bloom

lately i have developed a {light} green thumb. i have 4 plants total. my bright yellow mums which sit outside on my little porch. two itsy bitsy snow flower things that my sis and i are growing together. and my favorite little plant...its some sort of a green spider plant. something like that. but its tall and pretty and i love it.

come spring, i will need to re-pot a few of these plant babies. and i would like this please.


add this precious pot {from madison belle} to my christmas list please.

tis the season...

i hope y'all had a wonderful and relaxing thanksgiving break. i had a good time (although it was a little difficult to not be with my family on thanksgiving). spending time with A's family was great. i relaxed and was lazy and it was perfect.

i told y'all last week how post-thanksgiving i was going to be in full blown christmas spirit. it is slowly getting there and i can't wait for the full blown-ness to arrive. this week, i have plans to decorate my apartment and, of course, i will share my christmas-y apartment with blog land. i probably will not have a tree this year (incredibly sad i know), but i would like to save some dollars and so the tree is not a necessity. i am glad to be able to spend a few extra dollars on my loved ones.

i also plan on having some fun little gift ideas to share with you sweets. some i won't be able to share because some of my besties and family members will be receiving some of these fun gifts. but i promise...once the gift has been given to share these fun ideas with you!

so tis the season to be filled with christmas spirit. let the christmas music and crafting begin....

kitchen drama

chandelier + blue cabinets + stainless steel?

yes please.

a cup of tea

i am not a coffee drinker really. i am definitely a tea person. oh my goodness i love me some tea. hot or cold...i will probably gulp it down pretty quickly.

there really is nothing more satisfying than waking up on crisp fall mornings, throwing on a soft robe and making yourself a cup of warm tea. that sounds just perfect huh?

i wanted to share one of my favorite teas with y'all. It is called PG Tips. When i babysat back in Kentucky (oh how i miss that), there was a sweet lady who came to pick up her kids when i picked up the ones i babysat. She was so sweet. Her husband was from australia and she told me about this tea. It is a little hard to find. You can get it at world market (sorry to tease you kentucky friends). i have also found it at meijer. it is so delicious. especially with a little bit of sugar/drop of milk thrown in.

Try it my sweets and tell me what you think.

first photo linked.

lounge

so this is the 2nd post i have devoted to cute and comfy clothes. i don't care. something about the cooler temps and a cozy home make me want to up the ante of my loungewear. and since this weekend is all about relaxing for me, i thought...why not?

the victoria's secret pink line is just adorable. and while i may be past the wearing pants with phrases across my butt stage, there are still plenty of adorable things that i would like to get my hands on from the pink line.

take these girly pieces for example...

an etsy find

i would love to have a wreath for my front door. i feel like it is so welcoming and i would really like to adorn my front door with a little bit of welcoming love.

look at this wreath from etsy {of course}. is it not the prettiest little thing you have seen? i absolutely love everything about it. i love the winter white and the gray. i love the deep jewel-toned purple flowers. and the bird. oh. my. goodness.

lovely friday

so my sweets...i was on top of everything enough this week to make a "lovely friday" post before i left. so here it is....

up this week would be clutter. but not that kind of clutter. i am talking about wall clutter. i love the look of lots of frames (be them the same kind or completely random) placed together on a wall. i love it and i can't wait to have a staircase or hallway that i am able to do this to. eventually, i plan to dedicate a good chunk of apartment wall to this little project. (the next owners are definitely gonna wonder why there are so many holes in the wall). of course, pictures will be posted in the future. this isn't on my radar for awhile.

i am loving these looks...






photos from pottery barn, IDIY and google images.

{thanks}giving

happy thanksgiving day my sweets.

i hope y'all are having a blessed day spending it eating good food and surrounding yourself with loved ones. make sure to take some time to reflect on all the blessings that the Lord has placed in your life.

some things that i am thankful for...
*being called a daughter of a graceful, merciful and loving Lord.
*my wonderful and supportive family that i love with all my heart.
*my dear friends that are some of the most encouraging, gracious and loving women a girl could have.
*blogging and making sweet little blog friends.

just some of the things that the Lord has blessed me with and some of the things that i am endlessly thankful for in my life.

"Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done." ~1 chronicles 16:8

photo from martha stewart.

a short and happy week

well my sweets, A and I are off for thanksgiving holiday. we are sticking around SC/GA for the long weekend. since Christmas will be spent with my family in florida, we decided to spend thanksgiving with his family.

our plans include:

*thanksgiving celebrated with his mom in Athens and his dad in Augusta
*lots of food (i will have multiple food babies this weekend i am sure)
*a trip to see Cirque du Soleil (i'm excited)
*sleeping in (heck to the yes) and relaxing

i hope everyone has a wonderful weekend celebrating with your loved ones.

oh and i am excited because once i return, i will finally allow myself to be in full-blown christmas spirit. (i try to hold off until after thanksgiving). this will include decorating my first apartment, listening to lots and lots of christmas music and crafting my little heart out. can't wait to share all of that with you.

a pop quiz

i found this stylescope quiz over at young house love a few days ago. before you go any further, you should go visit sherry and john over at their blog. it was one of my first blog loves (no pun intended) and it is still going strong in my book. i am obsessed.

they featured this fun little style quiz and i took it. it was pretty much dead on. i was impressed (especially since it wasn't too spot on for the young house lovers). but it proved me wrong.

the quiz is from homegoods and was created by domino editor deborah needleman (oh how i miss that magazine). the quiz can be found {here}. my results stated that i was 'country eclectic'. i was nervous with the 'country' but after reading the results i was pretty impressed. some truths that they got spot on...

1. you would never use a matching suite of furniture or could stand a home that seemed cookie-cutter. = 100% true statement. not to knock on any of you that love a good furniture set but it's just not my style. at all. and i love historic homes with character.

2. you love a little chintz or ruffle or weathered furniture and colored glasses filled with cut flowers = umm yes please. stick a ruffle on anything and it ups my chances of buying it by 99%. and who doesn't love fresh flowers.

3. you love vintage-looking, mixed tea cups = have i told you that i already have started my collection? i love hot tea so why not find a few wonderful vintage tea cups to enjoy my tea in?

4. you know you have to be willing to take risks—whether with colors, finishes, furniture choices, or ideas = i love colorful design. hence why i am obsessed with domino.

so my friends...go take this fun little quiz and don't keep the results to yourself. let me know if they were as accurate as me or kind of a bust like the youngsters over at young house love.

happy quizzing...

it's skyline time

on friday night, A and I were invited to a co-workers house for a little get-together. i brought along some skyline dip since i figured here in SC, they probably have never had a chance to try it. and it was a hit.

skyline is a chain of restaurants in the northern kentucky area. they are known for their chili which is the key ingredient in skyline dip.


i urge you to make some of this asap. i promise you {and all of your friends} will just love it.

1 8oz. package of cream cheese
1 10 oz can of skyline chili
shredded mild cheddar cheese

soften cream cheese. once softened, spread evenly on bottom of cake dish. next, empty can of skyline chili into dish. spread evenly over cream cheese. next, top with shredded cheese. (you can use as much as you want. i like cheesy things so i tend to use the whole package) place in pre-heated oven (i just set mine to about 350) until cheese is melted.

serve with tortilla chips.
now enjoy and try not to polish off the whole dish by yourself.

photo linked to original home.

my first award

the sweet savannah over at pitter patter gave me my very first blogger award tonight. go check out her blog asap. she has an adorable blog that is one of my favorites.


so now for the rules...
~thank the person who nominated me for the award
~copy the logo and place it on my blog
~link to the person who nominated me
~list 7 things people may not know about me
~nominate 7 creative bloggers
~post their links
~leave a comment on each

And now for 7 things you might not know about me...

1. i am a complete and total animal lover. any animal (ok...maybe minus bugs and reptiles) i can't wait to own some pups someday soon. i would love to own a lot. on my list would be a cow, dogs, cats, a bunny, a donkey, a duck and a pig. A says absolutely no to almost all the above.

2. i always have my nails painted. always.

3. i am not a morning person at all and usually don't speak for about the first 30 minutes that i am awake.

4. i have a freckle in my eye.

5. i didn't date hardly at all until A came along. and i wouldn't have it any other way.

6. i have a younger sister who blogs about her new life as a college student (at UK...my alma mater!). read about her college adventures here.

7. i traveled to austrailia with my family when i was 15. it was a blast and such a beautiful country. go there. now. or soon. just sometime in your life.

and i pass this fun little award on to anyone who wants to play (especially jenna from with grace my feet, holly from choosing joy, cory from inexpressible and glorious joy and morgan from the best days of your life. and the rest of my lexington bloggers!)

a surprise

this weekend, i had no plans. that is, until A surprised me with tickets to the UK vs. UGA game in Athens. Athens is only about an hour from us and so Saturday afternoon, we made the trip down to UGA for the game.

it was so much fun. there was a good amount of UK fans at the game (we travel for our cats!). we did not get seats in the UK section so i was surrounded by red. but i didn't mind. gotta represent for the cats in the home section too. and i am pretty sure that i was disliked throughout the whole game. my friends will tell you, i have no shame when it comes to yelling and cheering loudly so that made it even better.

the game was amazing. well...i should rephrase that. the 1st half sucked. it was embarrassing. but then after halftime, we got our act together and in the 4th quarter, we were just downright awesome. our defense just kept going and getting fumbles and interceptions which made it even better. we ended up kicking some UGA tail and it made for a perfect night.

i also got to see some of my friends that came down for the game. some old YL kids came down for the UK game and i got to visit with them during halftime.

overall, it was a perfect saturday and just what the doctor ordered. i will leave you with a picture of A and I at the game (sporting our blue of course).


GO CATS.

this is why...

i miss domino magazine. even their bathrooms are perfect in my eyes. just perfect...

lovely friday

lately, one thing that has made my life lovelier is reading. i go in and out of reading phases and right now i am in a good one. as of right now, i have 94 books on my reading list. yes... ninety freaking four. is that insane or what? and that is not including spending time with the Lord each day. that is a lot of reading.

i really do believe that reading makes life lovely. in a world of email, text, facebook and tv, i think everyone deserves a little quiet reading time. don't you think?

one of my favorite things to do is to curl up on the couch with a good book and a hot cup of tea. doesn't that sound just perfect?

so this weekend, whatever your plans are, i hope that you find some quiet time to read. and if you have any books that you just love, please share.

trips

i saw this neat little map over on my friend jen's blog awhile ago. tonight, black on what i wanted to do for a blog post, i thought i would try it.



i have not been to many states. only 19. i have been lucky to travel some in my life but 19 doesn't sound like many. it actually might be 20 or 21. i stared at michigan and pennslyvania for quite sometime. i think i went there as a kid. but i can't remember so i didn't count it.

and then i decided to see about the whole world....



i have been to 3.11% of the world. that seems so crazy.

i share this with you because recently i have thought about traveling a lot. i would love for the chance to travel some in my life. as i said before, i have been blessed to go some amazing places with my family. but i think it would be great to travel with A someday. I decided to make a list of places that i would love to see in my life. anywhere from savannah, georgia, to state of maine, to the greek islands, or even to new zealand. i don't know if the Lord has plans for me to visit any of these places but i thought it would be fun to make a list and see, years from now, if i can scratch any of my dreams off.

what places are you dreaming of visiting? any amazing places you have already been to?

do tell...

create your own map {here}

difficult

difficult would be the word that i would use to describe how some of my days are becoming down here in SC. i have been here for about 3 months now and the "newness" is wearing off. now i am dealing with the move. and it is hard.

this week, i have begun to re-read Job and i came across this...

"Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?" {Job 2:10}

In reading this, i realize how selfish i am. In good times, i am quick to turn and thank the Lord for his blessing. However, during these rough few months of my life, i can easily turn into a bitter or sad (or mad) girl. why not praise Him (or at least draw closer to Him) during a time of such great need? i'm not sure. i'm still working on that. i knew this all before but it is a reality for me at this point in my life. and now i am being forced to face this reality. how will my life be in these next few months as i battle the desire to just give up and go home? i don't want to be bitter or unpleasent. it is hard not to be. part of me just wants to crawl up into a selfish little ball until the hard times go away. but i know better. i am going to work on giving up my sadness (and sometimes bitterness) to the Lord. prayers would be appreciated my friends...

pretty perfect fabric

Ikat fabric makes me swoon.
Swoon with me will you?













Photos connected to original websites.

comfy {and pretty}

everyday i look forward to coming home from work and putting on comfy clothes. within seconds of walking through my door, i emerge from my bedroom in a t-shirt, old (but oh so comfy) sweatpants and my long and soft robe. everyday single day.

i really do love the idea of being stylish (somewhat) when you want to be comfy at home. maybe not stylish. maybe it's just not feeling like a mess if you get an unexpected visitor. or for me, so i can feel both cute and comfy when A comes to my apartment.

don't these sweaters{from ann taylor loft} just look so comfy and cute?




and i have been wanting a pair of full length leggings for awhile. i think i found my match. yay for giftcards for the birthday right?


i definitely think i could get into the habit of coming home and putting on a cute pair of leggings and a comfy and oversized cardigan.