Loves This Week

1// Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman: I'm about 2/3 of the way through this book and I love it.  It's so creative, and the imaginary is so vivid.  I can't wait to read more of his novels when I finish this one.  A big thanks to Beth for sending me this!

2// Wassupbrothers Softies by Olga:  These are all so unique and gorgeous.  I totally want one, and just entered to win one here.

3// My Group Giveaway this month: You could win a $50 Target Gift Card, a dainty Skull Necklace, a crochet wrap bracelet or ad space! Check it out!

4// My new orange scarf from Target: I bought it at full price last week, and now it's half off on clearance, but man it's gorgeous and luxurious! Target takes all my money.

5// Tea for Two Mixed Media Art Cards from Painting Bliss:  These are just so lovely, love love love.

6//  My Plum Paper Planner:  This thing is fantastic, and I love using it!

7// DIY Polka Dot Coffee Mug from Framed Frosting: Isn't it cute?  Looks so easy too!

8// Torrid Graphic Tees: These things are soooo flattering, and cute too!

9// Hematite Heart Necklace from Torrid:  I'm not entirely sure it's hematite, because I usually can't handle that stone-but I love this necklace.  It's so pretty and I have worn mine a ton!

Books 'n' Bloggers Recap

While we're at it, I'm also loving the books I received from the Books 'n' Bloggers swap over at Chaotic Goddess Swaps!  I received books from Jenny over at JuliababyJen's Reading Room and she did a great job!  She didn't say exactly which ones were her favorite and which she's read, but A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris is from my wishlist, and I'm excited most to read Four Sisters, All Queens by Sherry Jones.  The other book is The Pleasure Palace by Kate Emerson.

She also sent a cute little journal and some lovely literary scented herbs.  Lovely!

I sent books to Jessica over at Duck Duck Cow, which she should be recieving today.  I was late-blah-I finally gave up on waiting on my book order and just went and bought a new book.  I wont tell you what I sent her, but here's a preview:

Win a $50 Target Gift Card, Jewelry, or More! {January Group Giveaway} 4 Winners!

Gift Card Contributers:

(+$5 from My So-Called Chaos)

OR you could win Ad Space from these lovely Ladies:

Or one of these awesome accessories:


The Details:
1 reader will win the Target Gift Card
1 reader will win all 3 ad spaces
1 reader will win the Skull necklace
and 1 reader will win the bracelet!
That's 4 awesome winners!

The Rules
ALL mandatory entries MUST be completed to qualify to win.  I will check.
This giveaway is open to residents in the US & Canada.
Giveaway ends on 02/06/13.  Winner has 48 hours to respond after being contacted.


a Rafflecopter giveaway


Good luck! 

Good Friends, Good Food, and Good Happy!

This weekend was pretty fun.  Friday night I was able to enjoy some me time and just recuperate from the week while my friends went out and did their own thing.  The weather warmed up a little too, which was nice-33 degrees is practically a heat wave compared to the temps lately!

Saturday night we went out to Tempanyaki with a bunch of friends.  The roommate, Shawn & Justin, Julie and her date the Pincushion, and I brought the new guy I'm seeing (which some friends have started calling the punching bag-and I'm debating nicknaming him Rocky for this blog purposes-related to his recent MMA fight experience.)  It was a really good time and I got nice and toasty on Sopporo Beer, which is really good.

Sunday we invited a couple of friends over and the roommate made Boeuf Bourguignon for dinner.  It was amazing and we had such a good time! Even my crazy friends for playing in the snow barefoot.

The warmish temperatures didn't last long, as Sunday night brought on a blizzard that is supposed to last until Thursday.  I'm pretty much at my limit for snow and I can't wait for warmer temperatures so I can go outside again! This morning on my way to work I was stuck going less than 5mph on the freeway for over a half hour... No bueno.

Things making me happy this week:

• The Body Shop sent me a HUGE box of samples that I am super excited to try out-and for the bonus, they sent some delicious things for me to giveaway here on the blog!  I am sooo excited! 
• I have a really great group giveaway going live on the blog tomorrow.  $50 Target Gift Card, ad space, an awesome skull necklace, and a crochet wrap bracelet!  All of the prizes are so lovely! 
• I received my sweet cards I ordered from Painting Bliss and Ashlie sent me a lovely little handmade necklace too.  It is so pretty! 

• Rocky (nickname under review) makes me happy.  And scared.  Oh so scared.  But happy also.  The fact that we can just tell each other "Hey I'm scared as hell because I'm so damaged from all the failed relationships littering my past" is a huge plus.  He admitted to me that he has limited his time with me because he's afraid of getting hurt again, and I admitted that I am also freaking out about the whole thing-and we both just promised each other "I'll try if you try."  Amazing.  
• My friends like Rocky (do we like that nickname?) and he seems to like them.  A BIG plus-and 100% necessary.
• I found the cutest shirts at Torrid.  I got a Dr. Who one, an All You Need is Love one, and a Zombie Hands Heart one!  So cute and they're extremely figure flattering.  I love it! 

Tell me one thing that's making you happy now?

Also linking up for Virtual Coffee with Lucky Number 13 

Empathy {Musical Mondays}

What is Musical Mondays? 

Musical Mondays is a weekly linky party where we share a song we're into for the week, and talk about why we like it-or why it effects us.  

This week's song:

Empathy
by Alanis Morissette



There are so many parts that I have hidden and denied and lost
There are so many ways that I have cut off my nose to spite my face
There are so many colors that I still try to hide while I paint
And there are so many tunes that I secretly sing as I wait

You come along and invite these parts out of hiding oh
This invitation is one that I've stopped fighting ah

[Chorus]
Thank you for seeing me
I feel so less lonely
Thank you for getting me
I'm healed by your empathy
Ah, this intimacy

There were so many times I thought I'd die not being truly known
There've been so many moments forever lonely in my vocation

You come along to celebrate each feeling oh
And there you are all honor and inquiring ah

[Chorus]

There was a day where the trust that was being asked of me
Required too much you see to accept your generosity
To know myself enough to let you help me

[Chorus]

***

I don't think I ever thought about how hard it would be to trust again after all of those blows in the past.  For the first time in my life I'm actually dating a nice guy who wants much of the same things as I do and I'm more afraid than I've ever been.  I'm more afraid of him than I have been the jerks that have hurt me in the past.  My friend Meggy thinks that it's because somewhere deep down I knew none of them would last-that none of them were real intimacy.  Real intimacy is scary.

Thinking back I haven't had a serious monogamous relationship 6+ years.  How strange is that?  I've had people I've dated, had casual flings with, been in love with... But none of them were ever as committed to me as I was to them.  None of them reciprocated in quite the way that I needed them to-and they didn't care to either.  

You'd think now that I'm faced with someone who actually may return some of those things-you know who may actually provide a healthy and stable relationship-that I'd be welcoming it with open arms.  Yet there is a large part of me that wants to run and hide.  To tell him to just go away and stop beating at these walls I've built to protect myself from making all of the same mistakes all over again.

Still... I'm not letting fear control me anymore.  I'm working on healing myself.  I'm working on opening myself up to love again and hoping with all that I have that I don't get hurt again.  It helps that I'm not the only one.  It helps to have understanding, empathy, and mutual honesty.  We'll see what happens.

***

<a href="http://www.mysocalledchaos.com"><img src="http://i725.photobucket.com/albums/ww257/agofish/For%20Blog/musicalmondays.jpg"></a>

What are you listening to this week?

Don't forget to link up your musical selection and include the button! 

Cynthia Haase Fine Art

I know I've mentioned Cynthia Haase and her Etsy shop a million times on this blog, but she is seriously amazing and deserves another little post.  Not only is Cynthia a very talented fine artist, working mostly with oil paints on gesso board, but she also maintains a couple of blogs.  One blog dedicated to her artwork and one called What Are You Really Selling? dedicated to helping people sell their product.

Check out some of the wonderful new product available from Cynthia Haase!  

(Clicking on the photo will take you to the listing.)

Aren't they lovely?  I'd really recommend you also check out the following posts from her blogs:

Floating and Displaying Small Oil Paintings
Expose Yourself!
The Product is the Thing! 
My I See Your ID Please?
Occupy Your Studio

Cynthia is amazing, and her work is affordable! I really recommend checking her out-and especially if you are an artist or fellow shop owner-follower her What Are You Really Selling? blog-there are soooo many good tips there that really apply to everyone involved in selling or creating!

Tragic Loss Close to Home

When I returned home from my trip on Sunday I became aware of something very heartbreaking-the loss of two wonderful members of the animal community, their unborn child, and five dogs.

{photo source}

Kel Halterman and her fiance Garrett were on their way to their jobs at a local vet clinic last week when they hit ice, flipped over the guard rail and fell 30 feet.  The impact killed them and their 5 dogs instantly, and though rescuers fought to save their unborn son Sage, he also died shortly after the emergency C-section.

Kel and Garrett volunteered for the same rescue as I do, Cause for Paws Utah, and were very very active in the animal rescue community.  They fostered for us, worked at a vet clinic, and did everything they could to love everyone and give everything.  I met them at the Howl-O-Ween benefit in October and they were so extremely sweet that the few minutes I had spoken with them stuck with me.  I did not know them well, but this loss has been in my mind all week.  We were lucky to have people such as this in our community, and it is incredibly sad to have lost them.

"I finally found someone who's love is bigger than the fear I have of being loved." 

- Kel Halterman in reference to her fiance, Garrett.
Quote from the memorial blog for Kel & Garrett.

Their poor families have gone from planning a wedding and the birth of a child to planning three funerals, and could really use some help with the funeral expenses.  If you go to the memorial blog set up for them you can read their stories, obituary, and donate.  All funds go to funeral expenses, and anything left over will go to the We Care Fund which helps rescue animals.  Kel and Garrett were very dedicated to that cause.

RIP Kel, Garrett, Sage, and the 5 fur-babies lost.

Confessions, Obsessions, & Tragedy

I Confess... 

This week has been pretty fail when it comes to my health goals.  I have not drank enough water, have eaten poorly, and only worked out once.  But on the upside I still lost 0.4lbs which brings my total weight loss to 8lbs in 3 weeks.  To meet my January Goal I need to lose 2lbs in the next 6 days! 

I Confess...

I have an unhealthy scarf addiction.  I left my hot pink scarf in Wendover so I went to Target to replace it and came home with a new orange one too!  I love it! 

I Confess...

The weather has been cold and crappy here.  The inversion is so bad you can't even see the mountains and I can't breathe hardly at all.  Yesterday morning there was a huge ice storm (they called it Freezing Rain-apparently we've only had 10 instances of Freezing Rain since the 1940) that caused 128 accidents.  The department of transportation asked people not to travel because they didn't have enough police officers to respond to all of the accidents.

I personally passed at least 15 cars that were flipped the wrong way on the freeway, and never got above 40 on my trip to work.  I also had to scrape my windshield three times because it instantly froze up the minute the rain hit it.  Gross.

I Confess...
I have not been able to get Kel and Garrett out of my mind this week.  They were two sweet people who fostered for my rescue and I met in October, who died in a tragic accident this weekend.  An accident that killed the young engaged couple, their unborn child, and the 5 dogs in the car with them. I think I will dedicate a full post to them this weekend-but in the meantime if you'd like to read more about it or if you can donate (any little bit helps) to the fund for funeral expenses you can do so here.

I Confess...
I really don't want to end on a sad note, so here's a funny picture!