Manic Monday

Monday is here, and it's already been a crazy (but exciting) day!

First: Look what arrived in the mail today....

(Excuse the poor phone picture quality)

I cannot wait to get home from work and play with it!!! Also, Amazon is a fantastic business. I originally bought the camera from them for $619 but the next day it was $605, so I asked if they could do a price adjustment, and they did. Then, two days later, it was down to $575 and I asked if they could do another price adjustment... and they did! They are awesome. And on top of that my order took a mere 4 days to get here, and that's over a weekend too. I will be ordering from them more frequently.
So excited to become a Canon user!

Second: Last night I attended an event at Sephora which I will soon be posting about.

Third: Tonight is the first RVAFB meet up! Looking forward to meeting some more local bloggers and  getting to know better the ones I already have met.

Fourth: This morning I sent off some packages in the mail to some Etsy buyers! I had my first international customer and filled out my first customs form... Exciting!
Sales have been going well and I'm looking forward to putting up some more things soon.

Fifth: I have some new photoshoot sessions to post about within the next week or so! In the mean time check out some past ones here

Sixth: I am pleased to announce The Limited giveaway winner is....



Jayme and Mendi of Her Late Night Cravings! Congratulations guys! I'll have your gift for you tonight at the meet up.



Monday hasn't been such a bad day after all.




Outfit Post: Indian Summer

So this outfit post is a teeny bit late (by like a few weeks... back when it was warmer...) but I thought I'd still share it anyway. Mainly because my friend Kaytee did such a lovely job with the photos!


Outfit details
Skirt: Thrift store in New Mexico
Shirt: Thrifted
Belt: Vintage
Headband: My shop
Shoes: Rue 21
Bracelets: Target, handmade and thrifted
Rings: Charlotte Russe


Thanks for taking such pretty pictures Kaytee!
You can be my photographer anytime you want ;)


Christmas Parade


I went to the Christmas parade this morning! 
I used to go every year when i was younger but I hadn't been in quite some time so I was super excited to be going this year.
It didn't disappoint. 
It was very festive and I loved it! There a few more photos here if you are interested in seeing some more, but here are some favorites:


Last year poor Rudolph had a run in with a lamppost.
But he's doing better and is on the mend. 
Mr. and Mrs. Clause pause for a smooch
Pretty sure we were sitting to the real Santa.... And he was wearing red converses!
They had to do this for every float... Pretty funny to watch
Garfield! 
He has some milk for his lasagna
Noddy the elf. 
Does anyone else remember watching this show growing up? Anyone?


And I of course had the most excellent of company to enjoy it all with...






ALSO we finally got our tree tonight! 
It's outside in a bucket of water until we have time to decorate it. 
Which will hopefully be soon because there's nothing I love more than seeing a decorated Christmas tree at night with all its pretty (colorful) lights glowing and homemade, fancy, and unique Christmas ornaments adorning its branches.

Oh Christmas how I love you.


Friday I'm In Love

With....

A tutorial for a feathered fedora

These shoes (I'm a size 8... hint hint)

This list of things 90's kids will have to explain to their children. No truer words have ever been spoken

The pretty and colorful photos in this post

A tutorial for fun necklaces 

This cute post

A list of 12 things to do by 2012. I'm tempted to do this but with my 20 list and 25 Christmas challenges I feel like I have enough lists to keep up with....

This cardigan (I love big sweaters and cardigans!)

An awesome new blog I found

This article

Greenhouses

This vintage knitting pattern. I'm going to make myself some red mittens!

This song



Have a good weekend! Stay warm. It's getting cold outside. 


25 Christmas Challenges


Happy December everyone! 
It's now 24 more sleeps until Christmas. 
Since it's that time of year, I wanted to share a list I came across last year over at Naomi's blog, Rockstar Diaries. A list of 25 Christmas challenges! I loved this list and thought it would be a fun thing to do this December.
What do you think?
Want to do it with me?


25 christmas challenges...
  • go out of your way-- befriend someone today that needs a friend and follow through to christmas
  • tell someone you love them
  • make a tree decoration that will remind you of Christ
  • in your prayers today, give thanks for every blessing without asking for anything
  • try to be as kind as possible to others today
  • try not to quarrel with family members today
  • do a good deed anonymously
  • make goals for yourself-- seal a copy in an envelope to be opened in a year
  • visit someone sick or lonely or sad
  • do volunteer work for some worthy cause
  • do something fun for a child or younger sibling
  • try to forgive someone who has wronged you, be reconciled
  • make a "give list" instead of a list of gifts you'd like
  • improve yourself in some way to please the savior
  • quietly reflect and choose uplifting activities vs shopping
  • phone or send a card to an old friend or family member
  • listen to Handel's Messiah
  • make a christmas treat for someone else
  • be a calming influence today and control your temper
  • accept the gift of forgiveness-- pray for some weakness and ask for help in repenting of it
  • look at christmas lights... where does all light come from?
  • sing carols
  • do something nice for someone without their knowing it was you
  • be the first to say hello to people all day
  • ask someone to tell you about a past christmas

 And with the start of this month also comes the realization that I need to hurry up and get a move on with my Christmas shopping and gift making.... So many things to do. 
I love this time of year.


Birthday Week


So a week ago today I turned 20.
Here are some of the things I did to celebrate this week:

-Ate several Krispy Kreme donuts
-Jumped completely into the ocean at 6am
-Ate a chocolate chip waffle at Waffle House (which was a total disappointment now that they just dump the chocolate chips on top instead of baking them into the waffle)
-Went to a local book shop and sat and read books
-Bought a new book
-Sat in a comfy chair in a coffee shop and drank a gingerbread latte while journaling
-Had a scrumptious homemade dinner with my family
-Took silly pictures on photobooth
-Opened presents!
-Ate Birthday cake
-Caught up with some good friends
-Bought myself Never Say Never on DVD (I'm not obsessed, what are you talking about...)
-Ate Birthday cake for breakfast
-Bought myself Foster the People's new CD
-Read magazines in Barnes and Noble
-Celebrated Thanksgiving with loved ones
-Went on a date with the boyfriend to New York Deli and ate yummy sandwiches and used the photobooth there (the only real one I know of in Richmond)
-Bought a yo-yo
-Went to see 50/50 at the Byrd (sadly Joseph Gordon-Levitt was not there... though he is in RVA for a movie he's filming and has been seen by everyone but me it seems)
-Had a cookies and creme milk shake at Cookout
-Went roller skating (with glow sticks and Justin Bieber playing no less)
-Saw Fight Club at a midnight showing at the Byrd
-Had a cheese burger and $1 sweet tea at McDonalds (Yes, yes I do realize %87 of this list is food. Mostly junk food. I like eating ok?)
-Read outside in the grass
-Ordered the Canon T2i camera!!!!!!!! Best Birthday present to myself ever. Can't wait for it to get here!

It's been a great Birthday week!
Thanks to everyone who had a part in making my Birthday the best one yet. I love you all dearly and all the cards, phone calls, gifts, wall posts, texts, visits, and emails meant so much and I appreciate them all:)


It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

I will confess that I am one of the people who starts listening to Christmas music long before Thanksgiving (November 5th this year to be exact). I know some people think that we should wait until after Thanksgiving and give it proper respect and all but I, needless to say, am not one of those people. I adore Christmas (I can watch Elf all year round) and it goes by quickly enough with only a month to celebrate. I'm for celebrating as soon as possible! And now that it's less than a month away, I wanted to share some of the Christmas-y goings on around here for those of you who love Christmas as much as me.

Justin Bieber's Under the Mistletoe has been on repeat. As well as She & Him's new Christmas cd and the classic Andy Williams Christmas album
Christmas cookie baking!







 Yummy holiday drinks
 Christmas decorations are going up everywhere!

And of course pretending to be reindeer.

What have you been doing to get in the Christmas mood?
Christmas is 27 days away! 

P.s. This is my 200th post. Crazy huh?

Friday I'm In Love: Local Love

Just a mini post on some goings on around here with some local bloggers and writers.
This Friday I'm in love with...

November's Capital Style

Some fun outfits to wear during Fall

A guide to mens fashion  and women's fashion

This post on work wear

This scarf

Phoenix's new store

Being featured on Dirty Richmond again!

An awesome article on local knitting related things

A gorgeous photo

A list of local black friday deals!



And of course don't forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a gift card to The Limited!

Also congratulations to Sydney of Chic Stripes for winning this giveaway for one of my cowls! Can't wait to see an outfit post with it.

Happy Thanksgiving


Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I am thankful for so many things and as a rule I try to remember them more than once a year, though I will admit it is easy to take things for granted sometimes and forget the things I have. 
However I think it's nice to have a holiday to celebrate all that we're thankful for, and to remind us how blessed we are. And even if things seemingly aren't going so great there's always something to be grateful for. 
Even if it's just food on the table and a roof over our heads.
I could write for a very long time on all the things I am thankful for. In fact that's a little bit of what this blog is about, staying positive and finding happiness in every day things. 
Finding things to enjoy, even when life maybe isn't so presently enjoyable.
I have enough happiness lists to prove my attempts at that.
But since this is the time of year where we do count our blessings, and share our most loved and best, here are a few of mine:

My relationship with my savior. 
And His all encompassing ever forgiving love. 
My parents. 
For being so supportive of me and all that I do and encouraging me to pursue my dreams with everything I have. For loving me when I mess up and when I make mistakes. 
And for giving me a fantastic example of what a loving marriage looks like.
My brothers.
For putting up with their only sister and all the girly things that entails. 
And for the girly things it does not, such as playing lego and G.I. Joe's and building race tracks and playing in the creek and watching John Wayne movies. 
And for always making me laugh.
My Boyfriend.
For loving me exactly the way I am. 
For secretly learning how to knit behind my back, for watching all of our many shows, for going to every one of my craft shows with me, for having fun adventures together as big as Boston and as small as getting slurpees at 7-11.
And for loving my glasses.
My friends.
For being the crazy, wonderful, hilarious, fun, kind, supportive, ridiculous, encouraging, spontaneous, giving, caring, loving, generous, frustrating, helpful, beautiful people that they are.
My Jobs.
Being able to do all the things I love is the best kind of living.
My Life.
For all of the hard times which help me become a better person and teach me things I need to learn, for all of the good times that make all the hard times worth it. For having more blessings and things to be thankful for than I can count. For all of the talents I have been gifted with that I can use to fulfill God's purpose for my life and bring glory to Him. 
For exciting opportunities and fun adventures and things to do and see. 
I'm thankful for it all.


What are you thankful for?