Hello, friends!

If you are a bloom follower, please also follow my new project HERE! I'll still be posting to bloom occasionally, but my focus will be Kellory Jeannette. Thank you :)

Help me name the fashion segment!

As I was browsing one of my friend's blog, I realized that my fashion segment has the same name as a fashion piece she did a while back. That is completely unintentional and I'd hate to be a copy cat, so I'm enlisting your help to rename the segment.

Remember, the basis of the segment is taking outfits or trends that I've pinned on Pinterest, going through my pre-existing closet (no shopping specifically for this segment), and posting what I've come up with, as well as the prices. My goals are to learn to appreciate what I already have, learn to embrace and be confident about my individual style, and to show readers what you can do on a budget.

Any suggestions? You can leave a comment, post in my facebook if you're already my friend, or email me.

And while you're at it, follow My Friend Staci :)

Inspired By: Crop tops and high waisted bottoms

That description sounds frightening, doesn't it? Crop tops are making a come-back in the fashion world but all they make me think of is cheerleading competition. Regardless, there is a tasteful way to incorporate this trend. When crop tops are paired with a high waisted bottom, it elongates the leg and leaves the top hanging at the very tip top of the pants or shorts, or whatever bottoms you're wearing. We don't have to walk around looking like we just time traveled to the early 90s and took a trip to the gym. You can also opt to tuck the top in, which is what I did. I'm not nearly bold enough to allow any part of my tummy to show.

So, here is the look I pinned:

And here is my version:

Top: $2, Goodwill; Shorts: $9, Urban Outfitters at a discount store

I think tucking in your top is definitely the way to go with this look, especially if you're wanting to define or create a tiny waist. Also, having a graphic pattern on the top and a more subdued color on the bottom distracts from the possible "Mom jean" effect of the high waisted trend.

As long as you don't stand around like you have a back ache....ehem.

In other news:
Who else is ready for fall? Dressing for cooler weather is so much more fun. I have a kajillion outfits lined up and ready.

Inspired By: Classic Casual

What I love about this look is that it doesn't follow an obvious trend. All of the pieces are classic staples in and of themselves. You will start to notice a trend in this feature, however. I am a bit of an Olsen twin fan. Call me crazy, or immature, whatever. They have such great style these days, especially Ashley.

Here is the photo I pinned:

And here is my version:

Shirt: birthday gift, around $30 from Express; Pants: back of my closet; Shoes: about $8, Target; Watch: gift, Fossil

This look is so great because not only is it super comfy, but it can be so versatile. Pairing the outfit with some heels and a nice blazer could easily go to the workplace. The shirt being tucked in makes everything look a bit more tied together and, while I'm not sure if this is really true, it seemed like it made my midsection feel more controlled.  The men's wear-style watch really adds to the laid back nature of the ensemble. And I personally loved my leopard flats, I think they add a little interest.

What do you like to wear on a casual day?

Inspired By: Maxi and Jackets

A trend I'm seeing a lot for the coming fall is carrying over the summer maxi dress and pairing it with a jacket or blazer to make it a good fall transition outfit. I am a big fan of fall and, like many of us here in Kansas, I'm so over this summer heat. Maybe if I start to dress like the weather is already cooler, I can convince myself? Probably not.
Okay, so here is the picture I pinned:

And here is my version:

Maxi dress: Forever21, around $15; Jacket: back of my closet, I've had that since about 7th grade

Keep in mind that I am a grand total of 5 feet and 2 inches, so the maxi dress is realistically not the most flattering shape for my frame. But c'mon, they are so comfy and easy--how can I resist?
This look is so easy to duplicate--just 2 pieces! You can also opt for using a long skirt and simple top, and I've seen a lot of people pair a maxi with a blazer which is adorbs! Yes, I just said adorbs.

Hey, do you like this photo size better than the size I've been using?

Hats off to my lovely hubby for taking my photos for me!

Inspired By: My Pinterest Challenge

Those of us who have discovered Pinterest know that it's a great place to gather inspiration for the home, recipes, and DIY projects. Perhaps my favorite thing about Pinterest is perusing the fashion tab and looking through all of the fabulous outifits and street style photos. If you're like me, many of those ensembles seem unattainable, or unrealistic for your lifestyle. There have been many times when I have pinned something and thought, "if I didn't go to a small mid-western college, I could totally wear this".
During the school year, I usually try to wake up, put make-up on, and look put together for my classes. I realize that is out of the norm for many college students, but I find that I pay attention and focus better when I am dressed like school is my job. Also, I am a young married chick, so I don't exactly have a budget that lends itself to shopping every weekend to keep up with the latest fashions. So, I've come up with a plan.

My idea is far from original, there are many bloggers out there taking pictures of what they're wearing (sometimes everyday), but I'm not doing this to have a hit blog. I'm doing this to feel better about myself in the style of clothes that I want to wear, I'm doing this to challenge myself and expand my clothing comfort zone, and I'm doing this to hopefully show my readers what you can do on a limited budget.

I'll be frequently posting pictures of my outfit du jour, each of them inspired by something I've seen on Pinterest.

So, without further adieu, here is my first day:

I've been seeing so much color on Pinterest lately. Think Kate Spade pops of color. I'm loving it. Here is a photo I've pinned:

I love that pop of pink and the graphic black and white contrast. Of course, I don't have these exact pieces in my closet, but I knew I could recreate the overall effect.

Top: back of my closet (a piece I've had for about 4 years); Skirt: thrifted $4; Shoes: birthday gift last year, from Journey shoes; Watch: gift, Fossil; Ring: Rue21

The inspiration outfit looks much more carefree, but I'm happy with the more professional look of my outift-and it's still very comfortable. Inspiration is more about taking an idea and making it your own than it is about completely trying to copy what you've seen.

How would you interpret the "Pops of Color" trend?

One Man's Trash Is Another Man's Treasure

Today, I was studying some basic math to help with my upcoming GRE, and I just couldn't get it. I reviewed the very basic-intergers, fractions, decimals, ratios, and so on. As I walked myself step-by-step through the how-to portion of the lessons, it all made sense. I remembered drilling these types of problems in middle school, and I felt like I had a good grasp on things. Then, I turned the page to the practice problems and I froze. All the numbers became unrecognizable symbols and everything I had felt so confident about not 30 minutes beforehand fell to the wayside and I just couldn't remember how to solve anything.
I felt this nagging feeling of..."dumb". I didn't have to convince myself that I was doing horribly, it just came naturally. I didn't even sit down already feeling defeated, it just krept in. Then, the awful inside voice started talking. "You've always been bad at math", "You'll always struggle with this", "Why are you even trying to get better?".

"You're a waste of space in my classroom".

And there it was. My 7th grade math teacher, living in my head, and screwing everything up. She said that to me once, kept me after class with another student and spoke those 8 words that I've, evidently, come to define myself, and my math ability by. I'm emptying out that garbage and making room for the truth. "I haven't always been bad at math", "I'm done struggling with this", "I will get better".

Mrs. M,

You're a waste of space in my head.

Ladies!

I see all of these quotes floating around that are sweet and lovely and exist, I'm sure, to encourage girls not to fall for some shmuck. The alternative, however, is to never fall for anyone because no one is like "that poem you read that one time". Reality is that there is someone out there who is The Best for you, but he's not perfect.
The Best still has crappy days at work, The Best doesn't want to lie awake with you every night, holding you while you tell him all your hopes and fears. The Best will still argue with you over something stupid in the middle of Wal-Mart. He will most likely use farts as a form of communication. He won't notice every time you change your eye makeup and if you don't tell him what you want for your birthday, he isn't going to magically read your mind and know. But, someday he'll come home from work, you'll tell him you've had a bad day (again, he's not going to read your mind-or your face, for that matter), and he'll dip you and give you a kiss in the middle of the kitchen. He'll surprise you with your favorite ice-cream that you've been talking about all day (do you see a pattern?), and he'll get up every morning and go to that job that makes him so tired because he's The Best and he loves you. And then, he'll fart in his sleep that night and you'll see that he is not perfect.
Give your guy, or future guy, a break. Don't set them up to disappoint you right from the get-go or you may miss something really special...and really real.

Sweet Summer

Hello, friends! Well, today begins the 2 day countdown to the end of my summer courses...wahoo! The next 48 hours will be full of homework, eating junk at 3 o'clock in the morning, and a definite lack of  sleep. So, needless to say, I won't be posting for the rest of the week.
Starting Friday, once I've recovered, I'll be working on the Pinterest Challenge...you can read more about that here. Basically, some lovely lady bloggers (Emily Henderson, Sherry from YHL, among others) have issued a challenge for themselves, as well as others to take an inspiration from Pinterest and make it a reality in your homes in one week. It is taking an extreme amount of restraint for me to not just get on Pinterest right now to browse for ideas. But, alas, I will hold out until Friday.
Then it's on.

I'm looking forward to classes being over for obvious reasons. I'm also just looking forward to having one less thing on my proverbial plate. My August will be full of crocheting, reading, and studying for my GRE. Sounds relaxing..

Dear Abbey

Only you know how deep my love is for you. Afterall, you are the only one who has heard my heart beat from the inside.- Unknown

A dog!

I have this memory. It's fuzzy and incomplete and maybe, possibly, not real. My momma and I are on a trip to Shreveport for one of my all too familiar pediatry check-ups. This time, we took the 15 passenger van with a group of other children traveling to the Shriner's Hospital. Maybe we stopped somewhere when my mom and I had this conversation, maybe it was in the van. There is a picture within this memory that appears more obvious to me. I can see wooden blinds, fake trees in the corner of an office. The setting of my mom's story, of her memory, is more clear than my own memory of hearing the story. My mom told me a story of her graduate school days, of how she out-smarted the system, I like to think. She had been given clear instructions to remain neutral and unbiased when administering a test. Children are receptive of their performance and it's difficult when a child gets something "wrong" not to say something like , "Almost...", and the same is true of when a child does well on a portion to not say, "Good!".  I picture my mom sitting on the floor around a coffee table, giving an IQ test to a young girl. My mom recalled that when she was giving the tests, she figured out that she could just repeat the answer the child had given. For example, when the child said, "a dog", my mom would say, "a dog!". I'm not sure why this story was told or what we were talking about previously. At the time I remember thinking how clever my mom was for figuring out a better way and that she must be the smartest woman ever. It was clear that her professors were impressed, or at least approving. They've never seen anyone in their school as smart as her, I thought.

I still think of that story on a regular basis. Now, as I am starting my journey into the academic world of graduate school, this story takes on a new meaning to me. Perhaps my mom wasn't telling me this story to impart some deeper lesson, maybe she was just telling me that story because someday, my professors would give me the task of administering a test with which I must remain unbiased. Now, I know how to do that. Now, I can impress my professors and maybe my daughter will think I am the smartest woman ever.

When I think of my childhood, I never think of missing my mom all the time, or feeling a mom-shaped void. I think of my streamer tables, and the canopy she made me for my bed, and the time that I got something like 4 Barbies all in one big box for Christmas. I think of how the sight of her purple Grand-Am pulling into the driveway, and the sound of the garage door opening made my day and gave me such giddy excitement-even though I may have not acted like it. And now, when I think of my young adulthood, I think of a mom who has been there, who has the experience and has made the mistakes. I think of someone who will be there to encourage and support me and will be the only one in my little world that really understands what I'm going through. So that when I call her on my drive back from my practicum, crying because I miss my daughter, she will say something like, "I know, baby...". And that will be all I need to hear.

Now Playing: Bell X1-Velcro

Should have known the best was yet to come

Lying on the fold out floor mat at 1:30 in the morning with a 2 year old who is learning to be a "big girl" (and subsequently wet her bed) can be one of my favorite parts of the day. We watched Toy Story 3, we sang lullabies, and when I finally started to really fade I resorted to prefixing everything I said with the word "Princess" to try to make my requests seem somehow special and not so much like the "b" word (bedtime).
"Do you want to lie down on the princess bed?"
"Come close your pretty princess eyes and have some beautiful princess dreams!"
It didn't work. But it was sure cute watching her bat her eyes and dramatically sigh and fake sleep.
The Sandman finally won and my girl fell slowly to sleep. I would normally have gone to sleep right as she did-desperate to get in enough shut eye-but that night was different. I couldn't help but to lay next to her, her little arm wrapped around my wrist, and rest in the fact that right now, she belongs to me. I am still her "Mommy Best Sriend".
She will be mine for a short time, and then she will belong to the world.

Rock and roll, my little girl. Rock and roll in this big, big world.

Now Playing: Those Darlins-Screws Get Loose

You can do anything, but not everything.

I have one certainity in my life: I love my husband, my daughter, and my extended families. I am a darn good Momma and I am learning to be a better wife. I am confident that I belong working in the mental health field, I am hopeful that I will do that as a Clinical Psychologist.

I also would like to write a novel, have a beautiful house that looks like it was designed by a pro, crochet and read for pleasure. I want to wake up in the morning in time to meditate, drink some coffee, and get dressed so that my outside matches my inside. I want to go to bed without dishes in the sink or laundry on the floor and preferably at the same time as my husband. I want to spend my days playing games and doing crafts and running errands with my daughter. I want to garden and cook every meal. I want to always have cookies in a jar on the table. I want to blog everyday and hone my writing skills. I want to exercise everyday.

See the problem?
I know it's all about priorities. When I have to choose, my husband and my daughter will always come first. Second place is a little more tricky. On my best days I know that school and my career goal should be second, but then what about the house? Housework and errands are part of having a healthy marriage and taking care of your children. The list goes on...

I have tried to make schedules and lists so that I can fit everything in each day. The thing is, that stretches me pretty thin and I end up doing a lot of things "okay", and not one thing "extraordinarily".  That is really not how I want to live.

This season in my life has been spent trying to prioritize, trying to juggle. In the end, I recognize that a lot of the things I want to do are leisurely or hobbies. So those will obviously have to be at the bottom of the list. I could take a hint from the three little pigs.

Work before play.
It's a good thing some of my work feels like play...sometimes.

What Id Is?

Life seems to often vacillate between certainty, indecisiveness, panic, and then calm certainty again...for me, anyway. I read a quote a few weeks back that said, "First it's impossible, then it's hard, then it's done." Isn't that how things go? One week you're freaking out about a deadline or an "impossible" project and the next week you've turned it in and everything is okay. Why do we feel the need to have the freak out in between?

I'm in a sort-of freak out period in my life. There is so much that is left unknown. I guess you could say I'm in the "waiting room". My insurance is up to date, I'm working on filling out paper work (lots of paper work), and soon the nurse will call my name and the doctor will give his diagnosis. Healthy or ill? Fit or injured? Accepted or rejected?

This is going to be a long process: 6 months in the "waiting room" and then another few months for the Doc to make his diagnosis.

This will be a place for me to share my experiences as an undergraduate student going through the process of application and *hopefully* acceptance into a graduate program. I hope to be candid in sharing my struggles and frustrations, witty, and encouraging to those who may be going through the same process.

Life has uprooted me and planted me in a new garden that sometimes gets weeds, but I have a Gardener who takes care to give me plenty of sunshine and lots of water. He pulls the weeds and takes great care to pinch off my bulbs that have died or no longer grow, leaving only the bulbs that will bloom to their fullest extent. It hurts sometimes, but I am more beautiful for it.


Title: Thank you to my friend, surrogate Uncle, and forever-neighbor, Todd.