I'm in a TV commercial!

Okay, not really, but one of my necklaces is! Observe:

That's the Antique Stone Necklace!

I just happened to be watching t.v. at my parent's house on Saturday, who just happen to have HD cable and a DVR. They were watching Kentucky play Vanderbilt, during which there happened to be an Applebee's commercial, and I just happened to look up at the right time and see one of the actresses had on my necklace! Did I mention I also just happened to be playing with my toddler at the time, and the necklace has all of about 3 seconds of air time? Through all that distraction and happenstance (there is no HD or DVR awesomeness happening at my house, and I doubt I could have confirmed it without the hd clarity), I saw it, started emitting excitable utterances, my parents rewound it and I confirmed it - yes! That is my necklace! SO COOL.

Later during halftime, we spent copious amounts of time rewinding, pausing, photographing the screen, rewinding, pausing, photographing the screen, etc.

Even if Applebee's may not be my favorite restaurant (okay I'll admit it, I haven't eaten there in probably 10 years - I tend to stay away from restaurants whose most exotic beer is Samuel Adams), but hey - someone chose to put that necklace on camera to a national tv audience. Applebee's now has a special place in my heart, even if I still probably won't be visiting anytime soon. Here is the commercial:

I wonder if it was the actresses or the stylists? I wonder where they purchased it? Will there be a Freshie & Zero/Applebee's collaboration in the future? French fries in organic geometric shapes? Better beer? Hmm.... probably not.

Trunk Show at Bella Vita

I recently participated in a trunk show in Collierville, TN (it's right next to Memphis) at one of my favorite retailers, Bella Vita! The owner, Stephanie, is so creative and crafty, plus she really has an eye for interesting products and then works wonders displaying them all together! She and her lovely sales associates were so sweet and fun to spend a Saturday with. You can also tell their customers really enjoy their time there - many loyal customers were greeted with smiles and hugs!

Stephanie also has an adorable baby store next door, Itty Bitty Bella ... let's just say my little ones scored some super cute new duds!

Here are some photos I took of her shop & my trunk show setup. First of all, look at this lovely postcard they designed and sent out to their customers:

So cute, right?

Since it was right before Valentine's Day, I brought lots of heart necklaces and they were a big hit!

My jewelry was displayed on vintage crates and suitcases, frames and benches. Look at the mason jar lighting over the table! Stephanie's mom made those! And they're hanging from an old baby crib spring mattress. So. Clever.

Another fabulous DIY light fixture Stephanie and her crafty family made - it's a chicken coop! They wired the top shut and added a light bulb. Her store was full of them and it looked extremely rustic chic.

I don't do trunk shows often (maybe once every two years?), but after this fun adventure I may be open to more... after my second baby is born and things settle down of course. Wait, do things ever settle down when you have two very small children?

Instagram

I got an iPhone for Christmas, so I can now officially call myself an iHole. But luckily, I don't say things like "You're just kidding yourself that Android is better than iPhone" (I'm looking at you, Beth Howard!) because really, they're just different. I loved my Android but there just wasn't a great new Android phone on Sprint that suited what I was looking for.  So my hubs got me one for Christmas using his "new to you" program discount.

That's love, people.

There are definitely things that I miss about Android, but there is one program that makes up for it. It's Instagram, of course! I knew I would love it from all of the cool pictures my friends had been posting, and I was right. It's so fun to use and I love checking into my friend's feeds and seeing what they're up to.  For some reason, you can't look at these things online through Instagram's website (what's up with that?), but there is this other cool website called Statigram were you can view all the lovely photos on your computer like so:

Then throw in more fun apps like Diptic and PhotoStudio to edit your photos, and voila! I have found a new time suck.  Just what I needed...

This is inside the Nashville airport

Zero, with his standard "read my mind" face

Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA 

 My daughter & Zero look out the window. Cute, right?

SO fun. Do any of you peeps out there know of any other awesome Instagram related programs or websites I should know about?

Pinterest

Are you hooked on Pinterest yet? I go in and out of phases, mostly when I have a project I'm working on to distract me from actual work.  Last spring when I was looking for a studio, I was pinning anything and everything to help me decorate this imaginary amazing place:

 

Of course, then I moved into a boring office space with grey carpet, fluorescent lighting, and a drop ceiling.  I moved in quickly, and I didn't even paint the boring white walls. It doesn't have beautiful hardwood floors or cool brick exposed walls, but it's very safe and I call it home.  I started a paper plane garland across the ceiling, and after months of them sitting in a box, I finally finished hanging one of them (there will be three, dammit).  I am also planning on painting a chalkboard wall in the next few weeks, though. It will be Pinterest worthy, people.  I hope...

About the same time as all the studio dreaming, I was obsessing over stylish baby girl clothing that I mostly couldn't afford. That was fun as it only involved making purchases and not actually following through with making actual clothing which is good since I can't sew...

 

Then I got very, very busy. I didn't go on Pinterest for months. I didn't waste hours scrolling through fun and inspiring pin boards. Don't tell the cool kids, but I kind of forgot about it. But for some reason, I got back on the wagon this year (or is it off the wagon? I always get confused which is which) and started pinning again. And it's So. Fun.

It makes me want to create things again. Things that I am not planning on selling. Things to decorate my house and my children's rooms with.  Art projects to do and paint chips to recycle for alternative uses!  Pinterest has no shortage of adorable DIY inspirations, and just to add a little performance pressure, they are very well photographed:

Such cute stuff.  I hope I have time to do at least one of these little craft projects...

In addition to all the fun, Pinterest is also being touted as a great way to promote products and drive traffic to your website. Even Real Simple magazine thinks so. If I had time to look at my Google analytics, I could see if this is true for me, too.

Then there's the nagging question, How does Pinterest make any money? Here's an interesting article about the founder that basically says it doesn't... yet. It's been valued at $200 million, but it doesn't actually generate revenue. Wow.

So what about you? Are you staying up late on Pinterest, too?