{DIY} tie bouquet

When Sam graduated from law school, I knew I wanted to get him something practical, that he would use, but that wasn't totally boring (ie: a fountain pen). I also knew that someone would likely get him a briefcase (and likely a much nicer brief case than I could afford). Also, I felt like it should relate somewhat to the business of law school, though on reflection this probably wasn't totally necessary because my favorite graduation gift (see below) had nothing to do with biology.

Me with my favorite graduation gift (and those two lovely parentals who gave her to me). 

So when I was thinking about what to give Sam, I simply thought to myself "What does a lawyer need that Sam does not have?" The answer was neckties. He had a couple, but when you wear a tie every single day, do you really want two or three ties to choose from? This is obviously something a female would think of...


I also knew that I didn't want to wrap up a bunch of neckties in a box and say "here ya go!". If you know me at all, you know that this is the last thing I'd be likely to do. So, about 6 months before Sam graduated from law school, I had the brilliant idea to make a tie bouquet. I'm not sure where this idea blossomed from, because I scoured the internet after I thought of it and only found a few different examples...and nothing telling you how to make one.

After I had my brainstorm, I had it in the back of my mind to look for ties on sale, so whenever I'd go to the mall, I'd keep my eye out to see if there were ties on sale anywhere. Luckily, I struck gold during Dillard's Semi-Annual Clearance Event. Everything in the store is an additional 40-65% off sale prices during this time, so I ended up getting 10 ties for a super decent price. I mean, we're talking such a good price that when my mom was helping me with this project, my dad walked by and said "ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CUTTING UP A $100 TIE?!?!"  Haha. Thanks dad. Also, no scissors were even in sight.


SO this is what my mom and I came up with. Mind you, I came up with these directions about 7:30 on a Friday night (Michael's closed at 8:00) and we just went for it.

This is what you need:

• neckties (the amount you need varies depending how big you want your "bouquet")
• a potting plant (similar here)
• a foam ball (similar here)
• garden stakes (pictured below)
• double sided tape

These garden stakes are a huge pain, but they were pretty essential to the whole process.


First, lay out your necktie folded in half (like in the picture). It doesn't really matter which way you roll the tie, but it worked better for us to end with the smaller side (the part that would go around the neck). Otherwise, it kept falling apart because it was too big on the outside.

Tie the garden stake with the wires it comes with to the part of the tie that you can slip the back part of the tie through to keep it in place (I don't know the technical tie terms). Place several strips of double sided tape along the tie.

. 

Start rolling the tie...

Then, forgive me, I forgot to take a picture before I stuck it on the bouquet, but make sure it's firmly attached together with double sided tape and then use the garden stake to stick it in the foam ball, then pop the whole thing in a planter. It admittedly does take some time to get them all positioned and the ties were pretty heavy so they kept falling off, but I did manage to get it to stay together...until I took it back to St. Louis. Then I had to basically redo the whole thing (without my mom's help, which meant the end product didn't look quite as great).

 I think it turned out pretty great! Sam said he was impressed, though he could have been just making me feel like I'm more creative than I really am.

In fact, here he is wearing the tie I demonstrated with :).

Just before we headed off to graduation!

Happy Necktie-Bouquet-Making!

pardon the interruption

Lake Michigan

For the past two weeks, Sam and I have been soaking up the sun and 75 (yes you read that right, 75) degree weather in Northern Michigan. It has been wonderful, amazing, glorious, just about any other positive adjective you could throw into a sentence.

While I know that all three of my readers are begging for some updates, and I'd love to give you some, you might just have to wait a few weeks days for some posts with substantial content, because this is my to do list for our return home:

• Work 6 of the next 8 days
• Find an apartment to move into by September 15th (hahahahahahahaha)
• Organize all of the boxes that we threw things in when we moved
• Clean the place we are staying from top to bottom
• Host my mom for Labor Day weekend
• Did I mention working? 

Anyway, you can see why blogging has taken a backseat. It's not feasible to write about all the pinterest projects I'm doing for our house...when we are homeless.

For now, I'm going to soak up the last few days of Michigan sun(sets) and sand and try not to let any of that list invade my mind!

because you haven't seen any pictures of my dogs lately

 and you KNOW you missed them.

lawyered

you know what i'm talking about if you have seen how i met your mother.

source

Although this is one of my favorite running jokes on HIMYM, I'm here to talk to you about a different kind of lawyer.


I'm talking about this one: 

That's right. After 3 long, hard years, Sam is finally done with law school! Hooray! 

Shaking hands with the dean of the law school.

After the hooding ceremony, we went out for a delicious dinner with Sam's parents & grandparents, then the next day followed it up with a fun barbeque at his parents' house.

Sam, I'm so proud of you for accomplishing this huge achievement. I know there were days (many days) when it seemed like the end would never come, that it would be easier to find something else to do with life. That being said, I know that choosing any other path would have been a mistake. Many people say this about their significant others, but I really do believe you are one of the most intelligent people I have the privilege of knowing. What I love most about you is that you are so compassionate about the law, and I know the world is gaining a wonderful legal mind :). Congratulations!!! Now all that's left is that little thing called the bar exam. NBD.

#lawyered

dirty laundry

I'm returning from my long absence in the blog world (sorry, Her Bearings...) to voice a concern I have with the world these days.



It's a laundry problem.

source

Sam and I are living/house sitting for one of his relatives this summer in a nice neighborhood. I say nice meaning that it nicer than average, but it is not the ritziest neighborhood you have ever seen in the world. AKA it is not Buckingham Palace, nor is it Versailles. Two places in which I feel a complaint of this nature would be valid.

A little aside before I start this anecdote: I am so grateful to Sam's family for letting us stay here this summer. It's helped out a lot with some unexpected expenses, and I really do love the house and neighborhood we are staying in.

That being said, we have a neighbor. You've had one before: one that mows at 7:00 in the morning on a Saturday, those who have the two dogs that bark at 3 AM (confession, that's me & my parents), or those who have loud parties on a weeknight. Maybe you've also had a neighbor that complains about everything you do.

For an example, say you decide to hang some of your laundry on your back porch. Your back porch that is shielded from side views by privacy fences. Maybe that said neighbor happen to walk directly behind your house, and happens to see some of your laundry on the back porch...which you only put outside for approximately four hours. That neighbor will then call your relatives who are all on vacation and tell them that "it is NOT appropriate to hang your laundry outside, that this is NOT that kind of neighborhood, and if you don't have access to a dryer, you are most welcome to come and use mine." And her reasoning behind all of this? She had "friends in town, and it was unsightly."


Give me a break. I envy her if seeing my scrub pants out on the back porch is her biggest problem.

graduation city

This is a big year for my friends & family in terms of graduation. My best friend finished her degree in school psychology (side note, I was so focused on writing psychology that I originally spelled "pschool" instead of "school." oops.), and another one of our friends just graduated with her law degree! On another note, I have really smart friends.


My brother Zach finished his degree in Exercise Science from Ottawa University last weekend, so I drove home to help celebrate

Bella helped Zach open up all of his presents!


Next up on the graduation list was Sam, who finished law school this week! I want to write a longer, more involved post about this so I'm going to skip down to my baby brother Nick who graduated from high school on Sunday! Sam and I booked it to KC on Sunday morning after several days of festivities and arrived just in time to get seated and watch the ceremony.

Our "baby brother" is a high school grad! I really can't believe it. It seems like just yesterday he was my show and tell in first grade the month after he was born. I personally think I had the best show and tell of the whole year. 

 Nick with one set of our grandparents :).

 It's hard to believe that it has been 5 years since Zach graduated and SEVEN since I did. I can remember my graduation weekend so clearly, it's like it happened a week ago.

 Family photo.

 Me and all of the graduates! It honestly looks like Sam is just another brother in the family. 

 2013 graduates!

After this whirlwind weekend, I'm ready for a little break! And by break I mean I have to work 6 of the next 7 nights :).

apartment tour: master bedroom

Since Sam and I are moving in the relatively near future, I wanted to post some pictures of our current digs so that a) you all can see where we'll be living for the next 1-2 months :) and b) I can always remember what our very first apartment looked like after about 10 months of me getting rid of all of Sam's stuff adding my personal touches around the apartment :).


Our bedroom is my favorite room in our apartment, which is the way it should be, since this is where I spend the majority of my time. This is the room where I have spent the most time, money, and energy trying to decide I what I wanted to do. It was also the biggest point of contention between Sam and I as far as decorating goes, mostly because it's the area where I asked him his opinion the most.


Our bedding is from Urban Outfitters, our sheets, the throw pillow, and throw blanket are Threshold by Target. These sheets are basically the softest sheets you'll ever feel. I made the artwork above the bed, tutorial coming soon! If you look closely, you can see that we don't have a bedskirt (I probably shouldn't have pointed that out, because I bet you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't!), and our mattress/box springs are resting on the floor. We only like to be halfway grown-ups.

The side with the bedside table is my side, because I'm a girl and I have more stuff :). You'll also notice Sam's sweet telephone/alarm clock combination. Unfortunately (?) the telephone does not work. 

Our huge windows are one of my favorite parts of the apartment. The only bummer is that they are all the way to the ceiling, so we were never sure of what to do as far as curtains. Therefore, we just use the blinds which on really sunny days makes it hard to sleep all day (for night shifts).

You can also see down there in that right hand corner there is a kennel--no we do not have a pet. It's there as a sad reminder that we do not have a cat or a dog in this apartment. 

Opposite the window is our closet/master bathroom. I won't show you the closet because it's completely disorganized at the moment, and I cannot figure out what to do with our shoes.

Across from the bed is our tiny tiny dresser that holds like two shirts (I may be a tad dramatic) and one of our overflowing bookshelves (this one has books that we actually LIKE to read on it). 

Another interesting aspect of our apartment? No overhead lighting. We rely on lamps and makeshift headboards made from Christmas lights :).