milestone.

I may have freaked out a little when I got on blogger this morning and noticed the dreaded number 19 had changed to 20 under my blog followers! (Thank you 20th follower, Jaclyn!!) I know for all you big time bloggers out there this may seem a small feat, but when you are a starving blogger this seems practically momumental!  So here is a post for the kind twenty that skim my thoughts, and for anyone who happens to read but doesn't follow- feel free, as they say the more the merrier!

This week is busy with much procrastination and a little studying.  I knocked out my first exam yesterday, and have two more, Thursday and Friday morning at 8 am.  I am so over school, and judging by many tweets and fb statuses, so is everyone else.

In exciting news though I leave for NYC in 3, count em, THREE DAYS!  I am SO SO excited.  This past Sunday I went on the second dress hunt for NY with my mother with no high hopes except a dress that fits.  Side note:
Dear Dress Designers,
Not everyone is a size two.  And, most girls that aren't a size two do NOT want to be parading around in spandex..so expand your collection's material, thanks.
An angered,
Size..uh, higher than a two ;)

After being unsuccessful in many stores (still holding a grudge, see note above), I went to Urban Outfitters and found a dress I love.  It's simple, it's red, it has pockets. I'm in love. 

For anyone looking for a dress, I highly recommend Urban Outfitters.  They had a large collection and although it's not the cheapest store, it was definitely more reasonably priced that some of the other spandex dresses I tried on other places!

I have decided that nothing but my pea coat and jeans will be visible the entire trip so I better make the most out of my accessories.  For that reason, this beret from my Aunt Debbie will make a perfect accessory and added warmth for the streets of NYC.  

Happy Wednesday bloggers, stay warm!!

numba 5: my three favorite colors.

Question number 5: Describe your 3 favorite colors.

COLORS.

I love them all, as you can tell by my accidental crayola-box themed room.

My very vibrant, colorful bedspread that I may or may not be regretting now.

My favorite colors change on a regular basis but right now my favorites include:
Green, Peach, and Brown/ Grey/ Tan (neutrals)

This post is short and sweet, but I hope you all had a Happy Tuesday!

question 4: friendship.

Question 4:  Write about your close friends.

My friendship with the people pictured below is one of the greatest blessings in my life.  I could not be more thankful for all these inspiring, loving, beautiful people!  I owe all the fun in my life to these people!  Love yall!

Happy Monday everyone!!

sweet sunday afternoon.

Here's a look at what my Sunday has looked like:

Tree Decorating!!

My parents painted this ornament when they were engaged..31 years ago!

My aunt gave me this adorable Christmas wine glass (I'm a sucker for the wine glasses) in my holiday basket!



Semi tacky white tree for my room!



And to top the afternoon off..some chocolate chip cake and milk.  Mm mmm good.

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

question 3: fav shows on the telly.

Describe your favorite television program:
I have several.  Let's start from the beginning:
1. I Love Lucy.  I grew up on I Love Lucy and basically every other (classic) TV Land show and I still get a kick out of that deadly duo.

2.  Friends.  I have loved Friends since middle school, and have watched and re-watched my collection of the 10 seasons too many times to count.  My family takes the Friends trivia book on vacation to use it as a source of entertainment during long waits at beach restaurants.  Mon, Rach, Pheebs, Joe, Ross, and Chan will always have a special place in my heart.

3.  The View.  I was introduced to this by rooms freshman year and I now use it as my source for current events.

4.  90210.  This is ths only current television show that I really care to keep up with.  It's drama filled, totally unbelievable, yet addicting at the same time.

body piercings and tats.

Question number two of the blog challenge: Talk about your piercings or tattoos if you have any.
Piercings.
I have my ears pierced once.  I got them pierced when I was ten years old, and I thought my life was complete after I walked out of Claire's with two silver studs in my ears.
Because I believe in rites of passage, I also got my cartilage pierced when I was 18 "because I could", and I didn't need my parents permission to sign the form.  Yeah..that hurt..and got infected.  So the upper cartilage piercing was short-lived but like most things "fun while it lasted".
Here's a pic:

Tattoos.
I went through a tattoo phase a couple of summers ago where I really really wanted one.  Thankfully, I resisted the impulsive urge to permanently stamp my body and am currently still tattoo-less.  Although I am not opposed to tats, I'm glad I didn't pay for the pain.  By the way, I wanted a cross on my foot.

if at once you don't succeed, try try again.

Round two in attempts of a blog challenge.  I got this from my friend Julie's blog!

Tis challenge is just a question a day and I love answering questions so hopefully this will be an easier challenge for me to manage.

Question 1: What is your middle name? And how do you feel about it?
My middle name is Joan.  I was named after both of my grandmothers and Joan came from my father's mother, Barbara Joan Lester.  Elizabeth came from my mother's mom, Elizabeth Ann Swindall.  I love my name.  Not in a cocky "my name's the best" kinda way, I just love that I was named after two special people in my life. And I love, love, love family names.  Names from my family I wouldn't mind passing along if I ever decide I want hellans running around my house include:
-Mary
-Alyce
-Graham
-Love (yes, my great-grandmother's name was Mary Love)
-Lewis (don't worry, this would serve as a middle name)

Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

boots, boots, boots.

I have been suffering from a boot obsession lately.  I started out on my quest for the perfect pair of boots with intentions of getting comortable, water-proof, fur-lined walking boots for the streets of NYC (17 days).  But in the case of fashion vs. practically, fashion won out.  Fingers crossed these boots aren't too miserable, but just incase the Uggs will be making the trip too.

After almost endlessly searching, I found these:

The things I liked about these boots were:
-The heel.  I love that they have a heel, but its not too high or too skinny.
-The western style.  I didn't technically want "cowboy" boots, but I was in the market for something along those lines.
-The fact that they can be dressed down or up.  Good for skinny jeans and dresses. Such versatility..
-THE PRICE.  I ordered them online from Belk for 40% off and shipping was free.

These boots are currently in NC en route to my front porch.

Other boots I considered:

week of thanksgiving!

 Already giddy for Thanksgiving twenty-ten.  This is my FAVORITE holiday, let us be THANKFUL!

life in list form.

1. Had a weekend filled with fall festivities.  Beginning on Friday night we had a fall feast potluck dinner celebrating mine and Amanda's birthdays.  Saturday morning we went to Critter Creek Farm for their pumpkin patch.  It was something different to do and it was fun, but I was very frustrated with the treatment of the "critters" at this farm. What moron thinks it is appropriate to keep an ARCTIC fox in a tiny cage in ALABAMA's climate?  You so dumb. Fo' real.  I was also a little peeved that I paid 10 dollars for a warty pumpkin.  And it wasn't just me who got a pumpkin that looked like it was cursed with disease, no ALL of the pumpkins had terrible warts on them.  Regardless, it was a good trip.

2.  I love my Human Development class. The past couple of lectures have been about relationships, marriage, children, divorce, etc.  It fascinates me.  People fascinate me.

3. Dear Mother Nature,
You have gotten a lot of digs today (especially with all the angry Gleeks out to get ya) and I hate to kick you when you're down but I would be so appreciative of some cooler temps.  Breaking a sweat on your way to class on Oct. 25 just isn't cuttin it!
Signed,
A huge fan

4. I have three semesters left at Bama.  Only three.  Isn't that crazy?  Lately I have been feeling the pressure to make plans about where I want to go after undergrad.  I know I have to go to grad school (whoo-freaking-hoo) but I just don't know where.  Part of me wants to go somewhere new, fun, and different and part of me wants to retreat back to Birmingham because I know I love it there.  Wherever I end up, I want to escape the college town bubble.  I have enjoyed/ am enjoying my time here but once the 4 year sentence is up, it is dunzo.

5.  Fall break is this week.  Which translates into we have Friday off (some fall break, right?!) but I am excited because Jamie M, Rach, and I are going on the 2nd annual St. Mark college kid camping trip. 

These are some photos from last years trip.  We look straight off the runway, nothing brings out your natural beauty quite like sleeping outdoors.

thats all for now. have a fantastic week!

bling bling- pumpkin style.

I had been wanting to decorate the two small pumpkins I bought at Publix since I brought them home, which was a couple of weeks ago.  Originally my plan was to paint them, but all of my paint is at my hoover home and paint + brushes is too darn expensive.  So I went with what I think was an equally cute route, and definitely significantly cheaper..I glittered my pumpkins.  Yes, a little Elmer's and some gold glitter is all you need to add a little sparkle to your fall decor.

Enjoy your weekend everyone!

traveling thursday.

For any of you who know me well or at all, know that traveling is my passion.  I love seeing different cultures, different people, and different scenery.  Also there is nothing that makes you appreciate home more than being away from it for an extended period of time.  This being said, I have decided to theme my Thursday blog posts with the topic of traveling.  I am planning to post about trips I am planning, dream vacations, traveling quotes, and probably an entire post dedicated to Rick Steves (mine and Jamie's travel idol-he got us through all of Switzerland).

My first "Traveling Thursday" post is going to be about (drum roll please...) a spring break trip to New York that is currently in the making.  Right now it is in the very early planning stage and I am not even sure that my parents are on board yet, but us girls have our hearts set on it.

I have never been to New York and have always wanted to go.  There are so many great things about cities: tons of opportunities to people watch (clearly the first priority), non-sketchy public transportation, tons of walking, great food, and with a city like New York so many famous landmarks to see.  And in spring break the highs will probably be in the 50's which usually would not sit well with me, but I feel like if it wasn't cold we would not get the true "New York experience".

We would be driving. F I F T E E N hours in the car.  But as Kristen stated last night, "It won't be that bad as long as everyone acts normal".  True statement, because being in a car for 15 hours with 5 people is an environment for the truly sane.  But whatchu gonna do?  It's the cheapest route.

I want to see it ALL.  The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, see a Broadway show, go to a wax museum, Central Park, see sights where Friends and You've Got Mail were filmed, and duh, go to Times Square.  I can't wait to see the fast-paced life of a New Yorker and try my best to blend in with the crowd (yeah right, YALL).

Since the high will be in the 50's while we are there, winter wear will be a necessity.  Old Navy just happened to have this adorable pea coat, that could not look better than on the streets of NYC.

Tomorrow is Friday!  I feel like the weekends are vacations in and of themselves.  Enjoy yours.

artsy fartsy.

Blogger Friends, We are half way to the weekend!  This week hasn't been too terrible for me because I have not had any tests to study for (a first) but I am still counting down till Friday!

This past weekend was Homecoming and the rooms and I kicked it off by walking Sorority row critiquing the lawn decorations.  We both agreed we should be judges, and I'm personally offended they didn't bother to ask us.  But either way, our opinions were definitely shared.  Some were awesome, some were..uhh, not.  I enjoy Homecoming, but this year the game was so late it was hard to get into the spirit.  The friends I was sitting with agreed the slow tempo of the game was less than exciting so we left at halftime, vegged out on the couch and watched the rest of the game on tv while eating pound cake (that's my kind of fun).

Now, what I really want to talk about were my Sunday festivities.  Sunday was the Kentuck Art Festival and I volunteered with my friend Abi! We worked the artist hospitality tent, and I'll admit it was a little slow at first.  I kind of got my panties in a wad due to the lack of organization, but then we got escape the chaos of the tent and walk around to the different vendors offering snacks.  I was a much happy camper walking around and looking at the different booths.  All in all it was a great experience and all the artists' talent was incredible.  So jealous.  After we finished serving our time, we found a path to led to a bridge and decided to set up a little impromtu photoshoot.

This weekends agenda includes: a Friday night potluck feast, a pumpkin patch, and my dear friend Amanda's 20th Birthday party! And of course watching the Tennessee game!

Have a great rest of the week!

happy crafting.

Lately my mother has picked up the crafting hobby.  I encouraged her to quit her new job and start a crafting blog because I'm convinced she would bank but she refuses (wonder why).  This past weekend we got in the crafting mood and pulled out every crafting supply imaginable. You should see our dining room now.  Its like Hobby Lobby, Michael's, and Jo Ann's exploded up in thur..a crafter's heaven no doubt.

 The first craft I made was for Halloween.  I printed a vintage picture of the little girl with the jack-o-lantern and then went to town with ribbon, buttons, scrapbooking paper etc.

I pasted the paper on cardstock to make it more durable and hole punched it twice at the top to be able to hang it with ribbon.  It adds a nice touch of Halloween to my room!

 For the second craft I made a fall wreath out of fabric and a bent coat hanger.  I just cut the assorted fabric into 1 inch strips, each 8 inches long and tied them around the wreath.  It was simple, but cutting was time consuming.  I think it is a fun decoration for fall and want to get fabric to make a Christmas one!

Happy crafting everyone!