Go big or go home, right?  I'm completely immersed in birthday planning right now and I am having so much fun.  This kind of thing?  It's kinda my jam.  I'm starting as early as I can and working on little projects along the way.  I want to have everything outside of food done a week out so I can just relax and enjoy my baby's big milestone.  I'll share details along the way.  First stop: invites.  I knew I wanted to have a really girly, lace and pearls themed party, so I perused Pinterest and Etsy and found a few invites that I was inspired by:

1 / 2 / 3

I picked and chose elements from each invite, but I mostly loved the structure of the first one.  I used Photoshop to put the whole thing together, and this is what I came up with:

Personal info removed because hi, internet crazies.

I love the result.  They are super feminine with just a punch of glitz. I'm contemplating putting actual glitter where the glitter graphics are, but I don't know if everyone wants the mess that may come along with that.  I'm still thinking about it.

The to do list:

• Make guest list
• Make invitations
• Send invitations
• Buy cups, plates, napkins, utensils
• Wrap utensil sets
• Create a menu
• Find punch dispenser
• Find lace table cloth
• Make tissue poms for above table
• Make tinsel garland for front of table
• Find and paint large frame for photo booth
• Create chalkboard thought bubble for photo booth
• Make bowties for photo booth
• Find costume pearls for photo booth
• Make and frame suggestions for photo booth
• Make party hat for Lucy
• Print black and white pictures to hang on twine between trees
• Find quilt for Lucy to open gifts on
• Find vintage sheets for guests to picnic
• Test cupcake recipes (twist my arm!)
• Find naturally sweetened recipe for smash cake
• Find cupcake stand
• Find table (borrow from church or Y?)
• Make display tags for food
• Make large bubble wand and bubble mixture for kiddos to play with
• Repaint cornhole boards (if there's time)
• Buy and wrap the nugget's gifts

alright, i'm officially ready.  it's a good thing, too, considering it's now after midnight, which means 30 for 30 has officially started.  i have 29 picks right now, with the intent of buying one more thing.  i know, i know...that's against the rules.  but today was a bit crazy and i didn't get to forever21 like i wanted.  i figure it's allowed because i already know what i want (a long-sleeved mustard tee).

ready to see my picks?

five pairs of pants:

Gap, Maurices, LOFT (x3)

 two skirts:

thrifted, & forever21

Ralph Lauren, H&M, Eddie Bauer, H&M, thrifted, J.Crew, LOFT

 three cardigans:

Forever21, Target, Old Navy

 four sweaters:

Wet Seal, Gap, Kohl's, Banana Republic

 two blazers:

Eddie Bauer & thrifted

 three pairs of boots:

Alloy, JC Penney (x2)

 three pairs of shoes:

Bandolino, thrifted, Target

i've also decided to go a step further with this challenge by throwing in a "10 under 10"...ten items out of my thirty are each under $10.

they consist of the following:

1. gray skinny pants (shown in the middle above)
2. pink skirt (only $1)
3. olive H&M shirt (second in picture)
4. white H&M tunic (fourth in picture)
5. striped navy shirt (fifth in picture - only $1)
6. striped J.Crew shirt (sixth in picture)
7. Old Navy blue cardigan
8. cinnamon-colored turtleneck
9. black blazer
10. mary janes

today i'm linking up to Everybody, Everywear to show off muh stripes along with a lot of other fabulous ladies.

that's right, i've officially committed to Kendi's next 30 for 30 challenge.  for 30 days (starting february 1st), i will only be able to wear a combined total of 30 items from my closet (shoes included, accessories not included).  you guys, i am as nervous about this commitment as i am excited.  my main reason for taking this on is that i want to prove to myself that i don't really need a closet full of clothes.  i've been seeing a lot of focus on materialism in my life when it comes to my wardrobe.  yuck.  part of this challenge is to cut out shopping for the full 30 days, which, to be honest, will be tough for me.  who knows, maybe this will push me to finish some of the projects i've got going on around the house.

i'm also looking forward to this pushing my creativity.  so here's to february being a month of remixing.  please pray for my poor hair, as i'm pretty positive there will be times i want to rip it all out.  my goal is to pick all of my pieces out this week (after some serious consideration and lots of dress-up), and share them with everyone here sometime before i begin.

i promise the picture quality will be better than the following.  if we had gone outside to take a picture, a) eric would have never agreed to take another one of me ever, and b) my face would not have looked this happy.  in fact, you would see me crying...with frozen tears.  it's that cold.

right...like you haven't noticed.  i've been changing taglines around here about as much as i change my undies (which is daily, by the way, in case there was any question as to the state of my hygiene).

over the past few weeks, i've really been struggling to figure out what my blog identity is.  i've been feeling a bit scattered and completely unorganized.  when i read blogs, they tend to have a central focus, whether it be mommyhood, fashion, cooking, crafting, home decor, etc.  you get the picture.  i see communities formed around these central focuses (focusi?).  so i started thinking...hard.  what voice do i want to have as a blogger?  which of these groups do i most identify with?

after much thought and careful consideration, i came to this conclusion:  poo on one theme.

i discovered the issue behind this dilemma of mine wasn't me wanting focus or more organization.  it was me trying to find an audience to impress.  my epiphany came last night while reading Forgotten God, by Francis Chan, in which he shared this quote from A.W. Tozer:  "...we have imitated the world, sought popular favor, manufactured delights to substitute for the joy of the Lord and produced a cheap and synthetic power to substitute for the power of the Holy Ghost."

so i'm going to forget about impressing anyone in the blog world.  because really, at the end of this life, it doesn't matter how many followers your blog has.  instead, i'm going to continue blogging simply whatever is inspiring me each day.  that may present itself in the form of frugal fashion, crafting, new decor ideas, my marriage, my puppies, or any other number of things.  whatever my inspiration my be, it is my hope that far more than anything else, my love for Christ would shine through.

please don't read this as me not caring about anyone that does follow me.  i think you guys are awesome, and i really value the fellowship that i've found through blogging.  but if i don't gain another follower, i'll be okay.


and now, as if this hasn't all been long and random enough, i had a plan to share my outfit for the day.  i wouldn't want the pictures that eric slaved over to go to waste.  so without further ado:

last week, John and Sherry over at Young House Love hosted a giveaway from Nella Designs that left me absolutely pining.  as one of only 3,630 entries, i totally thought the odds were working in my favor.  so you can imagine my surprise and disappointment when i wasn't the winner.

can i have one for every room, please?

i would love to purchase a custom silhouette from Nella Designs, but my pockets are a bit shallow right now, at least when it comes to purchasing things for my closet and our home.  so i decided to have a crack at it myself.  surely it can't be hard.  hmmm...now what is it that all of these tools in Photoshop do?

clearly i had no idea what i was doing.  luckily for me, the internet is a beautiful thing.  all i had to do was search for "silhouette in Photoshop" and i was led here.  and when i had no idea how to use the pen tool?  oh, looky here.

after just a couple hours of playing around, here's what i ended up with:

here we go...

it's only 90 days...

i can totally do this...

who wants brownies, pizza and pop anyways?...

sleeping in past 5 am is so overrated...

...crap.

i "started" P90X last week, but let's be honest, if i didn't blog about it, it didn't count.  so i'm starting over.  and this time, i'm asking everyone to hold me accountable.  i will be following the nutrition suggestions a bit loosely.  i've gotta be honest, i have no intention of eating five servings of protein every day for the first thirty days.  gag me.  but i will be sticking to mainly lean sources of protein, fruits and veggies.

the fridge is stocked, my alarm is set, the before pictures have been taken, and i'm mentally prepared.

wish me luck.  (and maybe pass along a word of encouragement or two.)

i have been in such a crafty crafterson type of mood this week.  the only downfall?  i've had quite literally no time, unless i want to sacrifice sleep.  and let me tell you, nobody wants me to sacrifice sleep.  that would be bad for everyone mainly my husband.

since i haven't had much home time, during my open lunch hours at work i've been scouring some of my favorite stores for some inspiration.  i can't tell you how much satisfaction i get from finding something i love and creating something similar myself for about 82% cheaper (that's a random number. no actual math has been computed here).

my favorite finds that left me pining?

can be found here

can be found here

can be found here

can be found here...but hurry!  only 2 left

i've already made my own necklace very similar to this one, based on one that was at anthropologie a few months ago.  i was just excited to find another one like it for much more than i paid to make my own:

the "marigold" (looks more like green to me) one is sold out, but you can find a violet one here

love this poof belt, which sadly is no longer being sold on their site

can be found here

my favorite find.  so beyond excited about the inspiration i've gotten from this one.  you can find it here

is anyone sensing a theme?  i feel like i'm going to start dreaming that i'm being burried alive in flowers.

all i have to say is, your mind is about to be blown by the number of tutorials that are going to come your way from these ideas.

consider yourself warned.