This update has been a long time coming.  I can't believe it's been over 3 months since my last post.  Whoops, my bad.  So much has happened since July.  I've had two eventful trips, summer vacation, celebrated our two year wedding anniversary, started school again, and many more things--it's crazy.

The college I'm attending has a 7 week summer break between semesters.  Andrew was working the whole break and I was jobless and bored.  I did so many projects around the house.  That's basically what kept me sane.

During the 7 week break, I had my first eventful trip.  Andrew and I went to visit my family for the weekend.  It started out as a fun vacation, but then Andrew, me, and my sister all got food poisoning from a party we went to.  It was awful!!!  I haven't been that sick in a long time.  It was absolutely miserable.  Looking back, it's kind of funny.  But I was sad that the very first time home this whole year was spent throwing up and not having fun with my family.  *Shout out to my mom for being the best nurse for all us sickies*

As for the second eventful trip, Andrew and I went to Utah a few weekends ago to visit family and to attend a wedding.  We went to the wedding on a Saturday afternoon.  It was so pretty!  The wedding was at the new LDS temple in Provo.  After the wedding, we met up with my siblings and drove up Alpine Loop.  Well, we attempted to drive Alpine Loop.  (For those of your who don't know, the Alpine Loop is just a pretty drive through the mountains and trees east of Provo.)  We got about 20 minutes into the drive when Andrew said, "Oh look!" then pulled off the road.  I thought he saw and animal or something else cool in the trees.  When he completely stopped the car, I saw that there was no animal, there was smoke coming from the hood.  We all got out of the car and saw liquid running down the road, like a lot of liquid.  Can I just say, I absolutely hate car problems?  Andrew called a tow truck to come pick up the car and his dad to give us a ride down the mountain.  My sister and I took the opportunity to have a photo op.  Haha.  We were at the base of the most beautiful mountains, at a gorgeous time of year, why not?!

So long story short, our car was towed to a mechanic and we had to stay in Utah an extra day to get it fixed. The end.

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As for some current life updates: I STARTED (and am now halfway through) MY LAST SEMESTER ON CAMPUS. WHAT.  I seriously can't believe I'm almost done.  All I have next semester is my internship and one online class.  The place I'd been planning on interning ended up being a not-so-good fit.  And I only just figured that out a few weeks ago.  Soooooo can someone come find me a new internship? Thanks. I really appreciate it.  All joking aside, I only have a little bit more time to find an internship and it's starting to stress me out.  I'm going to miss college when it's over, but I definitely won't miss the stress.

Looking back over the past two months, this semester has been pretty great.  I'm taking so many fun classes (like archery!) and I'm sad that it's almost over.  College has been one of the best things that has ever happened to me.  Oh well. Life goes on after college.  Right?

Love, Em

PS.  I swear it won't be three months until my next post...




Here our some pictures from our Utah trip.

Wow.  It's been a while.  I've been so busy with school and company and traveling, I've never had enough time or energy to write a new post!  But not today!! I'm officially finished with finals!! *Round of applause* I would like to share with you guys a new project I just completed.

I ordered three Cavallini posters a few weeks ago.  (They are actually called decorative wraps on the website).  They are super cheap--I'm talking less than $4 a piece.  The wraps are beautiful vintage looking posters.  There is such a huge selection on the website.  I debated about the ones I wanted to get for a few days.  I almost bought way more than I needed just because they are such a good deal! After much debate and many phone calls with my sister, we picked these three:

1.
 
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2.

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3.

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I have many, many more favorites, but these were the three I thought looked best together.

After I ordered the posters, I tried to think of a creative and budget friendly way to hang them on the wall.  I thought of washi tape, clothes hangers, and frames.  None of these ideas really spoke to me.  I tried looking for cool wooden pant hangers for a while, but soon became bored with that idea.



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I finally decided on wooden dowels and string.  I was going to glue the dowels to the back of the poster, weighing the paper down so that it didn't curl up.  (Note: the posters came in a tube, making them susceptible to rolling up, even after they've been weighted on a flat surface for a few days.)

I wasn't too thrilled with this idea, but it seemed easy.  I wanted to put these posters on the huge blank wall in my living room asap!  I've had that blank wall for months, and now with these posters at my house, it seemed like the end was in sight!

I went to a local craft store and purchased all the needed materials.  On my way out the door, I saw a Cavallini poster hanging up in the store with the cutest wooden poster hanger.  My husband and I went to a store worker and asked how the frame was made.  The woman showed us some kits used to make the frame.  The kit was pretty spendy, especially since I would need to buy three. When we told the woman we'd pass on the offer, she then showed us how we could make it on our own.  I WAS SO EXCITED.  Here's the tutorial below.

Materials needed:

1. Balsa wood*
2. Twine
3. Glue**
4. Measuring tape or ruler
(Optional material: stain for the wood.  Do this before the wood is cut and glued.)


*Balsa wood is very thin and soft, you can cut it with scissors or tear it.
**I used a hot glue gun because personally, I think it's easiest glue to use.

Step one: Cut or tear the wood into desired width and length.  I did a width of 1" and a length of 20 1/4".  Each poster will need 4 strips of wood, two on the top--front and back--and two on the bottom.

Step two: Glue two wood pieces, one on the top and one on the bottom edge of the front side of the poster.  I only glued about half of the width of the wood directly on the poster.  The rest of the wood piece was hanging over the edge of the poster.

Step three: Flip the poster over.  Line up and glue one more piece of wood to the bottom edge of the back side of the poster.  Match this piece of wood to the wood that was already glued to the front.  Note: This step is not essential, because it will not be seen, but I found that I needed the extra weight to flatten the poster against the wall.

Step four: By this step, the bottom edge of the poster should be covered with two pieces of wood, front and back, while the top edge only has one piece of wood on the front.  Cut a piece of twine to your desired length.  (The twine is used to hang the poster.)  On the top edge of the backside of the poster, glue the ends of the twine onto opposite ends of wood. (See picture below) That way, the glued ends of the twine will be covered in the next step.


Step five: Glue the final piece of wood onto the top back edge of the poster, covering the ends of the twine and ta-da!  You have your finished, framed poster!!

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Here's my finished project!!  I'm so excited to finally have these beautiful posters hanging on my wall.  Goodbye boring white wall, hello beautiful art!!

After creating my interior wishlist a few weeks ago, I thought it would be fun to do a wishlist or a collection of DIY ideas for each area of the house.  This week, I decided to focus on a DIY list for kitchen decor.

1.  First off, DIY Gold Magnetic Letters (from Inspired by Charm)

This is a cute, eye-catching way to spice up refrigerator magnets.  I love me some gold (even if it is just gold spray paint.)  It's super simple and super cute.  Click on the link above for the how-to!




2. Measuring Equivalent print (from A Girl & A Glue Gun)

Kimbo at A Girl & A Glue Gun created this free vinyl print.  I've always wondered how many tablespoons are in a cup, etc.  It's so cute and very handy!  This just might be the perfect art for an otherwise un-decorated kitchen.



3. Pantry Labels (from Creativity Exchange).

Next up are these adorable labels.  I always love to spice things up and use cute fonts around the house, so this DIY is the perfect solution.




4.  Mason Spice Jars. (from Pinterest)

This DIY takes spice jars to a whole new level.  For those of you who love having plants around the house this is the thing for you!






6.  Donut Garland (from Beau Coup)

What better way to add whimsy to your kitchen than a donut garland?

Andrew and I, along with some friends, went to Driggs, Idaho on Memorial Day.  We sat by a river and had a fancy picnic lunch (complete with Martinelli's), walked around town, and drove through the nice neighborhoods.  It was such a cute little town in a beautiful part of Idaho.

1. Reese Tufted Fabric Retro Side Chair by Mercury Row (Wayfair)
2. Faux-Fur Pillow (Anthropologie) Give me all the faux-fur pillows in the world!!!
3. Ghost Side Chair in Transparent Crystal (Stack Chairs 4 Less) I absolutely love ghost chairs so I've done my research.  These are the cheapest ghost chairs I've ever found!!  The kind I want (they're linked) are narrow.  This site does offer regular width ones too.