Midnights With Molly

So one 5k wasn't enough to satisfy my need to run.  So I signed up for another one.  In Columbus.  With jingle bells.  And Christmas attire.  :)  It's the Jingle Bell Run!!  So exciting!  And to make it even MORE exciting, one of my best friends from college flew all the way from Florida up to Ohio to run with me!!  What a fun surprise!  Thanks for making the trip from Florida to run with me on Saturday, Mike!  It was a blast!  :) At the finish line     Pre-race picture in our Jingle-Bell attire

So I got tired of the decorations hanging in the hallway and living room and decided that after 5 years, it was time for some NEW things!  :)  So I took a trip to my all-time favorite store to visit when I'm in the mood to decorate... Audrey's Attic !  I came out with only 2 things (which is probably a record for me), but I love them and finally got around to hanging them up on the walls tonight.  Here's the new look! I'm not particularly keen on the second picture...I like the "home" but the swag just doesn't quite look right.  I'll have to continue working with that and see if I can get it adjusted to look homey and cute.  In other news, just last week I accomplished something that I never EVER thought I would do!  I ran my very first 5K!  I was inspired to complete the Couch-2-5K program by a good friend who had completed the program and fell in love with running.  With as stressful as my life has been lately, I thought it would be a good

Night shift is brutal sometimes.  Last night, I fell asleep at 9pm and woke up around 2am.  For the day.  Ugh.  I got up and cleaned the whole house, did 2 loads of laundry and then decided to take advantage of my time at home to do a little fall baking!  First up was Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread .  I got this recipe off of Pinterest.  Super easy and smells delicious!  I haven't tasted it yet...I'm taking it into the hospital this weekend to share with my beloved co-workers.  I hope it's good!   Then, I had a half a can of pumpkin left, so I searched Pinterest some more and found a recipe for Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies !  I couldn't resist...I mixed up a batch of those, too.  YUM!  Needless to say, the house smelled DELICIOUS by the time I finished my baking this morning.   Oh how I love the tastes and smells of fall!  :)  And the cozy, cold nights curled up under a warm blanket with a cup of hot chocolate to keep me company.  Ahhh...  ;)  Happy F

My niece, Ruth, is taking her very first ballet lessons this fall!  She is SO excited to get to wear a tutu and take her lessons faithfully one night a week for the next 15 weeks.  An added bonus is that at the end of every class, each little ballerina receives a sticker for all her hard work.  Ruthie's mommy thought that it might be nice if Aunt Molly could make a special ballet chart where Ruthie can put all of her stickers after each class.  What a great idea Mommy!!  So Aunt Molly got to work...     Sorry, but I had no tutus or ballerina stickers to add some pizzaz to my little ballerina's sticker chart...perhaps Aunt Molly will have to take a little walk down the sticker aisle next time she's at Pat Catan's and see what she can find!  :)  Have fun with ballet classes, Ruthie!  :)

A few months ago, I purchased a scrap of green paisley print material from the clearance bin at JoAnn Fabrics.  It sat in my craft room looking all cute for the last few months.  I had lots of ideas for my scrap of green cuteness, but couldn't decide which idea I actually wanted to do.  After much debate...and much procrastination...I decided to start with the fabric-covered picture frame idea.  I cut little swatches of material from my scrap piece and then glued them onto a SUPER cheap picture frame I picked up at the Dollar Store for $2.  Once I had them all glued down just the way I wanted, I used some mod podge and painted over the entire fabric-covered frame.  The end result is a super-cute picture frame that would look fabulous in a baby's room...OR you could put a piece of matching paper behind the glass and prop it up to use as a dry-erase message board in your kitchen or office!  Lots of possibilities for this craft!  :) If you have kiddos, you could al

So, I bought this awhile ago, but am just now remembering to post about it.  I was SOOOOO excited when a local toy store decided to liquidate all of their cardmaking/scrapbooking supplies and they were selling all of their paper racks.  I gave the folks my number and a few weeks later, I was the proud owner of a brand new, scrapbooking store quality PAPER RACK!!!!  :)  It fits in beautifully in my beach room and is PERFECT for my mountains of paper that never had a home.   One of my latest projects was for a dear friend who needed a solution to her calendar problem.  She used to keep her calendar on her desk, but was going to be doing away with her desk when Baby# 2 made it's arrival.  So...we designed an adorable everlasting calendar that she could hang on her wall!  We actually changed the paper we used for the background several times and I think we ultimately ended up choosing another pattern.  But this one was pretty cute, I thought!   I'm looking fo

This year my Dad celebrated his 60th Birthday!  We kept his party low key...celebrated with some DQ ice cream cake, some presents and some music from his era.  :)  We all had a good time partying with Dad and even managed to get a quick family picture with Dad and the grandkids. Cooper celebrated his FIRST birthday this summer as well!  He is such a cutie pie!  We were cracking up at him when he dove face first into his birthday cake.  Mmmmmm!!!  :)  He loved it!  Happy Birthday Cooper!

Pizza+brownies+make-up+nail polish=a recipe for a FABULOUS girl's night in!  :)  Two of my cousins, Kaitlyn & Courtney, came over last night for a little girl time together.  (And a third cousin unexpectedly dropped in to join in on the fun!)  We had a ball eating pizza, doing our peel-off face masks, painting our toes, and doing our make-up.  The girls were hilarious and we had so much fun together!  By the end of the night, we had smooth skin, gorgeous faces, and beautiful toes.  :) Thanks for spending the evening with me girls!!!  :)

This past week I had the privilege of babysitting my niece and nephew for the day.  It was so much fun!  The kids were SO great and we had a ball!  I was going to post some cute photos of the kids, but NOTHING is working on my computer tonight!!!  Photoshop is HORRENDOUS and I can't figure out how to do even ONE cool thing on it...and that's even with me following a step by step tutorial!!!  ARGH!!!  Anyhow, one day I'll post some pictures of my niece and nephew.  (Okay, so it let me randomly post these two pictures in very weird spots and I can't move them.)  So there ya have it.  I'm SO done blogging and photoshopping for the night.  I'm about ready to take the laptop and chuck it across the room...better just close up shop for the night before I hurt anything important.  ;)

I've been wanting to make some homemade spice mixes for awhile now.  Since today was cold and damp outside, I figured it would be the perfect day for working on some inside things that I've been putting off in favor of soaking up the sunshine!  I had already tried the ranch mix once before and we LOVED every bite of it!  So I mixed up a larger batch of the ranch dressing/dip mix.  And then I found a taco seasoning mix that I wanted to try out.  I made the mix, but have yet to try it out.  It smells tempting, so I'm sure it will be GREAT!  The best part about both of these mixes is that they contain NO PRESERVATIVES!!!  So technically, they go along with our "whole foods" diet that we've been living on for the past few months. Of course, I couldn't just store them in any old tupperware container with a masking tape sticker for a label.  Instead, I found these cute little glass containers at Hobby Lobby that are the perfect size for spice mixes.  So after

My sister-in-law is very involved with local 4-H groups and needed some thank you notes.  Since I've been at home recovering, I was more than happy to help her out!  Here's how they turned out... Anybody else need some cards while I'm off work!?!  I'd be happy to cut and create for you!  :)

I FINALLY made it back to the craft room tonight to stretch my brain a little and create something new and wonderful!  :)  After being laid up for a week after some medical stuff, I have a new appreciation for the health I normally enjoy...and an appreciation for friends and family who took the time to deliver yummy meals, delectable cookies, and beautiful flowers (that came complete with a big hug from my adorable niece)!  Now that the pain is subsiding and my body is healing, I'm thanking the Lord for the way He created our bodies to bounce back so quickly and completely.  And I'm also thanking all the awesome people who made time to take care of me over the last week or so with some special handmade cards! These cards were made possible by the Walk in my Garden cricut cartridge.  I just love all the little flower designs that are included on that cartridge.  There are even lady bugs, butterflies, and caterpillars!!  I can't wait to make a few more cards using some o