tiny 2013 recap

Well, well, well. I've found myself at the end of the year without updating on the very exciting going-ons around here. You can read why I didn't post for a while here, but let's quickly go over some happy stuff before the New Year begins! I hope no one will mind me recapping EVERYTHING from the past two months in January, bc, well..

my football team is amaze balls, and I have half the season to post about! I edited all the Texas A&M pics before the non-posting began, so that will be up first, then the awesome entire month of November ending with the two best games I've ever attended ever in my whole life. 

Ma and I right after the Iron Bowl

and Toomer's Corner the day after. I guess if the two main trees are gone, we just roll all of them on the block. 

We went to Atlanta for the SEC Championship game, and for Christmas, Santa brought National Championship tickets!!! EEEE! I hope Pasadena is ready for the Herring ladies! 

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My little business is rocking along better than I could have ever imagined. West Elm placed a rather large order in November, Auburn Art needed all my little fingers could make for the UGA and bama game weekends, and Etsy just about blew me away.  Once the store orders were complete, I was a non-human for the whole month of December and just hammered my heart out until the 23rd with all the Christmas orders that came in. I thought I was done before that, but several rush orders came in right at the last minute. I have a lot of new states and designs to post! 

It was madness until the very end, and THEN I had to do all my Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. I'll be sure to go in to more detail later. You can see some of the pieces I did on Instagram by following @ilikewhatimherring 

I felt like my Christmas vacation was too short, even though I was gone a whole week. The string art orders haven't stopped, so my fam got to enjoy some hammering throughout the holidays! I think they're use to it by now..

Binky and I hanging out with our friend Andre (the ultra fancy champagne) on Christmas. 

I got to see some friends, hang out with the fam, and eat myself silly. I have several things to get finished by this Friday, because that's when we leave for PASADENA!

I can't wait to see what the new year brings! 

diesel

Sorry for disappearing for two months, y'all. I've had so much to write about, and so much going on, but I couldn't make myself write anything without talking about Diesel first. I wrote all this a week after it happened and kept it as a draft for this long. It still makes me cry reading it, but I can't make myself change anything. I'm pretty sure he was in just about every post I made, whether it was on vacation at the lake or his little paws next to some string art. Here's to my D man. 

my baby boy. 

i miss him.

last wednesday (oct 30), I noticed he was acting funny. he was drooling and shaking and was acting very lethargic. of course it was a day I was working outside. i wish i had noticed sooner.. 

i took him to the emergency vet. on the way there, he started moaning. i'll never forget that sound. i felt helpless. i cried right along with him. once we arrived, he couldn't even walk in. poor baby leaned against my tire. i scooped him up with tears in my eyes and ran him inside. i cried when they took him back. he hates the vet. after filling out forms, the vet came out and asked if he had ingested anything toxic. there was nothing i could think of. there is still nothing i can think of. 

they gave him fluids and something to calm him down. i got to go back to see him. poor thing looked pitiful. he was lying on his side, covered with a towel, moaning with every breath he took. i didn't want to move him in fear it would cause him pain. if i could go back, i would've pulled him close and held him for as long as i could. 

i told him i loved him as i rubbed his ears. he tried to move, i know he knew it was me. i know he wanted to leave. he hates being at the vet. part of me wonders if i had stayed, maybe he wouldn't have been as stressed and would've pulled through..

i left my poor boy in distress. i got the call at 5:30 the next morning that he didn't make it. i cannot tell you how sad i am. how big this empty hole in my chest feels. how much it hurts. 

cotton and diesel are opposite in every way. not just physically, but in the way they act. they were the perfect set. cotton is a lounger, whereas diesel was always jumping around. diesel came when i called, cotton does not. diesel slept by my head, cotton by my feet. he would even let me sleep on him. cotton won't cuddle. i use to think this was a good thing, so they each got what they wanted. now i don't have a snuggle buddy. 

diesel loved to dig into people. most would assume he was trying to sniff your crotch, but i assure you, he was just so excited and wanted to be as close to you as possible. he would put his head in between my knees and wiggle back and forth. same with my side if we were sitting on the couch. i will miss his digging. 

he would tap dance when i got home. we would even do it together. it was like his body was so full of joy that he couldn't contain himself. 

he would sit so funny, like a little statue. i could bend down and hug him, and he would lay his little head on my shoulder. he had a soft spot right about his nose that he would let me rub. 

he always wanted to be touching me. putting his head on my computer, sitting next to me on the couch, waking up with him on the pillow next to me. 

he use to talk if i asked a question. he knew "dyouuu wanna go outside?" and "are you hungry?". he would bark as soon as i asked meaning he wanted to go out or eat. he was very smart. 

working from home, i am with my dogs 24/7. i physically feel like a piece of me is gone now. my heart hurts. i miss him so. cotton doesn't sit next to me while i work like he did. she doesn't humor me when i talk to her whereas he would tilt his head or wag his tail. 

he was funny. this might sound dumb, but if i laughed at him, he would get more excited, like he knew he made me happy. 

i don't think cotton realizes he is not coming back. they've been separated before, but only a week or so at a time. 

he would always curl up beside her, and she would tolerate it for a while before moving to the other side of the room. 

she looks out the window more often now, and i wonder if she's looking for him. 

they've been together since the day they were born, give or take a few days. 

i keep thinking i'll see him in my dreams. it hasn't happened yet, but every night before i close my eyes, i think of him and hope i'll get to see his little face. 

i am very thankful for my friends. i appreciate all the texts and calls. a handful of people know how terribly hard this has been, and continue to check in on me. working from home by myself is a constant reminder that he is not here. sweet katie brought me a little scrapbook with pictures of my d-man. 

there will never be another quite like my diesie pup. i've cried everyday because i miss him so much. it hurts. people might think it's silly how much i've mourned over my dog, but he has been with me the last 7 years. that's 1/4 of my life, and my entire adult life thus far. he and cotton are the first pets i've been solely responsible for. 

i hope diesel is playing in the great puppy field in the sky. i hope he's found someone to dig into until we are united again. i hope i never forget the love i have had for my little d-man. 

all these thoughts have been swimming around in my head for the past week, and i had to get them out before they ate away at my ability to function. i am not looking for sympathy in writing this, rather i wanted to get down some of the memories of my little man that i never want to forget. 

……………….

Since I wrote this, I have seen my D man a few times in my dreams. I also see a lot of ladybugs, which I've heard sometimes happens to people when they lose someone close to them. In fact, one crawled across my string art board the other day, and I couldn't help but think maybe his little spirit was sitting there with me. 

Cotton is better about snuggling with her mama. Maybe it's because I smothered her for several weeks there.. She sleeps in the bed with me now, but always at my feet. She even digs into people now, so maybe she is a bit more like Diesel than I thought. :) 

It's weird going from saying "I need to feed the dogs" to "I need to feed Cotton". "The pups errr Cotton needs to go out". It's weird to drive with just one, as opposed to both of them sticking their heads out the back windows. We went to the lake for the first time without D, and I made Cotton come inside bc she no longer had her brother to hang out with on the porch. Lots of adjusting going on over here. 

I can talk about him now without bawling like a baby. 

Unless I've had some wine. Then get ready for the waterworks. 

Now that I've gotten this terribly depressing post out, I am hoping to move forward with my typical funny self. hardy har har.  

west elm birmingham grand opening!

A couple of weeks ago was the big West Elm grand opening! The official one was on Thursday night, but they had a "soft opening" on Wednesday night. 

Let's rewind just a bit. When they contacted me, they wanted a dark wood stain, like several of the pieces in my Etsy shop, but they also wanted a light wood stain. Done and done. 

I was super giddy about dropping them off. Of course I snapped a pic before walking in.

Then I posted it to IG, tagged West Elm Birmingham, and they put it on their facebook page! 

There were tons of people working in there to get everything set up and in place. It looked awesome! That's when I was told about the soft opening, so of course I planned to come. It was so much fun! You can see the string art hanging on the wall below, next to the window. We saw it as we pulled up to park from outside! 

There was a line when we got there with people checking off names on a list! Fancy! Once we got inside, they had champagne, beer and wine, and some finger food. It was packed! There was even a DJ, seen below.  

Everything looked awesome. 

There were other Etsy artists' work sprinkled throughout the store with these little signs. 

How exciting!

Mollie and Murray came with me.

Are they the best or what?! 

My work was in two different areas of the store! 

I ended up coming back on Thursday since a few of my friend's were coming then too, and the manager told me that they had sold all but one of my pieces! Within one day! Woo! I recently got a new order from their corporate office (EEE!), so I'm hoping to have them restocked soon!

At the end of the week, I was at Art and Music on the Green out at Ross Bridge in Hoover. 

I love this art show! The atmosphere is always so nice, and the weather has been great the past two years I've done it. 

Also, this:

free beer and wine tastings!

Murray was a big ol' help with loading, unloading, toting, and possibly most important, getting refills on the refreshments! 

Thanks, Mur! 

What a good week! 

au vs. ole miss week

Another riveting title! 

 Before I get started (just to recap all the game weekends), I need to update week 4. We played LSU down in Baton Rouge. It was the first time I hadn't been to an AU/LSU game in 7 years. I have gone down there the past 3 times we played in BR, and of course I went to the ones in Auburn. I'm making the trek to College Station, TX this weekend, so I opted out of going to Baton Rouge (le sigh). We played a good game, but sadly didn't win. I'm convinced that if it wasn't raining we could've pulled it off. Oh and if ol' Nick Marshall hadn't worn that damn glove, he probably would've thrown better in the first half. 

via

If the glove makes you throw like shit, you must a-quit wearing it!

We lost 35-21, however we looked spectacular in the second half. Onwards! 

The week before the Auburn/Ole Miss game was a good 'un. Birmingham is hosting these pop-up shops in different locations around the city throughout October. The first one was downtown, and new roomie Mollie and I went down there to check it out. 

It was very cool. They had different vendors in different locations along a part of 3rd Ave N in Birmingham. 

There were artists, fashion designers, food vendors, live music, etc., but my favorite was Yellowhammer Creative. I discussed them in the last post with the Edward Sharpe poster I bought. 

Don't you looooove them?! I bought another print, but sadly I didn't take a picture. It was of the "It's nice to have you in Birmingham" ad from back in the day screen printed with a green/blue background.

Nifty little mural pieced together with regular printer paper. 

It was so fun! They had free food and beer samples. Last week they were in East Lake, and this week they're in Ensley. It's different shops every week, so you need to check it out if you haven't already! 

 I realize this is a little stream of consciousness, but look what Cotton did to my beautiful patio!!!! 

She dug up an entire paver. I was so mad at her, but poor girl has a big ol' scab on her nose from it. I know she was chasing the cutest little infestation I've had recently..

CHIPMUNKS!

Gah they're so cute. I seen them before, but lately there have been a ton around the wood pile and by the side porch. 

On Friday night of game weekend, Binky and I went to a Sigur Ros concert here in Birmingham. I won tickets from Birmingham Mountain Radio (of course). I was introduced to this band years ago. They're from Iceland, and I have no clue what they're saying, but it is.. magical? I can't explain it. It gives me chills. 

We were super close to the stage.

Here's a video for Heysatan, which means haystack in Icelandic (thanks google). It's one of the first songs I was introduced to.

And here is Hoppipolla, which means "jumping into puddles". Some of my best friends used this at their wedding to walk back down the aisle. Chills! 

It was so. good. 

The only thing that would've made it better would be if we were in the Icelandic countryside. Maybe one day..  

Funny thing.. they kept blasting these bright lights during certain songs. Binky and I both would recoil in eye pain, and NO ONE ELSE WAS FAZED! Do we have the sensitive eye gene? You could clearly see the whole audience when it flashed and no one was moving or even blinking. Weird! 

This picture even hurts my eyes. We had moved to the top of the section towards the end. I doubt this band will ever be in this area again, so I'm glad I got to see them! 

We left after the show to head back to Auburn. My roomie Mollie came too! We got there right at 2am to see all the people coming out of the bars.

Saturday, gameday was in full swing, and a few of my lovely sorority sisters were in town. 

Me, Beth, Johnny, Kate, Jackie, and Tyler. 

Here is my roomie Mollie! She went to Ole Miss, which is why she's wearing red. 

Smalls joined the group. 

Soon it was time to head to the stadium, but beforehand we had to go pickup Jackie's tickets..

from Charles Barkley! 

No lie! Her mom knows him through events in Birmingham, and she called him up to see if he could get tickets for Jackie. He could! In fact Jackie got his number and was texting and calling him to find his tailgating spot. Is she a VIP or what?! Of course being the starstruck Auburn fan that I am, I was so excited when she let me tag along. He talked to us for a minute and let us get a picture. So exciting! 

On the way to the game, I ran into my cousin Andrea, who is a junior at Auburn. When I was in college, I would always run into my cousin Terrell before games and we would win if we took a picture together. A Newman family/gameday miracle, if you will. I practically forced Andrea take a picture with me to ensure that we won the game. 

I made her hands-on-hips pose with me haha! 

It was a glorious day, even though it was hotter than I thought it would be. The pic below is of the eagle flight. Can you see her? She is just barely visible to the left of the 40 yard line to the left of the AU towards the center of the field.

This was the Military Appreciation game, and there was a flyover! 

Man, I love a flyover. 

Can you tell?

Another sunset shot!

And a good ol' orange and blue sky never gets old, amiright? 

I walked down to see the Woods who, if you recall, sit in my section (Kate was my old roomie and married Brett, who went to Auburn, so Kate is now an AU fan. WOO!). 

I sat with Mollie, Kate, Beth, and Johnny throughout the game. Murray came over for the second half. Since Mollie is an Ole Miss fan, I kept saying things like "WAARR EAAGLLEE WOOOO!.. I'm sorry." I couldn't contain my excitement, but I didn't want to be rude! haha

We won the game! It was a bit of a nail biter at the end, but we pulled it off. Of course we walked downtown afterwards to the wires. 

I can't wait for next year when trees will be back up. 

War damn!