yelaklleps

Update Kaley has been severely ill in the hospital with asthma/pneumonia. This is her friend Kara. I will be assisting her in getting out delinquent swaps and ratings. Please be patient!

*I promise to always send and send on time! If for any reason something goes wrong I will be in contact with you! Please let me know ASAP if you did not receive a swap so I can figure out what went wrong!

I am a single 25 year old currently taking a "break" (which has now become an extended break) from working on my degree in Elementary Education. I am very involved in working with kids and youth at my church. I don't know if I can say it's my passion, but I am passionate about it...does that make sense?

I am from Southeast Texas and after being away at school I am now back here at my parents home...it is so much fun, can't you imagine?! No really, no rent is a good thing! The most important thing to me is my faith. I am a Christian (Southern Baptist), but I'm probably not what you'd expect from that description, or maybe I am. How exactly does one describe herself? lol.

I love spending my time with family; especially my nieces and nephews, I love and adore those kids. Sometimes they make me want kids of my own so badly and other times they make me so happy I don't have my own at the moment.

I have a Yorkie named Aggie who I LOVE! She is my baby and is now 13 years old! She still is pretty sprym though.

Chocolate and coffee are my vices. I am not sure when I started but I pretty much have coffee every day, probably multiple cups and variations in a day as well. I like my coffee strong, really strong! I so wish I could be a tea person. I like tea, but its no coffee. Perhaps I lack the sophistication.

I like to sing and write poetry, song lyrics, children's stories and short stories as well. I hardly ever share these things with others, probably because I am my own worst critic.

I'm in a transitional phase of life right now (who isn't, right?). It's a tough spot to be in. At this point in my life I thought I would have graduated from college, have a career, be married, and have at least one kid on the way. So since none of that has happened yet, I guess I have learned to not make plans too much. I always pencil things in instead of writing with pen because life happens...and it's okay.

***Chances are I will love anything sent to me as long as there was some thought/love put into it, I am not a picky person!

My worst habits are biting my nails and putting ketchup (Heinz) on almost everything I eat! I'm not sure why anyone needs to know this, but I thought I'd share.

Contemporary Christian: LeCrae, Toby Mac, Tree 63, Casting Crowns, Shane and Shane, Phil Whickham

Anything bluesy, folksy, bluegrassy, soulful: Johnny Lang, Ray Lamontagne

Divas and showtunes! Liza Minnelli, Celine Dion

Oldies and classics from the 20s through the 80s (pretty broad I know)

I like most anything as long as it is clean and not mostly generated by a computer.

The Bible, Harry Potter series, A Taste of Blackberries, The Twilight Saga, The Host,The Forest of Hands and Teeth, The Dead Tossed Waves, The Chronicles of Narnia, Anything by Shel Silverstein, Anything by Patricia Polaco, Charlotte's Web; I am a sucker for good children's and young adult literature!

As far as fairy tales go (I do love Disney's versions because that is what I knew from my childhood) however I absolutely loved my children's lit. class in college where I became quite a fan of: Charles Perrault, Madame Le Prince De Beaumont, Hans Christian Anderson, and of course the Brothers Grimm!

Life is Beautiful, Hope Floats, The Burbs, Neverending Story, The Princess Bride, Never Been Kissed, A Knight's Tale, Frequency, The Chronicles of Narnia, Enough, Harry Potter(all), Shawshank Redemption, Grease, Baby Mama, A Mighty Wind, Titanic, Facing the Giants, Media's Family Reunion, The 5th Element, The King's Speech, All the Disney classics!!!

There are a lot of movies I love, so I'll quit naming them now since my movie preference changes with my mood. Mainly I like comedies, Fantasies, Sci-fi, and some period dramas. I don't care for blood, gore, horror or suspense.

Lost, The Nanny, The Office, Project Runway, What Not to Wear, Wizards of Waverly Place, Spongebob Squarepants, The Fairly Oddparents, Ace of Cakes, Cake Boss, Full House, Family Matters, Sienfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, Supernatural, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, It's Always Sunny in Philedelphia, Arrested Development, House, Bones

I like a lot of shows on TLC, especially Hoarders and all the specials about morbidly obese people. I like to see lives changed, but I especially like the way those shows motivate me to want to be extra clean and healthy!

I enjoy writing poetry, short stories, and would like to one day write a children's book.

I am a little ADD when it comes to crafting, I jump around to a lot of different things. I have tried a lot and I can't think of anything I don't like to do.

I mostly love making paper crafts like collages, cards, stationery, and other assorted crafty things. I am finding that I really like polymer clay, but I am still very rough and raw in it.

I dabble in sewing, crocheting, and cake decorating though I haven't quite mastered any of them yet. I enjoy learning!

I like recycling and upcycling materials. I'm a bit of a pack rat because I always see the potential of what something could be made into. Toilet paper rolls, newspapers, magazines, shopping bags, bottle caps, food packaging, old clothes (though I have gotten better about donating clothes), any broken bits...I keep them.

I love finding things at thrift stores, garage sales and yard sales and then making them beautiful, fun and wonderful!

I would love to receive: -Etsy favorites!

http://www.etsy.com/people/yelaklleps/favorites?ref=si_fav

-ribbon -stickers (especially 3D) -stationery -fabric/cool scraps -decorative paper/decent scraps -vintage ephemera -anything miniature -glitter -rhinestones and other sparklies -costume jewelry, and broken jewelry bits -smell good things -fun pens, markers -rubber stampers -buttons -lace and other trim -beads

Food and drink items are especially cool if they are from another country! -Tea plain/flavored -Coffee plain/flavored -Candy -Chocolate...any kind -Gum

I like adventure, travel, far off lands, whimsy, treasure hunts, fantasy, shabby chic, vintage, antiques, handmade, steampunk, sparklies, butterflies, fairies, mermaids, carousel horses,hot air balloons, birds and cages, owls, dragonflies, silly, quirky, handmade, trinkets, smell good things, things that tell a story or have a history.

My favorite colors are any shade of teal and aqua blue. Also, most any jewel tones like deep purple and magenta. I am also a fan of lime green, pink, and orange. I can't say that there is any color I don't like so don't stress over this too much.

I love the smell of citrus, babies' heads, coffee, clean laundry, my mom's baking/cooking, mint, lavender, rosemary, vanilla, cinnamon; not a fan of anything musky!

The only things I can think of that I don't like are: math (ahhhh!) having asthma attacks :( and spicy foods

*Also, I am deathly allergic to cats!

*Also again, I have an irrational fear of sloths...as in the animal three toed or any amount of toes really, they just creep me out! I'm not sure why anyone would need to know this, I'm just sharing.

I celebrate Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, New year's Eve/Day, Valentine's Day, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, The 4th of July

I observe other national holidays as well.

I am always excited and willing to try new things especially from other countries, but here are some of my US favorites:

My favorite candies are Reeses, Twix, M&Ms, Crunch Bars, Skittles, Starbursts, Snickers, Andes Mints, Butterfingers, and Milky Way Bars.

I do get really excited to receive candy from other countries!

I am a gum-o-holic. I always have at least 3 packs of gum in my purse! Most any flavor is good. My absolute favorite flavors is Orbit's Mint Mojito and Eclipse Polar Ice.

I LOVE to cook. I also LOVE to watch Food Network! I love to cook Italian food, and I also love Southern cooking. I also like to try new things and I hardly ever use a recipe. I like to get inspiration from something I ate at a restaurant, or something I saw on T.V. Most of the time I think it's fun to just make it up. And yes, I am a good cook!

I live in Southeast Texas on the border of Louisiana and the Gulf Coast where there is a mixture of great flavors from Vietnamese, Mexican, Cajun, And Southern Soul Food influences.

I LOVE to drink coffee alot! I also like different flavored teas.

As long as the food isn't too spicy I like it and I'll be willing to try most anything once.