January Favorites.

Hey y'all!

It's been a chilly January so far here in Crown Town, but I'm loving it! I love some cold weather, even though I complain about it. I mean hey, I complain about any weather. It's not even two weeks into the new year, but I already have some favorites to share with you all!

But first, I have a post coming soon that is an "edition" of an older post I've done in the past! I'm super excited to share it with you guys, but you'll have to wait on that one for now.

Let the favorites begin!

1. Starbucks Discoveries Iced Coffee

I don't know if I'm late to the game or what- I'm not even sure how long these things have been out, but I love them! At least I love the Vanilla Latte one. I picked up a carton last week at Target and I'm hooked! They're about $5, but that's how much I pay for one vanilla latte at Starbucks. I've already gotten four drinks out of one carton and there's still more in there! Try it out for yourself- I'm trying the macchiato next!

2.  2015 Planner

I'm loving my new planner for this year! I've already written homework assignments and work hours in it and I can't wait to use it some more. It has also put me in a planning mood! *cue the drum roll* My roommate Laura and I will be traveling to New York and Washington DC for our spring break in March! We are both so excited. I cannot wait to blog all about it! If you need some inspiration to plan your own NYC trip, we're using the picture below! Thank you, Pinterest.

3. Laptop Freebie!



I was browsing through the internet looking for a new laptop background and I found this cute little number! I love it, so optimistic and encouraging! You can have it (here.) It brightens up your desk space instantly. I found it on The Nectar Collective. I hope my blog is half as good as it one day!

These are just a few of my favorite things this month. I hope they inspire you too! Thanks for reading and stay tuned for future posts!

DIY End Table

I promised to share with you all how my brother and I built our mom's book end table for Christmas! Bear with me as I explain because I am not "tool savvy," but I will do my best to explain all of the directions very clearly. Here goes nothing!

Materials:

- About 12 hardback novels, varying in thickness

- One 3 foot rebar rod, you will have to cut off excess

- 2 wooden blocks for bottom of table, added for balance

- 1 bag of nuts

- 1 bag of washers

- Wrench

- Drill (w/ paddle bit)

- 4 screws

- Saw, to cut excess rebar

- Palm sander

Steps:

1. Gather all of your materials together. Stack your novels up to the height you want your table to be. You may have to add 1 or 2 books (at the end).

2. Drill holes through the centers of the books with your paddle drill. The holes should be the size that the rebar rod is round (1/2" I believe).

3. Put a nut and washer at the very bottom of the rebar rod, then slide the first novel onto the rod.

4. After each novel is added to the rod, put a nut and washer between each. Repeat this process until the last novel is added. Only put a washer on top of the last novel. This is to keep the book flat against the table top.

5. Cut the wood for the table top to the size you want it to be, then sand it with the palm sander for a smooth surface.

6. Drill a hole through the center of the table top and add it to the rebar on top of the books. Secure it with a nut and washer.

7. Screw the two wooden blocks to the bottom of the first novel. This will give your table extra support.

8. Tighten all nuts and washers with the wrench. This will lessen the height of your table, you may have to add 1 or 2 books now.

9. After everything has been adjusted and secured, cut the excess rebar off with the saw. Make sure the nut and washer that are on the table top are tightened as well. Voila, you have a table!

After the steps above are completed, your table should look like ours in the picture above! Please note that the two books on the table top are decoration, not apart of the books that the rebar runs through. I hope these instructions are clear enough and are helpful if you want to make a table of your own!

*The only thing I didn't like about this table project is that you can see the nut and washer on top of the table. Fortunately, it's easy to cover up in the end!

Christmas in the New House!

For starters, Happy New Year everyone! I am so excited to see what 2015 has in store!

Christmas break has went by so fast and it is almost time for me to head back to Charlotte. I am actually really excited to begin my new classes for the semester! I am starting classes this semester that are specifically for my major and I'm anxious to see how they turn out. This Christmas was a DIY (Do It Yourself) fest! My brother and I made my mom a book end table, my dad a bottle opener, and we took sibling pictures for both of them. I will be blogging a 'how to' for the end table, but for now, I will show you pictures because everything turned out so great!

We took this picture around Thanksgiving break. It is in the Japanese Gardens at UNCC. It was so hard to keep it a secret from mom and dad! We surprised them with sibling pictures in 2012, but we wanted some updated ones for their offices!

Mom's book end table. I thank Pinterest for the idea, but Drew and I made it a reality! It looks so great in Mom's new office!

Dad's bottle opener for the man cave! Pinterest is also to thank for the idea. This one was a quick project, but it turned out awesome! It is also Daddy's 45th birthday this coming week!

These past few weeks have been so nice at home. I am so happy we were able to celebrate Christmas in the new house this year! I loved it and all of the decorations. Speaking of the new house, I have some updated pictures to show y'all of the decorating mom and I have done over the last couple of weeks. Everything has turned out so nicely and it is coming together!

My room is up first! Click on the image to make it larger. Since I've been home, we've added the octopus above the bed, the curtains, a few throw pillows, and my nightstand and TV stand. I'm not quite done with the walls yet, but it's looking good.

This nightstand is one of my favorite DIY's. It was a pale blue color before. I used a palm sander and sanded the blue down in spots to show the original wood. Then I went back and painted it turquoise, then sanded it one more time. Easy as pie!

I'm all about accessorizing a nightstand. The seashell lamp is from my Nana, my mom made the 'to the beach' picture and framed it, then I added a picture of my mom on her wedding day, plus a few books.

I did the TV stand in the same way I painted and sanded the nightstand. I'm in awe of the way they both turned out! I didn't expect them to come out so well. Mom added the rectangular knobs to them to give it that extra touch!

This is a temporary decoration. I wanted a basket overflowing with throw blankets, but that's hard to do when you only have about 2 of them. So I put a throw pillow, blanket, and a couple of canvas paintings in there as a place holder for the moment. I love the anchor against the basket!

Next is the dining room! If y'all remember in the last post, we did not have a dining room table yet. Mom and dad looked everywhere for a farm table, but they were too expensive or not quite right. Dad ended up building one for mom and it is perfect for the space! Mom made a basket wall behind it and it really ties the space together. Now she's looking for two Captain's chairs for the ends of the table to finish the look.

Mom's office/library is one of my favorite rooms in the house. She really decorated this space well and if you know her, this space screams her name when you walk in! Click the image to make it larger.

The living room is another awesome area. Dad put built-in shelves in there and they are decorated awesomely. One of my favorite parts is the senior picture wall to the very right. I love it! Click on the image to make it larger.

Last is mom and dad's bedroom. Mom did a great job with this room as well. I love the 'His and Hers' pillow on the bed and the white ginger jar lamps! Click on the image to make it larger.

We still have a lot of wall decorations to hang, but everything is looking great! I'm excited to come home and see what else mom and dad have done. It is feeling more and more like home everyday!

On a side note, I do have a New Year's resolution! I want to use a planner this year and semester. I went to the store yesterday and picked out a super cute planner that will hopefully keep me motivated to use it! I already put my work schedule in it and ordered a monogram to go on the front- yes, I did!

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and New Year! Thanks for reading!

New House! New House!

It's December y'all!

This has to be my most favorite month of the year! It holds the most wonderful time of the year and it's best time for decorating a girl can ask for! I went home over the weekend and my parents had moved into the new house- at least partially. There are plenty of boxes left to be unpacked, but we got the most important ones unpacked first: THE CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS!

We have a beach themed Christmas this year and everything turned out so beautifully! We went to Callahan's and bought a bunch of starfish and sand dollars to put all over the tree and living room. We also stocked up on 75% off beachy ornaments last year during the after Christmas sales and put them to good use this year!

We also decorated the mantel with burlap stockings, garland, starfish, ornaments, and lights. It was so cozy in there with the fire going! We glammed-up the stockings later with some cute little gold bows!

The blue jeweled starfish is one of my favorite ornaments on the tree! My mom walked the beach last year and collected seashells, she put little hooks in them to hang on the tree. We also added turquoise and gold ornaments for a sea and sand feel.

We have seashell garland wrapped all around the tree and sand dollars hanging on some branches. Mom DIY'd some starfish and glued some twine in a loop on them to hang on the tree!

I found a box of Christmas decorations in the garage and it consisted of our Christmas pictures we put out every year. Mom found some trays and we put the pictures and a mini tree on the trays on the island in the kitchen! It turned out so cute.

One of my favorites!

We ended the holiday decorating on the porch with garland wrapped banisters and a wreath on the front door! But, that's not where all of the decorating stopped.

Dad put together the new bar stools for mom! They look so good. The island is so big and spacious too! I'm loving the bead board. Ahh, the wonders of a new house.

Mom scored some really cute curtains at Kirkland's on a great sale! This is the dining room- well eventually it will be. We're waiting to come across a farm table to put in the space. The curtains are throughout the living room, office space, and dining room!

After almost a year of selling a house and building a new one, a pretty good collection of throw pillows has been gathered. It's a good thing because:

1. Mom and dad purchased a new couch on Black Friday and we had the pillows to match!

2. We will never have to worry about buying throw pillows ever, ever again.

A throw pillow closet has been assembled. Now, to unpack the rest of the them.

Lastly, we decorated the bathrooms! All thanks to TJ Maxx! They have the fluffiest rugs and I got an adorable fabric shower curtain on sale for $10!

Obviously, a matching hamper was a must!

Rugs for mom and dad's bathroom were purchased as well! A matching one was put in the guest bathroom and I love the pattern.



I can't wait to see what else mom does with the place. No decorations have been put on the walls yet, but it's only a matter of time before mama gets a hammer in her hand! I hope you all are just as excited about the impending holidays as I am. I can't wait to wrap some presents and put them under the tree!

#TheStruggleBus

If anyone is unfamiliar with what the "struggle bus" is....it's a real thing. It's in the family of "procrastination station" and "hot mess express." You could be struggling with your class work load, getting out of bed on a Monday morning, or even just doing one productive thing a day. Yes- it's that real and it takes you captive when it hits!

I am an avid passenger of the struggle bus. I have a hard time giving myself enough time to do my school work- granted, I always get it finished, but usually in a rush. I believe a lot of us board the bus towards the end of the semester, so I've come up with some tips to give up your seat!

1.  Plan

This sounds easy enough, but I am no more a planner than the next hot mess. Most of the time, I find myself looking at my classes Moodle page and wondering OMG, when did that assignment get posted?! Anywho- make sure you're checking your syllabi frequently and your class homepages. Some professors don't email regularly- so cover all of your bases!

Here are a few of really cute printable planning sheets to try:
- Project Planner
- Weekly Planner
- To-Do List

2.  Self-Motivation

I'm usually more of a Grande girl

If you're not in a time-crunch, motivate yourself with that next episode on Netflix or a nice hot cup of coffee (that always works for me). Get an assignment or two finished, then take a quick break. You can't stare at your computer screen or textbook for too long because it drains you. I can physically feel my soul die a little bit when I have to read 12 chapters from a book and then write a research paper on it. Give yourself a little reward for some progress made on that to-do list!

3. Go Home

The 'rents

I know what you're thinking...why? Do you remember when you were in high school and you had to complete your senior project? Where did you work on it at? Who helped motivate you? Where were you when you had it completely finished and had to practice it for an audience? Home! Or at least somewhere near there. Sometimes you just need to go home and be with your family. You might just need to sprawl out in your room with your laptop and textbooks and just be in your own zone. I did a lot of my homework at our dining room table where I could just sit at whatever seat I wanted and get my work done. It was my little space. Sometimes you need that familiarity to help check things off of your list!

I know everyone is so ready for the first semester to be over, I am for sure! We're moving in to the new house this weekend and I couldn't be more excited to come home to a brand new bedroom! I'm going to be blogging about the new house and decorating for Christmas over Thanksgiving break- be on the look out for a post. I hope everyone has a fantastic Thanksgiving holiday!

What are you Wearing this Season?

Okay, okay- I have been way off of my blogging game this school year. It's not intentional! It's just hard to find time to sit down and give myself an hour or so to write a post. BUT- I have a feeling this post will be good, so keep reading if you're willing!

Over the past two weeks, I have taken pictures of a few outfits that have been my absolute favorite of this Fall season so far. I want to share them with you all who might need a little inspiration or some ideas! This time of year is what I live for. The leaves, the hot coffee, the holiday movies, the Christmas trees, the Christmas music, the snacks, the weather, family time, the scarves, the boots...you get my point. It's my thing and I try to do it better every year! Including, making my wardrobe better to fit the season and invest in some pieces that will last longer than this Fall. Anyway, let me show you what I mean!

This first outfit includes an essential piece that should be in everyone's closet, boys and girls. Chambray, or denim. The denim shirt I have on is from Dress Barn, go figure. But, I just invested in yet another from Old Navy on a great sale. Chambray pairs so well with any pattern scarf, any color bag, any color pants, and boots! They are so easy to dress up and rock. Love, love, love. Of course, I paired it with a cup of coffee, this Target bag (which I scored for $8!), and one of my favorite scarves! The polka dots break up the look because I was wearing denim shirt on denim jean this day.

Tip: If you wear denim on denim, make sure your jeans are darker or lighter than your shirt is. We don't want any 1990's flashbacks.

Pinterest is also here to help! Here's some more ways to style a denim shirt:



          

Ensemble Two:

Plaid is something that should be required for Fall! I got this shirt from, ahem, Aeropostale. But, before you start your judging process, it was only $10 and they have really stepped up their game in the clothing department. It's no longer all about the polos and graphic tee's- that brings back so many middle school memories. I paired this shirt with the long gray sweater (feat. here), a Mayan calendar necklace from a Mexico trip, and of course the usual coffee. Plaid is quick and easy. It can also be combined with almost anything in your closet!

Check these combinations out:

     

Next outfit of choice:

Today, I traded a coffee for an umbrella...but, this striped top and blue cargo vest made up for the dreary weather! This top is from Goodwill and the vest is from a new store that opened at home called Versona. If you haven't heard of it, it's like a Charming Charlie's. It has a ton of clothes and accessories that are pretty reasonably priced! The vest was $13 on sale! I also added my monogram necklace for a little personal touch and the previous Target bag.

Pinterest perfect ideas:

My last idea for a Fall must-have is a little surprising to me and if you know me, it's probably surprising to you as well! I got a camouflage cargo jacket....I know, let that sink in. I'll give you a minute.

It was at Old Navy for $20 and I was very hesitant at first. Could I really see myself in camo? Well, it turns out that I could and believe it or not...it matches almost every outfit I have! Camo isn't just about hunting anymore- apparently there's some stylish aspect to it!

It has a really cool fit and draw strings to cinch it at the waist. If you're still in shock, it's okay because so am I. What can I say? I really love it! You can check it out here.

Pinspiration:



 



*Tip: When wearing your camo jacket, make sure it has some shape to it. Don't buy one too oversized that it swallows you when your wearing it.

Well, there you go folks! I hope you thought these were some really cute ideas- I love getting inspiration from Pinterest and other bloggers! Fall is the best time of year- it's the easiest time for me to pick out an outfit and scoot out of the door- not forgetting my coffee of course! I hope everyone isn't getting too stressed out about the upcoming holidays. I am so excited to get home and spend time with my family! Also, getting finals out of the way would be fantastic too. Thanks for reading and being patient with me- have an awesome week! Happy Monday!