Pay it Forward

Pay it Forward. Not only a semi-decent 2000 drama/feel good movie starring Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt, and Kevin Spacey, but also a quite interesting concept, and the theme of this post.

In summation, this concept can best be described as, "You can't pay anyone back for what has happened to you, so you try to find someone you can pay forward." - Anonymous. There is even a dedicated day to do this (April 24th), yet I was unable to help with this specific thing on that specific day.

I feel very blessed in my life right now. Great family, friends, boyfriend, puppy, job, social life so it is only fair to pass my blessings on to someone else. Oh, and I also get to check #85 off my list, because I'm helping to fulfill someone else's goal or dream. Let's get started, shall we. Meet my friend Dayton.

Her and I went to the same college, were very active in our (rival) sororities, and have an affinity for shopping, competitive anything, accessories, Junior League, and wearing wedges, despite our height. We weren't besties (or friends for that matter) in college, and even go off to an interesting start....

I was the captain of my kickball team and our dear friend recruited her to play. All he said was, "She's really athletic, really competitive, and kind of a bitch so I think you guys will hit it off."
I knew who she was. She was in charge of her sorority's recruitment the year I was in charge of all of sorority recruitment. Even though it had been 3 years, I wondered if she'd remember me and how I fined the crap out of them for having too many balloons and a ridiculous ice sculpture during one of their parties. So I was a bit nervous. Then came the moment I dreaded, our kickball meet-n-greet party. She walked up to me and in her best mean girls voice said, "Didn't you used to be blonde?" We were best friends by the end of happy hour.

When I still lived in Tampa, we would walk Bayshore discussing how cool it would be to open our own boutique some day. Be our own boss. Get to try on awesome clothes. Make wearing bows both acceptable and fashionable for older women, as we aged gracefully in the sun and fun of South Tampa. Then I moved. And she took up sketching. Who knew she could draw? It turns out, she could do more than just draw.

By this point, you're probably wondering what this has to do with my list, and if I'm being paid to ramble on and on about this Dayton girl....so let me break it down for ya.

She turned her sketches into something real. Something tangible. Something beautiful. It took a lot of hard work, time, energy, and money but the finished product is quite extraordinary.

Me, Day, and Loren on a Derby Pub Crawl <3

I was lucky enough to be  a passenger on the Dayton K journey. She shared some of her first sketches, logo ideas, fabric samples. And of course, I ate that shit up. Especially the part when she told me she was naming a dress with a giant bow on it after me (in conjunction with my other bestie, Loren...it's only fitting we're paired up together). Her vision is amazing, and so incredibly marketable - you want young, yet classy, but fun and vibrant...oh, I have just the dress for you!

Dayton has drained her savings account to do something she loves and has always wanted to do. She has busted her ass to save, save, save.  Not many people have as much courage, willpower, faith, or determination to do something as amazing as chase a dream. Oh, but Day does.

I want to help Dayton realize her dream of owning a successful dress line. I mean sure, I want all of the dresses, but I also want YOU to want all of the dresses and for YOU to share them with your friends. And I want your friends to want all the dresses and share them with their friends...and so on and so forth. So here I am, making a little blog post. Next, I'll be pinning these dresses like a crazy person. Then tweeting. Perhaps even Instagram if I'm feeling frisky. After that, maybe a tattoo. Talk about branding, huh?

Without further ado, I am pleased to introduce you to Dayton K. Look around. Add to cart. Checkout. Enjoy. Share  Pay it Forward.

And, because I'm feeling extra generous/excited/proud of my girl, if you buy the Lizzy-Loren dress any time before the clock strikes 2014, send me a picture (via any means of social media - I have them all) and your address, and you will receive a special surprise in the mail from little old me. Yay!

Now get out there and get some Dayton K!

Until next time,

L

And his name shall be....

For the last (roughly) 6 months, I've had puppy fever. It intensified when we had to put my childhood pup and best Yorkie ever down on Mother's Day. But I knew it was impossible to bring a puppy into this world when I had so much happening in June & early July....moving into a new place, birthday celebrations, and the West Coast trip.

Be patient.

Eventually you can get one.

July 7th...the day after you get back from Seattle.

Hurry up. Need to cross #76 off my list.

Is it July yet? How about now? Now? Now? Now?

So I waited. I had the end in sight. PuppySearchandRescue2013 commenced while on our trip. Any free time was equally distributed between scouring Petfinder.com and playing Candy Crush. We had every intention of waking up early Sunday morning and heading first to Fulton County Animal Shelter, with 2 other stops if need be, in order to find the perfect little rescue pup.

As it turns out, we didn't need to go on an excruciating journey to find our perfect puppy. 

Our flight just touched down at Hartsfield-Jackson, the bf flipped on his cell phone, and without my knowledge searched for puppies on Craigslist. It was the first link he clicked on. After ooing and ahhing over this listing for a solid 15 minutes while we rolled up to our gate, I sent an email. We got our bags, headed to Marta, and made our way back to the city. His phone bleeped...got a text from a random Atlanta number. He handed me his phone (dangerous move when puppies are on the brain) and he went to pick up the car. Upon his return 5 minutes later, I informed him we'd be making a pitstop immediately in Peachtree City to pick up our dog....in an hour. All that stood between me and that fluffy pup was a trip to the ATM and an hour drive to Middle of Nowhere, Georgia. 

I instantly fell in love with this little 3lb ball of fluff. He's so sweet, so cuddly, so loving, and sooooooooooo freaking cute. Granted, he's 10 weeks old and needs to work on teething and potty training, but still...he's perfect.

Naming the little guy was tough. I had a strong desire to name him Preston the Pom Pom, or some sort of Italian food...but the bf kept insisting on Freddie. After Braves baseball player Freddie Freeman, his man-crush.

The unofficial naming ceremony happened this morning. I walked into the kitchen where my boys were eating, and said "I think we should call him Freddie". Obviously he agreed. Preston was too pretentious. Alfredo would make me hungry. And since I made the impulsive decision to get this dog, I figured it was only fair to let the bf win this one. 

World, meet Freddie Helmer-Loreti. Isn't he the cutest thing you've ever seen? I've totally turned into one of those annoying people who constantly take pictures of their child pet. Feel free to follow me and Freddie on Instagram...lizzyh345.

Until next time,

L & F

Before and Afters

I didn't mean for it to happen, but it did. Again. I had another weekend of updating things (and crossing stuff off the list)...

The first of the "updates" being our apartment. I went from being "homeless" to "living in sin", as a woman seated next to us last Sunday night at Fritti, so eloquently put it. When I say "woman", I mean someone who was roughly our age. Keep drinking your vino, ma'am. You sound more and more profound with every sip. Bless your heart.

The second thing that was updated was our dining room wall color. The lovely couple who lived in our apartment before us were a bit extreme with their color choices, but hey, Sherbert Orange beats plain ol' eggshell walls any day. And like my mama always says, if you can't beat them, join them. After much thought  I decided on gray stripes (okay, I went on Pinterest for five minutes and also had a lovely gallon of gray paint lying around). The boyfriend had some input...."you can choose, vertical or horizontal". Little did he know at the time, either answer he gave would be the wrong one as he was tasked with measuring and putting the tape in it's proper spot. If you remember from previous posts, he loves this kind of stuff. My nerdy little engineer...he even got out his MacBook Pro and booted up his AutoCad (nerdy engineering software) to input the wall dimensions and ensure the lines were perfectly spaced before taping. I love when he gets all intellectual.

I painted. After all...like I've said before...I'm the creative genius here. All I have to say, "Damn, we did good". Maybe my true calling in life is interior design. Lord knows I've tried about everything else.

Here is the before and after. I think this classifies as an "outrageous wall color" and if not....skip ahead to the end of this post.

Before

After

So the next 'before and after' for the weekend involved a trip to the beauty shop. A few weeks ago during my bi-monthly trim, my beautiful, wonderful, talented stylist told me her husband accepted a position at Ohio State and would be moving at the end of June. Losing another good one to Ohio State...first Urban Meyer, now Robin from Crimpers. Ugh. After tearing up, I did what anyone else would do in my position, book another appointment to color your hair. Let me be so bold as to share with you a secret....I haven't had my hair colored professionally in roughly 2 years. *Gasp* At-home hair coloring kits. The shame. The horror.

So I settled on ombre. The trend sweeping the hair world where it's dark at the top and light at the bottom. Some people have been trending this way for years....on accident. They just couldn't keep up with their hair color and had some nappy roots. Here it is - my attempt at trending (and crossing #11 off my list!).

Before 

After

Warning - tangent ahead: Fashion trends are a funny thing, drawing inspiration from nearly anything. I never thought the grunge look would reappear, but hey, it's totally acceptable to roll out of bed, not brush your hair, and walk out the house. Sometimes I wish I was a "hipster" allowing me this ability. However, I don't know many (or any) who own the amount of J.Crew cardi's that I do, so it looks like I have to wake up early to do my hair and makeup, and throw on a summer dress and wedges before exiting the premises.

Ok, sorry about that little bout of word vomit. It happens from time to time. For those of you who "skipped ahead" to find out about the outrageous wall color, get ready...here it comes. But first, a story.

Me being the wonderful and generous girlfriend/roommate that I am, I decided to surprise the bf when he came home from his work trip to Miami just a few days after moving in. I went to buy paint based on our new sheets, which were based on our new curtains for the master bedroom. The wonderful paint specialist helped me pick out the exact color. Relaxing Mint. Sounds lovely and quite refreshing, right?

Unfortunately for me, I didn't take into account the walls were eggshell, not pure white...so the color was a bit skewed. The walls don't really match our sheets nor our curtains. In fact all 3 of the colors look totally different. Oops. Pictures don't really do the walls justice, so I'll leave them out and wrap up this post. I'll just say this, "It looks like paint for a nursery", and call it a day.

Stay tuned for a recap of my birthday weekend...

Until next time,

L

Welcome to Your Late Twenties

19th - 2005

So my birthday month is finally upon us. Yes. I said birthday month. When your favorite holiday is your birthday, you're entitled to a whole month.

This year I was hopeful to finally get a year to myself. You see, I'm a summer baby and up until my 17th birthday, I never had to worry about sharing my special day with anyone. My wonderful childhood bestie whose bday was 3 days after mine always celebrated the weekend after, which I appreciated (Thanks Moo - if you're reading this). However, starting in college I found people with the same birthday as me, give or take a few days; Aubrey, Megan, Christian, Sean...and I've celebrated with them all. This year, my birthday is being overshadowed by not one, but two old farts people turning 30.

20th - 2006

Welcome to the irrelevancy of your late twenties. It's all downhill from here.

No, this post isn't going to be about me spinning into some quarter life crisis about my age. We all know by now, I simply like to talk about myself.

Before we get too far in, I'd like to thank my Dad & Stepmom for already sending me birthday money. I'd like to thank my baby sis for furthering by bow collection with some new additions. My mom for giving me her credit card number..."Yes mom, I swear those ten pairs of shoes were the only things I ordered for my birthday". Finally, a shoutout to my main squeeze for my first two presents: The Wizard of Oz DVD, and a textbook. I know what you're thinking...why the EFF would he buy you a textbook? Well, it happens to be a beginner's Italian book. It looks like someone will be teaching me some Italian y'all. Grazie!

21st - 2007

Now, because I happened to find my college laptop and promptly copied all photos onto a 32gb zip drive, let's briefly take a trip down Birthday Memory Lane. Friends, feel free to send me any and all long lost bday pics of me. Preferably dancing on the bar at Pounders (birthdays 19, 20, and 21). Don't ask why documentation of my 23rd is missing - 23 was a terrible birthday and I'd rather not relive it. Say hello to all my fellow Gemini-birthday-buddies!!!

22nd - 2008

So now here we are....the big 2-7 and my late twenties just beyond the river bend (what's up Pocahontas reference). Since I'm such a fan of lists *cough cough why you're reading my blog in the first place* I'm going to make this year one to remember.

 Here is my list of 10 things to accomplish during my 27th year. 

A list within a list....how fun! 

1. Move in with a guy - for the first time ever! 

2. Travel out of the US for the first time since Spring Break 06...I can't believe it's been so long!

3. Take a minimum of 27 hot yoga classes this year.

24th - 2010

4. Give up booze for 27 days straight.  Gasp. Yes...I need to plan this one carefully. I have a packed schedule with weddings, bridal showers, holidays, & bachelorette parties.

5. Put $27 from each paycheck into a special fund - then do something nice on my 28th birthday.

6. Be more adventurous. Live a little more. 

7. Find something you absolutely love to do, and do it with all your heart. Become the best at it.

8. Make at least 27 meaningful connections - new friends, coworkers, Junior Leaguers, etc...Didn't y'all know, a stranger is a friend you haven't met yet. 

9. Work on your communication. Reconnect with people you've lost touch with and do a better job of staying in touch with people who are important to you.

10. Lose 27 inches or lbs..whichever comes first. 

25th - 2011

I know. I know. That last one is kind of a doozy. Let's just say, that when I graduated from college I was 40lbs lighter. I don't know how binge drinking, eating like shit (especially at 2am 5 nights a week), and never working out kept the lbs off, but it did. The stress of grad school and a rocky relationship tacked on 25lbs. As I've grown older (and started taking vitamins, working out more, eating better, and drinking less alcohol) I gained weight. So I'm going to do what I need to do to "tighten". Insanity, P90x, spin classes 5 days a week, Pure Barre...I'm willing to try it all. If you have suggestions, let me know which one works the best! 

26th - 2012

For those of you who want to help me celebrate my special day a.k.a entering into the dark and depressing abyss of my mid-twenties, let me know. I'll be at the Braves game Friday June 14th hoping to either get on the jumbotron or catch a home run. Here's a sneak peek at some of my early bday presents....a Holeman + Finch burger, Friday Night Fireworks, *hopefully a Braves win*, and ice cold beer. Festivities involving champagne, dancing, and more champagne will be happening on June 15th at The Havana Club here in Hotlanta. As my eloquent facebook invite states, I will be dancing until my heels come off. Hope y'all can make it :)


Until next time,

L

Doing "Home-y" Things with my Homies

This Memorial Day weekend, I remembered my fallen brethren (and military relatives) by doing something an intelligent American would not do. Move for the 4th time in a year and a half. Note: I'm getting reallllll good at packing y'all. While most people enjoyed American flag cans of Bud heavy while floating merrily down the stream, lake, or ocean, we did not. Don't get me wrong...there was a little bit of drinking to be had. Check out my sweet coozie I ordered. You know I can't pass up a good bow opportunity.

To preface this story, my boyfriend and I found a new place. We are officially combining our life - excessive shoe collection and all. The only problem was my lease being up on May 25th and our new place not being ready until June 7th. So we decided to move my whole life into his garage for 2 weeks. Yippee!

Now comes the fun part and something I can cross off my list. We've clearly been watching too much HGTV and I need to join Pinterest Addicts Anonymous because, we decided to spend the rest of our weekend building and repurposing furniture. What experience do you have in this area, you ask? None whatsoever. I'm the creative mastermind and he's the brains of the operation. Whereas I would buy 20 2x4's and maybe some measuring tape then pray for the best, he measured and calculated (roughly 10 times) before even buying or cutting a piece of wood. Like I said...he's the brains.

On the agenda:
1. Repurpose a kitchen hutch
2. Repurpose an ugly IKEA coffee table
3. Build 2 frames for mirrors we salvaged.
4. Don't saw off any fingers or get stain in eyeballs.

The most time consuming pain in the ass project was the coffee table. We sanded, stained, glued, prayed, stained some more, reglued, and waited are still waiting patiently to see the end result. That thing will be a miracle if it turns out. Here is a before pic. Use your imagination.


Next onto the 2 mirrors. We found the mirrors stashed in his garage left from a previous owner. He would have left them...but not me. I had a vision.

Here is our work in progress..He was a master cutter and I was a master stainer. Look at us go!

Now for the big reveal....tada.


I personally LOVE it. The best part is having not one, but two of them. Total cost for the wood was $25. Steal of a deal if you ask me.

The least dramatic project was the kitchen hutch/microwave/toaster oven/food processor/juicer stand for our future kitchen (How many electronic kitchen items can fit on this little girl? We shall find out...). We turned this dull little thing into a gray beauty. All she needs now is some shiny, new knobs and she'll be perfection. Hey...I know what you're thinking...she kinda looks like she was dipped in cement. But I promise the gray is realllllllly pretty and will soon be covering our walls as well. Y'all are more than welcome to come over and see it once we're settled.

Keep your eyes peeled for more DIY projects we're doing. Spoiler alert: navy chevron print. That is all.

Until next time....KEEP ME OUT OF A HOME IMPROVEMENT STORE,

L

Hey, Big Spender!

So most of you want to know how this last week worked out for me.

Did I succeed? Did I fail? Did I fail miserably (a.k.a an online J.Crew Shopping Binge or a 3 hour power-trip to Target)? The answer to these questions and more.....I actually MADE money this week and didn't spend a dime.

To those of you who didn't believe in me, fair enough, I almost didn't believe in myself. Do you understand how difficult it is to live in MY world? I work in a building with a food court. I live next to a Wendy's, Chick-fil-A, Mellow Mushroom, Jimmy Johns, Subway, and Panera. There's a shopping complex and an Ikea less than 3 minutes away. I get roughly 50 emails from shopping websites daily. Here's a shot from this morning. 54 emails. Groupon, LivingSocial, Eversave, JCrew, JCrew Factory, Bloomingdales, Saks, Coach, Amazon, CVS, Michael's, HauteLook, RueLaLa, Ideeli...........the list goes on. Most of the time I scroll through and immediately delete. Other times, I want to buy everything in sight. Not this past week though...no browsing - strictly deleting. Aren't my icons just the cutest?

So how does one "make money"? Simple, not even counting my paycheck (which thank you honey child I got today), I was paid back for purchasing a Justin Timberlake concert ticket. Hot damn.

For those of you contemplating this assignment, heed my warnings:

Warning # 1: PREPARE. Buy groceries that will last you at least a week. This means meal-planning. Granted, I didn't quite stick to it exactly but I made it work. Get gas ahead of time so you don't beg your boyfriend to put $20 in your car to last you the whole week. Yes that's right, $20 lasts the whole week. What's up 5-10 minute commute to work?!?!

Warning #2: WEEKENDS SUCK WITHOUT MONEY. Especially in the springtime when you have baseball games, and beer festivals, and patio brunches with bottomless mimosa's. Just tell yourself you're saving money, calories, and embarrassment from any drunk social media you may or may not be doing. Do what I did this weekend. Friday - cook a delicious Boca Burger and homemade french fry meal for your man and watch movies. Saturday - Make him take you to see a movie. In 3D. With popcorn & a soda (no SourPatch Kids). Followed by a fancy schmancy dinner. *Note: I didn't make him...he's just so perfect that he offered. Sunday - Cry profusely about your dog being put to sleep, then take a longgggg walk, then lay by the pool, then cry some more, then make your bf take you to Wendy's so you can get a LARGE DIET COKE (and he can get a Frosty), then cry some more.


Let's all take a little moment to honor the best dog I have (and probably will) ever had. RIP Little Chatze.

Warning #3: DO NOT ATTEMPT IF YOU HAVE ANIMALS OR KIDS. Those things always have added and unforeseeable expenses.

Warning #4: If you're going to see The Great Gatsby anytime soon, do yourself a favor and see it in 3-D. Nothing is more beautiful in this world than seeing Leo up close and in 3 dimensions. Speaking of Leo, swoon over this. Yes, I know this has absolutely nothing to do with not spending money, I just find bringing Leo up is appropriate at all times.


Okay, I'm bored with the warnings. In fact, it wasn't terrible to do. Hopefully my wallet is still in my purse because I honestly haven't checked in days.  I think I'll do my "freeze week" every other month, if not monthly. It's a great way to pay down your credit card, pending you don't go into super-swipe mode the days leading up to and immediately after the Freeze Week.

I honestly can't believe I made it. I have to say...I loved the challenge. Even more, I loved proving everyone (and myself) wrong!

Until next time,

L

Living on a Prayer

Yesterday I read an article on my trusty Yahoo! homepage - the source for all breaking and not-so-important news - that inspired me to knock an item off my list. As I scrolled through the list of stories, one caught my eye. It was a blog post about how a couple survived on $3/day. I was fascinated by the headline until I read the story in its entirety and realized they were only "living this way" for 5 days and weren't including their 2 kids in the "experiment". Sure, the premise is cool...they are living "below the poverty line" for 5 whole days to see if they can "survive" living in Brooklyn.

A) Doing something for 5 days is hardly a life-changing experience, so why it was on a major site is beyond me. Do it for a year...a month...hell, just a week. I value weekends just like most people, but you aren't proving much when you live on $15 for the week then go out Friday night and order the largest rib-eye and bottle of wine you can find. B) Having been a babysitter extraordinaire I can tell you firsthand, what those kids are eating, you're most likely nibbling on. So how accurate was their representation? Oh, this handful of Goldfish doesn't really count. C) I can do ya one better.

Starting today, I will not spend any money for one whole week. You might laugh, but this is probably one of the hardest things for me to complete on my list. After a thorough breakdown of my credit cards earlier this week, I realized how much money I spend on silly things. Can someone please explain to me why I'm spending roughly $70/week at various grocery stores and then eat out for at least one meal every day. Not to mention the online shopping...er shopping, in general. It's absurd.

Now don't get me wrong...I'm not living off ramen noodles and beans all week (even though that sounds like a nice low-cal diet), I just won't be spending money. I went to the grocery store last night and got a few items (in addition to the mounds of canned soup, pasta, and other non-perishable items in my pantry that are simply collecting dust). This week is about being resourceful not wasteful.

I have food and a general meal plan for the week to keep me on track. I have things to keep me occupied, thanks to paying in advance for things like yoga, dance, etc... I have a gentleman to squire me about town, should I desire. Finally, I have my debit card *note - debit card, not credit card* for emergency situations, but I think I should be okay.

So here begins a week without spending. I'll be living on a prayer. Hence the clever title. Now click the link and enjoy some Bon Jovi.