Monday, August 26, 2013

Happy 3rd Birthday, bloggie!

Today is my 3rd year blogiversary! Happy birthday/anniversary/whatever you want to call it to I Like What I'm Herring! 

Back in 2010, I started this blog to document the adventures of home ownership when my house that I had been in for about 3 months completely fell apart. There was a leak from upstairs, and my 3 roommates and myself had to move out for a month.. into one hotel room.  Then the pipes in the backyard clogged up, sewage came up through the shower and under the toilet, and the entire shebang had to be replaced. In the middle of the other disaster. Needless to say, everything has worked out on the home front! 

Normally I'd do something special for this joyous occasion, butttt I'm midway through a massive order of 57 pieces! FIFTY SEVEN! All shapes and sizes. The majority are for Auburn Art to stock up for football season, and the rest are Etsy and word-of-mouth orders. I am so excited that everything is rolling along in my little business world! EEE! 

I'll leave you with this pic of some orders I filled featuring the rival schools here in my home state. 


Who else is ready for football season?!? I can't wait! 

Monday, August 19, 2013

alabama goods

Guess who just got some art into a new store?! 


Alabama Goods is the newest store carrying my stuff! WOO! They are practically a two for one! The main location is in downtown Homewood, AL (part of Birmingham), and they have another new location in Tuscaloosa, AL! 


I know, I know. For the biggest Auburn fan on the planet, it's a little tough to handle, but for the business owner in me, it is amazeballs! My stuff at AuburnArt is doing so well, I knew I need to appeal to the other school in the state! 

Alabama Goods got me to make these tags to go on my pieces that have my logo and tell where my art is made. I love that I get to put them on there! Perhaps I'll start doing that for art shows.. 


I love the products at Alabama Goods. If you're in the area and you're looking for something locally made in Alabama, you should definitely check it out. 


In fact, I bought this piece below! Wood in the shape of Alabama. Is this right up my alley, or what?! My tag was made out of paper, but this artist's tag was made out of a wood slice! HOW AWESOME! 


I love these coasters in the shape of AL made out of old carpet.


Who can resist this lovely tray in the shape of Alabama? I guess I would prefer something blue than crimson.. 


These cute AL wine bottle charms could also double as ornaments. Love! 


In my opinion, these pillows are too cute for words. I love the patterns! 


Not everything is AL shaped, like these cute bird houses. 


Right before I left, they hung one of my Birmingham string arts! EEE! 


Several of the Tuscaloosa string arts went to the Ttown location. How exciting! If you're in the area, go check out Alabama Goods! Here are the addresses: 

Homewood location:

2933 18th Street South
Homewood, AL
across from Savage's Bakery

Tuscaloosa location:

1400A University Blvd.
Tuscaloosa, AL 
on the strip next to Jimmy John's 

I am so excited to be a part of Alabama Goods! 

(sorry for the fuzzy iPhone pics in this post!)

Friday, August 16, 2013

Birmingham Zoo

Can you believe I have lived in Birmingham for over 4 years, and I haven't been to the zoo yet?? It is about 3 miles up the road from my house. A couple of weekends ago, it was $5 day, so I took full advantage. 


This nut came along with me!


We went to the petting zoo first. There were some lovely smelling goats.


a butterfly house.


and this chicken wing clucking around. Aren't his feathers lovely??


One of my favorites was the mini horse (maybe I watched too much Rob and Big, but I love a mini horse). He was on the outside of his stall (of course) so the pics are through the door. He laid down on his back and rolled around like a dog. Hilarious!


Then he gave me a glamour shot. 


And another horsing around pose. 


UHHH, Cotton and Diesel, is that you?!?!? 


Here are my pups, Cotton and Diesel, for you to see how goat-like they are. Gah, especially you, D-man. 


Turk turks and their babies. 


Next up, we went to Africa!


A giant tortoise. 


And my favorite..

the tiger! 


RAWR!!!

I was clearly super excited. 




So pretty. 


Next up was the lions.


Simba gave us his best side. 


This painted dog was awesome looking. 


And I am super jealous of this hog's ear hair. I couldn't stop singing Lion King songs in my head at this point..


"When I was a young wart hog! (bum bum) When he was a yooooung waaaaart hoooooooog!"

One of the only fur patterns cooler than tiger stripes is giraffe spots. 



The Bham Zoo has a big monkey/ape section. I loved this little guy's hairdo. 


Murray's favorite was the gorilla. 


When we got to the viewing area, he wasn't in there, but after a few minutes he was released (I think they were cleaning his cage). 


Donkey Kong with his barrel. 


HAHA! Murray is very sweet to appease my pose requests! 

me-- "OMG, PUH-LEASEEE GO POSE BY THAT ORANGUTAN!"


In this area, there is a mama and baby orangutan. 


How cute! 


"OMG, YOU'VE GOT TO STAND WITH THE DUNG BEETLE!!!"


Am I annoying or what?!

The rhinos were eating by the time we made it back to their area. 


"RHINO POSE!" 


After not showing her (his?) face all day, the elephant finally came out to say hello.



After the Africa part, we went over to the birds and reptiles. 


There was a part with sea lions, but they weren't doing any tricks when we were there. 


Toucan!


CAAHHH! 

That's a hawk call for those who don't know. 


The very dormant, yet HUGE alligator


More birds. 



There were a couple of reptile rooms with big lizards


and snakes. EEK! 


I named this the capri pants bird. The picture isn't that great, but you can see the tops of its legs are black with feathers and the bottom are yellow-ish. These nugs ran around and all I could think was: soccer mom! or skinny girls that run around my neighborhood! haha 


More flamingos! 


And another lizard.


We walked around the birds for a while trying to find an eagle, but we found out that it was in a different section of the zoo. BOO! The zoo was closing shortly after we finished the bird and reptile section. All in all, I liked it! I would definitely go back! 

So I brought this up as we were walking around..

If the animals that coordinated with their respective SEC teams foreshadowed the football season to come, here is what we have to expect: 

UF gator just laid there.
Arkansas hogs stunk up the joint. 
UA elephant didn't show up until the end.
The tiger was the most active/awesome of the whole group. 

The trouble with decoding this is that there are three tiger teams now. I'm gonna say he represents Auburn. Wishful thinking?!?