Hello Boudreau

It's mid-December & it's holiday party time! I have my first holiday party tonight and it's at a fancy hotel on the water. I've been debating what to wear for a while now and finally decided on wide legged pants! Don't get me wrong, I love me some skinny jeans but wide legged pants look so versatile and classy. I've been noticing a reoccurring theme on my style boards lately, & figured it's time to wear 'em. Here's some photos of wide legged pants that I've bookmarked over the past few months:

I'm a little behind on my posts! It's been a whirlwind these past couple of days. I've been taking my last few finals & Wrapping up my time here in Gainesville. I can proudly say i'm officially done with my college years!
 No more exams, papers, teachers or projects!
Time to unwind and breathe. This place looks perfect. I'll take it:
That is until my job interview tomorrow. The world never stops turning!
I've been slowly boxing up my apartment in between anxiety attacks about joining the adult world of full time careers, and no more spring breaks. *sigh*
All of these boxes reminded me of all the Christmas presents I have to wrap!
I'm definitely going to be making these bows I found at How About Orange instead of buying them because Lord knows I have about a million magazines and maps around here!
I also really like the idea of putting huge letters on gifts this year. Put the person's first initial on their packages to make it fun and personal:

Genuinely,

If you watch Emily Henderson on HGTV she has amazing ideas for your home. Her holiday special aired the Saturday after Thanksgiving [9pm "Secrets from a Stylist"] and I was obsessed with one of her projects.

I am a map lover. If you've been to my apartment you clearly know this. I have a giant world map (6ft x 3ft) spread across my wall outside of the kitchen (thrift store find, by the way.) 

During her holiday special Emily took a giant world map and stenciled Christmas song lyrics onto the front that have to do with earth, or the world:

Another phrase you could try would be something like "PEACE ON EARTH." If you like this project but don't have a giant map to spare, graphic designer/blogger Angela Hardison took this project down a knotch. Angela designed this in a smaller version that you can print & frame for your walls! 

YAY FOR FREE PRINTABLES!

They look like this:

P.S. In a really great frame, these could make awesome gifts for Christmas.

Printables:

Click here for free printable "Joy to the World"

Click here for free printable  "Peace on Earth"

Other Morning Musings:

-Loving the prints on these notebooks

-Herringbone vs Chevon [There's a difference!]

-Not your average lunch sack
-Holiday hostess outfit by B. Jones Style [video]

-StoryCorps 246: Come one Come all [Scott Macaulay talks about his 25-year-old tradition of preparing a Thanksgiving dinner for people with nowhere to go for the Holidays.]
-Walk the walk; Shoes for a cause

I am 1 presentation, 1 exam, & 1 paper away from being DONE with college!

Back to work.

Genuinely,

Here is a video of the artist herself, busy at work:

She has an entire vimeo channel of her amazing chalk lettering in action here
-Tory Burch takes you on a tour of NYC & what she loves most about it [video].
-Don't click this...you'll fall in love.
-Trend Alert: Decor Anatomy [agreed].
-DIY inspiration: Wrist Belts
-I'm diggin' this manly gift guide for the boys in your life
Genuinely,

I'm so glad the mustard yellow color is popping up everywhere these days. Clothes, home decor, kitchen accessories... you name it. I just recently bought a floor length chiffon skirt in mustard yellow and now I can't get enough of it. I definitely foresee a mustard yellow DIY project in my near future!

Here's some mustard eye candy i've been drooling over. [not mustard candy...the pictures!]

images via here here here & pinterest

If you like the "be happy" pillow, you can buy it here. [Support Etsy!]

Other Mustardy Morning Musings:

-Amazing before & after bathroom table in mustard

-Looking to decorate with mustard? I love this color palette
-Mustard yellow & Hunter green [what a great combo]
-Mustard Yellow wedding inspiration

*NEWS ALERT*
Yesterday I was thrilled to receive an email from Mr. Kate herself! My DIY Elephant Bookends were featured on her blog! Take a look ---> CLICK!
She can be seen on The Nate Berkus show from  time to time and is so inspirational with her DIY projects!

Happy Saturday. Have a wonderful rest of the weekend!
14 days till i'm an Alumni
22 days till Christmas
Genuinely,

She has tons of videos and tutorials, I especially love her hair-do tutorials. [Side Bun Swoop is my favorite] Check out her entire YouTube channel here.

Looking for a perfect Christmas gift for your man? How about a beer club? New beer shipped right to your door all the time? He'll love you forever. These all have great reviews:

[1.]Micro Beer Club [2.]Craft Beer Club [3.]Beer of the Month Club

How's this for a man cave? The first photo's floor is covered with oversized pillows made from vintage military canvas [love].


Other Morning Musings:
-This vintage styled california wedding is precious [her beadwork on her dress!!]
-Speaking of weddings...[when it's time] I'm ordering one of these french wedding dresses
- I love this cozy look of the week
-Got a little guy to shop for this Christmas? This is a precious gift.
-Madewell's new interactive holiday adventure video...it blew my mind.

TGIF! Got any great "gift ideas for him?" Send em my way!
Genuinely,

Good morning! Just took my first final exam and I think I did marvelous! Phew! 
Relief...and one step closer to graduation.
Ok I talked about my first weird obsession with ceilings in a previous post. 

Now for weird obsession #2: Bookends. I LOVE BOOKENDS! 

I especially love animal figurine bookends so I decided to make my own. Yessss, another DIY. I got my inspiration for this project from the blog mad in crafts but we did ours a little differently.

Guess how much my bookends cost me! 4 bucks.

I got my cute little elephants for $1 each...don't you love them?

All I had to do was spray paint them with gold spray paint and I started to get the look I was going for. [which would be the "i'm really heavy, not hollow," look]

After I painted them I'm in the process of glueing together two pieces of wood for the "L" shaped ends. Then I'm glueing the elephants on so they look like they are pushing and holding up the books with their tusks.
For all you know they could be 10 pounds each of solid brass! I think they are going to turn out pretty cool once my elephants are on the wood "L"and get up a little higher. I'm really happy with the outcome!
What do you think? What animal would you make your bookends? 
Target had a whole bin of different plastic animals to choose from!

Other Morning Musings:


Genuinely,