i love it when daddy's home :)

the day after christmas, my dad had a day off of work. those are rare for people of the postal profession, so it was rather exciting for us to have him home. while he was home, he helped me do several things around my room, one of which was a magnificent scarf hanger :)

i had found a nice design idea several weeks before when i searched "DIY scarf hanger" on pinterest. this is what i found:

i love the fact that neither the hooks nor the boards are uniform. so i let this idea sit in my mind for a while. i knew that we had some old cupboard doors in the basement, and i figured that could make a phenomenal base for the scarf hanger. i also knew that we had a drawer just chalk full of old hardware and various random things that had been left in this house when we moved in.




so,  i approached my dad with the idea. at first i was just going to ask his permission to use the stuff, and then work on it later on my own. boy, am i glad i didn't do that. this project proved to be time-consuming, rather technical and slightly labor-intensive, but it definitely paid off :)








STEP 1: find the materials. i managed to find a
good sized cupboard door as well as about 5 or
6 hooks that i could use. initially my dad thought
that we could use an old faucet as a hook as well,
but after thinking on that for a bit, he decided that
that would just be too much for us. so we just stuck with what we had.






STEP 2: decide which side of the cupboard to use. i really liked the hardware (especially the hinges) on the outside of the door, so i was going to try to use some technique with the paint to get an
antique-y look. then i just turned it around and there was exactly that antique-y look that i had wanted. so dad and i took the handle and the hinges off of the outside (picture on the left) and affixed them to the inside (picture on the right)

STEP 3:
 affix to the wall. this was the most technical part of the whole process. when i was thinking about doing it on my own, i was not thinking about drill bits, screw lengths, levels or anything technical really. just about how it would look when it was completed. also, when we were actually drilling the board onto the wall, that took a lot of strength. i would never have been able to accomplish that on my own.
this part took a lot of measuring, a lot of "measuring twice, cutting once", drilling holes, putting screws into those holes, checking to see that the board was level, etc. it was work.

STEP 4: affix hooks :)
we settled on the four most "rough" looking ones. the only technical aspect of this part was tracing the hole onto the door before drilling. this was the easiest part for me, especially since at this point i could finally see it coming together. this is the finished product before i put my scarves on it :)






and here is the final product with scarves/purses hanging on it, YAY! it really made my room feel like it's starting to come together...since moving out for college, my room has been the guest room and i never really felt like i was contributing much to the atmosphere of the place. now that i will be living here until august of 2012, i decided that it was finally time to make the room a little more my style. there are so many more things to do, but this definitely gave me the motivation i needed :)

good morning!

well, it's christmas break. so it really does not make any sense that i am up this freaking early. but i am, although it was not at all intentional. since it is christmas break though, it's time for me to actually blog...yay!
1. i am sitting on my bed drinking coffee and listening to the disney pandora station
2. i am avoiding actually unpacking my room right now. it is currently pretty crowded in here, what with all of the unpacked boxes and unorganized piles of stuff.
3. annual bohemian group caroling tonight...YES!
4. the biggest news of the last few weeks...i'm staying home this semester! i'll still be taking classes at malone, but i will be making the half hour commute to get there. which is why there is so much stuff in my room. if this were just a normal christmas break, i wouldn't be dealing with all of this....
5. thanks pandora. i want to watch tarzan now.

i've had several things that i wanted to blog about, so i'll just do one of the most pressing matters: all of the wedding dresses that i want to post. i have been planning my wedding for several years, so this really isn't all that unusual for me...
i found all of these on etsy. there are plenty of other dresses that i love, but i decided to just stick with the etsy finds today.

this is from the etsy shop MuseClothing...and it's only $88!

this dress is called "Creams Golds Vintage Boho Romantic LACE Dress Kimono Sleeves"

 these next two dresses are from the same shop (whiteromance) and they are both only $250 :)
 

Vintage Affair- Wedding Gown In Vintage lace                      Dove- Wedding Gown 

                                                                                                                  Eco Bride

this dress is from the etsy shop GraceLovesLace. the style of the dress is "French lace Ivory Bohemian wedding dress" and it is $890

these next two are my favorites of this etsy search. they are each individually handmade and are sold on the shop RawHemline. i especially like the first one, but i prefer longer dresses. so, since they are each made to order, if i were to get this, i would ask the seller to combine this top with the skirt of the second dress.  

Sea Shore Dress- Textured, Gathered, Natural Sculpted Dress

                     $129






Sea Urchin Dress. Textured, Gathered Dress

                     $135

on the subject of goodbyes

i'm really bad at saying goodbye. a lot of times i find goodbyes to be awkward and slightly unpleasant. especially when it comes to saying goodbye to andrew. even when i know i'm going to see him in a few hours at dinner or whenever, i just cannot let him go. i cling to him and hold him tightly as he laughs at me and tells me to go away. and now i have to prepare for the second most painful goodbye of my life thus far. the first was when i was 14 and i had to bid my best friend goodbye as she and her family moved across the country to montana. the night before they left, we stayed up until 2am and woke up at 5:30am. we saw the sunrise together. we hugged a lot, but neither of us cried. 

this second goodbye will occur in january. probably january 1st. i will be getting on a plane to visit oregon for about a week, and while i'm gone, andrew will board another plane headed for a much farther away (and more dreamy) place...england. he won't be gone long, just a semester, but it will be difficult nonetheless. i already feel like crying. of course he is too distracted now by application things to be sad, and when he gets there, he will be surrounded by so many crazy amazing things, he'll probably hardly miss me at all. but here i will be, at school...where i met him and where we have spent so many good times. i will be surrounded by great, great memories of him.

well, i guess this is what happens when i find myself a brilliant, ambitious man...he decides to spend a semester in england. the day of his departure is approaching fast...january 6th. and he won't be returning until april 13th or so. of course that really isn't that horrible. we can make it. but i'm still sad.

so, as i'm preparing to say this goodbye, i can't quite figure out how i'm supposed to act. i know the time is coming fast, so i want to spend as much time as i can with him. but at the same time, i cannot neglect my friends, who will truly be my support system while he's across the pond. plus, at this point he's more concerned about getting his papers in then about how we should spend these next few months. so then i just appear goofy when i want to spend all my time with him.

so now i need to practice saying goodbye. and letting go. i'm so, so happy for him that he gets to be over there. i just wish i could go with him. i'm not trying to sound melancholy...in fact i really am not in the least. but i am a tad concerned about that day. but for now, i'm just not going to think about it. i'm going to love this beautiful life and really just live in the moment. because these moments are too precious.

on a completely different note, i am going to blog more (promise, promise). i am currently reading the flipside of feminism. as of page 8, i am still not sure what to think of it, but i am becoming increasingly more skeptical as i read. i do fully intend to read the whole thing, however, but i will be keeping a running list of the things that seem strange to me. hopefully every few days i can update you here, just to keep track of my thoughts.

holy cow. it's super dark outside and it is only 7pm.
today was the first frost.
i so love this time of year.
the colors.
the crisp air.
the smells.
the food.
deeeeelightful :)

i am yours

"She began now to comprehend that he was exactly the man who, in disposition and talents, would most suit her. His understanding and temper, though unlike her own, would have answered all her wishes. It was a union that must have been to the advantage of both. By her ease and liveliness, his mind might have been softened, his manners improved, and from his judgment, information and knowledge of the world, she must have received benefit of greater importance."
-Pride and Prejudice

some pictures of nice things

school starts soon. in fact i will be moving in on saturday. lots of packing to do. mom and i mapped out the bus route that i will be taking this year as i go from school to panera and back several times a week. it was really interesting and eye-opening, especially since it was preceded by handing out food for the food bank. i will be learning a lot this year, as well as overcoming a lot of silly and irrational fears. i am really excited to see what the next few months will bring.

since i really need to be packing rather than blogging, i will leave you now, with a few pictures of beautiful/interesting/strange things that i own. p.s...the item in the final picture is of no use to me. if you are interested in owning it, please contact me ASAP.

batman and his handy sidekick robin...on a pillowcase. i am a huge fan of the batman, so when my brother saw this at a garage sale for 25 cents, he was kind as can be and bought it for me :)

this is zachary quinto. there's not much else i can say about him. if you are unable to recognize his beauty, then shame on you.

ma bling. i honestly forgot that i owned this until about 5 minutes ago. i guess my sister was sick of having some of my things lying around her room, so she gave me some things to sort through. this was amongst those things. i have never used it once. i think i bought it to be ironical. i should do something with it. but it is more likely that i will be rid of it. oh whell.

dental care, part 1

went to the dentist today. the lovely lady numbed the left side of my mouth about a million times and then proceeded to clean out two huge cavities. both of these cavities were getting pretty cozy with my tooth nerve, so it was dreadfully uncomfortable despite the anesthetic. now we wait for me to heal. and we pray. if i heal well, then all is good and great. if i do not heal well and begin to experience unbearable pain when the numbness wears off, that means that my cavity was just getting too cozy to my nerve, which means...root canal! 

i'll be visiting her again on friday to fix up a teeny cavity on another tooth. hopefully i will not be there to schedule a root canal as well! 

chicago, illinois.
this was so beautiful, and it really spoke to me, especially since the word that my eyes are drawn to most readily is the word "peace".
lovely, lovely and lovely.
more posts to come :)