You've got Mail!

Getting mail is actually one daily thing I get super excited about. Usually I just get crappy college mail, but occasionally there's something good. Today, we got two AWESOME surprises.
First, I got the final Christmas present from my parents... An A&M zip up fleece jacket

Then there was the Christmas present from my Grandma. It's a quilted wall hanging that she got the pattern for when we were in Alaska this past summer. Mt. McKinley is in the background and then there's some native animals in the foreground. 

Hope everyone had a blessed Christmas, and will enjoy a safe New Year!

Bearing Gifts We Travel Afar

No matter where you or your gifts are going this year, you should definitely try out some of these adorable printable tags I found. I love the simple rubber stamp style I did for my mom's gift, but without actual rubber stamps, it proved to be a lot of work. These are elegant but still simple.

In Black

In a light blue

Festive Tags

Green Tags

Red Tags

Taupe Tags

Enjoy! Happy Saturday!
P.S. If I don't post for a while, keep in mind that I have finals all next week, so my life resumes to the more chaotic style.

For Unto Us a Child is Born

Last year in choir, we attempted to learn this piece from Handel's Messiah, and although it was so beautiful, all the melismas were very hard to sing. However, yesterday I came across the free printable that has some of the lyrics/ the verse from Isaiah. Feel free to print it as you wish to decorate for the Christmas holidays.

Happy Friday!

Please have Snow and Mistletoe and Presents on the Tree...

Seeing as how I still live at home, yes, I will be home for Christmas, you can count on me.
So after making my mom's Christmas ornament, I was going to wrap it and I came across this really cute but simple style.

It's just brown paper with a bow and what's supposed to be rubber stamps. Seeing as I didn't have any, I just imitated them with marker.

Happy Thursday!

Deck the Halls

Christmas is so close, and usually, being the organized person I am, I have all my Christmas shopping done. However, this year my life is chaotic, and I have done no Christmas shopping. I did make my mom a crafty little Christmas present, though. I started with a burned out light bulb and painted it white. Then I added black around half of it to look like a penguin. Add little blue eyes, soft pink blush, an orange beak and flippers and your done (sorta). To make it into an ornament, I took some light blue ribbon that matched the eye color and hot glued it around the screw part of the light bulb.

Falalalalalalalalala! Happy Wednesday!

I have the BEST Friends Ever!

Thank you so much to all my friends who have been the listening ears and great advisers during this hard time of dealing with my mom's cancer. You guys are the BEST! A special thank you to my very best friends, and King Lear group, Lauren, Danielle, Dani, and Coach Kantor for being super sweet! That card really made my day!

Thanks a million ya'll and Happy Tuesday!

On the First Day of Christmas

Finally finished doing my Christmas list yesterday, and I thought that I would share some of my gift ideas.
First on my list, a hood-less A&M sweatshirt. During second semester of senior year, we are allowed to wear HOOD-LESS sweatshirts from the colleges we plan to attend. In retrospect, hood-less sweatshirts are extremely hard to find, so I suggested that my mom order it from the MSC, which is A&M's Campus Bookstore.

And because every girl needs cute matching accessories, I thought hair bows!

Next, I wanted something a little bit more entertaining than clothing and hair accessories. So, I added a superb movie to my list.

The Help is the perfect combination of tears and laughter that every movie should aim to be, with a completely heart-wrenching story. Also in the entertainment department I added one of my favorite TV shows.

I just started watching it this past year, so I missed some of the previous seasons, and even though TBS shows past episodes every week, I need to watch them in some sort of order.
Finally, I added to my list a new desk calendar and some iTunes gift cards. Told you everybody needs them.

Happy Monday!

Baby It's Cold Outside!

Christmas is in the air, and so is cold weather. But don't fret! In additions to pulling out the cute winter coats, pull out some adorable scarves. Infinity scarves are really popular this year, and you can spend a lot buying one, but you can make one for around three dollars in any color you want. All you need is a Large or X-tra Large t-shirt and a pair of sewing scissors.

First, cut off the bottom hem of the shirt.

Then cut across the shirt right under the arms.

And there you go!

Just kidding, that looks ridiculous! Now it's time to stretch the mid-section of the t-shirt into an infinity scarf.

After lots of stretching, you finally have the final product. For real, this time.

Have fun and Stay Warm!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year and Christmas Time is Near! I'm so excited and slowly composing my Christmas list. No matter who you're buying for this season, this is a gift everyone can really use. Seriously, I always am in need of them.

iTunes Gift cards!

I know their upside down, but seriously this is a great deal whether you're buying for one or four.

Happy Saturday!

Erik Loves Jacquie!

Over Thanksgiving, my cousin Erik, who currently lives in North Carolina, brought his fiance, Jacquie, down to meet the family. We had a blast with them, and they are a super cute couple, so we are very excited for their wedding next September 22 at Duke Chapel in Durham, NC.
While they were here they gave everybody a Save the Date magnet with Jacquie's dog, Molly on it.

I have no idea where they ordered these from, but probably one of the many super cute online wedding boutiques. Follow details about their wedding and other great things to do and places to eat in Durham on their new blog Erik Loves Jacquie!, which you can find under Blogs I Love, over to your right. So while sleigh bells begin to ring, so do the wedding bells...
Happy Sunday!

Black Friday Deals

While most people consider the day after Thanksgiving to be the craziest day of the holiday weekend because of the crazy crowds that respond to all night sales at various stores, I think Thanksgiving itself was a little more crazy, as we hosted seventeen people for lunch/dinner.  Lots of fun though.
The day after Thanksgiving, my cousins came back up to my house and we went out shopping around noon, when most of the crowd had died down a bit. I got two great deals on clothing for myself.
First, I bought a shirt/dress by Gianni Bini at Dillards for around $20 (usually 65) that I plan to wear with leggings (perhaps, even tomorrow if the weather permits)

Then after hitting a couple more stores, I hit my second deal of the day at Anthropologie. I usually don't shop there because it can be really pricey, but I went in the back sale room and scored a dress that was $65 for $15. It's kind of springy, but I think it will work well for Junior-Senior Tea.

A close up of the pattern

I hope everyone had a safe and blessed Thanksgiving holiday!

Cat Got Your Tongue?

For my art class, we all picked artists for our final project. Mine is Barbara Kruger. She does some strange work -- very idiomatic and ironic black and white photography. We have to make a couple of pictures in the style of our artists, so I've been working with Picasa and trying to color my pictures well and  arrange them in a Kruger-like way. Here goes nothing...
Cat Got Your Tongue? I don't know what arrangement I like better, but I think the one on the left looks more like something Barbara Kruger would have put together.

Skirt the Rules. Again, don't know which I will actually use -- probably the left again.

Imitation is the sincerest form of Flattery. I might try another arrangement of this.

Curiosity killed the cat. Only one arrangement of this picture made.

Happy Sunday!



Sweet Home Texas!

Okay, so the movie's real title is Sweet Home Alabama, but who doesn't love Texas? (That was completely rhetorical...) Anyways Sweet Home Alabama, starring Reese Witherspoon, is another romantic chick-flick. Basically Melanie (Reese's character) has become engaged to Patrick Dempsey's character, but technically she's still married to Josh Lucas's character back in Alabama. She goes back home to get the divorce papers figured out and is met with many an obstacle along the way. Eventually when Dempsey shows up in this little Alabama town, she must come forth with the truth about who she really is, and through this realizes something about herself -- she is still in love with her first love and husband. Cute movie, but definitely a chick flick.

The Terminal

The movie marathon continues with The Terminal starring Tom Hanks and Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was a really cute movie. It's kind of a romance/comedy, but not a romantic comedy. Basically, Tom Hanks needs to go to New York as part of a personal mission, but due to a war in his country is detained in the airport, where he lives for nine months. Along the way, he meets Catherine Zeta-Jones' character, who is a flight attendant, and falls in love with her, although she has an on and off relationship with another man and is frequently out of the country. He takes up work as a handyman around the airport until he can be released. I don't want to spoil the end, but it was good. Overall a four star movie, that I would recommend.

Movie Reel

With my mom's breast cancer, she had to take a leave from work. One of her co-workers brought over a set of around 30 movies for my mom to watch while she's recovering. So we've been watching a lot of movies. Some are kind of older, but still good. First one on the list was The Great Outdoors with John Candy and Dan Aykroyd. Because it had John Candy in it, I expected it to be really funny. It was funny but not as good as Uncle Buck. The scenes were kind of choppy-- they would show one, and then the next scene wouldn't fit in. The plot was pretty static, no real development of characters, scenes, subplots, etc. Overall I'd give it two and half to three stars.

The End of October is Not the End of Pink

Many of you well know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Many Octobers have passed by with out me acknowledging this too much, but this October was different.
In late September, my mom was diagnosed with Breast Cancer. Beginning of October, she had a double mastectomy. In a couple of days she'll be starting chemotherapy. It's been a really hard time, and it's not over yet. Please keep her in your prayers.
In my art class, we were recently doing figure-ground reversals. In honor of my mom, and another very close friend of mine who celebrated her 2nd anniversary breast cancer free September 16th, I made them these Hope Figure-Ground Reversals.

College, here I come!

Since housing at A&M is so hard to get, I applied for housing the other day! Super excited!! Now to get ready for dorm living...
Since we had a 3 day weekend this weekend, I decided to do something a little bit creative instead of constant homework, and it can go with me to college -- bulletin board!
I had the plain bullet board with outer white trim and yellow ribbon from when I was little, but to jazz it up, I took some 12 by 12 card stock and made it squiggly to make it cute and mounted it down with mounting squares.

Then I personalized it with my name. I used bubble stickers on little green squares.
Also, I want to be able to change out the pictures in college and stuff so I laid out squares that I will be able to mount 4 by 6 pictures on but left the pictures off for now. That way, they're not mounted down permanently and I can change them out easier.

Finished Product!

Happy Monday!

Fall and Folkloric

So yesterday I went to the Vera Bradley store, only to find that they no longer carry any sale colors. So instead of getting the large duffle bag, I found something much cheaper, and ended up paying virtually nothing-- the classic wristlet, in my favorite pattern, folkloric! I have a couple other pieces in this collection, and seeing as how, I just got my wristlet yesterday and have not had time to test it out yet, I'm going to review one of my other pieces...

Last spring, I went with my choir to Montreal. I needed a purse large enough to carry the basics (germ-x, lip gloss, cash) but not too big. Where did I turn to? The Vera Bradley Mini-Hipster! It has 4 little interior pockets, which are actually really tiny, and don't hold too much. It has and easy accessible ID slot, which made it ideal for travel. On the outer flap, it has one zip pocket which is about as big as a passport.

ID pouch

Inside of purse with four little pockets

More to come, and not just on Vera Bradley!

Happy Sunday!

It Makes My Day!

Let me start off by saying that I LOVE getting mail! Sophomore year, when colleges started sending me stuff, I saved every piece of it, even if I had no intention of going to that school. Even today, I rush out to the mail box to see if I got anything. Today I got a coupon from Vera Bradley, that said 'Just Because...'! I was Super excited before I even opened it, and then to realize it was $20 dollars off a purchase of $20 or more, just made my day! Ahhh!

I looked online and I plan to get the large duffle bag. This isn't a color I have, but it is a sale item, and seeing as I'm attempting to save for college (Vera Bradley, you're ruining me....) I thought it was a pretty good buy.

I absolutely love my Vera Bradley collection, and brag on it all the time. Here I go again...

My first piece I bought, my dad actually bought on ebay for my Christmas present. It was the Villager in Hope Garden, which is now a retired pattern. It came with a matching clutch wallet.

 The Villager is the perfect purse if you're going somewhere for several hours. I use it when I go to tutor and babysit. It it big enough to carry paper/spiral/books/ipod/etc. and have room for other accesories. With six interior pockets and two exterior, it lets me stay super organized, which is a basic necessity with me (I'm kinda a neat freak).



Inside pockets



The clutch is also super organizational. It has six slots for credit cards, a zipper coin pouch, a pouch for dollar bills, and a id spot.



Card slots and coin pouch



ID case and money pouch

 This is just the start of my collection...more to come!
Happy Saturday!

Senior Year...So Far

Whoever said senior year was the easiest, well, they were right. But whoever said you didn't have to do anything senior year was wrong on so many levels! Sure, I don't have very much homework, but the college and scholarship applications, is a pain in my rear. But, I'm pretty much calling it quits, except for a few scholarships here and there. I sent in my applications to Texas A&M, OU, Texas Tech and Baylor. I got acceptance letters from A&M and Tech, and a scholarship from Tech. However, my first choice is still A&M!

I plan to major in Applied Math (though I haven't chosen my focus yet) and then get my teacher certification.
In the world of math, my mom's cousin who is a senior lecturer at A&M, sent my a TInspire for my birthday, and I love it!

This thing has so many capabilities (granted it has CAS)-- it can solve equations, systems of equations, and derivatives, and factor, expand, and all kinds of things. They now have one with a color screen, it looks like your cell phone screen, and it looks pretty awesome! Maybe Christmas...
Happy Friday!

Valkyrie

Back to those Sweet Summer Deals I posted in like June (I know right, I need to blog more often, and I am working on it), I told you I would get back to you on how the movies were. So here it goes.
I still haven't watched Public Enemies yet (see the blog isn't the only thing I've not been doing), but I did watch Valkyrie. Awesome historical movie. I mean the plot was very accurate, as were the costumes, I mean right down to the pins and awards on their uniforms. Not only was it very accurate, but also very entertaining.
I will say though, I saw another historical movie this summer, which I think I liked better. Although I am unsure about how historically accurate it was, The King's Speech was a well acted and in parts, a very funny movie. Great for the whole family, granted they meet the PG-13 age suggestion. This is the movie I saw this summer, that I really can't stop talking about (totally beat Harry Potter 7.2), so I completely recommend it.

Senior Year..."The Last Time..."

Senior year is really the last time for everything (until you go to college...) such as the last first day, or my last year to be an ambassador. As an ambassador, we are assigned two freshman who we are supposed to guide and make them feel welcomed throughout the year. I always make my freshman a little goodie box with their name and some candy, and it's officially my last time to do that.

Everything I needed to make these I got at a craft store. The pink cube things I found at Michaels, but have also found them at Container Store in the past. The bubble letters which are black with white polka dots I also found at Michaels. The flowery stickers that go with the color scheme I found at Hobby Lobby, along with the Hot Pink Easter grass I filled them with for a little extra bounce. Then I fill them with chocolates and starbursts, which I did not find at a craft store, but I assume you can find them on your own. When my freshman are done devouring the candy, they can use them for a pen/pencil holder that they can put on their desk at home, or a change bank (that's what I did, but I'm thinking the desk supply holder sounds a bit cooler). They were a lot of fun to make, and I know freshman love getting them.
Happy Monday!

Back from a LONG and Busy Summer

Hey, I know it's been quite a while since I last posted (June, maybe?) but there has just been so much going on. Between finishing up a summer course in late June, early July to the start of a new school year, and a family vacation to Alaska in between, there has just been so much chaos...but I loved every second of it. I promise more 'good idea' posts soon, but for now, please enjoy these pictures of Alaska.


The Sign Posted at the Entrance to Our Hotel



A good picture of the family to kick off the vacation



Panning for gold, we learn the true meaning of 'sticky fingers'