happy halloween

Thank you again to all the new friends from Followers Fest! I'm so excited that you've decided to come along. And thanks again to the lovely hosts of the fest for putting forth such a great idea! You are all rad.

Tomorrow morning is my job interview. The funny thing I have noticed about doing interviews, is that you're only nervous if you're really excited about the job. I think it has way less to do with how qualified you are because usually if you got the interview.... you're qualified. For me at least, if I really want the job; I'm terrified that I'll mess up the interview. When I know I just need the job {to pay the bills}; I'm WAY less nervous because I'm not as excited. You guess which I am right now. ;)

What IS exciting though is that I have REALLY fun things happening on the blog this week. Cute outfits, new winter shop collection reveal, maybe a recipe or two and a ridiculously AWESOME-SAUCE giveaway. Seriously. November's gonna be a good one. Stay tuned.

OH, and for ONE MORE DAY you can shop with the code: SAVETHEBOOBIES for 25% off ANYTHING in my shop AND you'll be donating $2 from your sale to Breast Cancer awareness. Read about it. 

For now I'll leave you with some fun pictures from the weekend. Happy Halloween y'all.

 Top two boxes: Sneak peeks of new shop items 

Bottom boxes: Fun watching football, creepiest food ever. 

coffee together

First of all, WELCOME to all the new friends from "Followers Fest". If you haven't checked it out yet, you should certainly do so. It's a great way to meet LOTS of new friends! And if you are new here, feel free to poke around. There's lots to see. I'm so happy to have you. Also, I will work my hardest to get to all your blogs to sneak a peek. Thanks for being here.

Source: photographyblogger.net via Estelle on Pinterest

If we were to sit and have a cup of coffee together, this is what I'd tell you:
{inspired by this post from Casey Wiegand}

I've been in a very bad mood this week. It's because I am unsettled. I am working on it but I'm much like a turtle in that it takes me awhile to get somewhere. But I always get there. 

I'm hard at work on an actual winter collection for my shop. It's the first time I'm trying to do something that all works together and I really hope it goes well. I LOVE making things but have found that being a shop owner is really difficult. Every time a sale comes through my email I am so THANKFUL. 

I'm not very good at cooking. In fact almost any meal takes me nearly two hours to make. But since I'm not working right now,  and my man works very long days, I want to be there for him like he is for me. So I try.... 

 















I applied for a job yesterday that I'm totally qualified for. They emailed me back within the hour to ask me to interview. I could definitely take this job. But when I moved to CA I promised myself that I'd try to go after what I LOVED instead of just what I knew how to do. But I also believe that I need to make money. Torn about this one. 

I'm absolutely in love with some things that I know I can't have. But maybe for xmas? These beauties have been in my Etsy cart for awhile. They will be mine. I want one of these bags and I don't even care what color. Seriously. There's a print here that would make my heart pitter-patter if a special man secretly bought it and gave it to me for anytime. Pretty much all {just.lovely.things} are to-die for, but this band is simply gorgeous. 



It's been lovely sharing with you this week.  

{Thrifted Thursdays} Week 2

For the full run down on what's going on around here these Thursdays you can read this.

This week I wanted to share something in my house that isn't just awesome but also useful. And while it's not exactly thrifted; sometimes hand-me-downs {that are rad} should count just as much.

My thrifted item for today is my MIXER. Given to me by my step-momma, given to her by her momma.... and I'm in love with it. Not only does it have so much history {of making yummy things} but it's also got that cool vintage vibe that I la-la-love.

So of course if I'm going to share the mixer with you; I also need to make something. Today's {Thrifted Thursday} is like a two-for-one deal. Whoot.

Here's to the Brown Sugar Banana Nut Bread. {or muffins if you're like me}

STEP ONE:: Enjoy the beauty of the mixer. You can also make these in a normal bowl. ;)

STEP TWO:: Gather ingredients.
-eggs
-walnuts
-baking powder
-brown sugar
-butter
-salt
-flour
-ripe bananas
-sour cream
-cinnamon
-vanilla

STEP THREE:: Mix together following recipe {see below}

STEP FOUR:: Place in tin of your choosing {I wanted muffins} and place into the oven to bake.

STEP FIVE::Enjoy the yummy!



THE RECIPE::
{adapted from All Recipes}


INGREDIENTS::

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup sour cream

DIRECTIONS::

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.Or muffin tin can also be used if making muffins. 
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sour cream and sugar until light and fluffy. Stir in the eggs one at a time, beating well with each addition. Stir in vanilla and banana. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
3. Blend the banana mixture into the flour mixture; stir just to combine. Fold in walnuts. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle top of either bread or muffins with extra brown sugar.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 mins to 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into center of loaf or muffin comes out clean. 

new in november

I've been working really hard this past week at a new collection for my shop for the winter. It's the first time I've even had the idea to try and make an actual cohesive "collection" and I'm pretty excited about it. I have new products and even new designs. It's not ready yet but I'm hoping that by next month it will be ready to unveil. For now, here's a sneak peak of what you may find....

{something special for your wrist}

And also for the month of November, you can sponsor Beautiful Blendings for just $5. That's right. Just five bucks. This is the BEST opportunity for someone with a new blog or shop that wants some rad promotion or for the seasoned blogger/shop owner who is looking for new traffic at a great price. 

If you have more questions or want to sponsor.... email me. 

beautifulblendings{at}gmail{dot}com

{Thrifted Thursdays}

Sorry for the delay with this but I was having Linky troubles yesterday...

But without further ado.... I introduce you to:

The idea here is that you can link up ANYTHING thrifty from your week. It can be a post about an outfit you wore that was a great find, something awesome for your home from a rad yard sale or antique escapade, your favorite items online that are thrifted.... just as long as it's not NEW. New to you is fine; but the idea here is to share our favorite special finds that were a super deal.

You don't have to link back to me but if you did that'd be rad. And for this first week I'm going to share the sweet new dress I got for just $4!

Dress: $4 {thrifted}, Earrings: Free {GroopDealz anniversary}, Shoes: TOMS {gift}

I'm super excited about this linky and I hope that you will share it. NORMALLY it will be every Thursday. The list this week will be open till Wednesday and after that a new one will start again Thursday morning. I can't wait to get more items to share with you next week! 

Please join, I can't wait to see all the fun finds from your life. 

Xo.

how to grow an avocado.

When I was little my dad and step-mom used to always have avocado pits, toothpicks in the sides, sitting in cups of water around the house. I think this contributed to my determination in adult life to getting one to grow. And I've got it figured out. So now I want to share with you.

{Eat your deliciously healthy avocado and gently pull out the pit and wash it well with water. You can gently scrub it with a sponge if needed}

{Place 2-3 toothpicks gently into the center sides of the pit and place over a cup of water with the "pointed end" facing up} 

{Be sure to water frequently.... always keeping 3/4 of the pit saturated and place cup in a sunny windowsill} 

{Water for many weeks-months and watch the roots grow from the bottom and the stem from the top. When leaves begin to grow, plant into rich soil. Make sure to leave at least 1/2 of pit out of the dirt}

{Sometimes you will grow a short plant, with BIG LEAVES} 

{And sometimes you will grow a TALL plant, with short leaves}

{Either way, with an occasional watering, lots of sunshine (from inside), and love....

You can grow an avocado}

----------------------------

I hope that was helpful and that you get growing soon! Seriously, I can't even throw a pit away anymore without feeling TOTALLY guilty about the plant I could've had. And I eat A LOT of avocados. So please, someone..... help me out. Grow a plant. 

And then send me the pictures. 

Fighting for Friendship

My entire life I've been the girl who peered in.
All the cute, funny, stylish girls crowded together and loved each other and laughed.
And I stood on the outside of this circle trying and fighting to replicate their actions so that I could be in the circle too.

 But somehow it just never happened.
I didn't have enough money.
Or the cool clothes.

I was awkward and liked to read.
I'm clumsy and had better conversations with the teacher than those girls.
{probably because I was so intimidated by them}

And my entire life I kept thinking to myself...
One day it won't matter. 
One day I'll just be an adult and there won't be any more jealousy or cliques.
But it's not really true.

In college it was less obvious but still existed.
I had many guy friends {because truthfully boys don't have this unspoken weirdness},
But never a core group of girlfriends. 

I was still struggling to connect.
And frequently girls would get angry at me and turn people against me and I wouldn't even know WHY or what it was that I had done to upset them. A guy friend even told me once {on my 21st birthday} that "I KNEW what I did."
I cried in the middle of the room. Frustrated and NOT knowing what I had ever done. 

Now here I am at 25 years old.
I have a FEW girlfriends that I call friends but we don't really share our entire hearts.
We don't laugh and have coffee and call each other all the time. 
We don't send each other nice notes to say we were thinking of each other. 

And honestly, it must be me.

I am a very independent person. 
I have a hard time trusting others. 

But what hurts my heart recently....
is my move.

I'm in a new state, with a fresh start, and I'm trying to be more outgoing.
EVERY girl I meet I try and reach out to. 
And after nearly a month,
I still have zero girlfriends. 

My heart hurts.

What's worse is that ever since I started blogging,
I've found an amazing community of women.
I've found ladies who are caring, kind and want wrap you up in their sweetness.
I've found friendships. 

But I've never actually hugged these women.
And I can't sit with them for coffee and share my heart.
We can't laugh and talk about work, boys, home, crafts, food. 

And,
I find myself jealous of them. 
I still feel like I'm fighting for their friendship.
I see BETTER, STRONGER relationships form between the people that I shared my heart with and I feel betrayed and left out. 
I wonder why it wasn't me.
Why I wasn't the one.

I know I'm in control of my own happiness.
I know that I am the one over-trying and over-analyzing my feelings.

But I also know I'm the girl without the core group of friends. 

Does anyone else feel this way?

 

disneyland.

Sunday the 9th was our 3 year anniversary. This officially makes this man my longest relationship thus far. Not to also mention that we've been friends since my first year of college. So really, this story has been building for the past 6 years. And that's pretty amazing. I couldn't have asked for a better day. Even though it got off to a rough start. {Google maps thought that Disneyland was in Beverly Hills, and this girl didn't question it}

We made it! In line for Indiana Jones. Whoot. 

Just being silly. 

Pirates was closed {super sucky} but we headed to Haunted Mansion and to my GLORIOUS surprise they had re-done it in the theme of "Nightmare Before Christmas" for Halloween and it was awesome.

Next we got a GIANT pickle {my fav, thanks babe} and waited patiently to get soaked on Splash Mountain. BUT the ride got shut down for maintenance about 35 mins into our wait and we had to leave. IT was sad.

These were our rocking shades for Star Tours. We waited in line for about 90 mins and it really wasn't that awesome of a ride. Just some advice from me to you. 

After some resting and dinner we headed back to Splash to try and get on and discovered it was AGAIN shut down for repairs. But we were determined to get on and waited outside Haunted Mansion till we were able to run through the open line and .....

We got SOAKED. I had NEVER sat in the front of a roller coaster and GUESS WHAT seat I got? Yep, at 9pm in a tank top and jeans I was drenched multiple times with buckets of water.

It. was. awesome.

We then ate a delicious Churro, and got to ride the Matterhorn in like record time. I forgot to take a picture there but it was definitely one of the BEST rides of the day. Also fireworks were happening at this time so it was pretty great. 

After Matterhorn we rode Buzz Lightyear and loved it.

We take shooting Zurg pretty seriously. 

 And finally at 11pm we were able to ride SPACE MOUNTAIN! Cole really wasn't sure if he was up to waiting in line {the wait was supposed to be 80 mins} but we got in after about 50 mins and I'm so glad we did it. We both had forgotten how fun it was. 

I don't look super thrilled but it's just cause it's super dark in there and you have NO idea where the coaster is headed next. LOVE it. 

I wish I had a better camera but it's still a goal I'm working toward so for now I had to make due with the iPhone. Either way I was so thrilled to be in such a magical place with the man I love. I'm so grateful to my friends for providing us the tickets. Thank you so very much. Xo. 

SAVE the BOOBIES

Breast Cancer awareness month is very important to me. My grandmother had breast cancer and is a survivor and therefore I think it's a very very special cause to always keep in mind. I have the Susan B. Komen card from Bank of America and I love pulling out that pink reminder daily that a portion of what I'm spending is also helping to spread awareness.

I also carry a pink ribbon keychain, have a cute pink ribbon sticker on my bumper and NOW in honor of this very special month, our very special "humps" and my first year as an Etsy shop owner....

AND I just added many new cute designs to the shop! So hopefully there's something there for you!

Seriously y'all....
25% off of ANY product in my shop {including SALE items} with the code : SAVETHEBOOBIES and then $2 of your purchase will go towards Susan B. Komen for the Cure.

This also applies to custom orders so let me know if there's something special I can make for you!

{shop now}

I'm so excited about this event. I hope you will help me share the word!

Loneliness

I have to be honest. And share my heart.
Most days, I prefer to be mostly alone.
I'm more of an introverted person and I need that "me" time to de-stress and re-ground myself.

But ever since moving to CA, I have experienced a whole new kind of "alone time". My new alone time is all the time. Most days, I don't see or talk to another living soul until around 7 (or later) when my fella gets home. It's not something I expected to be so upset about. But I hate it. 

                                                                                                                                                                                 Source: thecharliebrown.tumblr.com via Cari on Pinterest

I feel like I'm trapped and like I should be using this time for really AMAZING things that I was unable to do when I was super busy. But something about loneliness is that it makes it hard to be motivated. Every day I think of all kinds of extraordinary things that I'd like to do for my shop, for my writing career, for myself, etc.

But then this dark cloud comes over me as soon as my fella leaves for the day and I'm left all alone. I never thought moving to CA and knowing no one would be a big deal.

I know it's only for a short time and I'll meet people but right now.... it's unbearable. I find myself crying at nothing and by the time my man does get home from a long day at work; I am frustrated and upset if ALL of his attention isn't on me. It's not his job to create my happiness or be my ONLY friend.















I know that this will not last forever.
I know that I have SO very many amazing blog friends.
So thank YOU for being out there.
Your sweet comments.

                                                                                                                                                                        Source: photographyblogger.net via Estelle on Pinterest

And hopefully one day we'll be able to meet for coffee,
talk about life,
and be together. 

1643 miles.

Now that I have officially lived in California for two weeks, I want to finally share with you what I've been up to. It's sincerely been a bit of a whirlwind as well as a lot of struggle actually.
As much fun as I've had, I've also been dealing with not working for the first time in my life (besides my handmade shop of course), not having any of my friends or family here, not knowing where anything is or even having money to go or do anything and really just a general sense of loneliness combined with boredom.
There's only so much you can do by yourself in a day before the regimen becomes very sad. I realize though that one day it IS my goal to be a writer and most likely working from home but at least at that point I'll have SO MUCH work to pour myself into that it won't be so noticeable that I'm home alone every day. And I plan to spend lots of time at coffee shops then too. ;)

Well anyway, let me share the fun stuff so you can see that it hasn't all been a struggle.

On Friday (9/16) I packed up my studio apartment into my cute little Jetta and no joke ya'll I used EVERY INCH of space in that car. My bestie (who came along with me for the trip) had to sit with her legs up on the dash for most of the 15hr drive. That's just how you roll when you move real far away with a lifetime of stuff to fit into one tiny car.
We spent the night with some friends of mine and EARLY the next morning got ready to go. Of course my car had a flat tire as soon as we got outside so we had to make a quick stop at Les Schwab and get it fixed, BUT then we got our Pumpkin Spice Lattes and were ON THE ROAD.

People aren't lying when they say that long drives are the pits but this was my first REALLY long drive as an adult and I can tell you.... it's not as much fun being the one DRIVING the 15hrs. I WAY prefer the days as a kid in the backseat of the car with all my fun activities and cool roadtrip games. But we DID have some rocking tunes and after only 3 stops for gas and 15 hours of CRAZINESS, we made it to California to see my wonderful fella at midnight. Just like Cinderella. Except without the stepsisters and pumpkin. 

Unfortunately my man has to work 12hr days most of the time as a brewer so I don't really see him too often but Tess and I certainly wanted to see some fun things so we decided first on our list was to hit KatVonD's famous tattoo shop and store. Not sure if anyone is a big LA Ink fan but this was totally a fun trip for me.

We also knew that we HAD to go to Vegas for a night because my cousin lives there (and works as a stylist at Aria) and it's only 4 hours from my new home. So Wednesday morning we headed out on roadtrip #2 and made our way through the desert to VEGAS!
 
My sweet fella booked us a room at Treasure Island for the night for only $67 and it was THE BEST experience. We played penny slots (first time gambling!), had free fun drinks (the strawberry daquiris were amazing) and then got all dolled up for our night out.

It was amazing. My cousin Val did all of our hair (I felt more incredible then I EVER have), her man Ricki joined us and we went out for an adventure! We saw all of old Vegas, got a drink to share that was taller than Tess (she IS only 5ft) and didn't make it back to bed until about 4am. I think all in all, we did Vegas. 

 The following morning we had our free brunch in the hotel and then drove to the airport where I said goodbye for now to my bestie. Then back in the car for another 4 hour drive back to my new home.

And now I'm home each day... crafting away for my shop, writing to you, organizing our first home together, looking for my dream job, doing laundry for two (which I honestly love) and just seeing what happens next. And when my fella gets his one day off a week we run out and find some CA fun. This weekend we hit the beach at Santa Monica. It was GORGEOUS. I'm already missing it.

I love these moments with my man. This Sunday (the 9th) will be our three year anniversary. It officially makes him my longest relationship. And the first boy I've ever lived with. We're going to Disneyland for the day and I couldn't be more excited to spend that day at the happiest place on earth with the man I love. Whoa cheeseball overload. Sorry, but it's true. Thanks so much to the families I worked for in Oregon for providing us the tickets as a going-away gift. I miss my littles SO MUCH these days it hurts. I'm such an emotional girl these days...eek!

AND if you made it through this entire post, I now have something exciting!

The WINNER of the Twillypop Giveaway IS.............

 

If this is you PLEASE email me. 

beautifulblendings{at}gmail{dot}com

Thanks to everyone who participated! 

Xo.