Little Lady Little City

PearApple Giveaway

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000

It is no secret that the awesome sauce that is PearApple is a good friend of ours. Shaye was a bridesmaid in our wedding and even knitted Will's amazing sweater he worn for the wedding! So I am beyond excited to have her doing a Giveaway this month!

Up for grabs this month is one of Shaye's amazing handmade dishtowels and dishcloths. Will and I bought both of these guys a couple months ago and absolutely love them, not only are they adorable they are durable as well.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also Shaye is kind enough to offer all LLLC readers 10% off all orders with code 'LittleLady06' at her shop!

Best of luck everyone, I really wish I could enter this contest because I would absolutely love to have another set.

x's and o's

Tiny Print: The giveaway will run until June 31st 11:59 PM EST. The winner will be chosen at random by me via a random number generator. I will contact the winner in a timely mannor (be sure to leave an easy way for me to get ahold of you) and will post the winner on my site shorty after.

Week in Instagram v12

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 15:10:00 +0000

Our new bedroom ceiling fan. Might be a silly thing to take a picture of but as one who has never installed a ceiling fan before I felt pretty darn accomplished.
Yummy homemade strawberry pie I made when we had guests the other week. I think it was a hit.
Wigs distracting me while I am trying to work. Doesn't she know I can't give her pets all the time?
Some flowers Will picked for me to cheer me up when I was feeling a little blue.
My first trip to Disneyland in my favorite pink overalls.
Wigs snuggling with me on the couch, I wish she would do this more often because it is my favorite.
Headed out to DE with littest in her "car seat" This is seriously her favorite way to sit in the car haha.
All ready for Will's 10 year high school reunion. Also please notice the height difference between us, it makes for some difficult selfie taking haha.

We are still at Will's parents house at least until tomorrow, it's been a nice little trip back. Hope you guys all had a nice weekend.

x's and o's

If you want to follow along on instagram you can find me @littleladylittlecity

Country Roads

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000

I absolutely love when you find a dress that will work for a couple upcoming events. I got this one last week to wear to Will's high school reunion over the weekend and to our dear friends Lex and Eric's rehearsal dinner next month. I am not ashamed to wear the same dress over and over without even trying to remix it. Unless maybe wearing different shoes counts as remixing it, hehe. So I am sure this dress will be making another appearance or two in the coming months.

Before my wedding ring I almost never wore rings. I always had a hard time finding rings that fit over my large knuckles,but recently I have had great succes finding some. Case in point the one I'm wearing with this outfit. I think a nail ring was pretty fitting for me since nails and I have become bffs over the last couple of years hehe.

dress // ModCloth

ring // ModCloth

shoes // Lulu's
glasses // Coastal (I also got my white pair from there)

This is one of my favorite spots on the mountain, especially during this time of the year when everything is just so lush and green. It's pretty darn gorgeous in the fall when all the leaves are changing colors too, and in the winter after an ice storm! So I guess what I am saying is this road is always beautiful. And you never know what little woodland creature will come out and check out what you are doing (if you look real close you will see a dear next to the road hehe).

Recently Will and I have been getting into British dramas. We first watched Broadchurch with David Tennant and to say it was fantastic would be an understatement! If you enjoy a good mystery I highly recommend it. Now we are watching The Fall with Gillian Anderson, and while I don't think it's as good as Broadchurch it's still a pretty darn good mystery. If you couldn't already tell I am a sucker for a good mystery, hehe. What have you guys been watching recently? I'm always looking for new shows.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

x's and o's

Please Grow

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:30:00 +0000

This time last year our greenhouse was flourishing and I was feeling all kinds of accomplished seeing how I had never really grown anything in my life before. However, this year our little greenhouse is not looking nearly as impressive. I'm hoping that doesn't mean that last year was just a fluke and my green thumb is lacking, haha.

We got a late start planting (didn't get the greenhouse repaired soon enough) and then we had a bit of a rodent problem. The darn little buggers nibbled up all my corn and killed other seedlings by covering them up with dirt. Thankfully, I think we have gotten rid all of them so hopefully the new seeds have a chance to grow. Hopefully we can get almost as much as we did last year, because it was so delightful cooking with fresh veggies that we had grown ourselves.

Are you guys growing anything this year? I would love to see how your garden is doing so share a link in the comments!

x's and o's

Grandma Lea

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 13:15:00 +0000

My Grandma Lea passed away over the weekend.

My brother and I spent almost every day of our childhood with her, and she left us with so many wonderful and extraordinary memories. Grandma Lea's house was the cool house where sliding down the railing was not only ok, but it would turn into a race with her keeping time and cheering us on. She spoiled us rotten and let us have whatever sugary cereal we wanted; Peter Piper Pizza Fridays were a normal occurrence during the summers. When we were old enough she taught us all the swear words in Portuguese, but told us only to use them when we really had to, and never at someone. She was the classiest lady you would have ever met wearing high heels and tailored outfits everywhere she went even if it was just over to our house.

I have scheduled posts for the rest of the week and I will be around but please forgive me if I don't reply back quickly as usual, I just need some time.

Denim Love

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 13:54:00 +0000

This is one of my favorite shirts, I found it at a Goodwill out in Portland last year. It reminds of something my mom wore when I was growing up. She rocked a lot of denim including a denim jumpsuit or two back in the day. Denim was her go to comfy piece of clothing, and I can totally see why. It's just prefect for those causal comfy kind of days when you can't just wear your pjs all day long, hehe.

The blackberry bushes are in full bloom which means blackberry season will be upon us soon! It is seriously one of my favorite times of the year. I've been reading up on how to make jam, so I think I am going to give it a shot this year. We have a ridiculous amount of mason jars left over from the wedding so I can probably afford to use two or ten for jam, haha.

shirt // Goodwill

jeans // Forever 21

This weekend was a very nice and relaxing one filled with bad action movies, homemade pizza, strawberry pie, and lots of laughter with new friends. I think I ate my weight in yummy food too, looking forward to some just simple kale salads the next couple of days hehe. But hey that's what weekends are for right?

What are some of your favorite things to do over the weekend?

x's and o's

Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Will and I make videos for a living, but we also make videos for fun. So I thought it would fun to share one with you guys every so often. I really have a hard time picking just one favorite because each carries such fond memories.

This is the first video we ever worked on together back in 2009! I had so much fun creating the character and the sets, I also like to believe that my crafting of little characters has improved as well, hehe. But these guys sure to hold a special place in my heart. Hope everyone is having a nice Sunday.
x's and o's

Little Things

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:57:00 +0000

(click for larger image)

For the past two days we have been living in a rain cloud up on the mountain, lucky to see a glimpse of the sky or the town below us. These are some of my favorite kinds of days, days usually filled with hot soup and grilled cheese sandwiches and a movie or two. I also love to just stare out the window and watch the clouds move past us, and often wish I could be both up here and down in town at the same time to see what it must look like down there.

Work has been quite the past couple of days and we have had a little break which has been very nice. Sometimes you just need a day or two of rest to really take in the mountain again.

We have friends in town today so I think that calls for some homemade pizza and strawberry pie. Any day where I can make a pie is a good day in my book.

What are you all up to this weekend?

x's and o's

Ferris Wheels and Cotten Candy

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000

This dress is one of my favorites (that I don't get to wear as often as I would like), as it has such great memories attached to it. I got it last year to wear for our engagement photos, and it's kind of crazy to think that we got those photos taken only last year. It almost feel like a lifetime ago. Things were so different at the beginning of last year, we hadn't even moved into the tiny cabin yet! The dress is a bit too fancy for just hanging around the mountain, especially because I love to wear it with heels (which are definitely not practical up here, haha), but it does work perfectly for a date day out in Winchester.

This dress reminds me of a fair with its lovely colors and stripes, and it kind of makes me want to eat some cotton candy or funnel cake hehe. And speaking of fairs, it's looking like Will and I will be finally making it to the Delaware State Fair! When we lived out there we had always talked about going, but somehow always managed to be out of town and completely miss it. I'm pretty excited, I've only been to a state fair once back in Arizona when I was in high school, though that was during the day so I didn't get to enjoy all the lights.

This button came with an American Girl Doll (Molly for all those interested hehe) that I got when I was little. I recently came across a couple of bags of them in my old room at my dad's house, and needless to say I was pretty excited. They are the prefect accent piece to any outfit, in my mind.

Just raising the roof or something, hehe.

dress // ModCloth

cardigan // Target

shoes // Zappos

Just before we did took these photos we came across this little guy who was doing his best freeze action hoping we wouldn't see him, haha. After we took a couple of pictures we left him be so he could unfreeze and get back to his little burrow. I always get a kick out of seeing all the little mountain creatures running around, my four year old self comes shinning through and all I want to do is make them my friends haha.

Hope everyone is having a lovely day.

x's and o's

Stay A While

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 02 Jun 2013 13:00:00 +0000

In a few short weeks Google Reader will be leaving us all behind. I'm pretty bummed about it going away as I've been using it for years and I'm a creature of habit. Even though there was an initial shock I've since put on my big girl shoes and checked out a couple Google Reader alternatives where I've moved over all of my blogs. Hopefully you all have been able to find a new reader that you all enjoy almost as much as Google Reader (if not more). I also hope this blog made the move with you.

Just incase you haven't made the switch yet, here are two of the best ways to continue following Little Lady Little City.

There are also other ways you can follow the fun!

Facebook - I link to all new posts as well as some chitchating with you all!

Instagram - Lots of pictures of life up on the mountain and my cat.

Twitter - Love getting to chat with you all so easily!

Pinterest - Just recently got back into it and am kind of addicted all over again.

Google+ - Links to all new posts.

Thanks so much for following along, you all are the best!

x's and o's

The Brenizer Method

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 31 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

I thought it would be fun to share one of my favorite photo techniques with you all. Especially because these are some of my favorite types of photographs to do on the blog. The Brenizer Method/Bokehrama allows you to get the look of a large format camera with a regular DSLR. The results are pretty darn wonderful.

The first thing you need to do is to find a place that you think would make for a nice background. Have your subject strike a pose and make sure it is one that can be held for a little bit (at least 30 seconds). Next focus on your subject take a picture and then take a series of overlapping pictures of your subject and the background. Do not change any settings including the focus from your first photo.

I put together a little gif that will hopefully help. You can experiment with how many photos you take (this one used 8) just be aware the more photos you use the longer it will take Photoshop to work its magic (totally the technical term for what it does hehe).

Once you have all of your photos you are ready to take them into Photoshop. (You can click on any of the images below to see larger versions)

Go to File > Automate > Photomerge

Select browse and chose the your photos. Click Reposition for the layout ( I usually use that or Perspective) and then hit ok.

Depending on how many photos you have in your merge, and your computer's processing power it can take a little bit for Photoshop to put it all together. I recommend not doing anything on the computer while it is thinking. Once it has put everything together it should come out something like this. You can see that there are some missing areas, but for the most part all the important parts are there.

Select the crop tool and crop you picture so you do not have any empty spaces.

And BAM you have yourself one pretty great looking "large format" photo. Don't let all the steps scare you this is a pretty easy process that will give your photos a little something extra.

I would love to see what you come up with! Leave me a link in the comments if you give it a try.

x's and o's

Don't forget Featured and Large Ads are be 15% off with the code "FirstWeek" until tomorrow, that includes future ads too.

Wash Those Blues Aways

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Wed, 29 May 2013 13:30:00 +0000

The last couple of days I've been feeling all kinds of mopey, the type of mopey that starts off with one thing then spirals downword about a hundred other things. It started off with mainly missing friends (one in particular) then somehow ended with how I am a horrible grocery shopper (which I don't think is actually true), but that spiral can be pretty sneaky with how you feel about things. So today to help cheer myself up I decided to get dressed and do my hair like I was leaving the mountain to go somewhere fun, and it actually helped quite a bit. It's kind of funny how little things can help you out when you are upset.

I got this shirt years ago and still absolutely love it, especially it's ridiculously tiny and not practical little pocket. Will and I have a running joke about pocket bunnies, and yes that is just what it sounds like. Maybe the little pocket is just ahead of it's time and waiting for pocket bunnies to become a reality, haha.

tank // Forever 21

cardigan // Target (I am in desperate need of new cardigans! Where do you all get yours?)

shorts // my dads

shoes // Keds

Summer is here? That question mark is not a mistake, the weather up on the mountain has been acting more like winter weather than summer. I am talking about 40's and 50's for the past week. Then today it jumped up to the low 80's and muggy, so maybe that means summer is here?

On a completely unrelated note, you know when you have a codependent cat when you can't be outside for more than two minutes without her mewing at the top of her lungs for you to come get her, haha. But c'mon how can you say no to that little face? Anyway, she kind of took over the little photo shoot so get ready for some daily style "cat" addition coming at you riiiight now.

With this little nutter butter and her silliness how could I feel blue for too long? She is kind of my favorite, next to Will of course. Definitely feeling a little better now, hopefully tomorrow I will be feeling even better.

What are some of the ways you help get yourself over the blues?

x's and o's

I think this was her way of telling me she's done with the photo shoot. What a little sassy pants haha.

Also be sure to enter the $90 Zappos Giveaway I am a part of over at Like Ordinary Life!

Sponsor Program

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Mon, 27 May 2013 14:00:00 +0000

After a lot of thought and late night talks (and ramblings) with Will I have decided to start charging for monthly advertisements. Just within the past year I feel so lucky to have watched this blog grow in ways I could never have imagined. I put a lot of my heart and time into it so helping it to continue grow just makes sense to me.

I'm really excited (and nervous) to be starting this new advertisement program. In all honesty I just want to be able to do different DIYs/recipes and get those fun things I think you guys might like as giveaways (as my way of saying thank you for reading), without worrying about money. Ultimately I'd really like to be able to offer more to all my readers in the hopes I can have this little blog of mine grow and continue to connect with more of you. Therefore, it's important to me to point out that 100% of any profit made from sponsors will go back into this blog.

So, now with the new paid sponsorship comes new perks!

Featured Ad- There is only one Featured Ad offered per month. It will always be at the top above all other ads. The Perks: You will have the option of writing a guest post on Little Lady Little City; whether it be DIY, recipe, or talking about your shop, you get to decide! Or if a guest post isn't your style you can host an individual giveaway instead. Either way, you get a post dedicated to you! And of course you will be featured at the top of the Meet The Sponsors post.

Large Ad- Large Ads are located directly below the Featured Ad and will rotate every time the page is loaded. The Perks: You can participate in a group giveaway and will be feature in the Meet The Sponsors post.

Small Ad - Small ads are located directly below the Large ads and rotate every time the page is loaded. It's a great way to start out if you are just testing the waters of paid advertising.

In honor of the new ad program and as a thank you to all of you guys Featured and Large Ads will be 15% off with the code "FirstWeek" until June 1st. The new ad program will begin on June 1st, so check out the Sponsor Page for more information.

Thank you for all your support and encouragement it means so much to me!

x's and o's

And for those of you that already have approved Ad Swaps: don't worry this isn't going to change a thing for you, I'm honoring all of those swaps.

Week in Instagram v11

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 26 May 2013 16:04:00 +0000

I haven't done a Week in Instagram post in a while, so I thought it would be fun to do one again.

Will getting everything ready for the paint by numbers wall mural.
Found a snake in our greenhouse the other day, only to then find out we actually had two snakes taking up residence in there. I think I am finally getting used to finding snakes in weird places haha.
Post-painting snuggles with my favoritest Wigs.
Amazing surprise from Will! I told him about a Spiderman record I had as a kid and he hunt it and a record player down for for me! I was tickled pink when it showed up!
The finished mural, I absolutely love the way it came out!
Chocolate chips cookies, yum.
Root beer float; one of my favorite summer drinks. Seriously I could probably drink one every night and not get sick of it, haha!
Making pudding from scratch (Wigs sometimes like to see what I am cooking especially if it involves milk, hehe).

Our internet has be so wonky this last week coming and going as it pleases. The tower from which we get it was struck by lightening, and they are having a hard time getting it back up. That's something that you guys probably haven't heard before as an excuse for the internet being down, hehe. Oh small town living.

So what are you all doing for the long weekend?

x's and o's

Paint By Numbers Wall Mural

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Fri, 24 May 2013 13:39:00 +0000

The other day I mentioned that Will and I had started on a really fun project for the house: we created a Paint By Numbers wall mural! I've seen this kind of thing done before and always thought it was absolutely amazing, and now we finally got to do our own.

click to see larger version

It was actually a lot easier than I originally thought it would be. After find a painting that we really like, we picked out the colors in Photoshop then went down to Lowes and got color samples of all the colors we needed. The sample sizes were absolutely perfect for this project, and they only cost little over $2 each (score!). We then projected the painting onto our wall and traced it out.

Wall Mural Time Lapse from Will Hyler on Vimeo. A time lapse of the process.

I think the only thing about the whole project that I didn't care for was standing up on the scaffolding. I'm pretty ok with heights, but our scaffolding was just the slightest bit wobbly. Anytime Will or I moved I would get a moment of panic, haha. By the third day of painting I was doing much better, though.

I think Will has one incredible view from his work area now with the mural on the right, the arch window looking out into the valley on his left, and of course his flying super hero figures form his childhood. I think we might build a nice little wood frame to go around the whole painting, just for a little extra something.

x's and o's

Chocolate Chip Cookies

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Wed, 22 May 2013 13:36:00 +0000

I mentioned before that the last couple two weeks were pretty busy/stressful with work for me. Three video projects all due within a day of each other, never fun. With video work you always have a fair amount of downtime when a video is rendering, which is usually just enough time for me to whip something yummy up. I always find myself doing a little baking to help relieve the stress, it's my go to stress reliever. And I think Will enjoyes all the benefits from my stress cooking hehe. So onto the recipe.

I adapted these cookies from this recipe.

Ingredients
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp backing soda
• 2 sticks unsalted butter room temp (I think the next batch I will try it with just one stick)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 cups (or really as many as you would like) semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix together flower and baking soda. In a mixer add butter with the sugars and mix until light and fluffy on medium speed. Change speed to low and add salt, vanilla, and eggs, beat until well mixed. Add in flower mixture until combined, then stir in chocolate chips.

Scoop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for about 15 minutes (all ovens are different so you will want to check the cookies at around 8-10 minutes).

Let cool just slightly and enjoy with some cold milk or almond milk!

Also can I just say how much I love my Meeko cup! I am such a sucker for these cups that they used to sell with kids meals at fast food places when we were little. Anytime I ever hit up a thrift store I always go to the glassware section to see if they have any, they just make me happy.

What are some of the things you guys do to help when you are stressed?

Hope everyone is having a nice Wednesday!

x's and o's

Whoops

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 19 May 2013 14:56:00 +0000

So my blogging schedule kind of disappeared the last two weeks. I blame work and our internet constantly moving slower than a turtle/just going out all together. Our internet always seems to get wonky when I get loaded down with work our internet starts to act wonky, which is one of the downsides living where we do. Is it sad I kind of dream of big city internet and 24/7 tech support? Anyways, I digress so onto this lovely dress.

All those little dots around my head are bugs. We have officially hit black fly season, ugh.

I got this dress years ago when I was meeting the first lady my dad started to date after my mom had passed. I really love it, but have only worn it a couple of times since then because it always reminds me of how weird I felt that first time. It's funny how an article of clothing can remind you of things, but I am trying my best to make a lot of new fun memories in the dress so I won't leave it on the hanger in my closet for such long periods of time.

dress // Nordstroms (years ago)

shoes // Lulu's
necklace // gift from Will

I really love its details, the button scrunch up sleeves and of course the polka dots. So it definitely shows a lot more cleavage than I am used too and I am kind of shocked at how many eyes I saw wondering down (for a split second) to greet the ladies. It was very bizarre. Also looking at these pictures has made me realize just how pale I am, haha! I am in desperate need of a tan.

Anyways if you follow me on Instagram you probably have seen a new project Will and I have been working on! It is something super fancy and I will have a blog post dedicated to it in the very near future.

Hope everyone is having a nice and relaxing weekend.

x's and o's

P.S. I just spent the last hour trying to figure out why all my photos were coming out way over-saturated with Picasa, only to realize that Google recently came out with some photo enhancing thing in Picasa and changed my settings to automatically do this by default with all my pictures. Talk about annoying especially because I had already worked on my photos in Photoshop haha!

Mountain Home: A Work in Progress

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:30:00 +0000

After my last Mountain Home post I got a lot of people saying that they want to see more of the house and what is going on, so I thought I would share a little more of the outside of the house (it has been forever since I have really shown the outside work). While there is still a looooong way to go before it looks anywhere close to being finished, it's home and I love it.

Eventually the house will be covered in stone, like the chimney. It is an extremely slow process as you have to wait for the previous layer of cement to almost completely dry before you start on the next layer. And the stones we are using are not the lightest things on earth haha. Sometimes it's hard to imagine what the house is going to look like all finished, because I'm so used to see it just with the cinder blocks I know one day it's going to be absolutely beautiful!

I think one of my favorite things is that our house is surrounded by trees and beautiful tall grass. There is something so wonderful when the wind blows through the grass, I seriously could just sit and watch/listen to it all evening. I'm hoping to get our little fire pit rebuilt soon so Will and I can hangout enjoying the clouds and the nice breeze with maybe a root beer float or two, hehe.

What are some of the favorite things about your home?

x's and o's

Greenhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:34:00 +0000

We finally got our greenhouse all up and running once again. It took quite a beating over the winter being that the winds are pretty crazy up here year round. It's especially brutal during the winter. We tore off all the old ripped up plastic and then re-sided the whole thing. That wasn't the easiest thing to do with that previously mentioned wind huffing and puffing all around us hehe. So needless to say it was pretty much an all day event. It feels really nice to have it in working order again, especially because we had started some seedlings a couple of weeks ago inside and they were in need of some more sun and warmer temperatures.

Now that we have running water our little watering system is working even better. Last year we really had quite DIY system. I'm so happy that all our plants should stay nice and watered while we are gone for most of July. I would be devastated to come back to dead little plants, I grow far too attached to each little guy hehe.

I'm really excited about all the seeds we've planted this year. The super amazing Hannah got me a whole bunch of them for my birthday (the girl really knows the way to my heart). This year I am even going to try to grow some corn, eee! I am really kind of excited about this, so keep your fingers crossed for me!

We actually put in a window in our greenhouse this year. One day the whole greenhouse will be made of glass, so we don't have to rebuild each year. It is really surprising what a huge difference having the window has made to our little greenhouse. It is just so much more fun working in there while getting to look at this gorgeous view.

If you have been following me for a while you know this is only one of a ton of greenhouse posts that will be happening, so get ready.

x's and o's

Little Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Sun, 12 May 2013 12:30:00 +0000

Mother's Day is one of those holidays that just kind of sneaks up on me, it always has. When she was still here I was reminded by commercials of when exactly it was, but I knew it was coming at some point. Now that she is gone I don't even think about it until I start getting an absurd amount of emails telling me all about their great gifts for mom. I wish there was some way to tell them these specific emails are no longer applicable to me.

I remember when I was little and dad would take my brother and I to the store to pick out something we thought mom would like. I always chose jewelry thinking I was buying her something wonderfully unique and real. It wasn't until I was much older that I realized I was buying her nothing more than costume jewelry, but she never let on. She would proudly wear the fake ring until her finger was green, then just scrub the green off and wear it some more.

She was the best and I miss her very much.

iPad Mini Giveaway!

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Thu, 09 May 2013 12:40:00 +0000

Guys I am super excited about this amazing giveaway! When Chantilly emailed me to see if I wanted to be a part of a giveaway with a bunch of super talented ladies I jumped at the chance! I'm actually a little jealous I can't enter the giveaway, I mean who wouldn't want to win a Mini iPad?!

Now let's meet all the lovely ladies who are helping to make this giveaway happen!

Click on either the image or the link below to check out all these awesome gals!

Chantilly ~ ChantillySongs ♥ Marisa ~ The Shades of Monet Chronicles ♥ Lisa ~ Lala Faux Bois ♥ Shell ~ Kitty and Buck ♥ Marilyn ~ Pulp Sushi ♥ Sammy ~ The Cookie Button ♥ Amanda E ~ Little Lady Little City ♥ Regina ~ Acute Designs ♥ Katherine ~ Of Corgis and Cocktails ♥ Amanda A. ~ Little Tranquility ♥ Joanna ~ ModaMama ♥ Roxy ~ GrrFeisty ♥ Vanessa ~ Take Only Memories ♥ Sabrina ~ The Little Owl ♥ Miss Angie ~ My So-Called Chaos ♥ Shai ~ Vagabond Studio ♥ Chelsea ~ Life Unpublished ♥ Lauren ~ A Wild Tonic ♥ Jenna ~ Kitty Cat Stevens ♥ Jessa ~ Caked Blog

Seriously be sure to check out all these amazing ladies, because I have a feeling you are going to have a ton of new favorite reads!

Onto the giveaway info. It will run until May 30th and will be open to readers only in the US, Canada, Germany, the UK, and Australia. The winner will have their choice of either a White or Black 16GB!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

What would be the first thing you would do with your new iPad Mini if you won?

Best of luck everyone!!

x's and o's

Apple Blossoms

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Mon, 06 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

click to see larger

'Tis the season for apple blossom! This is one of my favorite times of the year, when the apple trees are really coming back to life and are full of the beautiful blossoms. Last year was actually the first year Will and I were up here to see the trees in bloom. Every year prior we either were up here at all during this time, or there were no blossoms at all. The saddest years are when you get a late frost and it kills all the blossoms before they get a chance to bloom.

Will got these amazing shots the other day after we got back from our walk. We are pretty lucky to have these beauties in our backyard. Sometimes it's hard to believe that all of these lovely flowers will be apples in a matter of months. Is it weird/sad that I have already started scouring the web for apple related recipes? I already have my staples which include apple pie and apple cinnamon pancakes, but we end up with so many apples there are enough to try out new things.

I just had to include this photo of all the yellow flowers. I can hardly believe I am lucky enough to have these right outside our back door. I'm going to be so sad when they are gone, but for now I'm soaking them up. What are some of the things you are loving this spring?

x's and o's

What to Wear: Casual Coffee Date

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:16:00 +0000

When I heard the theme for this week my first thought was sometime along the lines of 'man I would kill for a good cup of coffee at some cute little coffee shop.' Living in a very small town we don't have any coffee shops so I'm pretty much out of luck (I still have yet to break down and actually buy myself a nice little coffee maker, one day). Anyways, after my dreams of those yummy roasted beans left my head I picked out this little outfit.

I got this dress a couple of years ago from ModCloth and had a hard time figuring out how to style it. It ended up being tighter around my hips than I thought it was going to be. But after a while of it just sitting on the hanger in my closet making me feel bad, I decided to embrase the hip hug, just wear it, and have been really loving it! I am not sure why but I always get the feeling of an old-timey carnival when I wear this dress. Like I should have a big bag of cotton candy, haha.

dress // ModCloth

jacket // Old Navy

shoes (which I just realized you can even see in any of the pictures haha) // thrifted

Hope everyone is having a nice day, and don't forget to check out Nicole and all the other ladies who linked up this week.

x's and o's

A Day to Celebrate!

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Wed, 01 May 2013 13:00:00 +0000

Ok so this post might just be showing just how weird I am, but whatevers I am so tickled to death about it! Last week was Wig's first birthday, so of course a kitty party was thrown. And by kitty party I mean that I mean I put together a tuna cake, made birthday hats, and forced Will to be completely ridiculous with me, haha! I like to think this a totally acceptable thing to do for your pets, right?

Click to see this adorableness in a larger version.

1 // I can hardly believe that she was ever so small, I mean look at that tail, there is no poof. 2 // She used to love to lay right infront of my computer and sleep/play while I tried to work. Needless to say it was hard to get my work done quickly. 3 // Sleeping like a nutter. 4 // Being the best cat ever and letting me dress her up!

A little bit of tuna garnished with yummy kitty treats topped with a candle (wow I think I have outdone myself in silliness haha). I have a feeling she might start expecting this kind of treatment every day now.

She is absolutely thrilled as you can see.

Her tune changed once she realized all that tuna was for her.

I had quite a delightful time celebrating Wigs' birthday, and like to think so did Wigs and Will hehe. Do you guys do anything fun/special to celebrate your pet's birthday?

x's and o's

Hello Mr. Sunshine

noreply@blogger.com (Amanda) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 12:53:00 +0000

This weekend was a blast! Will and I drove out to Baltimore to hang out with our friend Shaye, which is always fun. We ended up driving out to see a couple of movies at a Drive-In, and to say I was beyond excited is an understatement! I'm saying I was able to recite the Drive-In's website almost word for word, because I had read it over so many times in anticipation, haha! I hadn't been to a drive in probably since I was 5 or 6, and the only thing I can really remember was my parents putting down a ton of blankets and pillows in the back of our van for my brother and I to lay on and watch the movie. Sadly the Drive-In wasn't playing anything we were really excited about, but it was still a lot of fun, and we definitely stuffed our bellies full of snack bar food.

I know everyone has been saying this, but I'm going to chime in too, I am so happy the weather is starting to get nice and warm again. As someone who grew up in the southwest, (and does the snowbird thing every year too) the long cold months really get to me. Now don't get me wrong I love those chilly months too, but when my family tells me about how nice and warm it is back there I get all sorts of green-eyed. But now we are getting to the months were it is perfect out here and pretty darn sweltering out there so I think they're becoming the jealous ones hehe.

sweater // my mom's

shirt // Will's

pants and hat // Forever 21

shoes // Last Chance

I got these shoes forever ago and promptly put a narwhal and penguin on them. I think it makes them quite fancy. Also I don't know if I have ever noticed how much my vains stick out on my feet haha.

Did you guys do anything fun this weekend?

x's and o's