catalogued: snow day

With a fresh year starting and a fresh blog layout, I decided I wanted to start some fresh new series on the blog as well. I've always liked blogs that had their "regular" posts carefully woven in between everyday posts. It gives you something to expect and look forward to, and I think it ties things together nicely. 

I've thought long and hard about series that I would have fun doing and that would have the potential to grow and change with the seasons and with life. The series I would like to introduce today is called Catalogued. It's where I will basically catalogue things of a certain category and create little mood boards with items I love.

The first Catalogued post is about a topic on my brain a lot these days. I am wishing and hoping for a snow day to come along soon! I'm not one of those people who gets giddy over spring-like temperatures during January. I love snow and snow days, and all the lazy, warm, cozy things that come along with them! There's plenty of time for spring weather in the spring folks. ;)

I kind of had a pretend snow weekend and ignored the unseasonably warm weather. Charlie and I just took it easy and relaxed under blankets, drank hot chocolate, and of course, I wore my slipper boots. :) It was lovely. And have you ever tried a WoodWick candle? The wooden wick actually crackles and pops like a log in a fireplace!

How do you like to spend a snow day? (Even if it's a pretend one!)

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winter terrarium

A new terrarium for a new season. I actually meant to get this post up in the middle of the week but I subbed 5th grade Wednesday through Friday and damn did that wear me out. It took all I could do to not pass out as soon as I got home from school. They were actually really good kids and I'm kind of sad to give them back to their real teacher but it took a lot of energy to make sure they stayed good kids. -_-

Anyway, here is my terrarium for winter and what I used to put it together.

I used my blue ball jar that I got at Kutztown back in the summer because I thought the blue glass would add to the wintery feel. I also used pebbles for the sort of terrain beneath the snow and then the white sand of course acted as the snow itself. I also had a little tube of animals sitting in the craft stash from the first time I bought terrarium making supplies. I knew they'd come in handy! ;) Finally, I tore a few white twigs out of a Christmas centerpiece to act as my woodsy backdrop. 

Once you've got your snowy terrain, start adding some wilderness!

Charlie really liked the wolf so I gave the wintery space to him. :)

I have an idea for another sort of winter terrarium but I have no clue if it will work yet. If it does, you'll see it up here this week! If not, I'll probably have a big gluey mess to deal with. ;)

Are you doing any post-Christmas winter crafts? It's good fun for hibernation season! :)

a year in review

I finally decided to do this after seeing it on many other blogs. I originally wasn't going to because I didn't feel like anything particularly earth shattering happened in 2011, but then I realized it was actually a great year for me. I have tons of good memories and actually did a lot of important things for myself last year. There are some years, well one really, that when I hear it I actually shudder because of how awful it was. So why not give props to a good year where they're due? That said, if you're not totally sick of these yet, here is my year in review. :)

In January I rang in the new year with close friends at a beautiful house in the mountains. We popped champagne and I brought along champagne cupcakes! I started grad school so that I could do a little 360 on the career path. It's been amazing so far and I am really happy with the decision. I also had the opportunity to read a book written by my great uncle, recounting his time as a POW in Korea.

In February we celebrated our fifth Valentine's Day and I made granny squares for the first time! Piles and piles of em. :)

In March we went to the Union home opener where, as you can see above, it was freezing, and we went for a walk on a gorgeous day and pretend house hunted in our favorite town. On a less happy note, we said goodbye to a beloved friend, Charlie's childhood dog that I had come to know and love, since I had never had a dog myself. 

In April I screen printed home studio style for the first time and made shirts for Charlie's work, and my family took a mini trip to the beach for Easter.

In May I went to Miami with Charlie's family for a mini vacation and made tons of food for our Memorial Day BBQ. I also passed my Praxis test!

In June I started my super intensive summer semester and consequently fell off the face of the earth for a while. But I did pop back to take my hair from dark brown to ginger red and attend a decade party for a few family members' milestone birthdays, dressed as a reject from Pretty in Pink.

In July I battled made cake pops for the first time for a 4th of July BBQ, went to Kutztown where I scored a blue Ball jar, a vintage movie camera for Charlie, and a honeycomb because why not? Also, Charlie and I celebrated our 5th anniversary. :)

In August I figured out how to make delicious iced coffee at home with my french press, and had a relaxing time at the beach before school started up again.

In September I took part in the Twitter Tea Party for which I made the above scones. It was good fun! I made angel food cake for the first time which is my one true weakness when it comes to baked goods, and did my first commissioned paintings of the famed Dublin Doors for a friend.

In October I celebrated my one year blogiversary with my first ever giveaway. We went on a little getaway to the mountains with people from Charlie's work where we had a very successful trip to a giant antique store. I scored some amazing Pyrex dishes to add to my collection. We also went apple picking which I was super excited about, and finished up the month with a trip to Gainesville for The Fest.

In November I celebrated my 24th birthday (eek!) and finally got a food processor which I was way too excited about. :) I had an awesome Thanksgiving with family and took a day trip to LBI with my dad and brother, so my brother could do a workout/physical test with other guys he would be seeing later on in boot camp.

In December my brother left for boot camp which was pretty tough right before Christmas. To try to keep things normal, I made tons off cookies, worked hard on my blog redesign, and started subbing for the first time. I had a great Christmas with family and ended the year with a trip to Atlantic City and a party with friends to ring in the new year.

What do you remember most about 2011? If you did a post like this leave a link so I can check it out!

things to do - new year edition

I know we're all doing this right now and everyone has their opinions about the whole "resolution" thing and what the word implies. A lot of people seem to take it in a more negative way, in that we should set goals as they come to us instead of on a set date, or that it sounds like we were doing something wrong before and now we have to right ourselves.

With all that in mind, I felt inclined to make more of a "to-do" list for the new year instead of a set of things I resolve to. They are things I want to change or start doing to better my life and experiences overall and I feel like now is as good a time as ever to realize them. It just seems less serious to make it a to-do list and leaves room for changes or updates that I can make on a monthly basis as I see how things are going.

The pretties here are all thanks to Pugly Pixel. To start off my blog beautifying, I downloaded some super sweet images, brushes, and templates from Pugly Pixel because she seriously makes the best stuff. Most of it comes at a reasonable price but there are also a lot of freebie downloads as well. Check it out!

Also, thank you for your kind tweets and comments on my new layout! It was actually a really fun redesign and I had it done for some time now, I just wanted to wait for the new year to get it up. I have a little description of some of the new features in this post if you haven't seen it yet.

I hope all of your goals, to-do's, resolutions, and what have you are giving you some inspiration to start off the new year full of hope and excitement. :)

new design for a new year

Here it is! The official unveiling of the new blog design I've been working on, tweaking, and obsessing over since my idea for it back in the beginning of December. It all started with a sketch of how I wanted my new banner to look and from there it just snowballed into what you see before you. I'll share my design process in a post later this week for those of you who may be considering a new look but aren't sure where to start. Starting has always been the most challenging part for me. It can be really tough to get what's in your head onto paper, and then from paper onto the screen, and from the screen to a working, functioning website. Whew!

Anyway, first let me note that with my new design I have sized my photos down a bit. For the past two months or so I had been making them significantly larger than before so now those two months worth of posts have photos that hang over into the sidebar. I am working on this but it is tedious so it's gonna take a hot minute. Just wanted to put that out there for anyone who goes back and sees that. :)

Now I'd like to bring your attention to a few new things. I have a brand new about me page up top if you'd like to see it, along with my newest endeavor, my sponsor info. And if you look to your right, you will see my very first, beautiful sponsors. I'll introduce them all later but you should definitely give them a visit when you have time!

If you're brand new here, I have a place for you to learn a little about the blog under my bio on the sidebar there. To make finding specific things easier, I made four different categories for you to scan through. They are the little sketches in the sidebar with the words recipes, crafts, fashion, and reads.

And before I forget, happy new year everyone! Please take a look around and let me know if anything looks out of place or wonky so I can make sure the new design runs smoothly! Thanks!