The Cady Bunch

Whew, it's been insanely busy around here- in a good way of course.  Eliot and I have been going nonstop.  When I last left you, I was counting down to Disneyland and Pearls in the Park.  It's hard to believe that I leave for Disneyland a week from today!

I've been busy with preparations for my trip.  I've put together my Pearls in the Park and Dapper Day outfits, ordered supplies and worked on trip planning.  Most of my supplies have arrived, now I have to put together my accessories and ears!  After a few last minute pieces of my outfits arrive, I should be all set with those too!  Yay!!!

I'm also keeping myself very busy with Happily Ever Hatter.  I've had a lot of orders this past month.  In addition to Etsy orders, I've got a few ears I've been working on for my Key to the World travel agent friends for Pearls in the Park!  I'm busy, but I'm having tons of fun working on new designs!  I'll share them after the Pearls in the Park event!

This past weekend, Eliot's dad, Rick, and his sister, Elissa, visited us to look at a few colleges.  Elissa was accepted to University of New England and University of Maine Orono.  She had accepted student days at both schools.  Eliot and I joined them for the UNE tour since it's not far from us.  We had a great time touring the campus and getting more information about her program and the school.

After the UNE session, we went to see The Jungle Book.  The movie was a lot better than any of us expected it to be.  I really enjoyed it.  We arrived at the theater really early so we used the extra time to take photos with the Finding Dory photo spot.  I also had a good time looking at all of the new characters in the movie!

When Rick and Elissa weren't at college visits, we took them to some of our favorite local places.  Elissa got her fix of Longhorn Steakhouse, Amato's, Governor's and Cracker Barrel.  We also took Rick to Old Orchard Beach.  The ocean and sunshine were beautiful Sunday afternoon.  Afterwards, the three of us kids played in the arcade for a while before heading to the Portland mall.

Of course, no trip to the mall is complete without going to Hot Topic to check out the Disney items.  Eliot, Elissa and I all found quite a few goodies there.  (Yay Hot Cash coupons!)  I got a Captain Jack Sparrow Pop figure, two Once Upon a Time bows and a Hook sticker!  We also went to Newbury Comics and Hallmark.  I got a few Easter itty bitty's on sale for less than $2 each!  Rick also bought Eliot a BB-8 Pop figure!

Rick and Elissa headed back to California on Tuesday.  After a very busy Monday and Tuesday at work, I'm excited to have the rest of the week off.  I've got a ton of things to get done before the weekend is over, but I'm feeling really good about it!  I'm definitely going to be immersed in the world of Disney, crafting and ear making!  Needless to say, it's going to be a busy, but fun, few days!  °o°

OUAT Season 4 Finale

The Once Upon a Time season 4 finale was on last night and all I can say is WOW!!!

I've been a huge fan of the show since it started.  It's my favorite tv show and it just keeps getting better!  (If you don't watch it, now's the time to get caught up!)  The season finales are always awesome and they keep you on your toes.  Last year I was pretty excited about the season 3 finale, and this year did not disappoint!  In fact, I watched it last night and I've already re-watched it this morning.  

I was on the edge of my seat the entire episode.  I laughed out loud a few times.  I screamed at the television occasionally.  I'm pretty sure there were a few squeals of joy... Eliot was definitely laughing at me.  Let's face it, I would be laughing at me- and I'm ok admitting that.  I get pretty animated.  All in all, it was a great two hour finale.  It wasn't as amazing as last season, but that's only because I'm severely biased.  Last season, my favorite couple (Emma/Hook) had a happier ending before the break.

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

What did you think of the episode?  Spoiler Alert!  Here are a few of my thoughts during the two hour Once Upon a Time season 4 finale (prepare to be very amused):

Starting with another flashback scene- ooh the author!  Great, now I'll have "Jingle Bell Rock" stuck in my head for the next week.

Lots of blank storybooks... can I have one?  Pretty please?

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

Stupid author.  Oh no!  Henry's alone.  Speaking of which, where has baby Neal been this entire season?  Henry's going to fix this.  It will be ok.

Henry found the author.  He has the door and key!  I hate Isaac Heller.  Henry took them to the alternate reality!  Ooh, Henry's finally in the enchanted forest!  Yay!

Oh here comes Rumple.  "Comes with no price."  Ha ha!  Funny.

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

Why isn't anyone questioning Henry and the authors modern clothing?

Ok, creepy Seven Dwarves complete with whistling.  I'll never sleep soundly again.

"I will always find you, your majesty."  Ha ha... love the guy liner Charming.

Snow White isn't nearly as creepy as Regina's Evil Queen.

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

Robin Hood cleaning Regina's wound only reminds me of Hook and Emma on the beanstalk after they first met.  Sigh... 

Emma's locked in a tower.  And she looks crazy.  (No!  It's like Peeta all over again!)

Rumple and Belle have a baby in this world?

Henry will save the day and find Emma.  He found Hook!  (Yes!!!  About time!)  Oh, and Hook's a wimp in this alternate reality.  This is going to be interesting.  How's Henry going to man the ship?  "I had a great teacher, you."  Sigh... 

Henry found Emma!  And she knows Henry!  Phew!  That must have been torture for her to know the truth and not be able to do anything about it.  Nice plot twist.

Hook literally running into Emma = Awkward.  (I'm awkward, your gorgeous.)

Lily the dragon?!?!  Ruh-roh.  Get her with a cannon!  Yay!  Goats milk?  Ew.

Emma teaching Hook to sword fight.  Jack Sparrow reference = yay!  He "gathers" that they're close in the other reality and is jealous of the other "Hook."  Ha ha.  Flashback to Season 3 jealousy of himself all over again!

Uh oh, Lily and the not-so-Charmings are here.  Hook tells Emma to run and save Henry.  Is Emma worth it?  Hook's "willing to find out." (sigh...)  He's kind of a natural at sword fighting.  In fact, Hook's a hero.  Wait, what?  No!!!  Watch out Hook!  Stupid not-Charming!  Hook can't die!  (Let's face it- he's the reason most of the viewers watch the show.)  Now Emma and Henry really have to save the day.

Rumple is the "Light One"... hahahahahahahahaha. Chipped tea cup!

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

Emma's plea to Regina.  She loves Hook!!!  "I love him and I never told him."  *Insert fairy tale music.*  My soul is crushed now.

Ooh that's a cute little chapel for the wedding.

Regina, go kiss Robin and save the day!  Stop the wedding!!!  

Emma and Henry- kick Rumple's butt!  Henry protects Emma.  Regina protects Henry.

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

Wedding bells... ugh.  Zelena's turning green anyways!  Ha ha.  Karma.

Isaac is watching his story ending.  I hate him.  Emma punched him.  Yay!!!

Wait, Henry sees the quill.  Henry's the next author!!!  I so called that!

Henry saves the day and returned everyone to Storybook.  Phew!

Hook.  Where is Hook?!?!  Oh thank God.

Emma, just say it!  Admit your feelings before we all die of exasperation!!!  Argh!!!

Henry wants to bring his Dad back.  I'm getting teary eyed.  He won't be swayed by the temptation of the quill though.  Wait, he snapped the quill.  Why do I have a bad feeling that he's going to regret doing that?

Aww... maybe there's hope for Rumple and Belle after all.  She doesn't love Will!

Wait... Regina isn't in tears during the finale?  Whoa.  You go girl.  You take that walk in the moonlight with Robin.

The Charmings seem to be warming up to Hook.  Well, at least they didn't mean to kill him in the alternate reality anyways.

Lily's necklace is her eggshell and the only clue to identify her father.  Hmm...

The apprentice tries to get the darkness into the hat.  The dagger is finally blank.  Is the finale over?  Please?  It's not over.  Why do I have a bad feeling about this?

Oh it's out of the hat!  And it's escaped... argh!!!  This will not end well!

The sorcerer had to tether the darkness to a human soul which could be controlled by the dagger.  Merlin.  Must find Merlin.  The darkness is surrounding them.  Emma is going to protect Regina and her happy ending.  Why am I not in tears right now?  I've seen the pictures online; I know what's coming...

Oh gosh... Hook is begging her not to do it.  I should be a sobbing mess right now.  "I love you."  What?!?!?  You wait until now to tell him Emma!!!  Ahhh!!!!  I give up.

One last look at Snow, Charming and Hook.  No... poof!  The dagger drops.

Emma Swan.

FOUR MONTHS... 4 long months until September when the show starts up again.

Photo Source: Once Upon A Time Facebook

It's going to be a long hiatus.  Thankfully, I have plenty of things to keep me busy.  I don't want to wish summer away, but I'll definitely miss watching Once!  In the meantime, I plan to re-watch Seasons 1-3 on Netflix.  Then, I plan to have a Season 4 marathon since I've saved all of this year's episodes on the DVR.  (Eliot- no touchy OUAT on the DVR!!!)  It'll be interesting to see how this new revelation affects all of the characters on the show.  I will be planted in front of the television to find out what's next.  I will watch you Once Upon a Time.  I will always watch you. °o°

Edits are not mine and were found on Pinterest from various sources.  All images are property of ABC and Once Upon A Time.

Time Flies When You're Having Fun

Hi Friends!  Wow.  Has it really been 10 days since my last post?!?!?  Yikes!  

I've been really busy as you can imagine...

Eliot's away this week on vacation and visiting his family in California and then going to his sister's college graduation this weekend in Colorado.  Last week, I checked in on my cousin's cats a few times while he was away.  I've been trying to get a lot of organizing done while Eliot's not here!  I finally had a few minutes tonight to sit down and blog! Hopefully once Eliot returns, I can get back to my normal routine.  Here's what I've been up to since you last heard from me:

My parents came down this past weekend for Mother's Day and to help me clean out our garage.  It was a super productive Saturday.  Our garage looks amazing.  It was nice to have a few extra sets of hands to help move everything around!  Our grill and the patio furniture are back on our deck.  I also put my flower pots on the front porch!  Now that it's warmer, they just need some flowers!  Plus, it hasn't been getting dark until 8:00 pm!  It's finally feeling like spring is here!  Yippee!!!

On Sunday, I got to visit with my brother, parents, grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousin for Mother's Day!  We went over to Old Orchard Beach to meet up.  Nana loves her pier french fries so we thought we'd treat her for Mother's Day.  It was a great time filled with a lot of love and tons of laughter.  I hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day too!

Photo Source: I'm a thief and I stole these from my Aunt Sherrie's Facebook!

Sunday night was the season finale of Once Upon a Time.  Jeremy was the unfortunate soul stuck in the car with me while we drove around.  He was subjected to all of my theories, desires and ideas about the 2 hour season finale.  Thankfully, he's an amazing brother and he had some of his own speculations that he shared with me.  Yay!  I'm not completely alone in my dork fest!  Although, he did laugh at me quite a bit when I took a picture of the yellow bug we saw on the way to Old Orchard.  (I may or may not have proclaimed it as Emma Swan's car and told him to follow it to Storybrooke.  I mean, we do live in Maine after all!)

Once everyone left, I sat down to finish my Once Upon a Time project.  I made a Snow White wedding dress ear hat inspired by the mother of the savior!  I thought it was totally appropriate for both the season finale AND Mother's Day.  I still need to finish taming the feathers, but I'm pretty happy with the result!

As for the show itself, WOW!!!  I am not afraid to admit that it brought me to tears; I laughed out loud numerous times ("behold, the Rolly Joger!"), and it was a-maz-ing.  I actually watched it twice Sunday night... and then I watched it again on Monday. (Remember- I already fully admitted to my dorkiness.)

Photo Source: Once Upon a Time Facebook

And then there was that ending... What?!?!?  Elsa?  In Storybrooke?  Frozen is coming!!! Is it next fall yet?  Please....?  Between Mother's Day and Once Upon a Time, Sunday was easily the highlight of the whole week so far.

Photo Source: Once Upon a Time Facebook

Eliot had a huge soap order the night before he left.  I've been organizing things around the house in between making batches of soap!  I finally mailed them out yesterday and I'm really proud of how they came out!  I've made soaps for Eliot before, but this was a big undertaking for me to do by myself!  20 sets of soap made, packaged and mailed out!

The rest of this week, I've been keeping busy organizing the house.  Today I went through the containers of breakable stuff in our guest bedroom.  I unboxed a ka-gillion picture frames.  We collect them from places that we've been.  Tomorrow, I'll distribute them all around the house!  (This isn't even all of the Disney ones that we have!)

  
Finally, my hubby might be away for the week, but he hasn't completely deserted me. I've been receiving lots of pictures and text messages from him throughout the week.  It looks like Eeyore and Duffy have had quite an adventure.  They had their own seat on the plane, went to Sea World, have had tons of snacks, and have made a new friend!

Photo Source: Various Text Messages from Eliot

Hopefully, you will hear from me again in the next few days!  I've got a girls' weekend planned with my interior design friends from college, but after that, things should return to normal with my blogging schedule... I hope!

Oh and don't worry!  I didn't forget about my blogiversary!  Once Eliot is home, I have a few surprises in store for you guys!  °o°

Preparing for Christmas

Christmas is quickly approaching and honestly, I feel like I'm so far behind!  Anyone else feel that way?  Being sick threw everything off, and I'm scrambling to get caught up!

On Friday, I worked on our Christmas card photo.  I had a random design idea and went with it.  About 45 minutes later, our custom photo card was complete!  It came out so cute!  I absolutely love it!  (I can't wait to share it with you... but I'll wait until I actually put them in the mail for our friends and family.)  Eliot loves it and thinks that I should sell it as a printable on Etsy.  So maybe I'll have it available for you guys next year?  Here's a sneak peek!  

Saturday we were preparing for Winter Storm Elsa.  Ok, so it was really named "Electra." But as my Facebook fans know, I decided to call it Elsa.  It's more appropriate, right?  We were supposed to get 14-18 inches of snow!  (In the photo below, we are in the 8-14" area, but they later adjusted the forecast telling us to expect more snow.)

Photo Courtesy of WABI Facebook Page

After running around getting gas, food, and having oil delivered, we were ready for Elsa! Eliot and I spent the rest of the day putting up our Christmas tree and decorating the kitchen and living room with window clings.

On Sunday, it was clear that Elsa had arrived overnight.  Around noon, Eliot and I went outside to shovel our walkway and back deck.  Our walkway was about 16 inches deep! And then our back deck ended up being over 2 feet deep due to the snow drifting!  Check out that pile of snow on our table!  The final snow total for our city was 16 1/2 inches!!!

We lost our decorations in the winter wonderland of snow!  Eliot had snow-pants on so he jumped in and dug Mickey, Minnie and our inflatable snowman out of the snow.  Minnie's nose was just barely sticking out of the snow so we could locate them.  (I wish that I'd taken a picture; it was pretty funny.)  Our pathway markers are still under the snow, but they're trying to peek out!

Sunday night I watched the Once Upon a Time winter finale.  Argh!  I won't spoil it for those of you who have not seen it yet.  But what was that?  It's getting really crazy!  I think I have a love/hate relationship with it.  I can't believe that it won't be back until March!!!  Is it March yet?!?!?  Now?  How about now?  Ugh.

Monday, we woke up to a beautiful sunrise.  I spent the day curled up on the couch on "stake out".  I was expecting FedEx and Home Depot was coming to deliver our new dishwasher.  FedEx came around lunch time with a surprise: Our wedding albums!!!  

I was so excited to get our wedding photo albums!  I know what you're all thinking. "You're just getting them now?  Over a year later?"  It's not Disney's fault!  We had so many beautiful pictures that it took us a long time to figure out which ones we wanted in the book.  (I just ordered them in a few weeks ago.)  They did not disappoint.  The albums are absolutely beautiful!  Check out those cute Mickey details inside the book!  Love it!!!

I was on the couch the entire afternoon waiting for Home Depot, so I decided to finish my Once Upon a Time Season 2 marathon.  (I only had 3 more episodes left to watch.) While watching, I worked on a few more decorations for our kitchen cupboards.  I made a Christmas tree, a Santa Mickey hat and a Gingerbread Man.  Then, I used my Mickey Mouse paper punch to make some ornaments for the tree.  They're made out of card stock and colored with markers.  They're pretty easy to make and don't require too much time so it was a nice way to relax.  And our kitchen looks all festive now!

However, I still have a lot to do.  Over the next few days, I'm planning to work on more Christmas projects and a lot more decorating!  Stay tuned!!!  °o°

Catching Up

Hi Friends!  I'm back after a short hiatus.  Eliot and I had a craft fair this past Saturday. Then Sunday we put up our Christmas Lights.  And on top of all that, I'm still sick.  I thought that I'd gotten the advantage over my cold, but it seems to have manifested itself into a sinus infection/head cold.  The good news is that I switched medicine and I seem to be back on the mend, again!  After about 10 days of this, I'm really ready to be healthy Melissa again!  

I haven't written about our daily adventures in a while, so I wanted to do a quick recap of everything from Thanksgiving until now.  I feel like I'm playing catch up!  Here we go:

We had Thanksgiving at my parents house this year with my Mom's family.  It was a great day filled with lots of yummy food.  I love getting together with my family and my cousins and I always share some laughs together.  Eliot and I even dressed Eeyore up for the occasion!

Hanukkah also fell over Thanksgiving which kind of threw us for a loop.  We worked really hard to get our Thanksgiving decorations up.  Then Eliot and I were away for 4 nights of Hanukkah since we stayed the whole Thanksgiving weekend with my parents. By the time we got home, Hanukkah was half over.  We discussed decorating for it, but Eliot didn't want to bother.  Then, I got sick the day after we returned home, so I wouldn't have been able to decorate anyways.  Sadly, Hanukkah passed with no decorating this year.  But next year, Hanukkah falls in mid-December (December 16-24) so we'll be ready to have a giant Christmukkah celebration!

We did get our Hanukah gifts from Eliot's family.  We both got a Mickey or Minnie cell phone charm/zipper pull.  Eliot also got a keychain with his Hebrew name on it.  I got a really cute "M" necklace with a super small Mickey head on it.  I've looked at the monogram Disney necklaces a lot, but I've never gotten myself one.  This will go nicely with the rest of my Mickey Mouse jewelry!

Leading up to the craft fair, I had a lot of scarves to make so I decided to have a "Once Upon a Time" Marathon last week.  My best friend Katie had been sick over Thanksgiving and she told me that she got hooked on it through Netflix.  (Thanks to moi.) I decided that it was the perfect show to re-watch while I was feeling sick, and it was great background television for scarf making!  I made about 20 scarves in two days from the comfort of my couch!

The rest of the week consisted of me helping Eliot make more soaps.  We ended up sending out a bunch of the soaps and scarves for his mother to sell in California.  Then we made more with the new scents that we got.  I also worked on more Mickey rhinestone earrings for Eliot, as well as some more Frozen inspired snowflake hair clips.

The craft fair itself went pretty well.  We didn't do as well as we'd hoped that we would, but it was still fun.  The kids loved the soaps and I got lots of compliments on my scarves.  We're hoping that next year we can participate in a few more fairs.  And I'm also planning to add some of the leftover scarves to Etsy at some point!

On Sunday, Eliot and my Dad put up our Christmas Lights.  I helped with a few of the lights, so I should probably give myself a little credit.  As I've mentioned before, this is the first year that we've had an entire yard and house to decorate.  I've got a few photos from the initial decorating.  (We're planning to take some more photos and videos, so I'll make sure to add those once I take them.)

I put lights on our back deck that we're planning to keep up year round.  They're red, orange, blue, green and yellow.  I figure that they'll be bright and fun colors for the summer as well.  After all, who doesn't like pretty lights and a cozy backyard barbecue? (Ooh and don't forget the s'mores!!!)

This is the side of our house.  (It looks a lot better at night when you can see the lights.)

And here's the front!  We have a Mickey, Minnie and snowman inflatable front and center. We also added a few more lights since this photo was taken.  This is a panoramic picture so it's a little bit skewed.  We're planning to add our tinsel penguins and flamingo soon. And you also can't see the wishing well.  I'll work on that.  (It's really hard to take a picture of the entire house from our front yard.  I might have to go to our neighbors across the street.)

Over the past few days, we've also started to bring our Christmas decorations up from the basement.  I'm hoping to get them up in the next few days and over this weekend as long as I'm feeling better.  I love this time of year and all of the fun Disney decorations that we have!  Stay tuned for a fun photo tour!!!  There's a lot of Disney stuff to see!!!  °o°