Trendy Tuesday: Scarves

No, it's not winter yet. I'd struggle to say fall is officially here (although it's soooo close)! Luckily, it doesn't have to be cold outside for you to pull of one of my personal favorite trends: scarves! They are IN IN IN! I love it - what a great way to jazz up a normally boring outfit. My momma just bought me a new scarf from our vacation and I absolutely adore it. It's a great transition out of summer and into fall!

Alright, alright. Enough about me. Here's your weekly Trendy Tuesday board. Links below :)

1. How to Tie a Scarf 2. Scarf with a pin 3. Urban Scarf 4. Outdoor scarf 5. Fun Prints 6. Dreamy outfit with Red 7. Poppa Color

Happy Tuesday, y'all.

Woo Pig Sooie!

John and I both went to Fayetteville for  undergraduate. It's where we met, actually. I was 17 and a freshman, beginning a new chapter of my life. He was 19 -- a sophomore. It was my very first class on the first day of school. I walked into that english class, sat down next to him and the rest is history. (There's a lot more to the story, but that's for another day)

Today's story is about the Hogs. Our Alma Mater. The University of Arkansas. Neither John nor I are big sports people -- it's one of the many great things we have in common, along with loving salt & vinegar chips and puking at least once a month. We have sensitive stomachs. Oh...TMI? Sorry....

Back to the story. We're never the couple to spend any money on tickets to the games. In fact, we usually won't go to the game even when offered free tickets. Yes, we're those people. We're really just in it for the food. And the people too :) Hence our love for tailgating. This weekend the hogs came to Little Rock, so we put on our red, white and black and headed to the Mallory tailgate. I dragged my camera along for the day, hoping to capture some good shots. Get ready for a red overload!

One of my favorite things about every tailgate is Erin's cookies. How cute are they? And the best part about them is they taste just as good as they look. Check out her blog here.

I also love spending time with John's family. His cousin, Erin has the cutest little boy, Evan. And he loves me. Could he have a better smile? I don't think so...Here's a family shot of the three of them.

Gotta love some pictures of Evan with his sweet cousin Rosemary -- who. is. adorable.

Oh, and Evan again with his grandmother (John's aunt).

One of the best things about the Mallory's spot is that they are located right where the whole Razorback football team gets off the bus. Everyone lines up around the street, and the football team comes walking in, giving high fives and Razorback spirit! After that, we get up close and personal with the band. Always fun for the kiddos (and me!)

My apologies to the band peeps for catching them mid-blink. Keep your eyes open, folks!

My little sister (who is gorgeous!! Wouldn't you agree?) always comes by too to grab some grub. Love her! Needless to say, it was a pretty fantastic day. And the best part? The hogs won. Not that I really care or anything. 

Woo Pig!

Where I Was

I turned 13 three days before September 11, 2001. 

I was finally a real live teenager -- but really, I was still just a kid. My days were filled with middle-school crushes, algebra and AIM, and although I would have never admitted it, I didn't know much about the world. 

That Tuesday morning, after waking up and getting ready for school, the carpool came to pick me up just like it did every day. I still remember sitting in that grey minivan, driving to school, and hearing the news on the radio. I didn't know what it meant. I didn't know what the Twin Towers were, or what terrorists were. I had never been to New York and I cared more about boys than I did about politics. I had never heard the word terrorist. I didn't know that I should be scared. I just didn't know anything.

When I got to school, every television was fixated on the news channels. FOX, CNN, MSNBC. They were all covering it and we sat there -- all of our little preteen eyes fixated on the screens -- unable to imagine what in the world was going on. I remember people whispering behind teachers' backs, rumors circulating that the terrorists would attack the nearest nuclear power plant, located an hour away from us and that it would blow up the whole state of Arkansas.

I sat there scared, with my friends, eyes glued to the screens. All the while not knowing that the world our parents knew had changed. That it had shifted to allow for such a terrible act upon our country. 

Americans everywhere were affected, whether they knew it then or not. I was affected. And today we are all changed because of the events that took place that day.

**Picture found here

Hopefully we are better because of that day. Hopefully we are a stronger nation because of it -- more united, more human, more aware of our vulnerability and more caring towards our neighbors. I hope today you are thankful for our country, and that you remember those who have fallen. I hope you can remember how far we've come, and how far we have yet to go. And once you've thought of those things? Well, I hope you never forget. I hope that we never forget.

Trendy Tuesday - Chalkboards!

I am LOVING this trend -- CHALKBOARDS. No, not the gross, green kinds you might remember from grade school. I'm talking lucious, fancy black chalkboards filled with fancy fonts and ideas!

One great thing about this is that pretty much ANYONE could do any of these. Just check out your paint department of a local hardware store and stock up on some chalk paint! Easy peasy!

Check out some of my favorites!

1. ___ Days Until ____ 2. Chalkboard Menu (totally going to make myself one of these!) 3. Wine Bottle Labels 4. Wall Art 5. Invitation  6. Playroom 7. Photo Backdrops 8. Map 9. Nursery Decor

And the winner is....

Thanks for voting Friday (Eliza & Paul!) Haha. I ended up getting an additional vote on Facebook from my other sister Marinna (thanks Marinna!) for the rainbow background, but it was 2 against 1 so this is the winner. I love it! It looks great in my living room!

I just love the texture printed on this paper. The paper is actually perfectly smooth, so this is just what it looks like up close. Perfect!

Happy Tuesday! So excited for a short week!

Let's Get Crafty with Ella Dog

A few months ago, I saw this at a cute boutique here in Little Rock. First thought? "OHMYGOSH, HOW CUTE". Second thought? "SIXTY DOLLARS?!? I can make that myself."

**Wow, this has got to be the crappiest photo I have ever taken.
Seriously, it looks like something you would see on Craigslist....
I am ashamed (thanks for nothing iPhone 3GS)

In case you can't tell from my wonderful photo above, it's a silhouette of a dog. On a map. Of Little Rock. Where I live. My mind was filled with the thought: WHAT A GREAT IDEA! 

There was only one thing wrong with this find: My Ella Dog is not a weenie dog. Thank goodness-- instead she resembles a bear cub. Insert "Awwwwww." Yet another great reason to DIY. So I began.

The first step was to google a silhouette of a dog that looked like Ella. When that didn't work out (it's hard to find silhouettes of shorkiepoos. Can't imagine why) I took a picture of my pooch and outlined/filled it in in photoshop. Yeah, I got mad skillz. 

Next, I had to find a non-creased map of the Natural State. Since we got Ella in Vilonia (about 30 minutes northish of Little Rock), I wanted it to be included on her cut-out. Luckily my momma had a spare atlas and so this step was fairly easy. Here's a look at the "before."

** Ella dog + map

And here's the map after I cut her silhouette out. I stuck it on a maroon shirt so you could actually see it. As you can see, I got both her homes on there: Little Rock and Vilonia!

Next, I grabbed a frame I bought last weekend in Dallas and put her in there, only to discover that I would need something behind her besides white. You couldn't even see her on that white background -- the same issue I'd encountered when taking the above photo (which, as I said, is why I took it on a contrasting background).

Which one do you like?

Leave a comment and tell me which one I should pick! I'll see what the most popular one is, and then post about it on Tuesday! Happy Labor Day weekend!

Last Weekend

Last weekend, I got to go on a little mini-vaca with one of my favorite people in the world -- my momma. And, like all good photographers, I hardly took any photos. I know. The shame! 

In fact, I didn't take one photo of the two of us together, which makes me really sad. Which is why I'm vowing now to make up for it this weekend, when I go to the lake with the boy's family.



**Sadly, I could not find one photo I have of just my momma and me. This will have to suffice - it's my little sister (left), my mom (center) and me (right) taken about a year and a half ago. 

Anyway, back to last weekend's mini vaca. I got a free hotel room in June when I was in Dallas for my friend's wedding and so my mom and I decided last weekend would be the perfect time to take advantage of our free room and head to Dallas! 

We got there around 6 on Friday night and checked into our hotel. Of course, we immediately found the closest Italian restaurant in proximity to us and booked it over there without even bothering to change clothes. Oops! Once there, we split the best Pasta Carabona I have EVER eaten. My mouth is watering right now just thinking about it!

Of course, I didn't take any pics of it because I'm pretty sure I ate it in about 10 minutes. Was it worth it? Totally. Do I regret it? Ummmmm.....

Anyway, Saturday morning we woke up bright n' early to get our shop on! My mom had never been to IKEA (say whaaa?) so it was one of the first places we went. Love! And, of course, I took no photos. So here's a pretty picture of the Dallas skyline in its place.

After a day full of shopping at Ikea and bought just a few little things. Since I'd been there 2 times in the past few months, I wasn't really looking to carry anything back home. Here's some of our favorite stuff we bought there:

1. FULLEN High Cabinet 2. CALYPSO Ceiling Lamp 3. BOLMEN Scale 4. TRYGG Serving Bowl

I also really liked these lights - thought they would be a great centerpiece for a winter wedding. Not that I ever think about weddings. Pshhhh....

After IKEA, we headed to an outlet mall where I got a few cute outfit things. No pics of those, but I did take pictures of our evening outing. We went to this cool little hotel near downtown called the Belmont. They had a great outdoor bar that overlooked the Dallas skyline (see 2 photos up) so we went there at sunset and had some drinks and appetizers. So fun!

SOOC (straight out of camera - no editing)

The food was soo good! We got a plate of sausages to try and some pimento cheese balls. Those cheese things were Go-OOOD! We practically ate everything!

SOOC

Sunday, we went to brunch with some family friends (and I took...you guessed it! No photos). Afterward, we were going to head out of town, but ended up getting a little sidetracked after mom decided she needed to run to IKEA one more time. And after IKEA, we got sidetracked again. And again. And again. We practically went to every furniture store in Dallas. My fav? Gotta be Z Gallerie. I wanted to buy everything in that place and redo my entire apartment. I swoooooon.

Here are some of my favorite things we saw. iPhone pics are keepin' it real.

I really liked the couches and the rug. Funny thing is, I think my office has this couch. The pillows tipped me off.

Love those zebra print pillows. My mom said she'd make me some -- I'll keep ya updated!

I love this. Made me think of Marinna. She loves purple.

Anyway, enough ranting and my pathetic attempt at showing you all the cool stuff I saw/did. Cause it was WAY better than those pics make it look! I had the best time ever -- can't wait to spend more time with my momma.

Happy Thursday!