why do i not own these?

Got my nails done for the first time in over a month! Why does it feel so good when you walk out of that salon with fresh nail swag? The mysteries of being a woman.

Yesterday I went to Trendy Exchange (an "upscale" second hand store). Why have I not been shopping at 2nd hand stores like this more often. I mean ya I've been plenty of times and gotten good things, but sometimes I get so sick of searching through all the crap just to find a treasure. But when you're married and poor it's your best friend! I bought 1 shirt and 3 cardigans yesterday for a total of $30. That means I paid $7.50 for each piece! What a steal! Cardigans are my new best friend this winter because they can make a short sleeve shirt winter friendly. While I was realizing my DIRE (not if you ask Spencer) need for cardigans, I was thinking about all of the other things I've been dying to get. So I asked myself...

WHY DO I NOT OWN THESE?

Burgundy Leather Leggings:

I'm obsessed with my black leather leggings. They give just the perfect touch of edginess to a classy outfit. So therefor I would like to add another color to the leather leg family, and I think burgundy would be the perfect shade. 

Gold Spike Bracelet:
Spikes and studs are everywhere this season. I adore them, but I haven't gotten my own yet!

Loafers:

I've said it before and I'll say it again... yet I haven't gotten them! Sometimes I'll find a pair I like but they are too much or don't have my size, and then last week I bought these 2 shoes below...

...guess that will set back my loafer buying by a little. But seriously how cute are those orange flats. I finally got them in the mail today! 

More Colored Jeans: 

I really want a pair of salmon pink and red!

And the perfect white/black/grey tunic t-shirt to go over leggings. Obviously I haven't found them yet...

Anywho, tonight I'm going to cook a romantic Italian dinner for Spencer and I using mushrooms we got from our Bountiful Basket. I've never liked mushrooms, or have I never tried them? Sometimes those things just run together... but how can you not like something stuffed with tomatoes and goat cheese? Dinner will be followed by tree decorating! 

christmas and baby crafts

First off. Is anyone else just totally disturbed that Mary-Kate Olsen is dating this guy? Daddy issues anyone? Please keep her in your prayers!  

Well Christmas is coming and I've been a busy elf... Kinda. We got the lights up on the tree but have yet to put anything else on it. I kinda like it with just the lights. It's simple and clean. I decorated our balcony this weekend as well. 

On the right and left are 2 small Christmas trees (kinda). I really wanted the look of trees but I didn't want to spend the money. So I got 2 tomato cages and wrapped them in garland that I got at Michael's during their Black Friday sale. I'm sure I could have space out the garland to cover the whole cage, but I knew I wanted to put it in the pot anyway cause I liked the idea of a "stand." Can't wait to start on the rest of my decor!

I also got my bountiful basket this weekend! It was so exciting! I'm such a nerd. The best part is that I went to Smith's this weekend and saw that just to buy one mini watermelon  a cantaloupe, and 3 persimmons was $10. I got everything below for $26! P.s. I've never eaten a persimmon and still not sure how to. 

I made this wall hanging (below) Saturday for my friend Jee Hye's baby shower. I sort of went off a Pinterest idea. It was really easy: 

1. Get a canvas or piece of plywood. 

2. Coat it in Mod Podge

3. Place paper over Mod Podge coating. I used sheet music. I've seen people use maps, book pages, magazine pages, etc. Once the paper is glued down, but another layer of Mod Podge on top of it. This helps make the surface flat so that the paper doesn't catch on anything. 

4. Get vinyl lettering and place where you want it 

5. Paint over everything

6. When it's dry, peel letters off and viola!

I added a small wooden dinosaur at the top that I got from Michael's and painted it. 

Spencer got a free sleeping bag from work. This will be good for when I make him sleep on the balcony if I ever get really mad. 

And I got new leggings! I feel like I live in leggings in the Winter, which isn't a good thing because then you can't tell when you're getting fat because your pants stretch with you! I got them on eBay here for $5.

I'm at Urgent Care all week today for work and I'm getting a lot of reading done because it's slow. I am currently reading the Uglies series which I highly recommend if you are into sci-fi. It takes place in the future in a time where everyone gets plastic surgery to look perfect when they turn 16, but there are a band of rebels who are trying to fight the system. Just finished the 2nd book and I'm about to start the 3rd. There are rumors of this being in the development stages for a movie. This book raises a lot of good points about what constitutes beauty and how brain washed we have become from societies view of it. It also makes you see what a world without war, prejudice, eating disorders, and low-self esteem would be like since everyone looks the same. 

After work I'm off to get my nails done! I think I'm going to try some outline nails like the ones below!

mac daddy and my dream balcony

So I have very exciting news... I own a Macbook now!!!!!!!!!! Got it yesterday and it was the most random thing. Not planned at all. So I HATE my laptop, and Spencer hates on it even more than I do. For the last 3 months I have had so many problems with it, from a dying battery, to a broken charger, to it repeatedly not being able to connect to our internet. I seriously cried the other night and wanted to chuck it across the room because the internet was giving me one of those dreaded yellow triangles with the exclamation mark! Uggggg. Spencer and I had kinda talked about selling my laptop and getting an iPad since we really didn't need 2 laptops but then yesterday I had an epiphany. I was planning out Christmas presents and wanted to make this cute printable to frame for someone, and thought I could totally design this... if only I knew how to use Indesign and Photoshop... and if only I had those programs. I've been wanting to learn how to use those 2 programs for a long time now. Everyone in the advertising major knew how to use them cause they all had Macs and I always felt like the odd one out. I realize I couldn't get those programs with an iPad so this led me to just randomly search for Macbooks on KSL (Utah's version of an even better Craigslist). Not long in to my search I found a guy that was selling 2 Macbooks. Both of which were at a good price range for me. I knew there were some programs that came with Mac computers so I asked him of it had Indesign or Photoshop on it. He said no, and sadly I thought my dreams were dashed because buying those 2 programs alone would cost around $800. But alas, he immediately text me back and said "I know how to download them. It's not legal but I can do it for you." Obviously the previous statement I will immediately deny in case an FBI agents are frequenters of my blog, but with that news (and after convincing Spencer) I bought it! And the Indesign and Photoshop work beautifully (although I have no clue how to use them)! It's an older model and has some light use and scratches but it's great for what I need and the best part was that it connected to the internet immediately! Praise Steve Jobs! 

Well on another note, it's time to tell you about my balcony plans. Spencer and I haven't done anything to our balcony yet (beside add some lights) but come spring I've compiled some pictures or what I want it to look like. My mom and dad asked what Spencer and I wanted for Christmas and I sent them these pictures and told them they could make one or more of these things. They can make anything! Seriously they are beyond talented: 

Crate bench with pillows and a rug!

Ladder planter

Cinder-block planter

 And either one of these tables (the first one preferably if I can find a cheap barrel)

I ADORE the top picture! That embodies everything I want my balcony to be. So chic! So... I have been hunting for crates ever since. I've found a few, but they were all way over priced. Recently I discovered a nice man who has been selling crates locally that come from is grandfather's farm. I bought 2 for $10 each to make into the bench above and they are perfect! So cute and antique! My dad built a square piece in the middle for more support since the crates are slated and not solid. I can't wait to make a cushion for them and put it on my balcony and eat summer dinners with Spencer on it! Hurry up warm weather! 

and how was your weekend?

 

From our dysfunctional family to yours. 

I hope everyone counted their blessings and their calories this weekend! I know I didn't do either. Oops! Here is some picture vomit of my weekend: 

Temple Lights!

 

Kitty Lovin'

Is my niece not the cutest baby in the world? I know right?

My sisters and I made Christmas cards and tags after the feast. Here are mine! 

Kitty got in on the crafting too. 

For any who were wondering, my sweet potato casserole was a hit and everyone liked it! Everyone said this casserole was so good because (drum roll please) it didn't have marshmallows on it! Who'd uv thunk? I have some crafts I'm working on and it kills me that I can't post them up because they are Christmas presents! Guess you'll have to wait until the 25th! 

So has anyone heard of Bountiful Baskets? If not, you should get on it! I just ordered my first one today! They are a food co-op consisting of local produce and other misc. items like bread and nuts. There are no employees, only volunteers, so you pay rock bottom prices. I've had friends do it in the past and now I'm hopping on board. I got the standard basket (which consists of 50% fruit and 50% vegetables) and then I added the bread basked that comes with 3 loafs of 9 grain bread, 1 loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, and 1 baguette. All that food for just $25. Beat that Wal-Mart (plus Wal-Marts produce is generally of poor quality)! And they have a bunch of different seasonal packages to choose from. I might have to learn how to cook some new things now. Here are some picture examples of them below! Can't wait to pick mine up on Saturday! They are located in around 20 states and the sign up for the baskets goes from Monday morning to Tuesday at midnight. Pick up is early Saturday morning.   

Oh and I'm still in the process of editing the blog (as you can tell). However my "about me" is done and up! Read it! Peace.

happy mash-potato weekend!

Shirt: Cotton On. Jeans: Forever21. Boots: Urbanog.com Necklace: ebay 

I know everyone likes to say "happy turkey day," but I don't eat turkey so Happy Mashed-Potato Day (or should I say weekend)! Like I said in my last post, I don't like skipping holidays. So of course I have to represent Thanksgiving. I haven't done too much, and sadly I didn't get around to making a wreath like I had hoped but here are some of the Thanksgiving decor I made/bought (the mantel is seriously lacking, I know).

The original tutorial for this sign used tan/brown paper behind the letters. I went and bought a half of a yard of burlap for $1.30 and glued it to that instead. I love the results! 

These leaf strands were 80% off at Michael's the weekend after Halloween. I wrapped them around my balcony and put one on the mantle place. $1.20 each! 

The scarecrow and hay I got at Michael's were also part of their after Halloween sale. The hay was $4 and the scarecrow was $2.40! Such a steal. I wanted to cut off that bamboo stick but I never got the chance. 

On another note I mentioned last post that I had gone to the Bijou Market (which is basically like real life Etsy shops all in a row). I bought these 3 pieces of handmade jewelry below. Sensing a theme here? What can I say, I love turquoise! Everything was $22 total!

So who hasn't seen these dino magnets on Pinterest? But seriously they are to die for. So of course I had to make them this weekend... in gold. I found packs of dino toys at the dollar store, cut them in half, and then painted them with some metallic gold paint I had from a previous project. Ta-da!

(mine)

Also I'm currently living in these Pac Sun leggings I just bought. Living!! They had a bunch of other colors that I wanted to get too! God bless the inventor of leggings! You can bet I will be wearing these to stuff myself on Thursday. 

Recipe of the Day:

This isn't so much of a Pinterest find, as it is a Pinterest re-vamp. I found this panini recipe here, but then decided to make it my own for last nights dinner. Ours had pizza sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheese, tomatoes, pepperoni, and basil leaves. I also added some potato wedges as a side because I needed to use them up before the holiday break. An easy way to dress up potatoes is olive oil and rosemary. And Voila! A great meal. Me and Spencer watch a lot of the show Chopped, so it's a little joke with us to say after every new Pinterest meal I make whether or not I would have gotten chopped. I can safely say this is a chopped-free meal. 

I'm making my mother-in-laws sweet potato casserole for tomorrow! Wish me luck! Here is her recipe below. Of course I however am making the dairy-free version to appease many of my family members. Sssshh! Don't tell Spencer! ;-) 

Sweet Potato Casserole:

3 cups cooked, mashed sweet

potatoes

2 cup sugar

2 eggs, well beaten

4 tablespoons melted butter

½ cup milk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla

Topping

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup flour

1 cup chopped nuts

1/3 cup melted butter

Beat together and pour into a buttered 9×13 baking dish.

Mix together topping and place on top of potatoes.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.