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 

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

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

A Little Pick-Me-Up

The past few days have been kinda busy. I was up till 2:30am last night finishing up a paper, I still have another 8-12 page paper due Tuseday that I'm trying to finish earlier so I can skip class and head home for break early, and I have a couple of journal entries for my theater class due. On top of that I had a major fight over something stupid with someone I'm really close to. Although, I plan on blogging a little more about the people in my life and what's going on, we won't get into that because it's still being resolved, but I hate fighting with people I'm close to. Thankfully Patrick, probably one of my best friends here, was on fb to chat with me and cheer me up. Thank god for him. :)

Since I'm not one to be sad for often, I figured I'd blog about some of my favorite etsy finds that I really hope will make their way under the tree this Christmas. (As a side note, is anyone really excited for Christmas?? I can't wait!!)

I've been in love with these darling little hair clips for a while now. There's something about them that's just so darling. They'd def add a little dash of whimsy to your hair.

source

Whenever I'm stressed I love to just stand in a hot shower and relax for a few. This body whip looks like it'd be amazing. The seller has new scents out for Christmas as well so I can't wait to see (or smell) what else they come up with!!
 

source

Not going to lie, I'm crazy over this shop. She has all this amazing stuff I've never bought but always wanted. I love this piece in particular because I have a shiny pink, strapless dress that this would look great in. And I think CNU has something called the "Captian's Ball" in the spring. ;)

source 

This last one I'm going to leave you with is one of my favorite fine art prints. I love spring and summer for all the fresh fruit. There's something about a bowl of fruit, especially strawberries in my opinion, sitting on the counter freshly washed just waiting for someone to come along and take a bit.

                                       source