Bloggy Tips DIY How To's

So have you checked out my Pinterest lately? I have been doing a complete overhaul. I'm talking totally reorganizing my boards, deleting no good pins, and of course adding more fabulous ones. ;)

As you have probably noticed I did a ton of work on my blog design over the weekend! I am super proud of it so forgive my bragging. :) I wanted to share some of the tutorials I used and other helpful blogging tips and DIY how to's I found while researching this past weekend. 

If you are a new blogger like myself, these resources are extremely helpful! I would still be a lost, little lamb without them. A big THANK YOU to the kind bloggers who created these tutorials!! :) Have a great day everyone!

365 Photo Project

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope all of you are having an amazing week thus far. I would like to take a moment to talk about something I have been thinking about lately, The 365 Photo Project.

For those of you who don't know what the 365 Photo Project is, you take one picture a day for a whole year (hence 365) and you upload it to your account on the 365 Photo Project website. Most people also upload it onto Instagram. Speaking of Instagram, are you following me? Check me out @speckdoodle.

If you are already following me you probably noticed I was trying my very best to participate in the project, but failed miserably. It is an awesome idea to document your year. However, it isn't for me at this moment in my life.

Here's why. Tom and I are living in the borderline ghetto, by ourselves, with our cat. Our families and friends are all up in Oregon so we are loners for the most part. Who wants to see pictures of the cat every single day? No one. Well maybe, comment if you want to see pictures of our kitty every day :)

Here is a sample of the cuteness :)

Anyway back to the subject, we are just pretty boring during the week. We wake up, go to work, come home, eat dinner, get ready for work, sleep, repeat. Exciting things just don't happen everyday.

Now! One day I am totally going to participate in this project. I think it will be awesome when my life is more eventful when we have a permanent residence for home projects, family and friends around, and all that good stuff. But until then my journey with the 365 Photo Project is going on hold. Kind of a bummer. But I would rather not feel pressured to find something and take a picture of it for the project.

Do you participate in the 365 Photo Project? What are your thoughts on the project? Comments are always welcome! :)

Hair Tutorials

Happy Wednesday everyone! This week I am taking the liberty to share some amazing hair tutorials form my Pinterest page. You will notice almost all of them are from The Small Things Blog. I LOVE this blog!! Kate's tutorials are so easy to follow and very thorough. I was pretty much hair stupid before I stumbled upon her blog. You will also notice I also am sharing a lot of braided hair tutorials. Here's why.

About a year ago I decided to bob my hair... Never again. It was cute but I hated that there was really only one style I could wear it. My hair is finally getting long again (yay!) so I can play around with different styles. I must say I am loving being able to create braids and buns! Problem is I have to learn all the braids!! So far I have french braiding my bangs down pretty well, but now I need to learn the others. Thankfully I have my awesome Pinterest Hair Board to teach me! :)

I hope you enjoy these pins and learn as much as I did! Be sure to check out my Pinterest Hair Board for more hair tutorials!

Bacon Sunday's

I think am suffering from a case of writer's block. Mostly because I am suffering from crafter's block. Does anyone else ever have this problem? Anyway! Here is a random peek into my every day life.. Or my life every Sunday. :)

In our little house we have what we like to call Bacon Sunday. We have a rule that we must eat bacon in some variety, whether we make delicious bacon in the morning, or have bacon bits in our green beans at dinner. Bacon has to be consumed!

Typically we make bacon in the mornings. Because, let's be honest, that is the best kind of bacon! Then you have bacon for the whole week to munch on and enjoy. YUM!

Does your house have a special traditional breakfast? I know growing up at our house we had French Toast Saturday. You have not lived until you have my Dad's french toast! It is AMAZING! Anyway, I would love to hear about your traditions and favorite dishes! Comment below to boast about your awesome life! ;)

My Happy Friday!

Tonight was such an awesome night I just had to share it! A couple months ago a local casino started advertising that Penn and Teller would be here to do a show. I saw the ad driving home from work and I immediately shared the awesome news with Tom when I got home.  

Tom and I love magic and magic shows. For a while we were completely hooked on Penn and Teller's show "Fool Us" along with various other magic T.V. shows out there. We waited a little while to buy tickets (we imagined them to be super spendy, after all it was Penn and Teller). But we finally manned up and looked at prices online. Totally cheap and totally worth it. 

Can't you just see the excitement on our faces!! Tom is a little shy in his glasses, but trust me he was stoked!

I will admit, we had seen a lot of the tricks they did at the show just from watching them on YouTube etc. But it was still awesome to see them live! They kept us entertained the whole time, and the audience was very much involved which was really fun. Basically, if you ever have a change to see them... Do it! Word of advice: If you want to be an audience helper, you should spend a little more on tickets to get on the ground floor, that is where they got all of the audience participants.

I haven't even shared the best part of the night though. We got to MEET Penn and Teller! Yeah, I know. So cool! We had no idea they would be out to meet fans after the show! That was probably the best surprise of the night. Oh! and we finally heard Teller's voice. 

PROOF!!

Side note: I apologize for the quality of my pictures! But at least we have some photographic evidence of our awesome adventure! 

Overall it was a fantastic night out. Honestly, it was the perfect date for us. We didn't spend a ton of money, it was close to home, and it was something we both really enjoyed. CHEERS to the rest of the weekend!! :)

Pinterest Birthday Wish List

My 22nd birthday is coming up at the end of the month and I am super excited!! I wish I could be in Oregon with all my family and friends but the reality is that won't happen. :( boo!

One awesome thing about birthdays is of course, presents. One not so awesome thing, everyone asks you what you want and you have to repeat the list over and over again. So I decided to kill two birds with one stone this week. This is Oh, How Pinteresting meets My Birthday Wish List. It is kind of in order of importance. I realize a couple of these are probably just pipe dreams. But a girl can ask right!? Let's see if this works!

Week Six: Ways to Love Others

When I saw the list topic "Ways in which you can Love Others", I interpreted it as a what are things you can do to show and communicate love to others. Some things on my list I feel like I already do, and some are things I would like to do. And all I would like to master! :) When you put love out into the universe, you will get love back. :)

Ways in which I can Love Others:

- Smile at others more
- Give out hugs to family and friends
- Be patient
- Send a care package to a loved one far away
- Send a care package to a soldier
- Listen more
- Give advice when it is wanted
- Be a shoulder to cry on
- Give space when the other needs it
- Send a "thank you for being in my life" letter or card
- Be kind and polite, even when others are not
- Accept other peoples beliefs, even if I do not agree with them
- Accept and admit when I am wrong
- Be gracious when defeated
- Forgive others
- Give someone a "just because" present
- Be honest with others
- Be courteous and thoughtful of others
- Be more willing to share and open myself up to others
- Be joyous for others successes and triumphs
- Be encouraging and positive when others feel defeated
- Never forget a birthday or special day
- Call loved ones I haven't spoken to in a while just to say hello

Week Five: What I am Grateful for

Let's be honest, this list could go on and on! I filled up my paper while I was writing everything down and still had more when it was filled!

I am grateful for:
- A roof over my head
- Food on the table
- My animals
- Cute animals and the joy they provide
- Cute babies are always good too
- My sewing machine
- My loving, respectful, wonderful, supportive boyfriend
- My family
- My friends
- Freedom: the right to have my own thoughts and beliefs, and be able to act upon them
- My Kitchen Aid
- A warm, soft bed to sleep in
- My past. It made me who I am today
- Books
- Education
- Modern medicine
- The weekend
- Modern technology
- Air conditioning
- The men and women who have and who are serving our country
- Naps
- Spontaneity
- Dishes: Because it means you ate well! That one needed an explanation! ;)
- Sunshine
- Snow days
- Rain
- Music
- Schedules
- Date nights
- Cookies
- Ice cream
- Root beer floats
- Adventures
- Nature
- Running water
- Hot water
- Electricity
- Forgiveness
- Lazy days