Whoops

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

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

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

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!

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

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

 

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