Halloween Craftiness

This Halloween has been a particularly crafty one for me. Not only have I helped decorate hay bales, but I have also spent some time making a Halloween Treat Tree. Heather suggested that we make the Halloween Treat Tree, and I was more than happy to join in the fun!

The tree was originally made for the Halloween Festival that we were participating in. However, the festival was canceled due to rain, and the tree ended up in my office. It is rather large due to the fact that it was originally designed to be outside, but I have to admit it still looks cute as an office decoration.

I should have had Heather take the pictures of the tree because my photography skills definitely leave something to be desired. These pictures don't show how cute the tree really is, but at least you can get an idea of how it turned out!

Here are a couple of full tree photos. The base of the tree is a clay pot spray painted black. The tree itself is a branch spray painted black. The branch is held in place with oasis (used in flower arrangements). We stacked the green blocks of oasis in the pot and secured the branch by poking it through the oasis. We then covered the top of the pot with a piece of cardboard cut to size and placed black stones on top of the cardboard. If you are making a smaller tree, it would be better to use plaster of paris to secure the branch. Since our tree was so big, we didn't use plaster of paris because it would make the tree too heavy and hard to transport.


Here is a close-up of the tree. I love the spooky black branches and the precious treat bags!


And of course-a picture of one of the treat bags! We found the small white sacks at Hobby Lobby. We stuffed the bags with candy, folded over the top, and used a hole puncher to punch the hole. We then tied a cute orange ribbon on them and hung them on our tree.

My coworkers have really enjoyed the tree being in my office! They think the tree is so cute, and their eyes light up just a little when I tell them they can pick a treat bag off the tree!

A Glimpse of Heaven

Yesterday I planned on blogging about the Halloween Tree, Scout's Halloween Costume, and I also planned to share with you more of the decorated hay bales. However instead of blogging about all of those things, I didn't blog at all. In fact, I didn't even touch my computer last night. Do you want to know what I was doing? I was playing with puppies!!!

Keller and Katie (two of the sweetest friends we could ever ask for) took Michael and I to visit 9 of the most adorable lab puppies I have ever seen! I had so much fun playing with those sweet little puppies! It was definitely my idea of Heaven!

Without further ado, here are the pictures of those precious little furry babies!!!

Pictured Below: Keller and Katie playing with the puppies!

Pictured Below: Katie the Puppy Whisperer!

Pictured Below: Michael playing with one of our favorite puppies! We lovingly referred to him as the droopy puppy because he had the cutest little droopy face!

Pictured Below: Me with the puppies! These sweet little guys just climbed all over you as soon as you sat down! At one point, I had all 9 puppies in my lap!

Hay (Bale) Fever!

Today has been a fun but super busy Monday. Heather and I (with the help of Savannah) finished decorating our hay bales (we ended up having to decorate two) for the Halloween Festival tomorrow. We began at 9:00 am and did not finish until well after 6:00 pm. All three of us are exhausted, but it was well worth the work! Our hay bales ended up so cute!

For our first hay bale we decided to make it into a vampire bat. His wings were quite a challenge, but we were pleased with the way he ended up.


I think our second hay bale might be my favorite! For our second hay bale, we created a robot. You can't see him very well, but he is complete with two working clocks on his body and a spiral of wire above his head.


Oh, and I have to include this picture just because it makes me giggle. This was my attempt to take my picture with the robot.


Our hay bales are cute, but there are really some amazing hay bales out there. I will try to get pictures of some of my favorites to share with you later in the week. Also, stay tuned for pictures of our trick-or-treat tree and the special collar I made Scout (my sweet little cocker spaniel) to wear to the festival!!

A Hot Dog in Target

Heather and I were in Target earlier this week purchasing supplies for the Halloween carnival. While perusing the aisles of the Halloween section, I happened upon a hot dog costume. It was simply hanging on a hanger, so I realized that I could easily slip it on. Of course, I did just that. I put on the hot dog costume in the middle of Target.

Heather (wearing a purple witch's hat with feathers) happened to be on the phone with her husband when I decided to strut my stuff as a hot dog. She got one glance at me, started laughing, and pointed to my costume asking, "what's that?".

A little hurt that she couldn't tell I was a hot dog I replied, "It's a hot dog costume. I'm supposed to be a hot dog.".

"No! What's that?", she said as she pointed between my legs.

I quickly looked down to see that the hot dog costume did have a piece that seemed a bit phallic. (See picture above) I immediately covered my hot dog private area and shyly asked Heather not to look. By this point, Heather was laughing so hard that she couldn't speak. Her poor husband, who was still on the phone, had no idea what was going on. I think the only words she could get out were "Jennifer" and "Hot Dog".

I told Michael (my husband) about our hot dog costume adventure, and he thought it was hilarious. In the midst of his giggling he also stated the obvious, "You and Heather should not be allowed to work together." It is true that Heather and I really should not be allowed to work together. We always get our jobs done, but we have way, way too much fun in the process. Thank goodness our boss hasn't caught on!

I'm Just A Little Shy!

In real life, I can not be considered a shy person. In fact, I often carry on full and meaningful conversations with strangers. It's a gift and a curse! :)

However, I have found that I am rather shy when it comes to my blog friends and Facebook. Lately many of my blog friends have been popping up in my suggested friends on Facebook. I'm not sure how Facebook knows that we are blog friends-I think it is rather spooky. I always get excited to see my blog friends on Facebook, but when I go to send a friend request I get shy. I often worry that my blog friends will think I am crazy and that there is no way they would want to be my Facebook friend. I always talk myself out of sending a friend request.

Due to my Facebook shyness, I thought I would write a quick post and let you know that I am on Facebook. I am more than happy to have my blog friends as Facebook friends too, so if you are interested in being my friend on Facebook(no pressure) feel free to e-mail me at jenniferthepinkchick@yahoo.com, and I will send you a link to my Facebook page. The only thing I ask is that you don't mention my last name or place of work in the blog world.

Oh and because posts with pictures are more fun! Here is a picture of me with a very large cement rabbit. It is also my Facebook Profile Picture.

My Favorite Things: Halloween Edition

It is so hard to believe that Halloween is just around the corner. At work, Halloween is usually very uneventful, but this year Heather and I have a Halloween work project! To support a local school and charity, we are decorating a hay bale and participating in a Halloween carnival. I will share details about the hay bale later, but I could not resist sharing our latest craft idea with you. Heather brought this idea to the table to help spice up our trick-or-treat station at the Halloween carnival-we are making a Halloween Treat Tree!

Woman's Day (on-line) has an easy tutorial to help you make your very own Halloween Treat Tree. You can find the DIY instructions here. The Halloween Treat Tree is a cute, simple, and cheap Halloween decoration or can even serve as a Halloween centerpiece.


Heather and I are straying from the instructions just a little. Our tree will be a good bit bigger. We are also using small paper treat bags tied with orange ribbon instead of using the cloth sacks shown above. The kids will be able to pick their Halloween treat right off the tree! I will post pictures as soon as our project is complete, and I hope that you will share your pictures with me if you decide to make this adorable Halloween craft!

Two Things I Love.....

...A Really Cute Hair Accessory and A Discount Code! If you love rocking a ponytail, make it even more fun by adding one of these precious flower ponytail holders. Don't forget to enter the code (located at the bottom of the image below) for your 25% discount!

Diet Update

I completed my second month of my new diet, and I am happy to report that there is a little less of me to love! I have lost a total of 14 pounds! Yippeee! I am so excited! Thank you for all your kinds words and support during my weight loss journey. I still have a lot of pounds to go, but I am so pleased with my progress! My goals for the upcoming months include increasing my exercise (I have been majorly slacking) and drinking more water (This is such a hard one for me).

Image found here.

Sorry for the short post! I have been a bit under the weather this week. Nothing major-just a little bug. However, I am late for my appointment with my blanket, my couch, and a yummy bowl of soup! Have a wonderful day, and hopefully I will be back in full force tomorrow!!!

Monday Edition: My FavoriteThings

This is one of my favorite times of the year-Free Gift With Purchase Time!!! Clinique is currently offering a free gift with a purchase of $21.50 or more at Macy's. Now I have to admit that I am not usually a Clinique girl. I do enjoy their lip sticks and lip glosses, but I have never ventured much further into the Clinique line. Nothing against Clinique, It’s just normally not what I use.

However when free gift time rolls around, I usually treat myself to a new make-up product or skin care product if my budget allows and if the free gift is super cute! The current free gift from Clinique definitely falls under the super cute category! See for yourself-the picture is below!


You can choose the red or green. I picked the green. As for the what I purchased to get my free gift, I treated myself to the Turnaround Instant Facial. I have used it twice now, and I absolutely love it! You may see a Monday Edition about it soon!!!

$110 vs. $10

Let me take you back in time a little to Dec. 31st, 2008. Michael and I were attending a fabulous New Year's Eve Party! The dress was semi-formal. Most everyone was wearing cocktail attire. As guests were filing in, I noticed one girl in particular. She was young and cute, and I was in love-with her headband! Her headband was magnificent! It was a normal headband with a jeweled fleur de lis attached. I was obsessed with this headband, so I made my way through the crowd to find out where I could purchase such a cute hair accessory. By Jan. 2nd, I was at the store ready to make my purchase!

The store was all out of the headbands, so they proceeded to order one for me. I stupidly did not ask the cost. I mean-It's a headband. How much can a headband really cost? I was thinking at most it would cost $50-$70. That is a little much for my budget, but oh how I loved this headband. She rang me up (you have to pay before they order) and told me my total-$110! $110 for a headband! I don't think so! I had her cancel the order, and I left the store without hope of ever owning a sparkly fleur de lis headband.

Fast forward to earlier this week, I was in Target with my friend and coworker, Heather. We love taking our lunch break browsing Target for shoes, clothes, or whatever we are in the mood for. That day I had accessories on the brain, so Heather and I headed over to look at the earrings when I spotted some really cute headbands. Better yet, I spotted a sparkly headband! I tried it on and fell in love. I was almost afraid to look at the price tag after the last sparkly headband incident, but I was pleasantly surprised to find this headband was only $9.99. I happily gave Target my money and went home with a great headband! I love it, and I can't wait to wear it the next time I need to add a little something to one of my dresses!!!

Here are a few pictures I took of the headband while I was getting dressed the other morning. No, I am not naked. I have on a strapless knit dress that I love to wear when I am getting ready. Sorry for the poor quality and my creepy eye in the first pic. I took these with my phone. What do you think? Thumbs up or thumbs down on the headband?



If you like the headband and want one for your very own, visit your local Target or you can also find it here.

Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend!

I was recently invited to attend an event called Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend. As soon as I saw the title show up in my facebook events I was intrigued! The event was hosted by a new local jewelry store, Tena's, and it benefited the Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support. The Loran Smith Center for Cancer Support is an amazing service in the Athens area that offers support in the form of classes, counseling, workshops, etc... for cancer patients and those caring for loved ones with cancer.

I convinced my friend, Katie, to go with me to this event, and we had a fabulous time. We enjoyed yummy refreshments, they cleaned our jewelry, and they let us try on as many pieces of jewelry as we wanted. We were even entered into a drawing to win a diamond pendant (we didn't win, but the anticipation of winning was still fun). As we left the event, they gave us free jewelry cleaner and a cute tin of custom M&Ms. We enjoyed all of this for a $5 donation! I never knew $5 could be so much!

My favorite part of the evening, other than spending quality time with my precious friend and supporting a great cause, was trying on the jewelry! Katie and I enjoyed trying on a variety of jewelry pieces, but for some reason we kept going back to the diamonds. :) We loved trying on the diamond rings! We even added a few rings to our wish list!

One of my favorite pieces all night had to be the stackable rings! I have never been a fan of stackable bands, but these were different! These rings were unique, fun, and reasonably priced! They are definitely at the top of my wish list!

Here are a few of my favorites!
I couldn't find individual pictures of the 3 rings that I stacked the other night and fell in love with, but the pictures above give you a pretty good idea of just how beautiful the stacked rings can be!

Hostess Gift Found!

Thank you so much for helping me with my hostess gift emergency! All of you had such wonderful ideas that I started a file with all of your suggestions so the next time I have a hostess gift to buy I will be more than prepared!

After reading all of your suggestions, I visited my favorite local gift shop, Plain Jane Designs, to pick up a wine stopper. My plan was to pair it with cute napkins or cute wine charms. However, the beautiful wine stoppers they once had were sold out. I had no idea what to do because I didn't have time to visit another store looking for wine stoppers. I wandered around the store aimlessly not knowing where to turn next when the owner, Jane, stepped in to help. I told her my situation, and she put together the cutest hostess gift for me!

The gift included a small pewter platter, a matching pewter spreader, and a jar of specialty jam. Attached to the gift was a recipe to make with the jam. Here are a few pictures! Sorry for the poor quality. I was snapping pictures of the gift as my husband was dragging me out the door to leave for the party.






The party was so much fun! We drank wine, sampled cheeses, and even made some new friends!

By the way, sorry for missing my Monday post. I got home late Monday night. I had a fun girl's night out! I will tell you all about it tomorrow! It involved trying on expensive jewelry! What a way to spend an evening!!!!

Advice Needed!

Hi all! I am writing this quick post to ask for your help. Michael and I have been invited to a wine and cheese party tonight. I just found out about it last night because Michael forgot to tell me. I don't know the couple very well, but we have been building a friendship with them over the past few weeks. What should I bring as a hostess gift? I would normally take something like a bottle of wine, but since it is a wine and cheese party I wasn't sure if I should bring wine. My other thoughts were flowers or maybe even one of those really cute wine stoppers. What are your ideas? Thanks in advance for your help! Y'all are the best!!!