12.30.2009

tdg

I really love angry music when I'm working out. I'm not an angry person, but angry music all full of passion is exactly what amps me up for working out. Three Days Grace is currently my favorite. Gone Forever is a super angry song, and as soon as it comes on I'm energized and ready to work out. Haha, maybe I'm subconciously saying "I feel so much better now that you're gone forever" to the calories I'm burning.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

12.28.2009

photographer




















I've fallen in love with these images! They're so fun and romantic and all about the couple and they make me so happy! The ones in an office? They met at work. And some have their puppies with them and some are in their homes and I just love them. I also love how they include images in black tie attire. So dressed up and pretty! So, here's Axioo, and an obxious amount of images.

amazing

I would just like to point out that I can post blog posts from my iPod Touch. This is amazing. But will probably rarely be used because it's way faster typing on a full keyboard. Nonetheless, seriously AMAZING!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

key


So, remember a while back when I posted about the Tiffany & Co key necklaces that I'd fallen in love with but would never ever buy due to the fact that I can't make myself spend that much on jewelry for myself? Well, I now own one.

When I went with Phil's family to Cranberry Fest, on the way I flipped through a magazine next to Phil. He looked at some of it with me, and on one of those pages was an ad for the Tiffany keys. I mentioned something about how I thought they were awesome but would never get one because of the price tag. Phil asked me if I'd be mad if he got me one, in his usual joking voice that means he's not serious about what he's saying. I laughed and told him, yes, I'd be mad, but I'd probably get over it. And then put on the necklace and NEVER TAKE IT OFF.


I promptly forgot about the conversation, but apparently Phil didn't. And he picked out the same key that I'd have picked out for myself and gave it to me for Christmas. In a pretty little Tiffany blue box.


I have the best boyfriend in the whole world. And yes, I thought that before Christmas.

candies


Oh my, what Christmas does to one's waistline! But it's so okay because it's Christmas. And then after Christmas you can do squats and pushups and leg raises and lots of running to make up for it. Which is what I did today. But just look. Boxes full of goodies like these just makes it all so worth it.

12.24.2009

merry


Speaks for itself. :)

12.22.2009

college

I'm starting a new thing. A new reoccuring theme. Like my little thankful bits. These ones, however, are about college. And what I've learned in college over the last three and a half years, and what I'll continue to learn over the next year. One year! That's all I have left. It feels like such a relief. I'm sure I'll miss it when I'm gone, but as of now, I can't wait to be done.

Without further ado...something I've learned in college:

By comparison, I am a ridiculously fast test taker whether or not I am confident on the material. Four for four this semester, I was the first one done with my finals. And in many of those classes I was the first person done with all the tests we took that semester, with grades ranging from A's to C's. Has nothing to do with how well I know what I'm being tested on. What good that does me, I have no idea. But I learned it in college.

mugs


So, I get these emails from Anthropologie. And I LOVE Anthropologie. But Anthropologie happens to typically be quite expensive. So when I got this email and saw these amazing mugs, I ignored it, thinking they'd be far too expensive to justify buying. Fortunately, a few days later I caved and clicked on the link to find each mug is only EIGHT dollars. Which means I could justify getting the two I love the most(far left and far right). But I probably still won't get them for a while because well, it's Christmas, and Christmas is expensive. But seriously. I love them.

12.15.2009

sweets

Every year at Christmastime my mom goes a little crazy and makes it impossible to enter our kitchen at home without leaving a pound heavier. I love it. Not the pound heavier part, but the mass-amounts-of-sweets-at-my-disposal part. When I was in high school, we'd put together tins of goodies and I'd bring them to my teachers as a little Christmas present. Since graduating, I still bring them to some teachers. My choir teacher, because I love her, and my drafting teacher, because he's friends with my stepdad and my whole family loves him.

Now, the thing about my high school is they have awful awful office staff. Not all of them maybe, but the ones I dealt with yesterday definitely. They were rude, they ignored me and weren't willing to work with me at all to get these sweets to my teachers when neither of them were in class at the time. The best they could do was deliver the sweets to my teachers themselves. After a while they finally let me go see my choir teacher, but I couldn't see my drafting teacher because he was on a field trip.

Today I found out from my drafting teacher that while he was gone the ladies helped themselves to his treats.

Oh I don't think so. Are you KIDDING me? You treat me like CRAP and then STEAL his gift? They didn't eat it all, but really? That's infuriating. Next year there is no way they're delivering the treats. And I really don't think I'll have any problem telling them why that won't be the case.

12.14.2009

photographer







Honestly, I'm more in love with the clothing in this shoot than the actual photography. But Kellan Studios puts out some amazing work and I love visiting their site to see what's new!

behavior

So, in my Organizational Behavior class we had to do a "Personal Development Project" at the end of the semester. It was pretty open-ended...anything we wanted to do just so long as it involved what we learned from the semester.

I liked mine. Haha...that sounds conceited. But it's something I wrote, and normally the things I write mean something to me. We actually presented these, and I think it's better if you hear it. But I did write mine out, so I may as well share it.

---------------------------------

Through this class, I kept realizing how a lot of the theories include things that my parents applied with me all the time when I was growing up without either of us realizing they were doing it. Here's some of those concepts.

People like compliments. People like being recognized for the work they've done -- and they're willing to work harder when they know that someone's paying attention. Kids LOVE compliments, love being able to show you what they've accomplished. I know of a little girl who was coloring a picture for her sister, and she wrote on the top, "I love my sister, she is beautiful." She spelled the word beautiful right, and her mom was proud of her so she called her grandma to brag about the little girl's accomplishments. Later the little girl came home from school yelling to her mom about how she learned to pump her legs to swing and asking if they could call Grandma to tell her about it. People of all ages need to know that someone else cares and someone believes in them.

It's good to know what's going on. When my aunt and uncle were going through a divorce, one of the things the child advocate for my cousin stressed was getting him into a routine so he'd know what to expect and when he'd be with mom and when he'd be with dad. I remember when I was little, like 4 or 5, before we went anywhere my mom would say, "okay, remember, we're going to leave at this time, so no whining when it's time to go, okay?" And when it was getting close to being time to leave my mom would remind me I had about ten minutes left to play. I didn't feel like my mom was pulling me away from my friends because I knew what to expect.

Granted, as adults, we've gotten a little better at adapting to change -- but no matter what age we are, knowing expectations makes things easier. I've switched my major twice, and during those times when I realized what I was going to school for wasn't right and that I needed to change I felt lost until I sat down and figured out a new route and new expectations. Which leads to...

Goals are important. I started setting New Year's Resolutions when I was in grade school. I've known what goals are for years -- but their importance is so much greater at this point in my life than it was when my goals were to beat the next level in Mario Kart. Knowing how goals should be specific and measurable and attainable helps me create goals to get me where I want to be in five years when there isn't a clear path from one grade to the next for me to follow.

Often, when we're little, our parents are the coolest people alive. And then we reach our teenage years and our parents fall off that pedestal and become frustrating when they're trying to help us learn harder life lessons than learning to pump our legs to swing or spell the word beautiful. We don't understand why we can't do something we want to because we don't have the knowledge to, or because we're upset with them, and sometimes we don't understand because our parents might actually be at fault. But they're doing the best they can at the hardest job they'll ever have because they love us. When we're bratty teenagers who give nothing back, they're still giving for us.

Remembering that about parents gave me greater respect for leaders. Leaders aren't comparable to parents in all ways -- but leading is a lot of giving and not always a lot of getting. It's dealing with everyone's frustrations in addition to their own, it's motivating everyone around them without having anyone behind them to keep them motivated, it's doing the best they can for the organization and it's making mistakes without knowing how to fix them.

This class helped remind me that whether I'm in a leading position or not, I should remember that leading is hard and honorable, and a job worthy of respecting.

12.11.2009

ditto


I'm really not sure if it's possible to look at this picture and not smile. Haha.

12.09.2009

learning


Know what else is exciting about snow days? You discover things you didn't know before. Like how to make pictures bigger on your blog. Check it out, they're huge!

This is my Christmas PINK puppy. I got him free. I put away my other puppy that's pink and blue for the Christmas season and put out this sparkly, love one. He's more appropriate for this time of year.

attire


Remember how I wanted Victoria's Secret super comfy and adorable pajamas? Yeah, well, they're expensive. So instead, I used my $10 off at Aerie and got a pair of Christmas pajama shorts for five dollars. And I happened to wear them last night. So on this fantastic snow day, I'm wearing them, a black tank top and a green shirt, and these fantastic thigh high socks I got at Target. They're socks! But they keep your whole leg warm! So you can wear them when it's cold with cute Christmas pajama shorts and not need a blanket! Brilliant.

cling


Turns out Amanda has better photo opportunities on her windows. Look at the pretty snowflake clings!

text


My photography boss also happens to work as a snow removal man. That means in the middle of a snow storm it's his job to be outside all night moving it around. He texted me this monring near eleven to tell me he's going slightly crazy from the lack of sleep.

tea


Perfect way to warm up after shoveling, a little peppermint tea in my favorite mug!

snow



Snow day! This happens like once every 15 years at UWGB. And I get to experience one of them! This is thrilling.

You know what's exciting about a whole foot of snow being plopped outside your door? Your workout changes from whatever it may have been that day to shoveling! My workout today was a seasonal one! It's so much more fun than just the normal stuff.

My day is consisting of many amazing things that I'll be posting about throughout the day. Sadly, it will also consist of some icky homework, but at least I have a lot of time to do it and can mix in happy things throughout the day too.
And so begins the picture parade!

nails



I found a new nail color that I love. I'd been noticing the trend in magazines, and this weekend I bought Sally Hansen's Cafe Au Lait. It's neutral but still pretty.

12.06.2009

all

I love the song You Are My All In All. I always have. It's simple. Everyone's heard it a hundred times. But the words are so good.

You are my strength when I am weak, You are the treasure that I seek, You are my all in all.
Seeking You as a precious jewel, Lord to give up I'd be a fool, You are my all in all.
Taking my sin, my cross, my shame, rising again I bless Your name, You are my all in all.
When I am down You pick me up, when I am dry You fill my cup, You are my all in all.

At Christmastime, I'm finding, "You are the treasure that I seek" to be all that more important. It's so easy to get caught up in searching for the perfect gift to get someone and thinking about what you might get for Christmas. It's fun and okay to be excited about making people happy with the things that you get for them, and it's even okay to be happy about gifts you're given. But above all, the most important treasure we should be searching for this season is the reason there's a season at all.

How incredible is the gift of friendship that we've been given in Jesus -- the one who more than fulfills every definition of the word friend? I'm continually thankful for that friendship that gives reason to every joy in my life, supports me when I am weak, forgives me every sin, guides me through every trouble -- and is my all in all.

12.05.2009

grey






For Jilane's wedding I get to pick out any pair of grey shoes I want to wear. This prospect is super exciting to me and I've already searched a lot of sites online, though ordering shoes offline makes me a little nervous so I'm going to shop in the store first.

Because her wedding is in March, I want boots. If my feet get cold the rest of me is soon to follow, so I want to be able to keep them as warm as possible. Jilane's wearing boots with her dress too! I also want heels, partly because I'm standing up with girls who are taller than me and partly because heels make me feel pretty!

All three of these options are less than $30! Happy days. Granted, they're probably not the most comfortable pair of shoes out there, but now that I've discovered Dr. Scholl's has the ability to make basically any pair of shoes comfortable, problem is solved.

Mom and I are going shopping this week. We'll see what I can find in stores before I order offline!

12.02.2009

swept


Back in September I blogged about the perfect wedding dress that I had found on someone else's blog. Since then I've probably found about six other ones that I'd also be in love with.

Something I'm pretty sold on though, is the little veil this bride is wearing. I love the pretty little just-over-the-face veils(I'm sure there's a more technical term but I don't know it), they're pretty but they're not in your way. I also really, really like flowers in hair, particularly a big, beautiful off white one like this bride has.

If I were to get married tomorrow, I'd love my hair swept up in a bun with those elements just like this bride has.



**clicking on the picture makes the details much easier to see!**

pretty

I discovered a new blog today. It's called Style Me Pretty. I've fallen in love with it. It's all ideas for brides, and the last few posts have been about a project they did. It's called From Inspiration to Reality, and it's where they take an inspiration board and let different designers go at it and make a beautiful 'wedding' out of it. And the final product was amazing. These pictures are unfortunately shrunk down, so click over to Style Me Pretty to see the large images.


Some of the great things about this wedding:
-- the old postal boxes. instead of a guest book, these guests were asked to write a little letter to the couple and slide it in one of the boxes. how great is that?
-- the 'kissing booth'. there's signs that say "pucker up!" it makes me smile.
-- the dessert table isn't just the cake. it goes with and ABC theme, there's apple turnovers, bon bons, cupcakes, and donuts!


It's outside. with mismatched old tables and dressers. And there's a SWING. A beautiful old swing made with rope and a slab of wood.
It's completely romantic. I love the flowers in lots of vases.


It almost makes me want to throw out my life-long dream of a fall wedding for lots of pastel colors and flowers everywhere. Almost.