How much to bring?

I need business cards!

How am I gonna display my stuff? Oh geez...

Oy!

So many questions, so little time....

Aaaahhhh! Continue reading >>

Unmotivated at work...

Shh...don't tell anyone, but it's been a very un-motivating day here at work...

You know you get those days where all you want to do is stuff other than work.

I work on the computer all day too, sooo it's really easy to get distracted. ;)

All I'm thinking of doing is thinking of ways to take great pics of the jewelery that I've made the past couple of nights with a busted digital camera. Busted you say? Well, my boyfriend had it with him 2 weekends ago when it was broken. You can read about it here.

I did get a cool phone call from my mom asking for my Etsy shop addy. Apparently she wishes to buy some stuff to gift to her friends and to buy some pieces for herself. :)

I suppose I should get back to the grindstone, eh?

Cheers! Continue reading >>

Mark Wahlberg & Top Gear...

Watching the hugely popular British car show, Top Gear currently with my man, Eric. He's a huge fan of this show and downloads the most current episode weekly.

Mark Wahlberg was tonight's celebrity guest. He was there to promote his newest film, Max Payne. The guys always have their celebrity guest take a couple of laps in their reasonably priced car, usually an average 4 door sedan. He didn't do all that bad on his lap. And his interview was pretty funny. Mark talked about how during his stint in prison, he got tons of crap from the other inmates when his brother Donnie was performing on TV with the New Kids on the Block. He made a crack at Tom Cruise regarding the crazy one's affiliation with the Church of Scientology. Pretty funny stuff!

I'm not much of a gear head, but I love watching the show! The hosts (Richard Hammond, Jeremy Clarkson & James May) test drive cars, are put to wacked out challenges, interview celebrities, etc. They aren't afraid to say if the car they're reviewing/test driving is utter crap. :)

The show is also on TV. Here in Cincy, it's on the BBC America channel, but the shows are about a season behind. Continue reading >>

Snowing this morning!

This morning, we finally got the snow that our weatherman predicted! I walked out the door to be hit with big heavy snowflakes falling out of the sky with abandon. :)

None of it was sticking of course because the ground is still too warm, but our first snow! Yay! Continue reading >>

"Holy moly, whatta goalie!"

In the exuberant words of Blue Jackets radio broadcaster George Matthews, "Holy moly, whatta goalie!"

Our number one goaltender, Pascal Leclaire, was back in the pipes last night for the Jackets 6-1 win over the Buffalo Sabres. The boys payed an excellent game and Leclaire showed no rust from his re-cupped ankle!

The game was not slated for viewing consumption on tv, so I was unable to watch it. I could have listened to the game online, but I was cleaning house.

According to the game wrap-up in the Columbus Dispatch today, the boys scored four goals on their first 8 shots on net. Crazy, but I love it! :)

Here's a cut & paste screenshot of the Yahoo! boxscore.

Continue reading >>

First snow expected tonight!

Good Morning everyone!

It's so dreary this morning and rainy...


Temperatures will be dropping gradually today and we're supposed to be getting our first snow later tonight! Woohoo...bring it on!

We're actually headed to a dinner party tonight. Eric's office mate, Lan is hosting. Eric's mom is on her way down to watch Nick for us and will be staying the whole weekend. We'll probably be taking her to the crazy Scandinavian furniture store, Ikea that's not far from us, maybe 15 minutes away? :)

There's a cool model train place, EnterTRAINment Junction, by us too which we'll hit for a fun, family excursion. If you're local, check it out! It's very cool & everyone will love it! There's even a huge children's play area to wear the kiddos out. ;) Continue reading >>

Working on my photography with a busted camera...

After a crazy cleaning frenzy, I decided that I'd work on shooting better pics of the Rose Quartz bracelet that I made the other night. The ones I took didn't really show off the beautiful pink color of the quartz.

But wait! Let's take a picture of my corner in our living room... :)

Check it! Photoshop is showing on my monitor and my cat, Brady is asleep on the computer desk. :)

Alrighty, onwards with the bracelet photoshoot...



Thoughts? Continue reading >>

More goalie love :)

You remember my post about our goalie, Steve Mason? Our goalie, like he belongs to my friends & I...ha! The Blue Jackets rookie goaltender.

And I was going on about how I love profile shots of goalies. Well I found another profile shot of Mason. This time it's a 3/4 portrait. Love the intensity!

Courtesy of Kyle Robertson, the Columbus Dispatch

They play tonight in Buffalo against the Sabres! I hope Coach Hitchcock has lit a fire under their arses and they won't play like crap like they did this past Wednesday night.

Go Jackets! Continue reading >>

New Etsy Listings!

I've created a new pair of earrings and another bracelet!

It's been quite challenging photographing the pieces as our digital camera has a busted up LCD screen and it doesn't have a separate viewfinder. Trying to frame the photos before actually taking the pic has truly been hit or miss. I don't think my pics turned out all that bad though. Thank goodness for Photoshop! :p

Both are now listed in my Etsy shop, Ladyhawke.Designs.


Continue reading >>

So officials think they have found Caylee...

MSNBC is reporting on their website.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Authorities are trying to determine if there's a link between items found by divers in an Orlando park's lake and the case of missing 3-year-old Caylee Anthony believed to have been killed.

Divers searching the area of Little Eonlockhatchee River found a plastic bag containing toys and small bones on Thursday, a bounty hunter told NBC News affiliate, WESH.com.

It was not clear if those were human remains or if they had any relation to Caylee. Inside the bag, weighted down by bricks, were two toys and bones the size of fingers and toes, Padilla said. There also was a shamrock, which bounty hunter Leonard Padilla said was a favorite symbol of Casey Anthony, WESH reported on its Web site.

I'm stunned to say the least...

It's not official, so we don't know if those are really bones.

I never did have a good feeling about finding Caylee alive. Just the fact that her mother waited a couple months before reporting her missing was the piece of straw that broke the camel's back... Continue reading >>

On the bus again...

I ride the bus to and from work everyday. When we were looking for places to live in the Cincy area, we chose where we live in West Chester because it was close to a park & ride. I work in downtown Cincy and Eric works in Mason.

You see and meet such a great variety of people everyday. Sitting on the bus this morning and listening to my tunes on my MP3 player, I just was thinking of how incredibly grateful I am of the diverse world we live in. It's still a little rough around its edges and we could definitely improve on some things but I wouldn't want it any way! Continue reading >>

Bummer of a Jackets game... :(

Man...bummer of a game tonight at Nationwide Arena. The Blue Jackets lost to the Phoenix Coyote, 5-2.

They played hard and scored 2 goals late in the third period, but it was too little too late. The 'Yotes played very well and their goalie was excellent!

But you know what? Rick Nash finally got out of his slump!

Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Voracek got hit inadvertently in the face by Jokinen's stick, but it should have been called. Jokinen did get called for cross checking but he should have also gotten another 4 minutes for hitting Voracek in the face with his stick and drawing blood!

Crap, I say. Utter crap!

Oh well...

The boys travel to Buffalo on Friday to play the Sabres in their barn. Hopefully they won't hang our goalie out to dry like they did tonight! Continue reading >>

New Look!

Found a snazzy new template for the blog!

I found this template while cruising the intrawebs and read an article, The Top 10 Blogger Template Resource Sites, on the BloggingTipps blog. Followed a link to Blogger Templates.

I'm still working out the kinks...

The little search feature up top doesn't work. Anyone know how to fix it? I'm not all that familiar with XML.

What do you think? Continue reading >>

Prepping for Colorado

A little background for y'all...

My boyfriend Eric loves to climb and his favorite playground to date is Rocky Mountain National Park. We were last there in August of 2004.

Nearing the summit of Longs Peak!

He's been out there on his own or with his best friend for the past couple of winters. I, myself love to hike, camp & ice climb. :) Now that our little one, Nicklaus is 3.5 years old, he would love to take him out there.

Fast forward to 2 months ago...

We're planning a trip out there the second week of March 2009. There's bumming around town, hiking, a night or two of camping & climbing on the agenda. I've invited my parents and both of my younger brothers. Al is a definate in while Jeff says that it's too far out to decide. Go figure!

There's quite the elevation change and I'm not in shape anymore. Pre-bambino, I played hockey regularly and that kept me in tip-top shape. Now that I haven't played in 3.5 years, I can't go up a flight of stairs without getting slightly winded. That's pretty bad. :(

So I gotta start running again or skating or something. They are putting the ice rink up on Fountain Square right now...that's a possibility! There are a bunch of folks here at work doing the 100 push-ups thing. It looks easy enough and it'll whip my core, arms, pecs and back into shape. Famous last words, eh? :)

Don't look now! Gratuitous shot of Eric in RMNP...my fav actually. :)
Continue reading >>

Berry influenced earrings

Last night, I created two new pairs of earrings inspired by the blueberry and the cranberry.

Check them out below!



They've both been listed in my Etsy shop, Ladyhawke.Designs. Continue reading >>

Some goalie love... :)

How about that that kid, Mason, who's been in goal for the Blue Jackets?! He's been named one of the NHL players of the week! Congrats Steve!

Photo courtesy of AP Photo/Terry Gilliam

Over the summer, he had surgery on both of his knees and probably went through pretty painful and intense physical therapy to get back into working shape. He spent the rest of the summer getting into game shape. He wins the first 3 games of the season down in the Jacket's AHL affiliate Syracuse Crunch. Then he's called up to the big club and wins his first NHL game ever as well as the next 2 games.

He's been said to be THE top young goaltender prospect in the NHL.

Here's another shot of Mason courtesy of REUTERS/Matt Sullivan (UNITED STATES). I LOVE profile shots of goalies! You can just see the focus and concentration in their eyes...


Pretty sweet, eh?

:) Continue reading >>

Thanks to all who has served in our armed forces and to all who are currently serving...

A BIG thanks to all of you who have done your part or are currently doing your part to fight for our freedoms! For those of you that are currently stationed around the globe, I know it is extremely tough to be away from all of your loved ones but know that everyone back home supports you!

Thank you all so much! Continue reading >>

Underground in a Cave & Cheering the Boys in Blue

Did a little caving for the first time this weekend!

Saturday, my boyfriend, Eric wanted to do a little mapping of a cave up in the Columbus area so we headed up there this weekend. He had invited his best friend Jon and our mutual friend Adam to come check it out with us.

Pretty cool and a little claustrophobic. I only went about halfway as I got a little freaked out partway in. Still very cool none the less.

Here's a pic that Eric snapped of me before the camera got FUBAR'd. My expression is priceless...lol!



The only thing that didn't go so well is that our digital camera didn't fare too well...the LCD screen was smashed in a bit. :(

We'll have to see how much it'll cost to replace it. Preliminary findings on eBay aren't too bad. About $90 for a replacement LCD screen...

Later that night, Eric's sister & I went to the Blue Jackets game. The boys in blue won! 3-1 against the Calgary Flames! Go Jackets! It's so exciting to see the team jelling as the season goes on. Continue reading >>

How about dem Blue Jackets, eh?!

Crazzzy game last night at Nationwide Arena! Get the lead 2-0, lose it 4-2 & win 5-4 in regulation.

It's going to be a helluva ride this season!

Derrick Brassard scores another goal and he's recuperating from the flu still. Calder trophy! Give this guy that hunk of glorified metal.

Awesome!

I'm so jazzed for the Calgary game Saturday night! Woo! Continue reading >>

On colds, Blue Jackets, the election & jewelery...

Man...I hate being sick! It's oh so lovely when it's compounded with a constantly runny nose, sinus congestion and a slight headache. Oy. Maybe its not a cold at all but a sinus infection? Even better. :|

I left work a bit early today so I could vote. Seeing as this was probably the most important election in my lifetime, I though it be for the good of all to vote. :)It was very surprising to walk into my place of voting and see no line at all. Wow. no line at 5pm. I was expecting to wait for at least an hour. Guess I was wrong.

Preliminary reports coming from CNN are saying that Obama will be the next President but I'd rather wait until the official results are in. There are a lot of places that still have to report in.

How about them Blue Jackets, eh? They're working hard but they're not picking up all the points that they can. Working & playing hard but losing in OT or in the shoot-out. It's early in the season, I'm willing to see how the boys progress before I lambast them. How about Derick Brassard & Jake Vorcek? Our rookies are kicking some ass! At the pace that Brassard is picking up points, looks for him to be a Calder Trophy canidate. Go Brass!

I finally got around to photographing this awesome choker that I made a few days ago. I was inspired by Queen Elizabeth I and the Golden Age.



I've uploaded some pics to my Flickr account and listed it in my Etsy shop! Continue reading >>

Gearing up for the climbing season!

You know everyone is gearing up for the upcoming ice climbing season when the clinic emails start showing up in your inbox...:) That ol' ice climbing itch is coming back! Time to break out the gear and get it ready.

Just got one this morning from Sarah Hueniken.

Hello Ladies!

Hope everyone had a fabulous summer and fall and is now ready for WINTER!!
I hope to see you all at Chicks with Picks this year, as I know Kim has exciting events planned. Should be a blast...as usual:)

In case some of you have more of an itch to scratch..or more tool swinging desires, I am offering 2 ice courses up here in the Canadian Rockies. They are both 4 days and include lodging and food plus at least one day of Multi-pitch climbing...and that is in Canadian dollars (aka a good deal for you Americans right now!)
The first one will be on the Icefields Parkway February 20-23 and the other out of the Canmore area, March 6-9.
Please see attached flyer for more details and pass this on to anyone you think might be interested. Space is limited, and the February dates are already near full, so sign up soon!

Once again- hope everyone is doing well and looking forward to a great winter!

There was a flier attached to the email too. If anyone is interested let me know and I'll forward it on to ya.

Peace out yo! Continue reading >>

Beautiful weekend!

Oh what an awesomely gorgeous weekend! The weather was perfect!

We spent lots of time outdoors...

Saturday, I took Nick to the local park to play on the playground equipment or what Bubba calls, "swing-slide". Good stuff! :)

Today we went to the Glen-Helen Nature Preserve & John Brant State Park, to do a little lightweight hiking. Nick did such an awesome job, just trucking along and fearlessly climbing over boulders and such. It was such a beautiful are and it was packed. Lots of folks taking advantage of the gorgeous fall day. Man, I wish we had remembered to bring along our camera...

I also got some jewelery made, photographed and listed... check out my Etsy Mini on the right side or my shop at http://ladyhawke34.etsy.com! Continue reading >>