piddleloop.com

big ass photo post number 98539745937485763845

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So you say you wanna big ass photo post? no? too bad you get one anyways. if you don’t like looking at random photos then you may want to skip this blog.
So i said last weekend i took a lot of pictures, here’s some of what we did…
First because Nell keeps making me thirsty, flashing her cold ones over there..i thought i’d show you what is good over in apt 2A
Shiner Bock and Red Vines mmmm Nat has been very happy because Shiner came to chicago in April. It’s his favorite beer. It’s really pretty good. The land of yee-haw has some good stuff down there!


On sunday we went down to the Union arts for a ladyfest benefit craft fair, and to see Lauren. Lauren is so rad. You must check out her stuff on etsy. She made me the awesome type nerd etched glass, Nat got one with a moustache!




Her boyfriend was there too. Robert makes stained glass that is here (buy the one i want and i will fight you)


joy bought a sock doggie


also mark your calenders NAT SMILED and lauren got it on camera. DISCLAIMER I STOLE THESE TWO PHOTOS AND COLOR CORRECTED THEM FROM HERE THESE TWO PHOTOS ARE TAKEN BY LAUREN


and this one is one of my favorites she took..look at the three of us? Nat and Joy are frowning..what am i doing? just HOW many cameras do i NEED? look at me..this cracks me up


also this was held in an old church and the star of the show was this neon jesus complete with red neon blood...fantastic!


and this pretty glass


Joy lives in printer’s row- i took a picture from her street- see that triangleish building on the right? that is the cook county PRISION, bet you didn’t know that. someone once told me why there are 90 degree angles in there but i forgot.


joy looking “editorial” in front of Panera in the SuperDorm™


we then walked down to the lake y’all recognize this? they finally turned it on over mother’s day


and then we walked down to millenium park. on the way we saw this anti-war demonstration on the Art Institute of Chicago steps


I have a little tradition of having my picture taken with my favorite chicago icon, i’ll have to dig up the ones of me in high school circa 1988, joy and i by lion #2




then we saw my favorite newish piece of downtown public art the bean


and this is just a picture of the pretty foyer of the chicago auditorium i love the circles

ok nothing all that exciting, except for nat smiling, but still..i was just out with the Duaflex II on a super sunny cool day and we walked around for hours. It was kind of fun going downtown.
I do wish y’all a good weekend. I’m planning on spending it sewing and who knows what so there should be new stuff in the etsy shop if you are looking for a summery pouch to hold your crafty things.
See ya monday, i wish all y’alls a great and productive weekend.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/31 at 11:06 PM ♥ Comments (9)

Stuff for a Wednesday

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I keep thinking it’s tuesday. I’m really thrown off this week.
Just a quick little post to say...for those of you who didn’t get a collaboration sock kit...you can get the pattern! Erin was inspired by Meg’s yarns enough to write this beautiful pattern featuring her yarn. You can use her yarn or not. She gave me the word document and i designed the great bright PDF for her. You can get your very own in our shop: here again as with all of our independent designers piddleloop always gives 100% of the cost of the pattern to the designer! Thanks for such a great summery pattern!

Also are any of you playing along? you can read about it here
here’s a peek at my list


I’m making it more challenging to myself for this game and i’m doing it all through the viewfinder style on the Duaflex II. So come on..give me some competition and join in her contest. (so i can beat the pants off you!)

Posted by Jennifer on 05/30 at 01:09 PM ♥ Comments (1)

The Dog Wash Is Open

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I have too many pictures. I think i took over 700 pictures this weekend. And at least 500 of them are thru the Duaflex II and that’s a lot of cropping in photoshop. But anyways i will go a little willy nilly on showing you some of the awesome weekend. This here will be Monday. Dad just got back from one of his week long fishing trips to Ohio. So that means not only grilled steaks, and veggies..but FRESH WALLEYE to eat. mmmm. there is nothing better than walleye that was just swimming days prior. So on monday the dog wash was opened. Samuel HATES a bath more than anything. She will HATE YOU for the whole day after you give her one. So anyways while i helped my sister wash i had nat shoot some pictures.

poor samuel you can see the look of OH NO A BATH on her face


must get the dirt off the ears


the ONE thing she does like after a bath is getting toweled off and running around doing this


see auntie jennifer i HATE YOU for giving me a bath...plotting some more HATING on you for later too..see it...SEE IT IN MY EYES


Lucy Dog was next into the baby pool


and then the de-crunch-ifying of her ears..you wouldn’t believe how crunchy those ears can get


shake shake shake


Witht he dog wash closed, a game of baseball was in effect. Lucy Dog always plays shortstop. She also did her job and stopped a ball!


here’s the catcher (doing what he does best in photos)

So since Samuel is usually cranky or off tracking i actually got some shots of her with the Duaflex II later so for more dog-a-palooza fun here’s more
see how much she loves Lucy Dog?


samuel in all her beagle-y glory




we are slightly annoyed at auntie jennifer for sticking that thing in our face cause i’m getting another “look”


tired of the hounds yet? ok one left to show off lucy dog’s pretty eyes, and how she sits like such a girly girl

i’ll have more of our weekend which included a craft fair, a neon jesus complete with red blood, the bean, an anti-war protest, and other crazy stuff that can only go on in downtown chicago on any given weekend. Y’all know just how much i love the piddleloop hounds, they are part of your sewing team too!

Posted by Jennifer on 05/30 at 09:59 AM ♥ Comments (7)

Memorial

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I wanted to sneek this in just in time before it’s over. I had a wandering weekend. I’ll have a nice big fat juicy photo post for those of you who love the big ass photo posts. but in the mean time…
i wanted to post some of these...from our walk downtown chicago, grant park saturday afternoon. 3pm.
These were just set down in the middle of grant park. seeing three-thousand pair of combat boots with various pictures, flowers, stuffed bunnie, and other tokens is one powerful statement.  one powerful visualization.  and i didn’t take as many photos as nat did, mostly because i saw photos that made me cry. so i just felt pretty somber while here.

Chicago Grant Park Saturday May 26,2007 3pm

Posted by Jennifer on 05/28 at 10:18 PM ♥ Comments (0)

Another Link-a-liscious post

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I want to thank everyone again for coming out on monday to our etsy shop

I also want to tahnk everyone for your comments and great compliments on the kits. I want to just say a few things so some of you can just “let it go”.  Please don’t ask for a kit. They are gone. There aren’t anymore. Please understand the exclusive nature those kits were and they were a limited run. We made them limited to make them extra special. We will not be making pouches out of those fabrics to sell alone. The whole point for us was to offer something exclusive, something not everyone can get. Also this was a special thing and as we hope to do it again, i’m hoping to do it on a little bit larger scale next time, but seriously folks. Do you even KNOW how much time this whole project took me? Do you know how many weekends i gave up to sew all those bags? How much ironing my sister did when it was hot out? Plus we have jobs, families, and lives......so yes i hope to do another round if meg is up for the challenge again. But that won’t be for quite some time.

Thanks for letting me get that off my chest. But also note...neither I nor Meg got a kit either...so you KNOW it was super exclusive.

so today the mail carrier came to take them off...goodbye sock kits! off into the big world you go!

So i’ve been picking up a few little things here and there over the past few weeks..i wanted to share them with y’all cause well...all y’alls know you should be buying handmade!
First up I hit up amy of miss good to be girl fame. she ALWAYS has such great stuff. (must be something to do with the name amy..cause there are a many of you so talented witht he name amy out there!) i bought this little ice cream cone necklace and a marker of pancakes!

next i also saw that a fellow blogger, Robyn, had an etsy shop of her own. I always enjoy her mirror self portraits with her little son, sean. Anyways, check her shop out! I bought some of these for fun. They are markers spelling out jennifer. When would i ever need my whole name i dn’t know..i just thought it’d be funny.

I also asked her politely if she would send some samples so i can attach them to bags. So you guys are lucky she sent some along! yay!


So please if you’re looking for something cute for a swap pal..markers are always a cheap and creative answer.

Next up my awesome friend Bethany. She makes the seriously cool, but way way waaaaay too cheap jewelry. Her stuff is really pretty and very swanky, please check it out.
Here’s the pendant i got.

She’d sent along another one, but i couldn’t find it when i had my camera out. Just know it’s brown and large, but very pretty! go shop there now!

and last but certainly not least! I went to this flea market with my mom and sister the other day out in Amish Country. I happened upon this silversmith who specializes in all things with silver spoons.
there website is here.

Anyways they had the MOST. AWESOME. THING. EVER. Meet the FORKTOPUS!


He is made from a silver fork and has a magnet on the back. So he’s recycled AND cool. I bought him for Nat. I also picked up a spoon ring i didn’t take a picture of. Apparently the guy said they don’t have the FORKTOPUSES! up ont he site but if you emai them and ask about them, they will show you a selection. i just love to say FORKTOPUS!...out loud...with gusto...!!

Also have you seen erin’s blog yet? did you see what i gave her the other day at lunch? Meet Sigmund.

Apparently only *I* could find something as rad as that.  I hope y’all have a good holiday weekend. I’m doing nothing special, just sewing and sitting around. Have a good one!

Posted by Jennifer on 05/24 at 09:11 PM ♥ Comments (12)

Fun

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Thank you to everyone who made the collaboration kits a smashing success! We had no idea it would be so much (work) fun. Thank you for everyone who came out to the etsy link and checked it out. It was a larger undertaking than i had thought, but it was well worth it. I mean just LOOK at how good Twisted ™ sock yarn made our bags look!

Meg’s yarn™ make the fabrics literally look luscious and vibrant!  I hope we can maybe mastermind another limited edition run again sometime near the end of summer maybe. It takes literally a few months to do this sort of thing. But look at the color involved, (some pictures i couldn’t include on etsy.






and now i have them lined up on the floor..waiting to depart into the world.

For those of you who didn’t get one, if it’s any consolation to you...i didn’t get one. I didn’t even think to ask meg for a skein of each for myself...nor do i even own any of our bags aside from a prototype. You’d think after 2 years of making these darn things...but no.  Because i have to give it all away, this is why her yarn...her beautiful yarn remained in the bags and i only took it out to photograph it and to set one skein into each bag. if i were to take them out it would be harder to give them all away...much like it is hard to give back a puppy once you hold it.


so zander was in charge of boxes this afternoon...he folded and sealed the bottoms of each one, and stacked them until we had ten. He wants to show you he’s taller than the stack


and that he counted them


and just being silly

I gave erin a really awesome gift today at lunch watch her blog for her to post it. it’s one of those ‘wait for it” moments.
Also if you would like a to get your hands on the pattern that was made by erin, and inspired by Meg’s beautiful yarn. It was included int he kit. It will soon (this weekend) be available for download in the shop (not etsy). It will only be 3$ but it is a very fun pattern...and i did the layout/design. So if anyone out there writes patterns and you need for it to look good...need for it to be a PDF and stuff feel free to contact me..i do work for yarn.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/22 at 10:45 PM ♥ Comments (14)

Adventure on a Saturday

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I’ll show you some visual imagery of our saturday. Which started off with Nat dropping off some moustachefactory magnets at the Boring store
Nat took some pictures in the boring store. If you are bored you can refresh my banner for more mousache shots, so the banners have been updated.
I tried on some more moustaches for when i might need to be a spy..or just look funny for you


and then i tried on some wigs


oh and i was trying to call nat on my BANANA PHONE but he wasn’t answering..


Nat took a picture of this dog on Milwaukee Avenue outside of Walgreens


and he took pictures of some more signage with his Duaflex II


then we decided to spend the late afternoon and evening riding our bikes on the north canal trail that rides parallel to the chicago river see how green chicago is


here’s our bikes on nat’s duaflex II




we saw two sets of babies along the river. one set were goslings and the other were ducks. They were quite young and still fluffy.




that is visually what our saturday looked like. it was fun to GET THE HELL™ outside
Also on friday nite Nat annoyed me by taking more pictures of me, i look drunk in this one

I will be posting the sock collaboration kits on the etsy site on MONDAY MAY 21st by 3pm central standard time! Yay!
I hope everyone has as nice of a weekend as i dod! see you monday.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/19 at 08:07 PM ♥ Comments (8)

Carnage and a memememe

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Nothing like some CARNAGE! to let you know it’s spring. My mom likes to say that when my sister’s knee’s were covered in scabs and bleeding she always knew summer was on it’s way. This is my nephew yes poor thing...fell off his bike one too many times

yes i know that’s one sad face..but he’s a drama queen. tells you it hurts 47865398465873653 times. Limps around for days. I think i need to find the machete paper cutter and just hack it off for him
here’s the gross close up

apparently when you put neosporin and then spray “magic band-aid” a.k.a. spray adhesive bandage..it makes for weird looking yellow stuff that is covered in adhesive bandage. ew.

anyways my sister and i thought it would be fun to post his carnage. I’m not sure why we thought this would be fun. *shrug* Then again my sister likes telling the stories about how i dragged her knee on a rusty bumper..or when i got her ankle caught int he bike spokes of my mom’s old 3 speed bike from sears…

ok so i was tagged, by apparently a rampant meme out there...i’m seeing it everywhere. I’m not going tot ag 7 people but i hope at least 7 people read this here blog..so maybe 7 of you will steal it!
So i was tagged by Carrie and Nell. Man you guys are fast.

The meme:
Each person tagged gives 7 random facts about themselves. Those tagged need to write in their blogs the 7 facts, as well as the rules of the game. You need to tag seven others and list their names on your blog. You have to leave those you plan on tagging a note in their comments so they know that they have been tagged and to read your blog.

ok:
totally random go!

1. I was a strict vegetarian for 26 years. Out of the 26 years i was vegan for 6 years.
2. When i was six i was on the bozo show. The waiting list was 6 years. When my mom was pregnant with me she signed up. I got to go when i was six.
3. I often eat popcorn for brakfast or dinner, and cake or ice cream for dinner. I do not agree with “those people” (you know who you are) who say dessert foods aren’t real food. yeah right. want some of my cupcake for breakfast?..thought you did.
4. I seem to (like my boyfriend) have a “thing” for buying notebooks. Sketch books, field notes, graph paper, lined paper, journals...you name it. I have piles of them. None of them are filled.
5. I am an avid type nerd. There is nothing prettier than a beautiful letterform. My favorite type faces are: futura, clarendon, and sabon
6. When i take pictures with my camera...most of the time i never look at the screen. actually 95% of the time i don’t look. I once had a professor in photography (back before digital photography) who forced us to shoot over 15 weeks tons of film “from the hip” while 90% of those pictures were nothing great 10% of them rocked. I’ve learned to get great pictures you have to look at the thing/s you are shooting instead. this is indeed a gamble so take many...you will never know until you upload.
7. At age 19 i had magenta hair. I wanted to be like Mikki from the band lush. So i dyed my blond hair with manic panic..which then STAINED my hair. It was eletric pink 8 months later. I also used to listen to hardcore, louisville hardcore, some karishna-core, and some old screamo. I think i still have some band shirts in my closet from back in the day. I still like to listen to some of it today.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/15 at 11:26 PM ♥ Comments (9)

Stuff & Things a link-a-liscious post!

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Well, thanks for all of your awesome comments. Yes I’ve been working hard on the sewing. The bags in the last post part of them are the last part of the collaboration i will be posting/listing this week.
For those of you who don’t know already this is what is going down.

I asked Meg of Twisted Fiber back in Feb if she’d be up for something fun. I asked her if she would hand dye yarn to match 3 amy butler fabrics. She happily agreed. My sister and i then together picked out 3 different vibrant and colorful fabrics/prints from amy butler’s belle line. We then spent 2 months cutting, ironing, and sewing up some stuff. We then had Kayt offer to make the stitch markers i had sitting in a giant pile on my table. And Erin then wrote a sock pattern inspired alone by one of Meg’s yarns. So i will be listing this week (will tell y’all ont he mailing list and here exactly when) the following kits.
we have 12 kits. 4 in each color.
what is in the kits?

a project pouch
a matching 4 x 6 pouch
a skein of meg’s yarn hand dyed to match the fabric
a set of 3 swarovski crystal stitch markers also matching the fabrics in a color coordinated container
a laser color printed copy (and digital version) copy of the sock pattern in a nice plastic sleeve
a small flip up lined notebook from the Art Store
*whew*
did you get all that?
i’m also trying my best to have DPN Sock Needle Wallets to match up for sale seprately. Yes. I’m done now. That is the whole shebang. This is fun because the whole thing is showcasing everyone’s talents. The sewing, the dying of yarn, jewelry making, and pattern writing. All for YOU! It’s so exciting i want to just scream like a maniac all day long.

I know i have been tagged by the lovely Nell, who by the way opened up her soap shop so go pick some up it’s really good stuff! And i was tagged for the same mememememe by Carrie over at the Knitting Moose! I will do them shortly guys i have to think of my answers!

Until i answer this memememe i’ll leave you with some more pictures nat took of me this past weekend. I found out why he takes so many of me...he claims he has nothing else to shoot with his camera when we’re inside. *sheesh*
anyways i leave you with more pictures all by Nathaniel...my awesome senior art director boyfriend extraordinaire:

i was desgning the layout for erin’s newest pattern and he suprised me, here’s jen “deer int he headlights style”

me sewing

my poor poor chicken pincushion

thread


not very exciting, but you get it.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/14 at 11:24 AM ♥ Comments (5)

Life set in motion

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Stuff and things. As always. Did you have a good weekend last weekend? Yeah sorry, i wanted to update this week. i didn’t get to it til today..sorry about that. My weekend was filled with errands and the kentucky derby and of course sewing.

I know y’all know yer getting handmade when you order from us but did you know i spent all last friday evening making the 57465834653847653874 buttons that go into your freebie bags and project pouches? Yes all made by hand...made by me.

I was sitting on the bed and realized i liked the way this looked..i figured i’d show you a corner of nat’s apt.


that is where i set my purse, cortsey of the funkybaglady via etsy, and my tote from Caitlyn. I just for some reason liked the way it was all framed in the doorway. I love that tote so much...and use it to death.

I took a quick picture of Nat while he was on the phone with lauren, getting directions. Look he’s drawing.


look closer at what he’s drawing


mustaches! go figure since he’s the guy behind moustache factory

We went to the studio to pick up my mother’s day gift. I don’t have photos of it yet since i gave it to her last nite but you can see it here... I really suggest buying some of this glass from Robert. His work is really really beautiful. But don’t buy the piece i want to snag soon! (my mom opened it yesterday since i am gone ont he weekend...she LOVES this stained glass piece VERY MUCH. yay!)

Now here’s somethign totally awesome and special as well. My wonderful friend Lauren opened an etsy shop. I IMMEDIATELY requested a special order from her. She happily etched it for me. Glass is a bitch to shoot but here you go:

yes now i can proudly proclaim i’m a type nerd while i drink iced tea from my new high ball. Thanks lauren you rule. but you know that already. Please check out her etsy shop...she can make you a cool glass too if you just ask her.

I made a new friend this week...i go let him out and play with him every tuesday. Meet kelso. He’s a great dane of my neighbor’s daughter. He likes to play with milk jugs.

this week was filled with zander, kelso, and some of this


and some of this


and thanks to erin for letting me borrow her swift...some of this

y’all should laugh. I was sitting there and zander kept saying ZEE LIKES YAAAAAAARN! He likes to refer to himself in 3rd person. But it is awfully cute when he walks around saying it 10 times.

The huge collaboration should debut this week. I just have the pattern layout to do. I’ve been having nightmares about this whole thing for two days now. And it’s kind of scaring me. But anyways..be sure to watch here for your heads up this coming week. I just have the shipping and etsy/paypal fees to figure out to add in and the pattern layout and it should be good to photograph.
I hope y’all have an awesome weekend.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/11 at 02:15 PM ♥ Comments (13)

Venting

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this is the mess that i dealt with for exactly 8 hours yesterday. It took 8 hours for comcast to come to the house, not hook up the two computers to digital internet, but change the phone to digital and leave without anything but the phone working. The technician was beyond rude, the things he said to me were beyond AMAZING. The kind of amazing that makes me wish i had a digital video camera to have recorded it all and place it on you tube for you all to actually witness. Because he left without working internet, it took me a long time and being on the phone with several people but i managed to take all these cables and wires and everything you see and stuff you don’t see int hat picture and unhook it from one area of the house and literally installed the whole damn thing myself.
that’s right. little old me, i installed the phone/cable box for the digital phone...the router they had broke, the wireless usb adapter and everything...the only hard part was getting the web keys i needed to access the web. Anything like this shouldn’t take EIGHT HOURS and a technician storming out of the house and leaving. I’m intrested because i hear i have the CORPORATE EXECUTIVE OFFICE callimg me today. I’m telling them that that fee they waived for my installation needs to be put int he mail FOR ME. literally.
look at this mess

this whole ordeal stopped me from getting any sewing done and listing done yesterday. I’m sorry peeps. I promise i’ve got stuff for you at 5pm today on the etsy shop. That will be where you can find DPN Wallets and New Project pouch fabrics, and matching notions pouches. we’ve got 4 new fabrics for you. Plus i’ve got more DPN Wallets from that stack still coming this weekend.

Posted by Jennifer on 05/04 at 09:32 AM ♥ Comments (6)

More Through The Viewfinder

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It was really nice out yesterday, so with PMS, a bunch of DPN Wallets that i hate to sew all hanging around staring at me...i decided to head outside with lucy dog and zander to hang out in the front yard, soak up some sun and roll around in the grass.

And because i just can’t get enough Hound pictures here’s some more of Lucy Dog. Except she’s in color. The box camera’s thing-a-ma-jig causes some weird reflections. I am not sure what’s causing these, but i am getting used to them. They always add some sort of intresting look to the viewfinder.

This is Lucy Dog saying oh no auntie jennifer you didn’t keep scratching my belly once you got me to roll over!

I’ve got one rather L-O-N-G belly for you to rub

Lucy dog hates her feet tickled

Big L is all jowls, ears, and paws

Zander wants to show you his new Airwalk shoes

Zander is wondering just what the heck Auntie Jennifer is doing with that weird looking thing on her camera

I got some super special mail this week. Carol, fellow hound owner over at Celadon Cupcake sent me a package of some things she picked up for me.

First up i want to place a little background here. I can’t remember how the heck i “met” carol perhaps thru the cd swap? But i know i’d read her blog for what seemed like a long time. Then i was searching for a cosmetic bag to match my KAMKAM one nat got for me, last summer. In my google search Carols blog came up. Turns out we have the same great taste in purses.

You see i have this purse nat got me for xmas about 3 years ago, the dog is named DONDON. I got it becaue I am a big Dog Nerd. Carol has the same purse.


Nat also got me for xmas that year the KAMKAM cat cosmetic bag and it has held my ipod for 3 years

now look what carol found at a freakin’ hardware store? the dondon cosmetic bag i was looking for last summer!

she also just made me feel really special because she sent me loot she picked up in TAIWAN! how cool is that? I can’t get enough of this shirt. I wish i could find the company and buy 6 more.

I’m actually getting a high speed connection tomorrow. oooOOOooOOOooo. Movin’ on up in the world, i know. No knitting here. I’m trying really hard to do my MOTHER"S DAY DISHCLOTH BLITZ but i’m only down 3...and sadly mother’s day is in 2 weeks. Not good. Nat’s mom and grandma will get some just late this year.

Ok so i’m sewing up the giant pile STILL of DPN hodlers. I had a lot of cut fabric for them to get rid of since i don’t want to make them for listings anymore. And let me not mislead y’all. Perfect rectanlges they are not. I can’t get them perfect. I try and try and just cannot. That is why they are not fun, and why i do not want to make them anymore. It’s just impossible (for me). So if you can accept them as they are, then you should get along just fine. :D

Posted by Jennifer on 05/02 at 01:53 PM ♥ Comments (5)