Warby Parker: At Home Try On (v.2)

We are in love with the Warby Parker at home try-on! Is there really a better way to shop? I think that I now want all of my items shipped to my house for me to try out before making any purchases...glasses, makeup, sofas...all of it. You've ruined regular shopping for me, WP!

So after I did my try-on a few weeks ago, Craig decided to get a box for himself and we had a fun photo shoot. And by fun I mean lots of blowing kisses over the shoulder and wearing 5 pairs at once..even Kennedy got in on the fun. We had picked our favorite, and both agreed 100%. Funny enough it isn't even the one that photographs the best, but it was a unanimous decision. Which one do you think??

I tried on all of his glasses, and actually like most of his better than the ones that I ordered. I'm going to be doing another box soon and will be including my favorite pair from my last try on and a few men's pairs as well.

If you haven't tried these out...doooo it!

Don't forget to sign up for my giveaway if you haven't yet...the winner will be announced FRIDAY!!

Giveaway: HOLGA camera!

You guys!! I have been feeling so loved by YOU lately that I want to give a little love back to ya! Today I am hosting my very first giveaway, and I couldn't think of any thing better than to give you one of my very favorite things: a Holga!

Toy cameras hold a very special place in my heart. It's like Christmas morning every single time that I get a roll of film developed, because you really have no idea how any of the film is going to turn out. Before I bought my first toy camera I did a lot of research and looked at a lot of google images from developed film before I finally made the plunge. I know $50 isn't a ton of money, but for someone who knows basically nothing about photography it seemed like a bit of a leap. But man, it was so worth it.

And now, I want you to have one too! This giveaway is for (1) one Holga camera + 2 rolls of film.

Here's how to win: 
Follow this blog and leave a comment to tell me what adventure you plan on taking this little guy on!

The winner will be selected on Friday, March 29th and will be chosen at random. Good luck! I hope that whoever wins will be sure to share their photos with the rest of us ;)

Picking out fabric

I'm trying to pick out the perfect fabric for my next project! I found this adorable reclining rocker that I'm dying to buy (for only $20!) to reupholster. The only problem is that I promised Craig that I would tackle one of the many chairs at the house that could be used for practice and sold for extra money to put towards our new sofa. All I want to do is buy every piece of awesome furniture that I find at thrift stores to keep for when I'm ready to start a new project, but Craig keeps me in line. I love his practical side, just please don't tell him ;)

Picking out fabric quickly is not a strong attribute that I possess. Don't get me wrong, I fall in love with tons of fabric, and can pick them out for friends in a heart beat...but when given too many options my brain gets all scrambled. BUT THEY WOULD ALL LOOK AMAZING!! I use fabric.com for pretty much all of my online purchases, and I also have a really great discount store near the house who does one BIG sale once a year where all of the fabric (including upholstery and drapery) is just $1.99/yard. Shut up. I know. Also, back home in Charlotte we have an AMAZING shop called Mary Jo's which is a huge warehouse filled with fabrics, buttons, trim, zippers and thread. Its pretty special because its been in the same place for years and years and my grandmother used to shop there when she was younger. It's a little pricey, but you can find some amazing options for any project there.

So here are some possibilities that I've picked out. I am in LOVE with a few of them - one in particular which is pretty pricey. Because this is a chair that will be sold and not kept in my house, I thought it might be nice to get some outside opinions! Won't you help me pick out one?

Yum: Cinnamon Twisties

After a failed attempt at making banana chips this weekend, I decided to whip up a batch of my favorite Cinnamon Twisties. I usually make these around the holidays, but really they're good all year long!

These are incredibly easy! In total it probably takes 10 minutes prep and 15 minutes cooking. Seriously you can't beat that...and everyone loves these!

All that you'll need is:

Puff Pastry Sheet

1 Egg

Cinnamon Sugar

(If you do not have any cinnamon sugar you can simple mix equal parts cinnamon and sugar in a bowl)

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400 degrees while you're getting these ready. First, I cut my sheet of Puff Pastry into strips. (Sometimes I make tiny bow ties with these, and they're adorable!) Next, I brush the egg onto each twist and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar onto each one.

Pop those bad boys into the oven for 15 minutes or until golden and flaky. Enjoy!

At Home: Record Station

Today I'm going to give you guys a little sneak peek into my record station! This sits off of my living room and is in the perfect location to hear the music all through the downstairs. Craig and I probably listen to records at least once a day, and right now we're working on growing our collection! When shopping for records we always focus on quality over quantity. We always choose records that we truly love and are looking forward to listening to.  

I made this cute little banner to add a texture to our collage above the records. I really love the subtle pink stitching. I basically made it the same way as my holiday banner, if you'd like to see a tutorial ;)

It's such a great time right now to be buying records - you can find mostly all new releases on vinyl. Even just this morning I got an email from Amazon alerting me that The Xx vinyl is on sale for $12.99. It's one that I've been meaning to pick up, but just havent made the purchase...until now! Hopefully it comes quickly in the mail! We started a tradition on Valentines day where each pick out a vinyl for each other and spend the night cooking together and playing our new music all night. It really is the absolute best! You can see a peek into which ones we chose this year here :)

Some of our favorites are: The Postal Service (which has our song on it in 2 different versions so we listen to it alot!), Jimmy Eat World, Mumford & Sons, The Shins, Foster the People, Amy Winehouse and Bright Eyes. We also have our fair share of older vinyls too! We are really into 70s rock like Earth Wind & Fire (I could listen to September over and over and over and over), The Who, Foreigner, The Rolling Stones, The Eagles, The Doors, Jethro Tull, Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd...I could really list these forever! But I would have to say that there is really nothing better than putting Bachman Turner Overdrive on the player on a Saturday morning, making waffles with Craigy and making plans & cracking jokes in our PJs. That really is a slice of heaven.

I also like my crooners....Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Perry Como, Dean Martin, and we cant forget the beautiful Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Craig likes it too, but its mostly for me :)

Dream Catcher DIY

I've been wanting to make a dream catcher for months now, and that is a long time for me to have a DIY idea and not execute it. I think it was the center that made me nervous, so when I came across this easy picture tutorial I ran upstairs and found whatever supplies I had laying around and whipped this bad boy up.

Here's what you'll need:

Embroidery Hoop

Ribbon

Twine or String

Feathers

Hot Glue Gun

Misc items to hang from hoop

Wrap that hoop with ribbon!! I opened up mine a little to slide in the end of the ribbon and closed it tight around it and just kept looping until I made it all the way around. I used a little hot glue to finish it off on the back.

If you tie a feather to a piece of twine it just hangs sideways. Annoying. So I basically had to rig it up. First, you'll want to tie the end of your twine to your feather. Next, you'll need to take a smaller piece of twine and tie the end of your feather to your original piece of twine to straighten it up. For the last step I simply turned the knot to face forward to that the twice fell behind the feather when hanging. If you have beads you can simply slide them on the twine and down the top of the feather to line it up..probably easier, but I didnt have any.

BAM! You're done...and now you'll have no more bad dreams :)

My Holga: Blush

I had the most beautiful weekend! Saturday I hosted a lingerie shower for one of my best friends - afterwards all of the bridesmaids lingered and chatted until late into the night. It was just the best time getting to know some of these lovely ladies, and of course snuggling with my bride.

On Sunday I accidentally slept in too late, but I wasn't mad about it :) After running some errands and cleaning the house I threw on some baggy pants and floral shoes and took out the Holga. It was the most perfect 70 degree, roll your windows down, tshirt no jacket kind of day. I just drove and drove looking for pink items to photograph. It was such a fun challenge, and the perfect medicine to restart my system after a long week.

I basically listened to this song on repeat the whole time...just to give you the full experience

Yum: Peach & Pineapple Salsa

If you checked out my meal planner on Monday you would know that I made tuna steaks on Sunday and brightened it up with some fancy pants salsa. Hellllo! Maybe this is just my feeble attempt to make it Spring time here, but whatever. It was good. The salsa, that is. I wasn't the biggest fan of the tuna steaks. I have never tried a sweet salsa like this before, so it was really stepping outside of the box for me - Craig was in heaven. He loved it!

Here's how you make it (makes enough for 3 servings):
5 peach slices
1/5 of a pineapple
1/3 red onion
Cilantro - to your preference

Okay, so I sort of just made up the proportions of this recipe, but its probably about accurate. I used frozen peaches because they're really hard to find fresh this time of year. If you do this just make sure that you let them thaw out first. The pineapple was fresh, and muy delicioso! I'm not a fan of red onion, but let me say this...it makes sense. If you've never tried a fruit salsa like this its hard to wrap your head around, but once you taste it..you get it. Just do it. I didn't use a ton of cilantro because I'm not the biggest fan, but I find it nice in moderation. It paired nicely with the fish, but maybe I should have cooked the fish differently (also why I'm not doing a recipe on the whole dish! haha)

I would also think that this could be a great idea on a salad in place of dressing...maybe add in some dried cranberries or cherries. Sweet decisions. Enjoy!

Quilt: Sneak Peek

I'm working on my very first quilt! It's been a fun and easy project so far, since I've just been cutting squares on my lunch breaks at work. I sort of found all of these colors sitting near each other at the fabic store and loved how they looked together, but I'm already crushing on some other color pallats. I can't wait to pick out the fabric for the underside, some big bold pattern probably. I hope that I end up loving the quilting process, even though I have no idea what I'm doing. Do you guys know of any good tutorials online? I can't wait to show you the finished project, but since I'm just sort of working on this in my free time I'm not sure when it will be completed.

March: What's for dinner?

I have been doing so good these past 2 weeks of not eating out (I did cheat once, but I was an hour away from the house and it was almost 9:00 and all I had eaten all day was yogurt...I really deserved a pass that day). It's been several months since I made a dinner menu and after seeing Molly's post this past week I figured that it was about time to start doing this again. I started yesterday so there is nothing ''planned'' for the 1st or 2nd. Don't worry, I ate plenty :)

I am already feeling a little better from my fast food detox, but it could still be better. I didn't make all of the right decisions, but I'm on the right path. It's been really difficult to not eat red meat and pasta every.single.day. now that I know I'm allergic to chicken. I've been eating turkey in its place for most dishes, but its more expensive and I have a little suspicion that I'm having some issues with turkey too, but can't be sure yet.

Do you plan out your meals? We always make better decisions when we plan - and we love to cook together, so its a great way to sneak in some quality time too!

Project 365: February

Good ol' February - you're short, just like me!

This month was full of foggy mornings and rainy afternoons. It sounds much better than it actually was. I am hoping and praying that March will bring lots of sunshine and butterflies into my world. I did have a pretty great month even with all of the rain. I traveled to Charlotte to see my parents and ate some of the best food of my life at Bucca, quickly after that I decided to do a 2 week eat-out detox, we celebrated our 7th Valentine's day, I made some sweet treats, and tried lots of new recipes, I failed miserably at my workout routine and threw a Mad-Hatter themed bridal shower for one of my very best friends.

2013 has had a very slow start as far as productivity goes, but busy as far as how-fast-can-my-legs-possibly-move goes....busy and unproductive, story of my life!

[Also....January]