Tuesday, November 19, 2013

A Nostalgic Outfit

Let's talk about life post college graduation. It sucks. It's wonderful. It's terrifying. It's overwhelming. It's a million and one things at the same time.

When you're in college, you automatically assume if you work hard enough and get your degree and put yourself out there, you'll have a decent job in your field when you leave school. Not so. It's hard to find a full time job that will also give you health benefits, no matter how skilled you are. While I'm thankful for the jobs I do have, I know I'm meant for more and I can't wait to be in a position that will actually use my degree and all the creative energy inside of me.

Anywho, I decided to put together an ensemble I'd never worn before. I was remembering how in high school the only thing I would ever wear is skinny jeans and a graphic tee. So, I decided to revisit that style, only with a [hopefully] more sophisticated twist. (Confession, I took these pictures a couple weeks ago but have been too busy to post them. :/ Sorry.)





P.s. This whole outfit was thrifted. :) Minus the shoes from American Eagle and my glasses.

Love, Love
-Kate

Sunday, September 29, 2013

The beauty product no one realizes they own

First let me say that this post is not sponsored. I authentically love this stuff and wanted to share how it has helped me.

Ok then. Now, I recently saw an article on Vaseline (or Petroleum Jelly, whatever floats your boat) and all the wonderful things it can do for you. Some of them I already knew. Like, putting it on your hands and feet and covering them overnight will make them softer. Others, I was skeptical of. So, like the great scientist my 12 year old self aspired to be, I did my own experimenting with it, and my sister joined in on it. We haven't gotten around to testing all of them yet, because some of them we have no interest in, but there are quite a few we did test and not all of them will make this blog post, mostly because we won't end up using all of them on a regular basis.

First one we tried: Vaseline makes your eyelashes grow. My sister smothered her eyelashes with this stuff with her finger and I used an old mascara brush that I cleaned off and applied Vaseline to. Olivia's lashes ended up thicker but the same length as they originally were and mine grew longer but retained their original thickness. So even though we both had different results, our lashes ended up better than they were before.

Second one we tried: Helps your scent stick around. Olivia tried this one, and she said her perfume definitely stayed with her longer.

Third: To remove last night's makeup. This does work. But let me warn you, if you take off your makeup with Vaseline and then try to redo your makeup afterwards, make sure you use a tissue to wipe off all of the Vaseline or else the new makeup you just put on will start sliding off. ;)

P.s. It removes lipstick really well too.

Fourth: Hide split ends. While this doesn't fix the problem of split ends (and it never claimed to do so) it does mask the problem. Which is great because I have a lot of them and when I straighten my hair, you can see them. Not any more! But when you do apply it to your dead ends, don't glob it on or else you will look like you haven't showered in a month!

Fifth: Lubricates ear lobes and helps make earring insertion easy and painless. My sister's ear lobes are sensitive to certain kinds of metals, so she wanted to see if putting Vaseline on the earrings would help because then she could buy any earrings she wanted. She was super happy that her ears weren't irritated by the metal with the Vaseline on it!

The article also said that Vaseline doesn't clog pores, and so I've been using it all over my face to keep it soft and so far no places I've put it have broken out with acne.

Our next one we are going to put to the test is putting Vaseline on the edges of the pumpkins we carve to make them last longer. I hope it works!



Love, love
-Kate


As a side note: dabbing this stuff inside my nose during the dry seasons helps me avoid unfortunate nosebleeds. :)

Thursday, September 12, 2013

We Are

College football is kind of big in my house. Let me rephrase that. Penn State football is kind of big in my house. So, this year my parents, brother, and I went to Penn State's season opener. The game was played at MetLife stadium where the Jets play and it was my first experience tailgating at a football game. We ate yummy treats, talked about life, and avoided getting beer dumped on us by drunk people (which almost happened several times), although my shoes weren't so lucky.

The game itself was exciting! It was only my second time at a Penn State game so I relished each second of it. I don't know if we spent more time watching the game standing up and cheering or sitting in our seats.











Our food was delish. :)

Love, love
-Kate

Friday, August 30, 2013

DIY Jean shorts makeover

I saw a picture on Pinterest of some jean shorts with a fun material trim and I thought they were so adorable and I wanted a pair. Even though the days are getting cooler, we have still had some hot days and my shorts haven't been retired for the season yet. I had two pairs of jean shorts and I decided to have some fun with one of them!




I will do an outfit post later to show them off properly. :)

Love, love
-Kate

Friday, August 23, 2013

All that glitters

Flash back to Christmas time. I walk into an H&M store and fall in love with a dress. I'm unable to buy the dress at that time for a reason that slips my mind. I go back to the store a week later to buy it, and it is gone, not even a trace of it is left. A disappointed me goes home and continues to think about that dress sporadically for the next eight months.

Enter yesterday. I went thrifting with my sister at one of our favorite thrift stores. I eventually end up at the dress section and see a tiny bit of a dress sticking out amongst the dozens on the rack. My mind instantly flicks back to the H&M dress that I loved and I dive in to take a closer look. Lo and behold, it's the same dress. In my size and with the original tag still on it. How freaking cool is that?

And the best part? I got it for 1/3 of the original price. #thriftwin





 Dress: H&M (Thrifted)
Shoes: Old Navy
Nail Polish: "Home Run" by Pure Ice


Love, Love
-Kate


Saturday, August 17, 2013

Introvert Problems

This week has been exhausting for me. As an introvert, I don't exactly like being the center of attention and when I'm thrown into new social environments, it takes everything in me to be bubbly and outgoing. For the record, I love hanging out with people, I love making new friends, but I don't like being the center of attention, I won't fight for that attention, and I most definitely need time by myself every day to recharge.

Anyways, back to my week. This week I had 4 interviews, 7 if you include phone interviews. One of these interviews was a group interview for a retail store. Let's talk about group interviews for a second. You have to fight your way to get attention and say the right thing before someone else does. You have to try to outshine everyone else quicker than anyone in the group. Putting an introvert into this kind of environment is like holding a runner back for a few seconds after the gun has gone off. You have to work that much harder to impress them and do well. At my last retail store, I was a great sales associate. I knew my products and I would make conversation with the customers about their lives and always had a smile on. I'm just not good with interviews because I don't like cutting in before other people and I don't enjoy "bragging" about myself. At my retail job, I worked almost 40 hours every week and it still wasn't exhausting as these interviews were.

After every interview, I literally sat in my car for a while so I could enjoy not having to impress anyone. And when I got home, I'd reward myself with some froyo. yumm!

Here's to hoping I will be employed soon! :) (p.s. I have a photo session tomorrow! So excited people I don't know are starting to book me!)


Say hello to Mr. Sheep. He appears to be afraid.


I'm excited to knit. I bought some new yarn and I'm ready to go!

Love, love
-Kate

Thursday, August 8, 2013

First scarf of the season

Oh hey there! Remember how I said I was getting the itch to make fall scarves since the weather felt cooler? Well, right after that I started making one. No shame. I'm excited for fall weather. Have I mentioned that at all? ;)



This scarf was actually really simple to make. I crocheted six individual strands and then wove them together. It almost reminded me of those friendship bracelets I used to make when I was "so cool." I kind of want to make another one of these, they are so fun!


Am I the only one starting up fall projects? If you have started any, I'd love to hear about them/see them!


Love, Love
-Kate

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Fall Excitement

Well hey there. This early fall temperatures have me so excited for fall. Like, it is my ABSOLUTE favorite season ever. You can wear sweaters with shorts, jeans with a tank top, comfy boots, warm scarves, drink lots of hot tea, sleep with your windows open to feel the crisp night air, and of course the beautiful fall foliage is always something I look forward to seeing.

I'm already getting the itch to make more scarves. Because I enjoy knitting and crocheting, I really want to learn more patterns and fun stitches this fall season.

I'm already putting together fall outfits in my mind and getting excited about them. Is that weird? Here are some of my favorite fall outfits from my pinterest board.


1
2
3
4


Love, love
-Kate

Friday, July 26, 2013

A Month of Travels

The past four weeks have been non-stop. It all started with my fiancé visiting and then bringing me back to Pennsylvania to send me on my way to Creation Festival in Mt. Union with my fellow media buddies. We camped out and spent the week recording and producing all the video for all of the shows on the main stage. It was an awesome experience and I was so happy to be a part of it.

Then I spent a week in Philadelphia and went to the giant block party Philly had on the fourth of July. There were probably a million or more people there at that time. It was crazy. I had a whole crowd of people boo me, saw the cutest little boy run around in a sprinkler with a superman cape on, bumped into a couple friends, saw John Mayer, and we ran 8 blocks to make the train back.

After all that excitement, I spent a week back home in Connecticut to do a week long temp assignment. My family and I woke up at 3am on a Saturday morning, and drove down to South Carolina. There we were spoiled with good food, family stories, and beach time at my grandparents' house near Charleston. 

Now I'm back home and getting into the swing of things again! I will give a long and detailed post with pictures but I still have a lot of photos to go through, so bear with me!


Love, love
-Kate

Saturday, June 22, 2013

DIY Necklace

I have no idea what to call this necklace. Can anyone tell me what it would be called?


I made this little green guy yesterday. I picked up these cool beads in a bead store in the town around my college. I've been mulling around ideas for them and today I settled on an idea that I liked.

I took 18 gauge wire and strung the beads on two strands and curved them so they weren't hanging straight across. Then I wrapped the ends around two links, which I then attached to a chain.


And that's that!




Next week I will be absent from the internet. I am going to be running live video production at Creation Festival! (The Northeast location) I'm pretty excited about it. We'll get to camp backstage too. :)

Well my fiance is here and we're gonna go look at another venue today! Have a great weekend!

Love, Love
-Kate

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Tiny Bows

Last week I ordered a much needed new lens for my DSLR. I knew it was either coming today or tomorrow, so I waited till I got it to post on the blog. I love it so much! I've been taking pictures with it non-stop. Well, till the battery died. ha

Today my mom, my sister, and I looked at a potential wedding venue this afternoon and then we found this cute little park near it that we stopped and took pictures at.









Dress/top: Thrifted, Sandals: Rue 21, Earrings: Forever 21

Still trying to figure out which venue is best for the wedding. There are lots of pros and cons to both of the ones I'm really interested in. I can't wait till my fiance gets here this weekend to help me make the decision. 

Love, love
-Kate

Monday, June 17, 2013

Wedding Plannin'


Time to dig in and get the big planning details out of the way! I need to book a venue and photographer soon. The wedding is in May, but if I want the places/photographer I am pining after, I should probably call dibs now.

Everything is just so darn expensive. :/



One of the ladies I babysat for while in college gave me this awesome wedding planner. I have already filled pages of it with inspiration and ideas. I love it!


I still can't believe I'm engaged. It makes me so happy, and so does he. :)

Today's checklist consists of:

  • Calling venues to schedule a visit
  • Planning this week's blog posts
  • Start packing for next week's adventure (more details to come)

In other happy news, Jonathan comes to visit me this week! :) Can't wait to see him.

Love, Love
-Kate

Saturday, June 15, 2013

DIY Felt Pouch


Well I have a diy project just like I promised! This project took a little longer than I planned, but that's because I kept taking out all my stitches because I wasn't paying attention to where I was sticking the needle. 

Anyways, I started with two pieces of felt the same size, but I cut a strip off the top piece so that the back piece could fold over it.


Then I stitched all around the sides and the top. I forget what kind of stich it is. I was just going with it because it looked cool. (Sorry.)


I sewed on the button just under the flap.


Then sewed a few loops in the flap to go around the button when I wanted to close it.


And then started sewing on funky patterns with my string.


Voila!

Love, Love
-Kate