emily takes us to IKEA

After catching up on sleep from our long drive, Stephanie, Miranda, and I accompanied Emily to IKEA for breakfast and some serious shopping. Emily and her hubby have made IKEA a Saturday morning tradition since moving to Charlotte. Isn't that sweet?! I don't know many men that would go shopping with their wives every weekend. He's just that nice of a guy :) He knows how much Emily loves her some IKEA! Well, I think he was happy to hang back and watch some sports while we girls had an outing.

We made it in time for breakfast, so we enjoyed some really cheap food before shopping.

We had to get a group picture. Usually some nice stranger offers to help us out. Either we looked like we were managing alright, or no one really cared to help us. ha! I did notice that people don't pay attention to each other in Charlotte. Everyone sort of had a bubble around themselves...no one smiled or said good afternoon like we do around here. It was a little bizarre, but I actually like it!

It was a very successful trip! I got some great things for the house...including some curtains that I will have to debut on the blog at some point. I also managed to resist buying furniture! That was partially because I set a budget and partially because we had to drive back with 3 people in a Yaris.

We didn't eat the hot dogs, but I was glad IKEA had the courtesy to let me know that the one pictured wasn't actual size. A 10' long hot dog would be pretty terrifying.

I love these girls <3. Still more NC posts to come! I'll show you some of the other stuff in the store that I resisted...but will probably go back for at a later date :)

Take a second to enter my earring giveaway here. All you have to do is comment to enter!

Susie Frances Earring Giveaway

Susie Frances

up for grabs - Wrapped, oxi, small earrings. $42 value!
*the ones modeled are slightly larger than the ones I'm giving away*

Susie is a wonderful jewelry maker whom I have had the pleasure of working with on product photos. You can see my posts about her here, here, and here. I gushed and gushed about how much I loved her work, and she decided that as a thank you for taking photos, she wanted to give me a pair of earrings! These wrapped ones were my favorite, so she sent some over. She actually sent me a pair of the small AND the large so I could choose which one I liked better. I chose to keep the large pair, and she agreed to let me give one of my lovely readers the other pair!

This is my attempt at "modeling" my pair, and the pair in the first picture is the pair I'm giving away.

To enter: just leave a comment! 

IMPORTANT: Make sure to include an email address so I can reach you if you win. I'll be drawing a winner on February 23.

Please take a moment to glance through the rest of Susie's earrings and necklaces. I promise you will not be disappointed! The jewelry is not only gorgeous, but incredibly well-made. 

Good luck!

***Update: Congratulations to our winner, Liza! I hope you enjoy your earrings :)

snow surprise

 This morning I went to work a little annoyed because it was raining, and I really hate starting the week off with rain! It eventually turned to snow, which I had no idea would happen...I didn't check the weather today. Sarah and I had to run a couple of errands around campus, so we ventured out and it was TERRIBLE! I could barely open my eyes it was snowing so hard, and a lot of snow fell into my car when we got in. It was quite the fiasco.

I work at a university, and they ended up closing campus at noon, so I came home! I actually waited until it stopped snowing before leaving, so the roads weren't bad at all. It's always nice having a day off, especially when it's so lovely outside. The big group of trees near my house looks so neat! I walked around and took some pictures just for the blog, so I hope you all enjoy them <3

Those last two are from my backyard

Tried to take a picture of myself. It's really difficult with a fixed 50mm lens!

I hope you're all having a great (white) Monday!

Introducing: Woodland Crafters

My mom has a wonderful friend, Rhonda, who she's known ever since I've been around. She's so incredibly sweet, and when she asked me a while back to do some photos for her, I was more than happy to! Rhonda loves to sew, and she wanted some pictures to hang in her sewing room. She lent me some of her sewing supplies and I got to work!

I call this the Woodland Crafters series. They are pretty simple, but that's kind of the way I like it. I hope you all like them! Rhonda loved them, and I hope that soon I'll be able to go visit and see them in her sewing room. These images can also be found in my Etsy shop!

Oh and HAPPY FRIDAY! I hope you all enjoy the weekend. 

I'm going to try and get over this dumb cold I've got!

So one weekend, we drove 9 hours to see our friend

Something you may not know about me is that I have great college friends. We're an interesting grouping of people when you really get down to it...3 teachers, 1 accountant, 1 photographer/whatever else. Our conversations range far and wide! Emily is the one that has already settled down and gotten herself married, so she's living a little farther away now (Charlotte, NC). Unfortunately this means that we don't all get to hang out as much. I finally decided that it was time the rest of us paid her a visit. Only 3 of us could go, but it was a great journey nonetheless.

This is Miranda's "leave me alone, it's way too late for your shenanigans" face. We were all pretty delirious and tired because we made the trip after work on Friday. We ended up getting to Emily's at about 3AM. I can't tell you how happy I was to be out of the car and into a bed...and I was happy to see Emily too!

This was my cozy little space. The three of us packed into the guest room with a bed and a couple of air mattresses. It worked really well until I woke up at 5AM freezing cold and unable to fall back asleep. I had chosen the bed next to the window...bad decision. On top of that, the door to the room was shut, so the one vent in that room was having trouble keeping us warm. I moved my nest into the living room and finished the night on Emily's IKEA couch.

It was SUPER cozy! The cat and dog sleep in their kennels in the living room, so when I looked over they were both staring at me. If that wouldn't freak you out in the middle of the night, I don't know what would. Despite the creeping pets, I had a great rest and was ready the next morning to spend time with my buddies!

I'm so grateful to Scott & Emily for opening their cute apartment to us. It's so great not having to stay in a hotel room when you go somewhere! Be on the lookout for a few more North Carolina posts in the next few weeks. I'll try not to bombard you with them all at once :)

Have you guys taken any nice weekend trips lately?