November Through Cell Phone Photos

It's December! Where did November go? Sometimes it's fun to take photos with my iphone and play around with it in instagram. I'm seriously addicted to it! Look me up! My user name is carisle. Here's a few bits and pieces of my November via cell phone photos!


Post halloween worked out. Scary!


A pocket full of furbabies


One day I want to have a collection of fun mugs

Using my wonderful travel mug from
Bibi!


My birthday flowers!


STOP STARING!!


The husband made me some fancy coffee to help me package orders faster


An organized-mess-packing-system


Someones cozy by the wood stove.


It's the perfect day for a cozy nap


Striped socks make work-outs more fun!

I'm not a huge fan of winter driving.

 It's a Winter Wonderland out there!

I love my new hat from Salutations Crochet Etsy Shop!!

Sending And Receiving Packages

It's so secret but I love mail. I love sending it. And I love receiving it! With my shop I do a bit of shipping. One of the most interesting things I've ever had to package and ship was a large photograph of an egg. It was a custom request in the shop and will now be hanging on a wall in San Francisco! I had to take a picture of the picture and here it is!

 

 

I received a package this week from screamingnspace!! It had so many great things in it!
My favorite thing is the calligraphy set! I'd been meaning to buy one but never think of it when I'm shopping. And those christmas cards are so adorable! Anyone up for a card exchange ;)

 

I'd love to send out some more packages this week... check out my shop and take advantage of the Free Shipping deal going on until Monday!

Everything Amazingly Up

A couple months ago I sent a tweet out saying I was probably too old to have an Up themed birthday party. The answer was unanimously "never too old!" So when Jon asked me what I'd like him to do for my birthday. I mentioned how fun something Up themed would be and he immediately went into planning mode. He had a bunch of things planned that he couldn't find in stores or in time but I love what he came up with!

I came out to find this

While he got dressed in his outfit I played around taking photos

He really wanted us to paint our own mailbox but that was one of the things he couldn't find in any of the stores he went to! So he made one out of paper for now until he can find a real one. 

We had to go to a couple thrift stores but we finally found a suit coat that fit Jon. We got this adorable bow tie from a the vogue vintage shop on etsy.

Such a cutie!

Then we took a bunch of crazy photos. But I'll just post a couple. Don't want to scare you off too much.

Then we enjoyed a fondue dinner with cheese, oil, and chocolate pots. And for my cake he made white cake with espresso poured over it with chocolate baileys icing! It was delicious! Thank-you so much for the wonderful birthday afternoon!

Fill in the Blank Friday

It's fill in the blank friday!! Head over to Lauren's and play along too!

 1. A nervous habit I have is touching the corner of my eye. I'm not sure why I do it. I'm also not sure when it started! Probably when I stopped biting my nails! I noticed I did it when I was in college. 

2. Something that makes me sad is how early it starts getting dark! There is not nearly enough daylight this time of year! 

3. Today I am thankful for heat! The weather outside right now is -19C (-2F) . So it's nice to have a toasty wood stove! 

4. My favorite room in my house is the living room. It's fairly large and there is lots of windows. 

5. I can't stand petty drama. 

6. If I had an extra $100 to spend on whatever I wanted today I would craft supplies! Probably hit the gem store up for some stones. I'm like a kid in a candy store! 

7. The last person I hung out with was  Jon. He's sorta my bestie. 

 

 

 
Happy Week-end!
 

 

Loving Lately

Thank-you everyone for your birthday wishes on here and twitter! I had a really great day! My morning and afternoon was spent housework free and enjoying my coffee and kitty cuddles. Lucy has been extra cuddly since the additional dog that was staying here went home. I wake up multiple times with him trying to cuddle my face. It's annoyingly cute.



 

Jon brought home flowers, wine, and garlic bread to go with dinner! It was a wonderful relaxing evening spent enjoying the wood stove and pretending there wasn't a blizzard outside.

A few other things I've been loving lately...
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6ImxY6hnfA&w=560&h=315]

I'm not sure exactly what I love so much about this song, but it gets stuck in my head all the time. And I like that when she preforms it she dances like someone who is dancing like no one is watching.

 

I love some of the custom necklaces I've been making in the shop. I think the most interesting order so far was one for a beer necklace and a raviolis necklace. Someone requested this one a couple weeks back



So don't hate me but I didn't know it was from harry potter until she told me. **watches the GFC count go down** But I love how it turned out! I sent it out this week so hopefully she loves it too!

I recently discovered how much I love Late Night with Jimmy Fallon! I didn't used to think he was all that funny but now I think he's hilarious! Don't believe me? Follow this twitter account he set up as a joke @mxtrjoshcharles I even got Jon into watching the show. Now he wants to head down and sit in the audience! Haha.

Have you seen this jelly bean music video? It's been in my head for the past two nights when I'm trying to sleep.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOu0DuxFAT0&w=560&h=315]

 
I love her voice and the creativity behind the video!


What have you been loving lately?
 

It's My Birthday!

It's my birthday! I'm not all that into my birthdays. In fact I kept forgetting when it was. I kept making plans on it. We're having a low key dinner tonight. Jon has been planning something special for a while. We're going to celebrate my birthday on Sunday! Excited for that!

I couldn't decide what I was going to post today. I thought a giveaway or a letter to my 17 year old self, or... I decided on pictures of me when I was little. A few of my adorable cuteness and a couple from past birthdays!

What's some of your favorite birthday traditions?

P.S. Today use the coupon code HappyBDay27 in my shop to receive 27% off your order!

The Time I Drew A Picture Of Us

This year for Christmas gifts I've been trying to go as handmade as I can. If it's not something I made, than it's something from someone's shop. I've been super organized this year and I think I'm almost completely done shopping for Jon. This never happens. I have a few more gifts to get/make for parents still. Jon loves when I make things for him. I saw this neat idea on in an etsy shop and thought I'd try to make one for him. It was a personalized ornament with drawings of the family. I knew mine would never been as good as the listing I saw but I knew Jon would appreciate it just the same. When he was travelling last week I got out everything and started painting. Now, I am NOT a good draw-er. I can't even draw a circle it's that bad. I ended up laughing at how it turned out and text him a photo of it. This is where I decided to stop at.


Being the always encouraging husband that he is, he text back "I love it! It looks so good!" Haha! It's SO bad! I look like a construction worker! Not that there is anything wrong with construction workers but that wasn't really the look I was going for! I had originally planned on adding the furbabies but decided that perhaps painting ornaments just isn't my forte.

It got me thinking about that site free crappy portraits. What a great idea! I thought about sending in our photos and bio and see what crappy portrait we got back but I couldn't decide on what photo or what to write! But then I thought Hey! I'm a crappy portrait draw-er! So I got to work. And let me tell you, it's crappy! But Jon loves it! So I'm going to stick it in a frame and put it in his man room.

Doesn't look quite like us but it's fun sometimes to draw with no pressure with whether it looks good or not! Have you ever had a crappy portrait drawn? Or are you a crappy portrait draw-er?

Dog-gone it!

If you've noticed things have been a bit quieter around here lately, you would be correct. I've started a bunch of posts but for now they're just drafts. Ever have those times when you just don't have a whole lot to say.

Also, the past few weeks have flown by! My etsy shop has been busier with people getting christmas presents!

Jon was gone last week on a trip for work. The company sent him down south for a course. They put him up in this fancy resort hotel and spoiled them. And although I missed him, I was happy he could have this opportunity. I haven't been home while he's been gone away on a trip for years! The last time was 4 1/2 years ago when he had to go to Panama two weeks after our wedding. I was a little nervous about it but had nothing to worry about. It went by quickly.

We've also spent the past two weeks dog sitting my sister's dog Charlie. (P.S. check out my sister's shop!) Our dogs LOVED having him here. The cat, not so much. But they were warming up to each other in the last couple days. Charlie is actually our dog Butch's dad so it was cute to see the similarities.

Because I'm a crazy dog person, (it's good to have a hobby),  I took a bizillion pictures. That's a real amount.

 

 They LOVE chasing each other!

 These two are besties. They were never very far from each other. They even nap with their noses inches apart. So cute!

 

Father and son.

That's probably enough dog photos for today! And yes, the weather has been crazy. no snow. snow. no snow. lots of snow!

Fill in the Blank Friday

Fill in the blank friday! Click on the photo above or click the link to head over to Lauren's and play along!

1.   My favorite new blog of the moment is  Crisis in process I just discovered her blog this past week! Definitely go check it out! 


2.   Something I am thankful for is  having my husband home from his business trip. I kinda like having him around.

3.  Something that made me laugh this week was @mxtrjoshcharles Jimmy Fallon made this account as a joke and his tweets are hilarious!! 

4. An item that is currently on my wish list is  a new winter coat and boots! 

5.  I am excited about  my birthday this coming week! 

6.  If I were a color I would be  teal. a mystery. am I blue? am I green? 

7.  My favorite way to spend a chilly fall day is by doing something creative, blogging, and enjoying a cup of coffee. (I can't let a fill in the blanks go by without mentioning coffee!)
Have a great week-end!

Not Taking Life For Granted

Jon and I don't always agree on everything. One topic we have differing opinions on is discussing death. I always want to plan and prepare for the worst. I think it's hard enough on the family once you die, I'd like to make it easier by having everything already discussed. This may be depressing and demented. But I feel that thinking about what might happen helps to appreciate life today and not take it for granted. And to make the most out of my life. It reminds me to never let an argument between us go on from one day to the next. And to always tell Jon that I love and appreciate him.

I enjoy reading obituaries. Not in a sick and twisted I'm-glad-to-read-they're-dead kind of way. But in a fascinated with their life way. I love reading about a person's life described by the ones that love them most. I'm intrigued by their word and detail choice. I like to imagine the type of person they were, how much their family adored them, and the choices they made in life.

In college I took a course one semester on hermeneutics. It dealt with the "understanding and interpreting of linguistic and non-linguistic expressions." In other words why it might be important or significant that certain words and details are included in written articles. I try to use some of what I learned in class when I read obituaries.

For the past few years I've been working on gathering information on my family tree. A distant cousin has done a lot of research and sends me info that she thinks will help me. Last week in the mail I received a HUGE binder stuff full of information. In it she had an obituary from my Grandma who died 10 months before I was born. It was really fascinating reading about her life and it made me think a lot. Today would have been my Grandpa's 78th birthday. He died when I was 11 but I got to see him every day for those 11 years. I have a copy of both their obituaries and were comparing them. It's a great feeling to know I come from people with such big hearts and caring personalities.

She died in a sudden accident and no one talks about her so I know next to nothing about who she was. I love that her obituary gives me a little glimpse into how amazing she was. In thinking of what may one day be written on my own obituary there is two sentences from her's that I hope is reflected in my life:

"{She} was very sensitive to the needs of her family and others. She always had a kind word for everybody no matter who it was."

 

 

Winter/Christmas Package Swap!!

I had such a great time with the Fall Package Swap! I met some really neat new blogger friends and got to know some friends better! It was so fun seeing what everyone put in their packages! Everyone was so creative and came up with things I had never thought of! I love it! I've had several people ask about a Winter/Christmas Package Swap. I think that would be really fun! So let's do it!! Are you in?!?!

The Guidelines:
Fill a package with things that are winter/christmas themed! As a guideline about 3-5 items. Totally have fun with it! You can make the items or buy them. I'll try to match you up with someone in your country. Please don't sign up if you're going to flake! It takes the fun out of it! Sign up by November 9th! I'll email everyone their partners on the 10th. Please have your packages sent by December 10th! That way it won't get forgotten during the Christmas holidays! Feel free to start collecting things for your package already! I'm so excited!

To sign-up:
-Leave a comment with your email address

Or
-Email me at kissedafrogblog @ gmail dot com

I'll send you an email to let you know what info I need from you! If you know anyone else who'd like to participate, tell them to sign up too!

Find Me Over At...

I can't remember how much I've mentioned it. But I have a blog for my shop! I talk about new products, shop goals, and other shop related things! Today I wrote a diy/tutorial for a cute way to package jewelry or gift cards this christmas! Check it out here!

Road Signs

We live along a pretty dangerous stretch of highway. It's noted for the amount of accidents and deaths that occur. There's steep hills, sharp curves, lakes and rivers beside the road. All the things that make for unpredictable driving weather conditions. There's always wildlife crossing. Add on top of that the many many vehicles particularly semis that drive on it and you've got an over populated one lane highway. That's right one lane for most of the drive. This fall, in a three week period, there were 4 lives lost. In a 100 km trip, the ditches are lined with crosses and flowers. It's really sobering to see. You'd think this would people be more careful when they're driving this highway yet every time we drive it we see stupid drivers and far too many close calls.

Last week for example I noticed a van a few vehicles behind me weaving in and out of our lane as it passed it's way up to my car. It then proceeded to pass me on a double solid line ON A CORNER!! Luckily there wasn't anyone coming this way in that lane! But it frustrates and angers me so much when I see people risk other people's lives just to get somewhere a few minutes faster. It's not worth someone else dying because you're impatient!

Anyways, I didn't mean to be all ranty. I had a funny not angry post in mind! I actually had an idea the other day! I should make signs and hold them up as I notice stupid drivers!

I thought I could rig this one to pop up when I'm already speeding and someone is tailgating me!

I'd hold this one up for dangerous passers

Of course I'm just kidding! What sign would you hold up?