Tuesday, December 28, 2010

Merry Christmas!!

The past few days have been filled with lots of shopping and getting ready, then enjoying Christmas with my family. My mom and I traveled down to GA, which meant we didn't have very many decorations. :( The first few days down here were filled with running around and shopping. We found a cheap fake tree to buy and decorated in some super cute ornaments. My sister flew in on the 24th, just in time for us to have a small family Christmas. I'm putting up a few photos from Christmas morning, then I have a few more things to share at the bottom. Sorry some of them aren't the best quality. The camera was being passed around by my family. :)



our adorable tree with our presents around it.
 


we found the most adorable stocking for my sister and myself. she had the bear and i had the penguin.
  

this is when i was demonstrating for my sister how to appropriately show off for pictures
 

even the puppies like to get in on the Christmas excitement
 


my dad and i (plus the puppies) after all the gifts had been opened.


For now that's about it. The next day (the 26th) we went to the World of Coke and the Georgia Aquarium. The WOC was kinda (really) boring but I had fun taking pictures, and of course I totally loved the aquarium, as per usual. My plan is to post about both of those trips in the next few days but we'll have to see. My laptop has no internet access, for some odd reason so I have to use my mom or dad's laptop when I can. I also want to post a few pictures of some of my favorite gifts I got (a super cute sweater!! a mini cupcake maker!!). And with the new year coming up soon, I want to post a little about my new goals and resolutions. Hope you all had a great Christmas. Any exciting or sweet stories you want to share??
xoxo, Lauren 

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Stream of Consciousness Day, Baby

A. I'm a new sponsor on a super cute blog called 'Crafted Love'. Check out my intro post here and stay tuned for my guest post coming soon. :D

B. Speaking of sponsoring...if you want to advertise my blog on your blog, you can now!! Over on the left of the screen is a super cute button (designed by Allison of Crafted Love), and under it is an HTML code you can copy and paste onto your page. And you really should. I mean, doesn't every blog deserve a little dash of cuteness?? ;)

C. Remember that list of "19 things before 19" I was working on?? I'm still working on it, I promise, but I'm changing it a little. With my birthday coming up in March, I feel like I don't have enough time to do anything big. Instead, I've decided I'm going to make a list of "19 Things Before 20" and try to accomplish them all by then. I figure that way I can add a few more of the bigger things to my list.

D. I added a few new things to my etsy shop!! The tote bag is already a new favorite among my friends and I even made a second one for my mom for Christmas (shhh, don't tell!!) and the little bunny cap is just so sweet. I wish I knew a baby to give it to. :) You can check out my etsy shop here!!

Little House (on the) Tote Bag


Newborn Baby Bunny Cap
 E. Lastly, a quick reminder that I love to hear from you!! Leave a comment, e-mail me at lauren.vaughan.10@cnu.edu, or ask to be penpals!! Everyone loves getting mail. :)

I'll be back later with an actual post, and hopefully pictures of this gorgeous snow that's starting to fall. xoxo, Lauren

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Bubble Baths in Clawfoot Tubs

There's still a few years until I'm out in the real world and living on my own. While I'm in no hurry to have that happen, I can't wait for the day when I can decorate and design my house to my heart's content. Although I don't actually have any set plans I do like to think about what I want. And I'm sure I won't get everything that I dream about but there are a few things I'd love, one of which is a clawfoot tub.


I love everything about them. I think they are gorgeous. They add a glamorous and classy touch to any bathroom. I love the style that dates back to an earlier time. One of my favorite things to do, especially when I'm stressed, is to take a long, hot, usually bubble-filled, bath. The cat enjoys sitting with me and occassionally dipping a paw in as well. I'd get one of those little trays to put my book in as well so it doesn't get wet. (I will admit the corners occassionally get a little wet when I read in the tub. Oops!!) Here are a couple more clawfoot tubs I totally love.


So amazing...I love. <3



I love this one because of how they use all the color.

Like I said, I can deal with not having a lot of stuff in my future house but this has to be one of the major things on my wishlist. Guess my future hubby needs a good job. ;)
xoxo, Lauren

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Baking, Baking, and oh Look, More Baking

I've been home alone the past few days. I dropped my mom off at the airport on Saturday and went to the grocery store that afternoon to pick up all my essentials in case I wouldn't be able to later or didn't want to. Since she's in New York (my grandpa's doing okay, thankfully) I have the house to myself. A little scary because it's my first time staying home alone, and a little weird to be alone since I'm a people person, but not too bad. I had plans (ex- baking) and people to see during the day. However, that Saturday night I started my first mission: peppermint bark.


(yes, these are actual pictures of the bark i made)
Was it as pretty as the real stuff?? No. Did it tase just as great?? Yes :) I was quite pleased with myself. My only piece of advice to anyone making this is to make sure you really crush the peppermints.

Then tonight one of my best friends from high school, Amanda, came over. We went to see the movie Love and Other Drugs (I cried but the ending was totally sweet and I loved it. I majorly reccommend it. Plus Jake and Anne are amazing) Afterwards we made sugar cookies. (From here on out these are my pictures, but I promise my food will look just as good, if not better!!) We did have a minor problem at first. Too little flour in the dough caused major stickiness and a big mess. We did manage to fix it really quickly and had fun decorating. I'm a sucker for anything artsy and creative like that. Give me some icing, a few bottles of sprinkles, and I'm good to go!!

Tomorrow (as well as the rest of the week) the baking continues. I plan on making 2 of my favorite old stand-bys, peanut butter blossoms and chocolate chip, as well as a new addtion. Last Christmas I tried a Snickerdoodle for the first time in awhile and discovered how much I really like them. They seem pretty easy to make and I love baking, obviously, so I figure I'll try them out as well sometime this week. To balance out all these cookies I plan on making a second batch of peppermint bark (this time to share!!...maybe) and some chocolate covered pretzels as well. So much fun and super yummy too!!



I plan on taking some more pictures of my tasty creations as the week. I also have a few new etsy items I plan on listing. I just need to wait till tomorrow so I can get some sunlight to take photos. And of course, I am so excited for Christmas!! :) :) Until then,
xoxo, Lauren

Friday, December 10, 2010

The Madness has Started Already

I'm finally home!! My stats exam went okay today...I think I knew about 2.5 out of the 4 pages of problems, so here's to hoping for a D+ or C-. I know it's sad to some but math just isn't my subject. My English exam, on the other hand, was crazy easy and I finished in a little less than an hour. All we had to do was memorize 20 terms we've learned during the semester and write examples. I was quite proud of myself for being able to include 3 of the Grey's Anatomy characters, the Cast of Glee, Brittney Spears, and kittens, among other things, in my examples.

Traffic was crazy on the car ride home and we brought a friend of mine, Damian, along with us as well but it's worth it to be home now. The puppies flipped out when they saw me. I'm pretty sure Phoebe (the darling in my banner) just about threw her hip out again she was so excited. It's great to see my mom but a little sad knowing I have to take her to the airport tomorrow to be with my grandparents and I'll be here alone. At least my grandpa got through his surgury okay.



Like I promised though, I'm already adding new stuff to the shop. I finally got around to finishing my first project I decided to make. It's an adorable gingerbread man headband that I'm already in love with. :) Tomorrow I plan to start work on some new ideas and head over to Kroger to stock up on baking supplies. I'm thinking that hopefully I'll be motivated enough to possibly do my first ever DIY?? Hmmm...guess you'll just have to keep reading to find out. Until then...check out the new listing and tell your friends!!  :)

xoxo, Lauren

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Finals!!

Life has been a little crazy since around Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving itself was chill, but all the shopping, planning, and events I did with my parents were a little much. Then I came back to school where we had one week of learning followed by...

FINALS!!!!!!!!!!

I can already tell you that finals and I do not get along. This past weekend was spent having a little too much fun (nothing illegal, think ice-skating with friends (cute boy included), then staying up till almost 6am in the lobby of our residence hall talking and playing "Apples to Apples") but needless to say that doesn't result in much studying.

I wasn't too worried about my theater, english, or history classes but stats and art history had me working up a sweat. I just finished art history at 12 and I'm not feeling too badly about it. Of course, that usually means you bombed it so I'm trying to stay positive. Stats is tomorrow and I'm hoping that with the help of a graphing calculator, my trusty cheat-sheet, and thoughts of going home dancing in my head I'll be able to get through it. The only bummer is that means tomorrow I officially finish my first semester of college and go home for a month. I don't want to leave my friends here!!

On top of all this, I got a call Wednesday morning from my mom that my grandpa fell the other night and broke his femur. He's in the hospital with surgury and weeks, possibly months, of rehab in front of him. My mom's leaving Saturday to stay with my grandparents in NY and my dad has a business trip so I guess I'll be in the house by myself my first week of break. If anything, it leaves me with plenty of time for crafting.

I'm really looking forward to break. A time for more posts, crafts, baking, and hopefully babysitting for some extra $.

xoxo, Lauren