Sunnie Suns

Doug made me a new pair of sunglasses. Rather, he updated my cheap pair of sunnies with a zebra wood front and arms. My boyfriend is a genius. And, he's had about 20 people on FB in the past 4 hours ask to buy a pair.

What do you think, friends? I love them, but would love to hear your feedback!

xo,

Beca

Paper Dolls and Gypsy Treasures

We both took a half day from work and found ourselves at Kobey's Swap Meet and it was my favorite kind of swap meet day. No crowds, no big-commercial booths, and lots of treasures. My arms ached by the end of our thirty minute trip there, because we found so many gems in the rough. Including an underwater camera for Doug's mom that I am going to test out on Sunday at the pool! We also found a lot of neat treasures for the shop.

Also, while I was a at work today, I was thinking about painting. weird, right. I was dipping cookies in royal icing, and piping cake, and all I wanted to do was paint. Sometimes the urge gets me. Trust me though, my painting style is that of a pre-teen girl, but I enjoy doing it.

I started making paper doll images of Doug and I. I know it's silly, but it was fun and turned out pretty cute. I'm going to get it framed and hang it in our bedroom.

Do you ever feel like drawing something silly? Or just being silly?? Tonight is going to be full of silliness, because once my man gets home from skateboarding, we're having a pizza party and watching movies in our pj's! I may even build a fort, who knows! I feel like celebrating, I have had so many opportunities to break the soda-fast, but haven't. The headaches have subsided and I am feeling great! Why didn't I do this sooner? Who knows...but I feel great now. I'm not saying I won't ever drink soda again, it just won't be my only option and may get saved for really special occasions!

I have a bunch of new gems I am currently updating the shop with, so if you'd like, check them out! I have a curiosities closet planned for later tonight, and a new feature this weekend. I still need to get caught up with Spring into Summer with my blogger bff, Danielle. I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far (it's only Friday!!) and although I have to work tomorrow and probably late since I left early today, I am excited for my day off on Sunday. Doug leaves on Tuesday for a week long bachelor party with his friends, so I am going to kidnap him Sunday for a fun day.

xo,

Beca

Dialect Video

All the rage, here is my dialect video. Be kind.

Say these words:

Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught

Now answer these questions:

What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

xo,

Bec

Short and Sweet

I spent most of today packing order for the shop, walking (two dog walks, and a clumsy, slow walk to the post office with an armful of packages. I'm talking 8 boxes!) and cleaning the house. I also finished the book I got yesterday! Really! It was so excellent, and I am like 100 years late on reading this book, but I loved it; No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. I already have book no. 2 in the mail. Hurry up!! Anyways, look at how messy my studio gets when I am packing up orders (behind the little deer friend.)

Also, I think this photo is hilarious, because Charlie looks like he died. And Ollie of course, had to get involved.

I am running to the farmers market to get something for dinner. It's day three with no soda!! I'm pretty stoked on that. That's a lot for me, since I am a coca-cola fiend.

Have a great night. I have a video to share tomorrow.

xo,

Bec

Death of a Card Reader & I need your Help!

We went to the beach yesterday with Charlie. It was pretty fun, and so nice outside. Doug took this photo on his new camera, that he loves. Today after work, I wanted to take photos of my new dress that took a ridiculously long time to get to me, and then sat on my porch for two days (oops) and I am just now wearing. BUT, I was scanning photos, and looked over at the coffee table and noticed that an entire bottle of glue had spilled (thanks, dogs) and was creeping like lava onto EVERYTHING, including our card reader for the camera. Sooo, I can't upload any photos and honestly, that's okay, because I am not really feeling into photos of myself right now.

I know, I know, I have said it 100 times, but I really really want to lose weight. This is the most I have weighed in a loooong time and now that summer is rolling around, I can't really hide it anymore. I normally rock jeans or cut off shorts, a black teeshirt and a hoodie or sweater. That's my all time favorite outfit, and has been since I was an early teen. It hides the weight pretty well, except that my weight fluctuates a lot and lately it's been leaning to the heavy side. So now, clothes that fit me well a month ago, are not fitting as well. I know this is so sporadic and random, but so is my weight.

I don't know what to do. I ride my bike to work 3-4 times a week, I can't stick to a diet, I have a serious caffeine addiction and I am totally broke, so can't afford to take classes or sign up for weight watchers (which would be a total waste of money anyways.) PLEASE HELP! What has worked for you? What kind of foods do you eat that fill you up but don't taste gross. I am eternally picky, but in a weird, 5th grade boy kind of way. Like I could eat junk food for the rest of my life, if it wouldn't kill me. Give me a bag of doritos, a 12 pack of coke, pepperoni pizza, mac&cheese, french fries and a soft pretzel, and I'll still be hungry for more. My metabolism, however, is that of an old tabby, and I will keep every single one of those calories all for myself. Greedy greedy.

I also have a pilates dvd and ride my bike often, but those don't seem to be helping. I mean, i guess if I did them more....but I'm pretty sure I can at least start this battle with food and moderate exercise?? I'm not going to lie, the last time I lost weight and was down to 135 pounds, I was smoking a pack of cigarettes a day, riding my bike obsessively, eating a lot of pizza and only sleeping a few hours a night. Insomnia + hipster track bike + chain smoking - pizza = grossly skinny for my 5foot8 broad stature. I don't want to do that again. I just want to feel better about myself.

Please, if you have a second, tell me what you do to stay healthy and maybe it will give me some ides. I stopped drinking soda, and I don't even crave it. One cup of coffee in the morning, and thats it, water for the rest of the day. I'm not eating junk right now either but that's harder. Ugh. I'm so frustrated!

That's all for now. Thanks, in advance.

xo,

Bec

Half Frame

I have been meaning to try out this Canon half frame camera we got a while ago. I didn't put a lot of energy or thought into the photos because I didn't even know if the camera worked, and didn't want to get bummed out if the photos didn't turned out. So I wanted to share some of the photos that I actually liked. I can't wait to get more film and play with this camera more!

Today wasn't totally awesome, but I did have some success with my first go at French Macarons. I'm going to try again tomorrow and see if I can get a full batch without some of them cracking. I'm going to have to ask some of my pastry friends )or ya'll) why the shells crack so easily.

I am exhausted. Have a nice night!

xo,

Beca

Pals

My pretty pal Micaela sent me a pretty little package (say that 10 times fast!) last week and I wanted to share the beauties that made my day!

Thank you friend! I am so happy to know you and I love every treasure you sent to me.

Ya'll should go check out Micaela's blog. She's super sweet and wonderful!

If you want to be pen pals, email me at tumbleweeds.shop{at}gmail{dot}com.

I love sending little presents and I love getting mail!

xo,

Bec

Ohmygod, I wear clothes! Outfit Post. Seriously!

I think Easter is funny. We never really celebrated at home. Just a little background info for you, my Mom is an Atheist and my parents divorced when I was pretty young, so even though my Dad is a "Christian," (loosely,) Easter was just a reason for my Mom to buy me some new chapter books and my Dad to do what he did best the first few years after the divorce, disappoint me. Don't get me wrong, my Dad and I are pretty close now, and my Mom and I don't even talk anymore. Sad, I know, but I'm pretty whatever at this point about parents. Anyways, holidays were always a coin toss when I was growing up. Sometimes my Dad would surprise me with Tulips and a card, and my mom would have the day off and hide presents all over the house for me to find and then we would go on a hike or something. Those are great memories. But now, as an adult, we kind of just do the same thing we would do any other day.

The best part about today is that Doug woke me up with a sweet "Happy Easter" and we played with the puppies forever. I love having Sundays off. The dogs wait for us to wake up and then go crazy with happiness. We went and got coffee and a bagel, picked up his friend Jacob and drove to the swap meet. It was cloudy, but not that cold and we had fun just wandering through the isles and finding little treasures. I bought a whole flat of strawberry and tomato plants. I am really excited about that. Except Monster keeps picking the strawberries off the plants and trying to eat them.

So, also, I actually wore cute clothes today. I mean, something other than jeans and shirt and a sweater or hoodie. Go me. Also, I almost forgot, it;s our anniversary. I can't believe it's really been 3 years!! I'm glad we don't make a big deal out of it, and just do what we do best. Fun stuff. Except the cake part, that was a first and it was pretty fun. Doug's out skateboarding right now. Holidays are the best time to skate street, so holiday afternoons, he does that. And I apparently take photos of myself!

Shirt: American Apparel

Skirt: Altered Forever 21 dress-to-skirt (tmi, because of course, nothing fits my top)

Tights: Target

Shoes: swap meet no tags

Glasses: D&G

Earrings: Dinosautoes

Bracelets: borrowed from our shop, vintage 1920s Navajo, Nixon watch, Shine from Dawn

Necklaces: Ivory peacock gifted from my friend, Alita. Antler Birdskull from Doug, Gold "B" from Doug.

So anyways, hope ya'll have a great day, whether you celebrate or not. It's Sunday! Funday! Hooray! I'm thankful for all ya'll.

xo

Bec

A Sneak Peek

We're doing what we do best tonight, of course, relaxing super hard with Beetlejuice on TV. This week has been crazy long and busy. Today, after work, we got Subway and watched The Goonies, and waited for the postman to bring Doug's new toy. We got him a new Pentax I-10. It's so cute and tiny, and takes beautiful photos. His fancy Olympus is so big and bulky, that it's hard to take everywhere, but this little guy fits right in his pocket. It was a kind-of sort-of anniversary gift.

Yes, three years ago tomorrow was when it all started. It seems like soooo long ago, and although we have had our ups and downs, no matter, it has been a beautiful journey and I look forward to many, many more. And plus, I get a trampoline out of it! Ha! I also made us a cake. Doug loves chocolate and I don't, but when it comes to cake, I'll make him whatever he wants.

"The World's Greatest" is a R Kelly song that Will Oldham covered. It's a really beautiful song, by both of them, but I especially love Will Oldham's version as Bonnie Prince Billy. We saw Will Oldham about 2 years ago in Phoenix. It was an incredible show. The song "The World's Greatest" is one of our favorites. I always text Doug right before he goes into work, just little things, and one of them is "You are the world's greatest" so I though that would be appropriate to write on a cake. Trust me I stood over this thing for a good 10 minutes thinking about all the stuff I could write. It was almost "and they try to pick me up" a stupid line from a stupid commercial that we say to each other constantly. It would have only been funny to us.

So anyways, the real day is tomorrow, but it doesn't really matter. It's just a day, but really, it feels like we have known each other for a million years, and I can't imagine my life without him. I feel incredibly blessed and lucky to be so happy and so very in love.

Can't wait for the swap meet in the morning!

What are you doing for Easter??

xo,

Beca

And Eat Your Cake, Too!

One of my favorite parts about being a pastry chef is decorating birthday cakes. It's so incredible to be a part of somebodies happy day. And sometimes they're fun. sometimes they're weird, and sometimes they are just plain ridiculous.

And sometimes the story behind the cake is really sweet and it makes my heart warm with happiness to be a part of that special day. Like today, I made this giraffe cake for a woman's 84th birthday. Her son painted this giraffe from the San Diego zoo and she loved the painting so much she wanted it on a cake for her birthday. The requests were very detailed as you can see in the first photo, he even drew out a picture of what it "should" look like. Yellow buttercream, green details, exact giraffe, the giraffe's name below, and "Happy 84th Birthday Mom!" underneath. I am really happy with how it came out.

The next cake I did today was a 'boob' cake. And there really isn't much I can say about it, except that I giggled and blushed like a 13 year old the whole time I was making it. Not as bad as the vagina cakes last week that I refuse to share photos of.

And lastly, a sheet cake with baby Elmo on it for a one year old's birthday. I was pretty straight forward, and I was moderately happy with it, but next time there are some things I want to do differently, and probably would have made the balloons out of fondant. I was just running out of time, I was at work for 9 hours today!

I hope ya'll like taking a peek into what I do at work all day. I know it probably isn't as interesting as other stuff, like when I was a stay-at home dog mom, but I like sharing. I love hearing your thoughts on the projects that I share, too!

I hope you all have a great weekend. I can't wait until Sunday. It's our anniversary!! Goodnight, friends!

xo,

Bec

Dog Mom's Best Friend

So, totally of my own volition, I wanted to share something awesome with all my dog-mom friends. I have tried just about everything to make our house smell pet-free. I love my dogs, and I love having dogs. I don't however, love how much my very rowdy boys smell after rolling around in the dirt all day and laying in the sun. I've tried all natural sprays, I've tried herbal sprays, candles, incense, febreeze, fresh flowers, etc. Nothing really, really gets the pet smell out of the house.

I usually just get Febreeze, which isn't bad, but doesn't last and it's expensive. It usually disappears after an hour or so. But the other day, I was at Target, and found this! It must be new, I haven't seen it before. It's made by Glade. I'm not really a plug-in/spray fragrance kind of girl, I like fresh flowers, clean laundry and open windows, so I don't normally buy Glade products, but it was on sale and I thought I would give it a shot.

Anyways, I spent all day cleaning and watching reality TV on Netflix today. And when I had everything clean and organized, I sprayed the closet, bed and dog beds and crates with it. Oh man, it was awesome. It didn't smell like a spray, it just got rid of doggy smells. I was super stoked, and not that I am a huge reviewer. I don't ever yelp (although sometimes I think I should) and I don't really hype up products, but I was so excited that it didn't smell like someone just dumped a bottle of bad perfume all over our stuff (like the fragrance sprays) and 4 hours later, the room still smells like nothing. That's exactly what I want it to smell like, nothing!

Anyways, if you have pets and don't like your house smelling like the pet store, this is the best stuff I've used. It's not "all natural" or "Organic" but it works, and that's works for me!!

Also, check out the kitty's new favorite spot!

xo,

Bec

A Walk in the Park

Yesterday after we picked up Doug from work, we drove over to Balboa park to take Ollie out. We have both been working so much, that the dogs have been feeling a little down lately. Ollie was really excited to be out, but he still had time to stop and smell the flowers.

Or another dog's pee. Whatever it may have been it was pretty cute. We discovered this bmx trail and roamed through that for a while. There was also an incredible amount of wild flowers. Ollie loved when I pick him up...

The trees were incredible. I felt like a tiny little ant under those massive guys.

It was a really awesome walk in the park and I feel so lucky that the park is smack dab in the middle of the city and we can get there in 5 minutes!

Okay, we'll, I purposefully slept in until 10 today and woke up with a caffeine withdrawl. I haven't slept in until 10 in a while...But now, I have A LOT to do so I hope everyone has a great Thursday! I'm going to get as much done as I can on my day off!

xo,

Bec

Bye-Bye Blonde

I have SO MUCH to do before Doug gets off work. Like I shouldn't even be on the computer right now. But, here are the photos I promised of my new hair. I need to fix the corner of my bangs, and I am still getting used to the dark color, but it's a nice change. I was tired of bleaching my roots anyways!

And seriously, get a load of this face. Too much, sometimes.

xo, Beca