and i have no good title

titles are always hard for me to come up with. especially on a post like this, that has no real theme...
also, sorry i've not been commenting, reading...or even posting [anything very interesting] as much lately...things just seem REALLY busy...June has been one insane month...one shower, party or event after the other!!



my parents started digging into the "attic" [crawl space] the other day. i came up to my room tonight to find this:


...better known as "Cabbage Patch Doll" and "La Baby". Ah, the memories.
they've dug out a bunch of my old stuffed animals and want me to search through them...i'm sure it will be an enjoyable experience when it happens, but i'd rather not do so right now. i have enough digging through to do in my room under all my piles of clean clothes that i've yet to put away [it's truly getting ridiculous].


Friday night i spent with my sister & hubby [they came to see the show], kt, kc & iNSPiRAL. they pretty much rocked [and by they i mean iNSPiRAL, of course, but also sissy, bri bri, kt & kc]. Saturday kc & i went to kickboxing, then i had a bridal shower, then josh & i drove to Pittsburgh for another iNSPiRAL show. check over at their blog for more on the shows.

i guess that's all i have to say. i'm craving some cupcakes. it's been...2 weeks! since the last batch...withdrawal....blahhhhh

[friday show pics:]


[saturday shower pics:]


[saturday show pics:]

things!

rach wants me to make THESE cuppies...ice cream cuppies! mmm....maybe this will be a fun thing to try...


kc and i have gone into mad-lets-find-an-apartment-mode in viewing 2 houses yesterday [myself w/ my mum] and 3 apts in a complex on wednesday. tonight we're looking at another house that is ridiculously out of our price range...buuuut i want to see WHY it is so great, and maybe see if kc can get the guy to lower his price? or maybe i heard him wrong?

i'm excited to move out. it isn't that i don't like my parents. it isn't even that i don't like living with my parents. i do, they're great, they don't really charge me much [but i give them money and buy things for the house...and buy them dinner sometimes, i think it's a fairly even...ish...trade-off]...but i'm just desparate to get out on my own [with kristen]. i want my own place, i want my own kitchen...living room...driveway [or parking space]. i want to be at a more convienient location in erie for all the places i go...anyway...i'm excited...i feel like we're getting serious now! but i'm also getting seriously SICK of looking, and we've not spent much time looking nor have we looked at many places...ugh, makes me dread looking for a house [whenever THAT happens].

anyway! tonight is a graduation party & iNSPiRAL show @ the Beer Mug in Erie, tomorrow is a bridal shower & trip to pittsburgh till Sunday! yippppeeeeeeeeeeee! ugh, i'm TOTES glad it's Friday!!!

oh, here are some pics from kt's cousin's grad party this past Sunday:







i want a cupcake.

cake.

what's been going on in my life...


my mum finally made her "tiara cake". i just ate it for breakfast. [has cake, vanilla pudding and strawberries].


Job at GE we are finishing. sissy is doing some artwork for it!!


Job we finished at American Hollow Boring. We used flat metal trim and silver paint. It looks sharp!


Job we are pretty much done with at Erie Bank on Interchange Road. Looks awesome!

nothing.

i really like this new "Blog List" feature! except, it came out 15 days ago and i had no idea. ughghhg.

yesterday my cuz bekah and i went to Molly Brannigan's and down to the dock. we had fun. we saw crazy people. we ate gelato, saw a friend of mine playing guitar downtown, ate spinach artichoke dip, and were asked if we were sisters.

yes, another cuppie...

this was from my aunt - however, i'm giving it to my boss, seeing as i was almost 1/2 hour late coming back from lunch...

anyway, vanilla cupcake with vanilla-coffee flavored butter cream frosting...and with fancy wrappers!!

the month of parties

or showers...or other events...

this post really has nothing to do with that. i just couldn't think of a catchy title.

i received my co-worker Bethany's wedding invitation in the mail yesterday. her mum's friend made them for her! they are so cute.

what's life without a dream?

after showing pictures of our Saturday visit to Dozen Bakeshop, a co-worker said, "I wish we had that in Erie." Specifically - Village West Plaza - a 5 minute [if that] walk from our office. After that comment, I was thinking how amazing it would be to have a place like that...and by "have" I mean...start...run...own...

I don't see how anything like that could happen within the next 50 years, but I feel like my family has so much cooking talent [my Auntie Paula is a master baker/chef; my grandma makes amazing staples as spaghetti & meatballs, lasagna, homemade pizza, chocolate cake & cookies; my mother is a home-ec teacher, and makes favorites such as trifle, almond bars, and has inspired some of my favorite cuppie ideas; my great aunt [boss's mom] makes some awesome Italian desserts like biscotti; and even my boss and his wife are creative in the kitchen]. I imagine an Italian themed and family-inspired menu would be a big hit...[plus I have all the help I need in the Graphic Design [sissy / kt] area, I have an accountant, and publicist/communications director....].

how about "The Cuppie Place" ? hahhahah



eh, it's a dream I have...maybe someday.



until then, kc and I are going to visit our 2nd house today! yippee!

Housewarming!

ugh. first off, i'm having an awfully unproductive, rough, frustrating, irritating, no good, very bad day.

second off, i had an awesome, lovely, wonderful, fun, hilarious, and totes, probs & ushe-filled weekend.

Friday kc and i drove down to pittsburgh [stopped at Wendy's for a little din din's] and got to Nikkie's NEW HOUSE!! Stace & Shane had just arrived, and kt was planning on meeting us at the movies. Shaner drove us all to some crazy cinema [they had elevators!] where we went to see Sex & the City [i have watched a total of 3 1/2 episodes in my life, oh, and shane didn't go see that movie with us]. it was funny, i cried about 5 times, i felt inapprops about another 5. i would say do NOT go see this with your guy friends or boyfriend(s), but your girlfriends. it was really fun sitting with my best friends of 10+ years thinking "if we had tons of money [and lived in the NY], that would be us."

Saturday we went to DOZEN for breakfast and had some amazing fun foods [i had artichoke & red onion quiche! mmm so good]. and they had awesome cupcakes there! what was more awesome, is it is almost right next to KMA & Associates - one of the vendor groups we work with! So, some of our good friends from the furniture industry work there.


After dozen, kt, stace, shaner & i went to some marketplace for some cheap and fresh veggies, get rained on, and some authentic english chocolate. then we went to Giant Eagle to get ingred's for Buffalo Chicken Wing Dip [ah-ma-zing] and Cream Cheese Cookie Bars. Then Wal*Mart, cause we decided Nikkie & Matt needed garbage cans for their housewarming party.

The housewarming party was a lot of fun - though i'm a stupie and didn't get any pictures of the house/rooms all lovely and clean...blah, oh well [i was the only photographer for the weekend]. we attempted to watch Stace & Shane's wedding video [with no success :(], then had a short nap, ate way too much food, and had a rousing game of spoons. kc & i slept on an air mattress in their office [with kt & mike on another] at about 1130...while the party still raged downstairs...hahah.

*Stace *Kristen *Amy *Nikkie *Katie

mikey j & kt


kc & kt


"i can haz veggies?"

Father's Day went well, cookout with the fam, then went to see the new Indiana Jones w/ sissy & bri & josh. we laughed...a lot...and i'm glad josh enjoyed making little snide comments throughout the movie with me :) [i think that might be the right word...?]

also..iNSPiRAL buttons! yay!


anyway, i've been pretty unproductive today, maybe after i finish this post i'll do better...blahhhh.

oh well, happy monday! ugh...

iNSPiRAL SHOW!!! & SKANK's tONiGht!!!

iNSPiRAL did awesome @ Sherlock's! below are some videos from the night. there's another one posted on iNSPiRAL's blog...eventually.

also, we've got buttons and cds!! buttons are totes cute, maybe we'll get some pics of them this weekend to show you all...

also - tONiGht kc and i are driving down to Pittsburgh to celebrate Nikkie & Matt's new HOUSE!!! [what, celebrate their house?? that doesn't make sense...] anyway, Stace is coming up from VA & kt will be there as well! this is the first time all 5 SKANK's have been together since...wait...Christmas?! is that right??? yay! we're totes excited! plus father's day this weekend...so fun family celebrations on Sunday!

have great weekends everyone!! check out the videos!

can haz iNSPiRAL show?

yes. you can haz an iNSPiRAL show. TONIGHT @ Sherlocks, Erie, PA! so, um, if you don't live in Erie, you better hurry up and get over here.


ALSO: we booked our flights to New Orleans today! [ok, kt did...she's aweseome :)]

also, happy anniversary my lovely sissy & brother in law!!!!

The Joys of Chicago

Can i just say i LOVE Chicago? it is by far my favorite big city [ok, i've only been to Washington D.C., Baltimore, Toronto [but only saw the airport], and Pittsburgh...if those are even considered "big cities"].

Our Sunday flights from Erie to Detroit to Chicago went without a hitch. We got into Chicago about 10 i believe [that'd be 11am Erie/Pitts time]. We got to our amazing hotel, i took a short nap, and we went to an absolutely insanely awesome place around the corner for lunch owned by The Cheesecake Factory - Grand Lux Café. The decor was awesome, let alone the delicious food. We had two appetizers, AJ got soup, and Dory & I had awesome entrées. We split the New Orleans Beignets for dessert...absolutely amazing. When we left the café, it starting pouring insanely, so we waited it out. I guess a bunch of flights were grounded going to Chicago, so we heard a lot of horror stories about waiting for flights and delays and missing luggage. We were so lucky to have left earlier!!!

Sunday afternoon we changed and went to the Merchandise Mart for a dealers-only showing of the Knoll Showroom. They had expanded from last year, and it was awesome! I took way too many pictures.

Sunday night we had a party at Shaw's Crab House for Spec Furniture, then went over to Hotel 71 for a party for Versteel in the Penthouse.

Monday morning was the Knoll Dealers' breakfast, where they unveiled some new things and gave us an overview of what's going on with the company. Then we headed back to the mart to visit some more showrooms [Nucraft, OFS/First Office/Carolina, Sit on It and Inscape].

Monday night we went to Fulton's On The River for a Sit On It party, then to Carmine's for dinner. It was soooo tasty, but i could barely eat all my food.

Tuesday morning our flight left at 10:10 from Chicago. Our Detroit-to-Erie flight was a little irritating...overbooked...boarding late...they filled up the fuel tanks too much for the Erie airport so we had to sit off to the side on the runway for about 45 minutes...turbulance sucked, i was at the back of the plane, i was tired & nauseas...but we got back to Erie at 315, safe and sound and tired...

I have a bazillion pictures, and you can check out my favorite...300...here. but here are some of my best of the best:

Grand Lux Café

Limencello Lemonade & White Sangria - Grand Lux Café

New Knoll Fabrics - Luxe Collection

More Knoll Fabrics

Knoll Showroom - Graham Collection

Knoll Stools

New Loewenstein Collection

Inscape Showroom - Conference Room

Knoll Fabrics & Ottomans

Chicago!

Nucraft - Neos Collection