pump-cone carving

First of all, Happy Halloween!

I don't know if you guys know this about me, but I'm not a huge fan of Halloween. I mean, sure, when I was little, the candy was awesome. But then I got older and I found out that my body does a full-on sugar crash from a hershey kiss much less a bag full of peanut butter cups. And you'd think I'd be a big fan of costumes, but a) I always put WAY too much pressure on myself to come up with something clever and b) after coming up with a different costume practically every week in college (the greek system is pretty much just a four-year long costume party), my creativity is a little lacking.

However, the one true thing I take joy in around Halloween is pumpkin-carving. Not only do you pretty much get a blank canvas to do whatever you please, but I love the fact that you feel like you're really making something. Ya know, with tools. And there's carving involved. And other fun italic-worthy things. I like to wield my tools and pretend I'm some sort of highly-skilled wood-working artisan or something whittling away at my masterpiece... (Just me on that one? Thought so.)

finally fall

Y'all. It's FINALLY fall in Florida. Holy moly, who's a happy camper? This girl. Okay, I love the whole no snow, no sub-zero temperature thing about Florida, but what I don't love is how nonexistent the fall season seems to be. All throughout September and October, it's like Florida thinks really hard about turning to fall - really contemplates making the jump. A crisp morning here, a chilled evening there... Florida dips its toasty toe into the water that is fall and then decides Nope, no ma'am, not gonna do it. 

these are my confessions...

Let me start by saying, I'm weird.

I do really weird things that make no sense and my brain doesn't work in the most... efficient... of ways sometimes. (Jas's words, but pretty accurate.)

I've had this idea for a while now where I wanted to share all my glorious eccentricities with you all. After all, you guys that read this have a leg-up on what goes on in this crazy head of mine anyway. I feel it's only right that I reveal to you all just how much of an oddball I really am. So the plan was to do some sort of blog series, but I never got around to it. Until now. (Sort of.)

this conversation actually happened

YOU GUYS. I didn't expect to hit you guys with a double post today, but the events that just occurred must be shared with the world or else I think I might explode. Let me start by saying... why is it that every government or state-related website that you have to use to get all this real-world, grown-up BS taken care of is an absolute nightmare? Things like changing my driver's license address and checking on my loan status should not require a how-to guide.

Anyway, while I was thinking about it, I thought I'd double-check to make sure that my electronic transfer account on my loan repayment was correct since I just got a new debit card (mine expired) and I didn't want there to be an issue with the funds coming out of my account. Little did I know I should have set aside an hour of my life to tackle such a difficult task. I'll spare you all the details and the subsequent frustration, and just share with you a real conversation that just took place. I think it perfectly sums up just how backwards all these bureaucratic tasks are that we have to undergo regularly.

loving it lately | tribal triangles

So here's the deal. I'm well aware that the whole tribal thing is like sooo two months ago on the blog circuit, but I'm still loving it. BIG TIME. Which coincidentally is the only requirement for an appearance in my loving it lately series. Life's good when you make the rules, right?

More specifically I'm loving the triangle tribal look. It's amazing how a simple pattern of triangles can give off such a distinct vibe. It's rugged, yet modern. Earthy, yet classic.

If the geometric trend and the tribal trend had a baby, it would be this blog post. So without further ado, enjoy my baby! (Such a way with words, I know.) Here are some of my tribal triangle favorites.

1. Not all who wander are lost via Society6 on Urban Outfitters | Love the typography, photo choice and tribal elements! (Thanks to my friend Meagan for the source link - you rule.)

2. Lovely tattered rug via Old Brand New Blog | I picture this the entry way of a mountain cabin. Give me some hot chocolate and a heavy blanket and I'm good to go!

3. Sponged walls via Vintage Revivals | How amazing is this wall treatment? Simple sponged triangles but what a statement.

4. Patterned print via Betty & Dupree | Really like how this pattern appears random but is actually symmetrical. I want this to be on the cover of one of my many notebooks. 

5. Handmade dress via Thief and Bandit on Etsy | If this wasn't totally out of my price range I'd buy it immediately. Love the black + green, and the hand-drawn feel of the print.

6. "Southwestern Scandanavian" wallpaper via Design for Mankind | Obsessed with the wood ceiling/patterned wallpaper combo. 

7. Quilt via Delightfully Tacky | Okay, so I know it's more quilty than a tribal print, but I still think it accomplishes the look. And I totally want to snuggle up in this bed for a night.

What are you guys loving lately? Fans of the tribal look or are you already over it?

life lately

I would love to give you guys a valuable tidbit of wisdom to start the week off with, but a) some of you are probably tired of my self-proclaimed wisdom by now and b) I'd rather just clue you all in on a few things I've been up to lately. So sit back, enjoy these snippets of my current life, and feel free to let me know what you guys have been up to so I can feel bad about my less productive pursuits.

Which brings me to my first latest obsession and all around time suck:

1. Jason and I are currently obsessed with FRINGE.

If you haven't seen it and you like mystery-ish shows with a Sci-Fi twist, this is made for you. It was created by J.J. Abrams (creator of LOST and Revolution... staples in our household) and while it's in its 5th season, I've been wanting to start from the beginning for a while. The show was a little slow to get started, but once the larger plot starting thickening out, Jason and I got majorly into it. We both literally dream in Fringe-like scenarios (which is sometimes a bit unsettling) and we talk about the characters like we know them. I admit this is a hobby that pretty much adds nothing helpful or productive to my brain function, BUT it's something we really enjoy together and TV helps us both relax after a day of mile-a-minute thoughts.

Now as far as thought-provoking (as opposed to thought-numbing) entertainment, let's talk about Argo for a second.

2. Argo is one of the most memorable and enjoyable movies I've seen in a while.

Now, I'm a movie gal. If you've been with me and CCH from the get-go then you know this about me. We average probably about a movie a week. It's that outing that we treat ourselves to since we work from home every day and sometimes we just need to get out the house. So we see just about all the popular new releases (how's that for some throwback Blockbuster terminology) but this was one that I was actually really excited about. It had all the indications that it would be right up my alley: set in a different era, based on a true story, politically thoughtful, subtle dry humor... and it certainly didn't disappoint. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time because it has heart-stopping tension, but the story is just so incredible that it's worth seeing for that alone. Anyway, it's not for everyone but it'll go on my (long) list of favorites. If you're a movie buff, go see it.

As for the healthy eating side of things...

3. #everydaypaleo week was a bit of a bust.

If you were following along with me last week on Instagram, you know we had a grand plan to make one recipe from our Everyday Paleo cookbook each night of the week. Yeah... about that... we failed miserably. We started out strong with the spaghetti squash and roasted chicken legs, but then we HAD to get TacoLu after we saw Argo on Thursday night, so the wheels kind of came off after that. What can I say, I'm weak. We DID however try the gluten-free pizza with no cheese at our local pizza joint and I didn't hate it. Now I know you're asking yourself why even get pizza if it's not all doughy and cheesy, which normally I totally agree with. But ever since trying to cut our dairy and gluten I just feel a lot better so those things aren't that appealing to me anymore anyway. I know... who am I? I'm like that weird anti-gluten, organic girl that people make fun of. Whatever, it's more fun than a tummyache so I'll take it. Our next mission is to try this Paleo Pizza. I'll keep you posted on how it is (when I get around to making it months from now.)

While we were eating said pizza yesterday, I found out a fun little fact about myself...

4. I shouldn't keep paint pens where they're readily available in our home. While I was bored thoroughly engrossed watching football, I thought it might be fun to try paint-penning things, including my new iPhone case. Whoops! I'm a fan though. Best part is that it kinda scratches off after a while so maybe I'll just keep adding new patterns every so often. Still, I'm just glad I didn't have the bright idea to paint-pen our coffee table or my laptop or something. Those things are dangerous.

The paint-pen thing might be an indication that I've been crafting a lot more lately (yay!) and actually using my studio!

5. I finally put up some of the studio wall art that I've been accumulating. I still have a long way to go before it matches my vision, but I love spending time here now and it really does make me feel inspired. Which is the goal. (Now if I could just convince Jason to let me knock out a few more windows in there...)

Again, ignore my awful photography. I'm working on it, I promise.

Speaking of more light...

6. I fell in absolute LOVE with this lamp at Home Goods on Saturday. (I love lamp.) It was perfect for my studio. Only problem is that it was $50, and that was a bit of a stretch for what I wanted to spend. I told myself if I still loved it on Sunday I'd go back and buy it for myself. Guess what? I woke up on Sunday and still all I could think about was my cute-as-a-button lamp. So I went back on a mission, ready to walk right in and buy it without a second thought about the price... AND IT WAS GONE. Actually there were two and they both were gone. It was tragic. (When I say tragic, I mean I almost cried while I was walking back to the car. Not overdramatic AT ALL.) That's what I get for trying to be a Frugal Franny, though. My advice to everyone out there: Screw it. Just buy the damn lamp. (or shoes or dress or pillows or whatever the case may be.) If it makes you happy and you're not stretching yourself too thin, just buy the darn thing! Spare yourself the heartache. I'm now mourning the loss of my lamp and wistfully thinking about what might have been. My eyes are going to be on high alert looking for a new lamp to lust over. If you have suggestions, let me know!

Expensive lamps call for extra cash though, don't you think? Which is why I'm so glad to report...

7. I'm officially freelance designing now! I don't have a ton of extra time on my hands but through some lovely inbound inquiries, I have a couple projects I'm working on right now. It makes my heart insanely happy to now have paying projects that allow me to use my design skills I've acquired completely on my own over the past few years. Once these projects are complete, you guys will be the first to see what I'm up to! Can't wait to share!

However, given these new projects I'm taking on, I decided it was finally time to take this little ol' laptop of mine to the doctor.

8. I'm now a computer repair expert.

Okay, not really. But my computer was running REALLY slowly so I made an appointment at Apple to see what the deal was. They gave me two recommendations: install more RAM (this is the type of memory that let's your computer run multiple programs and processes at once) and do a complete erase + install (which pretty much wipes my computer clean and restores it to the way it was when I first bought it.) I asked him if I could do it myself, and wrote down step by step instructions on how to do both. Which ended up looking like this:

The classic skirt and RAM combo... 

Jason had a good giggle watching me pretend like I knew what I was doing. (In case you were wondering, apparently I installed one of the chips wrong so Jason had to redo it for me. Whoops...)

But I'm also very happy to report that my computer feels like it is brand spanking new. Everything is so fast! I backed up all my files on an external hard drive so if I have to get to them I can, but man oh man am I excited. If you guys are having trouble with the speed of your computer, let me know in the comments because I'd be happy to share what I did (er... what Jason did.)

Well, that's it for now. Random updates, but I like to keep you guys in the loop. What have you all been up to lately? What are your favorite shows or movies lately? Let me know in the comments!

copycraft | modern felt wreath diy

Well friends, the fall wreath debacle has finally come to a peaceful end. What debacle, you ask? Only the greatest crafting conundrum to plague our family in recent history.

For literally the past YEAR I've been trying to convince Jason that we need a fall wreath on our front door. Since the dawn of Pinterest, I have seen the most adorable fall decorations and all I've wanted to do is participate in the seasonal fun. However, there's simply no sense in making a wreath if your Craft Scrooge of a boyfriend is going to gripe about how girly your front door looks every time we enter our home.

You see, apparently wreaths are for girls. Um... duh, they're for girls. Just like candles and knick-knacks and sachets but those things have never seemed to personally offend him. (For the record, I don't own/use sachets, I just think it's a fun word to write/say. Sometimes I just like to say "sachet" while I sashay around the house. See what I did there?)

Anyway, Jas had this perception of all wreaths being branches and silk flowers and ribbons and bows. I assured him that there was such a thing as a modern wreath, but nothing I showed him seemed to do the trick. He didn't even like the yarn wreaths I optimistically offered him, which I think do have a modern feel sometimes, but unfortunately the yarn thing just screamed Greatgrama's knitted sweater to him.

So the entire fall season passed us by last year, and our poor front door remained naked. Unfestive, unloved. (ps. unfestive is not a word, in case you were wondering. But it works, right? You guys know what I mean.) October finally rolled around this year and I told Jas I refused to put our poor door through yet another season of neglect. So the deal was... I'll go shop around at Michael's, come up with something, and if you hate it, I'll just put it up on the blog and give it as a gift to a friend or something. Deal? Deal.

Now this is the point where I wander the aisles of Michael's while simultaneously Google image searching or Pinterest searching "modern fall wreath" a bajillion times on my iPhone. (Not an easy thing to do when you're as clumsy as I am, by the way. Walking and doing anything on my phone has never yielded great results.) I swear, they should have a "Pinterest station" set up at craft stores where they just have a few laptops with the home page defaulting to Pinterest. You can look for ideas and supplies lists etc. Michael's, seriously, if you're out there, let's make this happen. It would save people like me from bumping into every display between your tiny aisles.

Once the creativity was sparked, I had an influx of wreath ideas, but the one that really stuck was this felt feathered look. Feeling inspired by this tutorial of Ryan and Kari's ombre wreath, I decided to do some sort of pattern using felt.

the inspiration via Ryan and Kari

While I thought the ombre look was a cool one, I opted to go for a more uniform, alternating pattern. I didn't want the typical oranges/reds/browns that would literally scream FALL!, so instead I opted for the grays and olive green for that subtle fall feel, with the light blue tossed in for a bit of freshness and whimsy. (Unbeknownst to me, this color scheme was top-of-mind for a reason. These are our new pillows for the couch in the living room... remind you of anything? All I'm missing is the yellow and we'd be that weird couple whose wreath matches their pillows. That's a little much even for me. Whoops!)

Anyway, on to the project! What you need:

• straw wreath (I left the plastic wrapping on...can't remember how big it was and I'm too lazy to measure so... let's just say medium.)
• felt (I bought four sheets of each color, but only ended up using two of each)
• hot glue

The materials for this project amounted to a whopping $7 for the sheets of felt and straw wreath. Can't beat that!

Here's the quick run down on how I did it.

First step, cutting up the felt. I didn't measure or mark anything, so I just eyeballed it and cut each felt sheet into strips about 1" wide. From there I cut those strips into rectangles about two inches long (each strip made four rectangles), and then went through cutting each rectangle to a "leaf-like" triangular point.

Once I had my "leaves" all pre-cut, I determined what I wanted my pattern to look like. I didn't want it to be exact, but I did want it to look evenly dispersed in terms of color, so I just did the same alternating pattern of colors for each row (light gray, dark gray, olive, blue) and then after I finished a row, I made sure to stagger the pattern in such a way that the same colors wouldn't be touching.

I started with one row on the top and made sure to only hot glue the felt to the wreath on the bottom of each leaf so that when my pattern made its way around, my last row would tuck nicely behind the first.

A lot of hot glue later, here's what I came up with...

Best of all, Jason approves! It makes me smile whenever I come home, and I'm thinking maybe I should just press my luck and try to use my other wreath ideas to have one up all year round. (I can literally hear Jas right now, "You give an inch, she'll take a mile..." :)

On a sidenote, it must be mentioned that my new obsession might be felt. I don't know why I had this mental barrier to entering the realm of felt, but I avoided it for the longest time because I felt like everyone was using it. NOW I KNOW WHY. You guys, this stuff is amazing. It comes in a ton of colors, is easily cut, and can be bent and hot glued and sewn and who-knows-what-else into whatever you want. The wheels are a-turnin'!

I hope you guys are having a great week, and let me know how you're getting into the fall spirit!

let this be the week | 05

(original image via Florever on Society6 | text by me)

You know those mornings you wake up and you just know it's going to be a productive day? Yeah... well those don't happen to me often. On Sundays especially, I prefer soaking up my last precious seconds of the weekend from the comfort of my couch, enriching my mind with something thoroughly thought-provoking like a back to back lineup of Reese Witherspoon movies on USA or a Law & Order: SVU marathon. But for some reason unknown to me, yesterday was an exception. I woke up, and suddenly I was a woman on a mission. I made lists, I mapped out the most effective route to all four of my errand destinations, I had a PLAN.

In one Sunday I managed to buy groceries, pick up some household items at Target, buy new sheets for our bed (we've been washing the same sheets over and over for about two years now), spend my World Market gift card on new decor items for my studio, dust and vacuum the house, wash our new sheets and dress the bed, finally hang up my "clothes pile" (this is what Jason calls the inevitable pileup of discarded outfits that congregates on our dresser), prepare dinner for Jas and I from our Everyday Paleo cookbook, AND make a fall wreath, which will be featured in an upcoming blog post. That may not seem like a ton, but for my complete lack of domestic skills, it's a miracle. I felt like Susie Homemaker, and I actually really enjoyed it.

Now while it's great that I accomplished my to-do list and got to toot my own horn for a bit, don't go calling me Martha Stewart yet. The length of my list did make it glaringly obvious just how long I had put off some tasks. I mean, for over a week I had continued to shower even though I knew I was both out of shampoo and out of shaving cream. Every shower it was the same story. I'd curse myself for not buying a new bottle, then unscrew the top and smack the bottle against my hand hoping for the last specs of residual shampoo, put the top back on and swear that I'd buy a new bottle that day. This went on for a while. Why? Because I SUCK AT LIFE. Well, not all of life, I don't really mean that as dramatically as it probably sounds. I just mean, an integral part of being an adult is having the ability to balance a lot of different facets of your daily life at once. And that's the part I really freaking suck at. What I'm saying is, I realized that I wouldn't have to pack my Sundays to the brim with to-dos if I paid any attention to those "around-the-house" tasks throughout my everyday life. Instead, I wait until the last possible second when things are causing inconvenience to my life so much that I have to do something about it. This has always been my style.

Example numero two - I was all about our new fitness and eating regimen when we were doing the 90-day-challenge because our whole lives were focused on it. However, the second we left for our two-week roadtrip, the focus shifted to work and doing a great job for the client. (Plus, let's be honest, there was ridiculously good food around every corner, so I wasn't just gonna sit idly by.) As a result I lost some of the muscle I had worked so hard to put on and now I feel all... soft. It's just hard for me to think about being healthy when it's not some big goal I'm throwing myself into.

And that's the story of my life. I've talked to you guys before about my hobby ADD. I get super passionate about things - hobbies, goals, friendships - and I give them my all until the next thing comes along and then I throw myself with equal enthusiasm into that. I've never been good at showing that kind of passion for a lot of different things at one time. Which is kind of what you need for daily balance right?

This is how things go right now... I focus on my blog for a few weeks and get all excited about that... Then I realize I've been neglecting the house so I work on improving that... then my personal friendships... then my fitness and health... then A MILLION OTHER THINGS. The list goes on.

But I want to change that. I want all these parts of my life to be a daily journey, not bopping from one to another whenever the mood strikes me. So this is my challenge to myself this week. I'm going to create a daily checklist of sorts where I can reference it at any time and try to at least acknowledge these different parts of my life on a daily basis.

I know myself well enough to know that maybe I won't be able to integrate this into my daily life, but I want to experiment with it for a week and see how I do. It's like when people tell you that if you just pick up around the house for 20 minutes each night before you go to bed, you wouldn't be so overwhelmed when it comes to doing a deep cleaning once a month. Doing things on a daily basis makes them easier to manage.

Here's my list below of all the elements I'm trying to balance in my daily life, with an example of an action for each, the idea being to do a different positive action each day that falls under each category. Maybe some of you out there are thinking about making your own lists. The items could be different for every person, but the idea is the same.

Here are mine:

FAMILY - plan lunch with my mom; offer to pick my brother up from school; call my baby sister

FRIENDS - send a card for no reason; plan a Skype date with old friends; text a friend just to say hi

RELATIONSHIP - plan a date night; offer to take on a chore; let him pick the channel for the night

WORK - help fix a process; get everything on my daily list done for once; look ahead 

HEALTH - workout; look up healthy recipes, prep healthy snacks for the week

HOME - clean the bathroom; make a fall wreath; buy new candles

HOBBIES - work on design projects; plan blog posts; craft

RELAXATION - take time to read; get a pedi; have a glass of wine

ORGANIZATION - donate old clothes to Goodwill; clean out an old closet; file mail

MONEY - organize the bills; evaluate budget

Phew... that's a lot of stuff right? I know. And it can seem overwhelming. But my thought is that somedays I'll be able to tackle bigger projects for certain areas (like cleaning out the closet... doubt that will happen during the week) and tiny, momentary things for others. But at least being mindful of all these things once a day will help me feel more balanced all the time, not letting things pile up on me.

There you have it. That's what I'm working on this week. Daily balance - paying attention (or at least trying to pay attention) to all facets of my life at once. I hope you'll join me and let me know how it's going - let's make it a great week!

// Okay guys, help me out. What did I forget? Anything glaring? Would you have added any other categories? How do you find balance in your daily life? //

interior envy | muses & visionaries

Real space, REAL envy. Prepare to drool over this gloriously girly office space.

After visiting West Palm Beach last week and working from one of the most inspired spaces I've ever seen, I decided I need to start featuring some cool places here on the blog. (Of course it may also have something to do with the fact that I haven't found the time or money yet to turn my studio into a picture-perfect creative haven, so I think distracting you all with photos of other spaces will buy me some time. And hey, maybe it'll inspire me to actually find the time and steal the money. Just kidding about the stealing though, I don't need it. I've got the lottery on lock down. 2013, baby! That's my year!)

But back to the interior at hand. This office space is like stepping into a dream. A friend of mine Sasha works for a company called Muses & Visionaries, which is a coworking space geared toward women. Basically, if you're a female freelancer, small business, or work-from-homer, you can pay a fee to use the space, conference room, resources, etc. My other friend Sierra (check out her blog, Young Alumni) works for a company called Design Aglow and they use M & V as their full-time office space.

I kid you not guys, I'm legitimately trying to convince Jason to let me drive to West Palm like once a month to work there because it's that gorgeous. Everything is so airy and natural with pops of color everywhere. The space is also used as a gallery for one of the coworkers who is an artist, so there are beautiful paintings on every wall. My favorite thing about the place though is the light that pours in from every angle. It makes all the difference when you're trying to be productive and inspired.

If I had it my way, I'd take a sledgehammer to just about every wall in our house, which has like three windows total. (Seriously, what in the WORLD were architects and designers thinking in the early 90's? Weird alcove, check! Terrible finish on the cabinets, check! Fake laminent vanity, check! THREE WINDOWS, check, check, check!)

Anyway, I should have taken more photos but I was too busy actually working. Funny how a cool space makes you actually want to accomplish things. If any of you happen to be in the West Palm area, definitely check this place out. Otherwise, let me know in the comments what you think - I'd love to hear about what kinds of spaces/places inspire you to work! Happy Friday!

pretty in pink | supporting MSABC

I've been itching to put this post up for ages now, and I'm so glad I finally get to share it with you all. As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and Jason and I are doing our part by getting involved with the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC) 5K walk. We'll be walking to raise money for cancer research and to help women who are currently fighting the disease this Saturday, October 13th at Treaty Oak Park.

I'll refrain from sharing every detail of my own grandmom Betty's battle with breast cancer before I was born, but she beat it and now I have so many wonderful memories of her. She's an incredibly strong lady, and I'm so unbelievably thankful she was able to fight through and regain her health. Jason's grama also beat breast cancer - twice! - and I get to have her beautiful presence in my life now too. I am so grateful that I still have both of those women as role models, but I'm well aware that some families aren't as lucky. Breast cancer is a cause so near and dear to our families that Kelly (Jason's mom) volunteered to be 2012 Operations Chair for the American Cancer Society's MSABC walk in Downtown Jacksonville. She's been working her tush off the past few months coordinating EVERYTHING for the event this weekend, and I couldn't be more proud of her. We'll not only be walking to remember, honor, and raise money for women affected by breast cancer, but we'll also be there supporting Kelly!

The Florida MSABC campaign is cleverly titled "Put On Your Pink Bra," where the pink bra is a symbol of our support for this great cause. We've put together a team (team IWearYourPinkBra) to raise money, and all I'm going to say is... Jason WILL be donning a hot pink bra for the event. If you'd like to help us by making a donation to our team, you can do so by clicking on this link. I would appreciate any donation - even if it's just $5 - because every single dollar counts, and I would love to one day be able to tell my daughter or niece or other young girl that she doesn't have to worry because we've found a cure for this awful disease.

To celebrate the event this weekend, I thought I'd put together some little pink lovelies that make me smile. I hope you enjoy them, and I hope you'll join me in supporting breast cancer awareness all month long. And if you're in Jacksonville, come out with us this weekend and Put On Your Pink Bra!

1. Viscid Watch from Anthropologie | I'm just going to have to break down and buy this because I've been eyeing it for months

2. Envelope Clutch from ASOS | Sophisticated chic, and I love the gold detail.

3. Pink Aztec Tee from Dorothy Perkins | Tribal trendy, yet casual and comfy. Yes, please!

4. Vintage Phone Illustration on Etsy | The subject may be vintage, but the look is modern - I want this print in my studio!

5. DIY Ombre Ikea Dresser from decor8 | I think this treatment would be really fun for a guest room or nursery (not mine... don't get any ideas guys!)

6. Scallop Duvet from Urban Outfitters | I'm kind of obsessed with scallops lately. I wish we still had a guest room because I'd buy this up QUICK!

7. Pink Quartz Necklace on Etsy | It's dainty, girly and personalized too!

---

// donate to our team!

// visit MSABC Downtown Jacksonville's event page

// MSABC Florida Division on Facebook and Twitter

those old familiar places

I made it, guys. I successfully mingled with the college-folk this weekend, and I lived to tell the tale. After a fun week in West Palm Beach for work (more updates on that this week hopefully), I rode up to Gainesville with my friend Margaret for a weekend of football, friends and familiar places.

Margaret and I kicked off the weekend with a SOLID four-hour stretch of the Boyz II Men Pandora station. If there are any fellow children of the 90's out there, I urge you to give it a go. It is just chock full of ballady, melodious gems. (I know what you're thinking, I should totally be a music columnist of some sort. "Chock full of ballady, melodious gems" is just begging to be pasted on the back of a CD booklet. Side note: Do they still make CD booklets? Side sidenote: Do they still make CDs?)

The game this weekend is actually the first time I've been back to Gainesville since I graduated almost 2  1/2 years ago. I kept meaning to come back, and even made plans for a game or two, but it always fell through. To be honest, I think a part of me had a kind of mental barrier from going back. For one, my endurance level for marathon partying, loud music, and the logistics required for coordinating the social priorities of a large group of girls has certainly decreased over time. I think every time I thought about traveling to a game, even though I knew there would be fun had and memories made, I also knew there would likely be the subsequent Sunday hangover, scratchy voice and possibly even some sort of broken or lost property. And maybe that would have been the case if I had made the trip before now. But luckily, at 24 years old, hangovers have transformed from a sort of uncomfortable, unfortunate side effect of partying into a full-fledged, avoid-at-all-cost death sentence. You get a hangover nowadays and your body won't forgive you FOR DAYS. I drink more than two glasses of wine now and still wake up the next morning with a headache. (Body, why do you betray me so! All I want is to enjoy an adult beverage without the fear of bodily pain.) So, given that nice little change in physical tolerance, I've now mastered the art of turning down shots. Did you know you can actually politely decline an offer of free alcohol? It's quite possible, in fact. Amazing, I know! If only I had known back when I was in college!

This weekend though, I managed to get over the whole "I'm too old and grouchy to party with the young kids" mindset and sucked it up because just about everyone I knew in college was heading to Gainesville. And even this old bird wanted to spend time with old friends. Not to mention it was my good friend Brooke's birthday on Saturday and she feels like she's a world away now that she lives in Washington D.C. , so I couldn't pass up an opportunity to celebrate with her.


It was such a crazy feeling pulling into Gainesville. So many things looked different, but it all felt the same. Growing up is such a funny thing, isn't it? I remember when I was younger and 24 sounded so old. SO mature. I bet 24-year-olds have it all figured out, I thought. And then you get there - to 24 - and you realize, I don't feel any older than I was in college. Not really. I mean, yes, things have changed a bit. I have to vacuum now which kind of sucks. I pay bills, I cook meals, I play house. But inside I still sometimes feel like no time has passed at all and I shouldn't be allowed to just be out here navigating the world and making big decisions. Is it just me?

Anyway, I won't give you all the details of the weekend because there are too many to count. Here are a few shots I managed to get with my iPhone. (Otherwise I refused to take any photos because I was afraid of breaking or losing my new iPhone 5. Or more accurately I'm just really bad at taking photos.)

Those were the tame and normal shots, but I have to mention that Gainesville during a big gameday weekend is kind of like an alternate universe mixed with a circus. You see things you can't even believe and people sometimes behave like the scary alternate versions of themselves. Rather than give you the whole run-down of the weekend's events, I thought I'd just give you a little round-up of some of the more memorable moments. Get ready for...

5 Thing I Did Not Expect From My LSU Gameday Weekend 

1. To bring home a win. Holy moly, you guys, we won! I hate to say it, but I don't think I'm alone when I admit I had my doubts going in to that game. We've had some slow starts this season for sure, but the boys pulled it out and now here we are, celebrating a 5-0 season thus far. I don't want to jump to conclusions here, but since this was my first game back as an alum, I'm pretty much taking full credit for the win.

2. To witness tiny little girls looking like they stepped out of a Rihanna music video. Okay, okay, I myself may have shown a little bit more skin in college than the t-shirts and jeans I rock most days now, but WHOA. Since when is it totally acceptable to where bras (BRAS!) and high waisted jean shorts that cover your belly button but fail to cover your butt cheeks (if you're gonna ration your denim material, one of those is more important to keep out of sight than the other). Now I feel like I fully understand the cliche parental mandate "you are NOT leaving this house looking like that." I'm terrified to think what the fashion might be if I have a college-aged girl running around one day. I honest to goodness wish I would've snapped some pictures simply because it was such a spectacle, but out of respect for those little hussies' parents, I refrained. Let's just say way too many outfits resembled this look:

Photo from Getty Images via HuffPo (caution: the original image is not censored) // modesty filter courtesy of the CCH logo :) 

3. To see a guy flip over a second-story balcony... and live to tell about it. This is probably as close as I have ever come to witnessing a truly horrific event. When time ran out on the game clock, the entire Swamp Restaurant - where we were watching the game - erupted in excitement. Unfortunately, we were on the second floor balcony at the time, and one overly enthused (read: incredibly drunk) fan was so excited by the win that he went running toward the balcony, possibly to do some sort of cheer to the crowd below. However, the second his two hands hit the banister, the momentum was such that it sent the top half of his body flying over the edge and he did a complete 360 flip in the air. There I stood, about five feet away, resting up against the banister catty corner to him, watching the whole thing in complete horror. I thought I was literally going to see someone break their neck before my very eyes. Just as I saw him flip, I shut my eyes as tightly as I could and prayed that when I opened them he'd be okay. By some miracle, there had been an edge of the building below that was right below him where he landed flat on his back, rather than tumbling all the way to the ground. Still one of the most terrifying, time-standing-still moments I've ever witnessed, and hopefully a lesson to someone out there to pay heed to his limits.

4. To be scared by a grown man's Superman underwear. If the guy flipping was the most terrifying thing I saw all weekend, this was a CLOSE second. During the first half of the game, my friend Britt and I were charged with hunting down a table for all of our friends to be able to sit and watch the game. Real estate is very hard to come by on gameday, but we somehow managed to find two small high-tops in a restaurant called 420 Munchies (yes, very classy establishment, I know). We scalped just enough bar stools to seat all our friends that were on the way, but we could see the eyeballs of every person in the place glued to our empty barstools. We had to fight people off left and right, including one (surprise, surprise) intoxicated gentleman with a rolling amplifier and microphone. He entered the restaurant heckling people with his portable mic unit, and quickly spotted Britt and I with our seemingly open seats. After proceeding to dig himself into a verbal hole with what I think were supposed to be his best "lines" but were in fact a mish-mash of inadvertently insulting mumbles, he said the following words that would live in infamy for the rest of the weekend (slash the rest of my life), "Wanna see my Superman undies?" Then, before we knew it, he did not just pull his underwear wasteband out of his shorts (which would have still been weird, but less offensive than what ensued); he instead pulled down his shorts, flashing Britt and me the entirety of his underwear. That's right, WILDLY inappropriate, and I'm pretty sure punishable by law. I don't think either of our faces have ever expressed more disgust, and he was promptly and aggressively told to leave our sights immediately and not to come back. (He and his amplifier were later thrown out of the restaurant for being fools.) Like I said, a circus.

5. To be completely and totally flattered by the kind comments of the crew of blog lurkers out there. Last, but certainly not least, probably the most unexpected thing I encountered all weekend was the handfull of completely heart-warming compliments about this blog. I would run into an old friend in the bathroom of a crowded bar, or even out on a dance floor, and they would tell me how much they enjoyed reading my writing - only the single most wonderful thing I could ever hear from my peers. Some of them I haven't even seen in years! I was completely taken by surprise, but it's moments like that which remind me to keep writing, and especially writing by my own rules. I know my posts are super long, and I don't always make sense, but thanks for continuing to encourage me. It brings me a lot of joy. And I mean that to ALL of you out there reading - even you lurkers! I love you guys too, but just so you know... if you want to maybe comment sometime so I know you're still out there, feel free to do so. I'd love to chat with you and thank you for reading!

Overall the weekend was the most fun I've had with my friends in a really long time (Superman incident aside). I've come to the conclusion that getting back in touch with your youth (whether it's just a few years removed or decades removed) is good for the soul. The memories just sort of envelop you like a warm, weathered blanket and bring you back to that familiar comfort of those carefree days. Granted, the endurance level necessary for a weekend like this one was exactly what I expected, but I think reliving that time in my life just for a little while (in a restrained and well-paced manner, of course) was just what I needed. Go Gators!

let this be the week | 04

You didn't think I was going to let you venture into the great unknown of this first week in October without a little life-update-slash-tiny-nugget-of-motivation post to kick it off, did ya? Come on, I wouldn't do you like that. 

See, in case you haven't noticed, I've been trying to pass off these little let this be the week posts as words of encouragement for you all (and don't get me wrong, they are) but I have to selfishly admit that it usually comes from a place of trying to motivate myself first. Whatever I need to hear each week, whatever I'm struggling with or whatever I'm challenged by, that's what I write and I figure, hey, maybe there's somebody out there like me who needs to hear the same thing. 

So there, I said it - this post is selfish. However, I think the points I lose for selfishness I actually gain for honesty, so I like to think I'm kind of at a karmic equilibrium of sorts. (Yes, my friends, that's what we here at CCH like to call crazy person logic and my head is full of it.)  

Speaking of crazy, I'd like to divulge another little truth to you all. I'm really sorry I hardly posted at all last week, but I've literally been spending every single free moment of my time working on my new site. To the point of let's say... extreme enthusiasm. (Which is a nice way of saying borderline obsessive.) I've mentioned it a few times, but I'm trying to kick things up a notch around here. I've had a dream since I started this blog last year to design the whole thing from the ground up, create an entire look and feel that's all my own. But there's only one problem with that dream: you have to finish the design in order to actually bring it to life. 

I started this project back in May. Seriously, MAY. I'm proud of what I've been able to develop thus far, and I thought I was in a place where things were almost done, but then it struck me. Crippling insecurity. Irrational levels of indecision. I was obsessed with tweaking things until they were "just right" and up until now, I still haven't been satisfied. I'd start by changing one simple thing and then it was like this wild Photoshop-layer snowball effect and I couldn't stop it. SOMEBODY HELP ME STOP IT.

In all seriousness though, making decisions is a hard thing for me and it always has been. Especially when it comes to design where the possibilities are literally endless. Endless! There's so much pressure to get it right and to create something I'm still going to love a year from now. 

But after five months of endless obsessing, I've determined it's time - it has to be time - to make a decision. To go with one of the infinite versions I've created and to let go of this insecurity. Because that's the trouble with being decisive, isn't it? The insecurity. What if I get it wrong? What if people don't like it? But as the whatifs march on, so does time. So I'm at the point where I've realized I can either wait around, basically sabotaging my own dream with indecision, or I can make a move and be at peace with that. 

And that's my goal this week. DECIDE. (Which is fantastic news to my developer, I imagine.) I still have no idea what the final product will be, but I'm just going to trust my instincts and see what happens because any site at this point is better than the site that never saw the light of day. 

So, while, yes, this post centers around a major challenge I've encountered myself, I hope it speaks to a lot of you out there too. I think we can all admit that we struggle with uncertainty. (At least I'm pretty sure we all do. Even if you're one of those super-confident people and you're magically uncertainty-less, I actually have SO MUCH of it that by redistributing my insecurity, all of you uber certain people now have it too. Like I said, crazy person logic. Just embrace it.) 

Those are my thoughts for the week. Do you have a major decision that's been plaguing you for a while? Do you play the what if game as much as I do? If so, I hope this is the gentle nudge that gives you the confidence to finally decide. If I can do it, I know you can do it.