On Ikea, Etsy, Babies, and No Candy for Easter.

A long weekend is a glorious gift. A long weekend with a holiday? Even better.

My weekend, in bite-sized morsels:

- Ikea. Need I say more? The nearest Ikea is two hours and nine minutes away in Pittsburgh. Mike's parents are merely an hour away from an Ikea in Michigan, so we took a little trip up there on Saturday so I could satisfy my fabric obsession. We also stopped by Ann Arbor, a delightful little college town complete with cupcake shops, a fair trade coffee shop, and a gigantic paper store.

Yes, my first trip to a real, live, HUGE stationary and bookbinding store with an entire room with floor to ceiling shelves of paper.

Heaven. I may just learn how to bind some books, watch out.

- Etsy. I spent most of Thursday and Friday off work and sewing. Lots and lots of sewing. Most of it is up in my store now, including four little boxy pouches, a card wallet, and my proudest accomplishment - a hobo bag. (Look, Ma! No pattern!)

I also had my first pick up order last week - I met her at a coffee shop and we ended up talking for nearly two hours. Turns out we're both fairly new to Cleveland. I was afraid I was going to have to make a policy, "Shipments only, no local pick ups" if it turned out badly. Now, I think I will say, "Let's be friends! Come pick up your order!" Etsy is all kinds of wonderful.

Even though this has been a rather slow Etsy week for me, it's still quite exciting that when Mike and I are making plans for next year, I can seriously consider working less than 40 hours a week and supplement with my Etsy and design work. Amazing.

- Babies. At Ikea, every third woman was pregnant. Another other third were pushing strollers with adorable, mushy little babies. Pregnant bellies are amazing to me, and I try not to stare, but they are SO BEAUTIFUL. Mike had a dream where I was pregnant and then we played his adorable twin niece and nephew who are almost two-years-old. And THEN I started doing math in church (Sorry, God) about how old I could have baby before I'd feel like an Old Parent (as opposed to a hot, young mom in yoga pants.) (I hope you know I'm kidding - I'm not really that superficial.) (Mostly, anyway.)

So, we pretty much want a little squishy child of our own now to cuddle and kiss.

(Don't get too excited - we still have the reality of health insurance, grad school, and general poorness to face. But, yes, babies are cute. And, yes, we want one, eventually.)

- No Candy. That's right, my very first year without an Easter basket. Apparently I'm a grown up or something? Whatever. My mother-in-law apologized for the lack of Easter treats, but I brushed it off.

This is good, I thought, I can focus on the real part of the holiday now. Candy, shmandy.

Two hours later we were at the grocery store, with Cadbury cream eggs, Reese's peanut butter eggs, Mounds, Jelly Bellys, and dark chocolate peanut M & Ms.

Guess I'm not ready to grow up.

Hope your Easter/Passover/weekend was fabulous and full of relaxation! (And...candy!)