High Five For Friday

Happy Friday Everyone!! I am linking up with Lauren at the 'From My Grey Desk' blog to feature five things that I am excited about on this wonderful Friday!

 

1) The Third Harry Potter Book!

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So I am finally reading the Harry Potter series! I read the first few books when it first came out, but I never finished the series, so I have made it a point not to watch the movies because I wanted to read the books first. 

This has been much to the annoyance of my husband who has wanted to watch the movies for years, but I won't watch them or allow him to watch them (cuz I am mean like that) until I read all of the books. So he is pretty happy that I am finally reading the series and I just got the third book in the mail today. Hooray!

2) Titanic ..... in 3D!!

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Near...........Far..........Wherever You Are...........

I was in 6th grade when this first came out and I definitely caught Leo fever because of it. I remember buying some photo/fan book about him at Walmart afterwards and learning all sorts of creepy facts (his birthday, favorite foods, etc). 

I also wanted to watch every movie he had made after watching him as 'Jack' on screen and discovered that he wasn't sexy in every role before Titanic (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, people). 

My husband has already let me know that he has no intention of watching this with me, so I am contemplating going by myself to the movies on Wednesday and being the weird chick watching Titanic in 3D by myself. 

3) The 'Cheerios and Beer' Blog

I found this blog this past week and I am in love with it. The author is super funny and personable. 

Check out her recipe for 'non-mayo chicken salad.'

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4) The etsy store...'The Wheatfield.'

Seeing how much time I spend all day working on the computer and on etsy, I can not believe that I am just discovering this amazing artist now. 

Her aesthetic fits perfectly with mine and I would love to have an entire wall filled with her bright, cheery designs. Find her artwork here... TheWheatfield

5) Ginnifer Goodwin's Hair

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I am so in love with Ginnifer Goodwin's hair. It is the perfect blend of sexy and cute. I wish when I had really short hair I had played around more with hairstyles.

I am trying to convince myself, not to chop it all off in this style, but with the Georgia heat, it is so tempting (Mom....I already know you will say no).

 Those are my favorite things today!

 

Training...

After the marathon of 'Toddlers and Tiaras' I have been watching the past week, I have been inspired to train my puppy more. You know....because pageants and training puppies go hand-in-hand. 

So far this week, we have pretty much mastered sit, down, roll-over and speak. Today we went for a five mile walk to help him learn how to not act like a fool when he is on the leash. 

All this new discipline and learning is wearing him out. 

He is going to be the best pageant puppy ever.

Oh, How Pinteresting...

I am doing something new this week and linking up with 'The Vintage Apple' to show you guys some of my favorite things that I pinned this week. 

If you don't know what Pinterest is, consider yourself blessed. I am so jealous of your free-time. 

I had heard that Pinterest was awesome, but a time-sucker, so I avoided it for the l.o.n.g.e.s.t. time. I already had enough social media/envy producing outlets, so I didn't think I needed another one. 

Well...apparently I did. 

I finally bit the bullet and signed up to see how it would help my business. I am getting a bit more exposure but I am also spending hours 'pinning' my dream wedding when I should be working

(don't mind the fact that I am happily married).

Here are some of my favorite things I found this week...

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No Bake Cake Batter Truffles. 

No Bake. 

Cake Batter. 

Truffles.

Need I say more?

 

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Adorable bow faux leather bracelet. It's on etsy too!

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After reading this blog post, I bought 'Mazerunners' and 'Divergent' on audible.com with some spare credits I had.  Just got them today, so I haven't had a chance to listen to them yet, but I will let you know.

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I would love to have a wall of maps in my home.

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Wheat Berry Salad wit cranberries, pecans, green onions, feta cheese and balsamic dressing. 

Yum!

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Recipe for Dr. Oz's Green Tea 'Weight-orade.' Green tea, mint leaves and a sliced tangerine. I actually made a huge pitcher of this yesterday and am almost done with all of it. My version has decaf green tea with mint leaves and two sliced oranges. 

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How awesome is the color on this clutch??

Phew....there are my favorite pins for the week. If you like my style, check out my pinterest boards...

http://pinterest.com/mysweetnomsa/

General Updates

A few things...

1) Thanks so much to everyone who helped me decide on a ring. We seem to share the same taste as most of you liked my favorite ring as well.

I bought this beauty earlier tonight...

onegarnetgirl

In a few weeks I am going to be waving my hand all in the air and making all the boys sad that I am taken. 

2) I have been slowly updating/fixing up my blog. I am learning html code and what-not for it, which is totally not my thing, so it is a little slow going at times. Keep your eyes peeled for small changes that I introduce over the next few weeks. 

Something that I have finally finished is my 'About Me' and '52 in 2012' sections at the top of the blog. 

If you want to learn more about me, check out the 'About Me' section for some facts about me and my family. 

I also created a '52 in 2012' tab which has 52 things I want to accomplish in 2012. Since I am just getting this list up and going this week, I have to do double-time for a few weeks to get caught up. This week I am hoping to accomplish...#44 & #51.

3) Over the past three days, I have watched Season 1&2 of 'Toddlers & Tiara.' 

(Curse you Netflix!!)

Besides having my husband think less of me because of this, I have also had my brain start to ooze out of my ear. This here is an actual quote from an episode today...

Pageant Director (talking to camera): "For the swimsuit competition we have girls in both one and two piece bathing suits. We don't allow thongs because really none of them would be able to pull it off. You really need to have a perfect body for a thong and none of these girls have that."

Cue head explosion and me staring jaw-dropped at my computer screen. 

Yet I still watched another five episodes, hating myself every minute of it, yet loving it. 

Btw...doesn't TLC have the best reality TV shows? Can I get a what, what for any fans of 'Sister Wives?'

4) Tomorrow is the last day of my spring cleaning sale, so head on over to each of my stores to check out what I've got going on. I have been adding new items like a mad woman, and some of them are pretty darn awesome!

 

**Click on the above photos to be taken to the stores**

Here are some of my new items...

**Click on any of the photos for more information**

Have a great night everyone!!

Decisions, Decisions

I need your help with a big decision guys. I need your opinions on which new wedding ring I should get. Before I show off the rocks though, a little bit of a back story....

My husband and I were living in Richmond, VA, working 100+ hours a week on the presidential campaign and couldn't rub two pennies together. We slept on an air mattress for 8 months until we could finally afford a bed (my mom's best friend actually sent us a new air mattress in the mail at one point because ours had a slow leak and we couldn't spend the $30 for a new one). 

We were a little bit poor.

One night as we were going to bed, my husband (then boyfriend) asked me what I wanted for Christmas that year. I told him that I wanted a sewing machine. I asked him what he wanted, and he said that he wanted to be engaged by Christmas. 

Can I just tell you that the silence that followed was deafening. I then turned to him and said...'Are you proposing to me?' He responded with, 'Yeah....I guess I am.' I told him to turn on the lights then, because if he was going to propose, I at least wanted to be able to look at him. 

Despite its awkward beginning, we both got all sentimental and sappy and it turned out to be very sweet. The next day, I made him call my parents and ask for permission/tell them he proposed already. 

The problem was though, he didn't have a ring since a) it was so impromptu, b) we were very, very poor. 

It was about three months later when my mom and I went to Kohls and I bought a Vera Wang ring with CZ stones and it was sterling silver plated. I think it was about $40.

 **Vera Wang ring from Kohls**

It was very pretty, but not built to last. The sterling silver plating wore off, so the base metal was always against my skin. I am very delicate, and got a bad allergic reaction from my ring. So no more Vera Wang ring. 

After a few months of looking and asking for a new ring, I finally was able to buy one from an awesome etsy seller, onegarnetgirl. It was simple, beautiful, understated and pure sterling silver. Hooray!!

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Well after three years, I need a new ring. My ring accidentally broke (easy to fix, but caused it to became loose) and fell off my finger. I can't find it anywhere, so I have been wearing my plain wedding band until I get a new one. 

I absolutely love onegarnetgirl's designs and I want to buy from her again. Here are photos below of my top choices. They are all sterling silver and feature a white topaz stone (no diamonds for us)! 

I have a favorite, but I can't bite the bullet just yet. 

Can you please help me figure out which one I should get?

 Option #1

Option #2

 

Option #3

Option #4

 Option #5

What do you guys think?

DIY: Summer Wreath

With all the 85 degree weather that we have been having lately here in Atlanta, I figured that it was finally time to retire my winter wreath and put up a spring/summer one.

Check this baby out...

Things I love about it.... 1) Pink everywhere. 2) Butterflies everywhere. 3) My husband thinks its silly.

I thought I would share how I went about making my wreath, in case you wanted to make one of your own!

-Supplies-

Felt sheets. I used 1 in each of the following colors (red, purple, light pink, fuchsia, yellow)

Glue Glue & Sticks. I went through about six sticks.

Scissors.

Wood Wreath (Joanns. $2.50)

Alright, so first cut your felt into strips. Remember in elementary school when you they told you to cut 'hamburger or hotdog' style? Well, cut the strips hamburger style (i.e. across the 8.5 inch length of the felt sheet). I did my strips about .5 inches wide. No ruler or guideline, just eyeballed it. Cut up all of the sheets of fabric this way. 

(The thicker or smaller you cut your strips, changes the height of your flowers. Want shorter flowers? Cut smaller strips. Taller flowers? Cut wider strips.)

 

 Now that we have all of our felt strips, we are going to make a felt flower rosette. 

1) Start with one strip and place a thin line of glue at the top. 

2) Fold the fabric over on itself, so the glue is covered. 

3) Start rolling the fabric between your fingers, making it bigger.

4) Once you reach the end of the fabric strip, place a small line of glue at the end of the fabric.

5) Press down to close off the flower. 

6) If you want to make it bigger, put a small strip of glue of glue on the flower where the last strip ended.

7) Add another felt strip to the flower, as close as possible to the previous strips end.

8) Keep rolling and gluing until you get the size of rosette you want.

 

 I made my flowers with either 1,2 or 3 strips of felt. I tried to create a hodge podge of colors and sizes.

  Once you have all your flowers made, comes the fun part. 

Massive glue-gunning. 

Coat the entire back of the fabric flowers in glue and just start sticking. 

Go glue-gun wild! 

I tried to not have any of the same color flower touching and tried to vary the sizes that were next to each other, but go crazy and do your own thing!

Lastly, add some more flair if you want to. I had some feather butterflies left over from a project a few years ago, so I just applied some glue on the back and stuck them onto the wreath wherever it pleased my heart. 

If you want your own feather butterflies, you can find them here.

Once you are done gluing, hang up your wreath and marvel at the color explosion that now covers your front door (despite your husband's dismay). 

Outfit Post - Katniss Approved

Yesterday morning I was pouting to my husband that 'The Hunger Games' was finally in theaters and that we weren't going to be able to watch it for about five weeks until his law school finals were over.

Well, being the sweet, super awesome guy he is...he said that he would take the afternoon off from studying so I could go see it. I was so excited, but I didn't think we were going to get tickets since it is pretty much sold out everywhere all weekend. 

The odds were in our favor (see what I did there?!) and I found us tickets at a theater about 15 minutes away from our apartment. Squeal!

So I did what any normal 26 year old does when they are going to a movie they are excited for...pay homage to your favorite character by dressing up for the premiere! So here ya go...

 Red dress for 'The Girl on Fire.'

 

I just had to sport her signature side braid.

 

 

 

 I didn't have a mockingjay pin, but I thought a little deer pin would be an alright substitute.

 

Practicing my skills. 

So not only was the movie awesome, we had the entire theater to ourselves. 

I mean it was opening day...

For the Hunger Games...

And we had the whole theater to ourselves. 

How crazy is that??

Red Dress - Old Navy

Black Knit Sweater - Wal-Mart

Black Tights - Target

Shoes - Payless

Deer Pin - Vintage from etsy