Singing Sister

Over the next few posts, I'm going to cover some Christmas stuff that never got posted. I know it's not terribly exciting, but I think it's nice to document this type of thing. These pictures are from my sister's school Christmas program. Each class, PreK-2nd grade, sang a medley of songs for friends and family. It was pretty adorable! Sister is in 1st grade this year, and she's the one with the striped tights on.

I'm slightly biased, but she is the cutest little girl I've EVER SEEN! Look at her posing! She saw me with my camera, so she smiled at me and Tina through most of the program. When she gets a little older, I'm going to make her my little model :) 

Goodness, she's gorgeous. And she's a total sweetheart too, which makes her even more amazing. She's one of the biggest reasons that I wanted to go to college and live here in town. My family means the world to me, and I couldn't even imagine not being here to see her grow up!

Sorry for the late Christmas posting. I hope it's not too unbearable!

I really do heart Norwegian Wood

It's been FOREVER since I did an outfit post, so I thought I should post photos with this amazing necklace from iheartnorwegianwood that I just got. I've been wanting this fringe necklace (in all the various color combos) for several months now, and I decided to use the money from my holiday sales to get it! It took me a while to decide what color, but I think I chose well. This is the kind of statement piece that I always love, but don't see myself wearing. I was surprised when I wore it today, because no one commented on it (well, until I lamented this fact to my coworkers at lunch)! It must not be as bold as I thought it was. I don't care though, I still love it to death!

When I got it, the clasp wouldn't stay together. It kept falling off whenever I bent forward, so I sent the seller a message to see what I was doing wrong. She responded that day and knew exactly what to do! I was really impressed with her friendliness and promptness. I suppose that's why she's so successful as an Etsy seller. You should all check out her Etsy shop! She's got some really incredible stuff in there.

details: 

shirt: Merona, got it at a clothing swap

pants: Gap

shoes: Bass

coat: Kim Rogers (Christmas gift several years ago)

Happy New Year + New Baby

There's a new baby in my boyfriend's family! Hooray! This is his sister and her adorable little girl who was born last night. I feel like having a baby is a GREAT way to start the new year, and I'm sure her year is going to be packed full of great experiences with this little ball of cuteness.

I hope that all of my readers had a HAPPY NEW YEAR! I am a little late with the well-wishes, but better late than never. I've been pondering how I might live this next year a little differently than last year. I know I'll change and grow as a person, and you never know what huge life changes I might make! I graduated college this year, which is a pretty big deal from what I hear. I also spent this year at my first post-college job (part time until June), and I really couldn't ask for a better place or a better group of people to work with.  I bought the camera of my dreams this year, after saving my money for what felt like forever. It's was a great year!

Here are a few goals that I might try to carry out this year:

1. Think before I buy, and spend a limited amount each week. I tend to go through weeks where I spend well over my "budget," and I always suffer for it later. 
2. Take the next step in my relationship. Maybe that's engagement...maybe not. I really don't have control over that :)
3. Work hard on learning more about photography and how I can improve. I don't want to plateau, and I fear that's what's happening. 
4. Keep focusing on eating and exercise habits. I've been doing good for a few months, and I want to keep moving forward. I still need to work on eating more vegetables.

I don't want to get too resolutiony, so I'll stop there. I've heard some GREAT resolutions in the last few days, and seeing what other people are doing is really a good inspiration to keep myself on track. I hope the rest of you are doing well on your goals for 2011! I can't wait to see what goes down this year.

As a sort of commemoration for 2010, I made a set on Flickr of my favorite images of the year. I guess I can compare those with next year's to see if I achieved goal #3!

Well, that's all for now. Best wishes in 2011, everyone! Let's see how long it takes to get used to writing 11 until 10. I'm guessing at least 2 weeks for me. 

My Roomie is Talented!

So, my roommate Paige is crazy talented. All of these pieces were made for her senior exhibition.

Each clay piece was tied in with a person who influenced Paige and an act of kindness for each person. She picked 5 people who had influenced her life and did something nice for them. She represented these acts of kindness in the gallery along with the clay pieces she made to represent them.

The student gallery isn't the greatest, but Paige managed to make it look pretty decent :) 

These are the cups she made for her high school art teacher. They go along with the kiln piece above.

It's really hard to get the full effect of her work just from pictures, because there's so much detail! I'm sure if she's reading this, she's blushing and saying "ooooh whatever...," but really, I can't believe she just graduated undergrad school, and she's already so good! I'm kind of excited to see what all she comes up with in the next few years.

Now I just have to convince her to open an Etsy shop! haha!

Basil Pan Burgers

I'm home alone for most of today, so I decided to cook myself some lunch. I had some ground beef, so I decided on these burgers from my new cookbook (Better Homes and Gardens!) They turned out really well! If you click on the photo, it will bring up the full res image so you can read it and try it out yourself.

Since it's the end of the month, I haven't been to the grocery store in a while, so I had to just use the stuff I had. I substituted a lot of things that I didn't have, so I'm sure the actual recipe is quite different. Experimenting with different things is more fun anyway!

Well, now that I've finished my lunch, I'm off to take down my Christmas stuff. Hopefully it won't take me all day!