My Etsy Loves

Lately I have been perusing Etsy, and there are SO many stores that I am basically obsessed with. I thought maybe I would share a few. I absolutely love hearing about fun new things, so if you have a favorite etsy store, please share!!

Our basement is being decorated in black (furniture), green, yellow, and gray. I have been searching for something that pops to go on the wall, and I found the perfect thing at Lucky Blue Bird Art. Oh, I am SO excited for these prints to come!!

I recently won a blog contest (on Swag Studio), and my prize was an awesome new camera strap from Cotton Candy by Natalie. If you have a DSLR, I would totally recommend personalizing it by getting a fun strap. Love mine!!

I don't know how I ran across MGMart's store but HOLY cow, I am in LOVE!! These are the cutest things ever. Look at that bridesmaid's boquet, is that not gorgeous!!?





So when it comes to vinyl decals, I am definitely noooooot the biggest fan, but there are those times where I see one one someone's wall (usually in a child's room) that I think is the cutest thing in the world. I think Dali Decals has some of the cutest ones around. I am tempted to order this for my daughter's room.







You can even get decadent deserts from Etsy. This is a recent discovery for me, I love sifting through all the homemade goodies. Has anyone actually ordered food from Etsy? I am intruigued....



Anyway, thanks for listening to my personal fav's. I could get lost in etsy all day long!

Vindication

Will someone please look up Jillian's phone number for me so that I can call her up and scream "I told you so!" a couple of times? And then I will ask her to be my best friend. And ask her to share her clothes with me.

Seriously though, I could NOT be more pleased with how my precious Bachelorette ended tonight. Not only did she give Wes the boot, but she also saw him for the total douche that he is (excuse my french) and realized that Jake was right all along. It was sweet, sweet justice. Mike and I gasped audibly a few times at the totally jerk-filled comments Wes had all night. I mean...wow. WOW. At least Wes felt at home in Spain since he did have a number one hit...in Mexico. What a genius.

Okay, so there is tons more I could say about Wes, but I can't blog about HIM all night. However, if you want to read what his 'ex' girlfriend, Laurel, had to say, you can click HERE.

If you want to read what Jake had to say, Click HERE and read the third paragraph where he talks about Laurel and Wes being in cahoots. Something to think about....

Enough about Wes. Onto the remaining 3 men! I have to be honest, I think I like them all!! There are characteristics about all the guys that I think mesh well with Jillian.

ED! I think she and Ed make a great match, and I am glad that she gave him another chance. I do worry about their future (away from the cameras) and him being a work-a-holic. That's pretty much my only concern with Ed, though. He is such a cutie and she OBVIOUSLY loves being with him. I think Ed is a front runner right now.

Reid was such a doll on their date and although his 'generalizations' were kind of making me nuts, I still think they had great chemistry. His joke about people carrying tourists around on their backs in Philly had me ROLLING. Loved that. Buttttttt......my prediction is that he goes home next week. Well, my predicition is that he has the 'problems' on their overnight time next week and then goes home. Eek.

Kiptyn is still a fan favorite of mine, although out of all the families, I liked his least. I wonder if Jillian sincerely liked his family or if she was just saying that. I guess since I chose Kiptyn as my pick in the beginning, I should start getting nervous because usually my picks get cut at the end.

Anyway, I hope everyone was as entertained as I was tonight, and didn't have as big of anxiety attack as I did during the confrontational moments with Wes. Awkward turtle!!!

Happy Fourth!

Hope you all had a fantastic Fourth of July! We did a lot of this:



And I spent lots of time snuggling this:

My Gorgeous Sis...

....and her kids are on my photography blog. Check them out!!



www.joyalicephotography.blogspot.com


LOVE her! Miss her!

The Dark Horse of the Apocalypse

...also known as: Ed.

Mike's boy is BACK!! Can you believe it? Because I was actually somewhat shocked! I had my suspicions last week when they blurred out the face of one of the guys in an 'upcoming episode', but I still felt like I was reaching for straws of hope where there were none. I am happy to have Ed back but worried that the chemistry may have fizzled. We shall see, I guess. I am glad he gets another chance.

But.

My heart is BREAKING for Michael. Oh, my, could there be a bigger sweetheart than him? Scratch voting Jake for the next Bachelor, let's all vote in Michael! He is a doll and I wish that he and Jillian had more chemistry together. Poor guy.

Sad to see Jessie leave instead of Wes, but I am not shedding tears over it. Much more upset about Michael's departure.

Soooooo. I think I will be chewing anti-acids for the rest of the week after all the crazy confrontation I witnessed tonight. If I haven't said it before, I will say it again: I HATE confrontation. It makes me so nuts. I was literally shaking and sweating and freezing all at the same time when Wes and Jake were going at it. Well, first, when Jake was there alone talking with her, and he said, "My body just went numb." that was EXACTLY how I felt! My body felt limp and lifeless as I awaited the awkwardness to end.
I did NOT like when Jake confronted Wes. I felt like Jake's accusations were pretty flimsy, actually. Yes, he had a name BUT no real story to back it up. And Wes's family seemed pretty sure that Wes was clean. I really felt sorry for Jillian that she had to go through all that. I am even MORE sorry that she feels enough for Wes to keep him, even after alllllll that. Sheesh.

Reid. I am having mixed feelings here. Probably some of my hesitations come from the fact that I am pretty sure he is the no-chemistry guy on the one on one dates, so maybe I am seeking the worst, but I don't know. I think he may be a little too neurotic for my liking. And, she ALWAYS comes to him, if you will notice. Whenever they are sitting together, he lays back while she leans into him, or she sits up so she can face him while he reclines. I don't know, it's wierd. But his family was cool and he is alright. I am just 'blah' about him I guess.

Kyptin's family was....stuck UP. All but the dad rubbed me the wrong way, especially his sister. Eep. I would have been afraid if I were Jillian. I love how they cut the tape and got in the hot tub anyway, haha. I wondered if Jillian felt silly in her cow spotted bikini (or whatever that was) in front of his proper family.

I guess at this point I don't know WHO I am rooting for. The only one I am rooting against is Wes. Ohhhh PLEASE let Wes go home soon!! Otherwise...I don't know. Who are you rooting for???

Noooooo!!!! Noooooo!!! WHY?? Why, Jillian, WHY???

How's that for drama? Imagine me on my knees, screaming to the heavens in agony as I watched Jake exit the building. I just CANNOT believe she let him go. Granted, I love 99% of the guys left (die Wes), so I would have been sad if pretty much anyone had left....but I probably could have coped better with Michael or even Jesse leaving before my beloved Jake. sniff.

So. I am begging you to go onto ABC.com and let's all nominate Jake to be the next Bachelor! That way we can see his pretty face for a long, long time. :)

Moving on, Wes pretty much sucks, right? I mean, HELLO loser. How many times is he going to mention the fact that he is plugging his music career? And NO ONE had the guts to say anything???
So, it looks like Jake finally works up the nerve to come back and spill the beans about Wes maybe next week or the week after? I am pretty much wigging out from all the scenes they have shown from the future episodes, I can hardly stand it. Seriously, I was panting because I was having so much anxiety over all the future scenes. I was desperately searching for Kyptin to be in that final destination with her, I mean....PLEASE let it be Kytpin. PLEASE!!!

Michael is such an awesome, funny guy, and I really really like him but I think Jillian made a mistake in keeping him over Jake because she already KNOWS that he is not really what she is looking for right now. She needs to listen to her gut and follow what her heart is telling her. Michael is a doll but I don't necessarily think he is the one for her.

Jessie is pretty darling, I must admit, I think Jillian is really taking a hard look at this guy whom she never paid much attention to before. He is so sweet to her and I love it. I have almost forgotten the ugly hat. I wouldn't mind seeing him stick around for awhile.

Reid is my sister's heartthrob because he is SO cute, but his OCD stuff is starting to become a little annoying. I think it's his OCD that causes his, um, problems on the overnight date, his perfectionism and all that catches up with him leaving him....incompacitated, perhaps??? Do you think he is in the final two??? WHO comes early to propose to her??? Is it Wes? Is Wes still going to be there? Am I ever going to sleep again???????

Kitpyn really puts the twinkle in Jillian's eye. She has this look when she is with him, this glowing stare of adoration for him. I think she REALLY likes him a lot. I am hoping that he does get to stick around until the very end and PLEASE bless that he gets the rose. They just seem like they are made for one another!

Jake, bless his soul. Poor guy put it all out there and got his heart totally smashed. Let's make him the next Bachelor, people. We can unite and do it!!

Tanner, well, I am not sad to see him go. Mostly because there was no chemistry. I love how Wes got all worked up when Tanner came clean about tattling to Jillian. Wes is such a jerk. Ugh.

I wasn't sad to see Robbie go AT ALL. I was not a Robbie fan.

Okay so, hopefully I will wind down after those scenes at the end. I am DYING to know how this all turns out, how the drama plays out, etc. Dyyyyyyyyyying!!!!!

Do You Like Me? Check: Yes...No...Maybe....

Alright. I am feeling a little overwhelmed by all of what I witnessed tonight. I mean...I am having a hard time pulling my thoughts together because I feel like there is so much to remember! Ohhhh the drama! Another crazy thing is....I find myself REALLY liking so many of these guys....a lot. I think she has a solid group (minus a few (wes).)

Okay, let's start with the first major thing....Ed leaving. I am so sad Ed left, because I really liked him, and obviously Jillian did, too. But I don't necessarily blame him for going...if he was going to lose his job over it, then he probably made a good choice because there was only a 1 in 8 chance that we was going to get picked. She made it seem like he wasn't making her a priority (she got a little frosty about it all) and kind of patronized him by saying, "Next time you meet a girl you are crazy about, don't let work get in the way." Well, it would be different if he was actually in a ONE on ONE relationship with her!!! I mean, yeah, by all means, make your partner your priority. I thought it was kind of snotty of her to say when she had been making out with another guy in the hot tub, like, 12 hours earlier.

Next...Kiptyn Kiss. HELLO! Talk about a zoom lens, I think you could actually SEE them swapping spit. I am not complaining though, I still stand by Kitpyn...even if he did look kind of unattractive last week. What was up with that? Did they have a lighting malfunction? Because all the guys kind of looked ugly last week. They were back to looking nice this week- especially Kiptyn. She was SO giggly and silly with him, you can tell she adores him. Sigh. :)

Jesse was a doll on the glacier, no doubt about it. I starting liking him more and more in the airplane, and then he absolutely stole the show by playing around with her on the ice. I was a little biased against him since he wore that seriously ugly hat last week, but he redeemed himself this week and I actually like him quite a bit. I think Jillian liked him too, although she did seem a BIT hesitant to make out in the hot tub. Maybe she was worried about getting branded 'hot tub Harris' again.

Michael...Oh how my love continues to grow for this breakdancing fool. I find him hilarious and darling all wrapped up into one package. His personality is so attractive to me, I don't know what it is about him, I just find him to be SUCH a doll. I do think, that maybe his inability to really REALLY be serious might be his downfall with Jillian, but I am glad he is here still.

Jake is still darling. Why does she have to brand him as Perfect? Obviously no one in life is perfect, including Jake (he has to be hiding SOME flaw...somewhere....right?) and I don't think it's fair that this is what she would hold over him. In fact, I think it's kind of a cop-out. I am glad she hasn't let him go yet, hopefully she will find him to be more real over the next few weeks. He hasn't had much face time the past couple episodes, which kind of hurts me a little because he is so darling when you see him actually interacting with her. Hopefully Jake will get some more time with her next week.

Wes- Ugh, SUCH a jerk. Let's fast forward to scenes from next week when he BRINGS UP the fact that he is getting publicity from this show. Dirtbag!!! He is monotone and seems to have no personality. She claims to know all about his family, well why haven't WE been shown these insightful conversations? Maybe the producers are trying to make Wes out to be a slimeball, and they are succeeding if that's the case. Unfortunately he makes it into future episodes, it looks like a hometown date of some kind. BOO.

Robbie- I can't stand this guy. Don't ask me why, but he is just shady and wierd. He is Dave Jr. He needs to be sent packing.

Tanner- Seriously? He is still around? I am glad she didn't cut him last week for semi-ratting Wes out, but where is the connection? It's bizarre to me that she cut Mark instead of him.

Reid. Oh, Reid. I save Reid for last because....well......I have to say that I think Ried is the one who, um.....has the issues........on the overnight date. You know, the scenes from 'coming up this season in the bachelorette'. Yeah, I think it's Reid. I don't even know what to say about this except, well, that sucks. Especially to have it broadcast on national television. OUCH. He seems like such a good guy, but he isn't going to be able to live that down...I don't think....

I guess I should give a farewell shout out to Mark. He was an alright guy, but I am not to torn up to see him go. She made a good choice, if it wasn't Tanner. or Wes. or Robbie.....

I am sooooo interested to see how this season is going to end!! I think that next to Andrew Firestone, this may be my favorite season yet. Lots of drama and lots of really good guys. Love it!

I adore everyone elses comments and insights, so let me hear them!!!