Monday Favorites

A little post of pretty things found 'round the internet to brighten up the week ahead.


This very cool fabric covered pot DIY.


This tasty looking recipe for cornbread.


These lyrical stairs are fantastic.


There's something really intriguing about this blond and pink hair color.


This colorful chalk arrangement.

Do you have any interesting links to share? Leave them in the comments!

Twist and Shout

dress: charming charlie; belt: Ruche; cardigan: F21(old); flats: Target(similar)

There's nothing better to improve your mood and shake off a little end of the semester stress than to dance around the yard. I kid you not. It feels really strange at first, and it's a little bit awkward (especially for someone who is not all that outgoing), but it felt really, really good. Sometimes, I think that stepping out of your comfort zone is the best way to get out of a funk. It certainly helped.

I'm nearing the end. It's in sight and it is so close that I can taste it. I have exactly two classes of the semester left. My final for one of my web classes is this coming Wednesday, I have a final paper to submit on Thursday, and then an exam to take the following Monday morning and I am officially done. I'm getting all of my transcripts ready to be sent over to the state college a half hour away, and I will be ready and rearing to finish my degree. I've bounced around a lot, and I'm hoping and praying that it doesn't hurt me too badly, so fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly. At this point, I'm expecting to at least be a semester behind, but that's not too awful, and I think I can manage.

But I'm going to try not to worry about this too much for at least a few weeks. Once finals are behind me, the plan is to relax and enjoy the summer a bit before I finish lining all my ducks up.

Can I also just say, I'm so glad to finally be able to dig out all of the light cardigans and dresses from my closet. We're looking at a frost warning overnight, but otherwise it looks like this warm weather is here to stay!

Have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Stitch Fix

I've seen a lot about Stitch Fix lately, so I thought it would be interesting to give it a shot. I had tried it out once and really enjoyed the experience, so I sent away for another fix last week. It's interesting to see how other people would dress you according to your body shape and colors and styles you say that you like.

I've really enjoyed reading over at Little Chief Honeybee about her fixes and I thought it was really cool to be able to see what she was sent and what she thought about her things, so I thought I'd give that a shot with my next fix, and here we are!

The first time around I came away with one piece that I really liked, but this time I'm having a considerably more difficult time making my decision. I can really only keep one item, so I'm for lack of a better word "polling" everyone I can get ahold of this week before I have to send everything back on Monday. If you have an opinion, I'd love to hear it! I'm down to three items, but here's my whole box so you can have a look and see how the whole process works if you've never heard of Stitch Fix or haven't been able to try it out yet.


I love how much they personalize everything. My last fix had a lot of gray tones in them and mostly tops that I wasn't super fond of, so this time around I specifically requested some spring and summery skirts and dresses. They definitely came through.

DV by Dolce Vita Izzy Smocked Dress
I really really wanted to like this dress. In fact, I like it a lot better on the hanger than I do on my body. It's a really lovely silk/satin material but I'm just not a fan of the smocking in the top. It hugged what few curves I have which was great, and it made my chest look bigger than it really is (um, thank you!) but on the whole, it just wasn't for me.

Aryn K Josephine Pleated Maxi Skirt
This is one of my finalists. I am head over heals in love with this maxi skirt. I love the colors and I love the pleats. It's light and airy and I feel extremely graceful and pretty in it.

Jack BB Dakota Brantley Purple Peacock Dress
Another one of my finalists. This color is fantastic and the pattern, while I definitely get the peacock vibe from, reminds me of Van Gogh's "Starry Night" (This is the art student in me speaking). I love how flouncy and airy this dress is too. It's a similar material to the Dolce Vita dress without the smocking and I love the way it feels.

Jack BB Dakota Tiffany Yellow Stripe Dress
The last of the finalists, this is really similar in structure to the Brantley dress, but it feels a bit fuller and flouncier. It's an a-line dress which was really flattering on my figure and after modeling for my grandmother, was one of her favorites. I love the color almost as much as I love the print on the Brantley dress as well, especially the stripes.

Jack BB Dakota Walter White Eyelet Tank
This just wasn't really my style at all. The moment I took it out of the box I knew it just wasn't going to be a keeper. I don't mind the eyelet so much, but the top was almost too structured. It's definitely oversized and loose which I like, but it was stiff and didn't really flatter me at all.

I'm still trying to figure out what I'm going to keep, I'm leaning most toward the two BB Dakota dresses, but I'm still not sure. That Aryn K skirt is just stunning. I'll be sure to update when I finally make up my mind!

Have you tried out Stitch Fix? What are your thoughts? Do you have an opinion on which item I should keep? Let me know in the comments!

Wedding Wednesday

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I really like the idea of having more "untraditional" bridesmaid dresses. I'm not overly fond of the idea that each potential bridesmaid looks like a cloned copy of the next, nor do I really feel all that inclined to select a dress that my wedding party may or may not like, feel beautiful in, be able to afford, etc. If anything, I'm thinking I'll probably just suggest a color scheme and a length and let them go from there.

To be honest, I'd love it if my wedding party looked like the one above, but still, I'm planning on leaving it to them as to how they feel comfortable dressing for the day. I really must say, I love the floral and the soft colors. I think it's quite beautiful and elegant and would be perfect for a more "outdoorsy" wedding, such as the one I have in mind.

Although, I'm not really planning on having a huge wedding party anyway. I really have only one girl in mind to be my maid of honor (if she happened to be reading this, she would most certainly know who she is), and I'll probably just leave it at that. I don't feel like I need anything much larger or more extravagant, and what better than to have the one person who's the closest thing to a sister I'll ever have up there with me? No matter how many different ways I picture my wedding day, I always end up envisioning just my "sister" up there with me. I'm rambling now, but that's pretty much the plan.

How do you feel about bridesmaid dresses and bridal parties? Let me know in the comments!

Strawberry Island Smoothies

Mom and I whipped these up the other night to go along with a very light and healthy dinner. It's super easy to throw these four ingredients in the blender. This smoothie is refreshing and extremely delicious. Perfect for a hot summer day.


You're going to need:
One 16 oz can of coconut milk
4 large strawberries
A fresh pineapple
Ice

Chop up your strawberries and pineapple. Add approximately three to four cups of ice to your blender, the strawberries, and about two cups of the chopped pineapple. Add the can of coconut milk, and blend until smooth.



Garnish with sliced strawberries and pineapple and enjoy! We had these with a fresh spinach and tortellini salad, and it was fantastic. It's very light and not overwhelming, and there's no sugar added, so it's pretty good for you too!

Monday Favorites

A little post of pretty things found 'round the internet to brighten up the week ahead.


Now this is my kind of bathing suit (I almost died when I saw the price tag though. Ouch).

This stunning bird clock.

I simply adore this

These gorgeously decorated cupcakes.

5 Wits

For Gabi's birthday yesterday, we took a trip to Patriot's Place in Foxboro. We walked around a bit, ate some delicious pizza, and disarmed a bomb. Yeah, you read that correctly. A bomb.

By this I mean we immersed ourselves in an interactive adventure under the "Espionage" theme. For more information, head on over to the 5 Wits website. It was a cute, and very different little excursion we all took, and it was a fun day with just the girls. I'm glad we all got to enjoy such a beautiful day together. Love you guys!

In other news, this weekend is going to be be rather uninteresting. I have two projects due early next week that are going to take up most, if not all of my free time the next couple of days. I have a feeling I might need to make use of one of those time saving websites so I'm not tempted to sneak back on to Facebook/Tumblr/Twitter/Blogger/Pinterest. If I can just keep up the work ethic for a couple more weeks I'll be in the clear.

Have a lovely weekend!

Lilacs and Forsythias

The forsythias are so vibrant and beautiful this year. I still cannot get over how striking they are, clearly this is my new favorite place to take pictures, but can you really blame me?

The weather just keeps on getting better and better. It's warm and sunny and makes me finally enjoy being outside. I am soaking up all the vitamin D I possibly can. It feels so good to finally be getting out of that winter funk and feeling good about life and the world again. You know what else makes me feel good about the world? Three weeks left of the semester. Oh yeah!

Tomorrow I'll be spending the day with all the women of the family for my cousin's 13th birthday. She's becoming a teenager and it is freaking me out a little bit. I feel like I blinked my eyes and all of a sudden I was in college, my brother was getting ready to finish up high school and all of my little cousins were growing up. I feel like just yesterday I was going to the hospital with my mom to meet her. It's amazing how fast the years fly by.

I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week!

Wedding Wednesday

This week is all about the dream dress. I'm still a ways away, but it's fun to dream about what I'll be wearing when I make my trip down the aisle.





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I'm really in love with lace... more so than might be reasonable. But I also really love the tea length silhouette. I'm kind of nervous about them at the same time. I guess my feeling is that I'll never have another reason to wear a big poofy princess dress again, but at the same time, why can't a tea length gown be a princess dress? Clearly I still have a lot of thinking to do, and thankfully, I'm swimming in time.

I really adore the open or lace panel backs as well. I'm not really sure why, again, it's got to be the lace. There's something about it that makes me fall in love. Clearly I am a huge girly girl. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that though.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Since the weather was so unbelievable yesterday, I decided to plant some bulbs around one of the trees in the front yard. Hopefully my tulips and daffodils bloom soon. We could use a little bit more color out there.

We've been on quite the planting spree this year. My parents have a very large garden down near the back of our property. My mom loves to grow everything she can get her hands on, and now that we have a yard large enough, she's definitely taking advantage of it. We have everything from garlic and onions, to strawberries, raspberries, cucumbers and cherry trees. I am so excited for all of the fruits and veggies to pop up over the course of the summer. There is nothing better than home grown vegetable (Especially if they're on the grill. Yum!)

I also have a couple of baskets that I planted a few flower mixes in. I cannot wait until they all start coming up. I love flowers.

Monday Favorites

A little post of pretty things found 'round the internet to brighten up the week ahead.


I really wish that my curls looked like this on a daily basis.

This beautiful screen print by Meg Hunt.

There is nothing more that needs to be said about these poprock cupcakes (p.s. - where is the from? I have a broken link for this one.)

I'm just so in love with this right/left brain artwork. So wonderful.

I might have to make this lovely paper flower backdrop/garland for one of the windows in my room.

Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday little brother! You're 17 years old today and that is just so weird to me. You're also graduating from high school next year. If you want to just go ahead and stop growing up that would be awesome. Have a fantastic birthday!

(P.S... I still have to find you a ridiculously corny birthday card. Don't worry, it'll be a good one.)

(P.P.S - This is a super old picture. From Summer '10 I believe. You have a much better 'stache now.)

The New Additions

If you follow my Twitter, then you may already know, but yesterday, we welcomed home 12 new additions to our flock. My dad brought home 6 chicks and 6 ducklings that are now sitting cozy downstairs in our sunroom.




Aren't they precious? We actually spent a good three hours nursing one of the chicks back from the brink of death. The poor thing wasn't eating or drinking and she felt incredibly cold, so we took turns holding her in our hands against our chests. Eventually she perked up, but she wasn't doing well for a while. We're happy to say that she is much better and back with her sisters now.



(Just a warning, there is a lot of chirping in this video. They were very loud and excited when we took them out of their boxes)

Fields of Flowers

Sweater: Aerie; Dress: American Eagle; Belt: Ruche; Tights: Target; Boots: Blowfish

Aren't these flowers gorgeous? I caught a glimpse of them from out my kitchen window while I was doing the dishes last night and my jaw literally dropped. I had no idea we had these out there.

It looks like it's about to rain in these pictures, but it hasn't yet. That sky in the first image is kind of ominous. We need the rain pretty desperately though. We're in the middle of a drought that has been causing a rash of brush fires around the state. There was actually a pretty large one out on the coast over the weekend. Chris and I drove by it on our way home from Easter dinner. The amount of smoke and the flames were intense, even to us, on the other side of the reservoir.

Hopefully we get some rain soon. As I'm writing this we still haven't seen any substantial enough rain to quell the warnings.

On a happier note, I am officially on my long weekend! There are no classes for this girl on Monday, and because of that, my Tuesday morning lab is also cancelled, so next week is going to be very short and sweet. I need it badly too.

Wedding Wednesday

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This week, I'm looking at cakes (or cupcakes, rather). In the spirit of a DIY wedding, I'm thinking that cupcakes are the way to go. They're easier to serve, they're cute, and they display nicely.

I have to admit though, there are some pretty fantastic cakes out there (like the gorgeous lace cake above) that melt my heart and make me reconsider the cupcakes. At the end of the day however, I'm thinking the cupcakes are going to win out. The tower shown in the last picture is my favorite. I love how it incorporates the wedding colors and still has a small cake on top for the bride and groom.

There's also still the option of desserts other than a cake or cupcake, like the mini sugar cookie wedding cakes above that are all kinds of adorable.

What are your dessert ideas? If you're married, did you have a cake or a cupcake tower, or something else entirely? Let me know in the comments!