My 3 Favorite Accessories

Over the years, it seems as if I have slowly started to develop my own personal “style”. *Shifts pretentious glasses higher up onto nose* WOW, so that makes me sound like I actually know what I’m doing (news flash: I DON’T). What I mean by this statement is that I have slowly began to understand what “look” I want to go for. I know what colors I love, and I know what kind of accessories make me feel like a queen. In this blog post I thought I would share my 3 favorite, simple, gold toned, jewelry pieces.

The first piece you see is the triangle necklace. I was able to pick this beautiful piece up at the boutique Florence Adams. It was only $11.00, and it has gone with almost everything! (SCORE!!) It is the perfect length to wear. It's slightly longer than a “choker” necklace, but short enough to wear you are able to see it above most t-shirts.

The second piece is a dainty bracelet from the Wet Seal. It is super cute, and so far hasn’t tarnished. AND, GUYS, IT WAS ONLY $2.00!! (Yes, I’m a geek when it comes to cheap jewelry.) My favorite part of this bracelet is the detailing on the two circles where the bracelet opens up. It’s very comfortable to wear, and easy to adjust the size of.

The final piece is the simple gold ring, and sadly I have NO IDEA where I got this ring! I must say, this was my FAVORITE ring to wear this summer. It was one of those rings that when I wore it I felt like I should be wearing giant glasses and listening to indie music, saying phrases like “don’t call me a hipster”. Please don’t question my thought process; this ring has magic powers. As autumn has rolled back into existence, I have found myself wearing it less, but it is still one of my favorites.

I'm excited to see what I can do with these pieces this fall, and to see how I can make them work with my abundance of sweaters and scarfs. Yay for neutral accessories that I can wear year around!

Heavenly Pumpkin Bread

Let’s kick off this autumn blog extravaganza with the beloved pumpkin bread. I personally had never made pumpkin bread before, but had always enjoyed eating it as a young kid. I was blown away with how easy, and delicious this recipe was, but decided to make a few changes to it. 

You will be able to tell from the photos below that I had a LOT of batter, and that was because I actually doubled the recipe. I have never made so much of one thing at a time…EVER. The recipe below is the original recipe (not doubled) and it will make 2-3 loaves of bread.

Ingredients

2 cups Canned Pumpkin

3 cups Sugar

1 cups Vegetable Oil

2/3 cup Water

4 Eggs

1 cups Whole Wheat Flour

2 1/3 cup White Flour

2 tsp. Baking Soda

1.5 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tsp. Pumpkin Pie Spice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree
2. Mix Pumpkin, Sugar, Oil, Water, and Eggs in a large mixing bowl
3. In a separate bowl, mix together Flour, Baking Soda, Salt, Cinnamon
4. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients
5. After mixed well, divide the batter into 2-3 loaf pans
6. Bake for 45-55 minutes, or until done (check with toothpick)
7. Enjoy!

I hope you all enjoyed this post, and I hope it got you in the mood to enjoy the sweet and tangy taste of pumpkin throughout this season, happy baking!

The Aura of Autumn

“Autumn, the year’s last loveliest smile”

-William Cullen Bryant

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. It’s true, Autumn is like a big warm hug from a friend you haven’t seen in ages. It’s the smell of homemade hot chocolate. It’s the feeling of wearing what seems like 1000 layers of sweatshirts at a football game. It’s the glistening of the fairly lights that dangle from every corner of your room. It’s the sweet scent of cinnamon. It’s the quirkiness of a small town pumpkin patch. It’s the hustle and bustle of the various fall festivals throughout the county. It’s the brilliant shades of orange, red, and mustard yellow. It’s the jazzy, indie music that’s on every autumn Spotify playlist. It’s the chilly breeze that swirls your hair up into the air. It’s the sounds of leaves crunching underneath your boots. It’s that time again friends, Autumn has arrived.

I’ve always loved fall, and the older I have gotten the more I get ridiculously into the season. I just can’t help it, how could you not get excited about pumpkin scented/flavored EVERYTHING!? How could you not be ecstatic about wearing sweaters and scarfs?! Okay…maybe its just me. 

            Last year was the first autumn I had ever been employed, and sadly it made the season a bit lack-luster. I felt as if I couldn’t enjoy the season while I tried to balance school, band, and work EVERYDAY. So as I watched the season creep up once again, I decided that this year, autumn was going to be a priority. Trust me, I realize how stupid that sounds, BUT this is my FAVORITE time of year, and I am determined to make the most of it!

            This fall I plan to post quite a lot on my blog about the little things. Whether it’s the stellar cup of hot chocolate I had, or if its’ about a cute little pumpkin patch, I want to blog about it. I love reading through old blog posts, and I can’t wait to be able to look back on this autumn and see/read through all of the memories that brought me so much joy.

Here’s to the best autumn ever.

My Collection: SKIRTS

As someone who has a tendency to collect things, I decided to use this bad habit as a blog post!

My first "collection" hasn't gotten too out of hand (yet) but is quickly growing. I work at a job where you are required to dress up everyday, and after nearly a year of wearing nothing but khakis and slacks, I finally caved and invested in a few skirts. I was wonderfully surprised with the prices of all of these skirts, because I was lucky enough to find them for great prices!

The first skirt is from a brand called "Wearever" and I picked this up at Gordman's. It's a simple skater skirt, that goes right at finger tip length. I typically pair this with a nice t-shirt (tucked in) and a pair of nice sandals. I recently was trying to figure out a way to make this skirt autumn wear as well, and it surprisingly paired VERY nicely with a sweater I have! This skirt (if I'm remembering correctly) was $10

The second skirt is from The Wet Seal. I was wonderfully surprised to be able to find clothing in The Wet Seal that fit onto a curvy body, and especially for $5!! This also is a skater skirt, and goes a little past finger tip length. The coloring is more of a nude, with a slight pink to it.

The third and final skirt is hands down my favorite. I got this at a boutique called Florence Adams, and it is by a brand called "Twenty Ten". This skirt is much longer than the other two, and is a gorgeous floral print. It was $30, and is amazing quality material. I was also pleasantly surprised that you can't see through the white material! Who-Hoo!

Overall these skirts were definitely a GREAT purchase, and have been very versatile! All of them are very comfortable, and appropriate to wear in a business setting. Hopefully the collection continues to grow! :)

The Newest Addition to the Family

I recently was able to purchase something I have wanted for what seems like forever, and that is an Instax Polaroid Camera. I have no idea what exactly it is about a Polaroid camera, whether its the idea of the image being raw, or whether it's simply the novelty of watching a photo develop. Either way, I am VERY happy with the purchase, and I have been pleasantly surprised with the images it produces.

To get back to the reasoning behind the purchase, I would say it primarily started with my love of quirky "vintage" photography. I have always loved the look of old photos, and I have always been pulled in with the Polaroid's faded edges, and extra glow. Recently I was able to go through a box of old photos with my Grandma and Grandpa, and seeing all their old Polaroids, and the smiles it brought to their faces made me want to experience something like that years down the road.

I realize that in this day in age, we are blessed with absolutely insane technology, and our cameras today take some stellar photos…but there is just something so special about Polaroids! I (as a proud owner of a Canon DSLR camera) have a deep appreciation for digital media, and the things it can do for our society today, but I know for me, being shown an image on the computer vs. being shown a polaroid…one of them definitely has MUCH more meaning.

I am very excited to begin to create my own collection of Polaroids, and I can't wait to be able to show them to my grandchildren in the future.

We are Kingdom Workers

What’s this, I’m actually updating my blog?

Disclaimer: the following photos are VERY low quality due to them being taken on a cell phone haha J

I recently had the opportunity to attend CIY for my 3^rd year in a row, at the University of Lincoln, Nebraska. It was a wonderful week, filled with lots of memories that make me smile even just thinking about them. This year’s theme was “Kingdom Workers” which is a concept that CIY has used for YEARS. All throughout the week we learned how we as Christians could be better kingdom workers.

Every year at CIY, the music is always one of the highlights. This year we had an artist named Tony, who was very good at leading a group of 1,600 students in worship. The music had a very “electronic” vibe to it this year, and it felt like a giant dance party most of the time, so that was wonderful.

This year we had a great group of students go from my church, and it was so much fun to be able to bond with all of them. We even started what seemed like the biggest version of the “dart game” whilst on campus. Lots of friends and memories made.

Everyday at CIY, everyone gets 10-15 minutes of “encounter” time. Which is basically just time for you to sit by yourself and chill out with God. Everyone would get a card with verses to read, and fun activities to complete. It was nice to be able to sit down at the beginning of everyday and remember why we were all TRULY at CIY.

One of my all time favorite parts of CIY is that you get to share a college dorm room with someone for a week. I was blessed to be able to share a dorm room with my best friend Hanna. The amount of inside jokes, hysterical sleep deprived laughter, and deep conversations that I got to have with her was wonderful. I’m very very thankful to have a friend like her that is willing to share a dorm room with someone as obnoxious as me for a WHOLE WEEK! J

On the 4^th day of camp it’s extended rec day, which just means that your youth group gets to take a trip and do something off campus for a day! Our group decided to hit up a local burger joint, and let me tell you IT WAS THE BEST HAMBURGER I HAVE EVER EATEN IN MY LIFE. If you ever find yourself in Lincoln, Nebraska go to “Honest Abe’s, Burgers and Freedom”. I promise you, you will not regret your decision.

My favorite night of CIY was definitely night 4, and the topic was “Kingdom Workers are changed”. It was a wonderful message that really hit home. We talked about how God changes us, and is calling us to change (even if we don’t want to L) They had us each write down one word that would describe the “changed” version of yourself. They then handed us these very oddly shaped piece of plexi glass, and we put our stickers onto it. After a few minutes of singing in complete darkness, suddenly the stage lit up…hands down the most meaningful part of the trip.

I’m very thankful to have been able to go on this AMAZING trip, and I can’t wait to go again next summer!