Busy bee!

I'm so sad that I haven't been able to keep up with posting as much as I'd like to! There are so many post ideas that I have, but I can never seem to find time to actually sit down and type them up.

It's almost Thanksgiving! Can you believe it?! It seems like just yesterday I was counting down the days until classes started, and now they're almost over for this semester. Only two weeks of classes after Thanksgiving, and then it'll be finals week. Which also means, Christmas is right around the corner as well!

Hopefully if not over Thanksgiving break, I will be able to catch up on some posts over Christmas break. If I don't post before then, I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!!

Who's ready for some yummy homemade food!?

xoxo

The Dress

I've been meaning to post about this for like, two months now! Two months today exactly, to be precise. I mentioned here about my plans to make a dress for my niece for her 3rd Birthday. The idea was inspired by GGC, which if you know me at all, you know is my favorite blog on the planet.

Let me first just say, sewing is both easier and harder than I anticipated it to be when I requested a sewing machine last Christmas. This dress being one of the harder projects I've worked on, I could seriously never see it again and be perfectly fine with that.

(*Disclaimer: I'm not actually working on the dress in this picture, but I look intense, no?)

^Not gathered..^

^Gathered!^ ...yay!

The finished product.

As soon as my niece took the dress out of the bag, she started taking off her clothes and trying to put the dress on! I'll mark this one down as a home-run.

I seriously can't believe how perfect it fits her! Hopefully she will be able to wear it next summer as well. She gets taller everyday, so even if she has to wear it with leggings or shorts next summer, I will be happy.

What do you think the chances of her being taller than me are? 

So in the end, even though it was a little bit harder to make the dress than I anticipated.. I'm totally making another one as soon as I get a chance! I even have fabric picked out already..

-xoxo

Every New Beginning..

The funny thing about having a Blog; When you have time to write, you have nothing to write about & when you have all kinds of fun stuff (and bad stuff) to write about, you have no time!!

There are about 10+ things that I should be doing right now, including tons of homework/projects, and some serious cleaning/laundry that I've been putting off for about two weeks. I broke into hysterical tears on my way home from class this morning, because I realized I'm up to my neck with things to do, especially school work. One of my classes got cancelled yesterday so I quickly made an appointment to get my hair done (I haven't had it cut or colored since May!, and usually I'm pretty good about getting it cut/trimmed every 6-8 weeks.) Even the relaxation and excitement of having a new hair do didn't bring me out of my funk! So this morning, amidst my tears, I decided "I'm going to blog today... screw everything else." Thus, here I am.

So many things have happened since the last time I posted, all of which will most likely be future posts!:
I finished one of the dresses I was making for my niece.
I bought the owl cookie jar I posted about last time!
I lost a friend to cancer.
Classes started back up.
and, I got a new job!

This thought came into my head when I started my new job about a week before school started.;Sometimes big things happen in your life; you get married, you lose someone close to you, you get a new job, etc. Big events such as these effect your life, and people tend to consider them "before and after moments." For example, you get married, and you have life before marriage and life after marriage. For me though, it doesn't take big things to change my life. With every little thing I do, I realize that I will not be the same person that I was before. Even with every semester, I know that I will learn new things and do new things, and even if it's not a drastic change, somehow or another I will be a different person when the semester is over. Every time we do anything, even small things, we become different people.  - Not even a few days after I was thinking about this notion, I heard these lyrics on the radio, and thought they fit perfectly to what I had been thinking about and feeling recently; "Every New Beginning Comes From Some Other Beginning's End."

-xoxo

Owls Continued..

I moved into my new apartment in May, and seriously didn't have a shower curtain. I was using the clear liner that you use on the inside of your actual shower curtain, so yes I was still showering :) Recently though, due to my owl obsession which I mentioned here, I decided to search for owl gear online and came across the cutest shower curtain! Behold!!; 

Due to the responses I got after uploading the pictures of my new owl shower curtain on Facebook, I'm definitely not the only one who is in like with pretty owls right now! 

I also found the cutest kitchenware, from Macy's. 

This adorableness can be found, here. I'm 100% getting this cookie jar! Every time I've went to buy it online though, it's been out of stock. BUT, as soon as I make it to a Macy's and find it, or as soon as I catch it in-stock online, I'm purchasing it for sure!

xoxo

Live Your Way

Special thanks to my friend Steele

Fall Classes on the Horizon..

I'm not doing a very good job of posting like I'd like to! But, for the last two days I've been sick out of my mind so since I'm sitting on my ass doing nothing.. here I am :)

I've been doing a whole lot of nothing lately as well, even when I wasn't sick; besides going to class, sewing, and trying to finish reading The Deathly Hallows before I go see the last movie. I have however managed to make it home twice within the last few weeks!

Before I start thinking about starting up regular classes in the fall and all that goes along with that, there are still at least two projects I'd like to get done. #1) At the beginning of the summer when I moved into my new apartment, I made a small trip to Ikea for a few things, and ended up with this $6 dollar picture holder. It's supposed to look something like this when there's pictures on it; 

or this; (even though this isn't the exact same one, it's the same concept.)

I know exactly where I want to put it, I just haven't succeeded on deciding exactly what I want to hang on it yet. SO, sometime before classes start in the fall, I HAVE to get this hung up and fully decorated :)

#2) I read this blog on a regular basis, and she always talks about the homemade dresses her mom makes for her daughter. Since I have my very own brand new sewing machine (which I've been trying to put to work lately) I decided I would try to make a few dresses for my niece. Her 3rd Birthday is coming up next month, so I figured, why not a Birthday dress?!

This dress is the pattern I will be using;

(Picture credit: GGC)

(Picture credit: GGC)

I think my niece would look absolutely adorable in this style! I haven't 100% decided on fabrics yet, but I found this cupcake fabric, which I think would look cute as the main fabric. One of the pastel colors on the tops of the cupcakes might work as an accent fabric! 

Even though she is only three (almost), I'm still worried the cupcakes might be a little too much for an everyday dress. So, I haven't ordered it yet. I found this fabric as well, which I am in love with!

Sometime within the next few days I haaave to decide on fabrics, and get to work! I should probably hit up a Joann's and search for some cheap fabric and do a little practice run, but we'll see. We all know I'm not made of money!

So, as I can begin to see fall classes on the horizon, my mind is racing with all the things I wanted to do over summer break. Hopefully I can at least finish on a good note by completing at least the two tasks above! ..xoxo

Yeahhhh.

4th of July

Owls

So besides my recent Harry Potter obsession, I've also become obsessed with owls. Not legit owls.. I think they would probably freak me out; but pretty owls. Like jewelry, figurines, and salt and pepper shakers. Yes!, I said salt and pepper shakers :) Here's some "owl inspiration," which I mostly found on Pinterest.

And no, my owl obsession was not inspired by my Harry Potter obsession. It's just a coincidence, I think.

"Personal Finances in Your 20s... for Dummies"

It's been almost a week since I returned from my fantastic two week vacation. I returned on a Sunday, and started a summer course the very next day. I actually prefer summer classes over regular ones, so it's really not such a bad thing :)

I succeeded on posting pictures from my drive to D.C. and also my stop in Gettysburg, but I've failed miserably at updating about the rest of the trip. I haven't even uploaded any pictures on Facebook! I did however manage to order printed copies (it's way cheaper to upload the pictures online and have them sent to you, as apposed to printing them off on your own in the store!)

Anyways, as one of my recent posts displayed clearly, I've really been freaking out lately about what life after college is going to be like. Even though my list of books to read over the summer is long (and includes the Harry Potter series, even though I'm about 10 years too late) I have recently added a few more necessary reads. The following have been ordered on Amazon, and will hopefully calm some of my nerves! Or freak me out even more, I suppose..

I got two of these books for a penny, so I'm already on the right track... right?

No words.

Too Much Thinking, or So I Think..

I feel like I've spent most of my time so far in D.C. just thinking. Whenever I'm outside of my element and in a different environment, I naturally end up reflecting on my life and how things could be different.

One of the thoughts that runs through my head on a day-to-day basis, is the fact that I am going to have a lot of school debt. And I mean a lot of school debt. Easily over $100,000. I often think what if. What if I hadn't gone to the school I chose to attend, or what if I didn't go to school at all? I don't even know what I want now, and I can guarantee I didn't know what I wanted when I was 17/18 years old.

How could THIS person know anything except what kind of clothes she likes, and what color fingernail polish she wants to put on next?

How could THIS person fully understand what personal loans are, and what they are going to mean for her future?

What if I wouldn't have gone to school? I could have decided I wanted to travel to different cities, and work random odd jobs to make that dream happen. No debt, only enough to get by and see what I want to see, do the things I want to do. What if I decided I want that now? What if I want to jump from city to city? With looming debt along with the grueling payments that will commence only 6 shorts months after I'm out of school..  

Everything will work out, it always does. Someday I will understand why I chose the paths I've chosen. But, in the mean time I'm left feeling somewhat remorseful. Disappointed in the fact that I didn't hold onto the gift of being carefree, for just a little bit longer.