this week's clicks [treat love like you're jumping off a rope swing]

get your week off to a colorful start...

How are y'all doing? I'm still recovering from camp and took it slow all weekend (highlight: a trip to the Roanoke Valley's newest brewery). This week's clicks include flowers for days, dresses for all of your summer occasions, and the history of a Southern classic. Coming to the blog later this week, I've got a great new Pinspiration post and reviews of some recent entertainment faves. As always, shoot me an e-mail about what's new and awesome in your life - I'd love to chat!

LISTEN.

• Summer is always when I listen to country music the most, and I'm currently in love with the new track from local boys Old Dominion (two of the band's members are from Roanoke). Also, a country music video with video game references and bloopers? What a time to be alive.

SWOON.

Amy Arrington via Elizabeth Anne Designs

• A pretty Georgia garden wedding with a bright color palette.
• A builder-grade bathroom gets some rustic-industrial TLC.
• PureWow rounded up fifty summer wedding guest dresses...
• and from A Practical Wedding, classy bridal shower dresses.

SMILE.

• Dress up your tech: Kelly Sugar, May Designs, Roost.
• Le Tour de France begins July 1st - here's your primer.
• I want this bohemian edible flower salad from Brit + Co.
• Love Garden and Gun's oral history of Steel Magnolias:

"I had the voices of the women I grew up with. It takes your breath away how quick they are. It’s the kind of humor that would sear through treacle."

FLASHBACK.

• 2016: a visit to the art museum.
• 2015: gingham and aqua picks, camp Pinspiration, and favorite fictional wardrobes.
• 2014: weird faves, cute and easy washi tape home decor for Independence Day.
• 2013: patriotic fashion + entertaining, side dishes, the Color Run, and summer in IG.
• 2012: summer in the country, poolside essentials, and a special 4th birthday.  
• 2011: pre-wedding crunch time - dyed wedding shoes and Etsy garters, my veil and jewelry, and our menu, inspired by our favorite Southern comfort food.

this week's clicks.

get your week off to a colorful start...
LISTEN.

• It is a truth universally acknowledged that Thomas Rhett and his wife Lauren are one of the cutest couples in country music. I love this song that he wrote after their wedding.

SWOON.

Gaby J Photograpghy via Style Me Pretty

• SMP features a must-see whimsical blue and gold wedding.
• Farmhouse style fall dining room inspiration from Dear Lillie.
• Can't wait to try Lucy's apple cake recipe (hers is so gorgeous!)
• In love with this Secret Garden-inspired Georgia wedding.

SMILE.

• Desktops: Teaching Is My Superpower, Smashing, Sarah Hearts.
• Studio DIY's costume shop includes their perfect dresses.
• These funny misfortune cookies are so cute for Halloween!
• Pinning all the autumn inspiration and pumpkin recipes.

FLASHBACK.

• 2015: ways to learn something new in your hometown, favorite fictional teachers.
• 2014: favorite marsala wardrobe picks and a fall and winter bucket list.
• 2013: costumes for groups, Gatsby-inspired getups, and an A to Z book survey.
• 2012: navy and orange wardrobe ideas, inspiration for a rustic navy wedding, wedding cake pop ideas, photos from High Point Furniture Market as well as a what-to-wear guide, and a musical alphabet.
• 2011: fall centerpiece ideas, photos from my first trip to High Point, and my recipe for crock pot baked apples.

this week's clicks: when i need you the most...

get your week off to a colorful start!
LISTEN.

• If you're not following Scott Bradlee's Postmodern Jukebox on YouTube, I'll give you a minute to do that. I dig the Chainsmokers' original version of "Don't Let Me Down," but this soulful cover takes it to a whole new level - that piano! 

SWOON.

Jordan Imhoff Photography and Estera Events

• An industrial-meets-elegant wedding at Ovation Chicago.
• Creative colors and textures in a highland inspired shoot.
• Love the color palette in this Hamptons-style remodel.
• A Pitch Perfect wedding and Rebel Wilson, the perfect guest.

SMILE.

• Do you all think this job interview trick is worth trying?
• Jewelry made from ethereal fabric sculptures.
• Another reminder that what we see online =/= reality.
• Pinning all the  the sangria and apple recipes this week.

FLASHBACK.

• 2015: favorite looks from the Emmys, inspiration for a vineyard wedding, and IG faves.
• 2014: theater inspired save-the-dates, blog loves, and a media-centric Sunday Social.
• 2013: mustard and greyed jade wardrobe picks for fall.
• 2012: wardrobe and home ideas in tangerine and tomato, wedding dresses with lace, and rustic sunflower wedding inspiration, and September blog loves.  
• 2011: our wedding's processional and exchange of vows, fall wardrobe and home decor ideas in phlox purple, and inspiration for a rustic purple wedding.

this week's clicks.

get your week off to a colorful start...

Happy August, y'all. This week, I'm focusing on reminding myself to be content with what I have and with my current season in life. Can I get real for a minute? All summer, friends and family members keep asking how the house hunt is going. It's painful to have to say... "it's still going" when in truth we have found a one-of-a-kind home but it is out of our price range. Several friends are mamas-to-be, and I have to remind myself that it's not my time yet. Teachers head back to school today, and there's a part of me that feels like I should be further along, more accomplished in my career. More, more, more.  I often forget that comparison is the thief of joy, until I realize that I've spent fifteen minutes or half an hour scrolling through Instagram or Facebook and feel worse instead of better. Two posts that really resonated with me this week were "The Traps" at The Inspired Room and "Of Elder-flowers and Jealousy" at Design for Mankind.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." - Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

SWOON.

• From 100 Layer Cake, a boho wedding's cool ceremony arch.
• A gorgeous interfaith wedding in NYC from Snippet and Ink.
• At Style Me Pretty, a graphic designer's beautiful wedding.
• How cute is this sprinkle-covered pink birthday cake?

SMILE.

• August desktops: Organised Housewife, Smashing, Flipsnack.
• Lunchbox love: Lisa Frank zebra cakes from Studio DIY.
• Girl Meets World's season finale will be a big BMW reunion!
• On my wishlist for fall: J. Crew's cute, colorful signet purse.

FLASHBACK.

• 2015: The SC Aquarium, a date night LBD outfit, midsummer in IG, fave fictional pets.
• 2014: My August favorites.
• 2013: The things I can't live without and punchy wardrobe picks.
• 2012: Brazilian pork chops, a hearts of palm and avocado salad, an avocado-coconut milkshake, and an Olympics Ring tie-dyed shirt.
• 2011: Orange wardrobe and home inspiration, rustic and modern fall wedding ideas.

lately in instagram.

It's been a while since I recapped my life's happenings and

wanderings through the lens of Instagram! Here's what

I've been up to since the winter holidays...

Fun around Roanoke: the annual "Guns and Hoses" hockey

game between local law enforcement and firemen, and

ice skating on the new outdoor rink in Elmwood Park.

Happy mail from Germany and fun with friends

Snow day opportunities to find peace and take things slow

(and make this colorful, healthy salad from Not Without Salt)

Valentine's Day sweets - Voting in the Virginia primary

Busy teacher - In March I had the opportunity to visit a local

magnet school with co-taught classes and a working barn!

Best necklace ever, a gift from my coworker - My family

Easter selfie in the church parking lot + VIP seating

Spring break lunch date with Mr. Q + visiting Grounds 

with my favorite girls (totally stole this picture!)

Are you on Instagram? Let's be friends - you can follow me here.

{Linking Up with Weekend Snapshots at Her Heartland Soul}

#5FandomFriday: Favorite Fictional Foods

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week, I'm rounding up fictional foods I would love to try!

1. Butterbeer from Harry Potter

J.K. Rowling is so, so good at writing about food that reading the dining hall scenes at Hogwarts always made me need to take a kitchen break. Of all the magical things the characters enjoy, the one that seems to inspire the purest elation is butterbeer. I know that Universal Studios serves their own version of the treat, and some people think Starbucks' new butterscotch creations are the closest we Muggles may get to the real thing.

2. November cakes from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Steifvater

One of the many reasons Maggie is my favorite YA author: when she decided to invent a special roll that the denizens of her fictional Celtic island, Thisby, bake to celebrate the annual super-deadly water horse race, she felt like she actually had to bake them , and took it upon herself to create a recipe. That is some next-level universe building right there.

3. Rey's bread from Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Science fiction foods get me every time, especially for their usually instant nature - I was also kind of obsessed with all of the different dehydrated meals Tally had in Scott Westerfeld's Uglies series. In The Force Awakens, Rey's bread was a practical effect accomplished with a balloon, but the folks at Star Wars have come up with a recipe that apparently comes close to instant bread and has an appropriately unappetizing shade of green.

4. Abby's Caf-Pows from NCIS

Sure, a Caf-Pow is just the NCIS universe's version of a Big Gulp from 7-11, but it is also the magical fuel that helps Abby Sciuto solve crimes! Imagine how much I would get done in a day with Caf-Pow running through my veins!

5. Coffee of Doom's specials from Questionable Content

I've been reading this webcomic since college - it's cute and I like the characters - and one of the best running gags Jeph Jacques includes are really strange specials on the chalkboard at the coffee shop. A recent strip featured Earl Grey tea that made Bubbles (who is an AI and can only smell tea) see a unicorn. Totally normal in QC-land.

#5FandomFriday: Holiday {Recipe} Recommendations

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the Female Geek Bloggers community. This week's #5FandomFriday topic isn't specifically geeky, and it was so broad I really wasn't sure what I wanted to write about. 

Christmas cookies from my 2013 holiday home tour

After checking out a few other geek girls' posts, I decided to round up some of my favorite tried and true dessert recipes to make for the holidays - perfect for taking to parties and giving to friends! All pictures are from the recipes' original authors, so if you want to add them to your Pinterest boards please click the links and pin from the source.

5. Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups from Baker Chick - Look, I'm not saying I kept a container of this frosting and ate it with a spoon after I made the cookies, but I'm not saying I didn't.

4. Mini Hard Cider Cupcakes from Hungry Girl Por Vida - Perfect for adult holiday parties, like an ugly sweater bash, these cupcakes can be made with your favorite cider and are topped with yummy cream cheese icing. They're the perfect little bites.

3. Hershey's Cocoa Crinkle Cookies - A classic for a reason, these are basically brownie cookies topped with powdered sugar and they are absolutely delicious.

2. Soft Baked Funfetti Sprinkle Sugar Cookies from The Dwelling Tree - Delicious, easy, and adaptable for any holiday or occasion just by changing the sprinkle colors!

1. Brownie Peppermint Cookies from Cooking Classy - Another easy recipe, since it starts with brownie mix, topped with a melt-in-your mouth dreamy icing with crushed candy canes (I recommend using a food processor for that part).

What's your favorite holiday dessert recipe? Tell us 

about it in the comments so we can all try it out!

#5FandomFriday: Favorite Seasonal Foods

5 Fandom Friday is a weekly prompt challenge hosted by The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick. This week's #5FandomFriday topic isn't specifically geeky, but it's a great topic for autumn - favorite seasonal foods. You can see the upcoming prompts here at the Female Geek Bloggers community.

• Butternut squash ravioli - Panera's version of this dish is so good that I'm determined to make my own. I love that this Williams-Sonoma recipe uses wanton wrappers instead of homemade pasta!

• Apple rosemary pork loin - Breeze made some crock pot pork loin with apples and onions last year for Pumpkinfest and I have been dreaming of that dinner ever since. 

• Pumpkin pie oatmeal - I posted my recipe for a healthy fall breakfast back in 2012 and it's still my favorite. On days when I don't wake up early enough to cook, I stir a spoonful of canned pumpkin into instant oatmeal and add pecans and Craisins. Fall in a bowl!

• Apple cider doughnuts - In college, it was a tradition to go apple picking at Carter Mountain Orchard, which is famous for their apple cider doughnuts. My friend Debbie served them at her wedding!

• Pumpkin streussel - I discovered this recipe in college when I needed a dish for a potluck harvest dinner, and it has become a favorite at my family's Thanksgiving celebrations. SO good, and it's made from a boxed yellow cake mix!

What are your favorite fall foods?

currently inspired by:

clicks of note: give me your heart, I won't let go...

get your week off to a colorful start...

LISTEN.

• Thanks to Pandora I've added Joe Brooks' "Someday (OK)" to my playlist.  I think fans of Jason Mraz and Ed Sheeran will love this one.  Also, the lyric "waking up on a Monday, treatin' it like a Sunday" is incredibly appropriate for my life today except for the part where I accidentally scheduled a dentist appointment on a holiday.  I'm linking up with Musical Mondays at My So-Called Chaos.

SWOON.

• 100 Layer Cake shares an elegant outdoor wedding.
• At Snippet and Ink, an airstream camp wedding!
• SMP features a gorgeous merlot inspiration shoot.
• Wedding Thingz features beautiful wedding tops.

SMILE.

• OMG Y'ALL THE ROYALS ARE ON INSTAGRAM.
• January is National Soup Month - here's my favorite.
• Bonnie has rounded up 2015's stargazing opportunities.
• NYT's 50 places to visit in 2015, with cinemagraphs.

FLASHBACK.

• Last year's Sunday Social was about Top 3's.  I rounded up my favorite cranberry-hued wardrobe updates (spoiler alert: this color will never go out of style), collected inspiration for an elegant black, white, and blush celebration, put together ideas for a living room makeover, recapped my January in Instagram.
• Two years ago, I shone the spotlight on a few of my favorite Instagrammers, rounded up inspiration for a red amaryllis wedding, and listed my entertainment favorites from the month.

 

currently pinning.

I decided to use one of Helene's winter blogging prompts today: my current favorite Pins from Pinterest! Here are four pins that I am in love with at the moment...

My August Favorites

1. Popsicles - I love frozen treats and ice cream in the summer, but I'm also trying to stay healthy, so my solution this year has been to make my own.  One day, I had made a green smoothie and the recipe made 2 servings.  I put one in my glass and poured the rest into my ice pop mold - it worked great!  

2. Flamingos - At my college roommate's Alice in Wonderland themed bridal shower, these cute flamingos were hanging out around the fireplace and I thought they were so cute.  Last month the hot print was pineapples, but I've moved on to these guys.

3. "Word Crimes" - If you've been living under a rock, you may not have seen Weird Al's parody of "Blurred Lines," and you need to remedy that situation immediately.  As an English teacher, I love this so, so very much.



4. OPI nail polish in "Keeping Suzi at Bay" - My mother in law and I got pedicures together on vacation, and I think this is the longest time I've kept the same color on!  I love this navy shade -  it's a little out of my comfort zone for summer, but I've gotten tons of compliments.

5. Getting letters in the mail - Thanks to my friend Z for making my day recently - I'd almost forgotten how much I love snail mail.

6. Google Smarty Pins Game - I love whatever developer at Google got the bright idea to turn Google Maps into a geography trivia game.  In this game, the goal is to drop a pin in the most precise location possible to answer a trivia question.  You lose miles based on how far away incorrect answers are, and the game ends when you run out of miles.

7. My kettlebell - I've been doing yoga and dance and wanted to add some strength-building activities to my routine, so I dusted off my old kettlebell.  There are tons of kettlebell workouts online and I feel like I get more out of swinging the kettlebell than lifting individual barbells.

8. Chia seed pudding - I decided to see what the chia seed fuss was all about when I saw this recipe on the FitSugar flat-belly challenge.  I love breakfasts that can be prepped the night before, and it was cool to see what was a weird soup the night before become a solid pudding.  I used coconut-almond milk and topped my pudding with diced peaches and slivered almonds, and the recipe above made two servings.

9. Lemon water - Another Internet tip I've been trying is drinking hot lemon water first thing in the morning.  In theory, it balances the body's pH level and helps flush toxins.  I'm not sure if it's actually having an effect but it makes me feel like I'm doing something good for myself.  I also made a pitcher of detox water with cucumber, lemon, and mint and having a little flavor helps me drink more H2O during the day.  I've almost broken my soda habit!

sunday social: all about pinterest

1. What is your favorite outfit pin?


I think this is such a great neutral outfit and definitely something I'd wear.

2. What is your favorite food pin?


THE BEST crock pot chicken recipe. I make this one often.

3. What is your favorite wedding pin?


I wish I'd seen this idea before our honeymoon.

4. What is your favorite DIY/craft pin?


I think this would be so cute in a nursery or kid's room.

5. What is your favorite quote/verse/lyric pin?


I saw this quote on my trip to Seattle and fell in love with it.

6. Share one more random pin you love.


I'd like to be in this place right now.

 

my winter blog loves.

blog loves - winter 2014

Every season here at BTA, I feature a handful of my "blog-mances" - some that I just stumbled upon, some that I've been reading for ages.  This winter's featured blog loves cover a broad array of subjects - lifestyle, fashion, cooking, organization - and are definitely worth a look!

Oh Joy!

Oh Joy! - Joy Cho is a graphic designer and author whose blog is always full of colorful, creative ideas for home decor, fashion, food, entertaining, and travel.  Her daughter is also one of the cutest human beings on this planet.  I love the posts where she takes readers on trips to her favorite restaurants in Los Angeles.  And Joy recently shared some big news: Oh Joy! for Target will introduce four seasonal collections this year, starting March 16th with the Garden Party collection.

City Farmhouse

City Farmhouse - I describe my home and decorating style as "Country Townhouse," so is it any surprise that I love a blog that combines the same ideas?  Jen's blog is bursting with cozy, creative, family-friendly ideas for country modern style - DIY ideas (including Ikea and Anthropologie hacks), affordable decorating, recipes, seasonal entertaining, and the weekly Inspiration Exchange linky party.

Teal and Lime

Teal and Lime - Jackie's home decorating style is very colorful, cheerful, and modern, but most of the projects she shares could be adapted to fit any setting.  I've learned a lot from her about how to add dimension to my home decor.  She also shares useful ideas like how to store your craft supplies in plain sight and strategies to avoid spending money unnecessarily at home stores.

Shutterbean

Shutterbean - Tracy's tagline is "food, photography & pretty things" and her blog fits the bill.  Regular features include mouthwatering recipes (I know I'm not alone in being way more likely to attempt to cook something if the picture looks awesome), organizing advice, a Friday links round-up, and peeks at everyday life.

Previously featured blog loves I'm still loving:  Cardigan Junkie, Corilynn, Southern Curls and Pearls, A Cup of Jo, Dandee, The Fresh Exchange, Sacramento Street, Geninne's Art Blog, Rosie Molinary, The Everygirl, Hip Hip Gin Gin, Fabulous K, Note to Self, Bright Bazaar, Clean and Scentsible, Everyday Occasions, The Fancy Shack, Home Stories A to Z, The Vintage Housewife, Tidy Mom, A Farmgirl's Dabbles, The Gracious Pantry, Skinny Taste, How Sweet It Is.

What are your favorite blogs - the ones you can't miss reading

without serious signs of withdrawl?