Best Friend Day

Yesterday was one of the best days I've had in a while. I thought I was going to be stuck at work until 7, but Kristen rescued me!! We had a little study party in her room, then we headed back to the apartment for some fun.


We went to the gym first, ran a little, pumped some iron, then jumped in the pool to cool off. We were starving by this point so when we got back inside, we whipped up this yummy pasta I found over at Pearls, Handcuffs, and Happy Hour. 


{Sidenote: this blog is AMAZING. She not only has a cooking blog, but she also has a teaching blog that I am obsessed with.}


Of course I forgot to take pictures of the meal, but just look at the pictures on her blog from when she made it. It was soooo good!! And we finished it off with brownies, which makes everything better. Oh and we were watching "Hitch". Love that movie.

Are they not the cutest couple?!

As simple as the day sounds, it was so nice to spend it with my bestie. It's been very weird not seeing her everyday like I did last year when we were roommates. But days like this make up for it!!


Hope you're having a "best day ever" kind of day!

There's milk...then there's Mayfield

For those of you who live in Georgia, did you know we have a Mayfield Dairy Farms right here in Braselton? There is a factory, but they also have tours, a gift shop, and an ice cream parlor. I can now say I have been on the tour three times in my life. I went twice when I was younger and I went a couple of weeks ago with my grandparents.

Sadly, the tour isn't as great as it used to be, but it is free so you're not wasting your money. If you haven't been, it's definitely worth a go-see.

To be honest though, my favorite part is the ice cream at the end. Nanny had Butter Pecan, Papa had Banana Split, and I had Strawberry Cheesecake.

This is a fun little outing if you have nothing to do on the weekend. The tour is about 30 minutes including the video at the beginning. You can eat your ice cream outside on the picnic tables, or inside with the air conditioning. We chose the latter.


Does anyone else know of some fun places to visit? I love going to these types of things. Hit me up, fellow bloggers!

Summer Wrap-Up

So here's a little recap of my last week of summer.

I started off by going to Mobile, Alabama to see my best friend Kristal. I, along with Wes, Randall, and Melissa, stayed with Kristal's family for the weekend. Lots of good talks, food, and beach time. It was awesome. Too bad we didn't take any pictures. We did, however, manage to play around with Photo Booth before we left.

When I got home on Monday, I unpacked, did laundry, then packed again. I left Tuesday morning to go to Lake Jackson with my best friends from high school. Erica's family has a gorgeous house on the lake. Since it was too hot to spend all day on the lake, we occupied our time with movies on her back porch. Yes, they have a TV on their back porch. Best. experience. ever. We also rode the jet skis, had a picnic on the lake, and played on the rocks.

We went to Stone Mountain early (as in 4:30 a.m. early) Wednesday morning to see the sunrise. We booked it up the mountain and made it to the top just in time. These pictures don't even begin to do it justice. Sunrises are just gorgeous. It's like God gets to paint a new picture every morning. He's just so talented.

That night, we went to Chipotle for dinner. Oh.my.word. So delicious! This was my first time and I am officially hooked. I'm just waiting for the next opportunity I have to go. My mouth is watering just thinking about that burrito bowl.

On our way home on Thursday, we went to a cute cafe in Covington. I had some fabulous margharita pizza. I also ordered a coffee for the drive home. It was french vanilla with a shot of chocolate. So perfect.

Friday was spent packing up all of my belongings to move to Athens. On Saturday, I took Cal to the Apple Store to get my new laptop!! I still can't believe this sucker is mine. So exciting!!

And that's what I did the last week of summer! I think it was my busiest week of the whole break. But now I'm definitely missing the freedom and the beach. Anyone else having the summer blues with me??

Happy birthday to my favorite 15 year old!!!

Callaway, you're growing up way too fast.

Love you bud!

Monogram Frame

Remember when I told you about the snail mail swap??? Well this is the tutorial on how I made my gift!

Whenever you're getting a small gift for under $10, there is always a struggle. At least, that's how I feel. I want to give something that is cute but that is also something the receiver won't want to throw away. The perfect solution? A monogramed gift.

I decided to just use the letter for the first name of my partner. I bought a small wood frame and painted it black to give it a more elegant look.

When I was trying to decide what to put on the inside, I thought the best way to go would be to pick her favorite color. Luckily, she has great taste, as aubergine is her favorite pick. For those of you (like me) who don't know what that color is, it is similar to an eggplant color.

I cut a 4x6 size piece of paper to place in the frame. Instead of keeping the glass in the front, I put it behind the paper so I could add roses to the paper. Putting the glass in the back allows you to have a hard surface and gives you the ability to add 3D touches. The tutorial for these roses can be found here.

The last step was to add the letter. I found some great scrapbook paper, printed out a big "E", then traced it on the fancy paper. It was a little time consuming, but definitely worth the end result.

It turned out so well that I want to make one for myself! This is a great gift for any girl. Who doesn't like getting a personal gift?!

If you have any great DIY gift ideas, be sure to let me know!

Crafty Lady

{Warning: This post is a little on the long side. Just wanted to give you a heads up!}

When I was younger, I was not a big fan of sewing and crafting, much to my mother's (and grandmothers') dismay. My maternal grandmother owned a fabric store for years, my paternal grandmother sews, and my mom sews as well. Unfortunately, I had no interest in learning. I am regretting that very much now that I'm older. I mentioned it to Gramma when we were in South Carolina and she made me a sewing kit with her supplies from her store. Hopefully I can pick it up quickly.

In the meantime, I have been doing other crafts that require little or no sewing. I have found a lot of great ideas on blogs that I was dying to try. This idea for felt pom-pom balls is super easy and cute. I made one in about 20 minutes, with cutting the circles occupying much of that time.

This next idea is my favorite. Unlike the pom-pom balls, it takes FOREVER!! But the end result is so worth it. I can't remember where I found the idea but many other blogs have the directions. I'll give you my instructions, but you can easily search for more on Google.

• Take a roll of streamers and cut strips of 24 inches in length. Crumble the strips to make them softer, then straighten them back out. 
• Start rolling on one end, beginning with tight rolls and gradually getting looser.
• Use a hot glue gun to secure the ends (and maybe a few dots as you're rolling).
•  Smush (apparently that isn't a word but I use it all the time) the top when you're done and voila! A paper rose.

Mine are not as wide as others, but the styrofoam balls I used were small, so the tight look works well. Just play with it until you get the desired look. Mine are short because I folded the strips in half. If you don't fold the strip in half, you will have a longer stem that you may need to cut off. It will also be easier to make a wider, looser rose if you do not fold the strips.

If you want the roses to look like the white ball (more like a real rose):

• Start by twisting the strip just like the first directions. I folded the edge up a little to make the tissue paper shorter.

• Now, continue twisting the roll as you twist the paper strand. This is super confusing so look at the pictures below.

• Glue the end the same way you would with the other type of flower.

You'll have a stem hanging off, so just glue it up to the bottom of the rose.

Final product:

Once you have enough roses, start gluing them on the styrofoam ball. If you use the first type of rose, it takes A LOT to cover the ball. My advice to you: Watch a chick-flick (or the Bachelorette) while you work. You'll get them done in no time. If you use the latter type, you won't need as many.

The next post coming up uses the white roses in a whole different way. You don't want to miss it!

Call Me Martha Stuart

Fridays now have a whole new meaning for me. I have no classes! So that means I can work and then start my weekend early. This weekend, I'll be setting up the apartment and getting everything finished. Fortunately, Zeb is going home so I won't have a messy boy anyone in my way.

This week's edition of Friday Favorites is going to be devoted to a few of the crafts I've been doing. As I type, I have cookies in the oven, HGTV on the tube, and a huge craft box sitting next to me. Just call me Martha Stuart.

Favorite Wall Art: Toilet Paper Rolls

Remember when I posted back here about my favorite DIY project? Good news friends: I finally have enough rolls to make it. 28 rolls to be exact. It may not be enough to completely finish the project, but it will definitely give me a great start.

Favorite Present: Monogram Frame

This was my gift I sent for the snail mail swap. Stay tuned today for how I made it.

Favorite Accent: Tissue Paper Flowers

I'll also be showing you how I made these later today.

What are some of your favorite things??

First day of the rest of my life

via

So yesterday was the start of the school year.

My junior year of college.

Excuse me, what?!

I should not be this old.

Anyways...I'm finally taking the real education classes and y'all, I am absolutely loving it!!! The teachers are awesome, the content is interesting (as it should be, considering this is my major), and my classmates are super nice. That's the thing about Early Childhood Education majors: they are all friendly and personable. Best major ever!

I'm currently sitting in my technology class waiting for it to start. It is supposed to be about technology in the classroom. Hopefully I'll get some good ideas for when I start teaching!

Hope everyone is having a terrific Tuesday!!

Snail Mail Swap

A couple of weeks ago, I participated in a snail mail swap. Meghan from little girl in the big world hosted this swap and she paired me up with another blogger. We swapped addresses and sent each other a small gift.

I LOVE getting real mail! So of course I was all for this. I was also excited because this gave me an excuse to craft.

I was paired with Elle from a great lifestyle blog, who also happens to be a Dawg fan.

She sent me beach in a bag!

She also included a note describing how she uses each item. The items were Wonderwaves hair spray, coconut lime fragrance mist, morning burst facial scrub, Times Square nail polish, and Golden Sunset eye enhancers.

I have already used some of these products and they definitely make me think of summer. I'll be using these as long as they last, therefore making summer last longer.

Go on over to little girl in the big world to check out the other swaps!