Pillows

     So I finally got around to making my pillows! They were pretty easy to make, however we had to do some picking and unpicking of the stitches a couple of times. But once we knew exactly how I wanted them, we whipped them up pretty quick.

     I made two of each pillow, so there are a total of four. I think they are going to look so good in my apartment. The couches are a deep brown so I figured these pillows will match perfect and bring a pop of color to the room.

New York Day Two

     So the whole point of our little trip was because I got tickets for my mom and I to go to a taping of the Katie Couric Show. We both love her and have been watching her talk show almost everyday since I have been on break. So we got up bright and early to wait outside the studio. Luckily it wasn't horribly cold but it was so windy. After waiting a while outside we were finally let inside where we waited some more in a holding room. After about three hours of waiting we were finally let inside the actual studio. The studio is super tiny so there really wasn't a bad spot to be sitting. However I really think that we had the best seats. We were third row, smack in the middle of the studio, so I would not be surprised if when the show airs we will be easily seen. The show taped for close to two hours. By the end we were definitely tired of sitting. Even so it was a great experience and we really had a lot off fun watching how the show was taped and kind of seeing the behind the scenes act. We were told the show will air March 27, so everyone tune into the Katie Couric show on ABC and try to spot my mom and I!

     After the show we didn't really know what to do so we just walked around. We went up and down Fifth Avenue doing some window shopping. Then we found yet another Pottbellys for a late lunch. We only ate out twice on our trip and both times at Pottbellys. We just couldn't resist, it's our favorite! We headed back to the hotel to pick up our bags. We decided to rest their for a bit instead of waiting in the train station for our train. It was nice to rest our feet again too. We were able to get to the train station pretty quick and caught our train in just enough time.

     It was so fun to have a girls trip, we wish Sarah could have been there too, but we really had so much fun!

New York Day One

     My mom and I took a mini two day vacation this week to New York City. A bright and early Amtrak got us into the city early Tuesday morning giving us all day to explore. We basically just walked around everywhere. We went through Times Square, which was surprisingly empty, but then again it was 10 in the morning. We then headed over to Rockefeller Plaza. We were able to see a little bit of Kathy Lee and Hoda taping inside the studio through the windows. As we were walking away I spotted cute little Natalie Morales walking down the street. So mom got a picture with her, she is really so sweet, she stood around for a bit and asked where we were from and just chatted a bit.

     After walking around a while we decided to go back to the hotel to rest a little. Once we were a little more rejuvenated we headed back out. We found a Pottbellys pretty close to our hotel so we went there for lunch. It of course was delicious! Our hotel was in the garment district which was fun because there were a ton of fabric stores and fun boutiques. Any fans of the show Project Runway knows the go-to fabric store on the show is Mood, which is located right in the garment district! 

     We went up to the story and it was so overwhelming. It is two stories of wall to wall fabrics. You could literally spend a whole day there and wouldn't even see everything. I wanted to find some fun fabric to make pillows for the couches in my apartment and mom was looking for fabrics to make curtains for different rooms in the house. After a good hour in a half and numerous swatches later I found two great fabrics that I loved! It  will be fun to make those to spruce up the apartment. Hopefully I can make them within the next week and I will post some pictures then. We went to a bunch of other fabric stores to just see what we could find.

     We went back to the hotel to put our bags down so we didn't have to lug them around the city but we did not really know what to do next. We figured we couldn't just sit around in the hotel so we headed back to Times Square to see if anything fun was going on.  We got handed a ticket from one of the thousand people handing out advertisements for Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. I was ecstatic! I loved the wax museum in San Francisco so I figured this one would be good too. So yes, we decided to do one of the most touristy thing ever. But I have no shame and it was so worth it! Me and my mom had so much fun finding our favorite people and posing with them.

     Day one was a success. We were actually really proud of ourselves for being able to get around the city for the first time with no help. Once back at the hotel we were just ready to lay down. Our feet were killing us and we had a whole day of walking again ahead of us.

It's March Already?!

     I cannot believe it is already March! Time is flying by. I have been home three months already and only have about 5 weeks left. It has been a while since I posted, but thats because not much has really been happening. I have just been hanging out and running around with my mom. It has been nice to relax these past few months but I am starting to be ready to get back to school. So here is whats happened that is worth telling you...
     I have survived yet another record breaking blizzard. My first was in Naperville back in 2011 and again this year in Connecticut. We recently got about 2 in a half feet of snow in one night. We were literally snowed in. It took about a day for the streets to finally get cleared. There was no way even in the truck that we could have gotten out.
      I finally got a job! It took a while but I am super excited. I will be substituting in an elementary school in a neighboring school district. I will be working in a program called Ready Set Go, it is a program for children that range on the Autism Spectrum. I will be assigned to one student and will follow them throughout the day and basically just assist them. So once all my paperwork and background checks are finalized I will be in the system to be called in.
     This next week my mom and I are taking a little vacation and staying in New York for two days. We have all sorts of exciting things planned, so stay tuned to see what we end up getting ourselves into!

Getting Crafty

     For all of you that know me, you know I go to a lot of concerts and different events. Something I have always done is keep the tickets of all the events I have gone to. The thing is I never have anywhere to put them. Recently my wallet has been getting stuffed with tickets and I have a ziplock bag filled in a drawer. A while ago I saw a picture of someone who put all of their movie stubs into a shadow box. I thought that that was a simple and fun way to keep my tickets all in one spot. I just never got around to it.
     Now that I am home from school my mom and I have been a little bit craft obsessed. Im not kidding we spent three hours at a JoAnn Fabric a few weeks ago. We have been making blankets and all sorts of fun things for Sarah's baby. Today we were out running some errands and had to pick up some things at a Michaels, so I decided that I was finally going to make my shadow box.
     It was so simple, I just picked out what size box I wanted and then decided I was going to back it in scrapbook paper. It was super cheap, the whole thing cost me a grand total of seven dollars flat! It was so easy to make all I did was glue the paper to the backing and then filled it with all my tickets. Its a fun display I can add to a desk wherever I am.

The finished product

I loved the way it turned out and who knows maybe one day I will have to get a bigger shadow box!

Sweet Home Chicago

     I was able to spend about a week in Chicago. I went to say goodbye to two of my best friends, Sam and Kazia, who are setting out to serve a year and a half mission for our church. I also got to go back to Naperville and see some great friends. It was so much fun going back and seeing how things had changed and how much has stayed the same since we left. Being back made me realize what great friends we made while there, and it also made me realize that the friends we made will always be our friends no matter how far away we are from each other. It was funny to be back and it was like I had never left. 

     We spent two days in the city. The weather cooperated very nicely, it was the middle of January and I wasn't wearing a coat. Both days it was about 55 degrees! We also had a surprise visit from Krista so we took her to all the fun tourist spots because it was her first time in Chicago. 

The Bean

Ice Skating at Millennium Park

     Then it was time for goodbyes, Kazia gave an awesome farewell talk which proved that she was so ready to go out and serve the people in Everett, Washington. I am so happy to have friends that are such a great example to me. Even though Im going to miss both Kazia and Sam so much but I know that they will be doing the Lords work, and really a year and a half will go by so quickly!

New York

     I love the being in the city! Whether it be Chicago or New York, I love it. I definitely miss it while Im at school in the very small town of Rexburg. I have always lived close to a major city and I could not imagine not. I love being surrounded by the skyscrapers, architecture, stores, and all different types of people. About a week ago my mom, dad, and I took a trip into New York. It was freezing but we still enjoyed it. We started off in Times Square and made our way to Rockefeller Center to see the tree.

     We walked around for a while and found a Pottbellys!Our favorite sandwich place from back in Chicago. We were ecstatic! We walked down Fifth Avenue and made our way to the One Direction store.haha I just wanted to check it out and see what all the hype was about. Turns out its kind of a big deal!

The wait line was 4 hours long!

     The only way I was waiting in that line just to get in was if the guys were actually in the store.haha But they weren't, people are just crazy enough to wait that long to just get in! So we took the subway to Chinatown. We had heard about a great little spot to get massages and we were determined to find it. After getting harassed by a numerous amount of people to buy Chanel and Louis Vuitton purses we finally found the place. We went up this little stairwell and into a little shop. We all got foot massages, it was actually really nice, especially after a long day of walking. It felt good to just sit and relax for a while. We then headed to the Museum of Modern Art. I am a big fan of modern art so I was super excited. I was really impressed with all of the collections. They had a lot of pieces I recognized. The special displays they had were Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh and The Scream by Edvard Munch. It was really cool to see such famous pieces of artwork from so long ago up close.