Update!

Since my last blog post I have:

Turned 25.

Survived mid-terms.

Broken a rib.

Made lots of things.

Opened an Etsy shop that I never post products in because school owns me.

Gone on a couple of fun trips with my sweet fella who I love more than cake with buttercream frosting and stilletto heels.

Developed an unhealthy addiction to Pintrest.

Written about 35 katrillion things down for grades on subjects that I don't like.

Realized that it's 4 weeks until finals.

Chewed all my nails off after realization set in.

Then cried.

Rinse and repeat.

Isabella has:

Completed her first entire season of soccer.

Went trick-or-treating as the most adorable Cinderella I have ever seen.

Made lots of things.

Won a trophy that she loves to hold up in the air.

Changed her mind about soccer and wants to be a musician.

Contracted some creepy bumps from being around other children at preschool. (supposedly this is normal?!)

Got them burned off.

Got more creepy bumps.

Was briefly traumatized.

Is fine now, watching Wow Wow Wubzy in my bed and has really dirty feet.

There's more, a whole lot more...but for some reason I'm having trouble remembering much beyond my full name right now, and considering how long my name is, that feels like an accomplishment.

We have definitely been busy little bees...and now that it is November it's about to get even busier! We have officially started our holiday crafting. So bring on the fingernails coated in glitter and glue, the paint on my jeans, and the modge-podge in my hair. I'm so ready. Bring it on. BRING IT ON I TELL YA! Erm..sorry, I have an awkward tendency to get overly excited about anything regarding Christmas.

It's tradition, every year I make handprint turkeys with my gal. This year though, Isabella did everything herself . She's very proud of signing her name, though, I guess we need to work on writing the 's' in the right direction. These cute little gobblers will soon be winging their way to family members as a little Thanksgiving greeting.

This is today, this very afternoon. She broke my heart because she didn't want me to go to school, so I promised her that when I got home we would do a craft, and as soon as I walked in the door, she was ready :) I have been saving her shoeboxes to make "treasure chests" and today seemed like the perfect day to break 'em out and get 'em started. She concentrated very hard and has decided to give them as gifts which broke my heart wide open again because this little girl just loves to give things to people. Oh, notice the red on her cheek? Yeah. Markers. Not such a great idea.

I can't wait to get started on CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS!!!! Erm...sorry again. I can't seem to curb this urge to yell when it comes to the mere mention of Christmas. I guess some things you just never grow out of.

More shtuff

Some more ''shtuff'' that I have been crafting. Earrings that I fashioned out of those 97 cent buttons! I just cut the shank off the back of the button, then used a heavy duty jewelry glue and glued it to an earring post...and voila! I love these earrings. I love how easy it is to make them and I love how vintage they look.

Special thanks to my girlfriend for lending an ear for these photos...HA! I crack myself up.

I'm really trying to get my craft on right now...School starts back in less than two weeks and I'm carrying 19 hours this semester. Something tells me I won't have time to make much of anything unless it's graded.

Just stuff

I've been lazy lately, which typically would suit me just fine...but I've been feeling a pressing need to be productive before school starts back. I have been working hard to try and improve my applique skills. This is a practice shirt I made the other day...I take a picture every time to document my progress...but boy howdy I wasn't prepared for how much my baby's face ages and changes in just short weeks :(

She has completely lost her baby face and is morphing into full-on kid phase :( I'm just not ready. I just birthed her...she just learned to sit up on her own! This just can't be happening.

Being a mommy is a cruel kind of blessing. It hurts and feels good all at the same time.

Lately it seems like a big ole storm cloud of Tremendous Life Stress has been hovering over me. I've done well to shoulder it, and I've always been rather proud of handling things on my own...but slowly and surely my sweet fella has stepped in to be of assistance. He knew better than to swoop in and play hero. My stubborn nature would have immediately balked at that...but he has slowly been inching in and shouldering some of my worries, taking care of little things here and there because he said he didn't want me to go through things on my own. He has patiently and steadily dealt with my insecurities and loved me through it all. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

But that's a whole other blog post :)

Winter in July

I don't fancy the heat. It's not my favorite. Give me a blustery fall day, with autumn leaves swirling in the wind...or a frigid winter afternoon with snowflakes tickling my nose. But please...hold the wilting heat, what's the point? It's not enjoyable, and it makes me frowny.

I looked through some photos from January/February and it cheered me up quite a bit.

This is the most peculiar tasting lemon-flavored snow I believe I have ever tried...

Misc.

I'm home alone for the weekend. Typically I relish some alone time...but my parents live in the boonies and their darned dog barks at loud motorists and darkness.

Ima a little skeered here by myself at night.

I have been distracting myself by browsing Etsy...and I want these.

Earrings are a real weakness.


I put Isabella to bed roughly and hour ago...and I can still hear her upstairs running laps around her room. It makes me giggle that she thinks if her light is out, then I can't hear her. It sounds like a buffalo is tap dancing over my head.

I'm about to turn on some of these guys

I could never get tired of them.

Am I the only old-fashioned fart that still goes out and purchases an actual cd of the band I love? Something about physically owning it feels better to me than just having it on a playlist on some device. I am very old-fashioned.

I get on my nerves.

I love record stores and I was sad when my Blockbuster went out of business. I also have an irrational fear of road-side produce stands becoming obsolete.

I rented (yes, rented. As in, went out, browsed and procured) a couple of movies tonight, so in the words of my dear friend from Washington "Now is the time for brownies!''

Who?!

Today was one of those days.

I turned on the TV while I made Isabella and myself some dinner...she got quiet, too quiet. So I peeked around the corner and saw this...

Now, what has her so enamored? I busted out laughing when I saw what it was...

Why, the good Doctor, of course! I had turned on a little Dr. Who to enjoy while I ate my dinner...I never dreamed Isabella would take to it so much. She and I sat for over an hour watching it together. It makes me so happy to have her enjoy a little various and sundry geekery with me :)

Stuff and nonsense.

The sewing project I completes about...oh, ten minutes ago. I made one for Isabella and one for my niece, Sophia. I am officially addicted to applique. It rocks my world.

The things that perpetuate my nightstand. I would like to point out that the planner is NOT because I fancy myself so popular and important...but because my daughter is busier than I am and I suffer from occasional bouts of mommy-brain moments where I forget stuff. Chocolate (one is opened and half eaten, yep.) The two books I have neglected because I became so enthralled with reading The Help, and a framed picture of me and the love of my life at a baseball game.

Sidenote: This framed picture was gifted to me by the man himself...I went on a trip with my family, and when I returned I was greeted with a bag brimming with good chocolate and this framed picture. All together now ''awwwwwww"

He does stuff like that for Isabella too. He likes to ''spoil his girls''

He doesn't have any brothers...sorry.

My favorite magazine to flip through.

My four all-time favorite things I found for $1

1. Red polka-dot Nine West clutch. Inside is a chain you can use if you're not in the clutchin' mood. I swoon.

2. Vintage silver spoons I found at an antique shop in the Ozarks. I'm putting them in a shadow box, which will one day hang in my kitchen.

3. Laser buttons. I love these! They have 30's looking faces on them. I will use them to spruce up a cardigan for Isabella this fall.

4. Vintage hankies. I go ape-bananas over vintage hankies. I have about a dozen of them and dream of sewing one of those vintage hankerchief banners.

Things I keep in my purse or on my person:

1. Envirosax reusable shopping bags. They are awesome. Get some. These particular bags are adorable, they are in pastel colors and have recipes and cleaning tips on them along with cute pictures. The website has SO MANY styles to choose from. I want more. I'm greedy, albeit conscious of the environment.

2. GermX wipes. I had an entire bag-full given to me by my dearest friend and college mate after I embarrassed her by wiping down our desks every morning. I will say, neither she nor I ever got the flue that year.

They live in my purse and always will. And all God's people said Amen.

3. A pocket dictionary. What? I have a thing about dictionaries. There's nothing more humiliating than the mispelling or the mispronouncing...or *visible shudder* the misuse of a word. I have a dictionary app. on my phone too...but what if the battery died?!

A few things I obsess over. Burts Bees tinted lip balm, adds a touch of color and keeps my lips super soft. Persian Rose perfume, I have only been able to find it at Earthfare, but I adore the scent, it is lovely and light and smells just like a rose. I'm almost out which makes me sad. Lastly, grey nail polish. I love this grey nail polish. It is sleek and shiny and makes me feel hip. It actually lasts a few days before chipping and it's a neutral so it goes with everything...double score!

My two favorite articles of jewelry. My feather earrings and the pendent necklace which is actually my mom's...I have adopted it and am hoping she won't notice until the papers are signed and things are official.

What I am sewing for myself right now. I'm a sucker for vintage style clothing patterns. I'm currently making the black one on the left out of turquiose linen.

Make it so.

I think a lot in the summer.

Summer evenings in the south are among the most cherished times of my life. It's such a nostalgic time for me. Not only does it hold dear memories of becoming a mother for the first time, but the combined ingredients of the balmy air, the fireflies, the cicadas singing their everlasting anthem and the occasional smell of the garden drifting up to greet me on the porch swing...all of this, it breeds thoughts in my soul. Not the fleeting kind, but the kind that creep into your head and nest there, the kind that trigger personal reflection and encourage growth, the shaping kind.

I am content.

This has been the forefront of my thoughts.

Con*tent; (ken-tent) adj. Satisfied. Easy in mind.

I feel like it's pretty incredible that I am able to say this. I have things in my life that infuriate me, things that I wish I could sweep under the rug, things that just aren't fair. But that is just what they are...things.

We spend our lives living inside our own minds, but yet most of the time we don't know ourselves at all. I find that gradual process of acqainting oneself with one's psyche very fascinating. I like to imagine this as a life-long process, one that grows and ages much like the human body. It has taken me years of clumsy learning, but I think I have finally figured out one small facet, and that is how to set apart the ugly in my life so as to not have it bleed into my joys.

And I have so many joys.

I know that I am hopelessly flawed and always will be because I am human, I recognize in myself the weaknesses that I hate so much and I know that there are seventy-times-seven more of those for me to learn in my future. But without weakness there wouldn't be strength, and flaws and features go hand-in-hand. So I choose to focus on the latter of the two, because the others just make me feel frowny.

I am revelling in this summer.

The summer I became just a little more shaped. The summer I realized that I actually like who I am. The summer I realized with a blunt force just exactly what it is I want in life. The summer I learned how to prioritize the ones who matter most. The summer I found a love that leaves me in awe and makes me feel as big as the whole wide world.

The summer I discovered content.

Happy Father's Day!

Lemme tell you a little bit about my dad.

First of all, I blame him for why I am so picky about my fellers. He set the standard for how I expect to be treated. My entire life I have watched him wake up every morning and go to work to provide for his family, all the while expressing undying love and faithful devotion to my mom. So the bar is pretty high for the dude in my life.

Plus he has always brought all of his girls Godiva chocolates on special occasions.

Truth is, I have a spectacular set of parents. I could write pages about both of them, but this year in particular I'm noticing how each one is spectacular to me in their own way.

This year has been pretty tough on Isabella. She was confused and pretty mad at me. She took the divorce in stride, but I saw her mourn the loss of her normalcy, and the questions and intuitive comments have been more than a little off-putting. I worried a lot about her having that stable day-to-day father figure that is so important in a little girl's life.

I shouldn't have worried though, because my dad immediately stepped up to the plate and has been there every day. Offering all those important little things a girl needs from her dad. Morning cartoons, snuggles, sneaking her off to buy bags full of candy, playing outside, important life lessons...

He also grills the perfect steak.

This is what I wake up to most Saturday mornings.

Through all of the upheaval and tumultuous instability of the past year, he has been steady as an oak for us. Offering advice, words of wisdom, love and support. Taking care of us, providing for us, and encouraging me to keep my head up and plow through school.

In short, being the perfect example of a true southern gentleman.

An ode to Nutella

Sweet Nutella, there aren't enough words to say,
How you complete me in so many ways.

Even though you kind of resemble baby doodie,
You're off the hook, 'cause you sooth me when I'm PMS'ing and moody.

I often like you best piled on my strawberries,
If they offered a Nutella spa treatment, I'd have nary a hairy.

Sometimes I struggle getting my toddler to eat,
But spread on bread, you turn this struggle into a feat.

Oh, the places your sweet bounty can be spread...
I'd best stop thinking such foodie thoughts in my head.

More often than not I eat you straight out of the can,
Sometimes I think you're better than a man.

You're only rival indeed may be bacon,
Put the two of you together, and sweet foodie love we be makin'

I eat you on a spoon, on toast, on my waffles,
You give me a chocolate mustache 'til I look like John Stossel.

I would continue spouting my love and adoration,
But all of these foodie thoughts is causing hungry agitation.

So alas, I leave to procure a sweet snack,
But fret not my Nutella, for I will be back.

Homesteadin'

After spending eleven days with her dad, Isabella was very eager to get home to her crops. This farmstead comes to a screeching halt without her diligent overseeing. One of her favorite evening past times is assisting Lovie and Granddaddy in the gardens. At precisely this time last year, we excitedly collected caterpillars and put them in jars to document their phenomenal metamorphosis. No one was more excited than I, when we woke up one morning and watched them unfold their wet little velvet wings. It amazes me every single time.

This year we're leaving them in their natural habitat, but Isabella was quick to point out each specimen :)

She made my soul grin real big when she came out of her room sporting her ''work boots'' She clunked downstairs as fast as she could, snatched a popsicle (girls got her priorities, after all) and went outside to supervise the watering. She struck a few poses for me.

She's a ham.

I heard tell it's a hereditary trait, but I'm not a ham at all. Only on days that end in 'Y'

Melons! I biologically researched the soil, constructed the trellis, and planted the melons myself.

Really, I did.

Okay, fine. Sike.

But I did sit on the porch and offer moral support while my mom cursed her way through the building of the trellis skeleton. That's got to count for something. And I did read an article in the bathroom about the chemistry of soil.

On second thought, maybe you didn't want to know that.

Help me! I'm an over-sharer.

Happy Birthday sweet gal 'O mine.

This is Isabella last year on her third birthday. Notice the chubby toddler cheeks?

Boom.

This was taken Monday evening on her fourth birthday. I wept a little when I compared the two photos...how is that she can look so much more grown up in just one short year?!

Currently she is very much into the movie Cars, anything crafty, twinkle-toes shoes, going to the movies, working in the garden, hosting Olivia tea parties, playing her drum set and reading. She writes her name, reads small words, counts everything and enjoys sitting and studying her books.

She is so much fun right now. She has developed her own personality and is as quick as a whip. She is extremely independent (can't imagine where she got that from) I love this kid, girl after my own heart. She is my child through and through, from the tips of that red-head personality to the bottom of that stubborn spirit.

Sometimes I'll be watching that gangly body just pummeling through the yard...then she falls, nothing but a tangle of bony arms and legs, I'll hold my breath waiting for the tears, but nope! She jumps right up and keeps on pummeling, grinning and yelling ''I'm okay!'' That is my girl.

The part where I ramble on about stuff.

Change, something that used to be a four letter word in my little book of life, has now become the very soil that my soul takes root in. I used to balk at anything unfamiliar, solidly planting my feet in the ground and resisting any type of movement, no matter how simple the notion. My mind was made up, and if it was different…if it was change, then by golly, it was the enemy. I faithfully adhered to this set of principles until recently, when I was jolted into the realization that for the first time in my short-ish life, I think I might know exactly who I am, and I wouldn’t be that person, were it not for enduring a scary little bit of change.

Now, I’m not naïve, I know not all change is good change. There are indeed some horrible types of change, but I was even resisting the good change, so scared of the unfamiliar that I allowed it to hinder my growth. I think it’s easy to slip into this mindset, at least it’s easy for me. Losing sight of the big picture, and holding on tight to what is instead daring to consider what could be.

But I am so grateful for change, for the ability to realize that maybe if you don’t like your current situation, or who you have become as a result of it…it doesn’t have to be permanent…you can change.

It was fear of change that had kept me in its steel grip of misery for years. Until one day when I realized, I just plain ole didn’t like who I was. I was bitter, full of self-pity, weak in mind and in spirit. Always ready to place blame and feel sorry for myself and the situation I was in, but never doing tiddly-winks about it. Gosh I thought, this is ugly…I’m ugly. My first instinct was to wallow even more, because after all, that was what I was good at…but then I realized if I was ever going to like myself again, I had to break that cycle. I had to change. It took little sprouts of other types of change, dotted throughout my life, to season me and strengthen me for a task that I never would have been able to endure a year ago. I dwelled upon those, mustering up any type of strength I could from them. Then I rolled up my sleeves…because if there is anything I know about change, it is that it’s seldom ever clean.

Today I feel as though a slow and sometimes painful transformation has taken place, and through change, that horrid ‘’was’’ that I hated so much, has been shaped into an ‘’am’’ that I feel pretty darned confident about, leading me to believe that suffering and humbling, cleansed by brief respites of joy, must truly be life’s most effective character shapers.

Through all of this change that has taken place for me the past year, through all of these life lessons that I won’t soon forget, I have been formed into a better version of myself. A happier version, a more confident version, a savvy girl…someone I like and someone I would want to be friends with.

Whenever I feel that old bitter hand of fear trying to grope at my spirit again…I shoo it away, give it the finger and I move on.

Putting all her eggs in one basket :)

Is it just me, or has this year has been a complete whirlwind? It's still hard for me to believe that Easter, school finals and Mother's day have already whizzed by.

Before I go and make a boor of myself bragging about my delectable little morsel...I'm going to go ahead and be an even bigger boor and preclude all of this by saying...I MADE THE DEAN'S LIST!!! Yeah! not bad for a returning freshmen after 6 years, Eh? Eh?

I'm feeling a little smug. Just a little.

Ahem. Anyways, on to boorish business.

This year I kept the same routine, we dyed eggs on the evening of Easter Eve. Isabella just loves herself an Easter egg. She cracked about all of them before she even finished dying, I didn't realize this...so, when I was making her basket later on? Well, I kept getting a whiff of sulfur. Poor Jasper took the blame and was exiled to the living room until I noticed bits of magenta colored shell falling on the floor.

I just love the dyed hands...every year I always get tickled because it reminds me of when I was younger and all of the children would show up for Sunday school Easter morning with black and blue Easter hands.

Early morning Easter loot! It's never too early for a Godiva chocolate bunny :) I'll never forget Isabella's first chocolate bunny. She was terrified of it. Cried for an hour. I reaped the benefits of her fear though. That was a delicious chocolate bunny.

Sweet little dyed hands. Usually so busy that they photograph blurry...but I managed to catch them for just a few moments.

In all that you do, do it with gusto, I say!

I been a'thinkin'...

...and it's been way too long since the last time I blogged :) This is going to change in the near future as I continue to suffer from severe cases of I-miss-school-itis.

Two red-heads on a friday night...

We are super wild in this house! When Friday night rolls around...we let it all hang out and make play-dough :)
I used a simple recipe. Oh, and I burnt it, which is why it looks kinda clumpy...but it was still playable. I colored it with a packet of Koolaid so it smelled like cherries Mmm...

My little one will entertain herself for about an hour whenever we make this. She loves it best when it is still warm out of the pan, and so do I, it feels so soothing on your hands! She mostly enjoys pouring in the ingredients during the mixing process, and it's a simple enough recipe that I don't have to worry about anything getting messed up. All in all, the perfect toddler activity!

Recipe:
1 C. Flour
1 C. Water
1/2 C. Salt
2 TBS. Cream of tartar
1 TBS. Oil
Koolaid packet or food coloring for color.

Aren't these adorable? They're ladybugs! She made a ladybug family..."Mommy and Bella"

Scenes

I always like catching little scenes of home on my favorite blogs...I enjoy looking at the background to see what their spaces looks like. I decided to snap a few shots of my "space" here at my parent's house.

I avoided the piles of dirty laundry on the floor and the fruit loops and sippie cup that I just found in my bedsheets...You're welcome.

Top of my dresser...I love baubles. Can ya tell?

Where I always drop my book bag...I finally got one of my vintage wooden wine boxes and put it beside my nightstand so that I can just pile my textbooks in it. I rather like the effect.

Shelf I hung over my TV...I kind of just piled stuff on here to fill up blank space.

The pot of ivy I hung in front of my window...I'm a firm believer in having live plants in the house, it just adds a little somethin' somethin'.

So there ya have it. A few spaces in my new humble abode.