Friday loves

this video. 

a man took video of his daughter every single week from birth until she turned 12 years old. 

how inspiring! that's what I call dedication. 

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these free downloadable state/country prints. 

betta believe I've got Maryland saved to my computer. 

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ridiculously cute crib sheets at PB Kids. 

and they're $19 compared to the $40 I was going to pay for the ones on Etsy. 

guess my bedding design is going to change a little bit.
PS - it's changed... I'll post next week about the new shit.

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Bohemian Rhapsody on the way to school. 

Sean WILL be this dad, I can promise you.

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MODG is pregnant! again!

you have to watch the video. 

I got chills, you guys. 

like, all the hair on my arms (and it's a LOT... thank you Ronin) stood straight up. 

if you have no idea who I'm talking about, you can just go back to living under your rock. 

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use old candles as storage jars. 
love this idea - since I'm a devoted Scentsy user, I have tons of candles laying around that don't get used.

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Erinn's precious baby girl arrived 5 weeks early. 

she is absolutely gorgeous, and despite her preemie status, she is quite the healthy babe! 

congrats again, E!

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Insurgent has been released (finally). 

I read Divergent last fall, so I'm re-reading it now before diving into the second installment. 

I've already read some reviews, and it looks as though it'll turn out to be just as great as the first!

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Happy Friday, y'all! :)

weekend recap (with cell phone pictures!)

Friday Night:

Sean & I met up with our awesome friends Kaycie & Adam and grabbed lunch at a local Irish place before heading into Baltimore. we had some drinks at Howl at the Moon and then cabbed over to Meyerhoff Symphony Hall to see this excellent fellow perform stand up comedy. 

and THEN I laughed so hard that I couldn't feel my face and I'm pretty sure I urinated a little in my pants. if you ever have the opportunity to see Louis CK's stand up, fucking DO IT. 

after the show was over, we headed back to Howl for some more drinks and good times all around. lots of dancing, singing, and people watching. and then Taco Bell for the drunk ride home. nom. 

Saturday:

clean clean clean clean clean clean. I cleaned my house from the minute I woke up until I had to leave for my cousin's sweet 16th birthday party in preparation for the Scentsy party I was hosting Sunday. I scrubbed baseboards, mopped floors, rearranged kitchen appliances, and hung up fun cork boards in the kitchen. 

cousin Sammy turned 16 years old. CRAZY! she's so beautiful and free spirited. love her to death. we had pizza and cake to celebrate. it's always wonderful to spend time with my mom's side of the family. 

when I returned home from the party (at about 9:30PM), I did a little more cleaning/straightening up and then convinced Sean to help me build our IKEA dining table that's been sitting in the kitchen (in the box) for MONTHS. 

I also decided that there was no way I could put together IKEA furniture without wine. this may or may not have had anything to do with the mistake we made while building, causing us to backtrack juuuuust a little bit to fix it. woops. the table only took us about 2 hours to put together, and that was mostly because we had to use a screwdriver because the drill battery was dead as a door nail. 

yes, I've already broken out the Christmas pajama pants. don't judge me. 

oh well. we got her done, and she is beautiful! there are two additional leaves to expand her to seat 8, but 4 is perfect for now. now I just need to figure out how to decorate a dining room table. 

Sunday:

got up super early since I STILL had more cleaning to do. I wanted the house to be absolutely spotless, so it got the deep clean that it so badly needed. finally got out to the grocery store and back to the house about 30 minutes before people started to arrive. 

the next couple hours went something like this: eat, drink wine, cuddle baby, gossip/girl talk, check the score of the Skins game, cuddle baby, drink more wine, show off Bear's amazing balancing skillz, drink more wine, eat, smell Scentsy, drink beer. 

it was a great time for sure. now that the house is completely cleaned, we will be having people over more often, fo sho. after everyone left, we cleaned up and parked our butts in front of the TV for the remainder of the evening. I vaguely remember falling asleep while watching Homeland last night. 

WHEW! so it was a great weekend for the Quinns and now it's back to reality... I've got a week full of work, school, a vet appointment for Miss Mama Cat, and a visit with a friend who recently decided to take in and foster her own mama cat and 4 wittle babies! eeeeks, can't wait to meet them! 

I hope you all had a FANTASTIC weekend like I did. 

oh, and tell me what you're reading right now. 

I haven't picked up a book in WEEKS and I really need to get back on the wagon soon. it's killing me! 

Bear says HAPPY MONDAY!

Friday loves!

Sherry's DIY Christmas ornaments that she revealed through their Fall Pinterest Challenge. 

I'm definitely going to make my own ornaments this year, along with holiday cards. 

I also love the idea of using bright colors... weeeeeee! 

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this little kitten that I added to my 2011 wishlist has found a forever home. 

cheers to that! 

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discovering illustrator Sujean Rim. 

I love watercolor more than any other form of art, and it's probably because I wish I could be successful at it. this lady is seriously talented. 

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this roundup of paint chip related projects. 

that green calendar at the end? yes please! 

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my tattooer and his shop were featured in this article on BuzzFeed. 

they are great artists and deserve the recognition and exposure. Mike has tattooed all but one of my pieces, and I can easily say that I would never have a reason to go to anyone else for tattoo work. he's one of best guys I know! 

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Martha Stewart tutorials for homemade holiday cards. 

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how to make the perfect snowflake. 

can you tell I'm on a holiday decor kick lately? 

I love Christmas. 

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Jimmy Kimmel & moms who tell their kids they ate all their Halloween candy. 

specifically, this one. 

"YOU SNEAKY MOM!"

hysterical. I can't wait to do this to my kids one day.

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we're going to see Louis CK for the billionth 4th time this evening. 

we're dragging Kaycie & Adam to Baltimore with us tonight and I am SO EXCITED!

I'll be spending the ENTIRE day tomorrow prepping and cleaning house because I'm hosting a Scentsy party with Kathy on Sunday. I've never really had a big group of people at my house before, so I'm a little nervous, haha. lots to do and as usual, not enough time! ;)

Happy Friday ya'll! 

10 things that make me happy lately

1. the weather in Maryland has been fantastic. 

it's 75 degrees outside, but you can still feel that crisp chill of fall on the horizon. 

2. Dexter. 

this season is going to be amazing. I think Colin Hanks is a great addition to the cast, and I can't wait to see how he stirs things up. 

3. my hair is growing SO fast. 

I've been growing it out for a long time, and it's finally starting to get some length and I'm absolutely LOVING it. it's to the point now where I can pull it back without strays everywhere and it doesn't take TOO long to style. 

4. My Dear Watson Scentsy. 

mmmmm. smells like a well dressed man... I ended up buying TWO bars of it at the last party I attended because I knew I'd be burning it all the time. 

5. friends. 

we have a lot going on in the next few weekends and thankfully, they are all friend-related events. I've been feeling sooooo burned out with school and work, and spending time with good friends is such an outstanding break from the hustle and bustle. 

6. HOCKEY SEASON IS HERE. 

and yes, the caps are totally necessary.

[taken at the Caps home opener against the Hurricanes this past weekend]

7. these jeans from Old Navy that I talked about buying a few weeks ago. 

I have seriously been wearing them out! they are so comfortable and look great with everything - tee shirt & flip flops, sweater & boots, or a dressy blouse and heels. 

8. the countdown to Christmas. 

I know the holidays often stress people out but I love it. I'm the type of person who strives to give the perfect gifts, and this year will be no exception... only I'm taking the homemade gift route this season. I already have some ideas and supplies together, so I'll be sure to share that journey once I get started. 

9. listening to old CDs. 

and yes, I still listen to CDs. 

Kaley made me a bunch of mixed CDs to listen to on our way to Baltimore in the limo for my bachelorette party, and I've been reminiscing by giving them some time in the CD player in my car. let me just say... there have been entirely way too many solo dance parties in my car lately. 

10. Bvlgari Man. 

I got this in a sample size with my last Sephora order. I decided to choose it because Sean never really wears cologne, but I want him to, haha. it smells SO FUCKING AMAZING that I want him to bathe in it. and then I want to rape him. mmmmm yum, husband rape. 

Happy Monday! 

DIY fall decor

well would ya look at that. I promised to keep you updated on something I was planning on accomplishing over the weekend and I'm ACTUALLY posting about it! 

anyway. typically, I skip fall and only decorate for the holidays, but this year, I was really hoping to add those warm fall tones to my decor. what I didn't want to do though, was spend a fortune on accessories that I would only be displaying a few weeks out of the year. so, I went to Michael's in search of cheap solutions. 

I ended up picking out a few floral arrangements, a few plastic pumpkins, some fall colored scrapbook paper, a few fillers (pine cones, little mini pumpkins, wine corks), metal word art, a basket that says "harvest", and some candles. my total at Michael's was around $100, but that also included some other miscellaneous objects that were not used for fall decor. I'd say that I spent about $60-$70 on supplies for the fall stuff, which isn't bad considering that I would probably spend 3 times that much if I chose to decorate for fall by shopping at Pottery Barn. 

here's what I did in the living room... 

one of our end tables.
handmade art by me (tutorial to come later), CREEPY word art from Michael's. 

the tray on our coffee table - the pumpkin & candle are new.
please excuse the mess. 

I like to treat the top of my entertainment center as a mantle, and so I set up two vignettes on each end... 

the only new items are the basket and the pine cones - I already owned the books, woven fillers, and the pear reed diffuser.  

the pine cones didn't come up high enough initially, so I packed some paper into the bottom of the basket to allow them to peek out of the top. 

the vase and the candle holder were things I already owned... just added the white pumpkin and flowers. I think that yellow vase could be my single favorite decor accessory... it makes it's way through every season! 

for the middle shelf, I recreated this DIY artwork that I spotted on Pinterest using fall colored scrapbook paper and cut out letters spelling FALL from brown scrapbook paper. I simply glued everything together and placed them in simple black frames. easy peasy. 

I decided to switch out some of the accessories in the bookcase this weekend too. 

luckily, we already had those orange office storage boxes from Ikea, so it wasn't too hard to make the bookcase look ready for fall. 

my excitement over this mustache scrapbook paper was embarrassing. 

glass vase filled with mini pumpkins, wine corks, and natural fillers (already owned). 

so that's it for our fall decor so far. I plan on switching out some of the art in the gallery wall for more autumn appropriate images and patterns (like this and this and this), so I'll make sure to shoot some pictures of that when it's completed. I still want to make a leafy garland out of scrapbook paper too (kinda like this, but strung together instead of hanging from a branch). 

other than adding the accessories, I keep fall scents burning in my Scentsy warmers until Christmas time comes. right now, we're enjoying the smell of Gingersnap! baked goods always remind me of fall. 

have you started to add some fall decor to your home yet? 

ALSO...I'm already working on convincing Sean to let me get real pumpkins this year for our porch! he's not buying it just yet, but maybe with the prospect of home baked pumpkin goodies, he'll change his mind! ;) 

I love lamp.

I mentioned our new lamp in this post, but here are some better pictures to show off it's awesome-ness. I love the texture of the shade almost as much as the bunched up metal pieces inside the base. 

and that's my new Scentsy warmer (Heirloom). it adds that little bit of femininity to the room, and currently I'm burning Lucky in Love, which smells just like Victoria's Secret's Love Spell. AMAZING. 

mmm. lampy.