31 Before 32

Ninety Days from today I will celebrate the 2nd anniversary of my 31st birthday. Why oh why do I ALWAYS wait until May to finish writing my list of things to do before my birthday in August??   I guess just because that's just how I roll and I'm learning to accept it.  Anywho here's my list of 31 things to accomplish before I celebrate turning 31 again:)

1.  Go to a state I've never been to before
2.  Watch the sunrise over Lake Michigan
3.  Go on a Girls Weekend
4.  Private
5.  Lotus flower tat
6.  Photograph Starved Rock State Park
7.  Send out 3 random care packages
8.  Dye Hair Dark  completed 3/25
9.  Paint a canvas and hang
10. Go to the Ledge at Night   completed 7/4
11. Plant a Tree
12. Give Blood
13. Try 5 New Restaurants  completed 6/30
14. Volunteer completed 3/1
15. Go to Planetarium
16. Do 3 Random Acts of Kindness on Birthday
17. Sleep under the stars
18. Read a Jane Austen Novel
19. Boudoir Pictures
20. Journal Everyday
21. Meditate Everyday
22. Write a letter to self to open at 40
23. Quit Day Job to expand own business
24. Private
25. Architecture Photo Cruise
26. Take portrait of Grandparents
27. Use film camera more
28. Blog 3 times a week
29. Wear high heels  completed 7/4
30. Join a book club
31. Make a new friend

Well there it is friends... if there's anything any of you would like to tag along with me on let me know!  And watch my progress here...

Over-N-Out

On Mother's Day

I am lucky enough to have three women that are mothers to me, I have my real mom, my step-mom and my IL mom.  Three women that are very different but very similar in the fact that they only want the best for me, want me to succeed and to be happy.

This past year I have tested their love, among many others of my friends, with 3am phone calls, buckets of tears, and many other shenanigans.  I'll admit it the past 365 days have not been some of my best days, this has been a life altering year. Things that are way too personal to me to get into on here but nonetheless it has been 365 days of finding out that I have three women in my life that motherly love me unconditionally when only one is "programmed" to do so biologically.

To these three women, there aren't enough words to say how thankful that I am for each and everything big or small that you have done for me without hesitation.  Thank You also for helping me realize my full potential and for always having words of encouragement on the days I slip on seeing it for myself. I wouldn't be where I am right now without each of you showing me what strength and survival look like in your own unique ways.  I love each of you and hope that you had great mother's day celebrations, I enjoyed spending time with each of you as I always do.

Over-N-Out

Thursday with T: The 30 Year Surprise

T here and Happy Thursday to all my friends, I am currently getting ready to visit my Grandma, Nana and Great Grandma for Mothers Day oh ya and of course shower my mom with love on Sunday.  I wanted to tell you about a fun thing that happened to my Mom and I over the weekend at the Indie Arts and Vintage Show.

Mom and I were minding our own business, I was saying Hello to all my friends while Mom answered all the questions. "How old is T"  " How much does he weigh" "Is he a Pug" the usual, when I noticed a man standing looking at Mom.  I pulled her a little to go and say Hello to him, because I thought he looked sad.  He bent down to pet me and he asked Mom if she was Paula's daughter, I barked because I know that my Grandma or Nana is not named Paula.  Mom, nicely said that she was not and the man became flustered.  Mom in her curious way asked the man if she could help him and he went on to tell us his story.

The man was looking for a woman named Paula, that he hadn't seen in 30 years but according to her facebook said that she was going to be vending at the show and he wanted to surprise her and tell her something very important but he didn't know what exactly she sold.  Mom suggested that the man move to the back of the booth and look up the woman's facebook page and see if she had posted anything that morning about the show.  He moved to the back of the booth and I followed him because he looked like he might need some male companionship, and I am very good at helping people calm down.  The man and I scrolled through facebook and didn't find a mention of where she might be, her business name or anything.  Mom suggested that he message her, which I thought was a terrible idea because not ten minutes ago this man said he wanted to "surprise" this woman.  The man said that he would just take a chance, walk around and hope to remember what she looked like.  I gave the man a look of encouragement and a bully snort, and Mom told him to come back and tell us how it went if he found her.  The man left to find Paula, and mom and I looked around for the hidden camera crew because Mom was convinced she was being Punked or part of some reality tv show, when I told her to have a little faith.

A few hours later Mom took me for a small walk and I stopped and turned because someone was calling my name, and there was the man, he was walking briskly towards us and stopped to tell us that he had found her and that they had made plans for dinner.  I jumped up on him and gave him a bully kiss of congratulations and mom gave him a high five.

Shows are fun, not only do we sell things to people that have great memories of those items, but I make lots of new friends and once in awhile I get to be a part of something that was 30 years in the making.  Thanks for listening to my stories, and hope all you mommies of babies and fur babies have a great Mothers Day weekend, I'm taking my mom to the dog park and letting her sleep in an extra hour... don't ruin my surprise.

Woof-N-Woof

May is Celiac Awareness Month

Happy May Everyone!

As some of you that follow me on Twitter, here and/or know me in person know that I live a gluten free lifestyle, and that I have been this way for 5 years now.  Crazy to think that I haven’t had a real sandwich in 5 years, Yikes!  You can read my full story, in the post I did  HERE.

The month of May is designated as Celiac Awareness Month.  For those of you that don’t know Celiac Disease is an inherited autoimmune disease that affects more than 3 million Americans. The disease affects the digestive process of the small intestine and is triggered by the consumption of gluten- a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. Celiac Disease causes and abnormal response to gluten ingestion: the immune system attacks the small intestine, inhibiting the absorption of important nutrients, destroying the intestinal villi and wreaking havoc on the bodies systems.  The only way to be correctly diagnosed with Celiac Disease is by blood test AND by getting a bioposy of your small intestine tested.  Living a gluten free lifestyle is not a joke to those of us that get incredibly sick when we ingest and the fact that “going gluten free” has become a fad diet annoys me to no end but this is not the place to stand on that soapbox.

 Since being gluten free is pretty much the biggest part of my life and has changed how I will forever eat and look at food, this year I have again decided to donate 10% of the total sales for the month from both Junk in da Trunk and Jadarie Handmade to the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center, the forefront of research and professional education regarding Celiac Disease.  Their research and efforts are funded by generous donations and by purchasing from Junk or Jadarie in the month of May together we can help them achieve their ultimate goal of determining the orientation and development of this disease and uncover ways to prevent it. 

*All information is from the University of Chicago Celiac Disease Center website. For more information please visit them HERE or their Facebook and their super fun Twitter Feed

Thursdays with T: The Day In the Life

Hello Friends T here,  sorry I was MIA last Thursday.  Mom left me out of my house for a little bit and she had dropped this delicious woody smelling stick before she left that I couldn't resist chomping into a 100 pieces.  Mom called me T the Lumberjack,  and I think she was actually really mad because it was a Green Bay Packer pencil...and you know how we feel about the Packers here in the Junk family.

Anywoof,  I'm back to my normal T self so I thought I would share with you the day in the life of me, T the assistant to the Junk Girls.

Pretty much everyday starts off by me waking Mom up by jumping so gracefully and quietly off the bed to let her know that it's time to get this party started by taking me for my walk and of course feed me my breakfast.  I eat my breakfast, do a lap around the house then I jump back in bed and wait and see if Mom is going to have a lazy day or if we are going start work right away.

Most of the time, Mom decides to get right to work, even after I give her this face.  So I fire up the computer and I get to checking her messages, and post some crazy things to her Facebook page,  bet you didn't know that I was a the social media director here at casa le junque.  It's really just one of my many talents.

If any orders came in over night we usually go to the warehouse and pick them up, or run a few errands if we need to before we get to work sewing some goodies, packaging orders, photographing new inventory or washing and tagging some new stuff for Mom's booths.  

After we run errands and do the bulk of the work for the day, we go for a long walk and then I eat my dinner, and relax the rest of the evening until the cycle starts all over again.

So there you have it a typical day in the life of me the best employee of Junk in da Trunk Girls, I keep telling mom to change the name to Junk in da Trunk Girls and T the lovable bulldog... she doesn't like it.  Little does she know who the real draw to her booths is.... Hope you all have a great weekend!

Woof-N-Woof

Gone Fishing

Happy May Day and Opening Day of Fishing Season! It's that day that most fishermen in Wisconsin and probably anywhere in general can not wait for.  I mean really Brad Paisley even wrote a song about catching hell if he walked out that door to go fishing.

Minocqua is the gateway to the beautiful Northwoods of Wisconsin as well as some of the clearest and most abundant lakes in Wisconsin.  For those of you who have a fisherperson in your family but you prefer shopping well lucky for you that the Minocqua Antique Company is also on route to the clearest lakes in Wisconsin.  This day begins the start of the busy season for the Northwoods, and our booth is stocked with plenty of goodies for you treasure hunters.  We are still offering our red dot 1/2 off sale, so if you are in the area or heading up to the Northwoods soon don't forget to stop by the Junk in da Trunk Girls booth, also tell them happy 2 year anniversary of being in business as May 1 is also their opening anniversary!

 Grab your poles, your tackle, gas up your boat and head out to your favorite fishing hole, and afterwards stop at the Minocqua Antique Company.

Minocqua Antique Company
8536 Hwy. 51
Minocqua, WI

Open 7 Days 10 am - 6 pm

Over-N-Out