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I scour the Etsy Finds email every day always looking and hoping that I will spot a card or set of stationery from my shop. Usually, it winds up in disappointment. Sometimes it causes jealousy. Especially during Valentine's season when one particular card was in Etsy Finds EVERY day for like two weeks. And don't worry Andrew never heard the end of it every day when I opened that email and groaned. I even started these conspiracy theories about how Etsy hated me or that artists were paying them off. Or how maybe my cards were actually super duper crappy. Yup, my jealously was pretty ugly. But yesterday did not end up in disappointment or jealousy because there I was!


Woooooohoooooo!!!!! Yippppeeeeeee!!!!!

And if you are in love with this Mother's Day card just as much as Etsy was yesterday afternoon, you can find it in my shop here. But for now, I'm going to savor this and enjoy it going into the weekend.

P.S. Thank you ALL SO MUCH for your encouragement on yesterday's post. You were all so truly kind and made me realize that I'm not the only one who is camera shy, or that maybe sometimes I should just step out of my comfort zone and everything will be all right. I may just go for it again in the future. ;)

I have an irrational fear of being in front of the camera. I want to be behind the lens, but not in front. I take the pictures, not you. You may have remembered me telling you about this before in my Eleven Things. Here is my reasoning.

1. No matter what I could ever possibly do, my hair will always be a frizzy mess. I could just let it air dry, or I could spend an hour trying to make it look nice. It doesn't matter.

2. I am usually making a weird face.

So bare with me people, as I try to conquer an irrational fear.

Shirt: Blonde Peacock / Jeans: Worn / Shoes: Nine West

I would be lying if I were to say that I wasn't looking forward to this moment. Or that I've felt a bit uncool up until now. I'm used to being out the outskirts. I was always the quiet kid not the cool kid. In school, sometimes I felt left out, but I would remind myself that in order to be cool I usually had to make some kind of sacrifice, and it was usually a sacrifice that wasn't worth it. But now I laugh at the cool kids because now I'm cool too! Ha! So there!

via

What the heck am I talking about? It's called Instagram. I love photography, but because I have an Android phone, I couldn't enjoy the super awesometastic benefits of Instagram. But worry no more. As of yesterday I have joined forces with all that are awesome when they introduced the app for Android. So if you're an Instagram lover, hop on and follow me @heidishenk (same as my twitter account for those of you that follow me there!). I promise my phone photo capabilities won't let you down! ;)

If you haven't heard of Gary Clark, Jr. yet, you've been missing out. I was first exposed to Gary Clark, Jr. when we went to the third Clapton Crossroads Guitar Festival in 2010. He's even more recently been making a name for himself and by all accounts has to be bringing back the blues for younger generations. Hailing from Austin, Texas, his guitar style is raw and crunchy and his voice is soulful. He offers something new and fresh for the music scene while still sticking to blues roots hints of the likes of even Jimi Hendrix or Robert Johnson. Think I'm talking this guy up too much? Decide for yourself after taking a listen. I'll leave you with two videos today which were my first glimpse of Gary Clark, Jr. at Crossroads.

For those of you that missed me the last few days, I am officially back! I took a quick trip up to New Jersey and New York City to visit a friend and attend a bridal shower of another friend. I had promised that later last week I would share the recipe to my black bean salad that so many of you requested. Obviously, I failed tremendously at getting it posted later that week. A busy week leading up to Spring Break plus our quick trip all led to me having no time. So what better way to get back to my blog than to finally share this recipe you've all been waiting for. And I can also now officially say that I'm on Spring Break for the entire week! Woohoo!



Santa Fe Black Bean Salad

2 15 ounce cans of back beans, drained
2 cups whole kernel corn
1 small onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
2 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tsp salt
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced

Combine and toss ingredients, adding avocado and tomato right before serving. Serve with tortilla chips.

This is one of the most simple, yet flavorful recipes that I've made. I absolutely love making this when we have barbeques or backyard parties in the summer. It is perfect for a quick snack as well. The flavors really set in even more so by the second day, so I often quickly make it the night before I plan on eating it.