National Book Lovers Day

August 9th is a great day for many, many reasons. August 9th is officially National Book Lovers Day! If the two towers stacks of books on my side of the bed is any indication, I do love me a good book.

So to help you celebrate the day in the way you love, I have compiled a list of crafts, events and books to commemorate the day.

Go to a local used book store.

There is something magical about entering a used book store, the stacks of books exploding from every crevice is homey to me, and if I was a horder if I chose a different path, I would want my house to be like that. Barnes and Noble and Amazon are fantastic, but on Saturday, go explore a used book store. 

My favorite one near my house is Hole in the Wall Books. It is the epitome of a used book store. So darling, I cannot wait to be a millionaire so I can spend all my time/money/life there and read. ALL THE TIME.

If you are in D.C. There is a great store near Eastern Market and another one in Dupont.

While I am all for supporting authors, and buying copies of books that they will actually make money on, don't forget about your local used book sellers, too!

DIY Book Crafts

If a DIY adventure is more your speed, check out some of these!

Cover books with pretty paper for decor!

Image via etsy

You can glue the sides of a book together, then with a heavy duty exacto knife, cut a hole. Then fill it with dirt and viola! A book planter!!

Want other ideas? check out my Pinterest board! (Because who doesn't have book inspired pinterest boards?)
http://www.pinterest.com/missmallory11/national-book-lovers-day/

Watch some Outlander

Outlander is my favorite book ever, and my newest obsession. If you haven't heard of it, then educate yourself. Now. I'll wait. http://lmgtfy.com/?q=Outlander

You're back? Great.

Buy the books and read them now. They are fantastic.

Now guess what? Your dreams are coming true. They have made it into TV show on Starz. Not quite sold yet? Watch the full first episode on Starz right now for free.

The series officially premiers on August 9th, so get a Starz subscription and get on it.

Simply, read a book

If you want to adventure through the magic that is books, here is my reading list.

1. The Merchant Emperor -Elizabeth Haydon
2. The Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern
3. The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed out the Window and Disappeared - Jonas Jonasson
4. A Breath of Snow and Ashes -Diane Gabaldon
5. Quitter - John Acuff
6. The Game of Kings -Dorthy Dunnett
7. A Walk in the Woods -Bill Bryson
8. Magic's Pawn -Mercedes Lackey
9. Steelheart - Brandon Sanderson
10. Frances and Bernard - Carlene Bauer

Also! Don't forget to attend the 2014 Library of Congress National Book Fair on August 30th. More information here:  http://www.loc.gov/bookfest/



Enjoy your book weekend.

Monday Inspiration

Mondays are rough in general, but especially after a holiday weekend.

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85216617923931957/

I hope you all had a great time with friends and family this past weekend. I can't wait to tell you all about my weekend in Connecticut with Kevin's Grandparents on this Thursday's post!

But in the meantime, here are some great inspirational quotes from Pinterest to get you up and motivated today! Even if you are exhausted from traveling like I am, it is good to jump back into things, with great energy, to pursue your dreams and reach your goals this week!

What gets you motivated? Share in the comments!

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85216617923930155/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85216617923931880/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85216617923931917/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85216617923930212/

http://www.pinterest.com/pin/85216617923931914/

Would you like some more inspiration? Check out my pin board for some more thoughtful and insightful pins! http://www.pinterest.com/missmallory11/quotable/

6 Stages to Life on Pinterest

I, like so many others, am completely addicted to pinterest. As a hopeful refashioner and style enthusiast, my personal "My Style Pinboard" is full (828 pins and counting) of outfits that I would love to wear. My absolute favorite thing to do on pinterest is go to the everything section, and just pin away. But I think that there are a few trends on this site that I'd like to point out. So here are the INSERT NUMBER stages to life on pinterest.

Stage 1: Discovery

Pinterest is great. So many things to discover. You are going to learn so many things! Look at these common people who are just like me doing so many great things that will totally work!!!!

Look at what one pinner said! This is the BEST

You quickly forget all else but Pinterest. Kids? Life? Work? Whhaaaaaaaaat?? Justifying it quickly with how much you are learning! Shoot you will never have to spend money on silly stuff like clothes, food, lights or even decorating ever again!!! 

Summary of this stage? LIFE IS FANTASTIC!

2. Joy, Optimism and Inspiration

Life is great. Who knew that there were so many people doing so many things. You will never ever throw a sub par house party. Your family will eat nothing but the most adorable and nutritious home cooked meals. You will have the cutest house, and you will have the best drinks to sip in a hot day. Oh your cold? Throw on that camel fur coat you made.

Guess who is getting a new jacket!

You realize you are standing on the edge of a great sea of unlimited knowledge of wonderfulness!!

Joy. So much wonderful Joy.

3. Being Completely Overwhelmed

Life on Pinterest is great. You see something you have to pin. How could you never have seen this before???? A lace wedding dress with an open back, no sleeves, jewels! They have a tiara with it!!! Why did you not think of that before???? now hmmm, where should you pin it? Does it belong on your "wedding dresses I would like to wear" board? Should we put it under "Lacy Dresses" maybe "vintage dresses"? As you scroll through your 185 pin boards you realize something. You have a problem. Where will you pin this, and how will you find it again? 

You begin to realize that this soul sucking wonderful site is making you overwhelmed and confused. You need to get off...but then how will you keep up?

4. Stress

This is self explanitory. You begin to realize that your birthday party is not quite as fabulous as Martha Stewarts is....you might have to actually try out a few of these pins!

5. Trying it Out for Yourself

I mean honestly how hard can it be? The steps are in pictures and they are right there! It will totally work. I will be the life of the party!

http://www.pinterestfail.com/  Read it and see that you are not alone.

6. Soul Crushing Sadness

Life will never be that magical wonderful place of Pinspiration that you hoped it would. And all your extremely crafty friends who nail pinterest projects on the first try are just stupid.  

All you can hope to do at this point.

Mini DIY Project

So I have been having major depression about my apartment. It is totally safe and secure which is fantastic, but it is just dreary. So I am on a mission to do some totally cheap renovations to satisfy my craftiness and my need for a semi nice house!

So I had two tables that we had bought that were just plain and a little drab. One was purchased at Ikea and one at Target. I think that they were about $10 each. Here is what it looked like before. Plus a cat.

Then I bought these Gold Corners for them on Amazon...here is a link to them. They cost me just over $9 including shipping, but they come with 8 corners and all the screws for it! Our house is decorated in black gray and yellow, so I thought that the gold would be a great addition to it!

Then I added the gold corners. I found that the Corners didn't fit perfectly on my table, so they dont lay exactly flat on the sides of the tables. But I made sure that they laid as flat as possible on the top. 

Here is what they looked like done! The whole project took about 20 mins, and cost me at the time less than $10! Just need to add some flowers on my side of the bed and I will be all set!

I would also like to add a huge shout out to Kevin, because there was a moment when I was about to chuck our screw driver at the wall from frustration with the tiny screws and he came and helped me whip it out!

Carnival Day

Soo how cute is this???

Bona Fide Bride is an amazing site. The author, Kristin is a planner too, and she has some links to some great stuff. My favorite find are these great labels!!!! I am going to use them for my animal cracker snack pack!! It is going to be so cute!! They are a totally free download, and they are so precious. You can type in your information and then use it for your business, wedding, or just a cute label in organization!!

My idea is to get those frosted animal crackers put them in clear white bags, and take white card stock with these labels on top stapled over. I will be posting pictures later this week. I am so excited about it!!!

Here is the link to download all the different types your self: http://bonafidebride.blogspot.com/2010/01/vintage-whimsy.html

My top 5 websites for procrastination

I have a very unhealthy relationship with stress, my first inclination is to eat something. Big, greasy, crunchy and salty. Jack and the box tacos do the trick wonderfully, my expanding waistline non-withstanding. I have learned to quickly suppress that urge and replace it almost immediately with an all consuming urge to shop. In college I was able to curb this to buying two $10 tops from Forever 21 and not breaking the bank. BUT my new Dave Ramsey lifestyle to become completely debt free has been forcing me to look again at my finances and not splurge on anything. So that is out. So now, I came back to an old friend my Xbox 360. But what about during school or work or anytime that you are not near a TV and have 5 hours to waste. What about then? Well I use the all-powerful internet to fill my time. Here are my 5 favorite sites

5. Pinterest

Obviously. This is a great time filler and a way to pretend you have a wardrobe and designer and fabulous outfits. You go into dream mode with your house and wedding. You can pretend that you are living all the fitness tips and your weight is magically falling off. You repin those witty someecards imagining that it is you who is thinking of them, and will now start using these phrases.

"Well it is true!"

This is one of my favorites too and I do all these things above too, because I can plan the perfect wedding or find work ideas, or plan my house with 40 pools, 10 kitchens, 25 master suites, and a whole slew of living rooms, organized spaces, offices and libraries. All that is within a super sleek, shabby chic, modern inspired Castle. Probably in the South of France. 

4. Cracked

Sooooo, this site is amazing. I don't know how many people have read it. But I suggest you do so immediately. As long as you, and the good friends at Cracked promise not tell about how I stole their lay out for this Blog. 

They have guest writters, reappearing ones, Magician ones, silly ones. Its a great site, full of both humor and knowledge.

3. Meme Base

Everyone loves a good meme.

Ouch

This is linked to LOLcats, can I has cheezburger and many more. I love these a lot. Many funny ones in there.

I actually stopped writing this, because I got caught up in meme base.

2. Refinery29

This is a site full of how-tos, top ten lists, and just the overall success guide to fashion, career and a glamorous life in a city. They have 5 or 6 cities now, and are growing rapidly, but they have local spots to eat, and the appropriate attire, cute outfit ideas, and great gift ideas. They show you wonderful splurges and cute steals from local boutiques as well as big department stores. This is one of my favorite sites ever. 

1. Stumble upon

This site is widely popular I know. But it is the best. Get websites that are unknown, amazing pictures, even just cool ideas. You tell the site what you are looking for and it will deliver. It is awesome! I have found some pretty cool stuff from this site like the Side Walk Chalk Guy.....

uh-maze-zing

I'm Back!

This has been an eventful week. (Well I know. Its been since last Friday, but lets just call it a week.) I got to see Kevin. He came up for Easter, and then spent the week with him. It was awesome. But it was hard, he went back today. So don't mind the depression or the alcohol, but I am here to blog, and will be for the foreseeable future.

This has been a really chill mellow week for me, but a crazy eventful one at the same time. You don't think that that is possible, I know, but I will tell you all about it!

First thing, Friday of last week I had a great time out with friends, I got to hang out with a friend that was MIA since he was in a relationship, it was really great to catch up with him, he is a really nice guy. But the girlfriend reeled him back in, so I doubt we will be seeing him anytime soon. I deleted them from Facebook, just to minimize some potential drama, because I don't need that in my life. But it is a big deal because I NEVER delete people from Facebook. Like seriously never. I feel bad when I do it, but I know that it is the best thing to do, so I made the decision.

I don't know why I can't delete people. I don't feel anything from having them as my friends, there are some people on my list that I rarely have any interaction with. Even when I do, it is just stalking someone, seeing what they are up to. But I just can't bring myself to delete people. And I pretty much accept ANYONE. Its almost a sickness.

Secondly, I had a great staff meeting for work. It was really good to see what everyone else was planning for our Candyland event. It will be a huge event in September/October. We do a carnival type event and this year we are doing Candyland! It will be so cute! Pinterest has been my lifesaver. I have found some really great things on there. I am in charge of decor and signage, so I have found some really great ideas off of Pinterest and from what my coworkers have sent me from things that they have found. I am really excited about this event.

For my personal Carnival Day in June, I worked on it last week, and have booked a location, have my petting zoo, my magic show, my balloon animals, and my games almost all sorted out. I have to do my site walk and order some cupcakes coming up. I am planning on making a cupcake carousel too with animal crackers. I am super stoked. But before that can happen. I have my cake decorating class, which is going to be full, and then a couples trip to Magic Mountain! Going to be super fun times.

Finally, Kevin and I had such a great time together. I really love my life with him. It is just so natural. I mean the first dayish is weird and not like real life, but we quickly fall back into the routine of our life. It is nice to have these days with him, but it is almost bittersweet. We get to hang out and spend all day together, (minus the time spent at work) and then we have to go back to only texting/phone calls again. I feel like we get used to each other, and we have such a good time, and then we have to say good bye. We have spent more of our time apart or long distance than we have in the same city. Which has been really hard, but I think that it really has made us stronger and we are sure of what we want now. Its a big challenge sometimes, but the time we have together makes it all worth it.

See you all tomorrow ;)

My Carnival Day!

I am so excited! I have been working on a Carnival day for about a month now. I am so excited about it. I have been pinning, imagining, thinking and planning this event. I want it to be amazing! I would love to use this in my portfolio (duh) and would love to really go all out.

I have lots of inspiration from Pinterest. I honestly am not sure how people created events with out them. Aside from my events, I have planned my future house (all 4 of them for all my styles and living room ideas). I have planned my wedding (obviously). Hundreds of clothing options. But for anyone who Pins, its old news. Everyone does that. My absolute favorite part of Pinterest is the inspiration that comes from it. This is something that I can procrastinate on, but it is actually helpful in my own work!I love seeing the ideas that the Pros do and the do-it-yourselfer can come up with. I love getting ideas and inspiration from this and really making it my own and fine tuning it to be mine.

I can just tell that beginning planners everywhere are rejoicing at this new site. Not only is it great advertising for them. They can show off the amazing things that they are doing, but they can also become inspired for up and coming jobs. It is a great collaboration of creative ideas and it really gives planners a way to get a better feel for their clients vision of the event. It is really a great tool. I am truly excited as a new planner to have this in my arsenal for my future career.