April 28, 2012

My garden!

So I planted my garden yesterday.

It needed to be portable since I'm moving in two months time. Also because I can't have a real garden at my new place, which makes me sad but at least I will have a few fresh things through out the summer.
I'm my mini garden I planted a variety of lettuces some radishes and in the herb planter there is chives, savory, and parsley. I'm very excited to have fresh lettuce salads instead of store bought stuff. (I could go on and on about store bought produce but I'll refrain, for now)

Just wanted to share this with you.
Do you garden? Do you wish you gardened? What are your favorite 'fresh from the garden' veggies? I would love to know!!

And here it is my portable garden!

i'm a big kid now!

 this past week has been rather eventful if i do say so myself. 
i did this little thing called graduate.
i was super duper excited, nervous, happy, excited, sad, relieved, and excited. 
i managed to make it through four years of post secondary school a.l.i.v.e.
the scariest part is that i can totally see myself going back for more education.

this guy was been an amazing mentor over the last four years. 
thank you dr. john mcneill for putting up with me over the last four years.
 my love got me graduation flowers.
i love tulips!
after pretty much the entire campus evacuated there were a few of us left who happen to be staying for the summer. so we had supper and then played mad gab with accents, 
so much fun! so many laughs!
  
at the grad banquet i ate a cranberry, 
or at least tried to.
 
i also worked on some wedding stuff this week.
can you tell what this will be?

what did you do this week?
i would love to know.

April 25, 2012

kitchen wish list

i made a fun little kitchen collection on etsy. 
an etsy wedding registry if you will
it's all blues and yellows and springy 
i love it!
the kitchen is always the most lived in room
so why not have it filled with lovely things?!
 
 so if any of you are feeling so inclined to buy me a wedding gift

{just click on the picture to go to the source}

happy shopping!

April 20, 2012

smiles, green slime & truth

 this week....
 ...thought about this verse from sundays service
 .... drank a.l.o.t. of iced coffee
 ....made a green smoothie for supper one night
 ....ordered a pair of glasses like these
 ....instagramed marc (his life long goal hee hee)
.... instagramed his lovely wifey lynnette (one of my sweet bridesmaids)

and although i don't have a picture of it i completed my exams which means i am D.O.N.E. university! praise Jesus i made it through all for years.

if you wish to follow me on instagram my name is abranconier 
have a happy weekend!

April 19, 2012

homemade london fog

Homemade London Fog

pour 1/2 cup boiling water onto tea leaves 
let steep two minutes

mean while heat 1/2 cup milk/soy milk (i heat it in a pot on the stove because i don't have a fancy steaming machine or a microwave)

make sure you only heat the milk and you don't burn it by putting it on low to med heat

once milk is heated up, froth it with a battery frother or a small whisk (if you have a fancy steamer machine it will just do it automatically)

put milk into mug then pour tea on top (be sure to strain the leaves) 

top with the milk foam

enjoy!

April 18, 2012

hairy situation

 so four years ago i looked like this....

 then it grew,

and grew,

and now i look like this!
there have been many many hair cuts and styles alone the way and it's been fun.
i am happy to have my long hair back but i have loved seeing all different hair lengths.
i will however shave me head again, after i get dreadlocks.

April 16, 2012

marriage on my minds: Alesha

Hello Life...Unscripted readers!  My name is Alesha and I blog over at Blessed to be a Blessing!  Amber is one of my favorite bloggers.  So naturally, I'm thrilled to be guest posting here today about my wedding (one of my favorite topics).
My amazing husband Travis and I got married last year on May 28th!  It was truly one of the best days of my life.
Travis and I met in youth group at our church during our sophomore year of high school.  We took several classes together during Running Start our junior year and were part of a very tight knit group of friends.  Near the end of our junior year, he asked me if we could start spending more time together, and so began some of the happiest years of my life! (To read a full story of how we met and how he proposed, go here)
I had always wanted a wedding with sunflowers, but since we got married in May, that was kinda out of the question.  So I needed a new "theme" to design my wedding around.  My favorite color is pink, so that was a must, and my middle sister LOVES (I mean LOVES) orange.  I thought it would be cool to let her wear orange.  So we ended up with pink, orange, and yellow, with Izzies soda as our theme.  I argued with my mom and sisters for MONTHS about what flowers we should have.  (I wanted roses, but they said daisies).  I am SO glad we went with the gerber daisies.  Aren't they beautiful?  And they really do go better with the Izzies.... 
What made our wedding special and unique was that we made it special and unique.  No duh, right?  Well let me explain.
1.  We saved ourselves for each other.  Our first kiss was on our wedding day!  We had a private moment after the "first look" to share our first kiss without 400 pairs of eyes looking on (yes, we had that many people at our wedding!)
2.  We personalized the reception.  There were pictures of us on every table.  The lunch and dessert bar (we didn't provide cake for guests) were labeled with tags telling the name of the food and which ones were our favorites.
3.  We made most things ourselves.  We had a friend make the bridesmaid dresses.  I had an "invitation making party" with close girl friends and my youth group girls.  We made the decorations.  Our families drank the Izzies so we could use the empty bottles.  We decorated the sanctuary and reception hall ourselves (with some creative inspiritation with another lady from our church).  A family friend (15 years old) made the cheesecake that Travis and I cut and ate.  Her mom arranged our flowers.  One of my best friends did my makeup.  A couple of sweet ladies from our church did our hair.  We picked the food (salads) from family recipes that we loved and had several family friends make them for us.
4.  I got my first ever manicure and pedicure the day before the wedding with my mom.
5.  We had music played by dear friends and picked non-traditional stuff that we liked.
6.  We had friends do our photos.  We were comfortable with them, so we were happy and relaxed resulting in TONS OF AWESOME photos!
7.  The entire bridal party (with the exception of the ring bearer and flower girl) wore Chuck Taylor Converse.  (I love converse!)
8.  We had a recieving line where we quickly greet, hugged, and occasionally introduced to each other each of the 400 guests.  It didn't take more than 30 minutes and we personally said hello to everyone who attended our wedding.
9.  We had our MC (also a good friend) announce us when we came into the reception and say that we were going to eat and would greet guest presently.  So we actually got to eat all the amazing food!  And we had already said at least "hi" to everyone so there was no stress about that!
Believe it or not, these simple, sweet little personalizations made it SO special!  We wanted the day to show us, who we were, and what we were like; it did.  The whole thing showed our personalities and love for God without it feeling put on.  They day was designed for US, NOT for our guests and so we were comfortable and relaxed.  It was special because we worked hard to make it that way and I am so glad that we did.
Advice for Planning:
Think about your guest, but not too hard.  This day is for YOU.  Make it comfortable for you and your fiance.
Advice for Your Marriage:
Approach disagreements as if they are a problem that the two of you have to work together to solve.  This way you are working together to fix the problem instead of arguing at each other.
Take time FREQUENTLY to talk and stay updated on every area of life.
Most Importantly
Keep God the center of your marriage.
When you are close to Him, you will be close to each other. 
So excited for you Amber!
 I hope that your wedding is all you both have dreamed it will be. =)
Be blessed.
Alesha <3
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Thanks so much for sharing Alesha and the great advice!
 

April 13, 2012

snap shots

 this past weekend clint and i made it to two of the three easter family gatherings we had happening.
this cutie patootie was looking super cute as she hunted for eggs.


1. making a baby blanket 2. the reason for easter! 3. little jello chicky hatched 4. all the nieces and nephews pause their hunt for a picture 5. fruit smoothie time 6. working on name tags for the seating arrangement at the wedding 7. my garlic seems to have been neglected 8. morning coffee while playing draw something 9. closest thing i'll get to a garden this year ( there is basil, oregano and red peppers growing in there)

buttons are always so cute when they are housed in jars.

there is a peek into my week!
if you want to see all my pictures you can follow me on instagram my name is: abranconier

April 12, 2012

guest post: amber pless

Hey there all of you lovely readers! I am so grateful to be here on life...unscripted today! I am Amber and my sweet husband is Corey. I blog over at The Pless Press. We were both born and raised in the south and love our sweet tea, fried food, and country music. In all actuality, that last one is just me, but I most certainly do love my country music! The Pless Press is our story of faith, marriage, crafting, cooking, and living life. We would love to have you stop by and share in our journey!
 I love to sew, but when it comes to making something for myself I am incredibly terrified. But, I did it! I finally broke down and made my first dress. Despite all of the fear and anxiety of making something for myself to actually wear on my body, I did it. I am so happy with how it turned out! I was pleasantly surprised with how short of time it took me and how easy it actually was. I am so excited to share this tutorial with you!! 
Supplies -Tank Top or T-Shirt
-Roughly 2 Yards of Fabric (enough to wrap 1 1/2 times around your body)
-Roughly 1 Yard of 2" Elastic (enough to wrap around where you want the waist band to sit at)
-Coordinating Thread
 Step 1: Unfold the fabric so it reaches to the floor. Seriously, wrap the fabric around you 1 1/2 times. You may have thought I was kidding, but I really was not. Cut off any excess fabric.
 Step 2: Fold the design side of the fabric together. Sew up the long side.
Step 3: This part is up to you. I wanted my dress to be very flowy.  If you prefer for yours to be more fitted, then you can skip down to Step 8. If you are like me, then we are going to sew some pleats because they are my favorite. Be sure to look at your fabric and decide which side you want to be the top. That is the side we are going to sew the pleats onto.
Step 4: Measure out 6 inches. Take your 6 inch spot and fold the fabric in half from that point.
 Step 5: You are going to start about one inch out from that, and sew just a curve down about 5-6 inches.
Step 6: From that seem, measure 6 inches out and repeat all the way around the top of the skirt.
Step 7: When finished with the pleats your skirt top should look like this. 
 Step 8: Measure out the elastic to wrap around where you want the waist to sit. Cut it about 1-2" shorter than that.
Step 9: Ok, prepare yourself. This is the trickiest part of the whole ordeal. You are going to attach the skirt to the back of the elastic. Turn your skirt inside out. It looks better if you sew this from the front. Be very careful to make sure you are sewing all the way through the fabric as you do this.
Step 10: Here is the trick. You are going to pull the elastic as far stretched out as possible and sew very slowly and carefully all the way around. Once you have started a little bit, it is easier to stretch the elastic because you can pull it straight from both behind the machine and in front as you can see in the picture above. You will notice as you let go of the back that it will start to scrunch up and look like we want it to!
Don't get discouraged on this part. Just take it slowly and carefully.
Step 11: Leave a tiny bit of elastic not attached to the skirt so that it can overlap the elastic where you started. 
 Step 12: Set your machine to do a zig zag stitch. Set your stitch width to the highest setting and the length to the lowest. Do a tight zigzag stitch down the overlapped elastic to secure it.
Your skirt should look like this so far! But now, let's turn it into a dress! 
 Step 13: Based upon where you measured the elastic to sit, you will now measure your tank top about 1" down from there so you have some space to attach it to the elastic. I placed pins around mine and then cut right below the pins.
 Step 14: Again, sewing from the front, sew the tank top behind the elastic. The easiest way to do this for me was to actually slide the stand of the sewing machine (under the needle) through the neck of the shirt and just go around it as I sewed. I hope that made sense.
You are done!! You did it! Surprisingly easy? I sure hope so. 
You better believe I will be making a whole lot more dresses and skirts now that I worked through my fears of sewing something for myself. 
I hope you have a great day!
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Thanks so much for sharing Amber!
This dress is super duper cute.
I may just have to make one myself.

April 11, 2012

yumm-o fruit smoothie


so i made a really yumm-o smoothie the other day! want to know what i put in it?
ingredients 
- frozen peach yogurt
- handful of frozen berry mixture (raspberries, blackberries, blueberries)
- scope of vanilla yogurt (not frozen)
- splash of milk

twist it onto the magic bullet and vilo 
yummy goodness!

what are some of your favorite smoothies?