Life Lately: Mountain trip.

I mentioned before that Corey and I planned a trip with some of our friends to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for New Years. It started snowing on our way in, which was awesome! After we got settled in and ate dinner, we climbed in the hot tub. I've always wanted to be in a hot tub while it's snowing!

 

 

 The next day, we ate breakfast and had morning mimosas (and poinsettias), drove down to Gatlinburg and walked around the town. We ended up buying a bunch of stuff form a local artist, then somehow ate lunch at the only restaurant in town that doesn't serve alcohol!

 

(I'm totally in love with that candid picture of us!)

On the eve of NYE, we discovered that chocolate syrup and peppermint schnapps go perfectly together. I didn't get a picture of the action, which probably is not very classy looking anway, but it's safe to say that none of us were truly ready for our actual night out the next day!

 

On our last morning there, the boys went shopping and us girls stayed home and went on a walk. Sounds backwards, right?! We got them to stop by the store and get supplies for shish kabobs. Then we rushed into our taxi van to get downtown! Idiotic craziness ensued.

 

I took almost 500 pictures, but I think these about sum it up. I did realize it's hard to take a picture with my friends without making silly faces. Seriously, probably half of the pictures I took are of at least one of us making a dumb face! Overall, it was a great time. I'm really looking forward to 2013. There's so much happening this year for me, and I'm really excited! :)

Wardrobe Wednesday: Put a ring on it.

On Monday, Corey played hooky and stayed home with me. We ran some errands and ate Moe's outside since it was over 70 degrees. Later we walked down to the lake to snap some outfit pictures. This was my first time having him take pictures of me, and this is about the only one where I don't look super stiff! Too bad my dress is all bunched up!

After taking a bunch of weird pictures, he asked if I would take a picture with both of us. Of course I said yes, but it came out really dark so I wanted to take another. Fortunately I did, because as the timer was going off he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him! Of course I said yes.

(In the first picture you can see his hand in his pocket, where he got too nervous!)

I sort of knew this was coming, but I had no idea when! After eating Moe's, I was super full and feeling lazy so I didn't really feel like taking pictures anymore. He kept insisting and saying we didn't have any time later in the week, and asked probably 10 times throughout the day when and where we were going to take them. I honestly didn't catch on at all, probably because I had my own nerves of him taking pictures of me!

Since we first started dating, my life has done a 180 and we are in such a wonderful place. I'm super excited to see what the future holds, and I wouldn't want anyone else's hand to hold along the way.

Outfit details:

Dress: vintage

Bandeau top: local boutique

Necklace: Target

Shoes: Journey's 

Music Monday #12: I live until the call.

That couch. That wallpaper! Okay, really it's Kristian Matsson we should be swooning over. My boyfriend introduced me a couple years ago and I was instantly smitten. And that was BEFORE I knew what he looked like! I won't even talk about the fact that he's Swedish.

I'll stop now.

Wardrobe Wednesday: Warming up.

A secret little goal I have is to get WAY better at this whole thing. This is the last time I'll say it, but I just feel so dang awkward posing with a self-timer, so being photographed by someone else is kind of a scary thing. Face your fears, right? I'd like to think I'm getting a little better.

 

Outfit details:

Headband: handmade

Dress: thrifted, vintage

Belt: From another dress

Shoes that you cannot see: Kohl's

Looking at that last picture, it looks as if there is a leaf on my head but I promise it's just the chair. I also really need an eyebrow styling if that's such a thing. I've been noticing other people's eyebrows a lot recently. Maybe that's weird, but I just really want nice eyebrows! Anyway, I think this dress is like my favorite vintage find ever. It's a little on the short side but perfect with tights. It fits so nicely and makes me wanna spin in circles. :) Happy Wednesday!

Music Monday #11: It feels so much lighter.

There's a lot of stuff goin' on in my life right now... and while it's a little overwhelming, it's way more exciting. I just got butterflies typing that sentence! I can't wait to start sharing more with you. For now, I'll leave you with a love song. ;)

2013 Goals.

I don't really like making "resolutions", like I'm totally committed to do or not do this certain thing, and if I don't resolve to doing said things, then I have failed. And then in December, I'll just feel inadequate after watching everyone who's accomplished all of their "resolutions". So I made it easier for myself, and I'm going to call them goals.

I'm also in the process of creating a "24 before 24" goal list since I turn 23 this month, so I tried to keep my 2013 goals relatively straight-forward. Since I'm making this other goal list, my 2013 goals don't look too exciting... Hmm.

Focus on healthy eating and exercise
I don't talk much about it here, but I'm very into nutrition and eating well. I kind of (okay, COMPLETELY) let go of it on Thanksgiving, and just gave up until now. I eventually quit feeling guilty and it was quite possibly one of the best decisions I've ever made! I'm having a hard time with this one at the moment.

Gain financial stability
My job is only giving me around 25 hours a week, and it's really not enough. I worked a ton before Christmas and worked my hiney off, too. I'm waiting until around March to ask for a raise, if I'm not full-time by then. Since I'm the most responsible and stable I've ever been, I'm excited to start a REAL savings account. One that I don't draw from every month to pay a water bill.

Open Like the Fox Vintage
I've been talking about this for a while, but I kept using my lack of a camera as an excuse. I know that you're not really supposed to do a "grand opening" for Etsy and just list what you have, but I think the quality of the pictures makes a huge difference. So now that I don't have the camera excuse, I'll be getting on that...

Be consistent on the blog
I just started this thing like two months ago, and I'm already falling behind. I thought starting one would aid in my awful procrastinating, but it really hasn't. Time to change. :)

My goal list isn't near as exciting as some of the other ones I've read, but I'm really more excited about my "24 before 24". I'll post that sometime in the next week. (Or two?) What are your goals for the New Year? Or does your brave self call them resolutions?

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Happy 2013!

Oh my, I've really neglected my blog recently and I feel super guilty about it. The week before Christmas, I worked nonstop on finishing the embroidery for the Outback Bowl in Tampa Bay. (Which the Gamecocks won!!) I did over 1200 shirts for the team and all the faculty, and you could see everyone on the sidelines wearing them. It was such a neat thing to see! I'm sure my boyfriend tired of hearing me all like, "OMG, I did that! I sewed and touched and bagged and boxed all of those shirts!"

I worked up until Christmas Eve, and then my boyfriend and I went to see the Christmas lights. They light up the whole park with crazy things, and you pay to drive through. We were both pretty bored and disappointed, especially after sitting in traffic for over two hours to get inside. I really tried to get into the holiday spirit but honestly, I'm just not that kind of person! Hey, at least I tried?!

Christmas was really nice and relaxing. Corey surprised me with a Nikon D5100. I was so shocked, I think I barely said a word besides thank you! He totally fooled me, even the day before I opened it I was complaining about how dumb my old camera was. I'm so freaking excited to finally get my Etsy shop running! Yay!

On the 29th, some friends and I headed to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee where we rented a cabin in the mountains for New Years. I have about 400 pictures from the weekend, so my next couple posts might make up for the last of visual excitement in this one. I have a lot planned for 2013. A LOT. I'm so excited. And I'm excited that I have this place to share it all, and hope it continues to grow. :) I'm off to get a new tattoo, and I'll be back to regular blog posting tomorrow. Hope you all had a great holiday, Christmas, New Year's, and all that good stuff!

Here's a photo a friend took of me looking real haggard whilst appreciating mountain views.