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?

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One Color Five Ways

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Happy New Year! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas celebration with family and friends. The past week I have been back in my hometown (population 1,000!) relaxing and working on some things. The new year is always full of goals and resolutions, so I have been thinking about what I want to accomplish in 2014. It's also a big milestone as I approach my one year blogging anniversary! Proof that time really does fly by. So much has changed in the past year and I'm anticipating even more change in the upcoming months (think: graduation). So exciting! I will be writing a recap post of the past year and I also want to share my new year's resolutions so stay tuned :)

Anyhoo, on with the fun stuff. Did you hear the color of 2014? Every year Pantone names a color of the year and this year it is radiant orchid. Which actually is one of my favorite colors!

I'm going to keep this short and sweet and let the pictures do the talking because I managed to catch a terrible cold/sore throat a couple days ago. This thing is persistent and doesn't want to go away, so I'm left sniffling and sneezing like it's my job. I put together a board showing how I would style the color of the year. It's a rich color, so a little goes a long way. I decided the foyer is the perfect place for a splash of bright, cheerful color. Nothing like a good first impression! I'm obsessed with the wallpaper (and wallpaper in general.) This is one of my favorite shots of the wallpaper. Isn't it adorable and completely fab?

credenza, lamps, chair, fur stool, pink tray, shell box, mohair throw, wallpaper, pink juju hat, topiary, seahorse candle

Holiday Gifting

Well guys, I can officially say I only have one semester left of college. It feels so good to be finished with exams and on holiday break. The past week was pretty insane cramming for exams and finishing projects. My entire schedule was so off and that's unusual for this Type A personality. I don't think I was in bed before midnight for a week and a half. Ugh. So these first few days of break I'm laying low and it feels great.

This year for Christmas I am making most of my gifts. I love gifting and think I'm pretty good at it if I do say so myself, but it can get so expensive. Especially coming from a family of seven with two additional in-laws and a niece on the way (and hopefully more to come)!! Since you all know I love a little DIY challenge, I decided to get creative and come up with some fun gifts for my family. Obviously I won't be sharing them with you until after Christmas! But, here are some fun holiday DIYs that can work throughout the entire winter season, even after the holidays. This afternoon I'll be working on the bottle brush trees that are just adorable.

What are your holiday plans?

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What I Bought in November + A Big Announcement

December snuck up on me a little bit. I thought I had plenty of time to do my monthly What I Bought This Month post and next thing I knew it was already the second week of December! How are you guys? Ready for the holidays? I feel like I have so much left to do! As I mentioned before, the end of my school semester is nearing so I've been working hard to complete projects and study for finals. Next week is finals week. Eeeek! 

As if studying for finals isn't enough, I've also been working on an exciting project I can FINALLY share!!! My apartment is going to be featured on The Everygirl!! Words can't express how happy/excited/thrilled/nervous/honored I am to be featured in my absolute favorite online publication. The Everygirl is taking the Internet by storm and is such a wonderful source for young women. I completely admire everything they have done to help women like me succeed. If you follow me on Instagram you probably saw photo shoot sneak peeks last week. I promised you like six months ago a tour of my apartment once I finished decorating, so I hope this will do :) As soon as I know the exact date for my apartment feature I will let you know, but it will be sometime next year -- which is only a month away!

Back to what I bought in November.

This past month I found some great things I'm really excited to share with you all. If you're familiar with the Omaha area, they just opened up an outlet mall with tons of great stores. Usually I'm a little leery of outlet malls because the stuff isn't all that great and the prices aren't much cheaper. This outlet mall did not have a lot of amazing deals however (we went a few days before Black Friday), but the selection was pretty good and I was overall satisfied with the variety of stores.

Fossil Zylo Boots - Last season I was a tall boots girl and baffled at the thought of wearing ankle boots. Tall boots are so much more chic looking... Wrong. I still have me some tall boots, but once ankle boots hit the stores and Pinterest this season there was no turning back. These are so comfortable and I have worn these just about every day for the past month.

Patterned Chiffon Blouse from T.J. Maxx - I went into T.J. Maxx looking for an outfit to wear to an agency meeting because I knew I could find something trendy and affordable. This blouse was an instant favorite. I also bought some teal ankle length trousers which I ended up returning because they fit a bit off. I love the blouse except for the fact that the buttons ALWAYS come undone. So I will be stitching the button holes to make them tighter.   

Blue Plaid Skirt from Forever21 - I needed a couple outfits to wear for my photoshoot with The Everygirl so I went with this skirt.

Navy and Pink Sweater from J.Crew - An outlet find that I love. My boyfriend actually picked this one out :)

Necklace from Forever21 - I love jewelry from Forever21 because it's incredibly affordable and trendy, so I don't feel guilty if I don't wear it every single day.

Plaid Button Down from J.Crew - Another outlet find. Because every girl from Iowa needs a plaid shirt.

White Button Down from J.Crew - Because I didn't have a white button shirt. I know, I know, it's a wardrobe staple I've been missing for years.

Embellished Vest from Forever21 - To wear for my Everygirl shoot.

Red and Blue Sweater from Target - Loved the colors and print.

That's it! Did anyone snag any great Black Friday deals? This year I passed and was honestly a little disappointed with the lack of "deals".

Biscuit Love

Bedding is one of my absolute favorite parts of home decor. Can we call it that? I've said before if it was practical to switch my duvet, shams, sheets I totally would. There are so many pretty patterns and color combinations and just overall great bedding selection that I just want to try them all, naturally. Just take a look at the beautifully styled beds above. When I first discovered Biscuit months ago I obviously was obsessed. Biscuit is the ultimate bedding line. Colorful, fun patterns and amazing quality all for affordable prices. Bailey, the founder of Biscuit, is a mastermind of mixing prints and using bold colors. One peek inside her home and you'll notice she's got a thing for dark green and printed wallpaper. Both brilliant in my book.

Yesterday Biscuit announced Season 3 bedding is now available for sale online. I simply can't get enough of the clever little patterns that seemingly work perfectly together with Season 1 and 2. Which makes things all the more difficult when choosing bedding. I paired some of my favorites from Biscuit and created my own little bedding wish list. I used the fiery red border duvet, Jenny duvet and sham, Joanna sheet, Katie dot euro sham in green, and Nacogdoches shams. What is your favorite Biscuit bedding?

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Worth Stealing: Marquee Signs

Today's post is one of my favorite "worth stealing" posts (By the way, do you prefer the weekly series posts like, worth stealing, or would you rather have random posts without series? Random yes, but I'm curious and suddenly felt like I was limiting myself after typing the first sentence!) Out of all the clever decor ideas I've blogged about, like using a step ladder as a shelf or clipboard gallery wall, marquee signs are pretty high up in there in wow factor. Maybe it's just me, but I love how marquee signs look a little industrial with exposed lightbulbs and metals sheets. Yet they are fun and you can find them in almost any word, shape, or symbol imaginable.

I've noticed during the holiday season even more marquee signs for sale, but I think they're fun all year round. If you've shopped for marquee signs before, you know they are a little spendy. Not Louis Vuitton expensive but expensive enough for this college student with a part-time job. So I did what any person does when looking for inspiration, search Pinterest for a DIY version. Apparently I wasn't the only one with the bright idea of creating a DIY marquee sign. There were pins upon pins of DIY examples. Some weren't so great (used cardboard) and some were pretty intense (required a saw). I'm hoping to find something somewhere in the middle.

 During my Pinterest search I came across the brilliant idea of making the sign in the shape of your home state. I loved this example where they used mismatched wood scraps and metal and placed the lightbulbs in the location of their favorite cities. Cute right?

Have you made a marquee sign before? I'm still looking for an easy-ish version.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!


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Jessica Russell Flint

Hello again! It has been a while, hasn't it? The past few weeks have been a bit crazy with the holidays coming up and the end of the semester nearing. Our professors conveniently schedule group projects and presentations due right after we come back from Thanksgiving break, so we're scrambling to have most everything done before our break starts next week. Not complaining though because that means we only have 3 weeks left of the entire semester once we come back from break! It's getting real. Graduation that is.

 Besides school, I am also brainstorming/working on some projects ideas that I can't share with you just yet, but in the next month or two hopefully. Remember the apartment tour I was supposed to do like 2 months ago on here? Well, I am making it up to you and I think you will be pleasantly surprised :) That's my clue.

With all of the back and fourth from class, group projects and assignments and then to personal projects it's hard to get my brain to focus on blogging and come up with creative posts. My brain is dead at the end of the day so all hopes of any creative juices flowing are gone. And I don't want to bore you with any old blog post.

A few days back I was reading some articles online and came across the work of illustrator, Jessica Russell Flint. Recently I've looked into illustration as I'm using it in one of my upcoming projects so I've research it and noticed it more around the web. I instantly loved the use of color and texture Jessica uses, but you can't deny the uniqueness in each piece. A little quirky and unusual, she totally defines her own style and doesn't set boundaries. I'm completely obsessed with her manifesto and her work, especially the box of cards, cushions, and makeup bags. Can you image some fantastic wallpaper adorned in the wildly colorful  illustrations? So good.