I Found a Tire Swing

Yesterday I found a tire swing, and I realized I had never been on one...until now

Outfit Details:

Sweater: Thrifted

Shirt: Delia's 

Leggings: H&M

Boots: St John's Bay  

Candy Canes &Love

Our Guest :: Elle See

Today's guest post is by Laura from Elle See. I asked Laura to do a guest post on the topic of her dogs. Her and I both have a huge love for dogs, so we decided to swap pup stories. Aren't her dogs so cute?! 

Elle's Story. I always wanted a dog, but my sister and I were never allowed to have one. Somehow, we convinced our parents that we should get a cat instead. We must have tortured her, or something to that effect, because that cat avoided us at all costs; she was a classic cat. Deep down, I must have known that I was a dog person, because I yearned to play with the cat and hold her in my lap, but she would have none of it. Many years later, upon entering high school, I was, once again, able to convince my parents to get me another pet. This time, it was a dog. A beautiful, long-haired, black dog that we adopted from the local SPCA. My mother was the one that went to adopt her during a week day after we had been there one Sunday afternoon to find her. When I got home from school that day, I was so excited to finally have a dog, but I quickly found out that the name we had chosen for her, was not actually the name my mom ended-up bestowing upon her: When my mom was a little girl, she had a dog named "Lady". Lady was a farm dog, but she was also very special to my mom, and so my mom had decided that she would like to name our new dog "Lady". But, when I got home from school, my mom informed me that this dog was no lady -- she had run away from my mom before she could get her into the car to bring her home -- and that her name was in fact "Bailey". She decided upon "Bailey" because we had recently seen an interview with Scott Wolf from "Party of Five" in which he was asked if people were naming their babies after his character on the show. He told them no, that a lot of people were actually naming their dogs after his character -- and now our dog was one of them. I loved Bailey so much. She was the first pet we had that would actually play with me, and would let me pet her. I enjoyed taking her for walks, and sharing my ice cream sandwiches with her. But then one day, when I came home from school and went to let Bailey out of her crate, she wasn't leaving her crate like she normally would; she wasn't able to. I didn't understand what was going on, and when I was finally able to coax her out of the crate, she used the wall to support herself while she walked. We later found out that Bailey had had a seizure, and that was only the first of many. It was after that that Bailey started to get aggressive. While we were out on walks, she would try to bite people that wanted to pet her, and once, while we were playing, she even bit me; she even broke my skin. That was it for my parents. They wanted to know what was going on, and it was soon discovered that Bailey had brain cancer. Soon after the diagnosis, Bailey was put to sleep. Her seizures continued to get worse, and so did her aggression. My parents knew it was time, but it was very difficult for me. She was my very first dog, and I loved her so very much. That summer was a hard one. Bailey will always hold a special place in my heart. Several years later, I went back to the same local SPCA and picked out a dog of my very own just a few days after my husband and I moved into our very first home. I knew almost immediately that he was the dog for us. He was the perfect little dog, and he even had a perfect little name to match: Ivan. Ivan has been with us for almost six years now, and I have loved every minute with him. I look forward to the day that my son is old enough to play with him, and I often day dream about how they will have those perfect Hollywood moments when Ivan sleeps with my son on his bed, or watches sadly out the window as he goes to school. I hope that he will have the same love and excitement for Ivan as I did for Bailey.

Meet Ivan

Meet Bailey 

blog

My Best Friend :: Kara

Outfit Details: 

Shirt: Target

Skirt: Forever 21

Sweater: Target 

Shoes: Macy's

Stockings: Target

Earrings: JC Penny's 

Goodwill Find & A Cameo Ring

Outfit Details: 

Shirt: Goodwill 

Pants: H&M

Boots: JcPenny

Leaf Earrings: Urban Outfitters

Ring: Mother's Vintage Cameo 

Lindsey and Cory!

Lately, I've done a series of family photo shoots here on the blog. I offered free Christmas photos this year to my friends and family while I am building myself in photography. This has been a great Christmas, and I am excited to see where this photography thing goes. This photo shoot is of my beautiful cousin, Lindsey, and her boyfriend, Cory.

Homemade Cranberry Decoration

Take 2 bags of fresh cranberries, and wash under the kitchen sink

Pull out a jar or vase, similar to this one

Pour your cranberries into our jar or vase 

Fill your jar most of the way full with water 

Place a white candle in the middle of the cranberries and water

I usually change the water every few days. After a couple of days, the fresh cranberries will turn the water a pinkish color. 

Enter the Christmas Giveaway! 

Our Guest :: Lauren Living Loved

Hey! Im Lauren from Living Loved and I thought I would share my gingerbread recipe with you! It is kinda famous around my friends and family as being the best gingerbread in the entire world..and I kinda agree. It's delicious! I took two recipes and mushed them together a couple christmas' ago... and then viola! This recipe was born. They're soft, spicy and so easy to make!

Quick tip for you: Gingerbread is all about it's time in the oven, so while i've outlined a time, play around with it when making your first batch and you can decide what works best for you!

Gingerbread:
125g butter
1/2 cup treacle (golden syrup will do if you don't have treacle)
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon ground ginger
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 teaspoon bi-carb soda
2 1/2 cups self  raising flour, sifted

Icing
11/3 icing sugar
1 tbl lemon juice
1 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 180/160 degrees fan forced..
2. Combine butter, treacle and brown sugar in a small pan and melt. Remove to a bowl and cool.
3. Stir in egg yolk and remaining dry ingredients to form a soft dough.
4. Turn onto plastic wrap and press into a flat disc. Rest in fridge for an hour.
5. Roll dough to 7-8mm thick on a lightly floured surface and cut gingerbread with cookie cutter of your choice.
6. Place on baking paper-lined tray and bake for 7-10mins until firm.
7. Stand on tray for 5 mins then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Decorate as desired!

Thank you Lauren! Can't wait to try this! 

Lauren's Blog

Christmas Giveaway

Downtown Photo Shoot

I photographed these beautiful girls this past Friday downtown on Cary St. It was the perfect location for a fun shoot of a couple of girlfriends. I also really enjoyed their outfits! You can find Bailey's outfit post here, and Kara's outfit details will be coming soon! 

Kara

Lauren

 Bailey

Be sure to enter the December Giveaway!