Sunday Best: Light and Airy

top: Maurices, skirt: F21, boots: Kmart, jacket: Gap

One of my favorite summer outfits is a fun t-shirt paired with a light skirt. I live in skirts during the summer. You see, I'm just not a big fan of Mormon-length shorts. Many people can pull them off but I don't believe I'm one of those people. So I can either choose to sweat it out in pants, or wear a skirt and just be careful to keep my knees together while sitting down. I usually choose the latter. 

Also, may I just add that I love this whole arrow trend? Arrows are cute. Unless they are being used for their true purpose and being immersed in the flesh of a living thing, then they suddenly become less cute. 

I wore this outfit on Thursday. After work, I went with my mom and sisters to "The Fault In Our Stars" and then we did a little shopping after. As expected, I sobbed violently through numerous scenes in the movie. 

Walking out of the theater, I had to question why we as people do this to ourselves, subject ourselves to totally depressing literature and movies. Yet I do it all the time. The very best pieces of work (in my opinion) are the ones where everything doesn't end perfectly, where all the messes aren't completely cleaned up. I mean, take a look at Les Mis. It's pure genius, but really, why do we love it? Every single character seems to be wallowing in misery but we still eat it up. It's perfectly imperfect. Perfectly imperfect pieces of work are my favorite. I think because creating something that is so perfectly imperfect is the very most challenging thing. It's easy to create something where the hero wins and everyone rides off into the sunset living happily ever after. It's also easy to create something that is so depressing and awful that no one wants to touch it. The true difficulty lies in creating something that makes a person sad and happy all at the same time, it needs to have the right amount of tragedy in it to make it beautiful. 

And with that being said, I'm still upset that Harry Potter didn't die in the end. 

Well, I think I'll end before I go off on any other random interjections that make little to no sense. But I loved this outfit. I loved last Thursday. I loved spending time with my mom and sisters. They really are some of my favorite people.   

A New Endeavor

I think it's pretty evident by this point that I've lost interest in blogging. I've always felt a little weird doing it anyway. Whenever someone brings up my blog, I just don't even know how to talk about it. The conversation typically goes like this:

"I like your blog."

"Oh, you're nice . . ."

Then I change the subject.

I don't know. I've just never felt like a blogger. At one point, I remember thinking, "There are tons of girls who make their blog a business. I could do that."

But then that moment quickly went away because I know I don't want that. I love sharing bits and pieces of my life and thoughts with you, but some bits and pieces are only meant for me. I'm a big, selfish meanie. Also, I have this very deep rooted fear of being unauthentic. Now I'll be the first to tell you that I'm a lot of terrible things. I'm a slob. I get jealous. Sometimes I watch R-rated movies. I love to use the word "bastard", although I'd never say it in front of my mother.

But one thing I feel I'm very good at is being authentic. I don't want to lose that by trying to be something I'm not so I can gain more "followers".

This isn't me saying that I'm ending the life of "A Little Bird Told Me". But this is me saying that I probably won't post so often. You see, I don't have much free time. Especially since I'm pouring my extra time and energy into a NEW WEBSITE!

I would absolutely love your support for this new endeavor of mine. I've started up a website called Sharing Shine. Sharing Shine is dedicated to connecting, inspiring, and celebrating women of ALL ages. We will share incredible stories of women who live right in our communities. There are also sections dedicated to women's health, DIY projects, food, and much more. It's kind of like an online women's magazine, only that it's for all of us regardless of age, background, or beliefs. Too often I think we see women tearing other women down. Sharing Shine is all about women helping other women.

We just launched the site this week . . . and the work has already been quite overwhelming. I feel like I've just started another full-time job on top of my real full-time job. I've been living in my office at my computer. My TMJ is getting so serious that I'm wearing my mouth guard right now as to stop myself from turning my teeth into tooth fairy dust. But despite the stress . . . it's also been SO rewarding. The support we've already received is humbling and sometimes I sporadically feel like I'm going to cry and laugh all at once. So as weird and corny as it is, I love you. If you're reading this and you've supported us in any way, whether you've followed us on social media, shared an article, whatever . . . I love you. Thank you for supporting this dream of mine. It feels good to use my journalism degree to write things I'm passionate about. I've always wanted to do something for women and I think this might be my little golden nugget.

We have a lot of great things planned for Sharing Shine. This is my invitation to you to follow along ;).  

Sharing Shine Facebook

Sharing Shine Twitter

Sharing Shine Pinterest

Sharing Shine Instagram

Throwback Thursday: The Turtle Story

Throwback Thursday is now a common thing on social media. It consists of an individual sharing a picture from their past. I've decided to take it to the next level. Throwback Thursday will be a new series on the blog where I will share a story from my past. I can't promise it will happen every Thursday, but I can promise it is happening today. 

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As a child, my favorite game involved doing anything where I got to pretend I was someone or somewhere else. As a result, whenever we went to Grandma Reeder's house, I highly suggested to the other grandkids that we play dress up. Being the oldest grandchild, I usually got my way and no one disagreed with my suggestion.

Grandma had a huge old trunk filled to the brim with dress up clothes in her basement. It was all mothballs and memories piled in that chest. There were Halloween costumes our parents once wore, 80s prom dresses, letterman jackets from the 50s, dusty cheerleader pom poms and boxing gloves, faded jerseys, the gaudiest show jewelry . . . you name it . . . it was probably in that trunk.

Playing dress up at Grandma's house usually consisted of the kids marching to the basement to pick out costumes while we left the adults upstairs to sit on couches and armchairs to visit. Once each child had their costume on and their alter ego created, we would parade upstairs again to model for our parents.

One might argue that a child outgrows playing dress up once they reach a certain age. Others might say it's when the child runs out of new clothes to dress up in. Or maybe it's a combination of both. I do not know for certain, but I know how it happened for me. This is the story of why I quit playing dress up. In my family, we refer to it simply as "the turtle story". I was about nine or ten years old although each time my mom tells this story, I magically get older.

 Bad photo quality, but dressing up awkwardly has obviously been a daily occurrence for a very long time. I'm fairly certain this photo was taken on the 24th of July when I wanted to dress like a pioneer. I'm sure my LDS ancestors dressed just like this.

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I pulled out layer upon layer of material. My fingertips brushed across itchy wool, soft and cool silk, stiff and delicate lace. Every outfit idea I formulated in my brain felt too familiar. Perhaps after several years of playing with these dress up clothes, I had finally reached the point of wearing everything in every possible way it could be worn. I sat on the floor surrounded by articles of clothing, letting the smell of their years fill my nostrils. I closed my eyes and tried to formulate a plan. 

Minutes passed. 

"Kelsey, we're ready to show the grownups," my little brother chimed. 

My eyes popped open to see my brother and cousins in front of me adorned in overcoats, high-heeled shoes, bowler hats, and strings of pearls. My eyes then wandered over to the corner where Grandma did her laundry. I suddenly had a brilliant idea.

"Head upstairs, gang. I'll be right behind. I have a plan," I shouted in my very bossy but very enthusiastic voice. 

As the "gang" lined up and started teetering up the stairs, I skipped over to the dryer. In a rush, I pulled my shirt up over my head and my pants down around my ankles. Then I let my panties drop for good measure. I grabbed the rim of an empty laundry basket, lifted it over my head and set it across my shoulder blades. My costume was complete. This was the best round of dress up I'd ever had. 

I ran over to the carpeted stairs, clinging the laundry basket against my bare skin. Then I got down on all fours and began to crawl upstairs, completely nude, with nothing but a dark green laundry basket to partially cover my small buttocks and back. 

When I reached the top of the stairs, I crawled ever so slowly into the living room, doing my very best to stay in character. The living room suddenly erupted in laughter as I made my grand entrance. I lifted my head and pushed my frizzy dark hair away from my face. My aunts and uncles were rolling across the couch cushions consumed by giggling fits. My mother's eyes were filled with terror and her face burned red with embarrassment. She was nervously laughing. 

"Kelsey! Where are your clothes?" 

Why was everyone laughing at me?*

"Don't you get it," I said defensively. "I'm a turtle."

*I must add that once my grandma controlled her laughter, she told everyone that my turtle costume was actually a very creative idea.    

 

Millie Made Giveaway

I'm not one to normally do giveaways on this blog of mine. However, this giveaway is under special circumstances since the lady behind Millie Made is my lovely mama! My talented mother, Camille Keller, is one of the most creative human beings I know. She started a new hobby of making leather jewelry. After making so many new bracelets that she couldn't wear them all, I encouraged her to open a shop. Then voila, Mille Made was born.

Millie Made provides beautiful handmade jewelry at affordable prices. Most popular are the leather cuffs. Millie Made also believes in the power of words and what a positive impact words can have on our lives. That's why each bracelet includes a special word stamped into the leather.

I know it is a common thing for people to choose a "word of the year". This would be a perfect way to wear your word of 2014 with you at all times, to keep you motivated. Whatever the word (as long as it's not too lengthy) it can be stamped wherever you'd like on the bracelet. Wear your word on the front of the bracelet for all to see, or the word can be stamped on the inside of the bracelet so it can be your sacred secret.

One winner of a custom made leather cuff from Millie Made will be chosen at random. I will announce that winner on Friday, January 17th.

One entry per person. To be eligible to win, you:

1. MUST be a follower of A Little Bird Told Me
2. MUST like Millie Made on Facebook.
3. Leave a comment below with the word you would want on your bracelet and a reason why you chose that word.

Feel free to also comment on what you would want the bracelet to look like (design and colors), but I will for sure get that information (along with your wrist measurement) if you are our winner. Feel free to peruse through Millie Made's Etsy Shop for more ideas. She also makes the tiniest and most adorable newborn cuffs for both boys and girls.

Happy commenting! I wish everyone could win! These bracelets are beauties and my mom puts much love in each individual piece.

PS- Sorry for the Christmas decorations. Believe it or not, I FINALLY took our trees down this weekend.

Our Thanksgiving Table

I experienced a milestone in my life. Brian and I hosted our first Thanksgiving. When I say "hosted" that really just means that Brian's parents, grandma and aunt came to our house and made all the food in our kitchen. And I set the table (I also made pumpkin roll if that counts for anything).

I took my job of setting the table very seriously. I wanted something that wouldn't be too overwhelming but it still needed to be fun. I also wanted to stick to something very seasonal and festive for the Thanksgiving holiday.

My favorite part, hands-down, were the white pumpkin vases that displayed some fall bouquets of flowers. The flowers smelled heavenly. I used fake pumpkins that I found on super clearance at Hobby Lobby, spray painted them white, then carved the tops off.  

For our name cards, I made, well, name rocks. I wanted to do something different that would still be easy to create. These rocks were winners! The hardest part was the rock gathering. I didn't have any rocks in my yard that would work for this project, so I drove to First Dam to collect my rocks. Let me tell you, I'm sure the other families at the park were very alarmed to see a grown woman scavenging the ground for smooth rocks. I found them as quickly as I could, shoved them in my coat pockets, and left before anyone could have the time to question my sanity. I painted the rocks an orange-gold color. After the paint dried overnight, I mod podged everyone's names on their rock.

I stole the idea for the place mats from . . . several places, really. It's not at all an original idea but perfect for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was fun to jot down things we were grateful for throughout the meal. Before we cleared the table, we went around and read the things off our lists.

Our Thanksgiving was filled with delicious food, laughter, love, puzzle-doing, and resting. I hope yours was too!

Painting the Town (or at least all my furniture)

After painting just about every room in our house upon moving in, you'd think I would never want to pick up a paint brush ever again. However, I can't seem to stop finding things I want to paint.

The first target was our coffee table. I originally picked it up at a secondhand store shortly after Brian and I got married. It needed some TLC but I fell in love with it because of the glass top. After cleaning it up a bit, I quickly put a collage of pictures under the glass with the thought that I would get around to painting it.

Here are some "before" pictures:

 Well, two years later and I finally got some paint on it. I painted it a bright teal color and I wanted it to have a worn antique look. I love how it turned out. I also mixed up my photos under the glass and instead of doing a huge collage of pictures, I created a backdrop out of a map from our honeymoon with scrapbook paper and added photos sporadically across it.

The "after" pictures:

My next painting project was the dining room chairs. Years ago, I found an idea in a magazine of painting each chair a different color. I could never get the idea out of my head and was convinced I would do it someday. I am a person who loves color. Brian likes color too, but he's not as eccentric as I am, which is probably good. I need to give a giant shout out to my husband because through all my crazy projects and ideas, he never says flat out no. He always gives me a chance and says we can at least try whatever weird idea I'm obsessing over at the moment. Just with painting the house, he was so awesome about picking out colors. I need to pat myself on the back too, because I compromised by letting us paint a lot more walls white than I would have liked. But Brian was so willing to try colors I suggested and he even got a little crazy himself when he suggested we paint the ceiling of our living room yellow (which we did and it is the most cheerful ceiling you'll ever see). Anyway, when I originally dropped the idea of bright colored chairs on Brian, I think he about had an anxiety attack.

"Is it going to feel like we're eating at Cafe Rio every night?"

I couldn't promise him anything, but I solemnly swore I would never serve him dinner in a tin pan.

So Brian jumped on the colorful-mismatched-chair bandwagon and we picked out colors together. When the time came to get my hands dirty with the sanding and painting, I about chickened out. You see, there was no pressure with the coffee table I had painted. It was secondhand and I had picked it up for less than $20. These chairs were a different story. The dining room in our bungalow called for a nice long table, so we purchased a new table after our move via KSL. While we got a spanking deal on the table and chairs, it still cost us a lot more than anything you would find at the DI. These chairs were nice chairs . . . and I was going to potentially ruin them.

The "seconds before I started painting" picture:

Well, I swallowed my fear and there was no looking back. We started out sanding and painting the chairs, but after my fingertips were about bloody only one chair later, we decided to try using spray paint! It worked like magic and made the job a lot faster. I am so glad I decided to be brave, because the chairs look awesome. I feel like they especially work because we painted the walls and ceiling in the dining room white, so the chairs add some unexpected color. They also look very vibrant against the hardwood floors. I honestly can't see how I could ever sit down and eat a meal and not feel happy with all that bright color surrounding me.

The "after" pictures:

 

I feel like I should add, those white things hanging from the ceiling in the above picture are supposed to be ghosts. They'll come down after Halloween. Also, isn't my blue pumpkin a cutie?  

Well, those are some of the latest bungalow projects and I'm not done painting yet. I'm busting out the brushes again this week. One project even involves some chalkboard paint. Sorry if my blog turns into "all Kelsey ever talks about is her dumb old house". I just sort of love it. Living in this wonderful place has given me a fresh way of seeing things and experiencing things. I feel like I've reached this new level of creativity and I just never want the creative juices to run out.

Sunday Best: Indoors

 

dress: Modcloth, jeans: Buckle, boots: thrifted, necklace: Claire's 

We've had beautiful fall weather here in Northern Utah, but I had such a jam-packed week that I never got around to thinking about Sunday Best photos until it was dark outside.

However, a little darkness couldn't stop me. I took the awkward photo shoot indoors to the crappy lighting. But hey, at least I got to show off my awesome dining room chairs. We just finished painting them this week. Our bungalow is slowly coming together. It's fun to do a project here and a project there to make each room feel a bit more like home. Just wait for what I've got in store for those white walls behind me. More on the chair makeover in a post tomorrow.

Tea Party or Succulent Garden?

I have had this longing to plant some succulents for a while now, but I was holding back since I didn't know how to take care of them. Luckily, they are pretty tough plants . . . not quite as sentimental as the rose bush I killed last summer. 

I wanted to display my succulent garden in a fun and unique way. After some brainstorming, I decided it was time to put some of my tea cups to good use. I don't drink tea, but I adore tea cups. Whenever I visit antique stores, I have to browse through the tea cups, plates, and other delicate china. I think it's sweet that something as simple as a cup can hold so much beauty. People used to care so much more about the little details. 

I found that I had two tea cups that would fit two of my succulents, but I needed a home for my cactus. It was my lucky day, because after the first stop at one of my favorite antique stores in town, I found a tea pot tucked away just waiting for me to find it and claim it as mine. 

I followed this tutorial on how to plant my succulents. So far, so good. They're not dead yet. It's fun to not only have some indoor plants, but I really am happy with how they are displayed. It adds a fun element to my kitchen. And now my tea cups are no longer gathering dust . . . just dirt!

Any other fun ideas of how to display your succulents? Let me know! I think this might be the next thing I try. I thought it was weirdly terrific. I mean, a succulent growing out of a dinosaur's back? How rad is that?

Brave Girls Club

Over the course of the last few months, my mom has been taking online art classes. The classes are about much more than just making art though, it's also about finding the everyday beauty in your own life and in yourself. My mom has been making friends all over the country, sending and receiving art in the mail, and she even started her own Etsy shop.

The organization that puts on the art classes is called Brave Girls Club. They also put on art retreats for women. My mom just so happened to win a personal art retreat in an auction, so she invited me and my aunt to join her for a weekend with the Brave Girls.

It was such an enjoyable weekend to get away and go to Boise, spend time with lovely women, eat good food, and make art. Walking into the adorable turquoise "Art Barn" was a dream. The inside was decked out with art. The walls were plastered with colorful and uplifting paintings. When I walked in, I felt like my troubles were swallowed up by the colorful patterns on the walls, ceilings, and floors and in return, I was bombarded by happiness. I felt like Katie from the cartoon of Horton Hears a Who . . . "In my world everyone is a pony, and they all eat rainbows and poop butterflies." If you've never seen Horton Hears a Who, you have no idea what I am talking about. Also, you are missing out.   

I came home feeling inspired, radiant, and uplifted. I highly suggest you get familiar with the ladies at Brave Girls Club. They are doing wonderful work. Their organization is about creating and putting beauty out into the world, and in the process, helping you find your own inner beauty. What could be better than that?

Thanks, Brave Girls! We hope to pay another visit to the Art Barn in the future.