Money I'll Never See Again Thanks To Etsy

How's that for a title? LOL. Well it's the truth. This week, after a really LONG dry spell of not shopping on Etsy due to extreme busyness and lack of reading some of my favorite blogs regularly -- I bought FOUR things. I guess that's not SO much but to buy four things that I really do not need but simply like feels like a splurge. I also must note that three of them I found through bloggers Irene and Kayte (thanks so much ladies!). I think that whomever smugly sits around thinking bloggers do not have influence are SO wrong because when those whose style I mesh with write about something that I like, if I have the extra money for it, there is a good chance that I'll put it on my wish list or like this week, I'll buy stuff I like but don't need.

So... here are my new things... Of course, they're not exactly what these lovely blogs wrote about, but they did write about the sellers and once I found them it was.all.over. I then found stuff that fit my personal style and so here they are... a fake watch, a tea cozy, a cutting board and a lovely frame.



First up, my no-tell time teller. How do you like this? It's so smart (as in cool) and will look great on my wrist. I think I'll wear this when I'm out on date night with my husband to show him how I don't even care what time it is or what I need to do, that it's all about him - time stops when we're together. Aw, so cute you could throw up, huh? Yeah, we're like that. We just celebrated 9 years together as a married couple (we got married when we were 12) and we still make out in public and hold hands so if you are rolling your eyes do me a GINORMOUS favor before you judge -- when you go out with you husband sometime, do something make-out-y in public with him. Produce aisle, movie theater, Starbucks. Just start making out a little and see how time feels to you then. It's the glitter, the whipped topping, the sparkle... it's the magic that keeps love tickin'. I swear, you'll be 20 again during those moments and it feels super lovely.

Note: He'll only adore the attention if you time it right (no making out while at Best Buy, that never works, men cannot break their gaze at such places -- the super computer will always win and you'll want to kick him for it). So just plan the so-not-but-he-thinks-they-are-impromptu make out sessions. This is how people who are married for 9 years still feel interested in one another, feel excited to go on date nights together, and don't turn into their parents. :)

Okay back to my cute watch. It's a porcelain handmade little bit of a thing and I just adore it. It was made by Misako Mimoko in Spain.



Onto the next mini splurge. This time from a Maine native who calls her shop Gloaming Designs -- she now lives in lovely France. I adore this tea cozy. It's very me. A lot feminine and a bit modern. Can't wait to hide my vintage gold teapot beneath it that I recently won on eBay from England.



Okay so this is a funny one. It's from a.heirloom in Brooklyn and is a cutting board in the shape of New Hampshire. I bought this for my husband because it's really going to make him laugh! Plus the little heart is near the town we lived for 5 years before moving to Germany AND the little heart happens to be on Hanover, New Hampshire which was named after Hannover, Germany and is where we use to love to go on day trips. My uncle also went to medical school at Dartmouth in Hanover, also. This bread board has a little story I guess.

I can't wait until it arrives. It's a small house warming present, one of a few, that I bought for Thorsten that I'll gift him when we move in four weeks. I was thinking... If I bought a bread board for every state that I've lived in I would need 6 -- Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and South Carolina. That's a lot of wood!



And now for the final mini splurge, I bought this fabulous frame, also from a.heirloom in Brooklyn. It's made of shiny pure white corian and I just adore the shape and I like that it's white because I plan to paint one wall in my home a gray tone and this will look great.

I wish I could shop from my favorite Etsy US sellers more like I once did, but living in Germany limits me because not all sellers ship over here and even when they do the postage can be quite enormous and I'm a cheapskate when it comes to shipping. I tried to shop drugstore.com, who ships to Germany, but couldn't get past the fact that it would cost me nearly $50 to ship 2 bottles of OPI nail polish to me. Insane. Who pays those amounts, some rich expat housewife who shops online all day as her husband plays good little CEO? (p.s. If you are such a rich lady, I am jealous not making fun.)

Have you splurged on any handmade finds lately? What did you buy?