Thrifty Thursdays

One of my favorite things to do is to go thrifting, I just absolutely love finding one of a kind unique items. So I've decided to start a new feature here on the blog, "Thrifty Thursdays", where I show you guys all the neat things that I've thrifted

This past monday I went to downtown Houston to do a little thrifting. Some of my favorite thrift stores are downtown like Buffalo Exchange and Taxi Taxi both located off Westheimer Rd (Houston, TX 77006). Also in this area are some other really neat stores, other thrift stores, and antique stores.

To start with, I found this little gem at Taxi Taxi.

I was so incredibly excited when I found this purse, especially when I saw its price tag! This purse is made by one of my favorite designers, Betsey Johnson, and it was only $30! Such a steal! Its definitely my new favorite purse!

Here is the rest of the items I got from Taxi Taxi:

 I lost my sunglasses at ren fest this past weekend so when I found these super cute purple (my fav color) sunglasses for $8 I just had to get them. Same with the cute pink tank with the kissing kitties on it. I love reconstructing t-shirts and I have a few ideas for this shirt. :)

Do you like thrifting? Have you found anything neat on your adventures? Alrighty, well I have lots of projects planned for today so Im gunna get started, I only have so much time left of my day off. Happy Thursday! :)

Weekend Full of Adventures- part 2

As promised here is the rest of the post about my past weekend.

On Saturday I went to the lovely Texas Renaissance Festival! Its one of my favorite festivals to go to, and I go every year! In middle school and high school I did a lot of theater, so ren fest is right up my ally. Everything just feels so real and authentic there, it's like you stepped into a time machine and ended up in the 16th Century. There is so much to do and see there, from the incredible shows and entertainment, to watching the noble knights jousting for the King and Queen, to browsing the many vendor's shops, and to eating all the yummy food (including everything you can imagine put on a stick for convenient enjoyment lol). This past weekend was "1001 Dreams", one of my favorite themed weekends because I love anything and everything fantasy. I had planned to wear a Lord of the Rings type elven costume, but wasn't able to finish making it in time. Yes, I wear a costume when I go to ren fest. Thats one of the best parts about it, you can wear a costume and be a part of the magic! It was such a wonderful and magical day, but I was caught up in all the magic that I didnt take very many pictures, but here are a few pictures I did take:

Even though I didn't wear my elf costume I did wear my elf ears! If I had my way I would wear my elf ears all the time (what can I say I really love being an elf lol). We decided to take these pictures in the lovely "Magic Garden".

What I Wore:

shirt// Juicy Couture t-shirt that I thrifted and reconstructed

shorts// Charlotte Russe jeans that I upcylced

scarf// Urban Outfitters

tights// Target

boots//Target

elf ears// Texas Renaissance Festival

Here are a few things that I purchased at ren fest:

One of the vendors handmakes these unique "dragon pets" in many different colors! They are designed to be flexible so you can wear your new little dragon however you want, like around the wrist. They come in so many different colors, some come with armor, and some even glow in the dark! The one I chose is purple and black with removable purple armor and he also glows in the dark (see below).

I also found these super cute cameo earings, maybe a gift for my mom?

Sorry of my lack of pictures of the festival, I will be going again soon and will take better pictures the next time I promise! The rest of my three day weekend was pretty great too, got to watch football on sunday and went thrifting on monday (more on that tomorrow). I know its wednesday, but how was your weekend, got any exciting plans for this next weekend?

Weekend Full of Adventures-part 1

This past weekend was pretty amazing, I got to indulge in a mini vacation. (I was going to post this yesterday but after my adventurous weekend I was really tired :/ ). It was the most stress-free weekend I've had in a looong time, and it was simply wonderful! Would you like to hear about my adventures this weekend?

Well to start with the weather here in Houston has been absolutely amazing! Haha well I should say, compared to the weather we usually get here in Houston the weather was pretty awesome! Its been so scorching hot for so many months and there has been no rain to douse the heat, its been an almost unbearable summer. But its finally starting to feel like fall! Since the weather has been so lovely I planned my weekend accordingly.

Alrighty well my weekend started out with going to this yummy sandwich place in The Woodlands called Which Wich, ordered my food for to-go, grabbed Lily and went to the park for a picnic. While searching for the ideal picnic location I found a dog park! I've never taken Lily to a dog park because frankly it terrifies me, to many scenarios of what could go wrong always playing in my head. I hate to admit this out loud about myself but I'm a huge worrier, and taking Lily to the dog park just had to many unpredictable consequences for a worrier like me. Anyway, well the dog park was completely empty!! Lily had the greatest time running around outside without a leash, it warmed my heart to see how delighted she was!

Lily does this thing where she stands keeping her back legs in the same place and streches the rest of her body to investigate things, as you can see above lol

One of my new favorite pictures, she just looks so happy! :)

As I started writing this post I realized that I was going to have to break it up some otherwise this would be a realllly long post, so I will be posting more tomorrow. Stay tuned, this is only the beginning lol :)



What I Love Fridays

Happy Friday! Sorry I'm posting this so late but I've had a busy day. I've been preparing for a camping adventure that is planned for this weekend (so after this post my next post wont be until sunday or monday)! But more on that later, don't want to ruin the surprise! Anyway, so its Friday and its time for a post of what I love/loved this week. Well lately I have spent an excessive amount of time on the internet, more then I usually do. I've been obsessing about hair styling ideas that I can do myself so here are 5 hair ideas that I love:

I absolutely love waterfall braids! I really wish I could figure out how to do them, I'm not very good at braiding, but I will be trying to do this!

I loooove this idea, I will most definitely be doing this to my hair!

This is another hair coloring idea that I would like to try

Oh, the messy bun, how I love thee (lol)

I just love this picture! I wish i could do that with my hair!

Alrighty, there are a few hair styles that I'm obsessing about right now. I'd love to hear what you think! Have a good weekend :)!

I found all these pictures via Pinterest

Scrumptious Chocolate Chip Cookies

The smell of warm gooey chocolate chips floating through the air, the smell of cookies baking in the oven, home sweet home. One of my favorite childhood memories was coming home from school to the wonderful aroma of cookies baking in the oven.

I love baking, and I make some pretty amazing cookies (at least thats what I've been told lol). My mom has used this recipe for years and its one of my favorite chocolate chip recipes and now I'm going to pass it on to you :)

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

(I usually use a little more then 2 cups of chocolate chips lol)

Directions

In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugars, and vanilla until light and fluffy.

Next, add eggs and beat well.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt.

Gradually add to butter mixture.

Make sure to thoroughly mix flour mixture with the butter mixture.

Next add the chocolate chips and stir.

Next make little balls of the dough and place on a cookie sheet. Remember the size of the dough balls will determine the size of the cookies, large dough balls =  large cookies (I think you get the point lol).

Heat oven to 375 degrees. When oven is done heating up, place cookies on middle rack and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. What I usually do is set the timer for 9 minutes, after the 9 minutes I check them and depending on what they look like either take them out or leave them in another minute or so. This time around I cooked them for about 11 or 12 minutes

(I forgot to take my mom's pizza stone out before I heated up the oven, oops lol)

Ta-da!

Yummmmy! :)

Remember the stacking bowl set I found at H.E.B? I tried them out to make these cookies, and it was a success! The large mixing bowl is really smooth and the cookie dough didnt stick to the sides of the bowl much at all, yay!

What are your favorite foods to make, or to eat if you dont like to cook ;)?



Case of the Mondays

I started writing this post last night (I'm actually posting this tuesday morning) but ended up falling asleep, I guess I was still feeling a little under the weather.

Anyway, after being really sick with some kind of stomach bug I'm finally able to get on my computer and publish a new post. I know I just started my blog but I dont like being away from it this long! Laying in bed most of the weekend gave me a lot of time to think though. Of course there was some negative thinking because I really hate being sick, especially if it makes me miss work. I decided to get rid of the negative thoughts and replace it with happy thoughts. If only these happy thoughts were able to make me fly like in peter pan, that would be pretty neat (lol)! Anyway, here are the things that made me happy while I was sick:

(Lily was making cute faces, she must of known that I wasnt feeling good)

I heard this song by Billy Currington and it made me super happy :)!

"Like My Dog" by the lovely Billy Currington

Since I was sick on Sunday I actually got to watch football, I usually work on sundays so I never get to see the Texans game (unfortunately they were having an off day I guess :/ ). But Greenbay's game was definitely entertaining to watch!

My first purchase for my future kitchen! It was only about $15 from H.E.B. It has everything I need to get started stacked into a convenient package, and its super colorful too! :)

I can never find two pairs of the same set of socks, but at least this time they were color-coordinated :) 

These were a few things that brought a smile to my face, helping me get out of my funk from being sick. What did you do this weekend?

What I Love Friday

One of my favorite ways to relax after a hard day at work is to come home, curl up with my puppy and surf the web. I love getting on my computer and looking up whatever I'm obsessing about at the moment. I love and obsess about a lot of stuff, so every Friday I'm going to post a list of 5 things I love about whatever "theme" I'm obsessing about at the moment. Today's "what I love Friday" post is about Etsy stores. I LOVE Etsy! So here are 5 Etsy stores that I love right now, and one item from each store that I love (it was reallllly hard to pick only one item from each store.

1. To start with, a really good friend of mine has this wonderful little shop on Etsy called Sam Wish where she sells vintage and upcycled clothes. I'm loving this sweater from her shop, its perfect for the coming winter season!
2. I have an obsession about steampunk jewelry. I came across this shop,Victorian Curiosities, one day when I was browsing through Etsy and fell in love. I really love this necklace made from a watch.
3. I've been on the hunt for a while for a nice leather dog collar for Lily. When I came across the collars made by Cali Girl Collars I knew I just had to have one. I think I'd like to get this collar for Lily.
4. Eye Pop Art makes these super cool mandala art and accessories made from recycled vinyl records. I'd love to hang this clock up in my place.
5. I'm obsessed with sea creatures and this is one of the first shops I found on Etsy, Noadi. She makes the most wonderful little sea creature jewelry from polymer clay. I have this little guy hanging from the rear view mirror of my car :).

Well these are just a few of the stores I love on Etsy. I'd love to hear what stores you like on Etsy too, so dont be shy to leave me comments. Happy Friday :)!