lately.

lately there has been:

|| colorful pashminas & pretty flowers. ||

 || oatmeal cookie pancakes & paper straws. ||

|| happy hunger games & may the odds me ever in your favor. ||

|| scenery. day & night. ||

inspiration.

 1. Miss Selfridge coral dress, $30 || 2. ASOS straw hat, $39

3. Forever 21 jewelry, $7.80 || 4. Forever 21 tote handbag, $25

5. Betsey johnson sunglasses, $50 || 6. H&m shoes, £15

diy: polka dot punch art.

I like to call this the easy peasy polka pleasy!! Mostly because I think the word polka is a great word and this is an easy project. This is what you do: First, get inspired by something pretty. i.e. this kate spade bracelet that can be found on pinterest but is no longer available for purchase. Second, follow these steps:

1. Buy some pretty paper from hobby lobby. Specifically right now because it's on sale.

2. Punch it out using a handy dandy circle puncher ( mine was 3/4 inch ).

3. Use a good glue, spray adhesive or gel medium to adhere your dots to the canvas. Anything sticky will probably work just fine. Not chewing gum, chewing gum would be gross and germy. I painted a thin layer of gel medium on the canvas and did a random design.

4. Place it on a shelf next to something pretty. Or place it on a shelf next to something ugly and let it be the star of the show.

Enjoy this little creation.



THE chocolate chip cookie.

Here’s the deal, sometimes I listen to the acoustic version of the Justin Bieber’s album on Spotify. Sometimes I wander around Target and look at things for way too long and never buy anything. Sometimes I think about spending the whole summer working on the beach at one of those crazy beach stores. Sometimes I totally skip dinner and eat chocolate chip cookies instead.

I think we can all agree that we all have things. Things we spend a good chunk of our time doing or thinking about that are kind of silly, kind of random, kind of ridiculous but often worth the time.  

Some of these things need a bit more consideration before jumping all in. Don’t just go moving to the beach without taking a few minutes to think about it. At least talk to your mama about it. In fact, always do that. But when it comes to cookies for dinner, just go for it. Don’t think about it being 9:00pm, don’t think about the dirty dishes you will have afterward and definitely don’t, whatever you do, think about the calories. Definitely have a cookie. Have a few.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Bucky’s Barbecue & Bread 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

· Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

· Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together and set aside.

· Mix the sugars and melted butter just until thoroughly mixed, then add egg, yolk and vanilla and mix until creamy. Add the sifted ingredients and mix until just blended – don’t over beat!

· Stir in the chocolate chips, then drop dough (tablespoon size) one at a time on a cookie sheet, about 3 inches apart, and bake for 12-15 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies.

· Leave them on the cookie sheet to cool a bit when removed from the oven. Once they cool a few minutes, remove the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Makes 24-30 cookies, depending on their size.

living colorfully.

Take a minute to enjoy all the color that floods your everyday life. 

the greeting card project.

Let me start by saying how much I LOVE the United States postal service. Lucky for me, my friends and family do too.

I have found that it doesn't matter whether you are on the sending or receiving end of the mail situation...it's all smile worthy. The greeting cards started to pour in when I left for college and was no longer living at the same address as my mother. She would send me cards all the time and still does, sometimes multiple on the same day. My friends are really good at writing encouraging, thoughtful, sometimes ridiculous little notes as well. It's part of the reason we're friends. I'm sure of it.

Ok...so true life: there are people out there have no problem placing the card they have just received directly in the waste basket the very moment they have finished reading it. I am not these people. (By the way, it's totally ok if you're one of these people. I would probably still send you things in the mail.)

So what does a person who can't throw away cards do with them? I have tried several ways to store the them in the past but I feel like I am finally on to something with this. Introducing the greeting card project:

1. gather some of your favorite cards. 

2. find yourself a little binder with some crafting potential.



3. the neccessary supplies:

4. document a postcard from your mama.

5. use your permanent marker to mark the area for hole punching. punch away.

6. fill er' up.

7. decorate the front with a pretty (documented) postcard from your mama.

8. Enjoy your greeting cards. All in one place. One little place of organized love and memories.

happy birthday carol.

I love birthdays. It is wonderful to be able to celebrate the life of someone you really care about with them. A couple of weeks ago I got to do just that. Carolyn (widely regarded as Carol)  is one of my dearest and sweetest friends. She's the kind of friend who is totally ok with eating ice cream in bed while watching You've Got Mail. The kind of friend that you can share you opinions and ideas with because she can easily relate. She's the kind of friend that will loan you her red lipstick and make you coffee in her french press. She's the forever kind.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to be able to share her special day...err...special weekend with her. The highlight of the weekend was definitely the surprise party coordinated by her brother and his wife (remember them?). The party was not only to celebrate her and but also her photography. It was a great venue with delicious food, pretty flowers and fun people. A wonderful time was had by all.

lately.

1. & 2. hymns and home

3. loose leaf tea in a single girl pot

4. lemon water for the sick days

5. celebrating a best friend's birthday

6. taking a photo on a bridge while operating a vehicle (a.k.a) the tennessee river at sunset #worthit

7. the blooms of spring at the local grocery

8. an afternoon with joy the baker is an afternoon well spent.

follow me on instagram

it's friday.

t a k i n g  n o t e s.

1. these are not your grandma's keds
2. the best opening scene from grey's anatomy.
3. chocolate doughnut, nutella, and coffee ice cream sandwiches . can I get an amen? (!!!)
4. joy the baker podcast makes me giggle. i like to give it a listen on road trips.
5. tom's girl ann perkins/rashida jones knows how to dress like a lady.
6. a gift for a friend who likes to spend their time in the kitchen cooking you delicious food.
7. even jane eyre listens to adele.
8. if you are into reading really funny things about dramatic reality (but so not reality) tv, ihategreenbeans is for you. tune in on monday to see which girl gets her heart broken by the sonoma wine maker.
9. i wanna dance with somebody. preferably with someone who loves me.
10. celebrate st. patrick's day with this party in a box.

*image credit

spring. sprang. sprung!

Long time, no post. I have been absent for quite some time but it's nice to see you again. Watching the seasons change is one of my favorite things about life. It is so remarkable to me that we are able to see a visible transformation happen in the form of nature. You might remember that I really love the fall season. It's my favorite but Spring runs in at a close second. The first blooms of this season have shown up in our little town this week. The Bradford Pear tree seems to be the most noticeable change in the local scenery. They are very beautiful trees but unfortunately smell kind of awful. I can't wait to see spring in full force in a couple of weeks, I hear the  Yoshino Cherry trees are absolutely beautiful.

I hope the start to spring has made you smile this week.