the alphabet.

etsy has taken over my life once again.

while perusing the site the other day, i came across the cutest picture of the alphabet. because i love letters and the idea of coloring them in yourself, i immediately wanted to buy it.

a. on the other hand thought it would be dumb to buy such a thing - do it yourself, he said!

so... i did :]

like?

my closet / day date

this weekend a. and i decided to get out of the house and have a lil' day date downtown taking pictures, eating food & admiring the green river. but as we were riding the el, we realized that we were a week late on the st. patrick's day festivities. so at the last minute, we decided to peruse the neighborhood of old town. and boy are we glad we did! it's now our new favorite neighborhood :]

we came across the cutest little shops. there was a great spice shop, a nicole miller that i wouldn't bring myself to in, and tons of restaurants. my favorite shops were pulp and ink [so in love with stationary], the fudge pot [umm hi chocolate shaped everything] and a lil' flower shop with three stories worth of flowers, wreaths, vases and more. for dinner we ate a new place called the flat top grille - it was like a mongolian bbq on steroids. SO yummy!

we didn't get too many pictures that day - but here are a few we snagged [don't judge my senior photo pose... i get nervous when my picture is being taken!].

jean blazer ~ ann taylor loft

sweater ~ h&m

jeans ~ kohls

boots ~ charlotte russe

scarf ~ target

cute boy ~ a. :]

something old and borrowed.

some of you know that i have a bachelor of arts in event planning. but did you also know that i have been obsessed with weddings ever since i was little? i could seriously look at wedding magazines, watch wedding shows & be on theknot.com all day long.

so when kate told me about her idea for this week's topic, i was enthralled!

*how would you feel is you found out your significant other bought your wedding ring through craigslist or ebay?*

if someone would have asked me that question a month ago, my exact words would have been 'umm hells no'. but having since found this website, my thoughts have changed. if you click on the link, you'll be able to see hundreds and thousands of pre owned wedding dresses - each categorized by size, designer, shape, price, etc. after looking at ten or twenty [how could i not!?] of them, i started to see a pattern. the majority of the previous owners didn't feel right about putting their dress in a box for decades to come - they wanted to share the beauty and the feeling they had when they wore it, with someone new.

this is how i see a wedding - something beautiful and unique, expressing each couple's style and love for each other. this is how i see an engagement ring, as well. it shouldn't matter how the marriage ended or why the ring ended up on ebay or craigslist, it should matter how the couple feels about the ring, and feels about the commitment to each other.

every ring and dress should be able to live a number of lives and give as much hope and beauty as possible to as many people as possible.

every ring and dress could be something borrowed AND something old <3

home.

home is a term that changes throughout the years.

when you are very young, home is comforting and safe. in your teens, home is restricting. when you are in college, home is a relaxing get-away. in your twenties, home is something that cannot seem to be obtained.

my friend kate said that her town is like a black hole. so is mine. but in all reality, all small towns are like black holes. no one ever leaves and when you try, you somehow get dragged back in.

my mother and i have moved around many times throughout my life, but the one place we always came back to was coloma, michigan. coloma is one of the smallest towns. it consists of six bars, one movie theater, three gas stations and hundreds of farms - as does every single town within a thirty mile radius. the closest 'big' city is kalamazoo, which is about forty minutes away. most of the people here are small minded, opinionated and gossipy. but those are things i got used to.

what i haven't gotten used to, however, are the memories that seem to haunt me every time i visit. the minute i walk into my room, i see jeremy. when i drive downtown, i think of high school and all the drama that came with it. right next door is my grandfather's grave. three doors down is my former best friends' home. it feels like every time i come around, i get ambushed by the past.

the older i get, the more i yearn for my own home.

a place i am in love with; a place i can redo, decorate and make my own; a place to grow.

a place to make new memories.

right this second...

i am sitting on my mother's new comfy burgundy couch, watching sex & the city on e! and listening to her make my favorite dessert [chocolate pudding/vanilla wafers/cool whip - yumo!].

i am still basking in the glory of a lil' spring shopping we did this afternoon. i'll be bringing these back to evanston :D

my heart is going out to all those affected in japan and hawaii.

i'm missing my two three lil' cuddle bugs so much.

my etsy addiction is getting overwhelming. i am obsessed with the vintage parlor shop and would love this and this :

aaaand right this second i am in the process of writing a blog about 'home' that i will post tomorrow - so stayed tuned :]

weekly photo challenge

this week's theme: refuge

this picture was taken this past summer in the coloma, michigan area. my good friend cortney [the gorgeous girl in the photo] and i spent the day frolicking and photog-ing. we found this amazing tree in someone's lawn - and so the owners wouldn't see us, we took refuge in it. the result? a dark, grainy but beautiful shot.

thirty quotes.

lately, because of this lull i am going through, i have been into reading quotes about life, fulfillment and growth. i really enjoy hearing different views from people who have gone through hardships - and have consequently come out happier and wiser. so after a couple days of research and compilation, here are thirty of my favorite inspirational quotes. what are some of yours?

it takes courage to grow up and become who you really are ~ e.e. cummings

but you know happiness can be found in the darkest of time, when one only remembers to turn on the light ~ albus dumbledore

words mean more than what is set down on paper. it takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning ~ maya angelou

our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall ~ confucious

not all those who wander are lost ~ j.r.r. tolkien

one person can make a difference and every person should try ~ john f. kennedy

being deeply loved by someone gives you strength, while loving someone deeply gives you courage ~ lao tzu

you yourself, as much as anybody else in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection ~ buddha

today you are you, that is truer than true. there is no one alive who is youer than you ~ dr. seuss

there is something you must always remember: you are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think ~ winnie the pooh

life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

ah yes, the past can hurt. but the way i see it, you can either run from it or learn from it ~ the lion king

art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life ~ pablo picasso

and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together ~ marilyn monroe

life isn't about finding yourself - life is about creating yourself ~ george bernard shaw

the truth is rarely pure and never simple ~ oscar wilde

face your deficiencies and acknowledge them, but do not let them master you ~ helen keller

life isn't measured by the number of breaths you take, but by the moments that take your breath away.

for attractive lips, speak words of kindness. for lovely eyes, seek out the good in people ~ audrey hepburn

when you believe in a thing, believe in it all the way, implicitly & unquestionably ~ walt disney

if you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there ~ lewis carroll

when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace ~ jimi hendrix

have a heart that never hardens, a temper that never tires, a touch that never hurts ~ charles dickens

learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. the important thing is not to stop questioning ~ albert einstein

if you are going through hell, keep going ~ winston churchill

in three words i can sum up everything i've learned about life - it goes on ~ robert frost

your time is limited so don't waste it living someone else's life ~ steve jobs

that it will never come again is what makes life so sweet ~ emily dickinson