An Excused Absence

Hey everyone.  Yesterday, I briefly touched upon my absence from my blog.  Eliot and I have been insanely busy.  If I thought we were busy before, I didn't truly know what busy was.  I've been burning the candle at every end possible, but it's all good.  I've been so busy the past few days, that I haven't even had time to work out.  And since that's one of my main goals right now, that's really saying something!

They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder... hopefully you will all look past my unplanned extended absences of late.  I really do miss blogging.  Unfortunately, with the half marathon creeping up on us, I'm going to be training more than ever... possibly daily.  (The 10K is 3 weeks from today... yikes!)  Since showing you photos of me training or hunched over the table working on ears would be pathetically boring, I'll give you an overview of what else has been happening the past few weeks!

A few days after my National Hat Day post, Elissa returned to Maine for her second semester at UNE.  Eliot and I were glad to see her.  We had a night to catch up before she had to return to school.  She even came with a few Disneyland goodies!  Yum!!!

The following weekend, my parents, Nana, Jeremy, Elissa, Eliot and I all got together in Portland to celebrate Jeremy's birthday weekend.  Jer turned 30 last month.  My "little" brother isn't so little anymore!  We went out to dinner at Friendly's, then went to the movie theater.  Dad, Jeremy, Elissa, Eliot and I went to see Passengers and Mom and Nana went to see Hidden Figures.  I really enjoyed the movie, and taking a break!

The next morning, Eliot, Elissa and I went to breakfast, also at Friendly's, before having a quick birthday celebration at the hotel, and then saying goodbye to everyone around noon.  (We all wanted to get home long before the Pats game started.)  I made sure to wear my Minnie polka dot bow brooch, since it was National Polka Dot day!!!

Speaking of the Pats... I'm so incredibly excited that my boys made it to the Super Bowl again!!!  I've watched the New England Patriots since I was little.  I won't lie, this year is especially sweet after everything that's happened.  We're the most hated team in football, and I couldn't care less.  They're my team; I'm so excited for the big game!!!

Of course, Eliot and I have been super busy with ears.  Eliot's designed tons of new IllusionEars.  We've listed a ton of new designs in my shop.  I've been cranking out new headband and ear hat designs.  There are a ton, but I'll try to share those soon!

In the few times I have allowed myself a break, I've either been watching the San Jose Sharks, playing Emoji Blitz, using the new Disney Coloring app, or attempting to relax and watch one of the few television shows I still keep up with.  I've really enjoyed those short breaks, especially since they've been few and far between.

Surprisingly, we haven't had tons of snow.  We were expecting to have a really bad winter and I was gearing up for a snow storm a week.  But, it hasn't been that bad.  We had one storm last week that caused me to have a snow day home from work, but that's been it.  That day, it wasn't really snowing so much as it was icy and hailing.  The roads were horrendous.  I had little tiny balls of ice all over my car the next day!

Finally, we've been gearing up for our trip to Walt Disney World at the end of the month.  It's quickly approaching.  As excited as I am, this is probably the first time I haven't been counting the days down to our trip, mostly because it means the race is coming too!  I'm feeling a little bit better about it though.  Plus, it's hard not to get excited when you open up a package with the brand new Magicband 2.0.

So, there you have it!  We haven't been doing anything out of the ordinary- just working really hard and getting things done!  Like I said before, this month is probably going to be sporadic with the blog posts, but I'm going to cut myself some slack.  There's only one of me and I'm doing all that I can.  I'm calling it my excused absence.  Between work, ears and training, I often don't have time to do anything else.  However, I've got tons of posts that I'm mentally preparing.  I might be here less often right now, but I'll definitely be back full force as soon as I'm able to be!!!  °o°

Something Awesome This Way Comes

Oie, it's been two weeks since I last wrote.  I'm off to a horrible start in keeping up with my blog this year.  However, I'm going to give myself a bit of a break.  We've had a lot going on around here lately!  I can't spill all of the secrets yet, but let's just say there are a lot of things in development here at Casa de Cady.

Over the past few weeks, Eliot and I have been busy making a business plan for a new line of products that we're collaborating on.  There's been a lot of number crunching and product development taking place.  It's definitely taken up a chunk of our "free" time.  It's an awesome idea though.  It's totally going to be worth all of the hard work!

In Happily Ever Hatter news... I've been working on a few custom orders (stay tuned for photos) as well as continuing progress with making new designs.  I have enough fabric and materials for about 15-20 designs that I haven't even started yet.  I also have a few half finished projects waiting patiently for their turn to be finalized.  I'm going to be very busy with those in the near future.

Eliot's been busy with his Snowblade Creations shop.  He's been working on a few soap orders for customers.  In his spare time, he's been busy trading Vinylmations with people on Facebook.  We have quite the collection of them growing in our living room! Apparently, he's even inquired about having a custom one made for me.  I have no idea what it'll be... I'm sure I'll be pleasantly surprised!  In the meantime, my little Vinylmation collection is chilling out on my desk.

We had a pretty quiet Easter.  The Easter Bunny spoiled us with lots of Frozen goodies.  We had two happy little donkeys with bunny ears and new outfits.  (We really need a frequent flyer card at Build-A-Bear...)  Eliot and I met up with my Mom, Nana and Jeremy for a Easter lunch at one of the local restaurants.

Winter is finally transitioning to spring here in Maine!  It's so nice to have the snow melted!  We had one of Eliot's Vinylmation friends pick us up a few items from Epcot's International Flower and Garden Festival since we aren't going this year.  We both fell in love with the Olaf garden statue.  I wanted to add Duffy to my collection and I couldn't say no to the Frozen Fever MagicBand.  (It's gorgeous!!!)  The guy was really nice and even sent us a free Flower and Garden Festival magnet!

Last weekend, we met up with Mom's family for my baby cousin Nadia's first birthday party!  Eliot and I got her a really cute Minnie Mouse shirt and little socks!  It was fun to see my cousins and to visit with them.  I'm so thankful that we're able to get together with them after these rough few months.

Finally, super sleuths might start to figure out what I've been up to by looking at my social media pages.  (That's the only hint you're getting!)  I've been busy with a lot of "behind the scenes" stuff laying the ground work for new things in store!  Blog followers will be happy to know I've also been preparing for more crafts and tutorials!  I feel like I've been at the craft stores as much as I've been home these past few weeks!  I love creating things and I've got quite the list of ideas.  So... I might not have been around here as often as planned, but it's because of all good things.  Promise.  °o°

Hanging In

Hi Friends.  Well, this has certainly been quite the week.  

I mentioned last week that the office of my new job was destroyed in a fire the night before I was supposed to start.  Thankfully, we've been able to save our paper client files which has been a miracle.  Everything else has basically been destroyed.  I've been over to my boss' house a few times to help clean up the client files. Tomorrow we're looking at new office spaces.  My new co-workers are really great and I already feel like I belong. Things are coming together, looking up and we're making the best of it.

In another turn of events, Eliot and I have also been really sick.  I've been fighting a sinus infection since last weekend, and today I'm finally feeling like myself again.  I'm coughing here and there, but the sinus pressure, runny nose and watery eyes are all gone.  

Photo Source: Hunger Games Explorer

I spent most of last week in bed, re-reading the Hunger Games series, re-watching the movies and taking naps.  (The official trailer for Mockingjay Part 1 is being released tomorrow!!!) The past few days, Eliot's had the stomach virus that I also had earlier last week.  Ugh. We can't seem to catch a break!

I've got some good news: my MagicBand and Magical Express documents came in the mail yesterday!  Only 25 more days until I leave for Walt Disney World!  I'm so excited. Now it really is starting to feel real!

Anyways, I should probably go get back to work.  I have a ton of hat orders to work on! I've gotten behind since I was sick but I wanted to let you all know that I'm hanging in. Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and well wishes!  °o°

Out with the Old, In with the New!

The past few weeks have been pretty busy around here.  Kids have gone back to school, fall is slowly gearing up here in Maine, and the season of change is upon us.  Eliot and I have been gearing up for a few changes of our own.

After many months of me working out of our home, I have accepted a part time position elsewhere.  I'm still very invested in my blog and other business endeavors, but this opportunity was too good to pass up!  I've been away from my blog the past two weeks as I've been getting things in order for this new chapter of our lives.  (I've been doing a lot of cleaning and organizing the house!)  Hopefully over this week things will start to fall back into a rhythm!  Out with the old and in with the new!

We've been taking advantage of the last of the summer weather.  Eliot and I have been going to Splashtown often over the past few weekends.  Sadly, today was the last day Funtown Splashtown was open and it was too cold for swimming.  We're looking forward to next summer and getting our season passes when they first open the park!

Last weekend my parents, Nana and Papa came down to visit.  We've went to Old Orchard Beach for some Pier Fries.  We also went out to dinner to celebrate my new job!

I've been busy working on Happily Ever Hatter orders.  There's a lot of things going on behind the scenes.  I'm planning to share some of those things with you all soon!  I'm also gearing up for the holiday season!  I've had a few orders for Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party and I'm sure I'll have some for Christmas right around the corner!

I've also booked my room at Pop Century for KeyCon!  I'm so excited!  After making my room reservation the other day, I customized my first MagicBand!  Of course, it's pink!!!

Finally, football is back and with that many New England Patriots games to watch!  Eliot and I went to my cousin's house to watch the game this afternoon.  I can't complain about the good company, good food and good fun!  (I can complain that it wasn't a very good game for us... ugh Pats.)  Eeyore's not quite ready to say goodbye to summer so he still has his swimsuit on; but he is ready to say hello to football season!  Go Patriots!!

Here's to a season of change, new beginnings and another new chapter!  °o°