Saturday, October 22, 2011

It's Fall Y'all

In the words of Jon Acuff via twitter "the weather today felt like it was ordered from an L.L. Bean catalog."

I volunteered at the Reading is Fundamental 5K/10K this morning and this was my view from my station. Not too shabby even if I was up at 5am and it was 39 degrees outside.

I made this pumpkin cake. She calls them pumpkin bars, but cake was a more apt term.

And apple crisps. I put wayyyy too much sugar on these bad boys and neglected to spray the foil with cooking spray first, so maybe the next time around.

I hope fall sticks around.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

seeing double

I have the privilege of being AOII's t-shirt chair, and it is a job that I enjoy to a sickening degree. I designed the header for this blog, and I just loved it so much, I used it for our sisterhood retreat t-shirt. It's been so funny to see girls walking around campus in it, so I thought I'd share it with you all, too!


Friday, October 14, 2011

rubbing elbows

I am obsessed with Lands' End new Canvas 1963 line. I've bought some great items, including my personal favorite, this tangerine and ivory knit infinity scarf. (And it's on sale now!)


But one item I really like and regret not having bought is this ribbed open crewneck in teal with chocolate brown elbow patches.

Real cute with that vest, right?

Well, I'm not such a fan of how wide that neckline is, and once I found this I had already placed my online order and didn't want to pay for shipping again. It's been in the back of my mind in case I placed another order again soon, but I finally lost all patience when I saw a cardigan with heart elbow patches on Pinterest. I figured I could use the same tried and true freezer paper tutorial from Little Birdie Secrets and make my own shirt. So I bought this plain mustard colored shirt at Target, some microsuede material from Hob Lob (at a 50% discount, might I add), and some matching thread. I already had the Heat & Bond adhesive and freezer paper at home. This project didn't even cost me $15 total and it took me maybe half an hour.

It's nothing too incredibly special, but it does add a little zip and makes me look the part of an English major. I promise it looks cuter on with my brown puffer vest-- I just don't want to embarrass myself with the self pics. :)

Liebster Blog Awards

My sweet friend Ashley told me that I was one of 5 ballers to win the Liebster Blog Award! This is given to bloggers who have <200 followers. The word liebster is a German word that means dear, sweet, kind, nice, good, and many many other like words. I am so grateful for Ashley and everything she has meant in my life and for this award! (Also, please let me come hang out with you and EA over Thanksgiving!)


As a way to keep the award going, the recipients of this award are to nominate 5 outstanding bloggers with less than 200 followers.

The rules of the Liebster Blog Award are to link back to the blogger who gave it to you, reveal your top 5 bloggers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog, copy and paste the award on your blog. Finally, have faith that your followers will spread the word too!

Here it goes...

1. Jana at I Will Hold On Hope. You can thank her for getting me started on blogging. That's right, positive peer pressure, people. And thanks to her I have a Twitter too. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, right? She is a highly talented photographer and I encourage you to check out some of her wedding and engagement work!
2. Emily Grace at Learning Grace. What. A. Champ. Emily Grace speaks God's truth with every word. She is always a encouragement and her blog highlights what she's learning through life as an undergrad.
3. Maegan at Lavished With Love. What a faithful teacher! She invests in me via her blog even hundreds of miles away. I have so enjoyed her honest (and usually hilarious) daily encounters with motherhood. What a blessing to be able to watch her on this journey!
4. Caroline and Alex at Untangled Lines. You want to be inspired to step back from the computer and live life? Take a look at the blog they co-author. If I didn't know you two better, I'd say all you do is just frolic around outside and hang out with cool musical artists. But I've seen your mound of chemical engineering work (Carol) and your stack of Burney novels (Alex).
5. Hillary at Essential, yet Appealed. She blogs about Jesus, America, and Southern culture. I mean, what more do you want?

(We have a class blog for my Milton class and I almost posted it for this award just to be funny. But I think it would make most normal, sane people curl up and cry.)

Sunday, October 9, 2011

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Our INCREDIBLE Fam Jam

I have a couple of favorite days in AOII: Bid Day, Initiation Banquet, any days new t-shirt shipments come to my door, and Big Little Reveal! This year was even tougher to keep my lips sealed since little Kendall tried her very best to extort any information out of me that she could. I didn't spoil the surprise and I couldn't have been more happy to become a grandbig to Morgan!!

Our Fam Jam is INCREDIBLE.

Wish we could have traded hair just this one night so your hair could have been full of secrets.

Carol, remember when your suitcase got held up at customs in Costa Rica because your sunscreen exploded? I'm glad we still have stories that are just as entertaining.

Annual tradition of being in the back of the group photo. But hey, that's what the zoom is for, right?

Lovely bible study friends! Real thankful we're delving into the Word together this year!

Sun's Out, Guns Out Part 2

The number of times I check the 10-day forecast in Auburn is borderline crazy. I just want the high to finally be in the mid 60s! I always forget fall doesn't come until mid-November in the South. Anyway, I am still trying to get better at freezer paper appliques, so I made some snazzy Auburn AOII tanks for my sister.

Comfort Color tank tops might be the most comfortable shirts ever.

This is before the letters are sewn down...

...and this is what they look like after.

Monday, September 26, 2011

Midtown Music

This past weekend I went to Midtown Music Festival in Atlanta. It was phenomenal! The lineup of bands was fantastic and the weather was gorgeous! Hopefully we'll be back next year!

So excited to see my sweet friend, Whitney!

This was the best popsicle I've had in my life. Strawberry lemonade by King of Pops. I would really enjoy their cart coming to my birthday!

Pumped we got to sit together for Coldplay!!

My sweet Dad digging The Black Keys performance.

Manchester Orchestra.

The Black Keys.

And my absolute favorite, COLDPLAY. Seriously, their shows always astound me. Such great performers and I can't wait until their real tour begins!



Friday, September 23, 2011

2013


Check out that last line. Yippeeeeeeee

Friday, September 2, 2011

My Little Nest

I wish I could have so many friends over to our house, but there are only so many hours in the day, you know? We are all slowly getting moved in, but I figured I'd show off my room a little bit even though it's still got a few more changes to go through!


The view from the door. I am a huge fan of the natural light. Except in the morning when I just want to sleep.

All of my bedding came from The Company Store. And let me tell you, it is heavenly. I dream about my bed.

My mom and I made this magnetic board. One day, I'll start doing tutorials. But mostly I just figure out things as I go. This one in particular took a lot of thought. We bought the frame as is from Hob Lob. Then we got a piece of plywood cut and painted it with about 12 coats of magnetic paint. (It's right next to the chalkboard paint in Lowe's.) Then we painted a very thin coat of that ecru paint over it. I found some little bird magnets at Moxii and went ahead and hung up postcards from sweet friends.

This bedside table was a find from Angel's we used in our living room last year. I moved it to my room and repainted and stained it from the previous green color.

I really needed some extra storage space, so I opted to go for the dresser doubling as a nightstand. My parents and I painted this to match the rest of my room and bought the knobs at Anthropologie. The suitcases to the left came from a garage sale and also work as great craft storage. (The shutter still needs to be hung on the wall, but I'm scared to do that without my dad's help.) Most of the little accessories came from At Home in Homewood (probably my favorite store ever).

I like to call this my little dressing table. It's situated right next to my bathroom in it's own little nook, and it has been so handy! My mom and I painted this for my dorm room last year, and I wouldn't dare part with it! I painted the birdcage from it's natural wood to a mocha color. I still have a watercolor illustration I painted to hang above this.

You probably can't tell from the previous photo, but these hang right next to my little dresser. I made these from drawer knobs from Lowe's and some craft wood from Hob Lob. My proudest accomplishment is that I hung them on my own. (They have two hooks on the back, so I had to get them all aligned and nailed in straight. It took a few tries.)

My mom and I found this old sewing table at Angel's and she refinished it for me this summer. The inside is completely hollow, so she glued the doors shut, but it's still such a perfect piece to house my TV. (Eventually the bubbles sitting on the floor right now will hang above it.)

Lastly, my desk. It belonged to my grandmother, but my parents and I repainted it and sprayed the hardware brushed nickel. The chair was a project from last year. My mirror still needs to be hung, but I'm waiting on dad to come help me with that, too.

There's a little peak at my home. Hopefully it will soon be full of other craft and DIY projects this semester holds!