Little Things in Life

These photos were taken on January 19th 2017. And other than the fact that these are film scans and taken by cool friends, these pictures are really hard for me to look at. The girl in these photos, bless her heart. I felt so so small, so young and so incapable for months. Turning 19 really took a toll on me, for whatever reason. An awkward in between, an age of limbo that teeters on the brink of adulthood.  Despite the pristine choice of footwear (in my opinion, of course),  I couldn't find my footing in life.

In the passing months, so much has changed! 

(sadly including the weather, which means I can't wear my booties anymore.)

Here are some little (but actually big) things that made these months so good....

1.) WHEN YOU WATCH AN EPISODE OF FIXER UPPER AND SUDDENLY THINK YOU'RE JOANNA GAINS.

Most parents worry about their young adult children throwing raging parties when they're out of town. I had a party all right, but it was a bathroom painting party listening to bio lectures instead of pop music. And forget beer cans, the only cans at this party were cans of BLACK paint ("I hope your mom doesn't kick you out when she finds out." Love you too, Mr. Lowes employee.)

But in all reality, I love to have a project and my mother has come to expect that when she's away, things will change. I ended up having a super light homework load that week and my reaction? Redecorate the master bathroom!

I wanted it to be cheap but effective and a couple trips to walmart and target seemed to do the trick. My vision was a gatsby meets joanna gains (lol) (aka just gold with more farm house accents). And I honestly couldn't tell you where the sudden urge to paint the bathroom black came from but I went with it and it worked out.

And in case the Lowes employee ever finds this post, no I was not kicked out but I did appreciate the sympathetic looks.

My favorite thing was this little art (if you can call it that) piece that I made for the bathroom. And while we all know song lyrics are a life saver for instagram captions, it turns out that they're also life savers when it comes to powder room decor as well. Though I realize the combination of black paint and a song called "Man of Sorrows" might not be the happiest combo, it's my mom's favorite hymn so I knew she would love it. And it was under $4 to make (frame included.) so I'd call this a win.

2.) WHEN YOU TAKE A TWO HOUR LETTERING CLASS AND ARE THEN CONVINCED YOU ARE 

A CALIGRAPHY WIZARD.

One day before a super cool wedding in Tampa, my dear friend AWE and I went to a lettering class at Oxford Exchange (posts about Amanda here as well as my trip to Oxford back in October.) We had such a sweet time practicing and failing our cursive curls, eating and drinking free treats and catching up since we only see one another like twice a year.

Turns out we are not calligraphy wizards but we had a wonderful time (and drank a lot of coffee) nonetheless.

3.) WHEN YOU LISTEN TO ONE PODCAST AND SUDDENLY EVERY EVENT IN YOUR LIFE BECOMES POTENTIAL PODCAST MATERIAL.

You guys know my obsession with Richard Simmons (birthday party anyone?). Nearly six years later and the fascination continues with no end in sight. Podcasts had previously appeared to be stuffy and purely political, but when I saw there was a podcast about Richard Simmons, you can bet your 80's workout gear that I listened to all four episodes in a row (and then had a great urge to go dance to oldies music.)

4.) WHEN YOU RETURN TO YOUR ROOTS AND JUDGE A 4-H SPEECH CONTEST

It's a little known fact that I was pretty involved in 4-H as a kid. Today, I feel like no one even knows what it is. But I did everything from sewing and woodworking to speech contests and photography competitions. (and let us not forget the time I won 70 bucks for brownies?)

This time it was a little, as in way, more fun. We got to talk and whisper and laugh and judge the absolute cutest kids giving adorable speeches on everything from seatbelt laws to zoo ethics. I also met a Norwegian so that's fun.