More flowers too!

After I found all of those pictures, I ran into these, which I think I like even more :) What do you think of these?

Wedding Flower Ideas

I promise I will post a Christmas update soon, but in the meantime, I am up to my head in wedding planning which includes flowers. And per a special request, I am going to post lots of pictures and I would love to know what you think. I am working on a color palette (I know a bit belated) and I would LOVE FEEDBACK so be sure to leave it. At first I thought I would go with mostly wildflowers as opposed to roses, but the more I work, the more I like the look of roses paired with a bit of a wildflowery vibe so check these out. Note: The bridesmaid dresses are a dusty navy chiffon so not too dark and not at all shiny like a lot of bridesmaids dresses. They are very airy. Let me know what you think about these combos of navy dresses with these blush pink and ivory bouquets. This first one is my favorite. I like the wildflowers with the roses. I would probably do an ivory rose instead of the bright white that is listed here.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

I will have to post some Christmas updates soon. In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying a blessed Christmas full of family and friends!

Semester Wrap-Up.

The semester came to close with a few birthday parties, a downstairs friend, Greg, and my roommate Chelsea. We ended up with lots of great photos for sharing taken mostly by Andrew. What a great photographer!

1) Our room got Chelsea a Chi Hair Straightener.
2) We made a cake for Greg. It's upside down but can you tell he's a UT fan?

3) The cake we made for Chelsea. It's an ice cream cake. Tasty!
4)Chels blowin out the candles.

Lots of friends taking part in the festivities.

Me indulging in some cake and me and Jackie.


And our lovely roommate Bridget.

It was a great end to the year. Happy Holidays everyone!

drool.

Le Blog de Betty

Currently drooling over the styles in this blog, which make me want to run away to Europe where I would dress this way everyday (and heading home as soon as I get my car loaded!).

Holidays in the Apartment.

Over the past few days, Andrew and I have made a very tasty brunch.

and my beautiful roommate, Chelsea, has thrown a holiday cookie decorating party. So fun and delicious! My cookie has a snowflake on it if you can't tell. (And her birthday party is tomorrow... so fun!!)

Wonderfulness.

This most wonderful of boys has come to visit me for a few days
while I wrap up exams and such.
Wonderfulness.

Nerd.

Most of the time I'm wearing contacts, but sometimes I just have to rock my glasses. I think they have superpowers.

Finals

Though my life may look like this

And this.... is that english?!? (no... sigh....)

and a line of coffee/tea mugs and towers of books (amongst other things)...

We are trying to add a bit of holiday cheer to our cheery apartment :)

RAW Truffles

The past week has been filled with finals, well studying/writing for them that is so apologies for the lack of posts. In the meantime, I had a new event for a new "Simple Living Series" I am starting on campus. At my first event we made RAW Truffles courtesy of a recipe shared by my cousin Jessica. I am running/funding the series through the community service group I am part of called Kinney. I am in charge of "Faith-Based Ministries" so I plan events that have to do with some sort of religious background. This "Simple Living Series" is a place where people of all beliefs or lack of beliefs even come together to discuss the importance of simple living to our faiths (think anti-consumerism, anti-materialism...) and we put these beliefs into action at least for one hour by doing/making/learning something that has to do with simple living. It is very similar to the group I was running earlier, but instead of one group that meets once a week, these are events open to everyone on campus once a month.

That said, we talked about simple living in the context of more sustainable, local foods this month. It is great for the environment to eat local and eat more sustainable foods like more fruits and veggies and it's great for your health too! We made RAW (As in uncooked) Truffles this past Monday.

We combined 2 cups dates, two cups pecans, 1 tsp of vanilla, and 2 tblsp of raw carob (it's a chocolate alternative) into a food processor, blended and rolled it into balls to make tasty candies. SO EASY! You can also roll them in ground carob or coconut to add a little something special.

I thought I would be lucky to have 5 people with exams and everything going on, but to my surprise and delight I had a whopping turnout of 27 people (which is a big deal for a Faith-Based organization at Rhodes) who sat around discussing their beliefs while I was able to share my own and made tasty candy that was earth friendly. If you try the recipe let me know how it goes. Feel free of course to change up the recipe if you like carob more than dates, etc. Hope you are all enjoying the holidays and aren't too busy with all that is going on. Wishing you peace and love, enjoy the truffles!

Catching Up on Life

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. To catch up (and explain why I have been away)....


I volunteered at Model United Nations two weekends ago. It was tons of fun. I help out with the print press which put out 6 or 7 8 page issues over 2.5 days. AWESOME.


Then came Thanksgiving with my beautiful family and friends. I don't have tons and tons of photos, but this is one of my favorites of my grandmother. Isn't she gorgeous?!


And I've been working on my surreal project a bit. For now, final papers and exams are consuming me so I may continue to struggle with the infrequent posting. Hopefully I will be able to post lots over Christmas break! Hope you enjoyed the holidays!

And the winner is....

Congratulations to the winner of the Susan B. Komen Travel Mug mrs. c.

mrs. c said...I love coffee and I would love this mug!

Mrs. C send me an e-mail with your address and info so I can get you your mug. adove87@gmail.com.

Be looking out for another giveaway and if you are interested in advertising through my blog by giving away something through my blog, please contact me at adove87@gmail.com

Hopefully we will have another giveaway soon!

Another Giveaway: Eco-Friendly Susan B. Komen Travel Mug

Breast Cancer Awareness Month may have passed, but the issue is no less pressing. This week the giveaway is an eco-friendly Susan B. Komen Travel Mug provided by cookware.com. Proceeds from this mug help the Susan B. Komen foundation which seeks to find a cure for breast cancer. This mug will also raise awareness as you use it and show off the pink ribbon pride! It is also an environmentally-friendly mug (yay preserving the earth's resources!). (I love gifts that give back!)

To enter into the giveaway, please leave a comment below on this post. You can gain extra entries by 1) Facebooking about my blog (with a link) and the giveaway 2) Blogging about my blog (with link) and giveaway and 3) Tweeting about my blog (with link) and the giveaway. 4) Subscribe to my blog (for the first time). Be sure to leave an extra comment for each one! The drawing will take place on Saturday at 5pm so leave your comments till then! Good Luck!!!

Final Simple Living Class

My final Simple Living class met Monday night. We had a fabulous time eating RAW portabello mushroom burgers topped with avocados, lettuce, and tomatoes on sprout bread (recipe posted soon). We also heard from my awesome cousin, Jessica (see her blog here), about some awesome sustainable food options, including "sprouting," which I am now thoroughly interested in and want to do here in the apartment. I will have to read up on it a bit and learn some more. It was a really great end to the class with most people requesting more meetings. I think I will make it a once a month event. Thanks Jessica for an awesome chat and great recipes and ideas on sustainable, tasty, inexpensive food choices!!

Multi-Faith Prayers for Peace

This past Sunday I helped coordinate an event hosted by Rhodes called "Multi-Faith Prayers for Peace." The event brought together members of several faith communities in Memphis for a time of prayer, reflection, inspiration, and discussion. I thought it was a huge success. We had a great turn-out and some really cool people came to talk including this awesome Buddhist named Khenpo. In this picture a Buddhist talks with a member of the Baha'i community and a Catholic. It is really great to see such discussions taking place. The event was in the Memphis newspaper this morning. I was quoted! Check it out here.

First Photo for my Surrealism Project

Our new photo class project is focusing on surrealism. I bought little model train people and will be putting them in comical positions. What do you think of this one? Not close enough? Good? Hope you enjoyed your weekends!

And the winner is...

Congratulations to Shannon for winning the clutch!

shannon said... Shannon F. - I love this!
It's on twitter: http://twitter.com/ShannonFuller

Shannon, please e-mail me at adove87@gmail.com to receive your prize. Thanks to all who participated! Please check in next Thursday for another giveaway.

First Ever Giveaway

Today I am hosting my FIRST EVER GIVEAWAY with this darling clutch by Thomas Paul from allmodern.com. The same company also has a collection of modern decor and furniture called Vitra. It has so many wonderful items for sprucing up your space. To enter into the giveaway, please leave a comment below on this post. You can gain extra entries by 1) Facebooking about my blog (with a link) and the giveaway 2) Blogging about my blog (with link) and giveaway and 3) Tweeting about my blog (with link) and the giveaway. Be sure to leave an extra comment for each one! The drawing will take place on Friday at 5pm so leave your comments till then! Good luck!

Self Portrait Project- Pre Photoshop

Here's my newest photography project. pre-touch-ups. I probably won't do much with them, but some straightening and such needs to happen. They were inspired by a photographer that came to speak at Rhodes named Leslie Hewitt. She would set up still lifes with significant objects from the 70s and photograph them. I was intrigued by her desire to capture these sculptures in photograph form. She really wanted to study the items as how they affected the one moment of time in which the photograph was taken. I thought the same way for my project as many of my objects had stories behind them that captured at least where I was at particular points in my life. The project theme is "Self Portraits." I opted for a very minimalist view on some of the objects in my life. I think it's funny that I ended up using objects to define myself since I'm not all that into stuff, but I liked how these photos ended up more so than my other shots. Enjoy!
This is a pitcher that I found thrifting when I was getting my first apartment and needed some decor. It also holds some of my first kitchen utensils. I will straighten it and lighten it.
I bought this purse in Milan, Italy during my time abroad last semester. I will probably crop out the bottom for congruency.


Some wilted flowers snagged (pre-wilting) from the trash after Homecoming here at Rhodes. Will crop the bottom.


An elephant I bought in Tunisia during my time abroad.


A hat that I received for Christmas one year.


A coin purse I bought in the weekly antique market in Catania, Sicily.


A pile of scarfs that I have gathered over the years because I love scarves! They are from Catania, Sicily, Barcelona, Spain, thrifting, and Christmas.


A teacup I dumpster dived for while I was interning at Harvest Hands during the summer. I got the whole set of china.

Some shoes that I have always loved and have carried me through several important events in my life.


Another pair of shoes that I wore almost every day in Sicily. They are also very dirty because of my drawing class.

This is a box that my grandmother gave me years ago. I don't know that she would even remember giving it to me. It is just a random antique box she got for me when we went antiquing with her one weekend. It has always lived on my dresser wherever I have lived (in the US at least) and has never held more than some pens and pencils and probably a few pennies, but I just love it's character.

I have a couple more to shoot and I might not even end up using these, but here's a taste at least of what I'm up to in photographyland.

Loving these

Flower vases and vases courtesy of one my favorite blogs Daydream Lily. Maybe a bit reminiscent of what the vases might look like in our reception....