Ringing in The New Season.

We've been rather enjoying the entry to fall around here. The weather has been beautiful, and I have been doing nice fall-ish things. Like riding my bike, for example. Chad and I went out for a short jaunt last night (short! I promise. Otherwise I'd be wearing a helmet!) and it was so lovely.

I've finally been decorating the bedroom a little, and it makes our space feel so much more homey. I am loving the burlap, and this ampersand (I love ampersands!).

 I bought a paint pen at Hobby Lobby that I was super excited about (which, truthfully, ends up writing a lot like a sharpie would), which I used to scrawl our names all over the '&.' It feels a little high-school-yearbook-ish, but I still think it's cute. 

Also in the bedroom decor arena (and this was why I bought the burlap to begin with), we gave our bedside lamp a little up-do. Actually more like a re-do, from when I botched painting green chevron stripes on it forever ago. After insisting to Chad that is looked "whimsical" for months, I gave in and re-did it. We like out it turned out.

 

Things are feeling nice and fall. How are you ringing in the new month?

Elise.

Saturday was my dear sister Elise's birthday. I love her so.

Elise and Sam on the zipline at Ragged Mountain--taken approximately 5 minutes after the birth of her baby, Clara.

Elise and her adorable baby, Clara. Love that child!

You know, having sisters is great. And even though Elise is a few years my junior, she is just brimming with wisdom and awesomeness. A few things to love about Leesey Poo:

one// Elise gets things done, and you never really hear her complain. You should read about the time her water broke while she was playing catcher for her 3rd grade girls' team (she was the coach). That is so like her. In her short 23 years, she has graduated from college, studied abroad in Jerusalem, married terrific Sam, become a mom, competed in tennis at number one singles in high school, been selected for All State choir, and been a favorite friend to lots of people. I know I am leaving lots out, too.

two//Elise is always positive. When I heard she was planning on bringing 3-week-old Clara to the family reunion on top of a mountain, I was pretty sure she'd do it. She's done marathons and stuff too, which is also evidence of her positivity and stick-tuitiveness.

three//I admire Elise's superior athleticism. She recently graduated with a degree in Physical Education, which is so perfect for her. While pregnant, she taught Zumba classes at a high school, played (and won!) several intramural sports with her husband, Sam, and just led an active, healthy lifestyle like she always does. Oh, and she tied Chad for first place in the Gettin' Healthy challenge a few months back. Just case in point.

four//Elise is humble. She should totally have a GINORMOUS head, but she is so level-headed and chill. She never brags about her accomplishments or makes you feel bad if you aren't in the same place she is. Here is a perfect (although somewhat personal) example: A few years ago, I broke off an engagement, and just a couple of weeks later she got engaged to Sam (her now-husband). It was an extremely difficult time in my life, but I remember still feeling supported and encouraged by Elise, even though she was planning her own wedding and could have been completely absorbed in her own world. 

Elise, you are a fabulous human being and I hope your birthday was the best ever. Can't wait to hear about your surprise dinner! 

The Weekend.

I am going to let the pictures/video do most of the talking today, but let's just say I was over-the-moon happy on Saturday when I got to meet Abby the Spoon Lady! She was super generous with her time and I had so much fun playing spoons with her pretending to play spoons along with her. :)

Chelsey and Blake (two teenagers from church) stayed at our house this weekend while their parents were out of town. We had so much fun! We went to see Despicable Me 2 (love it!), went to a church activity/ UofL football game, and walked around endlessly looking for the Jugband Jubilee (they were such good sports!). I didn't take many pictures, just this one. Walking around, looking for the Jubilee, we actually ran into the same Indian festival we went to last year (only last year, it was intentional). We bought some mango lassis to share (yummmm!). What did you do this weekend?

Doh--aaaand, looks like Blake got ahold of my ipad. Nice pictures, Mr. Sheep Butt!

Linking up with Sami and also with Sar. :)

Five of my favorite tutorials.

Happy Friday! Linking up for a High 5 Friday today!

Today, I wanted to share some of my very favorite tutorials ever. With bazillions of tutorials on the web, these are ones I actually use and love.

[one] I recently changed my blog header. I really love good-looking graphics and web design, but I get SO frustrated when I can't figure out how to make code work, or I follow some tutorial meticulously and keep getting an 'error' message when trying to input some code on my own blog. It brings me back to my high school math days! I liked Carley's tutorial on making a blog header because it was something I had been wanting to do for a long time and hadn't been able to figure out on my own. And her instructions were simple and super helpful. Yay, Carley!

[two] this link will take you to an AWESOME tutorial for styling curly hair. I have gone through phases where I wear my hair up 90% of the time just because my curls fall flat or look frizzy. Since using these pointers, I have gotten tons of compliments and "I wish I had the same kind of curls as you" statements, which I totally used to think all the time, too! I guarantee you that if you have curly hair that makes you feel frumpy, this tutorial can change your life! Seriously, though.

[three] This is my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe/tutorial. I have literally probably made these cookies at least 25 times and they never fail. NEVER. I cannot stress enough how amazing this recipe is. 




[four] I really only referenced this tutorial once, but I think about it all the time because I love the look of calligraphy and cute handwriting in general. Here's an example of a Valentine's card I made per these instructions on how to fake calligraphy.



[five] Ummm...and I guess I need a number 5. I'm fixin' to write up my own tutorial about how to save your marriage by making a chore chart (kidding!...kind of). What is your most beloved tutorial of all time? Yay for Friday!

  

Bad Names, Part 2.

A while back, I wrote a piece on poorly-named schools. Today, I am back with a few more unfortunate names I have come across recently. I think my favorite thing about bad names is how if you grow up using it to refer to the school/church/lady down the street, it might never occur to you that it has a meaning outside of that school/church/lady. But if you are an adult hearing that name for the first time, you're like, "Whaaaa?"

Slaughter Elementary School. Slaughter, people! I could never send my little children there.

Penile Baptist Church. (and Town, and Road). I don't have much to say about this one. I had to come home and look up "penile" to make sure it meant what I thought it did. Apparently, the town of Penile (which has now been incorporated into my own, lovely Louisville, is pronounced "Peh-neel" by the locals--thank goodness.

Vendetta. Just a first name. It's actually pretty cool-sounding as a name, I think. If it weren't for the fact that I associate the word with concepts like REVENGE and BITTERNESS, it would really be quite lovely, in my book.

Furnishit.com. My mom told me about this one after my last post. Good job with the name, guys! Reminds me of the time I set up an email for myself with the alias, camillasmiththerapist. Thank goodness for little sisters who catch such things--I could be scaring off lots of potential clients.

Thanks for stopping by, & hope you have a great week! Any crazy names in your life? I'd love to hear 'em!

This Weekend. . .

My favorite little Eliza & Lydia at our campfire Saturday night. We love having friends around. It's a nice feeling. True, they are age 4 and age 2, but still. . .  :P

This Friday we witnessed a loss on the soccer field with some of our other favorite pals Duane & Andrea. You can't win 'em all, right?   

In case you were wondering.

Inca Kola reminds me of Emma. Cheers to Chad for hanging on to this bottle for however many years since his last trip to Peru. Viva Peru!