30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 5

"After Dark."

I realize most of these posts are going to be a love letter to Chattanooga and to my dog. 

I'm overly attached to both, and I'm ok with it. 

On Day 5 it got super dark around 3pm. I was about to head out to run errands, noticed the black clouds, and decided errands could wait. The power went out for a while, the thunder was loud, and Scout was terrified. She did her best vulture impression*, and proceeded to velcro herself to my leg for the remainder of the day. Good thing I work from home and can sit on the couch with her during storms! Poor baby. 

*Does anyone remember Snoopy's vulture impression? This is what Scout does when she's nervous. The ears go back, she hunches over, and looks much more fearful than fear-inspiring.

 

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day Four

"Something green."

Mom was in town today and I used my new Tennessee Aquarium membership to take her to see the penguins (my favorite). Along the way we found the butterfly sanctuary (her favorite), and she was desperately trying to get a butterfly to land on her (I was squinting and hoping the shifty little things wouldn't land near my face). 

A nice aquarium employee finally assisted mom in her quest and gave her a tiny butterfly to hold for a few seconds before he flew off. 

The funniest part of the day: When we turned to leave I noticed a giant butterfly (moth maybe?) that had been hitching a ride for some time...on her pants. All that work and there was one hanging out all along! Good thing she didn't try to sit down...

I've had my aquarium membership for three days and have already been twice. I think I'm going to love it! 

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 3

So I don't always have a chance to upload photos every day, so you guys may end up getting two or three days worth of posts at a time. Two for the price of one!

Day 3's challenge was "clouds," and wouldn't you know it was a mostly cloudless sky! But my blue tie die maxi dress looks a lot like clouds, right?

One of the wonderful things about Chattanooga is it still feels a lot like a small town. I ran into my dear friend Lexi at my new favorite coffee and gelato shop, which let to a spontaneous lunch date at Taco Mamacita and a grocery run at Greenlife. Holy linkage, batman! I just love my city!

As for the cloud dress, I saw it in this post on my favorite fashion blog Penny Chic. You can't see it in my picture, but I love how the dress drapes, it's really flattering. I could live in maxi dresses every. single. day. Go over to Penny Chic and give Shauna some blogger love. She started it as a simple blog years ago and I was hooked right away - now she's got an amazing web site plus her own line of Little Black Dresses (I own one and love it). 

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 2

Today was supposed to be "What I wore" day, but by the time I remembered I was wearing yoga pants and didn't feel like changing.

So, let's call it "What I did" instead.

This picture pretty much explains our whole day: laundry, paranoid dog, and a Star Wars marathon. The laundry is self-explanatory. The dog was stuck to my leg like glue all day after a smoke-alarm battery change resulted in some apparently terrifying beeping. If you've never seen a German Shepherd quake with fear, just come over with any beeping electronic device. That's my dog, fearless in the face of danger. 

The Star Wars marathon was made possible by my dear friend Lexi loaning us their VCR. I recently reclaimed my original Star Wars trilogy from my parents' house, but haven't had the requisite VHS player needed to view them in years. Return of the Jedi was one of the very first movies I have memories of watching (the other was The Little Mermaid), and the trilogy still remains my favorite "movie" of all time (it's really so hard to pick between the first two for that top slot). I've tried for years to find the original, unmolested versions on DVD, but George Lucas is like DaVinci with the Mona Lisa - if DaVinci were aging backwards like Benjamin Buttons and ended up scribbling over Mona with a magic marker. 

Bonus nerd points to whoever who knows which scene is on the screen in the picture. 

30 Day Photo Challenge: Day 1

I saw a few cute 30 day photo challenges on Pinterest the other day, and I thought it might be just the thing to add a little summer fun to my blog. And low and behold, June has 30 days in it, and it starts today!

I haven't decided if I'm going to stick with the theme every day, but the pin below gives me a place to start at least. I plan on using the photograph as a writing prompt, per say, and giving a little backstory for each one.

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181877312 - You guys I try to embed these things, I really do. Pinterest's widget generator and Blogger don't mix, apparently)

So today's photo: 

A self-portrait. 

This is actually from last night. It was the last day of the month, which in Arbonne-land means close night, lots of coffee, and entering orders until the wee hours. We may groan about the process a little bit, but don't let us fool you - it's all rather fun. I'd situated myself and the computer at the dining room table and was setting in for the evening, though I couldn't bring myself to take off my newest, shiniest accessory. Apparently all you need to win my heart is a really good 50% off sale from J. Crew, and my sweet husband insisted I get the stunning, albiet impractical, baubles. He knows and loves me well. 

Also, it is amazing how much better you can see when you update your 3-year-old glasses prescription. Hello, world! 

Make It So: Yarn and ribbon-wrapped bracelets

Yesterday my friend Jennie and I broke out the glue guns, some old plastic bracelets, and an enormous pile of yarn and got to work! First, I made a ribbon-wrapped version because I wanted to use up a particularly cute piece of Kate Spade ribbon I'd been holding onto. 

With ribbon, you have to wrap it around just right so you don't get wrinkles, but it goes way quicker than the yarn! Add a drop of glue to the back to start, then you're ok just adding a drop every two or three times around. 

Next up was the yarn-wrapped bracelet. I decided to do some red, white, and blue, and added a few sailor buttons Jennie had on hand to lessen the Fourth-of-July vibe. 

The inside is less-than-perfect, but the outside turned out pretty good! Don't worry about getting thin yarn - the standard stuff works fine, once you stretch it over the bracelet it looks much thinner anyway. 

It's a good craft to do with a friend so you have someone to chat with while you wind and wind and wind all that yarn! I want to track down a few more plastic bracelets and do some other colors  too. I'm thinking an armful of colorful yarn bangles would look good!

Maybe I need to do a few more ribbon-bracelets too? Loving these from Pinterest. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181838327

http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181838331

Loving Right Now: Chambray

This really shouldn't be a "Loving Right Now" post. It should be a "Loving for All Time" post.

I love chambray. It's soft, comfortable, and matches just about everything in my closet. It manages to be both chic and casual at the same time. I've been doing a major closet purge over the past few weeks, and taking a ton of stuff to the consignment shop, and I'm realizing my entire wardrobe could be paired down to a few chambray shirts and colored pants and I'd be super happy! 

Stay tuned for a DIY chambray lace shirt post over the next few days, but for today, here's some chambray inspiration to get you started!

BTW, I tried to do the proper Embed-pin thing but I couldn't get it to work in HTML or otherwise, so if someone knows the trick to doing this properly, please let me know! I would be much obliged. I pasted the embed code like it said but just kept getting an error message. Oh, well, old school post and link it is! 

In case you had any doubts on the versatility of this humble fabric...

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181567064)

Casual with skinnies. 

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181570024)

Add a touch of lace. 

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181567062)

Work-worthy proper.

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181567059)

And weekend-worthy casual. 

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181578624)

Under a floral shift. 

(http://pinterest.com/pin/51861833181585798)

And with a shocking pop of neon!

There will be a post dedicated just to the glories of neon in the future. For now, what's your favorite way to wear chambray, or do you tend to stay away?