Looking Back + Looking Forward

Another year has come and gone... How many times have you read that on a blogger's recap post this week?! I won't bore you with the details of every single month or detail that has transpired during 2011, as I'm sure no one is as interested in them as I am myself. (Kind of a Catch-22 with bloggers, isn't it?! Hmm..) Anyway, I've said it before and I'll say it again, 2011 was a whirlwind year for me + this little blog.

A few highlights include...
+ A roadtirp to Wilmington, NC with two of our favorite people, Susannah and Chris. and getting engaged on the riverfront, canopied by twinkelights and captured on film. (I can't imagine better people to share that moment with!) Here's Mike take on it + Susannah's too!

+ Getting whisked away to NYC to stay at the Ace Hotel and attend the International Women's Day Celebration hosted by Levi's + Vogue. (Thanks for the trip, Levi's! View photos here!) 

+ Turning 23 + making my 23 before 24 list of goals! Still have a handful that I need to complete in the next 3 months! Here's to hoping I can do it! ()

+ Moving into our factory converted loft and trying to make it our Home Sweet Home. Full of shoes, twinklelights, and furry little lovemuffins (our pups!). (See the Loft Tour posts here: Twinklelights, Bedroom, Wardrobe [Updated], Workspace [Needs Updating], and Outside)

+ Deciding to launch a new handmade hair accessory shoppe, Hive + Honey. It's been a labor of love, though I can't wait until I can devote more time to it as a vital part of Honeybean.

+ We managed to sneak up to Chicago at the end of June and surprise Susannah for her birthday! It was all under the 'guise that we were driving to Northern Kentucky to foster a bulldog puppy. We were sitting on her couch when she walked in from work! That was one of my favorite parts of the year! (We also went back in September for Renegade Craft Fair but of course I'm awful at taking pictures!)

+ Making the decision to push forward with my dream of owning a small independent shoppe by joining the mobile biz craze and making Honeybean Mobile Boutique a dream come true! We unveiled her once we brought her home! Now you can shop online during the winter months, too! Lots more inventory to come! I'm even more excited about our next step...

+ We brought a sweet kitty (we named her Enid!) into our family and we're now compete as a family of 5. We took our first ever holiday card and we're preparing for another, even better, year to come. 
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

It really means so much to me knowing that so many of you take time out of your busy day to stop by my little slice of the internet. The web is such a crazy place if you think about it! I've grown to become such close friends with people I never would have had the opportunity to meet had it not been for this little blog. I know it sounds silly to say but I count my lucky stars every day to have the opportunities that I do. Pursuing my dream of owning my own businesses wouldn't be possible if it weren't for y'all! There are days I question myself as a blogger, and this entire blog in itself. But then I'll get an email or a comment that makes it more than worth it. I know I'm not out there changing lives in a huge way. I'm not curing cancer or lobbying for governmental change, but even if I can only bring a little sunshine into your day, I'll consider that a success! Thanks for making this so fun and exciting for me... It's like we're all on a journey together. Let's make sure 2012 is the one to remember! 

I'll be sharing my "New Year's Resolutions" in the next day or two! I'd love to hear about yours, too! So long, 2011. You were awesome, but 2012 is going to kick your butt! xo

Banana Boat

These shoes almost take it a step too far. They're almost too ugly (Yeah right, I gravitate toward them... I'm sure they were too ugly for a lot of y'all a long time ago!) Mike + I happened to pop into Urban Outfitters a handful of days ago and on the clearance table was a Jeffrey Campbell box (yeah, that's the only reason I even went). Inside the pretty little box was these Banana Boat shoes. Mike said they looked like McDonald's Play Place shoes, and I can also agree. Anyway, they were marked half off, and they were my size, and they were the only JCs in the store. It sort of felt like fate... even if they were atrocious. I was determined to make them work, so I bought them. (Along with 2 dresses for $10!) I thought I could try a simple white dress, a coordinating cardigan and a pop color for the belt... you know... my uniform.  I'm still not sure if it was a success for not, but I think they might be growing on me some.

Last night Mike + I went on our little daily coffee date, then I met up with Bryan and Elle at the Sportsplex here in Nashville for some ice skating. (Mike joined us after a little while.) Okay, so I've never ice skated before. Ever. I wasn't expecting to like it so much or even be able to stand up, but it wasn't that bad. I only fell once (alright... twice. Once after an hour and a half of skating + I also ran smack into Mike after he fell once. I wasn't paying attention! Doh!) Anywhoo, it was a lot of fun and I definitely hope we go back. I never knew how many people made it out on the rink during the week! Afterwards we all headed over to Las Palmas down the street from our house for some late night Mexican food and drinks. Mike + I snuck in a couple episodes of Breaking Bad before hitting the hay. It was a fun night. 

Now I'm writing down my reflections of 2011 and goals for 2012. I'll be sharing those tomorrow! (Along with the iPad 2 winner!) Hope y'all have a lovely Friday! I have to go see what silly Enid is up to... she's climbing through my shoe shelves and knocking things over! xo

What are your plans for New Years weekend? (I'm working. Womp womp womp!)

Dress via Ross
Forever 21 belt
Target cardigan
Target tights
Jeffrey Campbell Colorblock Litas

DIY: Coasters

Mike and I decided to do a fully handmade Christmas this year (with one or two exceptions thrown in. Dads are hard to make for!) We were super excited to devote a handful of days to just getting crafty and baking away. I started on these coasters a couple of weeks ago (!!!) and only meant to make about 4 sets. I ended up making about 16! They're so simple and effortless that I couldn't help myself. It was fun to try different techniques to make them special, too. These are great inexpensive (yet thoughtful!) gifts for anyone you may know (or even to use in your home!). I made batches for practically everyone, and ew used our Instagram prints we've had lying around for our own set. Below I'll show you three fun ways to spruce up your own porcelain coasters, and give you a few more ideas! (It's really so simple that I don't need to do a step by step tutorial!)


What you'll need:
+ Four 4.25" x 4.25" porcelain tiles from hardware store
+ ModPodge
+ Foam brush
+ Paper or something for the "design"
+ Felt furniture backings

What you'll do: If you're using scrapbook paper or something of the sort, trim it into a 4"x4" square. (One piece of 12" scrapbook paper makes 9 (!!!) coasters!) Pour out some ModPodge and use your foam brush to brush a layer onto the top of the porcelain tile. Immediately place the design paper onto the fresh ModPodge. If you're using small pieces of paper for a collage, be careful not to tear them! The MP is sticky! Wait 20 minutes and allow it to dry. Come back and add another coat of MP over all 4 tiles, making sure to pay close attention to the edges. Allow this coat to dry for another half hour or so, and repeat two more times. After 3 coats of MP, you may turn over the coaster and add 4 felt backings to each one. This will help protect any surface it sits on. 

Voila! You now have a set of personalized coasters! Stack them up and tie them with a ribbon for a pretty presentation!

Tips and tricks: Use old movie stubs or anything that may be special between you and the recipient to make it more personal. Mike and I made a set with old date tickets and fortunes! You can also use baby pictures, pictures from growing up, or family portraits. If you have a new baby in the house then it could be sweet to use pictures of him/her to give to the baby's grandparents (or if you're on the outside then you can gift these to the parents of the baby!). If you decide to use small pieces, confetti, or anything with ink, pick up some transparencies at the office supply store and cut them into 4x4 square to place on top. This will help keep the coating even and nice. 

If you'd like to order your own Instagram prints (which are sized at 4x4!), use Mpix or download the Postal Pix app on your iPhone! 

These make great gifts because they're easy to make and cheap to put together. The tiles cost 16 cents a piece at Home Depot. 1 sheet of scrapbooking paper is enough for 2 full sets and is only 50 cents. The felt backings can be bought in sets of 25, 60, or 80 for only about $2.75. At the end of the day each set cost us roughly $1 to make (Instagram sets run about $2.50 or less!)

What would you put on your coasters if you made a set?! 

2011 Outfit Recap

This year has been a crazy one for my wardrobe. That probably sounds really silly, but it's true. In early 2011 I was just a simple, black bow flat lovin' gal and I was insistent that I'd never "love shoes"... Are we all rolling our eyes yet? Um yeah. I found three cute pairs of wedges/heels at Target one fateful day in February and my closet has exploded with platforms, ugly shoes and wedges ever since. Heaven help us all. Now I'm a little too obsessed and my "collection" is kind of embarrassing. At least we're making progress here! I really love showcasing my ~*personal style on LCH simply so I can see the mega mistakes I've made (yowza!) and fun ways to switch it up. It's kind of awesome to be able to look back and actually see personal growth and evolution. My outfits almost solely consist of cardigans, dresses and tights (still), but there's an occasional doozy every once in a while. These are my favorites of 2011...

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

If you're interested in 2010's Top 12 Outfits, you can see those here! (They're grainy and so dated, but still! Evolution!) I kind of can't wait to see what 2012 brings. Hopefully the faintest idea how to do hair/makeup so I can look less like a 12 year old hot mess! Oh, and I hope to get better at ~accessorizing (though I'm not a fan of jewelry... hmm!)

Do you have any favorite outfits of 2011? Yours? Mine? Another blogger's? Share them below! Inspiration should be celebrated!

Guilty Pleasures: TV Shows


I know I've written a post on tv shows before, my favorites and inquiring about y'alls. But I thought it'd be fun to poll all of the new readers we have, too! Mike and I are obsessed with Dexter. I remember buying the first season on DVD right before I went to Europe for a few weeks. I planned on watching it on the plane ride into Budapest. Instead, I watched half of one episode and then decided it wasn't for me. Something didn't click. It wasn't until the following year that I gave it another go since Mike was insistent. From then on, we'd try and squeeze in as many episodes as we could in that unusually-cold winter. (Sometimes we'd watch as many as six or seven in one sitting! We'd stay up until 6am watching them!) Of course the show has slowed quite a bit, and the first 3 or 4 seasons were undoubtedly the best, but we're sticking it out through all 8! Who caught season 6's finale the other night?!? Whoa!

Anyway, my parents gifted us some of the seasons DVDs and now all we lack is Season 3. Mike really wants to rewatch all of them (!!!) but I'm just not sure I have it in me! Do you like to rewatch tv series?! I always wondered if that was a strange thing to do... I'm not sure why. Anyway.

Since Dexter was coming to an end, we decided to start watching Mad Men on Netflix. I've avoided Mad Men like the plague simply because everyone is always fawning over it (How rebellious of me!) but we got really into it. It's amazing how quickly we flew through 4 seasons! We'd watch an episode or two before bed every night and before I knew it, I knew the entire history of all the characters and I'm eagerly awaiting season 5 in March. I've seen a lot of chatter about Breaking Bad on Twitter lately so we started that a few days ago. We just finished season 1 last night and we're hoping it picks up a bit as some of the episodes are a little slow.

We both really like to find shows that have a ton of episodes/seasons so we can catch up and really get into it. It's hard to commit to a show when it first begins and you have to wait a week for a new episode (We do really like Whitney and Two Broke Girls though!)  We don't get to sit down and enjoy much tv very often, so just squeezing in an episode before bed has become quite the nightly tradition around here. Though I'll admit my all time favorite tv shows are probably Felicity (!!!) + NCIS (Fun fact: We have 181 episodes of NCIS on our DVR. Yowza!)

So my question for all of y'all: Do you have any tv shows you absolutely love? Bonus points if they're on Netflix Instant! (*cue everyone saying Doctor Who!* haha)

Lavender Hues

This outfit is from late last week, though it'd work perfectly fine still today. It really hasn't felt like Christmas around these parts but it was so great to spend a few days with our families. Though I won't lie, it is nice to be back in our own house/bed! (Even if we did come home to my favorite lamp being busted into pieces! Little Enid likes to jump on things and being the new kitty mom that I am, I've yet to really cat-proof the house! Guess I'll do that now!) 

Our house feels like it's in shambles from the days and days of crafting + baking. Today is disaster control. We're going to clean from top to bottom (I secretly love to clean!) and get everything in order. I got a million pairs of ugly shoes for Christmas (read: awesome shoes, in my opinion!) so I need to figure out where on Earth I'm going to put those! My closet has kind of become a wreck, too! Hoping we can end the evening with a coffee date, just the two of us. I really enjoy our little hour or so dates where we just sit with mugs of coffee and talk about everything under the sun. Gonna get in all the time I can before Mike is eyeball deep in work again! 

Are y'all excited about 2012?! I'm usually not huge on New Years or "resolutions" but I'm exciting about the coming year... I know it's going to be a good one!

Forever 21 dress
Target cardigan
Target tights

The winner of the December Sponsor giveaway is #26: Isabella Redux! Check your email ladyfriend!

Sponsored Giveaway!: Casey Leigh

Merry belated Christmas, y'all! Hope everyone enjoyed their Sunday with friends, family, and yummy food. I had a post scheduled to go up while I was out of town for the holiday but Blogger seemed to have other plans! A nice little 2 day break on the blog wasn't a bad idea though, so we'll roll with it. Today I'm happy to introduce miss Casey Leigh of The Wiegands! Casey is a mama, artist, and blogger and she's here to offer up one lucky winner a special prize, so take a peek below.


Up for grabs for one lucky winner is a $50 store credit to the Casey Leigh shop!

To be entered to win, drop by her shop and leave a comment below on what you'd spend your winnings on! Be sure to leave an email address or Twitter name so I can reach you if you win!

If you'd like additional entries, you can do each of the following (leave a separate comment for each entry!):
+ Visit Casey's blog and leave a sweet comment
+ Follow @CaseyWiegand on Twitter
+ Tweet about the giveaway + tag @CaseyWiegand (include a link!)
+ Like Casey Wiegand on Facebook

Overall that's five ways to enter to win! A winner will be drawn at random + contacted later this week! Good luck! I'll be back with an outfit post soon! xo

The Bunny Hop

Sometimes I feel like I can really chameleon myself into different styles or outfits. Granted this is yet just another blush colored dress that I own, and instead of ruffles and taffeta, it's a soft lace (and almost all of my outfits consist of a dress, cardigan, belt and tights!) But there's really nothing edgy about this one. Maybe the "black funeral tights" if you stretch it far enough, but in reality it's just a sweet, likely juvenile, outfit (and my legs stay warm in this crazy weather!) I often wonder how my style will progress over the next several years. I only started wearing dresses 4 or so years ago. It's undeniable that sometimes I dress much younger than a 23 year old should, but I like the sweet simplicity of it, so I'll continue. Bows and all!

These are my darling Le Bunny Bleu bunny shoes. Probably as polar opposite as you can get from yesterday's Lita Spikes. I picked up this polka dot cardigan from Target the other day because grey is slowly becoming one of my new favorite accent colors (and it matches my pea green one!). Anyway! Today I'm baking up a storm with Mike for our holiday festivities, and Maya is coming over to play with my new mini donut maker (!!!). We're going to try and whip up some yummy things so I'll have to share that via Twitter/Instagram! It's down the wire and today is going to be a very very long day!

Are you gearing up for the holidays?! It's the eve of Christmas Eve! Exciting!

Forever 21 dress + belt
Target cardigan
HUE tights
DIY headband