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happy weekend
happy friday! the studio is just about done and i am spending this weekend moving in!!! so so pumped. in order to get gid to help with the moving, i’ve promised him many hours of video games in return – so that’ll probably be most of the weekend. have a good one!
⋅ i wanna make these every night
⋅ gradient macarons
⋅ which bob haircut is right for you
⋅ the last photos of famous people
⋅ i’m in love with this sweatshirt
⋅ 23 movies to watch on netflix
⋅ the cutest baby diy -
DIY gods eyes
i’ve alwaaaays wanted to learn how to make gods eyes ( or mystical eyes? ), i went to summer camp for years and i somehow never learned! so i watched a tutorial video and i learned and it’s so easy and fun and kind of soothing too. then i thought — these would make a super fun galentines day activity (or gift for them). have your girlfriends over for wine and you just have to buy a few different colors of yarn and you’ve got yourself a real rager.
materials
- yarn in various colors
- wood dowels (you could also use bamboo skewers)
- scissors
01. take two dowels and tie them into a cross with your first color of yarn.
02. keep them in place by wrapping your yarn around each side until they’re secured in position.
03. wrap over one dowel, and then around it — and repeat that. if you have a brain like mine, you might have to actually verbalize “over, around. over, around.” the whole time so you keep track.
04. when you’re ready to change colors, snip off the piece you’re working with, keeping a little length. tie it to your next color with a tight knot, and trim the excess off. do that anytime you want to change colors. if you feel like you can see where the colors meet, you can tuck the knots in at the end.
05. when you’re finished, knot the end really tight and trim the excess.
it’s totally a little kids craft, but i love it. it’s also super fun to see all the variations you can make with the same colors, so making them for galentine’s is like the best idea ever.
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valentine’s gift guide for him
valentines is just a few weeks away, so it’s time to start thinking of presents for yer guy if you’re into that sort of thing. my favorite valentines gifts are useful, simple and under $50, but still thoughtful. here are some ideas…
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happy weekend
happy friday!
first off, i wanted to thank you all for your amazing feedback, support, stories, everything on my post last week. hearing from you guys made me so incredibly glad i posted it, and i really appreciate all of you. i didn’t think of myself as brave for posting, i just wanted to help anyone not feel the same isolation i did. i hope we can all feel a little more at peace going through these kinds of things by just talking about them. i’m feeling way better — and i actually find out today if i’m “100%” better.
we luckily don’t have a ton to do this weekend, we’re having some friends over which we’ve now done three weekends in a row and i think gid is sick of hosting (but i am loving it). another studio update… it’s like almost done!!!! i’m hopefully a few days away from starting to move my things in, which will instantly declutter our guest room and make everyone very happy. have a good weekend!
also, i’m nominated for a shorty! i also didn’t know what that was, but it’s the social media award. would love if you could please vote for me!
⋅ seth rogen is clearly the best actor
⋅ a lesson in internet sharing etiquette
⋅ check out this huge boulder
⋅ if you can’t decide what to watch on netflix
⋅ super freaking cute mini diy cake stands
⋅ i wanna print one of these for my studio -
how to make homemade croutons
another resolution is to eat more salads, but for me — sadly i’m not eating a salad unless there is bread with it. i’ve been wanting to share my simple little method for making croutons, because i do it almost every other day and it’s totally life changing.
i don’t just make them for salads, they’re perfect for soups, caprese, charcuterie plates and i’ve even tried them with eggs. they just make the perfect simple little crunch for anything really, and they take me 2 minutes to make. suzanne goin has a recipe for some salad with hand torn croutons and ever since i tried it i’ve been obsessed.
ingredients
- bread
- olive oil or butter
rip up your bread into little pieces. i used to use baguettes exclusively, but when i was out once – i used regular sandwich bread and now i’m way more into it. not only do you probably always have some in your house, but they make for a softer, more pillowy type of crunch which i love.
in a bowl, mix with a liberal amount of olive oil. sautee on a pan over medium heat for about 2-3 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until golden brown. if they seem a little soft but look done, remove them from heat and they’ll get crunchier.
if you want a more buttery finish, cook with melted butter instead. if you want garlic croutons, cook minced garlic over olive oil before dropping in the croutons!
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DIY 2016 planner
i’ve got such an easy DIY for you guys today! another january resolution is to obviously be organized and get all your shit done. so what better than to write all those tasks down in a cute little notebook?!
i actually made this a notebook versus a day planner, because i have a big planner to keep track of my schedule, so i used these cute little lined notebooks that you can rip the pages out of, which makes it perfect for my daily to-do lists. maybe my resolution should be to check everything off to the point of actually ripping out the page…
materials
01. if you don’t have a t-square ruler, you can also use my tape method, or just a regular ruler even — but the t-square makes it super easy to know you’re accurate. start by placing your outside letters first (T + Y, S + N). this will ensure all your letters fit better than trying to eyeball. place your letters with a tweezer, and don’t rub them down yet!
02. carefully place the rest of your letters, you can play around with kerning depending on what fits and what you’re spelling out.
03. once you’ve arranged all your letters, peel them up a little to apply a dab of glue on the corners, especially your outside letters. if you’re not planning on lugging this around in your purse and you’re gonna be super careful, you can skip this step. rub ’em down real tight now.
04. turn your notebook over, and slice off the excess of the edge letters over your cutting mat.
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how to purge your closet
in true january spirit, i wanted to do some posts this week on resolutions you may have made and are maybe even hoping to keep.
i think we all could use a lot less clutter in our closets (and everywhere else), and after our recent move – i purged a LOT of belongings, but i’m still so far away from being a minimalist. either way, i wanted to share my own personal tips for where to even begin.
INVEST A LITTLE MONEY
you can totally skip this step, but i am a full believer in the fact that it works. if you have all sorts of mismatched hangers, pick up a bunch of nice new matching hangers that will make your closet a way nicer place. it’ll not only inspire you to get organized, but if you only allow yourself to buy so many – you have a hard excuse to purge more if you don’t have a hanger for it.
TAKE EVERYTHING OUT OF YOUR CLOSET
its gonna be a pain in the ass, but just get it all out and get ready to devote a weekend to a big ol’ mess. apologize to anyone living with you.
SEPARATE INTO PILES
you can get really specific with this. organize piles for jeans, pants, shorts, skirts, dresses, tank tops, sweatshirts, t-shirts, blouses, sweaters, jackets… it’ll also really help you determine the quantity of everything, especially when you know you wear one pair of jeans daily, yet you own 14 pairs.
SEPARATE INTO THREE BOXES
have a box for keeping, a box for donating, and a box for selling (the lightly used, expensive items you’ve got). even if you’re going to put off the pain of trying to clothes for quite a while, put the box away somewhere far, far away from the closet for now.
DON’T SAVE IT TO SLEEP IN
any nostalgic shirt that you clearly need to retire should obviously go into your pajama shirt. not! this is the logic that caused me to have a pajama drawer that i couldn’t close. i told gid for christmas i just wanted nice fancy grown up pajama sets and he gave me a bunch, so in return i got rid of all the old shirts that weren’t my dads from the 80s and i couldn’t be happier with the way my drawer finally closes.
DO THE SAME WITH YOUR ACCESSORIES
just because you bought a kate spade purse in 2002 with your own money and it felt so dope at the time, does not mean you’ve worn it in the past 5 years — meaning you don’t need it.
i personally only need one small daytime purse, one large daytime purse, a backpack, a weekender, and a clutch for fancy occasions. i think you probably only need the same.
same goes for shoes, think about what you really wear and what you really need, and get rid of the rest. none of us actually need 19 pairs of sandals.
you can even go really hard and do the same with your bathing suits, bras and underwear. another luxurious thing i’m doing in my 30s is throwing away pairs of underwear from college that are disgusting, and buying only quality underwear — which makes you feel so much better when you get dressed. i’m obsessed with cosabella now, and I’ve decided i really only need a weeks worth of underwear for that time of the month… ok now I’m just getting tmi.
VISUALIZE YOUR PERSONAL CAPSULE WARDROBE
you know what you wear the most, and your own signature style. i know i wear black jeans, sandals, loose tank tops, etc. i would be perfectly fine with just owning a few of each of those items and i wouldn’t notice the difference.
from my own personal experience, there was a period of a few months where i didn’t have my whole wardrobe and was living out of a suitcase (long story thats irrelevant). but at that time i noticed how incredibly fine i was with just having a few things to wear. i never, ever agonized over what to wear. then i got all my things back and i went back to only wearing about 25% of the items i own, and agonizing all the time.
THE ONE YEAR RULE
we all know the simple method, but in case we don’t — if you have a bad memory, hang your clothes in the closet backwards. once you’ve worn it, you can hang it correctly. after a year, remove everything you have hanging backwards.
ONLY BUY THINGS YOU TRULY LOVE
it’s so easy to get that cheapy dress from forever 21 because you’re going to a party that weekend and have nothing to wear. but if you don’t shop impulsively, you’ll end up with a closet full of things that mean a lot more to you.
i myself was a forever 21 addict, so i know how easy it is. but i’ve made a real effort this year to not only not look at their website, but to shop more thoughtfully. i invest in more quality pieces, and i think long and hard about whether or not its a good purchase that ill get a lot of wear out of. be realistic and honest with yourself.
SHOP IN PERSON
its so easy to order online, but i have a really bad habit of forgetting to return things. i can honestly say the items that i love and wear the most are the ones i’ve bought in person. when you’re in a store and can see the quality and fit of an item, it makes it a lot easier to evaluate your level of love for it.
WHEN YOU BUY SOMETHING NEW, GET RID OF SOMETHING OLD
this is something that gid also made me do, because our closet was filling up a little too fast. its a good rule to follow — because it really makes you consider your purchases.
hope this helped! now go purge away!
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pregnancy fail
so this is not the easiest post to write, because i wasn’t telling anyone about this – let alone telling … anyone who’d want to read. but after going through the experience, i felt so incredibly compelled to talk about it openly, because i think i would have felt a lot better during it had i been talking about it, or having had known more about miscarriages prior.
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DIY no-sew waist apron
yay! first DIY of 2016! i’ve been wanting to make myself a little apron for a while now because i’m petite and i just don’t like most aprons for style or for fit. naturally, i wanted to make this as simple as possible — so this DIY takes a few minutes and almost no steps. it’s no sew and basically no anything besides cutting!
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2016 goals
happy new year! i’m finaaaally back. i’ve been back from mexico for a week, but needed one more week off so i could really step away and take a break (and my day job has also been a bit nuts getting back.) but i’m happy to be back in the swing of things, and ready to get back into a normal routine where i’m not a little stress ball at all times.
even though i don’t really make resolutions on new years, i try to evaluate the good and bad of the year, and things i could definitely improve on — because even just noticing is maybe a step in the right direction. so here are my goals for this year.Read More
