Mustard

Mustard yellow is one of my favorite colors to wear. I have no idea why...but it is.

I think anyone who has dark hair should wear it all the time. P.S. ignore all the squinting, it was super bright when we took these a few weeks ago!

I love this casual outfit, especially my "Katniss boots" as I like to call them. I feel like such a bad A when I wear these, they especially look cute paired with camo or army green. They are definitely one of my favorite pairs of boots and they aren't even name brand, so they are pretty cheap! Gotta love that I've been going through my clothes and either selling them or getting rid of them since I've lost some weight. This blue button was in the get rid of pile because its gotten pretty big but then I still liked it, so I had to make it work. Layering is always the way to go if something is a little big- it's easy to make it work with belts, long necklaces, vests or cardigans. I paired one of my cardigans and a flowery belt to make this outfit a little girly. I've actually tried this look with a couple bigger shirts and don't ask me why but I like to wear some of Lyle's big shirts and it's not hard to make those sexy with the right accessories. Don't be afraid to wear stuff a little bit or borrow things. One tip when I go shopping: I actually shop in the boys or little boys sometimes, shhh...you just have to look at the clothing because in many cases, I've removed things or added things and then you have a unique piece. I'll show you some examples of pieces I've done it with coming up! On a side note I kind of feel like a teacher in this...which is funny because I'm sure a teacher couldn't wear this...well maybe with dress slacks and different shoes? Anyway if you're getting sick of all the casual outfits I have lots of cute new date night outfits coming up because Lyle finally comes home this week and I get to wear them!! 

Boots: ForeverYoung (University Mall, Provo) but similar- steal or splurge Belt: Abercrombie similar here or here Blue Striped Oxford: Forever 21 similar here Mustard Cardigan: Forever 21 similar here

Do you know what I would honestly do for the belt though? I would buy a thin brown one like maybe forever 21 and then go to the craft store and pick out a flower I like or if you're really craft you can get material and easily make one (I do them for headbands all the time) and hot glue them on. Btw if you all don't have a hot glue gun you should invest in one, you can get them for $5.00 at some craft stores and in cute patterns too and mine saves my life! Anyway, I know it works because Murphy actually pulled one of these flowers off and I had to fix it....Don't be afraid to think outside of the box!

xoxo CAIT xoxo

Spring Craftiness

Well there has been a tragedy.

Not only is there one hole in my toms, but there is two now. However, i am very excited because i get to a something fun with them that i have been looking forward to for a while. I really wish i had toms in this color below though because its my favorite to wear. I am so excited to start looking at material!

I have been trying to do this idea for a LONG time. When i was home last i spent so much time in thrift stores searching for unique and vintage door knobs to do this but no luck. You could just as easily order them but i think itll give it character to find them. I'm just gonna have to branch out and check out some flea markets and further away thrift stores. I really really love this and would love it for my apt this fall.

if these windows were easier for me to find, i would use them for everything...

I hope i have a lot of time to do some of these because they look so easy.

xoxo CAIT xoxo

the hap hap happiest christmas

I've done multiple Fall posts so heres my winter/christmas post!

I changed my ringback tone to a christmas song, Justin Bieber-Mistletoe, haha something that everyone pointed out to me in my voicemails this week. I have been listening to Christmas music since early November though... I mean i dont have my own little house or anyone to make Thanksgiving dinner for so i kinda skip that holiday for now. My room mates were teasing me because i told them you could totally decorate for Thanksgiving, with turkeys everywhere and they laughed. Amelia assured me my house would be adorable though and she couldnt wait to see it. Ahem, thank you. Heres are some Christmas favorites:

Top Christmas music

1.Little Drummer Boy-Sean Kingston

2.Mistletoe-Colbie Caillat

3. This Gift-98 degrees

4.My only wish-Britney Spears

5.All i want for Christmas-Mariah Carey

6. Mistletoe-Justin Bieber

7. Breath of Heaven-Amy Grant

8.Santa on the rooftop-Trisha Yearwood

9.Mary did you know?-Donny Osmond

10. Christmas (baby please come home)-Cher

11.What Christmas means to me-Stevie Wonder

12. Baby its cold outside-Jessica Simpson

13.This Christmas-Chris Brown

14. Last Christmas-Ashley Tisdale

15. The First Noel-Nysnc

16. Emmanuel, God with us-Amy Grant
17. The kid in me-Donny Osmond
18. ive been looking for christmas-Donny Osmond

You will not be dissapointed i promise, make a mix. I know you probably saw some names and went um no. Same here...haha but these songs are great. Tips: Dont look for the Amy Grant song on youtube i kept finding a weird version and buy the WHOLE Nsync album, it is unbelievable or at least check it out same for the Donny Osmond and Amy Grant ones, i grew up on them. What else do we love about christmas? well, all the lifetime christmas movies, the chickfila seasonal peppermint milkshake, christmas lights, christmas trees and decorating them, staying in and watching christmas movies, baking, going to see the temple lights, snow and snowboots, christmas hymns in church, eggnog (my mom has a great recipe!) and all the recipes for it which leads me to this...Eggnog Pound Cake-its gotten great reviews...

Recipe - it also has a eggnog cupcake recipe at this link!

Top 5 Christmas movies
1. Chevy Chase Christmas Vacation
2. Elf
3. I'll be home for Christmas
4. The Santa Clause
5. How the Grinch Stole Christmas
I know I'm not touching on the "classics" but these are some of my favorites :) No specific order

And for breakfast this year i want this

Santa breakfast

We usually have cinnamon rolls and eggnog Christmas morning but last year we switched it up to those plus breakfast pizzas, it was a first. I mean i'm all about tradition but i think Connor would love this this year! heck i would...

Finally, dont forget the gift giving.

Make me here!

I love scrubs and anything that smells good. One not so great thing about winter is the dry skin for most so here are some awesome blogs with gift giving DIY ideas i found.

The CUTEST diy gifts

Diy stocking Stuffers

Scrub and more

These are some of my favorites for Christmas time, i would love to hear about yours!

xoxo Cait xoxo

ahh i like

Button Bobbys

How easy is this?

Grab a bunch of buttons and some bobby pins and a hot glue gun and voila!

You could even add ribbon to make them even cuter

Homemade Chapstick

A fabulous pinterest find, melt one cup of petrolium jelly in the microwave and then stir in one packet of koolaid. Pour into container and let sit. SO creative. The one cup is necessary if you wanna make a ton though, like give them out for party gifts. Whatever works!

However if you arent feeling homemade chapstick, why not just buy it?

All things that smell good

Buy me & other smelly goodness

I read first hand reviews on these and they apparently smell amazing [unless those people were paid off...]

and i am just dying to smell the pumpkin cheesecake! they also have other holiday ones like candy corn, gingerbread and more. Along with fruiter ones like strawberry banana. I want everything from the scentsies, to the roll on perfumes. Everythings not too pricey either. These would make way cute stocking stuffers!

OWL Nails!

Ah i would absolutely love someone to paint my nails like these. They are so cute. If youre an artist they wouldnt be hard to replicate although i'm no picasso and i think i could figure these out but not on my own nails that would be a little difficult. Someone else could have cute nails though...

Fabric

I love this fabric, it would be perfect for flowers for headbands or a blanket.

Just use your imagination with this one!

Blueberry Oatmeal Supershake

Recipe!

I'm not one of those people who every really gets tired of cereal for breakfast

but just in case I do...theres this recipe.

It looks so good! Probably because I love all the ingredients seperately, so im sure I'll love them all together.

Banners

i love this blog.

This blog has the cutest party ideas EVER.

With tutorials on how to do things for them and its so creative.

I love banners! They are all over the place right now. I cant wait to use them for absolutely everything.

This one is so cute, i was thinking maybe for my 21st birthday?!

A zebra theme would be so cute!

Oh and a little Fall humor, just because...

Hahahahahaha.

xoxo Cait xoxo

Lets get creative

So this week i had tons of fun crafts planned, however life got in the way. You know how that goes right...but i have managed to do a few things with very little time and the rest are some of the fun things i have planned for this weekend. Its fun to take time out for yourself to be a little creative. These are some of my favorite ideas:

Yummy pumpkin body scrub

I love bath products, i just hate buying them. Bath and Body Works is one of my favorite places. I'll just walk in and smell everything, spray some things, try some lotions then wander out because i dont really have money to spend there. Well i guess i could but theres better things to spend $$$ on. Most of these ingredients you'll probably have in your kitchen which is very convenient. Many places around here sell those mini mason jars and the scrub in these jars will make perfect gifts! To make it my own i would use some fall colored ribbon to seal it and attach a leaf as a tag! This weekend ill be making my own so i'll show you what mine looks like! I'm super excited.

http://myprojectsandfinds.blogspot.com/2011/09/pumpkin-spice-sugar-scrub.html

Chocolate covered pretzels

Every Christmas I can guarantee you that the Leary ladies will make chocolate covered pretzels. They are my absoute favorite, however i never even thought to make them for Halloween/Fall! I'm making these tomorrow for the girls i visit teach, but with our own recipe. Typically for our choc. covered pretzels, we buy the long, thick pretzel sticks and break them in half, although you can keep them whole if youd like. Then we dip the end in melted chocolate! For the halloween ones use white chocolate and food coloring but for Christmas we just used milk chocolate. Then you roll them in holiday sprinkles (pertaining to the right holiday of course) and my mom always uses heath bars too. The heath bars give it a little something extra. They are so good. Then wrap them up all cute like above and youre done!

Infinity scarf

Hello, i am addicted to scarves. If you have seen my closet you would know this. I went through a period where i had to buy any and every scarf i saw. Luckily i got them for great deals, so it was okay. (see how i rationalize this like its okay?!) This will be a craft I cant do though because i dont have a sewing machine! I think I'm gonna ask my mom to make me one for Christmas! My mother and grandmother are both AMAZING seamstresses- my mom made all of our trek dresses and lots of cute dresses growing up while my grandmother sewed fabulous quilts for all her grandchildren. I really hope this runs in the family because as of now the extent of my sewing abilities has been a pair of pajama bottoms...I'm gonna take a sewing class next semester though i think! And if i get good at it I wanna get a sewing machine! Then i could sew clothes, curtains..oh the possibilities...However if you're lazy or dont have a sewing machine like me then Forever 21 has really really cheap scarves online that are so cute! Just FYI

http://quiverfullofblessings.com/2011/09/13/infinity-scarf-tutorial/

Hair Hype

^my own creation! and my future creations below

http://vixenmade.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-headband-tutorial.html

http://www.flamingotoes.com/2011/08/sweet-skinny-ruffled-headband/

http://www.craftinessisnotoptional.com/2011/01/pleated-headband-tutorial.html

I love headbands, clips, bows, ribbon and flowers for hair accessories. When i found out I was
having a niece i made tons of headbands! And put together flowers and butterflys on headbands for cass. Well she's outgrown them or lost them so its time for some new ones, which is good because i need some more practice for when i have little girls! I will make 100's of them...the one above is just two different types of ribbons folded in to make little loops and then i hot glue gunned a button in the center. So easy yet so cute. I love glue guns! They are the msot useful things ever. My mom just bought me a lime green one and i love it. Here are some headbands I cant wait to make for cass or just learn to do the cool flowers so i can make different head pieces! The second one is such a Utah headband, and i love it. There are so many different types of headbands you could put together, the ideas are endless. I am alwaysss looking for cute new ideas, so if you have any feel free to share!

Cute Card

I'm working on making a copy of this card for some of my missionaries! Of course mine is gonna be way girlier but i love this idea. Its adorable.

Pumpkin Donuts

Oh. my. goodness. Pumpkin and donuts together? It must be amazing

http://annies-eats.net/2011/09/26/pumpkin-doughnuts/

xoxo Cait xoxo

All about Fall

Heres some fun things for you to enjoy during Fall:

http://www.twotwenty-one.com

These are my absolute favorite cookies! I have been talking about baking these all week long & yesterday I come home to some that my sweet roomie made. I've never tried these with a frosting in the middle and i'm itching to make them, I may have to go out first thing tomorrow and get the ingredients!

http://oneartmama.blogspot.com                                                http://retrohipmama.wordpress.com

I am so unbelievably in love with both of these. I can not wait until I have my own house to decorate because its gonna be absolutely adorable. I would add a blue or orange monogrammed letter to the second one though for a little something more. I'm thinking of doing this for my mom and sister because they would love it! So easy and fun. You can do it in any color for whatever season although I adore this color schemes here so i prob wouldnt change a thing.

 http://jessicainsd.blogspot.com

Perfection, I think the picture says it all. This is a fall must make. Its a lot like Monkey bread if you've ever had that. I think this is a treat that everyone will love.

http://www.nestofposies-blog.com\

i LOVE this & i love her blog! For a poor college student, this is so cheap and easy to do. The only thing you would think would be expensive would be the frame but you can get some from thrift stores and spray them any color you'd like.

http://prairiecottagerose.blogspot.com

Oh the pumpkin spice latte... its back in season at Starbucks and dont worry, I already called and they make it without coffee too! phew. I am trying anything and everything involving pumpkin because I love it. I havent tried the homemade version (recipe above) but I put it here in case you'd like to!

http://www.andreasteed.com/

This is my absolute FAVORITEST craft that I have found for Halloween. I am so in love with it. When I first looked at it I was like well I just want hers I dont even want to compete with that...but after looking at it for a bit I got really excited about making one. I'm in search for one of these wooden things right now so i can create my own. You dont even have to follow this one, this is one of those things where you just get fun Halloween stickers, paper, etc and go to town! Enjoy

http://www.bettycrocker.com/

I love cheesecake! Well it seems as though i'm loving a lot of things I know but i really love this. In all honesty I havent ever made cheesecake before, just the basic brownie, cookies and of course cupcakes so this will be exciting. Pumpkin cheesecake, yum :) However if you're feeling a little lazy and dont wanna do any of the work but you want the taste then Olive Garden has the most amazing seasonal pumpkin cheesecake I have ever tasted. Last Fall mom & dad mailed me an olive garden gift card just so I could get some. so sweet

http://tatertotsandjello.com/

Heres directions to do a banner, but there are a lot of different ways you could do them. If I had a fireplace they would be so perfect there for every season but i dont yet. I love the patterns and colors here. Pillow are pretty easy to do. So this is just kind of an inspiration picture. I really enjoy this banner and pillows but I have a slighly differnent idea about doing the above so I'll see if I get around to it with midterms and all.

http://www.howto-simplify.com/

Obviously Fall is all about the sweet treats for me because thats all i love to make....

I hope these inspired you just as much as they inspired me,

I have a lot of fun ideas that I'm gonna try before I post but I'll try to have them up asap

so come back soon

xoxo Cait xoxo