...7 Years Bad Luck.

Life is a little chaotic right now. I move on Saturday so I have been packing packing packing (with a lot to go yet, who would of thought I could fit this much stuff in a studio apartment?) and getting all my ducks in a row. The picture above pretty much sums up how it is going so far. I will do my best to update here, but internet access will be limited for a couple days.

If you still want to see what is going on with me (because my life is oh so interesting) you can find me on twitter! I update there, probably too much for my own good.

Dear So and So

Texas Monkey is a blog I read and every Tuesday Shayna posts a Dear So and So. I love these, and this week I have been inspired to write my own.

Dear Upstairs Neighbor,

I want to thank you for giving me so many life lessons this past year. You have exposed me to many different types of music, it was so soothing when I was trying to go to bed early. The sweet vibration throughout my whole apartment was a nice touch. I also want to thank you for making me feel less alone, I think your surround sound was a great addition, and now I know you love action movies. It was like I was right there watching it with you. Those helicopters and explosions sound so real!

You have also taught me effective communication. I have noticed that when you yell at the top of your lungs every one listens... that is how you get a message across! You have also made this non smoker appreciate smoking. I never realized that cigarette butts and ashes made such nice patio decor. No worries, though I made note of it for my next apartment, we all know it will all be in the next Home and Garden.

Lastly, I could tell you really cared because you would make sure I wasn't late for work by jumping up and down and slamming doors and making my whole apartment shake. I am actually not really sure what technology you are using to do this, but I am impressed! Sign me up!

So thanks for the great year. I am so sad I will never see you again after the next two weeks. It has been GREAT!

Love,
Your appreciative downstairs neighbor.

New Obstacles.

I graduated exactly one year ago as of yesterday. Two weeks after graduation I moved here, to the Twin Cities, on Memorial Day weekend. I am moving home after a solid year here. No less, no more. It feels odd.

The year went by fast, as a whole, but the months were slow. It was full of trails and tribulations, but this isn't the end. I am starting a whole new experience, a whole new set obstacles to overcome. I am entering the job market again, just to compete with new graduates. Hopefully my year of experience in the workplace will help me get the upper hand.

Let's hope I come out successful.

More exciting posts will come eventually, just a lot going on right now!

Making Decisions.

So here's the deal...

As I mentioned in my last post I had big news to share today.

I am moving back to Wisconsin.

This has been in the works for a while but I obviously couldn't share with you until I had given my two weeks notice to my work place. And I did just that on Thursday.

I was SO nervous. I don't like letting people down, and since I was working for my uncle's company, I felt like I was letting him down, but I know I did the right thing.

I had been going back and forth with the idea. Should I stay? Should I go? Am I giving up? Will I be happier? I made the choice I knew was best for me. I am going back to live with my mom and sister and I have no job lined up. As bad as that sounds, it is better than staying here. I can honestly say I was lonely for the last year.I don't think I have ever been legitimately lonely ever in my life, until this year.

I can say that I have grown as a person. I have learned a lot about myself and have a new found independence, confidence, and all around peace of mind.

That is really all I have to say about the whole moving home thing for now. I will keep you updated on how the work place is. I haven't felt the repercussions yet, as no one but my boss knows. I have a feeling it will come up at our Monday morning meeting. We will see!

Remember me?

Hey guys, long time no see.

There is a lot going on in the world of Madelyn. I will give you a better update with some exciting information on Friday.

I have also been occupying my time with a NEW BLOG! It is titled "Fashion on a curve". It's a blog about plus size fashion. I am really excited about it, and my long term hopes are for the blog to become a reference place for plus size fahionistas.

It is still in the "baby stages" but it is getting there. If you are interested please follow, or share with your plus size comrades.

So, check it out! Fashion on a curve.

Thanks, thanks, and more thanks :)

I can sleep anywhere.

You name it I have probably slept there: couches, chairs, floors, desks, bowling alley's, planes, trains, and automobiles.

My point is, I don't need to be comfortable to sleep. If I am tired, I make it work.

But let me tell you something... there is nothing like returning to your bed after a 2 week trip.

I love my pillows. I love my blankets. I love my bed.

Blog coming soon about my trip... I am SURE you all missed me :)

Bloggity Blog

Heeeeeey youuuuuu guuuuuuuuys..... (the Goonies anyone? eh?)

The blogging has thinned this week, and for that I am extremely sorry.

This has been a crazy-crazy week in the working world for me. And as you know, that is rare...I do most of my blogging at work meaning I obviously have the time.

But this week was different. I have been getting trained gradually that last two weeks in Accounts Payable and Quick Books and all that jazz (Chicago, anyone?) because our Accounts Payable gal is in ITALY! Jealous.

So I have been dealing with the bills, bills, bills (Destiny's Child? Eh?)

And today we have our annual audit with is stressful and time consuming in itself - but I have found time to write a quick blog!

I am excited because tomorrow evening I am leaving on a jet plane (Peter, Paul, and Mary). And heading HOME for a couple days and then you can meet me in St Louis (Eh? Eh?) for a couple days and then back here to the cities.

So you may be thinking be my blogging is slow now, but it can only get worse before it gets better. I will be back in full blogging swing by May at the latest.

ps. I don't know what came over me with all the music/movie references. Just enjoy it while you can :) You love it.

Thrifting Success! 4.10.10

Time for another thrifting review!! My mosaic doesn't look quite as nice this time...I need to work on my camera skills. Buuuut it is still exciting!! A few things pictured were bought previously and just not posted.

1. Woven brown shoes.
I have been looking for woven shoes for a while, these are perfect.
2. Samsonite long strap bag.
This was a steal! Perfect size for an airplane carry on or overnight bag. I will be using it this upcoming weekend when I fly home.
3. Vintage Egg holders.
These were too cute to pass up. You may have seen them already in this post.
4. More vintage TV trays.
These ones are smaller. I have different ideas for them...maybe another chalkboard for one :)
5. Vintage Heart Chair.
Originally from a Minneapolis Coffee Shop. This is my new desk chair.
6. Vintage Brown Clutch.
Lots of pockets on the inside. Wouldn't this look cute paired with the brown shoes?
7. Vintage Shoe Tote.
Love the pattern, I use it to hold my fabric scarps :)
8. Black Shoes.
I have been looking for Oxfords and this is the closest I have gotten so far, but I think they are super cute... I already have an outfit planned! haha
9. Samsonite Train Case.
Has the key included! I have a thing for Samsonite, okay? So sue me.

Ahhhhhhhh!

Do you ever get to the point where just being in the general vicinity of someone is annoying. They may not being doing anything, but everything they do makes you want to bring fist to face?

I am about there with my work place...and all of my superiors and co-workers and everyone else, excluding maybe 3 people.

My biggest pet peeve is being able to hear someone chew/swallow/slurp/crunch/whatever. They are incapable of having eating manners - and they are ALWAYS eating. My parents taught me how to have table manners...what did their parents teach them? The only sound I want to here come from your mouth is talking...if you are lucky.

I don't want to here their jokes/whistles/songs/hockey games on the computer/nothing.

I think my tolerance is all used up.

I keep getting this urge to hit my head against the wall, repeatedly.

Oh well, the weekend is almost here. Two days to recoup and then feel the same way next Thursday...or Wednesday... or Monday.

Thank you for the rant. No heads/hands/faces/or computers were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Rocks Rock.

This is my last Easter related post, and by Easter related I mean- this is what I did during my Easter weekend but has actually nothing to do with Easter.

My sister was planning a "spontaneous" hiking trip. She planned it but no know else knew about it. I love doing spontaneous things but I am a planner, especially when it comes to packing. I did not pack tennis shoes. I had ballet flats and heels. This was a dilemma because I'm broke/cheap. I have appropriate shoes in my closet, but they were not in my suitcase and I didn't want to buy a new pair of shoes when I didn't NEED them. Then my mind drifted to thrifting (as usual) and I remembered there was a thrift store in the town with a good selection of shoes, so I hopped in the car and 10 min later I had a pair of sneakers for $1.50. Success!

And we were on our way!

Going up was a tougher task than going down, not just because of the natural force of gravity, but because we had to deal with a lot of rocks and steep inclines and whatever else.

But to our surprise going down was just a gravel road - still steep, but easier. We were much happier that we went the way we did. We may have been disappointed if we started out with a gravel road but we were thankful for it by the time we started our decent.

The best part was the view. Every time we got to a clearing we had to stop and check it out. Even though we were getting tired we continued to go out of our way, climb those extra rocks just to see the beautiful view.

We all enjoyed our selves so much, we plan on doing this again - maybe a new trail. I am not in any of the pictures as I was behind the camera, but I am anxious to see the pictures my sister took. If there are any good ones I will be sure to share!

Alright, I am done with my Easter posts, I would love to hear about your Easter weekends!

The obligatory Easter egg post.

I saw a blog with a Rubber Cement trick for dying eggs - I can't find it now to link for credit, but if you know the blog I am talking about (bold colors and rubber cement is really all I remember) please share the link!

Anyway, once I saw it I knew I had to do it. As I mentioned in yesterday's post I went to my dads house and while he was gone picking up my sister I recruited his gf to dye eggs with me, of course we reluctently and impatiently saved some for my sister and dad. We canvased the small town for last minute supplies and got to work. Below is how it went... told with some not so perfect pictures.


Doesn't that look exciting?? I loved it. We all had a blast and tried different things: mixing colors, using the crayon, the rubber cement, we got a little silly and starting dying eggs to look like each other. The one my sister made of me sadly broke it's noggin' but you can see the one I made of my sister. She is 16 so I gave her egg the swoosh, peace sign, and awkward smirk. Nothing artistic, but we had tooooo many laughs :) Below are some of my favorites.


We started out with 2 dozen eggs but between my sister being hungry and the dog being hungry and a few cracked ones, our final stash looked a little small. Haha I hadn't dyed eggs in years, this was a ton of fun.

At least one more post coming this week about my Easter weekend. I hope everyone's Monday went well!

Happy Easter!

I had a fun filled Easter weekend in central Wisconsin. My dad lives half way between where I live and where my mom lives so I did Easter there, and my sister came too! There will be more detailed blogs coming throughout the week. I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!


There is nothing like flying a kite to say Spring is here, even if they are the plastic superhero ones from the Family Dollar.

April Showers...

My favorite season is here! Thunderstorm Season! Today officially marks my first Thunderstorm of the year. I love waking up to the sound of thunder and the flash of lightning. I picked out a few of my favorite Etsy items that I think would be a great addition to my season preparation. I encourage you to check out these items and the shops!

Read from Left to Right

1. Orange Umbrella

2. Umbrella Coffee Cozy

3. Yellow Rain Shoes

4. Art Deco Umbrella Stand

5. 1895 Lightning Photographs

6. "Thunderstorms are Amazing" button

7. Rainy London Day Bag

8. Lightning Bolt Necklace

9. Twiggy Style Orange Raincoat

PS: I started this blog March 31st, but posted it on April 13th. Ughhh I would have much rather have it come up as April 13th... If you have any tips on how to change it - let me know! Thanks.

Revenge of the Monday's

Yes I know today is Tuesday, but yesterday was a Monday and boy was it rough.

Let me start by saying that I am emotional being. I always have been and always will be. When I am sad, I cry. When I am happy, I cry. When I get hurt, I cry. When I'm angry, I cry, and when I am frustrated, I cry. There are probably even more emotions to explain how much I cry, but I think you get the picture.

To be stereotypical for a second- when it comes to crying, I am such a girl.

And you know how sometimes you can feel a cry coming, not the shake in the voice, say one more word and I am going to cry feeling, but the I have a lot going on and if I have another crazy day I may just let it out kind of feeling. Well when I feel that happening I purposely watch the Lifetime channel or some sad movie to get the cry out so to avoid public humiliation.

Well, I guess I waited too long this time. Yesterday, while at work, I got mad/frustrated/angry and a little anxious....oh no. I cried. I cried in front of my 2 bosses and two co-workers. They don't know me well enough to know that I cry, it's what I do. They continued to discuss things with me while I was crying, making the crying worse. Finally I ended the conversation and went to my cubicle and continued to cry. This time crying because I had cried in front of them. (I told you I cry for many reasons).

Anyways, the day is over and today is another day. I felt the situation was blog worthy because this is a documentation of my life after college and the first work cry is important. Haha

Thrifting Awesomeness: 3.26.10

Some of these items are from a few weeks ago that I didn't get pictures of, but today was so nice I kept trying to find more things to take pictures of for the excuse to sit in the sun.

Read from left to right.
1. Yellow UV Sun Lamp - Neat!
2. Large Light Brown Drivers Gloves. ( I have been looking for these on Etsy and got lucky at my local thrift store!)
3. 8mm Reel Projector - WOW! Now searching for vintage home movie reels.
4. Red Eyeglass case.
5. Blue Leather Purse, over the body. As soon as I bought it I transferred purses.
6. Vintage video camera. I am hoping I can make this work, but it is unlikely.
7. Large Dark Brown Drivers gloves.
8. Some weird ceramic bird, I had a coupon, so it was one of the things I got for free. I like it.
9. Potted plant. An elderly volunteer at the thrift store brought a bunch in, I was the first buyer, I love the ceramic pot it is in. You can never have enough plants!

Just a whole lotta awkward.

The movie Running with Scissors came in my mail yesterday, courtesy of Netflix, and I loved it - loved it the sense that it was totally awkward, and I love awkward.

There is a scene where Hope Finch (Gwyneth Paltrow) plays a "game" where you ask The Bible a question and open it and point to a section of the page and the word your finger lands on is the answer. Very "Magic 8-Ball" if you ask me, and who doesn't love those??

For example, in the movies they wanted to know if they should have fish sticks for dinner, I know - weird. The finger pointed to the word "awakening", therefore Hope translated it to an awakening of taste buds; so they should have fish sticks for dinner.

As weird and far out as that sounds I feel like I do similar "rituals" to get answers. For example, when ever I turn on my iPod I always go to "shuffle songs" because that shuffle will determine how my day is going to be, depending on what songs play. And of course I will pull a "Hope Finch" and twist the translation so it means what I want it to mean - which really defeats the purpose.

Anyway, just one of my weird quirks. Are there any weird tendencies of your own you feel like sharing? Or, any good movies, while we are on the topic?

DIY: Necklace Organizer

After I received jewelry as a gift from a co-worker I knew it was time to organize my necklaces, it was getting a little out of control! I spent more time trying to de-tangle them than actually wearing them! I decided to document the process of my craftiness. This idea I just kind of came across a few times, so no one to give credit to.

Materials:
8 x 10 frame. ($3 from a thrift store)

Mod Podge - I had in my stash from a previous project (You can find it at Michael's)

Scrap Fabric

Paint -White for me (I bought it for 69 cents at a thrift store)

Paint Brushes

Cork Board - Left over from College

Not Pictured:

Roller Sponge to apply Mod Podge
Colorful tacks -Making another appearance - left over from college

Instructions:

1. Paint the frame.

2. Cut cork board to fit in frame

3. Mod Podge the fabric to your Cork board

4. Pull excess fabric tight to the other side and Mod Podge

5. Cut off excess

6. Not pictured: Put the fabric covered Cork board under a big stack of books. I used Harry Potter books. Haha Nice and heavy!

7. Wait what seemed like an eternity for it to dry - At least a full 24 hours.

8. Put it all together

9. Put colorful -perfectly matching in my case :) - tacks in a uniformed position. 4 in the top row and 3 in the bottom row...not directly below, or your necklaces will tangle.

10. Hang on wall. I used a small nail and my picture frame already had a spot on it to hang up.

11. Put necklaces on and enjoy!

I am really happy with it and it matches my bathroom really well. I am now brain storming ideas on how to organize my earrings. I think I have it figured out, I will post an update blog when it happens. Thanks for reading and if you have any extra ideas or a jewelry organization tutorial too, feel free to post links in the comments!

Linked at Someday Crafts

Making History.

I know this Health Care "stuff" is a touchy subject for some, as it seems next to impossible to know everything that was mentioned in the 2,000+ page bill, but I know for me that approving the bill was good.

My health insurance was done the second I crossed the stage at my college graduation. I was on my mom's insurance and their rules were that you could stay on your parents plan as long as you were in school and didn't go over a certain age (that I can't seem to remember right now).

So not only did I have to worry about moving to a new city and working at a new job but I wasn't sure what I was going to do to get some of my medications filled. Luckily, I planned for this moment and worked with my doctor and was able to get all appointments in before the big day and I was able to stock up on some prescriptions.

But those plans were made with the assumption I would get a job that offered benefits within three months. Yes I got a job, but they do not offer benefits (sigh). But now thanks to President Obama and our new Health Care plan I will be able to join my mothers insurance again until I am 26 or get a new job with benefits, and this part of the bill just happens to be effective immediately. I know there is a whole lot more to the bill, but this is the one I am most concerned about, for now.

I do understand some people do not agree with the decision to put this bill in place, and that is fine with me...everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I am one of the "American people" and I am so glad we have government health care.

I'm a lucky gal...

To help this make sense I am going to explain that at my job I do a lot of things, therefor report to a lot of people and all of those people consider themselves my boss. With that said my favorite "boss" brought me gifts today! When she handed me the cutest polka dot bag I asked why and she said "just because". Her and I get a long very well and have very similar style choices. She also likes to consider me as her kid (as she has none of her own) and she is kind of like a Minnesota mom lol. Of course she is actually nothing like my mom but someone nice to talk to at work.

Back to the point (can I EVER stay on topic?? FOCUS!) I was so shocked with the gifts and I LOOOOVED all of them. So I am posting an appreciation blog, even though she doesn't see these. I am going to buy a vintage thank you card this weekend for her. She would appreciate vintage more than grocery store cards, another reason to like her!


I think the pictures are pretty self explanatory, but I will elaborate on the second one. I put on every necklace she gave me (4 of them) the sparkle bow head band, and the fake coco earrings. It is so funny, the necklaces she gave me are EXACTLY what I have been looking for to complete my outfits. I will have to do a follow up post with them in use :)

The moo cow has an inside joke. We have to deal with some high demanding people so it is for me to let some frustration out. It actually moos. So I will make it moo when I feel like they are "milking me" for everything I got. See how that works?? I love all of it, and it was all so fitting for me and nothing I have ever had before.

So now that I have all of this new jewelry. I am currently working on a fashionable necklace organizer for my bathroom. Tutorial/pictures tomorrow, hopefully! :)

p.s. my first time using a mosaic...I will get the pictures centered better next time.

50% off to 100% hott!

So, I was shopping at the wonderful Mall of America and I came across these beautiful shoes. Let's not concentrate on the fact that I went to the mall to by one thing and one thing only and some how these ended up in my bags. Yes, I said bags with an s. I obviously cannot go to a mall and just buy one thing. I mean honestly, how could you pass them up if they are 50% off??

And here is the reason they were on sale. That hole, that hole that I can put my finger through and definitely ruin the whole look of the shoe. No worries though, I knew it was there. My crafty side of the brain got working and I knew I would figure something out.

Then today, Craft ENvy, a blog I follow, posted a shoe re-vamp blog. And I was inspired! Below is the final result!















I love them! Hopefully I can pull them off. I don't know if you guys know this but I am just short of 6 feet tall and these shoes have 4 inch heels. Haha I like to make a statement! :) I made last minute plans to visit family this weekend and Saturday I need to dress up, I hope I can find an outfit for these to work with. Have a great weekend!