I won!!

I won a giveaway from DIYPlaybook!! I won a 50$ giftcard to HomeGoods!! I had visited Homegoods previously, but never bought anything there. I was inspired and excited by DIY Playbooks decor from HomeGoods! So here are things that I tried to hold myself back from taking home with me. 

These bowls are just perfect. The teal and gold is stunning!

I love elephants almost as much as giraffes!

These are some beautiful bookends! I caressed these for like ten minutes and tried to figure out if I could leave something else behind and keep these.

THESE WERE HUGEEE! Like 10 feet tall, no joke. 

His horns were beautifully enormous. I loved him and named him Stanley but couldn't think of where I could keep him.

I love agate! This is beautiful! 

I just think this kitty bookend is adorable..

So those were my temptations. Here is what actually went home with!

This is a beautiful wine rack and wine glasses set that I ended up giving to my cute boyfriend for Christmas!

I got one agate bookend and I am just in love and so happy about it!

I found this little fly and he had to come home with me.

Here he is happy on my shelf!

A candle for a lovely friend! 

A delicious little snack just to finish it all off!! Love!

I am so grateful and Doug was so stoked with the wine rack and glasses. I am really happy with my bookend and little fly. Thanks DIY Playbook!

Bloglovin'!

Now, if you would like to become a Leaping follower, you can. Follow me on Bloglovin'!
I got a Bloglovin' account a while back, but didn't know I could "claim" my own blog. Weird. America. Weird.

I have these letters...

Makes me sad to even think that I am not going to be living in Malawi anymore. It's been over a year and I still miss Malawi everyday. I still miss sitting in my hammock with Bright. I miss cooking over a fire with Lyzinet on my knee telling me how great a cook I am and how beautiful I am, when looking at her, it's impossible to see how I can be so beautiful in comparison. 

It is impossible to imagine that I don't live in Chiwamba anymore when half of my heart is still there...well, probably 95% of it. I miss Malawi with every fiber of my being. I miss teaching under the tin roof to 75 beautiful faces. I miss walking to Clifford's house and sitting with Cossam and playing knock while watching Elf for the seventy-fifth time. I miss eating nsima with Julia or spaghetti and her gracious thanks, "Thank you my best friend, for the good delicious food." I miss watching Clueless or the Hunger Games or episodes of the Office with Elizabeth. I miss dancing in the backs of matolas. 

For a bigger glimpse into my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer, you can check out my blog

 http://caitlinspeaceoftheworld.blogspot.com/

A terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week.

Wednesday, I put my contacts in at 7am, my eyes began stinging and watering until I was able to take a break at 10 and take them back out. I went home early from work and basically just laid in the dark with ice on my eyelids until Doug came to make me dinner.
Thursday, I worked from 650am until 6pm with a 1/2 hour lunch break. I was so tired when I got home, I barely managed to make food before falling asleep backwards on my bed.
Today, Friday, I woke up and when I went out to start my car, all it did was click. And click and click and clickclickclickclickclickclick. So I can't get to work, my parents are out of town and oh yes, the dog has vomited on the stairs...all before 9am. Now I get the lovely pleasure of walking to the nearest auto shop and "describing" the problems my car is weirdly having.

Terrible
Horrible
No good
VERY BAD
week.

Can I just go back to bed?

Citizenship

As part of my job, I deal with noncitizens, both legal and illegal. I find it fascinating. I was directed to this quiz from cupcakesandcashmere (http://cupcakesandcashmere.com/series-stories/links-i-love-39) and I think it is fascinating!!
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/07/what-if-you-had-to-earn-american-citizenship/309398/

Did you attain citizenship?