Lately

1 - Lights at Crown Center. As soon as I walked through this area, I knew I wanted to plan a date with Sean here sometime soon!

2 - I found these Christmas-flavored sodas at World Market a couple weeks ago! The bottles are really cute and I really just want to try them and see what they taste like! ...might be a good stocking stuffer idea!

3 - I made these little tree snow globes a while back. My best one is in a fish bowl which I will share sometime soon along with my Christmas decorations!

4 - My niece Ryleigh and her mama (my sister) had their family photos last week so here are my faves. Ryleigh is such a ham. I love my little peanut!

5 - This, my friends, is photo evidence of my first successful cake from scratch! My birthday was last Saturday and since I love to bake, I decided to make myself a vanilla (and perhaps whiskey...)-flavored cake! It was super yummy and the color turned out perfect!

6 - Sean is such a great listener/hint-taker when it comes to buying me gifts! He bought me my very first Pandora bracelet and two charms! One of which I had already picked out! I'm not sure if he knew I wanted it or not, but I like to think he just knows me that well. ;)

7 - So I mentioned about a month ago that I was in a lot of pain and considering having an infected tooth I had pulled. Well, I eventually made an appointment but just a couple days before, the tooth stopped hurting all together and I found that I was able to chew normally and all that without a hint of an issue.
Fast-forward to last week and the pain started all over again, but way worse than before. Not only that, but the whole right side of my face swelled up like a balloon.
I immediately made an appointment to have to tooth extracted. The other option was to get a root canal which I would have to wait until January or February for and I honestly wouldn't have been able to wait one more day, so I just went ahead and had it done. The operation was fine but the before and after were a complete nightmare. Long story short, I went in with the intention of just doing a local anesthetic and ended up having to be put to sleep because the pain was too much. There are other reasons the experience was the worst but it's over now and I'd rather not dwell on it. I have my medicine and plans to get an implant sometime after the first of the year. My face still looks like a chipmunk but it's getting better by the day, I think. Plus, chipmunk cheeks are cute, right? Or just maybe not on (adult) humans...

November Art and Friends

A few weeks back, my good friend Jerica came into town from Seattle to visit her boyfriend (and me!) in KC. Her number one priority for visiting was to see the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum since she'd never been. Unfortunately, we arrived too late with only an hour to look around, but I think we still had a really good time. I had also never met her boyfriend Stephaun, who turned out to be a complete sweetheart and such a great match for Jerica.
We had a really lovely time and although I was sad she had to go back to Seattle, I enjoyed our time together.

Plaza Lighting Ceremony

Every year on Thanksgiving night, Kansas City celebrates the beginning of the holiday season with the Plaza Lighting Ceremony. The Country Club Plaza is a high-end shopping district in Kansas City and among other things, it is known for its Christmas lights. People come from all over the Kansas City area to see the ceremony where they "flip the switch" and mark the beginning of the most wonderful time of the year! Luckily for Sean and I, we live one block away from the plaza so we decided that this year would be our year to see  the ceremony. Now we can say we've gone!  

Make: Nail Polish Ornaments!

Guys, I'm starting to get that Christmastime fever! I've been spending a lot of time lately getting the apartment all decorated for the holidays and I am very happy with it so far! I picked some supplies up from the craft store last week and while our place looks very cheery, it's not quite done. But I absolutely plan on sharing when I am finished!

In the meantime, I wanted to show you all one of the projects I did this weekend! I know a lot of you have probably seen the posts on Pinterest where you can put acrylic paint inside glass or plastic ornament baubles and make them whatever colors you like.
Well, I tried that and it wasn't quite working as the paint tended to be too thick and water just made it more frustrating, so I thought, "Hey, why not try nail polish and water?"
So I did and my ornaments turned out amazing! Mixing the colors and then the way the polish scatters and sticks to the glass made them look so pretty. I am very happy with these ornaments and I definitely recommend trying your hand at it and experimenting with what you can create!

Unfortunately, I forgot to buy hooks to put them up so they're still waiting patiently in the box. But I think once they're on the tree they'll look awesome.

What kind of holiday projects have got you in the Christmas mood this week? Make a post of your project and share it with us in the comments!

Apartment Love: Living Area

Hello, everyone! I hope you all are staying warm because, just in case you didn't hear, it's crazy cold outside!! My apartment is very old and runs on a boiler system, which doesn't turn on until the early evening, so I tend to be an ice cube all day until then. Luckily, I do have one lonely mini heater which manages to keep my feet nice and warm, but otherwise ya just gotta bundle up! 

Speaking of apartments, I wanted to share a little of my world with all of you.

Sean and I are currently in the second year of our second apartment together. When we decided to move back to Kansas City after two years in Maryville, we knew we wanted a place in the city and something that was close to our school. The search was very stressful but eventually, Sean's mom found us this place. 

It was built in the 1930s and has hardwood floors throughout, many large windows, original doorknobs and crown-molding and door bell. It's a one bedroom, one bathroom and the location is amazing. We live one block south of the Country Club Plaza (for non-Kansas Citians, that's the biggest, best shopping area in KC. Nay! Missouri! And possibly the Midwest, not including Chicago.) and one block west of our school. We can pretty much walk anywhere, everything is pretty safe and getting safer as the construction of million-dollar condos and new offices and businesses finish up this spring. The look and the feel of this place is wonderful and every time we have friends over, they always say something sweet about our apartment. (Most likely because people don't expect college students to decorate their home like we do. Hey, we still put up unframed posters!) But Sean and I are getting to a point now where we are considering getting a new place at the end of our lease.

The truth is, this place is expensive, most entirely because of where it's located. And while we want to rent a house and have roommates to help us out, and this apartment is out of our price range, we kind of can't help but to want to stay. I have a love/hate thing with this place. It's beautiful and old and it has awesome character and details and is in the most perfect location. But it's small and expensive and as a I write this out now, I realize that those are really the only things about it that I don't like. 

It's still something that's being discussed, but Sean agrees that he would love to stay. And it looks like that could be a possibility if he ends up getting a raise and a promotion. We won't know until January so for right now, we are enjoying our tiny apartment while we can.

I wanted to share the love that I have for this place with you guys and I plan on doing so in increments. So without further adieu, here it it! Our living room:

 Never mind the handsome boy reading poetry there (that chair is his seat). This is our living room. A lot (pretty much all) of our furniture was either handed down to us or bought on Craigslist.

The couch is a favorite of mine and belonged to my great-great grandmother. (That's my seat. Sean won't sit there because he says it's too uncomfortable. No worries! More lounging for me!) Sadly, I had to cover it up because it's been beat up over time and it doesn't help that the rabbits think it tastes good. The two brown chairs we bought on Craigslist for $15 each, while the desk was Sean's when we was a child, and the shelf...well, we'll get to the shelf.
Like I said, I love the large windows and door locks and hardwood floors. We did have a rug there but the rabbits took to eating that too. And our coffee table is currently being used as a Christmas tree table.

This is our media area. We don't have cable (or local channels) so we watch a lot of Netflix and play video games. As you can see, I already have my Christmas tree up as well. The shelves are obviously not family heirlooms or anything, but the dresser was found and restored by my Grandpa. We don't have a lot of furniture that I would hold on to forever but the dresser is definitely one of them.

 This is silly but I wanted to highlight my DVD collection. And nope, they're not Bluray, it's all DVDs. Sean makes fun of me, "We live in the 21st century, Kaleigh. You could easily just sell all of these movies and download them online."

Yeah, but...then I'd have to start over. And look how hard I have worked to get this many movies! Sean is right, I could totally just sell all these and save room. But I won't. Because there is something comforting to me about having a hard copy of my favorite movie (or in this case, movies).

And just in case you were wondering, the first seven movies after Back to the Future are my favorites. In order.

I've had this thing since the fourth grade when my friend Carlie down the street had one in her room and then I just had to have one. 

This is still a work in progress. I'd rather not share more until we are completely engulfed in the holiday season. It's classified, you know. 

So, this shelf. Let me tell you about this shelf. If you live in Kansas City, then you know that a couple months ago, something beautiful happened. And no, it's not that the Royals went to the playoffs.

IKEA opened. Yes, just like all of you, I was dying to get my hands on their magical merch. And lucky for us, when you get married around the time that IKEA opens, you receive IKEA gift cards. So we skipped our way on over there, many times. And one day Sean and I decided that I should go by while he was at work and get what we need for the apartment. So I get there and of course I get tons of stuff and it's great and then I realized, hey! We need shelves and you can design your own! So I went full-throttle and ended up with a pretty great design idea and all the pieces necessary.
I was very proud that I made it that far on my own, and even more so that I got it home and built it without any help. But if you notice in the picture, it looks like the tall side is kind of slanted...

That's because it is. Actually, more bent than anything really.

See, what happened was...you have to get these things home somehow. And we drive a Chevy Cobalt. So. It looked like this:

Getting those pieces in and out of the car was a struggle to say the least. And it was embarrassing.

Also, how annoying is that poster on the right, laughing at me, "Getting your shopping home couldn't be easier." Oh, really poster? Is that really true? Because it doesn't seem like it!

And that's why our shelves look slanted but are really just bent.

Our set-up is great though, I'm not gonna lie. I love our records and having everything right there, out of the reach of bunnies, is perfect.

Well I hope you all enjoyed my tour and that everyone's week is going well. I've been putting off some papers for class that need to be written so chances are, I'll be spending my time finding ways to continue avoiding them.

Ha! Just kidding, education is important...

Anyway, best wishes, y'all and happy Wednesday!

The Worst Week

To be honest, this week has been the worst I have had a quite a while. My wisdom teeth operation went perfectly on Tuesday and I have been so lucky to not run into any complications. It helps that I have been following the directions exactly, but I still believe I have been lucky. And thank goodness for that.
A few months back, I began having some pain in one of my molars. It was sensitive to eating and I figured it should probably be looked at anyway since I had it filled in the eighth grade. So I went to the appointment and they told me that the fill-in had expanded over time and created a crack in my tooth, which has allowed bacteria to nestle inside my molar and cause all sorts of pain and havoc. Long story short, I had to have the middle of the tooth drilled, cleaned out, the crack covered, and then filled back up again. But the pain never went away and when I went back to the dentist, they were much more interested in having my wisdom teeth removed.
Almost a week after that operation and I can one-hundred percent say that the pain I am feeling right now is because of that freaking tooth from before. A big part of me just wants them to pull it because one, it is quicker, two, I don't have any money for a root canal, and three, at least if it is pulled, I no longer have to worry about it coming back. I was expressing my frustration to my grandmother on the phone yesterday and she advised me to just have them pull it like she did in high school. "You don't really need it anyway!" I suppose so. It's just frustrating because if I'd known what the real problem was, I wouldn't have let them pull out the wisdom tooth and then just let it take my crappy tooth's place.
So needless to say, I've been in so much pain these past two weeks. The wisdom teeth thing was a complete breeze compared to this. I told Sean last night that if it came down to feeling this pain or having my arm broken like when I was a kid (clean break, both bones), I would totally take a broken arm, no hesitation.
I have three papers to write for Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday and the pain keeps me from focusing. And then when I take the drugs they gave me for the pain, I really can't focus and all I want to do is sleep.
So, like I said, I am having a bad week.

However, I will say that despite how much pain I may or may not be in throughout next week, I do plan on trying to have the best week that I can. I read today that the hurricane that's hitting Alaska this week will be sending winter to us very early this year. It's going to be a little weird since it has been in the 60s (F) for the past month and then next week it will suddenly be in the 30s and 40s. But I am happy.
I wrote in my last post how I have been feeling about the Christmas season and how I would usually be chomping at the bit to put up my decorations and begin my gift shopping, but this year I feel the need to take more of my time. I still feel that is true, but I also think that the colder weather helps.
So my plan is, if I get my papers and homework and all of my things done this coming week, then I will put up my Christmas things as a reward. Here's to hoping that I will actually hold out that long.

I just wanted to share what has been going on here lately. It is frustrating because I have so many ideas and plans for this blog and other projects, but it feels like with everything that has been happening to me recently, I can't stay focused.
There isn't much of anything that is really standing out as beautiful in my life right now, but I don't think that means there won't be. My apartment is a mess, I have a ton of homework to do, Christmas is coming up and we don't have money right now for gifts.
But that's the way it goes. Things aren't always going to be beautiful blog posts and Instagram photos summing up some kind of feeling that defined the season.
Sometimes it's crying and cursing on the couch with ice on your face, surrounded by a mess of papers and soup bowls, wishing someone would break your arm or at least drill a whole into your head to get rid of the headache. I don't have any pictures of that though. So here are some other things I have found happiness in this week.

My grandpa cut these coasters out of a tree for our wedding and Jayme and I wood-burned the letters and date in them. My grandma gave me the idea to turn one into a Christmas ornament. I think it turned out beautifully.

Since it is going to be so cold next week, and they say it probably won't get warmer, I began crocheting a scarf for Sean to wear when we walk to class. I think it will look great on him. I love the black and random fibers woven in.

Sean and I are hooked on The Body Shop, especially since we found out that we have one at the mall. They were having buy 1 get whatever deal so I chose this shea oil. It smells so good and I think it will be great for Sean's hair and skin this winter.

Sean brought this home from work one day last week and we've been delighting in its awesomeness almost every night since. It's the kind of ice cream that you actually want to taste and savor rather than scarf it down. I'm in love.

I hope everyone has a a great weekend and that despite what may be going on in your life, you are able to find a few little things that make you happy.
Best wishes!