The Best Conversation Starter

My inbox is flooded with e-mail subscriptions. I love getting mail, and with so many talented business women/entrepreneurs/creatives out there with newsletters, I always subscribe so I don't miss a thing. I get everything from marketing tips to networking advice to how to manage finances. While emails do take time to filter through (right now I have about 40 unread!), I always come away with a little nugget of new information. The other day I was reading Kate Northrup's e-mail where she shared a story about her and a friend at a launch party. Kate's friend came up to her with the best conversation starter I've heard yet, "What are you most excited about right now?" We've all been to events where the very first question out of everyone's mouth is, "What do you do?" Though an important networking question (let's be honest),  I love the idea of starting a conversation with something a little more personal, less business. You know, so you can actually get to know the person. You might even catch the person off guard (in a good way)!

As I was reading Kate's e-mail, I started thinking about what's going on in my life that I'm most excited about. This summer has been such an experience. I'm glad I had the chance to live in California and experience a fast-paced big city. Visiting is fun, but you never get the chance to fully immerse yourself in a city until you've stayed for a couple months. While I've adjusted quite easily, I do miss a few things about home. Ample parking being one of them. In August my boyfriend is finally making his way out West and visiting for the first time. I'm excited for a fun trip to Lake Tahoe and hanging out like we're used to. What are you most excited about right now?

Try asking someone next time you strike up a conversation!

The new LPF Magazine is out and I'm in it (along with some other blogger friends :)) The issue is full of fun summer ideas, an inspiring weight loss story, and my tips for decorating on a budget. Read it here.

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Summer Layers

If I have learned one thing from a summer in California, it's dress in layers. The Bay Area consists of many microclimates with drastically varying temperatures. One minute it's sunny and 70 degrees, the next it's windy and 55 degrees. It's sounds dreamy, but it definitely makes for a challenge in my daily style. One I'm happily willing to tackle.

Little Lessons

It was Saturday morning in Oakland. A number of creators and makers set up stands displaying their proudest collections of things for sale. Pretty stone rings, woven blankets, and vintage purses were waiting for someone to snatch them up. After briefly meeting one of the shop owners and exchanging business cards, I was complimented on my necklace. I thanked her and she followed with the usual question, "who makes it?" I was attending an event that celebrates small businesses and the handmade. So I proceeded to answer her question with my honest answer, American Eagle. The raised eyebrow staring back at me was a bit surprising. Should I not have told the truth?

Happy Friday!

On Saturday we're going to the launch party of the new book, This Is Oakland. It's a book that explores the best boutiques, shops, restaurants, and bars that make Oakland the fun and culturally diverse city that it is. I've had the chance to visit a few shops here and there, but I can't wait to wander around the beautiful stores this weekend. The photos in the book are amazing and I'm itching all week to check them out in person.

Have a great weekend! Stay tuned next week for a new video (If I can figure out how to make it not so blurry after I upload it. Any ideas?) I'm really trying to get back on schedule and post every Monday, Wednesday, Friday like I used to. Life is busy but I miss posting more frequently. I'm also finishing up the final touches to the new website so I can finally share it with you guys! 

Images via

Transition

Today was my first week as the marketing intern at Apartment 34 and I am still pinching myself that I get to work with such amazingly talented people! It was a great work week with fun people and I'm so excited for upcoming projects and just learning the ropes. Refinery29 showed a sneak peek of Apartment 34's office this week, so if you haven't already you can check out where I'm spending time this summer :) And yes, it is just as gorgeous in person as it is in photos. Erin, the founder of Apartment 34, has mastered the modern design and I'm so obsessed with her clean and airy aesthetic.

Big News

As you know I have been working on a blog design for the past month now. It's time to step up my design game and have a professional website with my own domain. The plan is to finish it in the next few weeks! It's been fun working on the project, but I'm getting anxious to show it to you all! While I redesign my site, I'm also thinking about new ways to approach blogging and bring new, exciting content every week. Part of my reason for posting less on here lately is not only because of my busy schedule and moving headache, but also because I want to be more conscious about what I'm posting. I want you all to the love the content, and  I want as much of it as possible to be original. Which of course is also the most time-consuming to create.

When Life Gives You Lemons

The current state of my new home. At least I have an amazing hairpin leg side table! 

A change in office scenery with zero styling. 

Not crazy about the woodwork. Still debating about whether to paint it or not. The rest of the house is too scary to even photograph. So much work to do!

I'm not sure how to start today's blog post. I could start by apologizing for my sudden absence on the blog the past couple weeks due to my busy schedule, but who isn't? Or I could talk about graduation and how much I'm enjoying the "real world", but in reality, I'm still looking for a full-time job. Or the fact that I didn't have Internet for a week kind of put a damper on the whole blogging and working thing. And to top it all off, I got my wisdom teeth pulled. To be honest, these last few weeks have been anything but extraordinary. Nobody likes a Debbie downer so I won't bore you with all the details, but a string of unfortunate events has taken its toll.

The more I thought about blogging and what I should write about, the more stressed I got because I didn't have anything new to say. Blogging is a funny thing. We see all of these bloggers living extravagant lives with designer clothing and gorgeous skin and assume everything must be perfect. I'm sure things are going well, but they have bad days too just like the rest of us. I was so hung up on everything else that has been going on that I lost inspiration and had nothing left to say.

A few days ago I came across a quote that really resonated with me. I didn't save it and now I can't find it back, but it went something like this: inspiration doesn't come to those wait, but to those who look. I didn't say it nearly as nicely as the original source, but basically you have search for inspiration, you can't expect it to come to you. All along I was tangled up in my own problems and found myself out of my element and the inspiration stopped flowing. I wasn't browsing Instagram, chatting on Twitter, or even attempting to blog. I completely shut off. How can I expect an awesome blog post idea to pop in my head without even trying to blog? Just as you can't expect to perfect your free throw shot just by thinking about it, you have to practice.

I'm happy to say I am out of my funk and ready to tackle my giant to-do list. No Internet for a week set back my blog redesign, but I am excited for the reveal coming soon!

I'm officially moved out of my studio apartment and into my new home with my boyfriend. He bought a house (which explains why I didn't have Internet) and now I have the joys of decorating a new place! Here you will find the living room, kitchen, and bedroom inspiration I blogged about earlier. Every room is painted except the bathroom, so now it's time to tackle the fun part.

My sister offered me a position to help with an app she and her husband are working on called Powder Room. It's an app that keeps beauty products simple and fun. You can easily search or scan products, organize them into lists or looks, and share them with your friends and followers. Since I didn't have a full-time offer I decided to take the opportunity to move to San Francisco for a few months and work on an exciting app! The Bay Area is my favorite place to visit so I am excited to explore the city for a few months. I fly out on Wednesday so I'm running around trying to select furniture for my boyfriend's house so it feels somewhat like a home before I leave. The blog will cover my new adventures in California along with regular DIY and home posts. I will share my house updates and decor selection when I come back to Iowa in a few months. I'm so excited for this opportunity and can't wait to spend the summer in my favorite state!

Have a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend!

Final Days

I've been wanting an ear cuff for a while now and found this cute one at Forever21!

Happy Cinco de Mayo! Do/did you have any fun plans for the celebration? Friday night I got drinks with my boyfriend and some friends, but Saturday and Sunday I spent my time working on the new blog design and preparing for finals. Tonight I won't be going out, but I do plan on making a Tex-Mex dish for supper. That counts, right?

It's kind of surreal to think this is my final week as a student at Iowa State. I hate to keep bringing it up, but I'm in shock so I just want to keep talking about it as if that will make it slow down! The last four years have literally flown by. I still remember moving into the dorms the very first day

11 Facts + Questions

Hello! Did you all have a great Easter weekend? What's new in your life? I headed back to my hometown this weekend. Friday I had a fun night catching up with friends from high school over drinks. Even though we are only a couple hours away we still don't see each other as much as I'd like! Saturday was a work day where I caught up on lots of e-mail and things on my to-do list, but I also got to play with my niece so I still had some fun. She is the sweetest thing and loves to "talk" at three months! On Sunday we had a nice family dinner and then I headed back to school for a busy week ahead. When I'm not at my own place I kind of forget about social media, so I've been MIA lately on Twitter on Instagram. I'm really trying to get better at that and posting more regularly.

This weekend I was asked to participate in the Liebster Award by Emily of The Small Stuff Counts. To be honest, I had never heard of the Liebster Award before. I started reading Emily's post about it and discovered it's a way for bloggers to recognize other up and coming blogs. How cool is that? That is one thing I love about the blogging community so much. Even though we have never met, bloggers are so supportive of each other and I love these little things that help connect you to even more fabulous bloggers and readers. That's what blogging is all about! Thank you so much Emily for thinking of Hammer & Heels and nominating me! What a fun surprise :)  If you're wondering about the name, Liebster is a German term of endearment which couldn't be more fitting since I am German myself.

So here's how the Liebster Awared works: share 11 facts about yourself. Answer 11 questions from the blogger that nominated you. Then nominate other bloggers for the Liebster Award.

11 Questions:

Do you collect anything?

Technically, no. But if we're talking home decor and little trays and dishes and things…that's another story.

If you had a Saturday all alone with nothing you needed to do, how would you spend your time?

That would be a dream! I would probably go shopping, grab lunch at a cute cafe, go thrifting, and catch up on my Bloglovin' feed!

What is your pet peeve?

It's funny because I was just talking about it this weekend. One of my pet peeves is when people upload the worst photos to social media. When I say worst, I mean: blurry, dark, uninteresting, with zero effort. I don't claim to take the best photos and I'm definitely not an expert (in fact, I'm working on improving) but if you can hardly see what the picture is of, why upload it? 

What is your favorite season of the year?

Just recently I had a change in heart and decided fall was my favorite season. For the longest time it was summer, but now that we're recovering from a rough winter, spring isn't looking too shabby either.

If you could travel anywhere in the world and money was no object, where would you go? Why?

Greece! I have always had a fascination with the country and its blue waters and white buildings (probably after watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants as a kid) and am dying to go ever since. It looks absolutely beautiful, and it would be so fun to experience the culture.

What is one thing on your bucket list?

Honestly, I don't have an official bucket list besides the things I think about in my head. Maybe I should make one. Going to Greece would definitely be on it though!

What is something you fear?

Hmm…the unknown. It really makes planning difficult :)

What is your favorite small business near you?

Raygun in Des Moines carries t-shirts, koozies, and other random things with the funniest sayings related to states in the Midwest. They are so creative and have the coolest shop. That's where I got my "I'm not a player, I just blog a lot" t-shirt!

What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you meet your expectations?

This is so funny to think about now! I went in phases. I used to want to be a cosmetologist and do hair when I was in elementary, then I wanted to be an athletic trainer, then I wanted to be in sports marketing and wear suits every day so I looked important. I'm still in marketing, but I have a much more entrepreneurial spirit and I'd love to start my own small business someday. Fun fact: I never changed my major in college! I chose marketing and thankfully I love it.

What inspired you to start your blog?

I was away from my friends in a new city at an internship I didn't like. I was tired of coming home from  my internship with nothing to do, so I started reading online. I wish I could remember the very first blog post I read, but it sort of just lead me to a new blog, and then another, and suddenly I was obsessed with the blogging world because everyone had a different story, but they were so inspiring. I quickly found that almost every blogger started their blog as a creative outlet, which was exactly the thing I needed. I related with bloggers so well and I admired the whole community they built. I have always been obsessed with home decor and projects, so I used my blog as a way to organize all of my thoughts and share my ideas. It is one of the best things I ever did, and I never dreamed of saying that the very first day I started it.

What’s one piece of advice you have for something thinking about starting their own blog?

Just do it! What's the worst thing that can happen? I remember contemplating starting my blog for weeks, and I thought I needed to nail down every little detail before I started my blog. Remember, nothing is irreversible. If you hate your blog name or design, you can always change it later. I promise, the most important thing is just starting. After that, all of the other decisions will come with time as you begin to find your niche, so don't stress about it too much in the beginning.

11 Random Facts:

1. I'm the youngest of 5 kids, with 10 years between me and my oldest sister.
2. Growing up on a farm meant the closest Target was an hour away.
3. I played volleyball, basketball, track, and softball in high school.
4. I graduated with a class of 42 people. There are 1,000 people in my hometown.
5. I am a night owl and would rather stay up late than get up early.
6. American Idol is one of my favorite TV shows right now. I haven't watched the other seasons in forever, but I'm really into this season for some reason. Jena is my favorite :)
7. Coming up with 11 facts is super hard. I'm already stuck and I'm only at number 7.
8. I don't have one favorite music artist. I usually listen to what's on the radio, but some favorites include Rihanna, Katy Perry, and Luke Bryan.
9. Out of Paris, Madrid, and Barcelona, Barcelona was my favorite city because of the beach and relaxed feel.
10. I would rather choose ice cream over a meal.
11. I have visited about half of the United States and I want to visit all 50.

Now, the fun part of this award is to spread the love to others. I’m nominating these bloggers for the Liebster Award: 

Tiffany Leigh Interior Design - She's also a student and finds the best thrift items. Tiffany is so talented in interior design plus she has amazing drawing skills!

The Makerista - I met Gwen at Go Blog Social without following her blog before. She was nice and then when I checked out her blog discovered she is a DIY genius with the cutest kids ever. Her photography skills are amazing.

Clothed in Confetti - I recently started following Jenna and now I'm obsessed with her style! She is so creative in her outfits.

Charmingly Styled - A fellow Midwest blogger, Maya is the absolute sweetest girl you'll ever meet! 

Amanda Marie - I heard her speak at Go Blog Social and she shared some of the most helpful photography tips. You NEED to check out her Instagram. I check her feed daily for inspiration :)

Ladies, now that you’re a Liebster Award winner, it's your turn to answer 11 questions and give 11 facts and spread the love to other bloggers! Please answer these 11 questions, include 11 random facts, and then nominate 5-11 small bloggers. Since Emily did such a good job with questions, I'm using hers :) 

Do you collect anything?
If you had a Saturday all alone with nothing you needed to do, how would you spend your time?
What is your pet peeve?
What is your favorite season of the year?
If you could travel anywhere in the world and money was no object, where would you go? Why?
What is one thing on your bucket list?
What is something you fear?
What is your favorite small business near you?
What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you meet your expectations?
What inspired you to start your blog?
What’s one piece of advice you have for something thinking about starting their own blog?

There are so many other bloggers I could have included but I've already spent wayyyy too much time writing this post! Can't wait to hear all of your answers and I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about me!

Life Lately

via

Happy Friday!! Did you all have a great week? I am busy working on my new website (Which I cannot wait to share! It's going to be good.), finishing up school presentations, and work projects. It's still unreal that I am graduating in ONE month! So much to accomplish in such little time. Anyone that's applied to jobs (so, everyone) knows it is a job in itself, but I'm trying to stay patient and hopeful that the right opportunity will come.

Thank you to everyone who took the reader survey! If you haven't yet, please do. It's a huge help in learning about you guys and what you hope to learn, see, and read about at H&H. It's been unanimous that you want to see more home related and DIY posts which is super exciting! It's definitely something I want to do more of myself, so it's always nice to see when our opinions and thoughts line up :) I'm doing lots of brainstorming post ideas and trying to get organized with my blog so I have an editorial calendar planned out in advance. Usually I write posts the night before (or in this case, the day of) but I want to be better about getting posts done ahead of time so I know exactly what posts are coming up and you can follow along with sneak peeks of upcoming posts for the next week. Would you like that? Another idea I have is giving you guys the option to ask me questions regarding your home decorating challenges. I haven't worked out all of the kinks or figured out exactly how I would incorporate it into the blog, so let me know if this is something you are interested in.

Some of you also mentioned you'd like to see more personal posts as well, and you're in luck! I was lucky enough to be featured by one of my favorite bloggers whom I met at Go Blog Social last weekend, Erin of House of Earnest! I took part in her Meet and Greet series where she interviews up and coming DIY bloggers. Head on over and check out my interview and find out why I started DIYing as a kid!

After the positive feedback on Instagram, I will share with you my styling tips for decorating shelves! Stay tuned for that blog post, hopefully coming next week.

Today is the LAST day to enter the Sparrow Boutique giveaway for a chance to win $50 to their amazing shop!

Have a fabulous weekend!

Go Blog Social 2014 Recap + Reader Survey

Photo by Katie of To Live For Style 

Photo by Cassandra Castaneda

I'm still on a weekend high, you guys. Go Blog Social was more than I ever expected, and I still get excited when I think about all of the wonderful memories and amount of knowledge I took in during the weekend. I was blown away with how open and inviting everyone was. It's always intimidating walking into a room of hundreds of beautiful, successful bloggers, but I never felt more comfortable despite my shy nature and that's because of the positivity and genuine personalities of everyone I met.

With a packed full schedule of 7 speakers both days, I was surprised how fast the days flew by! Each speaker presented great, relevant information along with action steps and I found myself taking diligent notes because I didn't want to forget a thing. They weren't afraid to share resources that worked for them, tell stories, and give us advice for taking our blog to the next level. I was relieved to see no one felt entitled, despite how big their blog following. In fast, the speakers were just as excited to be there as we were, and I felt lucky to be surrounded by such inspiring, motivating individuals. As bloggers, it's easy for us to get caught up in the numbers and compare ourselves to others as if it's a competition. It was so refreshing to hear speakers address this and emphasize how important it is not to compare yourself. At a blogging conference we are all there to learn, and it's important to help each other out. Aside from learning blogging tips, I was inspired by everyone's drive and motivation. We all share a common interest and it was great to bond and give each other advice.

I'm coming away from GBS feeling renewed, energized, motivated, inspired, and happy. Not only do I have a new perspective of blogging and hopes to build Hammer & Heels into a community you will all love, but I developed genuine friendships. Erin was an absolute joy to meet. She is so down to earth and honest, and inspires me to be a better blogger and person. Jessie is incredibly beautiful inside and out. Mary is an amazing food blogger (and author!) who I am so thankful I got to know over the weekend. She's one of the friendliest people I have met.

Photo by Mary of The Kitchen Paper

In the coming weeks I am working on several changes for H&H and I can't wait to share them with you! As much as I didn't want the weekend to end, I was anxious to get home and get to work on new ideas. On Sunday I purchased a domain and now I'm working on a blog redesign! I also have a few other things in store as I refine my focus, write new post ideas, take better photos, and integrate more original content, but first, I need your help! You are what makes H&H worth it, and I want your feedback on blog content. Please take a couple minutes to take this quick survey so I know what you like, what you dislike, and please give any honest suggestions! This will help me create content you will love.

Thank you and I look forward to reading your answers!

*Click here to take survey*

One Year Blog Anniversary + Giveaway

I can't hardly believe it. I have been blogging for one whole year! Whoa. In a way I feel like it's been a lot longer than that, but on the other hand, that year flew by. This time last year I finally built up enough courage and nerve to publish my first blog post. I toyed around with the idea of blogging near the start of the new year. It seemed like the perfect time to do something different. I played around with my site for a while, and tried to come up with clever and creative names that fit me before I settled on A Hammer & Heels. Turns out starting a blog is the best thing I have done!

I won't link back to my very first post to save you and myself the embarrassment. If you are curious, you can go check them out yourself. It's kind of funny going back and reading old posts, so I usually don't do it. Part of it is because I'm embarrassed at my photography skills and lack of visual appeal back then. The visuals I created were horrific. How did I think that looked good? Although, I'm sure almost every blogger feels that way when they look back at their first few posts. Somehow my very first post is still one of my most popular.

Anywho, to help celebrate this monumental moment, I put together a little giveaway for you. I am a huge fan of rugs and believe they completely transform a space. So AreaRugs.com, as its name implies, is the place to choose from a huge variety of rugs, is offering an exclusive giveaway plus a coupon code for all. Everyone wins! Enter to win a $100 gift card to anything at AreaRugs.com. The giveaway ends February 7th so be sure to enter right away!

In the mean time, you can start shopping and receive 10% off your order with the coupon code HAMMER.

Thank you for reading!! This blog exists and I continue blogging because of you guys, so please leave comments and tell me what you like, what you don't like, what you want to see more, etc.


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Werk It

I have always been a pretty organized person. My closet is usually in good order, my desk is tidy, and I have many storage totes and bins so I know exactly where everything is. I never had to work at being organized, it sort of came naturally. Lately as my schedule keeps filling up with work, school, personal projects, e-mail, etc., I notice that it's easy to forget about an item on my mental to-do list. In the past I haven't been much for keeping a calendar or planner and writing down my to-do items. I remember my high school handed out planners to each student every year and I thought I was impressive because I didn't use one. But really, my schedule consisted of going to class, then sports practice, then home for school work so it turns out I didn't have much of a schedule. Now that it's a new year and I have a to-do list that involves real stuff, I think it's time to find a system that keeps me organized.

This week I have been testing out the app, Todoist. It's an app that let's you create to-do lists and organize and filter tasks by labels. So far I'm really happy with it and love that I can create one giant to-do list and categorize each task in "blog", "art history", "Social Stylate", and so on. Keeping everything in one place is so helpful and the color coordinated categories help me prioritize visually.

Besides my to-do list, I need a better way of organizing new ideas. Currently anything that pops in my head like a blog post idea, potential project, or anything, I either type in my notes app on my iPhone or I type on a sticky note on my computer desktop. Neither are outstanding tools. I like the idea of having a notebook to write down all of my thoughts.

I use Google Calendar for work, but that's it. I don't know how I feel about using an online calendar for  everything just yet, so I want a planner to write down appointments, meetings, due dates and more. Plus it can double as my notebook for my thoughts. These planners by Julia Kostreva are perfect. I would find every excuse to pull this marble planner out of my bag, and if that means I am staying organized, even better.

My thoughts are if I stay organized and am aware of my daunting to-do list, I will stay motivated during the day and work even harder to tackle it. Hopefully it works.

What are your favorite apps and tools to stay organized? Do you prefer paper or electronic calendars? Do you carry a daily planner?

Images via

Questions

via Waiting on Martha

It's officially two weeks into the new year and I am already feeling behind and playing "catch up." I was thrown a couple curve balls this year already and I as a result, I am not on schedule like I hoped. Do you feel the same way? I am trying not to dwell on it, but rather use it as motivation to keep focused. Jess Lively spoke on a similar topic and I loved her take on it. Instead of setting specific resolutions for 2014, I decided to focus on one over-arching theme for the entire year. You can read more about it here.

I have been thinking a lot about what I need to do to bring me closer to my new year's resolution. Sometimes we think it's best to take in knowledge and hope the right answer comes to us, but in reality I think it takes trial and error. We need to take action. The article by Lindsey Saletta for The Everygirl really hit home with me. 4 Questions Everyone Should Ask Themselves challenges us to think about what we are actually doing with ourselves. My favorite of the 4 questions was the first, "How much of your day do you spend consuming what other people have created? How often do you create?" One of my challenges is getting caught up in learning and consuming other's content rather than creating my own. I have a handful of blogs I visit daily and my inbox is constantly filling up with newsletters and e-mails that I turn to for answers. There comes a point when I need to experience it myself, and try it on my own. I am so concerned about keeping up with my Bloglovin' feed that I forget to just write what's on my mind, instead of reading others' posts to figure it out like I usually do.

It's like that time when I had the opportunity to take an internship a year ago. I contemplated the decision for days, and then finally decided to take the chance and go for it. It turned out the internship wasn't for me, but I would have never known had I not taken the chance. Now I have a better idea what I want to do for my career. It's funny how something good can come in the most unexpected way.

So, what can I do today that will help me reach my path/goal?

What goals did you set for the year? What do you do to keep motivated and stay on track? What are your biggest challenges?

2014.

Happy New Year! 2013 started out rough and I am a little glad it's finally over. What was supposed to be a great internship experience in January, actually ended up being a miserable 5 months. I hate to say that the internship was a bad experience, because really, I learned a lot about myself and what I wanted for a career. Sometimes it takes a few bumps in the road to really find what you are looking for. Although the internship ended up being everything I DIDN'T want in a career, and left me feeling uninspired and clueless as what to do next, I'm glad I had that experience to realize it wasn't for me before it was too late. Say, like after graduation.

During those 5 months it was a time of lots of positive and negatives. It only took 2 weeks to discover the job wasn't for me. Unfortunately (or fortunately, however you look at it) I couldn't quit, so I stuck it out and ended up doing tons of research in hopes of discovering what it is I wanted to do for. I realized the one thing I was missing most was creativity. That's when I started reading blogs, and eventually started my own.

This blog has lead me to some amazing things and great people. At the beginning of 2013, I wanted to work for a big business in the marketing department and now I have done a complete 180 turn and want to work for a small business or agency and freelance. I wouldn't have it any other way!

With graduation in May, moving, and starting a full-time job, 2014 will be full of change. I have no idea what's in store, but I'm certainly excited for it. Rather than coming up meaningless resolutions that I forget about by February, I love the idea of "identifying just one word, as an overarching theme for the entire year." My theme for this year is "clarity." Whether it's clarity for which full-time job offer to accept, or clarity for the direction of this blog, that's something I have to figure out.

Have you tried this simplified version of new year's resolutions? Did it help you stay focused?

Image via

Crazy Cat Lady

By Emily Henderson

Happy Friday!! Who else is excited for a crisp fall weekend? This past week we really got a taste of fall here in Iowa and it is wonderful. Temperatures were in the 50's and leaves are finally starting to turn color a little. Usually I'm such a hot weather girl that when it hits 50 I want to pull out the winter coat, hat, and mittens. You'd think after 22 years of miserable, long Iowa winters I'd be used to it and see 50 degrees as treat compared to the negative temps we have December-February. I don't know what's gotten into  me  this year but I'm absolutely loving the "cold". It's so nice to not be sweating the instant I step foot outside and I love the briskness in the air. Plus, without the humidity it's like a good hair day everyday.

A friend's baby shower is this weekend so I'm looking forward to catching up with friends and doing some celebrating. Next weekend I have my sister-in-law's baby shower so lots of baby talk happening. I"ll keep this post short and sweet so I'm sharing a few of my favorite things from the week.

Have you checked out this week's one room challenge update? I talked about it last week here, and upon discovering I have pretty much been obsessed with it since. There are some pretty amazing interior design projects happening. One of my favorites to follow is this killer bachelor pad. That is one lucky dude.

A fun fact: I love cats. You know how some people are dog lovers and own like 4 dogs? Well, I'm a cat lover. Always have been, always will be. Ever since I was a kid I loved playing with my kittens. I took my cat-sitting (Yes, I felt like I had to babysit the little kittens constantly. What if they forgot to eat?) duty very seriously. So seriously that my sister and I would give them "lessons". I'd like to think they loved it. Anyway, anytime I see a cute cat/kitten I instantly squeal in that annoying high-pitched voice. When I saw this video of Aslan, Grace's new kitten, you can only imagine my reaction... You have to watch it until the very end, but that's all I'm going to tell you. If I could force everyone into watching it I totally would. That's how confident I am that you will love it, even if you aren't a cat lover. So here it is, the cutest video ever. 

Have a great weekend!

Updates

My week in DC was perfect and just what I needed. So nice to explore the city and spend time with the boyfriend and his family. More pictures are coming soon. I flew in late last night and spent today trying to adjust to good ole' Iowa again. Do you ever have a hard time coming back from a vacation? Even though it was a new city, it felt so easy and familiar and I liked that. 

I'm hoping once I get my apartment all organized and settled it'll start to feel like my own. Internet isn't scheduled for setup until the 28th so I am slightly freaking out. Yet another waiting game with the Internet. Not fun. Not fun at all.  So I'll do my best writing posts when I have access to the Internet. Once school starts I can get back on schedule with things! Tomorrow I'll post the How to Land a Kick- Butt Job feature instead of posting it today. I apologize for the chaos lately, it will get better I promise! 

Image taken by me in Georgetown.