Bigger and Better:

Okay, all... the pretty new blog is up and running!



Head on over to www.lifewithlily.com to read all about my new single life, where I decide to move this summer, fun dating stories, and everything in between!

I hope you enjoy! :)

It Makes Me Wanna Dance:

Alright, alright, I know that I love 'Gossip Girl' more than any self-respecting adult ever should... But Monday nights are bliss for me and I eat up every Hermes bag and moment of sexual tension.

This promo has been stuck in my head for weeks now... I love it.



I hated this song when I heard it, but being paired in such amazing fashion with the character I guiltily swoon over has made me do an about face. Damn you, Gossip Girl. Ugh.

Boys:

I just wanted to say that I had one of the most fun and ridiculous weekends of my life. I have found a great group of new friends and have been having so much fun with them for the past couple of weeks.

We drank too much killer kool-aid, played lots of Rock Band, grilled some deer burgers, watched football, drank too many Jager bombs, and cracked jokes until we could barely breathe. It was wonderful.

I have always been a guys-girl and tend to gravitate towards tight-knit groups of guys... which is exactly what these guys are, and I love it. I don't think I stopped laughing all weekend... :)

Completely Gratuitous:

With the relationship "pause" I am currently experiencing, I have lost more than my boyfriend... he got custody of my dog. :(

I got Emerson one day on a whim at 20 years old. I have had him ever since. One of the things that I loved so much about Chris was how quickly he took to Emerson, and vice versa. When we decided to look for a second dog together, it was concluded that Chris would get said new pup in the event of a break-up. We found little Lily and fell in love. Unfortunately, Lily was obviously abused by a man in her past, and therefore is very apprehensive about basically the entire gender. This resulted in a much stronger bond between the two of us, and an increasing bond between Chris and Emerson. A few weeks into life with two dogs, it was decided: I would take Lily and Chris would take Emerson instead.

I definitely miss not having Emerson around all of the time, but it is okay since I have Lily around still. But I thought I should share some adorable pictures from the first few weeks of having my very own dog:











Yeah... now you understand why I couldn't walk away from that 5-week-old cutie! He was so damn cute...

Change Is A'Comin:

(No, I'm not talking about Barack Obama this time...)

Actually, I am super excited about a brand spankin new blog that I'm working on. (More or less mulling over ideas than really doing any tangible 'work' at this point but, ya know, whatev!) I am working with this fabulous and talented lady on said new blogging endeavor, and I absolutely cannot wait to get it started!

You may be asking, "Why, Kim? Why not just keep your thoughts right here?" (Or maybe not, and that's okay too because I'm going to tell you why anyways!) I really want to specify my subject matter a bit more, or at least give it some sort of cohesion. Also, my OCD is prohibiting me from launching a stylish new blog without also starting fresh with the content.

I'll be getting a fancy new custom domain, but don't fret, I'll link everyone over when I do make the jump! "No reader left behind", that is my motto. Until then, I have that pesky senior thesis, my French lessons to finish, an adorable pup, a trip up North, and an exciting new single life to tend to! I promise to come around and share some things, but my posting will probably drop off considerably from my current state of multiple-postings-per-day while I tend to the aforementioned activities.

I'm. so. excited. :)

Etsy Shop of the Week:

Here is my choice for the week: ellembee! Totally cute t-shirts going on here...




These designs are definitely cute... I think I need that hoodie. Oh Etsy, will your amazingness ever end? I sure hope not. :)

This Is A Travesty:

I was doing some online shoe shopping and came across these from Steve Madden:


Excuse me... could these be more of a Dior knockof ? I don't think so. Let's take a second to gaze upon the real (and infinitely better) deal! (And by "deal", I don't mean that they are a "deal"... no, not at all...)


And Guess has some Manolo Blahnik knockoffs, too!


And now for the real thing...



(Have I mentioned that my best friend, V, has both of these beauties? Yeah. Which reminds me, I think I'm going to go over there and take pictures of her room for a closet, simply for your viewing pleasure! It really is awesome.)

Oh, and here are some Valentino's that make me want to contract out my first born.


And here is the BCBGirl version that is hundreds of dollars less...



In fashion, I suppose everything has been done before and following the trends is always going to land you in mimicking territory. There is a reason why high-end designers are so expensive: they are the ones setting those trends, good or bad. Then it is just up to everybody else to swipe them up and make them a different price point so more people can afford it. Same goes for home decor I'm finding...

Tobias:

I just want to take a second to say that I have the cutest nephew in the entire world! You don't believe me? Take a gander:


I haven't seen this smiley face since he was 6 weeks old... he is now 4 1/2 months! (Okay, when I last saw him he could barely even smile, which is all the more reason why I need to see my nephew again!) I really need to make it up to Minnesota soon...

HTML Skills:

In case you didn't noticed, I re-vamped things around here a little bit... There are still quite a few things that I would like to improve upon to really make it great, but I hope you enjoy the new formatting! :)

Homeless:

So I have an identity issue I could use some help with. (Okay, I have more than one, but let's save those for another day, shall we?)

I don't exactly know where to call "home". I always get flustered and start stuttering and/or rambling when someone asks the seemingly simple question of "Where are you from?". Let me give you the run down of the towns that go through my mind and all try to spill out at the same time:

First up, Haverhill, Massachusetts. This is where I was born, but I only spent a total of two years living here, both of which I don't remember since I was, ya know, a baby.


Second, Derry, New Hampshire. Eight years here makes me feel that this might be a logical answer to my question... but I haven't been here since we moved away almost 13 years ago, so it's a far cry from feeling familiar.


Next up, Woodstock, Georgia. This was home from ages 12 to 18. Less time than I spent in Derry, but it was definitely some pivotal years... middle school, high school, learning to drive, sneaking out of the house, my first few boyfriends, yada yada yada. Unfortunately, there are also a lot of bad memories and I associate Woodstock with being where my parents live... which couldn't be further from feeling welcoming.


Then there is good old Athens, Georgia, my current town. I'm registered to vote here, I pay taxes here, and I have spent my entire adult life thus far in this town. But there is little emotional attachment to this place... and I've spent a lot of that time wishing I were somewhere else.


And my last consideration, Sandown, New Hampshire. This is the place where the only people that I consider to be family (save my sisters and Auntie Sue) live. It hasn't been until recent years that I have been able to be a part of this family again, but they have welcomed me with open arms and I even now share their name. "Home" should be where your family is, but I don't have any true memories of this place other than recent ones.


Yeah, it's kind of sticky and complicated territory. Not to mention that I some times generalize and say Boston or Atlanta is my "home". I am very curious, if you have moved around a lot too, where do you call "home"?

On The Floor:

I know that I'm entirely too overzealous about getting a place to myself that isn't furnished, thus allowing me to really decorate for the first time. (Oh, and I'll finally have money to do said decorating!) Please bear with me though...

Let's talk rugs for a minute. I'm really hoping to get a place with hardwood floors no matter where I end up, thus requiring me to find some fabulous rugs. These are my favorites from Pottery Barn:


















Those last two didn't have perfectly assembled rooms to accompany them like the others, but they are cute nonetheless.

That purple one is absolutely divine and I think it would be perfect for my bedroom! I'm sure I could find places for one or two more of these lovelies as well... which ones remains to be seen however.

Pressing Pause:

For the sake of full disclosure, I guess I should talk a little bit about what is going on in my relationship as of late... if you're a Facebook friend, you might have noticed a slight change in my "relationship status", maybe not (don't worry, I have no delusions about your interest or, rather, lack thereof, in my every Facebook move).

Anyways, Chris and I have had a total of two problems during our entire relationship: 1. having to do with his parents (which maybe I'll disclose about at a later date) and 2. our (read: my) complete and utter fear of commitment.

I have been head-over-heels for Chris since the first day I met him... I've explained before how serendipitous it is that we even came together in the first place. My problem is: I know that going through life with him would be full of love and support and flat-out fun, but I just didn't see my life going in this direction so early on. I dreamed of a loft in the city and independence for my entire 20s, not settling down right out of college (which is different from marriage... Chris and I are on the same page on the marriage thing).

Maybe I'm being selfish, but what's so wrong about that? We started dating when I was still 20... which is way younger than I ever expected to find Mr. Right. My single life can't really die at 20 years old, can it!? I think I just need more time to live out my single days and gain some clarity about myself and figure out the future that I want to paint.

It has proved to be very difficult to separate our lives since they have been so closely intertwined for almost two years now, but we're working on rediscovering our independence.

So that is where I am at... feel free to throw any good advice my way or berate me for being so self-centered.

Too Little Too Late:

Usually I feel relieved to have a Christmas present out of the way... but seeing these over in High Street Market's shop just made me totally kick myself for what I already bought Chris for the holidays...









He is such a war plane buff, these would be awesome for his office one day! (Seriously, he has this big book of planes that my aunt got him for Christmas last year, and I can open it up to any page and 90% of the time he knows what it is and what country it is from. Often times he can also name specific battles that it was used in... It is truly ridiculous.)

If the present that I have sitting in my closet wasn't so expensive, I would just get one or two of these as well. Damn. Maybe I'll get them for his birthday (which is in February)...

More Gocco:

It has been a while since I've shared any Gocco projects, but I have in fact been working on a few things. Here are three of the other card designs that I have Gocco-ed recently:

These will be my personal cards, and they definitely turned out to be my favorite! The color combo is really cute and I totally love the graphic...


Here is the leaf punch in the flap of the envelope...



(More cards after the jump... again with the wonky internet thing...)

A Call for Help:

I am sick of this. Can someone please tell me why my pictures aren't resizing and centering automatically anymore?! Someone!? Please!? I am getting really frustrated...

French Bench, Please:

I would love this eBay find to serve as my next project:


Can you imagine what a fresh coat of paint and some Amy Butler fabric could do for this?! Luckily I haven't finished my last eBay project, otherwise I'd be entirely too tempted to purchase this immediately...

Friday Foolishness:

Alright, it's been a couple of weeks since I've done one of these, but after the week I've had, I could use some funny, right? Right.

This time I've chosen to relive a video of a hometown hero: Rack 'em Willie. I've quickly mentioned this infamous Athenian before, but I feel like I did not give this video it's due... So here it is:



Oh Athens... I can't wait to be rid of you! :)

Card Catalog Transformation (Phase One):

Like I promised, here is the story of my wondrous vintage library card catalog! Brace yourself...

So Sunday morning, Chris and I hopped in his SUV and trekked on up to Simpsonville, South Carolina... that is, after we ended up in Iva, South Carolina, which is lord-knows-where. The quote of the trip: we stopped at a Subway in the middle-of-nowhere-Iva so I could ask a local for directions back to the highway. I went in and pathetically said to the older gentleman in line, "I was wondering if you could help, I think I am lost..." He promptly and matter-of-fact-ly proclaimed, "You're not lost, honey, you're at Subway!" Oh lord.

Regardless of the ridiculous extent to which we got lost, I can home with this lovely piece of furniture:


This cabinet came from a Christian school's library in Simpsonville. It even had all of the cards still inside! Dewey-decimal system? Oh yeah...


So there was a metal rod going through the bottom of all of the cards, holding them in place. It was really easy to pull it out by the knob that came out the front of the drawer...


See the holes in the bottom of the cards...


There was also a backing inside, but it came out extremely easily. Here is all of the inner hardware taken out...


The knob screwed off of the metal rod and snapped back into the drawer...


And voilá! Ready to be filled with matches, Wallflower refills, Gocco inks, and polaroid film!



I know I said that I was going to refinish it, but frankly I just don't have the time or space right now. I will do it after I move this summer, or, if I find out that I'll be in another small apartment, I'll take it over to my friend V's garage and do it this summer right before I move... this is why the title of the post states "Phase One"... I promise that when I paint it and make it beautiful I will share the picture right here! For now, I am absolutely loving all the extra storage that these twelve drawers have given me! :)

Cheap Shopping:

Even though I have lots of hope for the future of this country, the economy still ain't that great at this point. I put together these two cute outfits from somewhere totally unexpected... Forever 21! I saw some cute things of theirs on another blog and after some exploring, found a couple of surprisingly cute items! I thought it was just for teens and tweens... maybe I was wrong or maybe my sense of style is just completely sub-par lately.

I'm sure the quality isn't so grand, but it's probably a good idea to buy things on the cheap if they're super trendy seeing as they will probably be kicked out of your wardrobe rotation by the time they start to fall apart, right? I'm a firm believer that classic items are totally worth a splurge though... like a pair of really great jeans or a peacoat. :)

What I'm Trying To Forget:

There are a few things to note before I can move on to all of the great things that are happening in my life and around the country right now...

One. The North Face jacket I just talked about... it was stolen right out of my office over the weekend. Someone with a key came in and just thought it'd be okay to take it for themselves. It really requires a low-life to do something like that...

I was extremely angry at first and was ready to give a severe tongue-lashing to the person I believe was the perpetrator, but now I am just disappointed in people. What a sucky thing to do to someone, really.

Two. My childhood dog had to be put to sleep over the weekend.

I've mentioned how my sister, Amanda, and I were complete animal freaks growing up... well we had cried ourselves to sleep many a night begging our parents for a pet (a real pet, not like the hamsters and fish that always served to shortly placate us). One afternoon, we climbed into the car after an ice skating lesson (yes, I'm pretty good at ice skating... no, I can't do any jumps) to find a dog in the backseat. Our mother was full of practical jokes and scare tactics so we were sure that this was another one of her cruel pranks. It wasn't. I was 11, Amanda was 12, and we got our first dog... our very own dog.

My dad was none too pleased with the surprise addition to the family, but he warmed up quickly and fell in love with the fur-ball... so a fence was built and Rusty stayed.

I hadn't seen Rusty in over a year given the state of my relationship with my parents, so I definitely feel very disconnected from the situation... but it brings a tear to my eye thinking about the pure and utter joy we felt on that day, and now he is gone.

Dogs really are the most wonderful thing in the world... a forever companion through thick and thin.

November in Georgia:

Today is beautiful here in Georgia! I am wearing a no-sleeved shirt and jeans... and it's perfect. This is what weather.com is showing:


The best part though: it is that perfect time when half of the leaves have fallen to the ground to crunch under my feet, yet the other half remains on their branches, bright red/yellow/orange for my continued viewing pleasure. It is wonderful.

Hilariously Clever:

I can't NOT repost this artwork:


This is currently my Facebook profile picture. Genius. Absolutely Genius.

(Stolen from The Lucky Nest.)

Hope:

Let's kick off my return to blogging by quickly saying a little something about the historical events of last night, shall we?

In a matter of one night, my faith in this nation has been restored. A wonderful co-worker and friend of mine said it best, "I feel like I can have kids now!" It brings tears to my eyes because that statement embodies the fears that many of us have had for so long, and the hope that we now feel.

I cannot express how happy I am for the black community... this is huge. There are still people alive today who experienced the injustice of Jim Crow Laws here in the South, and in their lifetime they were able to see a man of their same race come into the most powerful position in the free world. If that doesn't personify "inspirational", I don't know what would.

And I could not be more excited to see what kind of puppy Malia and Sasha get! Every president has brought a dog to the White House, which is by far the coolest tradition of the presidency as far as I'm concerned.


(I wish I could have been in Chicago last night. Wow.)

Thank you Barack Obama, for making me proud to be an American once again.

Will You Take a Rain Check?:

So after a mysterious ailment that left me feeling closer to death than I'd ever care to feel again for two solid days, I'm still scrambling to get my life back in order. I have a French midterm tomorrow morning, a lot to catch up on at work after being out for two days due to the aforementioned sickness, and my final draft for my senior thesis is quickly creeping up (along with all of the other day to day things that need not be mentioned).

Basically I'm asking for a couple of days to catch up on life before I pick back up on blogging... In return, I have some awesome things lined up, including some awesome pictures of some new Gocco projects I've finished and that wonderful card catalog (which is now safely in my possession! Woot!).

So bear with me while I regain control... I'll be back soon! (Maybe even by the middle of the week.)

(Photo from here.)