Love Your Life

- Melody


shirt: F21, pants: JCrew via Goodwill, shoes: Converse, earrings: F21

I love these pants. I was standing in the checkout line in a Goodwill in Florida and saw these just hanging there begging to be bought. When I saw the JCrew tag I nearly fell out. Hooray!

Seriously. When is this heat going to subside? My birthday is in 30 days and I’d really like it to be cool enough to walk around outside without evaporating on my 21st!

Speaking of my birthday, it’s September! Though it doesn’t feel like it, stores are already debuting their fall collections. If you look outside it looks like fall. But that’s only because there hasn’t been any rain in a month and everything is dead. Yay…

How’s your week going? It’s nearly Friday again! Woohoo!

Knotty

- Melody


cardigan: pacsun, dress: Target, sandals: F21, lipstick: Revlon’s Siren

This is my first time trying the tie-a-knot-in-something-over-something-else trend. I think I executed it well.

Was it CRAZY hot today or what? 106 is a little out of my comfort zone. And by a little out of my comfort zone I mean a lot. But since I only had one 50 minute class today I figured I’d at least get dressed.

The First Day of School

- Melody

Monday was my first day of school. My first day of my journey towards my Bachelor’s Degree. My first day to try and meet new friends. (So far, there are some excellent candidates! Woohoo!). I wasn’t freaking out too much since I did that a few weeks ago. While my day was good, I couldn’t help but miss Kilgore College and all the familiarity. Everything at UT Tyler is so new so it’s going to take some getting used to, but one thing I’m excited about is picking out outfits for school. (Plus, there’s a Chick fil-a and Starbucks on campus!)

Last week started out well enough, though the heat is killer. I’ve managed to stay indoors most of the summer and I am really pining for fall! (Hurry up, cold!) The week before school finding tuition money nearly sent me to an early grave but we managed with some family love, so when last Thursday smacked me, I nearly broke down. Our first meeting with all the music majors let me know that I was missing a $400 class. Unfortunately, the class only comes around every other year so I couldn’t wait.  So, after sweating my way over to the admin building and registering for the class I realized that it was a T/Th class at 3.30-4.30. There went my errand days. And of course, I had to stay an extra hour that day to attend the class without any paper or pencils or food. Instead of getting home at around 2:15 I wasn’t home until 5:30. Boo.

I know that sounds incredibly selfish but driving 2 hours every day can really take a toll on the gas tank and the bank account. Driving four extra hours a week (for a ONE HOUR CLASS! AHH!) has really hit us/me. Thursday was a really tough day for me. It was one of those days when things just keep piling on top of you until you just want to scream as loud as you can. Finances, books, a new school, and realizing that 90% of my closet doesn’t fit anymore has really made me stress out. (My forehead started cramping. Now that’s stress. Oh, and did I mention that our post office sent two checks to the wrong address and people stole money from us?)

So, I’ve decided to try and take control of at least one aspect of my life as much as I can. I’ve joined Jason’s cousin, Becca, in her fitness challenge. It started last Thursday and will end on Thanksgiving day: 90 days. Last week, I worked out three times. (Though, one of those times was Thursday so it doesn’t really count because I was so angry.) The people in her Facebook group paid a $25 ante and whoever loses the most inches wins the money! There’s a first, second, and third place. I’d love to win at least one of those, but first I have to get motivated. I figure the best way to do that is to tell all of you!

So, who’s with me? For 90 days let’s eat better, exercise, and strive to lose those inches. As a mini challenge, also from Becca, I’m going to cut out sugar for two weeks. On the 15th day Becca challenged me to eat one serving of sugar and to see how I feel. I’m already guaranteeing I’ll feel awful! Which, of course, means I shouldn’t eat so much sugar. 🙂

As much as I can, I’ll report back here with my progress along with some outfit posts! I also apologize for my blatant absence in the past week. As you can see above I have been beyond stressed out, but I’m praying this week will be merciful. My one consolation is sleeping late on Tuesdays and Thursdays! Hey, at least it’s only a one hour class. (See, I’m being optimistic already!)

Who’s with me!

PS. Whadya think of the new header? It’s a little different from the vintage, eh?

Deep Sleep

- Melody

Since yesterday was my first day of school and I had to leave the house at 6:45- and didn’t go to bed until midnight- it’s pretty obvious that I slept super well last night. After I woke up I spent the day thinking about more things to update our home. The above picture is what I have planned to do to the biggest wall in our game room and paint the rest of the room navy.

I REALLY want to find a really cool antler piece to put above our couch or above our mantel. Finding the right one for the right price will be a challenge though!

How’s your Tuesday going?

DIY Friendship Bracelets

- Melody

Remember summer camp when you’d make tens of lanyards with that ghastly plastic string? Well this blog has given the lanyards a total overhaul and the result is a beautiful necklace/bracelet/headband! I tried it out myself after many a stressful attempt and this is what I came up with:

The only problem I had was actually getting started. I didn’t understand the directions correctly and it took me a good hour or so to actually start the first braid! After that it was smooth sailing. It’s kind of hard to judge when to start and stop braiding your washers. Mine ended up off-centered so I’m thinking about un-braiding one side a bit then adding S hooks to the end knots and making it a necklace. It’s super versatile!

The next DIY I did was their chevron friendship bracelet. If you buckle down and get in a comfortable position it really doesn’t take all that long at all! I finished one in about 20-30 minutes. Be sure to get threads that are the same size, though. I used thread from two different boxes from Wal-Mart and one was thicker than the other and it came out a bit wompy. (See below) The other one I did on vacation, however, turned out great!

I plan on making more of these since I bought a ton of thread, but after that I want to make their rhinestone wrap bracelet and the rope bracelet!

Happy DIYing!

Posted in DIY

100 Years

- Melody

Last night had to be one of the coolest nights ever. Since Jason’s the Tech Director and their looking for some new technology for the school, we decided to head down to Cushing with Rosemary, the librarian for Laneville, for the open house of Cushing’s new primary school. Afterwards she had invited us over for watermelon.

We drove the 10 short minutes to Cushing and fawned over their new school and their fancy technology. While they jib jabbed I took some pictures of the school. Particularly these two:

That’s a big dome in the middle of the school and a part of the floor. Neat, huh?

Later, we drove back to Rosemary’s gorgeous 100+ year old farm house right up the road from us. She took us all around her house and told us countless stories of her greats and great-greats, most of which lived right here in Laneville. Huge wooden chests and wardrobes and rocking chairs were said to be at least 100 years old.

Her (great?) grandmother’s dining set. Jason’s favorite pie safe and a solid wooden chopping block.

As we sat at her table eating watermelon and peach cobbler she read to us a beautiful obituary of a young girl out of an ancestory book her second cousin’s husband had written. Pages and pages of birth announcements and obituaries and marriages filled that book. I’d love to sit and read it cover to cover.

 

But my favorite part of the whole night was standing in her front hallway, or dog trot. I couldn’t stop staring at it and wanting to stand in the middle of it. This picture really doesn’t do it justice.

To the left are her great grandparents rocking chairs and up to the right is a 100 year old wardrobe from when her home was a teacher parsonage.

I was giddy the entire time. I couldn’t stop saying, “Wow. That’s amazing.” Because it truly was. I was speechless. She knew so much about her family and had so much physical proof testifying to her home’s age. Though it’s been remodeled a couple of times the bones are still there professing the beauty that is a simple farm house in our town of  Laneville. It brought reality to my eyes of our small town. Though I’ve only been here not even a year I have come to love this place. Yes, living far away from “civilization” is difficult at times, but it’s nights like these that make me never want to leave.