440 miles of patriotic road

I wore this exact outfit but with red tights back in August... We Love Colors sent me a few pairs and I've just been loving them. But instead of feeling like a superhero in the bright red, I opted for the navy. The color felt right as it was a bit cooler and it was an Autumn day in the country. Still making a statement but not quite so bold. Would you believe that the white shirt underneath is a $10 Walmart find?! It's one of the Miley Cyrus + Max Azria tops from way back when! It's the perfect balance of bright white and frilly ruffles to put under the rigid denim dress.

dress: forever 21, shirt: miley + max for walmart, belt: thrifted, tights: c/o we love colors, flats: target

These photos were taken at the very start of the Natchez Trace in Belle Meade (Fun fact: If you're ever in the area, stop by Loveless Cafe for some delicious breakfast! It's a world famous little cafe and it's worth the wait! You may snag a spot on the Travel channel while you're there like we did! ;P)

By the way, I'm still counting down! 9 school days left! I can do it! I can do it! Also - 7 weeks until Christmas! Holy cow! Hope your Tuesday has been magical so far! 

DIY: Teacup Bird Feeder

I stumbled upon a crafty venture by Cap Creations the other night while I was up from a serious case of insomnia and she was making a bird feeder out of a teacup and saucer! Too cute! I knew this was something I could easily do myself so I documented the process myself and shot the photos to go along with it. So with that, I'm happy to introduce you to a DIY post!

Teacup Bird Feeder

Materials You'll Need:

• Teacup
• Saucer
• Spoon
• E-6000 Adhesive
• Sandpaper
• 1/2" Copper Cap
• 1/2" Copper Pipe (I used 24")
• Birdseed
• Water

Step One: Sand the bottom rim of the teacup that will sit on the saucer to allow for better adhesion. (I bought my teacup and saucers at Goodwill for $1!)

Step Two: Sand the inner part of the saucer where the rim of the teacup will sit. This, too, for better adhesion.

Step Three: Add the adhesive to the bottom rim of the teacup and place the cup on the saucer where you would like it to harden. (Apply pressure to the cup and saucer at this time to ensure a good bond.)

Step Four: Sand the bottom of the spoon that will rest on the saucer.

Step Five: Apply adhesive to the bottom of the spoon and situate on the saucer.

Step Six: The hardest part of all.... WAIT! You must give the adhesive the proper amount of time to dry so that it does not slip once put upright on a post. This can be as long as 24 hours, so check the back of your adhesive for drying times (I gave mine 3 or 4 hours and it was fine).

Step Seven: After you ensure that your teacup and saucer are properly bonded, sand the top of the copper cap.

Step Eight: Apply adhesive to the top of the cap and situate in the center bottom of the saucer. and then once more... WAIT! Give it just as much time, if not longer! This bond needs to be very very strong because this bird feeder is so top heavy!

Step Nine: After the cap has dried, insert the copper pipe once turned upright. Take outside and place in a flower bed or potted plant. (The deeper the potting soil, the better. It will help keep the bird feeder from tipping over.)

Step Ten: Add water to the teacup and birdseed to the saucer. Then sit back and enjoy! Your little birdie friends will love the little perch of the spoon handle and the yummy bird feed you've provided for them. It doesn't hurt that it looks awesome, too!

* DISCLAIMER: You do NOT have to use copper piping for this project. I simply did it because it looks nice! (It's very expensive, so if you DO decide to use it, be sure not to use it in places that are easily accesible by greedy hands! People steal copper on the daily because they can get a lot of money for it!)

Hope you enjoyed my little DIY post! Let me know if you decide to try it!

xoxo

A Somber Saturday

It's with much much sadness that I start this blog post. I'm sitting on the couch in front of the news at my parent's house in Hohenwald next to Georgia and Mike. Today was unlike any other day. So very unlike any other day.

It started with me waking up a few times to thunder and rain. It was such a relaxing environment to sleep in so I didn't roll out of bed until 11:15am. I piddled around for an hour, laid in the hammock on the deck, and then I woke up Mike at noon.

It was nice to lay in the hammock and listen/watch it rain. The creek was flowing pretty heavily, but it was of no concern. Just a nice background noise. After waking Mike up, we decided today was a good rainy day for pancakes! We went to Cracker Barrel for some breakfast and it was beyond rainy. We had a tornado warning but it wasn't anything to be alarmed about really. We were going to just go home but we had a few things to grab at WalMart real quick so we headed over. Everything was flooded. We got our things and we started to check out. The cashier told us that Liberty Pike was shut down. Uh-oh. That was our way home! Well we headed out and just like she said, we had to turn around and take a side road. We finally got to the house and here is what we found:

(Keep in mind, our creek looked like THIS just last week!) All dried up!

Instead, our entire backyard was a giant river. About 7' deep. It had already broken the big wood fence separating our yard from our neighbors. It got scary. I immediately started bawling and I called my mom in panic.

Mom calmed me down and told me I needed to regain my composure to avoid an asthma attack. I brought Morgan and Bryan to the back to show them what was happening; They had no idea. We all moved our cars to a church down the street because it had higher ground. After that, we walked down the street and checked on all of our neighbors and eventually came home to measure the water. Here's a picture of me standing on flat land... a concrete porch that comes up from our backyard (about 4 feet off the ground). Even here, it's waist high.

We decided to prepare for the absolute worst since the water was rising so incredibly fast. We started moving furniture and clothing to higher places. Everyone brought their cars to the street in front and started moving things into their vehicles. The shower flooded our bathrooms before we moved stuff. We took our (new) couch and put it up on the counters and prayed for the best. We moved all of our electronics and then the power shot in our room. We turned off the main breaker and continued to move. I saved almost all of my dresses, my computer, sewing machine, and eventually tv. Everything else, though, is probably gone.

Here's a picture of our driveway. You can barely tell but at this point, the water was well over the back deck and about a foot deep in our house.

This is the front of the house, viewed from the road, before the water took over the entire front. By the time we were finishing up moving stuff out, it was up to the tops of my thighs when I walked.

Here are some interior shots... The first photo is our living room. The second photo is mine and Mike's room.

These last two pictures were taken thirty minutes apart... Look at the drastic difference. Also, peep the water line at the window in the last photo.... then scroll up to the one of me being waist deep. THAT is how much deeper it got in 2 hours. By the time we left, it was pitch black and there was absolutely no hope.

We are lucky that we are renting, however, we do not have renter's insurance. So everything in the house is pretty much gone. Including well over half of my clothes, all 4 of our beds, our new couch, all of our dressers and desks, and all of our furniture. Plus all of my fabrics and things of that nature. Luckily, it's all materialistic. I am fine. Mike is fine. and Georgia is fine.

At one point, Georgia snuck out and almost went for a swim. My heart has never sank so quickly. Luckily Mike was able to grab a hold of her and get her back inside. We kept her in the car out front while we finished moving things out, just to keep her safe.

Our house is completely gone. Everything. The ceilings had already started to crack, the floorboards and the carpets were floating and buckling. I'll be surprised if the back deck is attached tomorrow. The rain is continuing to fall. It's supposed to rain more tomorrow than it did today. Our bikes are gone. Our shed is gone. It's heartbreaking. By the time we left, the water in the backyard was about 15 feet deep, and it was over 2 feet deep in the house.

None of this feels real. I feel like I'm in a poorly scripted movie. The likelihood that we will be able to live in our house is pretty much non-existant. So that leaves us in a pickle. I'm supposed to leave for NYC in exactly 3 weeks. All of this will be figured out though.

My parents came to our rescue. We drove the three cars down to Hohenwald where we are staying with my parents, probably indefinitely. We just have to figure out about Mike's job. I couldn't go to work tonight, either. It's really just such an awful situation.

Sadly, we are far from the only ones affected. A lot of our neighbors are experiencing the same misfortune and even one house down the street caught on fire. Please keep my neighbors, and all of Tennessee affected by this, in your thoughts and prayers.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful tweets and messages thus far. Every kind word goes so so far, I assure you. All of our material items can be replaced. We can't. I'm so thankful and blessed that we're all okay and we had a warm, inviting home to stay at. So many aren't that fortunate.

I've spent the better part of the evening crying. So now I'm going to settle in, watch a movie, and eat junk food to settle my soul. Tomorrow is when Mike and I can start talking serious things. But again, please keep all of my neighbors in your heart/prayers as they continue to battle this throughout the night.

xoxo

Saturday Saturday!

Well last night I went to work and much to my surprise, we were dead. I'm talking DEAD DEAD. So dead I made roughly 1/3 of what I normally do. Kim (our waitress) was cut before midnight and I was cut around 1am. Awful. Hopefully tonight will pick up and make it well worth it. I drove home and passed out fairly quickly. Only to be startled awake several times by goodness knows what. I was woken up by the ridiculous sound of a monsoon hitting our windows at around 6am. The entire driveway was flooding... but by the time we drug ourselves from under the covers at 10am, it was gorgeous out. Today turned out to be PHENOMENALLY beautiful.

Oh, before I forget... here are a few photos of Georgia and Mike from the puppy park last night. Georgia went swimming in the kiddie pool (we're going to buy her one for the house), and played with the other dogs for about an hour and a half. We spent a giant chunk of our time at the puppy park, thats for sure. I love it though. I love seeing her have fun and playing around. We forgot her leash at home so Mike had to carry her to and from the car.... she was SOAKED... and SO exhausted by the time we left. Peep for yourself!




Here's a photo of me from work last night. Yes, thats how dead we were... I was being narcissistic haha But I finally got my 1" white acrylics plugs in :)


Today's weather was so nice, I threw on a spring time dress, cardigan and flip flops (I want to be a sandal girl, but it's difficult!).


We took Georgia to her vet appointment at about 12:30 and got her vaccinations, and had them test for a mite in her skin. She was not happy. Not happy at all. However, there was a new vet visiting from 100 Oaks and she was so very kind and personable. I'm a fan of hers, for sure. We scheduled her eye surgery and a dental clean for next month, so say goodbye to that awful looking cherry eye! It'll be fixed (for the second time!). She let us in on a way we can upgrade our puppy insurance to help take a couple hundred dollars off of her surgery. Huzzah!



After the vet, we went by the puppy park but no one was really there and it was awfully hot for her to be out so we went home. We grabbed our disposable camera and followed Georgia to the creek in our backyard. We decided to walk along in the water with her as she splashed and played in the mud. We found a gorgeous little path that lead to this beautiful little overgrown area. We took some photos but I look ridic so we'll take more soon! We shot all 27 images, headed to Walgreens to drop them off, and had lunch at Blue Coast Burrito. After that, we headed to the mall for a bit just to kill time. I can't go to the mall without buying something so I walked out with 2 adorable dresses (photos soon!) and a floppy summer hat! I've never been a hat girl but you can understand my excitement when I saw that this one didn't accentuate the already-awkward shape of my noggin! haha

We shot a few polaroids and went on a wild goose chase for a power adapter. We picked up our prints and came home. I just dyed my hair and I'm about to go dry it. I have to leave for work in the next hour. Phew!

I'm going to post a bunch of these disposable camera pictures in the next post. I'll put it up in the queue to be posted tonight! (Check back at 10:15pm CST for the photos!) We went and bought 3 more throw away cameras because I'm officially obsessed! I'm going to take several tomorrow as we go down to my parents' for Easter!

I hope you're all having a glorious weekend!

PS; Here's a SHOP IT TO ME invite if you want to join! Daily deals like 30% off Marc Jacobs, etc! And they've already sent me $40 giftcard to Starbucks and a $10 one to Urban Outfitters! Totally not a scam, I promise! :P