On Vacation!

I will be back in a few weeks with lots of pictures and stories!!

Tuesday Loves

Here are some things that I have been mentally drawing little hearts around and texting if they want to maybe hang out and get a coffee with me later.

(source) I don't know what I like more: her ears or the lighting.

(source) Of which to note: his black boots, ear tips, & snow-covered head.

(source) The pom poms! This is so cute, and the instructions make it seem very hard for a sewing-dummy like me. C'est la vie!

(source) If only I could look like this always.

(source) Well, dang! This is just genius.

(source) These amazing DS stickers by the internet's sweetheart, Mare Odomo, and my favorite VG blog, Tiny Cartridge. Spoooky, Pokemon Black. BUY THESE STICKERS. 

And because I wanna show off, here's a picture of me from July 2010 with my very own, 100% unique, AWESOME drawing of Slowpoke + strawberry drawn by Mare himself in the back of my Letters to an Absent Father comic. (I look so tan!)

Quiet Weekend Before the Storm

Well, the countdown is on. There is less a week until I will be out of the country! There is a lot to be done; Mark and I have started making lists tonight of all that we have to do before we leave. However, it was pretty nice to just take it somewhat easy this weekend. Saturday I had dance at night, but that was about it. Here are just a few pictures from our Sunday:

My smudgy nails -- whenever I do nails with tape involved, no matter how long I wait for the first coat to dry, it seems like the tape sticks & peels some off! Either way, this is pretty good for me.

So thoughtful.

Markie & I played some video games tonight up in his room! Adventure Island, or as I call it "skateboard kid."

Mmm, and I made panko-breaded mushrooms. So yummy! I was happy with how they turned out.

Hope you all had a relaxing weekend and that your Monday is treating you well!

Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway! I was so happy to see the amount of people who were interested. I definitely will plan another one of these in the future. The time has come to select a winner...

There were 46 total comments! But the third one was:

MISS RISSE!

Congrats lovely! Shoot me an email at maddysaurusATgmailDOTcom with your address and I'll send out the box before I leave on my trip. ♥

What I Wore - Bellydancing Edition!

RakStar was invited to dance at a variety show at my favorite coffee shop in the entire world, the Coffee Hag! I was really excited for this performance for a lot of reasons; one, all ten of us would be there performing!, and two, I love the feeling I get dancing at the Hag. It's so fun and positive and exciting and I feel like our energy is always the best there. It's so silly because we dance in the tiniest space, so a lot of funny things happen. But, it helps us to have even more fun.

Here is what I wore! Unfortunately, this picture doesn't show the awesome harem pants that my friend Coley made me, but I was so happy to be wearing them. I got the skirt and coin belt this summer at the Renaissance. My poor coin bra has seen better days and I could really take some time to fix it. I want to make another bra with shells and tassels; that might be my March project.

At the Hag, after we performed. I love it in there; I used to go with my dad all the time when I was little. Such a yummy place!♥

Also, you may have noticed: I'm back in blonde! Yes, I miss the pink, but I'll always go back. Blonde is just where my heart is. I'm leaving on vacation in a week at my hair was at the point where I needed to redo the fuchsia or make a change. I made a change! What do you think? I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out, considering it was still fairly pink & I only used one box of bleach from Hot Topic + a box of blonde from Target.

I'm definitely tired after all the fun tonight, so I'll leave you with one of my favorite songs to bellydance to: Beauty Beats by Beats Antique. Enjoy!

Things I Love Thursday

♥ Things I Love Thursday ♥

♥ Sushi lunch with Mark on Valentine's ♥ Crochet dates with two of my best friends last Thursday and Monday ♥ Six Feet Under season one (two episodes left!) ♥ My crochet board on Pinterest ♥ Homemade chicken noodle soup ♥ Planning, planning, planning for Japan ♥ Painting my nails easter egg colors ♥ Extra-raspberry, white chocolate iced mocha on 2/14 for a super pink Starbucks ♥ Ira Glass on Savage Love podcast ♥ Huge, fluffy, blustery snowflakes ♥ New Sleigh Bells album! ♥ Drinking loose leaf tea on the daily ♥ Markie's new haircut ♥ Kitties that sleep next to me at night like a teddy bear ♥ The fact that I have two belly dance performances this week! ♥ One week left until vacation...

What are you loving this Thursday? The only thing that I'm not loving is this headache I woke up with, but that's nothing a big bottle of water, some coffee, and breakfast can't fix! I hope everyone's week is going wonderfully with lots of sweet items to fill their TiLT with.

& don't forget to check out my coffee clutch & tea giveaway! There are five separate ways to enter, so make sure to read the rules closely so you get the best chance you can get. There are three more days left in the contest.

GIVEAWAY: Me! MaDonna! Celebrates 100 Followers

Great news! I have finally broke the 100 follower barrier! I'm so happy -- thank you to everyone who is subscribed to my blog, whether on Google Reader or Bloglovin' or good old bookmark list, I really am happy with how this little website of mine has turned out. I'm happy that I've made so many new friends in just starting this in July, only a little more than half a year ago, and I'm excited to see what will come in the next half a year.

To celebrate: I'm holding a giveaway! 

I've wanted to hold a giveaway for a while, but was waiting until 100 followers to do so. I'm giving away TWO coffee clutches (handmade by me!), one white kitty & one pokeball, and two yummy tea bags! (NOTE: As much as I wish I could give you one, the tea mug shown is not included in the giveaway.)

To win the two crochet clutches and the two teas packs, leave a comment on this post!

Additional Entries:

(Leave a separate comment for each additional entry!)

• Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin'
• Tweet this: "Enter to win a kitty and Pokeball coffee clutch at MeMaDonna.com! @maddysaurus http://tinyurl.com/7woetzw"
• Reblog this post on Tumblr
• Mention the giveaway on your blog

That's it! I will choose the winner at random next Sunday,  Feb 19th, at 8 PM CST. The contest is open to ANYONE, international and all. Good luck! (Don't forget to comment with your email, so I can contact you if you win!)

Coral Dresses & Yummy Necklaces

Happy Saturday, lovelies! Are you enjoying your day? I've been treating myself to Six Feet Under (I've never watched it!) and crochet and chicken salad pita sandwiches. I decided to take a break from my little workshop I have going on and make a mini-outfit post.

My new dressie came from Forever 21 in that pretty coral color, a shade that I have no other clothes in! I thought I might as well start introducing new colors into my wardrobe. The dress is super comfy and I love wearing it! But the star of the outfit is my yummy new necklace!

Picture taken from The Jewellery Cafe Etsy.
The store has the cuuuutest stuff; I especially love the pancakes phone charm and this charm bracelet. If you have a craving for delicious hand-made food jewelry, I would for suuuure check out The Jewellery Cafe! My necklace sure draws a lot of attention, especially from my belly dance girls. It looks so realistic, I just wanna eat it!

FINISHED PROJECT: Collaboration with Twinkie Chan!

A few months ago, my very favorite Twinkie Chan asked me to make her some friendship bracelets with some embroidery floss she had left over. Of course, I said yes! I was so excited to partner up with her and was equally excited to see how she would put these up on her shop. Well, the bracelets went up today with THE CUTEST beaded bracelets, perfect for Valentine's Day!

CHECK OUT THE SHOP NOW!

Here are some photos that are from Twinkie Chan's blog entry about the sets:

And here are a couple pictures I snapped before I sent them out:

Spotlight: Cinnamon Bun from Adventure Time

It's no secret that I love Adventure Time. I'm a fan of Finn & Jake, PB, Lumpy Space Princess, and Ice King like everyone else. But, one of my favorite things about the show is all the rest - all the detail of the little characters kills me. So today, I want to put the spotlight on one of my very favorite smaller characters: CINNAMON BUN! Cinnamon Bun is one of the Candy People living in Princess Bubblegum's Candy Kingdom, and he makes me laugh every time he's on screen. Here are some pictures and facts about CB himself.

(source)

This picture is from one of my favorite episode of Adventure Time, "The Creeps." In that episode, all the main characters go to a disguise party and scary, ghostie things occur! The best part is that they are all given secret names to use and Cinnamon Bun's name is Guy Farting. Amazing. Also, many people think this episode shows that CB has a crush on Lumpy Space Princess, which is another amazing turn of events.

(source)

Here's a funny shirt design from Threadless. I wish it won! Cinnamon Bun doesn't mind being eaten because, as stated by Princess Bubblegum, he is "half-baked" and doesn't know any better.



This is a funny gif of Finn and CB. I like how wrinkly he is on his mouth and around his eyes. Gross!

This ketchup-y photo is from the episode "Conquest of Cuteness." He was supposed to be helping Finn & Jake defeat The Cuties, but he didn't understand the plan and ate the ketchup, which was supposed to be fake blood. You did the best you could, Cinnamon Bun!

Cinnamon Bun likes to get himself in trouble, like in this part of the Adventure Time episode "Too Young." Oh, Cinnamon Bun, don't fall!

In a dress! What!

In the awesome zombie episode of Adventure Time, "From Bad to Worse," poor Cinnamon Bun was the very first to to be turned into a zombie. Poor, stupid Cinnamon Bun ate the candy zombie tissue that Princess Bubblegum was working on and, in turn, infected the rest of the Candy Kingdom.

What do you think, Cinnamon Bun? I hope you are excited that you had a whole entry dedicated to just you! For more Cinnamon Bun pictures, trivia, and information, check out his entry on the Adventure Time Wiki.

Frosted February

The second in my series of f-named February posts, I present to you beautiful frosted February. Mark and I ran out quick to get some groceries for our delicious chicken, veggie & hummus pitas, and I fell in love with all the pretty frost all over.

This one looks so mystical!

And to be honest, it was above freezing out, so it wasn't entirely too cold. I didn't wear a coat, but it was probably a little too cold for that. Oh, well, I do what I want:

Sweater: H&M // Scarf: Christmas present! // Dress: Target // Leggings: Victoria's Secret // Boots: Target // Purse: Maurices

Our pitas were delicious! I just wanna eat veggies with hummus all the live long day. I love this frost, but.. I wish there was more snow on the ground. Every time it snows enough to look pretty out, it gets warm and melts within a few days! Where is my winter?

FINISHED PROJECT: Fluffy Gloves (First Edition)

Well, I did it! Remember the fluffy mitts I wanted help with? Well, I finished my first attempt and I must say, I'm pretty happy with myself! No, they aren't exactly the same, but I think the effect is very similar and I love them. I've also learned a lot by doing it, so the next time I try them, it goes a lot smoother.

Here is the yarn I bought for the project. (All at Joann Fabrics) Patons Divine in Chantilly Rose, Frosted Green, and Icicle White. Lion Brand Wool Ease in Rose Heather. Red Heart Buttercup in White Multi. Sensations Angel Hair Boucle in Green. Sensations Beautiful in Off White (I LOVE THIS). In addition, I use some yarn I had at home: Lion Brand Jiffy in Light Pink and an off-white; Lion Brand Homespun in purpley-something, I lost the wrapper! I used an K-hook for a lot of it, but switched to an I for some and even an N for one of the yarns.

The first glove in progress. I used the light pink Jiffy to make the first cuff for the mitt. I worked that in rows of 9 HDC, back loop only, to achieve a ribbed effect. I finished that off when it was snug against my knuckles. After that, I worked on the top of that with the funfetti yarn, and away I went. I'd do more of a pattern for you, but I just made this up as I went and don't remember the order all that well. I do know I did a lot of increase and then decrease, front-post crochets for the less-fluffy yarns, as well as rows of back loop only. I really liked the alternating fluffy to semi-snug look of the original gloves, and wanted to replicate that with more than just different yarn weights. 

I also liked that I didn't make a matching pair, same as the original photo inspiration. My first one is the one on the left, and I definitely like the flow & fit on the one on the right more. From first chain to last woven end, it only took about four to five hours, so I'd really like to bust another pair out today to see if I can get them even better. It'd be fun to make more with color themes, like shades of blues with white, or pinks and greys. I do love that funfetti, though.

What do you think? For a first try, did I do the gloves justice? I love that I made them a little looser, so I can fit them easily over my hoodie sleeves. They're super warm and super soft to have on. I love them!

Froggy February

Happy February, lovlies! And welcome to all those who have wandered over from my button on Miss Kaelah's website. I'm so excited to be her sponsor this month! As my subject hints at, February has definitely been very fogged-filled so far, at least in my neck of the woods. I was happy last night as I was driving home from work, because it was still light out and relatively clear, but by the time I got to the road, I could see the fog literally descending around me and I was stuck in a big fat cloud the rest of the way. Kind of creepy!

To combat froggy days, one must be sure to bundle up with scarves (for the cosy effect!) and drink loads of tea. It's only fitting to drink tea in this weather, I feel. (Please excuse my nails! Yiiikes!)

Delicious tea I bought the other day! Partly for me and partly for the tea swap I'm a part of, with Erin of My Beautiful Disaster and Miss Lou of eLousions. I admit, I was sold on the packaging, like I usually am, but the tea delivered. It's nice and dry and sophisticated, but with a strong enough flavor that I enjoy drinking it. In fact, I'm heating up water to have a cup right now!

What I wore yesterday also complemented the foggy mood in comfiness, but I didn't want to match the grey, gloomy atmosphere of the outside, so I pulled out my lime green dressie that I haven't worn for a while. The dress is from Victoria's Secret, as well as the leggings, and the over-shirt is from Target ($10 right now in stores!).

I hope you are all enjoying the weather, whatever it is where you are! And have a lovely February Friday!