i’ve moved!

Come see me at my new home!

well that’s just blogtastic. :)

new layout/design coming soon!

Anthro- you never cease to amaze me.

I just died and went to heaven..no lie. Check out Anthro’s new wedding line…. B H L D N. simply amazing!

Anthropologie is my favorite store ever. I think if I could be best friends with a retail store I would pick Anthro hands down. It is such an inspiration to me. I get clothing ideas from them, home decor ideas, food ideas (believe it or not..) & gift ideas. In my mind, they set the bar for trends and fashion. We are just kind of in a “awkward friendship moment” right now because they held back and released their wedding line this past month instead of launching it this time last year. Not gonna lie, I’m a little t.o.’d. I would have been using their stuff left and right (or recreating it) for my June 2010 wedding.

[Two Pair Photography]

And it’s not that I didn’t/don’t love every aspect of our wedding, because I really did/do. It’s just that, it’s my FAVORITE store and I just wanted it to be a part of my big day, ya know? Who cares, they still played a part. Our motif was Anthro inspired backyard wedding. We wanted it to look like Anthro came over for the day and threw us a party. We also wanted people to learn more about us as a couple through our wedding. So that meant laid back, super fun, creative and desserts! It was the best day of my life, even if my bridesmaids weren’t wearing one of their killer dresses:

(photo credit)

So… Bethany, Kayla, Caroline, Maria, Sarah…. jump on it!

DIY: doily garland

If you’re like me, you love lace. I think it is so dainty and can go with anything. So does my friend, Rachel. Her birthday was this weekend and I was all about decorating for her big day. A couple of girls went out to eat and then came back to my place where we devoured Nothing Bundt Cake, played in front of our hand-made photo booth, and laughed until we almost peed our pants… which is not hard to do with this group. :] Ah it was SO fun. I absolutely love girl time, especially with these lovely ladies.

When I was decorating the apartment, all I could think was, “If Rachel was a party, how would she decorate?” Ok. so that meant, LOTS of lace and doilies, rosettes galore, pink. pink. pink., yummy cake, unique/eclectic decor with a modern spin, lots of pearls, leopard prints, candles, the list goes on and on. Now, not all of those things made it to the party, but I did my best! She is a pretty fantastic cook, so I didn’t even attempt to make anything for her. I’m too intimidated. :]

So… in honor of Miss Rachel, I made some circle garland and YOU can too!

Supplies:

• various paper (I used solid scrapbook paper and pages from an old book, but printed baper, notebook paper, or magazine pages would also be really cute!)
• paper doilys
• glue stick
• circle punches- 1.5″ & 2″ (you could also cut them out with scissors, but I’m too impatient)
• sewing machine

1. Punch holes in each of the different papers. I cut out the edge of the doily to give the circles a more textured look

2. Glue together the papers in random order. I didn’t really have any rhyme or reason to the way I glue them because I wanted each one to have a different look and feel.

3. Gather all of your circles and sew them together.

and wahla! You just made yourself some super cute garland!

Happy Birthday, Rachel!! xoxo

————

P.S. Do any of ya’ll have any photography wisdom to lend me? I have a Canon Powershot SD880 IS and would love a better one, but I’m not quite there yet. I would like to manipulate the manual settings, but I have no idea what to do… and then I’m not quite sure how to edit photos yet to get rid of all the ugliness. Any ideas? thanks!

a little bit of this, a little bit of that

Our apartment is full of eclectic finds from all over the metroplex. I have about 6 or 7 flea markets, thrift stores and neighborhoods where I search for treasures and vintage items. It has become a hobby for me and I feel like I get a high off my weekly trips. A lot of people ask me how I find such unique items and I never really have an answer for them. I guess I just go in with an open mind and never really search for a specific thing. I know I won’t find it if I do… story of my life!

Chelsea Ling at Paper*Cakes Finds gives some really great tips for those of you who are wanting to start thrifting.

I thought I would add a some of the many items in our house that we thrifted.

ah this is one of my all time favorite finds!
Picnic Basket- Thrift Town- $5

Vintage flour, sugar, coffee & tea canisters- Garage Sale- $6

Mirror- My mother-in-love’s garage sale- we traded items 🙂
This mirror is in the (longer than usual) process of being turned into a corkboard (with actual corks). Who knew corks could be so expensive for such a small bag?? I’ll post pictures when I finish

orange vintage chair- Local Flea Market- $5

1. ceramic dish- Goodwill- $.50

2. milk glass bowl- Goodwill- $1.50

3. Campbells soup mug- Goodwill- $.50

4. various books- Local Flea Market, Goodwill, Thrift town- $.50-$1.50

 

See! Decorating your home can be fun and cheap cheap cheap! Super cute, too :]

don’t mind if i do…

I love anything with mint. I can consume deadly amounts of it if I don’t have supervision. It’s a little embarrassing. Jeremy usually has to tell me when to quit because he knows I’ll regret it later. Ok. I just lied. I don’t love all things mint. I am not a fan of Extra’s Dessert Delight Mint Chocolate Chip gum. It just made me disappointed that I wasn’t actually eating mint choc chip ice cream. It was just ‘meh’. My niece absolutely hates mint. I tried to give her a  kiss one time and she pushed me away because she could smell my chapstick. Rude. She also can’t stand to brush her teeth with anything other than Tom’s strawberry toothpaste, and if she smells your minty fresh breath after giving your teeth a nice wash, she’ll shove you away. I don’t get it. I guess I’m like that with bananas…..but my disgust with bananas will have to be it’s own post.

I found this recipe earlier and I am really tempted to try it. I’ve never made truffles before, so I’m kind of nervous.

this is now on my to-do list for this week. :] yummo!

curly beast

so Tiffany over at Curly Girly Designs is in my awesome Indie Business 3.0 class and made a comment that she didn’t see any pictures of my curly hair anywhere on my blog. I don’t want to be biased towards my curly or straight hair, so I thought I would give the curly hair a video displaying it’s craziness. 🙂 enjoy.

also, if you have curly hair, PLEASE tell me what you use. I’m always interested in trying out new products!

2+2

drumroll please…….

dum duh dum tshhhh

we have a new car! This has been a LONG time coming :] My poor old lady love, Carla, (96′ Toyota Camry) has gone to be with the Lord (eh hem. I mean Carmax). She was a sweet, sweet woman, but was in major need of a nose job, boob job, full body waxing (she lost her shine years ago..), and she majorly needed to get her hurr did. But when you’re old like that you just let yourself go, so I understand it. The poor lady was booty-bumped by Jeremy’s truck Buster when  we first started dating. Of course, we were appalled the he would do such a thing to a lady much older than himself, but there was nothing we could do about it. She’s had a rusty ole spot on her ever since. Recently, she started making a girgling sound under the hood. ??? We all knew that was not good. We knew that the Lord was calling her home. We spruced her up, took her through the carwash one last time, polished the inside and drove her to the used car dealership. She knew what was coming. We said our goodbyes and had a memorial service (ok not really). She will be missed.

On Monday, we headed to the car dealership to look for Buster’s new woman. We found her (of course!).

Meet Lucille. Lucy for short. or if you are adventurous you can call her ‘L’.

She is a beautiful, black 2011 Toyota Corolla. She shines like nobody’s business. I’ve noticed other cars just pull over to the side of the road whenever we drive by. I completely understand. We are ballin’. What can I say?

(I’ll upload an actual picture of her later, she is resting for the night. everyone needs beauty sleep)

OH and one more thing! We also added yet another addition to our little family. A MacBook Pro. finally. I think I have waited for one of these just as long as I’ve waited for a new car. But it was all in due time so I just had to patiently wait. It’s perfect for the two of us. Jeremy can use it for school and I can use it for my handmade business. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to use that lovely program on my own computer. I usually have to borrow someone’s mac if I want to use it. Thank you to all who have lended me their computers. You are amazing. ;]

So there you have it. We have added two new lovelies to our lives and we, of course, are loving every minute of it. We are blessed.

i love the sense of accomplishment :]

Remember when I was having ridiculous issues with the tension on my sewing machine while trying to make this bag? Well, guess who was a silly goof? 😉 I was threading the bobbin wrong all along and it was giving me grief every time I would try to sew. On Monday night, a few of us girls went to my mother-in-love’s house to be crafty and create junk, and they showed me the proper way to thread a bobbin. It was glorious! I have been a sewing fool ever since then. Thank you, Sara Kay!

Tonight, I sat down with my lovely machine, prayed over it (of course), and threaded my bobbin…the correct way. I pulled out the little zip lock bag that held all of the pieces to the pattern and whipped up a dainty little bag for my sister’s birthday. I am totally ruining her surprise but I honestly don’t think she will mind. I tell my sisters everything so I am forced to let them know of my accomplishments. Plus, I am so excited and I just can’t hide it. :] I think she will understand.

COMMANDMENT: check out Gussy, the one who inspired it all! She is amazing. If you love ruffles and all things cute, she is your girl. I’ve decided that I want to be blog BFFs with her. No laughing, it will happen. 🙂

uhh that’s awkward

Do you ever have those moments where you think to yourself “Did I seriously just say that? Oh my gosh. I’m that awkward person in the room.” Well, let me tell you something….I am that person. It happens to me ALL of the time. I don’t get it.

Last night I was seeing someone that I haven’t seen in a really long time.. Here’s what went down:

Me- “Hey, how are you?” (lean in for that awkward side hug)
Them- “Great, how are you?” (semi hugs back)
Me- “Doing really great, how are you?” —- FOR REAL did I just do that? awesome. “ohh ha..uh.. ha I just said that. ha” —

So I walked off… you could call me the awkard conversation ‘fleer’.

—–

Or how about the time you see someone (just one person) at Target and it totally catches you off guard and then you say, “OK well see you guys later!” (you guys??? great, now they think that I think that they are fat.)

Or when someone says. “Happy Birthday girl” and I chime in with, “Happy Birthday to you too!”

I am terrible with conversations with people when I’m intimidated by them. I totally forget everything. I forgot where I worked the other day. I forget where I live when I’m trying to explain the area. I try to remember with “You know, over by that new shopping area on 35…what’s that street called? totally blanked.” (ha omg I can’t believe I can’t remember. ahhhh!!) Then they answer with, “Oh no, actually I don’t. so sorry.”— well let me just walk away, do some googling on where I live, and get back to you. FOR REAL?!

It’s a bit ridiculous at times. Phone calls are the worst. I called my dentist the other day to schedule an appointment for my husband and I a couple of weeks ago. The receptionist answered and asked, “Do you mind if I put you on hold?”. Without delay I quickly responded, “Yes.” in a really upbeat tone. I mean’t “no”. but did that come out? of course it didn’t. She didn’t know what to say. I put her in the awkward spot. awesome.

ohhh man. I need help.

Do you ever have awkward moments? please, tell me them. It will make me feel better. 🙂