A beauuuuuutiful trio of cheery flower power suitcases. Lurve them.

This d'arling patch was snagged up by a friend who will- no doubt- put it to good use!

So if you’re lucky, tomorrow I’ll update everyone on the adventures of shipping!

(Wish me luck.)

In the meantime, check out these great Etsy sites:

I am taking the plunge into the wild wild world of Etsy! You see, I’ve stockpiled my vintage treasures for toooooo long and there is just no room in our small apartment or time in my schedule for me to appreciate them all, so off they go. (Hopefully.) I’ll keep you updated for the first 30 days of my Etsy adventure, sharing the trials of amateur photography, staging, writing descriptions, tagging, figuring out shipping (whaaaaa???!) and my general clumsiness in the whole endeavor…  hope you’ll come along for the ride!

Take a sneak peak and see what I have listed so far at www.shedabbles.etsy.com

“Check out this amazing new magazine! Delight gluten free is a fun food & lifestyle magazine for people with Celiac Disease, gluten intolerance and food allergies. It hosts delicious gourmet recipes and easy semihomemade as well. Don’t miss the Gluten-Free Meals on a Budget either. Whatever your food allergy you should be able to find something that fits your household, in their February issue they offer gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, soy-free and even some rice-free recipes. Not only that, this magazine has a travel section coming in May that will host lots of fun ideas and good advice for when you venture out on the road. Personal stories, inspiring articles on Autism, Q & A with the Doc are among the other features of this magazine.”

In the meantime, check out these great sites:

www.etsy.com for all things beautiful and handmade
www.modernseed.com for all things mini and modern
www.doseofdesign.blogspot.com for all things inspiring and noteworthy

After 2 tedious hours picking those darn invisible rubber bands out of clumps of necklaces and throwing away a garbage-full of stuff, here’s what I ended up with!

So I made progress! Everything is separated into 13 boxes: Hair stuff, extra toiletries, medicine/first aid, Blinn’s toiletries, herbal medicine/vitamins, Greg’s toiletries, makeup, jewelry and accessories, my toiletries, misc. box (humidifier, hot water bottle, Blinn’s potty seat (to be used in the next few months!), and two different cleaning supply boxes. (1 box of stuff to keep/take to new apt, 1 box of stuff to use to clean old apt. and then toss).

I’m still haven’t switched over a few of my cleaners to more natural/organic/non-toxic ones. Here’s what I need help with: toilet bowl cleaner and carpet cleaner. Anyone tried a good healthy version of either??

Happy Bags $19.95 each

Built NY Market Totes $39.95 each (Eeeek!)

Envirosax $37.95 for a set of 5

Handmade Orange Floral Bags on Etsy. $20.00 for a set of 5 (What a bargain!)

Floral Oilcloth Grocery Bag on Etsy $9.00 each

“No Paper No Plastic” Bag on Etsy $18.00 each

1. Simple Living. Switch to a decluttered and more simple way of life. I want to be able to spend time and energy on people, not dealing with stuff we own. The easier to clean and take care of, the better! (Which will require more discipline on my part… ouch!) Simplemom.net is great site for helping simplify your home!

1. Natural Living. We would like to start recycling and being more aware of how much energy, water we are using, food we are wasting, etc. Besides being better for our pocketbooks, I think this will be a good step to help us be more mindful of what we are consuming and why. I’ve linked to her site before, but Sara’s walkslowlylivewildly.com is my go-to site for ideas and resources on natural living. Thanks Sara! One of the changes I want to make is to start using bags like these from baggubags.com when I shop for groceries instead of discarding dozens of plastic bags each month. (plus they’re cute!)
   
2. Creative Living. We want to be surrounded by beautiful creative art that inspires us to make artwork, craft, play music, write music and read more. And in our new place we can put holes in the walls! How revolutionary! Which means I am especially looking forward to putting up pictures, scriptures and artwork that have been stored underneath our bed for the past few years. I love the collage of family pictures at http://tarawhitney.com/justbeblogged/page/6/
   
3. Hospitable Living. We want this to be a welcoming and comfortable place for others to visit. I grew up knowing that family and friends could stop by anytime during the day and I still miss that “culture” that is pretty absent here in the suburbs. (Although it will mean having a relatively clean house most of the time- which points back to item #1!) I haven’t found a specific site that just talks about this. If you know of a good one, let me know!
4. Healthy Living. We will now begin to eat meals at a table like real families and not in front of the TV like poor college students! We would also like to switch to more organic food (especially meats) and cut out white flour/white sugars, and eat a LOT more fresh fruits and vegetables. Happyfoody.com is great. The Organic Center has just released a free pocket guide, which lists fruits and vegetables that pose the greatest risks from pesticides. And the Eat Well site is a free online directory of farms, stores, restaurants, bed & breakfasts, and other outlets that offer local, fresh and sustainable food in the US and Canada.
   

These are just some things I dream about. I am looking forward to talking about these more in depth in the next few weeks!

Because today was the “busiest” day on SheDabbles in the past 46 days of existence… over 90 views today! Wow. Now I feel like I have to actually start posting something original and interesting. Thanks for checking out the site while we’re still in first gear and getting started! If I had the time, energy and moolah, I would bake all of you blueberry pancakes, make you an awesome DIY fruit basket, give you an Orla Kiely bag to put it in and bestow unto each of your children a set of wooden Russian blocks since you probably can’t afford a ticket to Moscow.

But until then, leave a comment and say hi if you’ve just been lurking around the site- I’d love to meet you! And don’t forget you can sign up to get the daily posts in your email account if you don’t already raid the blogs (like myself) with an RSS feeder like Bloglines.

Thanks again, all you ghostly anonymous viewers, don’t forget to say hi!