geek-ish

 

i'm geek-ish.  i'm geek-ish because i have geek tendencies however i do not go all out.  i grew up watching star wars and star trek and i know the difference but can't tell you every single little detail.  i love super heros but don't read the comic books {my favorite is batman from dc comics; however i am more impressed across the board with marvel's super hero characters}.  i wear sneakers and graphic t's and i enjoy large framed glasses!  i have obsessions with different tv series!  i have recently fallen in love with the big bang theory.  but i've never seen lord of the rings {i'm ashamed and for what's it's worth i've always wanted to watch them!!}.  i'm here to say "geek is chic and it's here to stay!!"  so, for your viewing pleasure, here is one of my favorite sweaters {thanks mom!} modeled with my favorite pair of skinnies, a button up, and my grey converses!

 

{marvel sweatshirt: forever 21; button-up: found in closet from many years ago; skinnies: express; shoes: journey's}

 

 unleash your inner geek!!!  and let me see!  link below in the comments section!!

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oh and by the way: glasses are sassy!!  i thought i could use these glasses as a style bust in this post!!  you know: the two birds in one stone thingy!  if you haven't heard my friends kaite and jessica are doing a style buster series and these are my glasses {i just have to get up the nerve to wear them in front of more than my fellow bloggers!!!}  so join the busters and link up and don't forget to check out the rest of their posts and all of their style busts on their blogs!!

don't forget

not to long ago my friend kacie and i heard a sermon by louie giglio entitled "the 12 words of christmas" by louie giglio.  it blew me away.  i don't really know why but i guess it was the way he explained it.  he put christmas into perspective for me.  it's not about presents or even being with your family.  those things are the REALLY GREAT features of celebrating christmas but we really need to focus on the 12 words of christmas instead of the 12 days of christmas.

louie explained in much detail about how much of a gift Jesus was.  He came at the most inopportune time: tax day & when there was no place for his mother to properly give birth to Him.  however it was Holy and perfect!  God works in mysterious and wondrous ways!!  "A Savior has been born to you and He is Christ the Lord!"  a savior has been given to us!!!  He would live for 33 years just to die for me, so that you & i could receive the gift of eternal life!  it's amazing to think that on one night, one baby could change everything!!

i had a very blessed christmas this year filled with surprises, time spent with family and wonderful gifts {thanks mom & dad}, but i'm overjoyed when i think about the gift of Jesus!!

i hope every single one of your christmas's was absolutely wonderful!! mine was!! but let's not forget who's birthday it was today and who came to live and die just for us!  He gave us the ultimate gift!!

mackenzie

DIY: the headphone crochet cozy

so i saw this picture on pinterest of some yarn wrapped around the chord of some headphones & thought, "that doesn't look hard!"  during finals week i needed to relax and i felt like crocheting but wanted to do something different.  so i tried to find a way to wrap my headphones in some colorful yarn.  i thought this would be a simple thing to make a tutorial about so i snapped some pics in the process and here is what i came up with!

 

so i'm using a a medium weight yarn and size 4 mm crochet hook.  if you'd like a less bulky look you can always use a lighter weight yarn and a smaller crochet that coordinates with that specific yarn; however it will take you longer, but if you really would like that look better it would be worth it!!  i think that some crochet basics would be helpful as that i do not get into the technicalities of the single crochet and how exactly to hold your yarn.

{1st}  you need to start your  project like any other crochet project: with a slip knot!!  i make mine by making a circle with my yarn pushing the end of the yarn to the back of the circle.  i then pull the yarn to through the hole leaving the tail end to get caught in the knot after i tighten it.

 

 

{2nd}  place the end of the headphone chord through the slip knot.  you will be working from right to left so leave the part you want wrapped in the yarn to the left of your slip knot. 

 

{3rd}  make sure to pull the knot snugs once the chord is in place.  you want to also make sure that you tuck the tail end that was left after you tightened your slip knot under your crochet stitches so you will get a seamless finished look.  after you have your hands situated go ahead and crochet!  as you hold the chord in your left hand, bring the hook towards you and then under the chord to grab your skein yarn from the other side.  bring the skein yarn under the chord and pull through the loops on your hook.  this is where previous crochet knowledge comes in handy.  i didn't get to take pictures of the crochet process because it was hard to handle the camera and the hook and the yarn and the chord.  but if you know some crochet basics then you should be able to catch on fairly quickly.

{notice how i'm holding the yarn, chord, hook, and how the tail end of the slip knot is tucked.}

{4th}  continue to crochet until you get to the headphone chord split.  

{5th}  now it's time to tie off and hide your ending knot.  so when you get to your last crochet stitch go ahead and cut your skein yarn at least two or three inches from the last stitch.  then take your hook and pull straight up, bringing the end of your yarn through your last stitch.  wrap the end of the yarn around the last stitch around the chord {it may be easier to pull the end through with a smaller crochet hook or the one you had been using}.  do not pull snugs yet, because the loose circle creates a loop.  wrap the end yarn through this loop twice, and then pull snugs.

{6th}  work the end of your yarn through the last few stitches with your crochet hook, hiding the end of your yarn under the stitches.  essentially you are hiding the yarn in the same way you started the work except this time it's backwards!

 

 {7th}  your done!! after you tuck and finish, admire your work.  you have just completed your crocheted headphone cozy!!!

words of caution: it's awkward at first to get a handle on everything, so don't get discouraged!! you can do it!!  and the yarn tends to twist as you go along.  i embraced the the twist and ended up twisting the yarn myself at the end of the project.  you could however force it to be a straight line i guess.  it's really up to you!!  

so this is my first tutorial.  have fun!! and let me know if you have problems understanding me or need more elaboration!! comment below if you think this was helpful, need more help, or if you just think this is a nifty idea!  i want to hear your thoughts!!!

mackenzie

furnish me vintage: {christmas}

for this christmas season i have had so much fun embracing vintage christmas decor for my home decorations!!  vintage decor is easy to incorporate with your new decor!  i think that's why i love it so much.  it's like history through decorations!  i wish they had a college class on that {haha}, but they don't so i make my own compilation of history with my decorations!

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okay i know they are little disturbing but the santa's on this string of lights are SO cute!  i found these guys on my antiquing outing to shelbyville with my mom and grandmother that i mentioned in my antiquing addicts post.  i snagged them for $15 in one of my favorite antique stores!  i think that they are so different and they just scream, "look at me, i'm vintage!!!"  santa's are one of my favorites because they bring back magical memories of when i was a little girl trying to sneek a peak at santa when he was delivering my gifts.  i think santa's are interesting because no one depicts him the same way, because no one has ever seen him.  each santa is different!!

okay, this may just be my favorite christmas decoration EVER!  okay i'm not really sure, but i do know that this is my favorite woodland creature christmas decoration!!  i found this doe in a shop that i adore called Street Scene in lexington, ky.  this deer is not only as cute as a button but i almost died when i found out that she spins around while playing rudolph the red nosed reindeer.  i want you to picture me in the store almost passing out at the sound of rudolph the red nosed reindeer!  {that didn't really happen, but i did almost cry lol}  anyways, i love love love love this little deer and she will be put out every christmas from here on out!!!  she was worth every bit of $12!!

last but not least, if you are going to have a vintage christmas, you need to invest in an aluminum tree!!  i know that traditionally speaking these are not the popular option, & i am all for the traditional evergreen.  however, aluminums were popular in the seventies and even if it is not your main christmas tree they are still fun to play with.  they come in all different colors, sizes, and you can get them pre-lit these days.  i think they are so pretty because of the way the light bounces off of them.  i'm still perfecting my aluminum tree.  i'm trying to find a balance between my vintage ornaments and my current ornaments.  it's suffering right now because i had a whole hour to spend decorating it this year and i didn't really have time to tailor the ornaments to tree.  but one day it will be amazing i'm sure!!

so is your christmas going to be a vintage one?  post photo links below and tell me how you decorate!!!

mackenzie

antiquing addicts

 

so last monday, i was dreading going back to my apartment only to face some serious studying for my accounting final, so naturally my mother suggested the mature thing to do, "why don't we take grandma and go antiquing at some different places in shelbyville?" have i mentioned my mother is amazing! i did the collegiate student thing, forgot about finals, and got my stuff and got in the car!  lol

we {my mother and i} have started to LOVE old things.  old things that smell like old times.  old things that represent times that were filled with history.  old things that were made to last.  old things that had a purpose then and can have a purpose now.  we love love love vintage!!!  that's why we started an etsy shop, -the feathered owl-.  we like to share our vintage lovelies with everyone, after we find them of course!  that's the fun part!  :)

after loading up, our first stop was our neighborhood cracker barrel!  you can't go antiquing without some down right country cookin to go with it!!  so we ate, and went to go pick up my grandmother.  i love antiquing with the older people in my family just because they know more about the items than i do and they can tell me if it's worth the price or not & i always get to listen to stories about the old times.  it's awesome!  unfortunately, i didn't get a picture with my grandmother this time because she's ornery, if you know her you know what i'm talking about!  lol

anyways you can see that we were somewhat successful with this outing in the first picture.  i have a bag full of goodies!  i purchased some deer salt and pepper shakers and an owl brooch for my collection {that's another post entirely}.  but my mom found her something too, well it was more for our shop but she loved it and thought it was really unique!

  

it's a 1951 calendar scarf!  it has each month of the year with different holidays highlighted with their very own depiction on each month!  we thought it was soo cute and different!!  i'm the model in the picture above and chose to display the depiction for my birth month, march.  it's cool because you could wear it and display the month you are in at the moment, or fold it to show just the 1951, or make it personal like i did and display your birth month!  below is a picture of the scarf in it's entirety and then there is a detailed shot of the the one for the month of december and it's holiday, christmas!!  it's so cute!

 

 

our trip was so much fun!! we really love scavaging and it was exactly what i needed to get my mind off the stress of finals!  does anyone else like antiquing?  have you found anything cute out there in the midst of a mess?  let me know in the comments section and if you have a post with pics link to it because i want to see!!  until next time!

 mackenzie

so i've been missing...

{this is an old pic, lol-- notice the letter jacket, it was taken my senior year of high school by Casey McBride}

this is mainly due to finals and college life and CHRISTMAS SHOPPING, but i'm done with all of that now {yes, the christmas shopping too :) } and a lot has happened to me since last monday.  so buckle your seat belts because i'm going to hit 88 miles an hour {back to the future reference lol} to take you back in time so i can catch everyone up on life as it was!! i'll be busy posting and posting and posting this week!! yay i'm excited!!  my first post will be a little later today, so stay tuned!!

mackenzie

it's finals week and i need...

1} practice

they say practice makes perfect!  so to get ready for this finals week,  i'm gonna practice, practice, practice.  i have a two finals this semester that require MANY computations and require a set of skillfully executed processes { it kind of sounds like rocket science now lol, but i wouldn't know the difference :) }  anyways, math has never been hard for me but accounting is just plain ridiculousness in my brain!  but with much practice comes great success, sometimes.  so the majority of my days will be consumed by practice problems and hoping that i can remember how to do them when they are presented on the test.  wish me luck!

2) patience

i'm anxious.  studying.  christmas break.  the fall semester being over.  grades. family time.  craft time.  these are the reasons why i need patience.  i get so caught up with the semester being almost over that i rush through studying thinking it will make the end come sooner.  but in reality it leads to poor grades.  so i need patience.  to relax.  to enjoy not going to class.  to experience things that i want to while accurately capturing the essence of an entire semesters worth of knowledge.  if you know me, this is surely to be a challenge.  again i say, wish me luck!

 
3} prayer (a lot of it)

i know it sounds bad to pray for an "A" in a class.  but let me reassure you that this is NOT what i mean.  i know that God has a plan for me which includes every little detail in my life, including my exam grade in accounting 201.  so this is my prayer for finals week:

Lord,

bless me with your patience and knowledge.  i don't know everything on these sheets of paper that are stapled together in front of me.  and on some these questions i will not be able to bubble in the right letter with my number two pencil, but that's okay because YOU know everything and you CAN choose all the right answers.  you won't let me down.  and if i fail, i know it will not be the end of the world because through You i have eternal life and if you look at the big picture this exam is a speck of dust that will soon pass with the wind and never haunt me again.  i'm in your hands now, let your will be done.

it's in your precious name, amen.

so here i could use your prayers friends { which is somewhat better than luck btw ;) } 

if you need these 3 qualities during your finals week, feel free to leave a comment and i will pray for you too!!

mackenzie

coffee, crochet, & comfy pants

{coffee}

with cold weather being right outside our windows and the college semester coming to an end, i have consistently relied on coffee to wake and warm me up in the mornings.  okay i know it's not creative but starbucks is my favorite place to grab my very own cup of joe.  i will eat breakfast there at least 3 times a week if not more which leads to cup of joe moments {see this post}!  if i haven't described what this is very well; let me describe it to you!  a cup of joe moment is when you have your favorite coffee shop drink in hand, you take a sip, and then BAM life is awesome!  lol

anyways, i always get a tall non-fat mocha with no whip and two equal.  and for my pastry i get one of the following: an old-fashioned glazed donut, a morning bun, or the cheese danish.  every morning i get breakfast there, it wakes me up and instantly puts me in a better mood.

i have also come very dependent on the instant coffee machine-- my mom's keurig.  i don't really know if i spelled that right but it's amazing for weekends and especially rushed sunday mornings.  my favorite is the mocha but the hot chocolates are pretty awesome as well, but i guess those aren't really classified as coffees.

the bottom line is... i have always been a coffee drinker but mainly just socially {haha}.  however, this semester has almost been the death of me and really coffee and starbucks breakfast has often been that little ray of sunshine that i could look forward to during the week.  it's sad i know and coffee isn't for everyone, but now i'm hooked and i doubt i will ever see the day when i won't want anymore coffee!

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{crochet}

another thing that has been playing a role in my life lately is the wonderful art of crochet!  it all started when my friends, jessica tingle and kacie tingle teached me how to knot with flair... then this past october, i became obsessed with granny squares.  determined to force myself to do the project: i blew my paycheck on yarn, and said, "mackenzie, complete this afghan you will!"  so i had already spent the money and i had already devoted some time to learning the pattern for the granny squares and after my first couple of squares, i was off.  i have further developed my crocheting skills and have already started planning for my next projects!

as you can see, i'm not finished with this blanket, but this is the farthest i have ever gotten with a yarn work project this big!!! i'm excited and there is no stopping me!  and as the temperatures drop the quicker my hands move, so that i can actually get some use out of my creation before the season is over! so wish me luck, 63 down and 117 to go!!!

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{comfy pants}

okay, so a pair of good ole' sweats are a must for winter!  everyone has their own favorite pair they like to curl up on the couch in!  mine are from my senior year in high school.  i was a manager for the high school wrestling team and every year we got a full suit of sweats with our teams name on them to where throughout the season.  these navy blue pair were and still are my favorite.  they are HUGE {well they make me feel skinny at least lol} and they swallow me!  they have pockets and are oh so warm and fuzzy on the insides!  what else can a girl ask for!?! anyways they make me remember back to those good ole days and they keep me warm on cold nights!

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these three "c" words have been on my mind lately and i just wanted to share them with you.  they are some of my favorite things that can i enjoy during the holiday season!

mackenzie

a cup of joe moment

this morning i woke up in a daze not really wanting to go to class.  but i knew that i couldn't miss so i took a shower and got ready anyways.  on the bus ride to campus i thought and thought and thought about why i was going to my first class, geography.  i mean as exciting as it sounds, the bus was runing late and had yet to stop and get my starbucks,  and our professor has made the class impossible to fail!!  he places notes, powerpoints, AND study guides online for us to use when we study for our exams, & i never pay attention anyways.

then i started thinking about how i NEVER skip.  i could be vomiting {praise the Lord this hasn't happened yet} and i would still go to class.  and i started to think about how every other college student gets to skip class.  i mean i am a grown adult and i can decide what i want to do when i want to do it, right!  and my inner revolutionary mob screamed,"YEA, PREACH IT GIRL!"  so naturally i did the adult thing and texted my mom to ask permission, {pathetic, i know}.  she totally didn't respond with a yes,  but after i convinced her she was making me hate myself for not being able to tell her, "no" and thus was robbing me of a rebelious youth.  she caved, and i was like, YES!!

then she informed me i would be ruining my "no skip" track record.  i told her i didn't care and it was to late to take away her approval.  then she asked,"what are you gonna do?"  to which i replied, "drink my coffee, eat my donut, and blog!"  :)

if i could do this for the rest of my life- skip responsibilities, drink coffee, eat donuts, and blog - i think that would be a state that could be considered very very very close to heaven.  but since, it's almost 10:00 and accounting is calling {a class that is less passable for me}, i will enjoy my fleeting youth and this cup of joe moment!  i hope there will be more of these in the future, hopefully not all of them will be quite this risky though!    ;)

mackenzie