Two many.

countdown via anthropologie

Christmas Eve is tomorrow!

Two days until Christmas. Two years (!!) to celebrate Michael and I being together, and too many smiles to even count.

Unfortunately we can't spend the night together, but the Christmas festivities begin as my parents open their home to 50 of our old dear friends. I can't wait to see everyone but I am slightly partial to crawling into bed and locking the door behind me.

Luckily Pinterest (and Elizabeth Taylor) gave me just the pep talk I need...

Party on, homies.

xoxo

Cans and Plans

So much has happened since my little blog hiatus since June. I finally moved into my apartment, which is adorably tiny (many DIYs to come!), today marks my one year anniversary at my first position in the big kid world, M and I are about to celebrate two years, and some of my old friends have invited me to help out with their non-profit, combining two of my greatest passions. My life feels a little bit like the juggled photo below, but I feel like I can't go wrong when I'm doing what I love with whom I love.

If only I looked this glam while working my tail off ;)

photos via pinterest

xoxo

A Skip in Her Step and a Twinkle in Her Eye

I never tire of this.

via

xoxo

Clothes Like Furniture

I love this motto, mainly because half of my closet is still from high school or passed down from my mom or older sisters. My mom always taught me to buy classic pieces; buying lower in quantity and higher in quality. I'd like to think they're aging with me, 5-10 years later! No wonder so many of my jeans are getting holes in them!

I also love J.Crew's appreciation for dressing wildly colorful like a box of crayons. If I were to have a coined style, that would be it. Elegantly classic, and wildly colorful like a box of crayons. It just tickles me pink ;)

*photos of J.Crew's June catalog taken via iPhone

xoxo

It will always be right now.

In my "transition period" of starting my first job and moving back home, I often forget to enjoy my life right now, instead of waiting to move into my new apartment, waiting to see Michael or waiting for friends to come home.

Enjoy what you have in this moment!

via Just Lovely

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Live in the Sunshine

Thanks to the lovely Colleen at Inspired to Share, I discovered these awesome letterpress cards from Studio on Fire. At this rate my future home is going to be filled with framings of artistic words to live by. I love it :)

If you haven't seen it already, check out Colleen's blog (it has polka dots and it's adorable), and Studio on Fire is filled with great prints!

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the Power of a Thought

"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

-Norman Vincent Peale

A few months ago I found a calendar filled with beautifully eclectic photos and inspiring messages like this one. Needless to say I was counting down to the New Year just so I could bring life to my work cubicle! And the message couldn't have better timing. Never underestimate the power of positivity.

Most of these images will probably be framed and hung in my future apartment, I can't wait to share each month with you!

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Suitcase of Dreams

"Life, travel, adventure, bless, and don't be sorry."

-Jack Kerouac

via

Oh, Audrey.

via

The Summer Day

"I don't know exactly what a prayer is.

I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down

into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,

how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,

which is what I have been doing all day.

Tell me, what else should I have done?

Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon?

Tell me, what is it you plan to do

with your one wild and precious life?"

For some reason this was printed in my local newspaper, an excerpt from Mary Oliver's famous poem, "The Summer Day." The last line is so perfect!

You gotta have faith

I'm sitting in the library, cramming for a history exam tomorrow, watching the torrential downpour soak the campus outside my window, and playing a game of tennis in my mind between graduation and job searching, and everything else on my list of things to do.

In about 5 minutes, I worked myself into a massive frenzy.

Then I remembered this...

'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the LORD, ' plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

And after a deep breath, life was re-filled with so many wonderfuls :)

Photo courtesy of Katrina † on Flickr

Glass

Somehow music always gets it right. Every emotion and every memory can be caught in a song - sometimes they give you the perfect words and sometimes they take all of your words away.

(this blog is likely to be filleddd with music, so get ready).

I heard this the other day and it stated exactly how I felt; described exactly what I was going through.

I love hearing a song and feeling like they wrote it just for me. So thanks, Ingrid!

People are funny. We are so stubborn and close minded, so good at getting wrapped up in something and then refusing to let it go, even if it's dead.

I am especially good at this, and especially slow at accepting the reality of it all.

I just recently said goodbye to a very impactful person in my life... It's amazing how badly you can break your own heart by breaking anothers. Even when it's for the best and you've seen it coming, it still just sucks.

But despite how painful it is, it's amazing how many people we encounter within our lifetime, and how we can touch each other so deeply that we are forever changed. Even if the relationship is temporary, the effect is permanent. I'm so thankful to have experienced something like this. I'm even more thankful for those that have been in my life all along, and so excited for those that are just now entering.

At the end of the day, there is still so much to look forward to :)

At this very moment the universe is trying to manifest miracles through your visions, intuitions, and longings. Imagine that your inklings are God's whispers to your heart. The same God that gave you the idea will give you the means and support to see it through. The world is being transformed through people like you, who love themselves enough to trust their inner guidance, and relax enough to let the universe take care of the means.

-Alan Cohen