The 2014 blue genie art bazaar

Hey Kittens! Come on out and help support local small business owners by ditching the Mall and visiting The Blue Genie Art Bazaar! There are so many wonderful vendors and unique gifts to purchase for your loved ones. They are also open Monday-Sunday 10am -10pm daily!!! You can also buy yourself an adult beverage and drink while you shop.... and the best part about it is there are no lines! 

Blue Genie Art Bazaar

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Give Thanks....

Happy Thanksgiving!!! This year I want to "give thanks" to my wonderful Husband Matt Hart. He is my biggest fan and supporter in all I do. Without him life wouldn't be as sweet. These past few years have really tested our relationship (through sickness and in health, richer or poorer) we have come out stronger than ever and more closer than ever before. He is the hardest working person I know and has the kindest soul of anyone I know.... I am truly blessed to be able to share my life with him. My favorite human in the world, my partner in crime and  the love of my life Matt Hart.

What are you thankful for this Holiday Season? I'd love to hear all about it.

 I just love reading all your sweet little comments.

xoxo

Pop shop houston

I'm super excited and also quite nervous to be participating in Pop Shop Houston's most festive Holiday Show! I'm excited to meet new and interesting people and nervous because it's a three day show! Eeeeeep! I've been working my little butt off for this moment though and I'm in good company as well... my dear friends Amanda and Bri and their little baby Hannah (The Good Hippie) are all driving together and their parents are kind enough to put me up and break bread with me on Thanksgiving Day! How sweet are these people!?! I'm seriously going to miss my Husbear and my Fur babies but this girl's gotta make some money! If you're in the Houston Area this is one show that you cannot miss... there is so much talent plus it's super important to support small businesses and shop local as well. There is nothing more special than to give and receive a one of a kind hand made present for the Holiday! See all the fun action on my Instagram feed here.

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Kitty's got claws...

Happy Thursday everyone! I'm so excited about my new upcoming posts.... Eeeeeep! I took a half day off to photograph a bunch of Fall outfits that I've been wanting to model but just haven't gotten a chance to.... unfortunately I was taking all the images myself (since The Mister was at work) and you can see the little remote thingy in all the images but you know... a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

I'm currently obsessed everything plaid. Last year I was lucky enough to find this cute little blouse at my favorite local thrift store and it fit oh so well. I just love the ruffles and the red is the perfect shade. I knew exactly how I wanted to style this look.... and was excited for the chance to wear these new kitten tights that I had purchased awhile ago. 

This tulle skirt is one of my favorite buys from Forever 21. It was only $8 dollars and literally goes with everything. I just knew it would work well with my plaid blouse and kitten tights... it is also just the right length. Check out the back of the tights... they have tails! It's all about the details darling. 

Now for the heavy stuff.....

So I mentioned in my last post about some changes in my life and I thought it was time to talk openly and honestly about them. I don't like to air my "dirty laundry" online and hardly ever talk about my personal life (religious beliefs, politics, and or personal relationships) in great depth out of respect for my family and friends and I also don't want to ever offend any of my readers. I tend to keep topics "light" and "fluffy" and have only ever really discussed some of my health issues (epilepsy) that were effecting me a great deal and even then this was only semi recent. This is "my blog" after all and I should be able to share with my readers and others how I really feel and what I'm going through in my life right?? 

So many of the decisions that I have made over the course of this last year have been choices that I have made for myself (with great thought and care) based on what I truly believed to be in my best interest and for my health (mentally and physically). One of which was quiting my 9-5 job working for the city of Austin. This I've talked a lot about because my job was literally making me sick. 

 That was a little over a year ago now and since then I haven't had any seizures or severe migraines! I am back to jogging, and dropped over 12 lbs over the course of this last year and feel amazing. 

There were other decisions that I have made more recently within the past 6 months or so that are really hard for me to talk about because it's more personal to me than talking about my physical ailments. I don't even really know how to word some of what I'm about to say but I'll do the best I can... I recently made the very hard decision to say good bye to some of my close friends. It was a choice that I felt I had to make (like I stated above) based on what would be best for me and my health. It was extremely hard to do because I shared a lot of fond memories and experiences with these friends. They had both been there for me through my "darkest times" and I had shared years of my life with them. 

I thought long and hard about it (for a good year or so) and even talked about it with The Mister and came to the conclusion that in order for me to move on with my life that this was something that I'd have to do. One particular friendship was harder to break than the other because we had grown extremely close where as the other friendship had already faded more over time. For over the last year or so of this particular friendship I felt "trapped" in a way. There were things that were said and done (over the course of that last year) that were very damaging and hurtful to me and our to our relationship. I literally felt like the trust had been broken.... there were comments made on a daily basis... comments and remarks that I felt were intended to break or tear me down little by little. Which they did....  I never felt so weak before. 

I'm all for "constructive criticism" but I literally felt like I was being ripped apart piece by piece. I'm not the type of gal that confronts issues or people for that matter "head on" like other gals do and maybe that's my fault. I'm working on that part of myself. I did however address the issue and brought it up several times on several different occasions and expressed how I felt and what I thought was happening only to be shut down. I noticed little changes in me and so did my Husband. It was really hard to deal with because at that time we were both working together literally side by side and I felt that I couldn't escape. To make matters worse this was at the height of my sickness (stress induced seizures due to horrible work environment) and I felt too weak and scared for that matter to end the relationship at that point in time. 

The snarky little remarks and comments kept happening even after we had talked about how I felt. I started to wonder at one point if there was something wrong with me...  if I was too insecure or too sensitive but I just couldn't shake it. There were remarks that were made to me that I literally thought in my mind "Did she really just say that?" or "Is this really happening?". It was like straight out of the movie "Mean Girls". I am not even exaggerating.... 

At one point in our relationship I even tried to break off the friendship only for us to makeup again. I thought that the judgemental comments and remarks would stop for good because at that point I wasn't messing around. I had already quit my city position and had started to feel better and felt stronger mentally and had physically started to shed some weight. I felt like a new woman and nothing was going to bring me down... or so I thought. The floundering friendship continued and it was good for awhile. I did however feel like the trust had been broken and didn't want to invest too much emotion this time around. It was a little easier because we no longer worked together.... I had even thought maybe that was what or problem was... that we spent too much time together and like sister's we just got on each others nerves. Wrong. Slowly and surely it started happening again.... little jabs and pokes here and there. 

This time it I had just had it. When the bad starts to out weigh the good that's when you know it's time to cut your losses. I didn't even feel like I owed her an explanation... what was the point now? I had already told her how I felt about what she was doing and how I felt she'd been treating me on several different occasions. Nothing had really changed. I was exhausted and beat down. I just wanted to end it... rip it off like a bandage. So I did.... I was actually shocked to discover that she really had no clue why I ended the friendship and heard through mutual friends that she felt that I owed her an explanation and that she needed some sort of closure on the whole incident.  I'm not one of those persons that feels the need to re-hash everything nor do I feel the need to get closure. I'm done and honestly I feel so free like I can actually be myself again. It was brought to my attention from a few different people that I'm quite happier and less mean now.... lol. 

I recently looked back in my journal (that I haven't written in in over a year) and it's sooo sad! Almost all my journal entries are about our friendship and how I was angry, hurt and upset about all the little comments she would make. I even wrote some of them down... some of them actually sound like something a little child would say. I can't even believe that I let someone talk to me that way or treat me like that for such a long time. I think that I was just really sick and weak at the time and I had no energy left to deal with what was happening around me.... I really don't know why I put up with it. The other friendships that I ended weren't as significant to me... they were basically just people in bad relationships that were full of drama and they just weren't living a very healthy lifestyle. I wanted to get away from all of that since I myself was working on being a more positive person and trying to change my lifestyle to be more fit mentally and physically.

I'm at a point in my life where I've finally got my health back and I feel like I've been given a second chance. I want to surround myself with people that are kind and caring. I don't want to waste my energy on people that don't deserve it and poke fun at me whenever the opportunity presents itself... I've been through way too much to worry myself about the petty drama going on in the world. I want to spend as much time as I can enjoying my family and friends that actually care and want to see me succeed. I finally feel like I have somewhat of a back bone now... maybe I'm just a little harder and have thicker skin now. I'm learning to speak up for myself more too.... I know I have issues vocalizing how I feel and I let my feelings build up inside me until I burst. I'm not perfect and I'm working on myself daily... I don't want people to think that I'm evil... this friendship wasn't all bad. We had some really good times too.... which is why it was so hard for me to say goodbye. I've had some of the best times and loudest laughs with this person and I'm sure I did and said hurtful things as well (especially in the end). I want to take this lesson and learn from it. I know the people that really matter in my life will be the ones that I will have long lasting relationship with. I am very blessed to have a loving Husband and Sister and a very close BFF that has been there for me through the toughest times. There is so much more that could be addressed and said but this is already the craziest, longest post ever. Whew!!! I would love to hear your thoughts and feelings on this sensitive subject. Has anyone else gone through something similar they'd like to share? This has been something that I've been keeping inside of me for such a long time that I think it's good that I finally was able to address the issue. It's almost theraputic in some little way.

xoxo

Blouse: Thrifted

Skirt: Forever 21

Tights: Diesel is Fuel

Shoes: Target

Lip Stick: Revlon (Love that Red)

Peachy Keen

Happy Monday Kittens! These last few weeks have been flying by so fast and here we are in mid November already. I've been laying low and not posting as much (if you didn't notice). Instead... I've been working hard on my little crochet company for this upcoming Holiday Season... which is right around the corner. Yikes!! I did manage to take a few outfit pics with The Mister though... actually these are kinda old. I'm not even quite sure if I like this outfit all that much anymore. Ha!

This is a dress that I had purchased awhile back that has been sitting in my closet all Summer and I just now forced myself to wear it. I scored this little frock at my favorite local thrift store for $7 dollars.... which may seem like a lot for a thrift store but it was brand spankin' new. The back is completely sheer black and it was way too cold to show it off on this chilly Austin day... and honestly I was feeling just plain lazy at the moment. 

I'm pretty excited about "tight weather" though.... I have tights in every color of the rainbow and also some new specialty ones that I bought on Etsy that I can't wait to break out and show off. I love this peach color that just so happened to match the little flowers in my dress. I don't normally try to match my tights with my clothes but in this case it looked pretty swell to me. Oh and this faux leather jacket I got from Target is my newest favorite item. I feel way more edgy than normal!!

Sophie's watching me from inside the house doing a little "twirl" for the Mister. I'm also loving these newish black booties also from the thrift store. I'm starting to get a really good wardrobe for this Season. 

It wouldn't be a complete photo session without a few closeups. I love showing off my new Ombre' hair do. I feel like a new girl with this edgier look. I feel it matches my personality more now... my new (not taking any crap) kinda vibe. More on that later!!!

As for now I'm gonna concentrate all my energy into crocheting and producing high quality taxi heads. I can't wait till this Holiday Season is over and I can just take a few days off and escape somewhere secluded with The Mister and fur babies and just relax and spend some much needed quality time with one another. Hope eeryone is busy making awesome Holiday plans with their loved ones... I'd like to hear all about it. 

P.S. I'm linking up with Bre Pea... she's back with a re-vamped website and it looks amazing!!! Hop on over and join in the link up party!!!

xoxo

Dress: Thrifted

Jacket: Target

Tights: Target

Booties: Thrifted

Sunnies: Modcloth

Earrings: Stitch & Stone

Instagram lately...

Happy Monday kittens!! Well I've been a very busy little bee over here in Austin, Texas. I've been crocheting up a storm and have pictures to prove it. A lot of my Instagram feed has been about my little ol' business lately... tis the season. I've been busting my butt to get my crochet taxi heads "out there" and I have to say I think I'm doing a pretty swell job. It's been very rewarding indeed. I wanted to switch things up a bit by taking a break from daily wear fashion and post about what's been going on in my life.

The Husbear went out of town to visit his family in October. With him he brought "Franklin's Barbecue" for a dear friend who's always wanted to try it. I didn't get to try any brisket .... but I hear it's the best of the best BBQ you can find in Texas. 

Meanwhile... while the Mister was out of town I caught up on some of my favorite "guilty pleasure" shows and curled up with the fur babies and a nice glass of Malbec. Of course I had to crochet while I was watching TV.

Keeping my stores re-stocked has been hella hard on me. Not only am I filling orders on Etsy but also nine stores around Austin, Dallas and the Houston area. I had one of the biggest orders ever on Etsy to fill and am also trying to get stocked up for three Christmas shows... one of which is in just two weeks! Eeeeeeep!

After I filled my HUGE Etsy order and shipped it out and got paid I treated myself to a new hair do at The Salon. I've always wanted to try the Ombre' look... I think it suits me well don't you? It's a bit "edger" than my normal look but that's why I like it. I feel like I've finally grown a backbone over the last year and I'm a whole new woman.... stronger, tougher. Lookout Austin!!!

I also indulged in a vintage dress from my girl Hannah of The Braided Bandit. As soon as I saw this sweet little dusty pink dress on her Instagram feed I knew it had to be mine! I'm a big believer in supporting small businesses and I just adore Hannah's vintage finds!

The weather is finally cooling down and the days are getting shorter... we've been enjoying very fine sunsets around this part of town. Sigh.... I'm just so glad it finally feels like Fall here.

Stocking up on the very popular "Longhorns" that I make. 

These guys sell really fast!!!

There was even a new design that I had time to make... a little sheep that I created as a gift for Meredith of One Sheepish Girl. I just adore her work and hope that someday I too will be able to publish my very own crochet book. Maybe in the near future.... wink wink.

The Mister and I have been really great recently... you know when everything just seems perfect... like that kind of great. Life has brought us closer together as a couple and we are enjoying every single minute of it.

We've seriously got a mini Jungle growing in our backyard. I can't even count how many Banana Plant's we have.... and two of them are sprouting little baby bananas! It's super weird and cool to see them grow. They don't taste good so we don't harvest them or eat them but it's cool non the less. They remind me of Audrey II from "Little Shop of Horrors".

People go nuts over Unicorns! I can never make enough of these guys...

Deer are pretty high up there on the list as well. I think anything with horns or antlers are popular. I think these Deer would make a cute addition to any baby nursery with a woodland theme.

Oh and tusks.....

I haven't made any Giant Squid in forever on account of the fact that they take a billion years to construct... I did however force myself to make two for this season. Get em while the gettin is good!

I still find some time to spruce myself up for some outfit pics with the Mister. I love dressing up but working from home kinda makes it a little pointless especially when nobody sees you. So on the weekends when I'm not staining plaques or rolling around in yarn I throw on some lipstick and a dress and run a brush though my hair. 

My crochet taxi heads have taken over our kitchen... this is just the tip of the iceburg as they say. You should see other corners of our home! Yikes!

Our baby chicks are all grown up and have started to lay eggs. We are delighted to get about five eggs on a daily basis now. I love our feathered friends!

More taxi heads waiting their turn to be "mounted"... a very daunting process indeed.

Last but not least my favorite guys to make are the adorable baby Hippo's! I just get a kick out of them... they are my favorite to crochet besides the Jellyfish. 

That about wraps it up for October and the beggining of November. In other news... I was super stoked to have my worked featured on their Instagram feed, the lovely couple Bobby Hicks and Keiko Lynn. I'm always taken back how humble and nice people are and how willing other bloggers and people are to help support small business and fellow crafters. It's always a rush to see your work adored by people that you yourself look up to. The Mister and I were also delighted to see some old friends this past weekend that came into town to stay the night with us. We all sat around the fire pit in the backyard and talked about old times and new times... it was great! Now back to work for me. 

xoxo

Follow me on Instagram @NothingButAPigeon

Under the Milkyway...

Is it Monday already?!? This weekend flew by super fast over here in my little world. The Mister and I had a whole long list of chores and home improvements that we both needed to work on... but it seems like they all took longer than expected and that we barely accomplished any of them. We did get to cross some things off of our "to do list" though... but there are plenty of other projects just waiting to be finished. Whew! Sometimes it seems like it's never ending but I guess that's just life in general...

I have been getting a lot of crocheting done and I'm pretty excited about that. Then there is the daunting task of mounting them all which is a pain in the ass... but not as big of a pain as staining the plaques. That's the worst. I can't complain though... I'm thrilled to be working for myself and love what I'm doing and the fact that I get to be super creative everyday. I mean... I crochet and watch Netflix and Hulu all day... it doesn't get much better than that right?! I've pretty much seen almost every new release on Netflix and am having fun re-watching old favorites. There are just some movies that you never get sick of. 

It's funny... I've never watched "Donnie Darko" before until the other day. I mean I've seen bits and pieces of it but never watched it all the way through... I can see why it's a cult classic. I love Jake Gyllenhaal and Jena Malone and all the other big time stars that make special appearances throughout the flick. I especially love the song "Under the Milky Way" by The Church. I went ahead and downloaded it off i-tunes and have been playing it over and over again. I'll probably get sick of it eventually and move on to something else soon but I'm enjoying it for right now.

 

This is an old dress of mine which I like very much but never seem to wear. I've had the Mister take pictures of me in it before but I just never liked the way they've turned out... I recently scored these black booties at my favorite local thrift store and purchased this everyday black cardigan from Target that goes with anything and everything and guess what? I finally found the look that I was going for. I added a chunky gold chain necklace and bracelet and my favorite round sunnies and was ready to go!

I love when I find things that go great together... now I know that this is a look that I can quickly "go to" when I'm in a hurry or am feeling rushed to get ready. It's pretty simple and looks "pulled together" nicely. It also helps when I am planning outfits to wear for shows as well. I'm getting ready to head out of town to Houston for about five days with some dear friends to participate in a show called Pop Shop Houston and I need some pretty dresses that I can move in and that will keep me cool when I get all flustered and hot. Of course I won't be wearing these booties... I have some comfy flats that I usually wear during shows but I always like to look my best. Cardigans are great because you can always take off layers when you start to get warm and usually by the end of the day my hair will get pulled up and worn in a little top knot. 

Speaking of hair... I know I've said this before but I'm just still super excited about my new Ombre' hair do! It must be because it's been so long since I've had a new look. I've literally been dying my hair the same red color from a box for the past five years (which I love the color... don't get me wrong) I just love this new edgy look. It's like a new me in a sense. My style has definitely changed since I first started this blog back in 2010. It's almost embarrassing the way I used to dress. It was cute but I didn't start developing my own sense of what I liked or what really felt like me until recently. I don't know... maybe that's just they way I perceive it. I feel way more mature and refined now than I did in past outfit posts... I also feel more confident which is a big deal for me.

Hope everyone had an awesome Halloween weekend and are recovering from having loads of fun. I'd love to hear about how everyone else's style has changed over the years... comments are always welcome!

xoxo

Dress: So La

Cardigan: Target

Booties: Thifted

Chain & bracelet: Target

Sunnies: Target