Time Waster of the Day: IKEA Edition

{Found on How About Orange}

What is your IKEA name?

Lesson of the Day: Episode 2

Did you know that throwing a poor, innocent little pudding cup 12 feet across the room might not be the smartest move? Particularly when you are aiming at a person who is sitting on a pale blue couch? I did... though someone else, who shall remain nameless, seemed to have slept through that day of Life Lessons 101.

Poor thing never stood a chance,because now my couch looks like this:

It was much, much worse (throw pillows were taken down as collateral damage) but it took me a few moments to find the humor in the situation and grab my camera. And by humor, I mean that kind of laughing you do when you are completely enraged about something but it oddly comes out in the form of a laugh. So the Resolve is working it's magic and I am hoping for the best.

And I'm still craving pudding...

Update: So the Resolve didn't lift a darn bit of it, even after 3 applications. I can (mostly) hide it with pillows, but there is definitely going to be some sofa shopping in my future. So long California vacation... it was nice knowing you.

Lesson of the Day

This morning I had a late start, so I made the call to spray in some dry shampoo to make my hair remotely presentable in public. I knew I was just running a few errands and, frankly, the people at Target don't usually look too hot themselves at 8am. So I felt okay.

Fast forward to 10 minutes ago, when I get home and discover that a sort of... umm... paste has formed on my scalp. Apparently, getting a little overheated while running around while wearing the dry shampoo is not the way to go.

Lesson Learned! Spread the word...

Package of the Day

I really do enjoy it when packages arrive and they look like this inside:

View of the Day

The view from our first hotel room in San Diego.

After 12 hours of traveling we finally made it to our "happy place". Say it with me now: Ahhhhhhhh.....

Civic Duty of the Day

Found while pumpkin picking in Warwick, NY last weekend. Despite an effort to keep things equal, McCain pumpkins were no where to be found.

Despite my obsessive love of politics, I have kept out of the political blog discussions. I get so tired of people telling me why they are right for believing what they do and I am clearly wrong for not agreeing with them. You have your reasons for believing what you do and I have mine. Let's just agree to disagree and get out there to vote, okay?!

We are not able to vote early here in New Jersey, so I have no idea what sort of lines we will be in store for today, but I fully intend to wait it out no matter how brutal. The way I see it, our lives, liberties and the pursuits of preppiness may be at stake!

Time Waster of the Day

Test your color IQ! Arrange blocks in order of their hue in 4 different color combinations.


My score was 3 (all in the blue/green spectrum). How about you?

Thanks to Jessica at How About Orange... for the tip!

Vital Question of the Day

Was butter really so difficult to cut before?


One Click Butter Cutter

Cloud Blue: Color of the Day

A few days ago I read about Pantone's Colorstrology website (of course I bookmarked it and now can't remember who wrote about it). I am so inspired by color and texture that I could not wait to find out what mine would be and what it would say about me. It is so spot-on accurate that I had to rush over and post about it:

You have a creative mind and an adventurous spirit. It nay be a challenge for you to keep your equilibrium due to your sensitive nature. Partnerships are very important to you and you should s surround yourself with people who are kind and loving. It is essential for you to be creative and exress your childlike spirit. Don't let the weight of life or responsibilities weigh on your spirit. Your personal color resonates with vision. Wearing, meditating or surrounding yourself with Dream Blue eases your emotional nature and promotes balance and well-being.

What is your color? Find your birth date and post in the comments!

Favorite Tips of the Day

Here's a little secret about me: I LOVE to organize things! A peek inside my studio and office in it's current state might seem otherwise, but nothing gets me going like a stack of empty plastic tubs or [gasp] a trip to The Container Store. Powerful shredders make me weak in the knees. I have even been known to swoon over a particularly well managed desktop in-box. No productive day can start without a list, and perhaps even a list of the different lists that I'd like to accomplish. The other day there was a fabulous blog post over at Clutter Control Freak that combined two of my loves -- a list of ten rules about organized living!

1. Shop 'til you Drop - be a good consumer and get out there and buy stuff, even stuff you do not need or want. When you think you have enough go and buy more. Better yet every time you feel emotionally upset or are having a bad day engage in shopping therapy to make yourself feel better. Just remember that in order to create more clutter you must always add to what you already have so if you buy duplicates of any item make sure you keep each and every one!

2. Do not plan - live in the moment and only deal with what is going on right now. Who cares if you cannot find your socks, your briefcase, or your keys tomorrow morning? You are happy right now and you should be able to do only what you want to do at this moment.

3. Assign the same level of importance to everything - this will make you feel truly overwhelmed and if you are feeling overwhelmed you can just go shopping!

4. Accept every free item that is offered to you - if it's free it must be worthwhile and it must be worth having.

5. Never ever say no, to anyone or anything, not even to yourself - This method is guaranteed to win you friends because no one will ever be mad at you! and in addition you will likely be rich with clutter. Definitely a win/win situation for the clutter lover!

6. Procrastinate - why make a decision today when you can do it tomorrow, or the day after, or the year after that!

7. Create emotional attachments to your stuff - being emotionally attached to stuff is so much safer than forming relationships with people. Stuff will never abandon you, hurt your feelings, or be late for a lunch date! When your stuff has such wonderful emotions and memories attached why would anyone want to go out and create new memories??

8. Stay stuck in the past - the future is so uncertain but the past is a known entity. There are no uncertainties in the past! Actually moving forward in your life would mean that you have to clear the clutter (horrors). Better to stick with what you know than face an uncertain future.

9. Think emotionally not logically - use your emotions as the basis for every decision in your life and you are guaranteed to have more of what you already have!

10. Keep everything "just in case" - in order to keep your clutter you must assume that everything you have will have some usefulness in the future. You do not have to plan to use it tomorrow or even the next day just someday! You should not be planning to use it anyway or you are breaking rule #2!

I think these are so on target and I fully intend to incorporate these habits into my daily life at once!

Patronizing Prompt of the Day

This morning I called Bally's (the gym) to cancel my membership -- for the 3rd time in as many months, but that's another post -- I went through their telephone prompts to hopefully speak with a live person. Along the way, I was offered this as one of my options:

If you wish to cancel for buyer's remorse reasons, press 3.

As if trying to cancel an already paid-in-full contract wasn't difficult enough, they need to mock me while I'm doing it.

Time Waster of the Day

What do plutonium, FM radio, Spam and Israel all have in common?

photo from JohnMcCain.com

They are all younger than John McCain! Regardless of your personal political leanings (and I'm not about to get into mine here), the concept of this blog is pretty amusing.

Important Lesson of the Day

ALWAYS resist shopping on the opening day of a brand new Marshall's. Even if it is just around the corner. Even if you are out at 8am anyway. Even if the promise of racks of heavily discounted designer purses that have not yet been pawed over 147 times seems too great to ignore. Must. Always. Resist.

Animal Disguise of the Day

Oddly colored cows, or gigantic Oreo cookies?

Photo taken along US-75 North on our drive up to Tulsa, OK yesterday afternoon.

Phone Call of the Day

If I don't answer when you call, it probably means I'm on the other line with Hill.

The Big Ta-Da! of the Day

Without further adieu, I bring you my enormously big, absurdly important news:

We're moving back to New Jersey!

Whew! You have no idea how good it feels to get that off my chest. I was made to swear absolute secrecy (on my massive headband collection, nonetheless!) back in December and couldn't tell a soul. In truth, we took the idea off the table twice during the decision making process, but in the end Mr. Cupcake's was made an offer he couldn't refuse. At the end of the day, while we love the calm, quiet (read: boring!) life we live here in Texas, we know there are a lot of opportunities waiting for us back East.

Oh yeah, we're moving in less than 2 weeks! Not that we have any say in that what-so-ever. For those of you just joining us, Mr. Cupcake and I moved to Dallas about a year and a half ago under similar circumstances. This time we will be heading up to NJ into temporary housing for a few weeks until we can find an apartment/house to rent sometime before April 1. April Fool, indeed.

For all of my Jersey girls, I'll be back on the show circuit in full swing this Fall and Holiday season. Once I have concrete dates and locations worked out, I'll be sure to post them.

Last time I was able to keep The Creative Cupcake open during most of the move, but this time is going to be a little different. I'll be taking orders until 2/25 (next Monday) and then re-opening on/around 4/15 with the launch of our Spring 2008 lines. I'll be keeping up the Basics Sale until we close, because I'm nice like that. Get your orders in ASAP!

With that said... I'm off to freak out about the 6,742 things I have to do before the movers show up!

Comforting Thought of the Day

There are very few things in life that a $3 bottle of fruity wine can't fix.

Observation of the Day

No matter how cute he is, whenever your husband asks you, "How much do you love me?", good news never follows. Ever.

Annoying Reality of the Day

I'm convinced that my laundry has the ability to reproduce. Why, it was just 3 weeks ago that I washed and folded our clothes, sheets and towels and now it looks like I need to wash them all again. The nerve of that pile, getting dirty like that. Wouldn't it be easier just to buy all new stuff?

Annoying Thought of the Day

There is nothing like a pair of fresh-out-of-the-dryer jeans to remind you that it is not *just* water you are retaining these days.