happy 24th to me!

That's right. 24. I've moved from early 20s to mid-20s. I would say it feels weird but I think I've been telling people I was 24 for the last few months so really, I don't feel different at all.


So how did I spend this day?


I knitted some.

I read some (and by some I mean I read the whole first book of The Hunger Games trilogy).

I ate an amazing dinner that my mom and Zach cooked.

And most importantly, I got to spend the whole day with Sammy.

I know you can't stand how exciting my life is, but I thought it was a pretty special day. Stay tuned for my post on all the wonderful things I got for Christmas and my birthday!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone who is celebrating today! If you aren't, I hope you are having a happy Hanukkah, or will have a wonderful Kwanzaa, or just a spectacular New Year's Eve if none of those are your cup of tea. I would like to take a second to remind a few people that this is the holiday season, not just the Christmas season, so even if you believe something different than someone else, it gives you no right to cut down other religions or people solely to make yourself feel more important.  And in the spirit of the holidays, lets just try being nice to everyone. Capice?


Off my soap box.


I love everything about Christmas, but one of my favorite things is holiday baking. Here's a quick roundup of everything I have baked this holiday season!

Candy Cane Cookies via my Grandmother

Andes Mint Cookies via Becky Higgins

Pumpkin Streusel Muffins... my mom found this recipe somewhere, I'm not sure where.

Peanut Butter Kiss cookies via my great Grandmother's recipe

Christmas Swirl Cookies via Our Italian Kitchen

If you want any of the homemade recipes, let me know. The Candy Cane Cookies are fun AND delicious :).

pinterest challenge #3

Do you remember my post about Christmas pinspiration? With all the wreaths?


Yep. I attempted that.


I seriously thought about not posting this for my third Pinterest challenge because I haaate the way it turned out. I again tried to do this for free, meaning I used things I already had, but it is totally missing something. I think I'm going to hit up JoAnn Fabrics or Hobby Lobby after the holidays to snag some 70% off Christmas decor to add to my lovely wreath.


Here's the inspiration:

And this:

And this is what I came up with:

I think that it needs to be more full with ornaments, etc. and I have visions of red berries incorporated somehow (I don't know, it just seems like it needs something!) but there are some strengths here:

1) I had a grapevine wreath BEGGING to be used and it was taking up space in my room.
2) These ornaments were also taking up space in a drawer in my room, begging to be used.
3) This got me out of studying for about 30 minutes
4) It actually looks decent hanging on the back of our door.


Did you participate in the Pinterest challenge? Only a few more hours remaining!

pinterest challenge #2

Day #2 of the Pinterest challenge.


My two best friends came in town this week (another blog post will be devoted to this lovely occurrence) and we got to work baking some of our favorites, and also tried out some new cookies. We found these beauties:

via Our Italian Kitchen

and set about making them. Our finished version definitely isn't as pretty, but hey, we tried!

I forgot to take pictures before, but we did a semi-homemade version and rolled two packages of sugar cookie dough together and then covered in sprinkles.

They turned out kind of trapeze-like when we cut them, but that's okay

These got HUGE when we baked them. Not sure how to remedy that problem.

These were pretty decent, but I don't like sugar cookies so I'm probably not the best judge. We split them in 3 to each have some and my brothers devoured mine, so I'm assuming they are pretty good :).

pinterest challenge #1

My friend Cortney over at Our Fishy Family has challenged her followers to a Pinterest challenge, if you recall from a few posts back. She challenged everyone to recreate 3 things that you've "pinned" which should be an easy feat, but is more difficult than it sounds...mainly because I want to recreate EVERYTHING I pin and I have project ADD these days, so I have a hard time finishing what I start.


Anyway.


My first answer to the Pinterest challenge was to recreate these pins:

And here's what I came up with:

Shirt by Ann Taylor Loft {semi-similar here}
Scarf by aerie for American Eagle about 3 years ago

Jeans by American Eagle...don't hate, they are super cheap.
Shoes by TOMS

Pearls gifted from Sam from Tiffany & Co {here}

my nursing BFF chelsea taught me how to tie my scarf this way...also found on Pinterest. what a wealth of info.

one of my favorite pieces of jewelry.

My goals for this challenge were:

1) Not to buy anything.

2) Not feel super awkward taking pictures of myself in a mirror.

Mission partially accomplished...I did not buy anything. I didn't feel that awkward until I realized my jeans are like 6 inches too long because I'm so short. Maybe I should find myself a tailor.



Stay tuned for Pinterest challenge #2, coming tomorrow!

the past 36 hours.

Yesterday I woke up at 5:00 to get ready for my day. Normally I would hate any day that my alarm went off before 6:00 am, but several a lot of good things happened yesterday and that carried over to today, so I can deal with it.

In the order in which they happened:

1. My alarm went off. Normally this sucks, but I recently used Garage Band on my Mac to make "Here Comes The Sun" by the Beatles into a ringtone, so now that's how I wake up. It's a LOT better way to wake up instead of "Marimba" which used to be the way I woke up.

2. I had the breakfast of champions, aka a sausage biscuit from McDonalds. I love them because they are only $1. It also meant that I wasn't too nervous to eat breakfast, which I took to mean that my final would go alright.

3. My final did indeed go alright. While I wasn't crazy about some of the questions (though am I ever?) I survived and passed.

4. I got to spend some time with Sam's brother Jake, who I adore, when I picked him up from Mizzou and we headed on to St. Louis.

5. More importantly (sorry, Jake) I got to see Sam for the first time since Thanksgiving.

6. Sam and I exchanged Chrismukkaversary presents (yep, that's right. Christmas, Hanukkah, and our Anniversary. All on one day.) and I got some pretty great stuff (Thanks, Sammy!)...including these:

and:

get this now, if you don't have it. It's a blu-ray of her in concert and comes with a CD and is AMAZING.

7. We had dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in St. Louis, The Scottish Arms. It's always so busy but sooo worth the wait. Highly recommended.

8. I caught up on some serious sleep. I'm talking 11 hours. It was glorious.

9. We had breakfast at a new soon to be favorite, I'm sure. Bagels and lox were had by all and it was delish.

10. I found this black blazer (LC by Lauren Conrad for Kohl's) which was marked down from $70 to $35 and then we had an extra 30% coupon, so I got it for $26. Amazing. It's not exactly what I've been looking for but at $26 I can make it work.

11. I got an A on the research paper that stressed me out for the whole month of November. Score!


Also, this didn't happen to me, but I have to say CONGRATS to my amazing nursing friends who were chosen to have their capstone next semester at Children's Mercy! So proud of you guys. Now, cross your fingers that I get my first choice (KU)! And don't hate, Mizzou friends. It's a great hospital.

Now I'm off to prep the house for the arrival of Sara and Jackie tomorrow. So many fun happenings in one weekend! Hope you all are having just as great of a weekend :).

instagram: the finals version

I remember about a year and a half ago when I rejoiced because I had just taken my last finals! ever! no more college finals! hooray!!

what. a. joke.

I somehow overlooked the fact that I was going to nursing school. And here we are again. Finals week.

I will admit that nursing finals compared to Mizzou biology finals are way, WAY easier. I am pretty sure there were a couple of classes at mizzou where I seriously contemplated "tripping" down the stairs in our apartment so I would spend finals in the hospital with a broken leg instead of sitting through 2 hours of Organic Chemistry and drawing pictures on my exam because I had no clue what the eff I was doing. I'm pretty sure o chem was more painful than a broken leg would be (granted, I've never broken a bone, so I could be wrong). Anyway, I survived organic (barely), so I know I can survive these two finals too.


That doesn't mean I want to study for them though. So instead, I bring you my instagram version of finals week. I'd rather take pictures of my study material than actually study it.

What a cute study buddy!

I know this isn't Instagram..but she's too cute not to include.

Essential writing utensils.

A 57 page study guide on the left and a 32 page study guide on the right.

Post-its to mark all of the topics.

Argyle socks and my favorite sweats

Getting in the holiday spirit with my favorite Christmas movies

A knitting project as a study break. 

To those of you who are studying for finals, good luck! I hope you're persevering.

To those of you who are not: I'm jealous.

three cheers for five years.

As the title of this blog implies, Sam and I have been "officially" dating for 5 years as of today. Unfortunately instead of spending this joyous occasion together, we are studying for our respective finals on our respective sides of the state. All of you who will need me as a nurse and all of you who will need him as a lawyer better be happy about that, because I sure am not.

Anyway, here's a little retrospective glance at the last 5 years we've spent together:

One of the many lectures I've received over the finer intricacies of beer pong, I'm sure.

Fancy Freshmen.

In sickness and in health....Sam has mono in this picture. And I DID NOT GET IT, ladies and gentlemen. Super human immune system!

Still faking my allegiance to the Royals (and right after Sam had his Lasik surgery...so weird to look at the before pictures now!)

We love our Tigers!

Before seeing Bill Clinton speak at Mizzou.

Pumpkin patching.

Spring breaking

Michigan Love.

Valentine's Day 2010.

More Michigan Love.

three cheers for three years.

happy grads!

no longer feigning allegiance to the Royals.

playing dress up

...here's to 5 more years. I love you, dude ;), And here's to only one more year of finals during the holidays.

And to my readers, I know it was sappy. Get over it. happy tuesday!