independence day recap

I had a super long weekend 

because I had Thursday & Friday off from work.  

Yay for a FOUR day weekend! 

This weekend was just perfect. 

I will try to be as brief as possible and not bore you with too many details. 

Thursday: 

I had to do a fun patriotic manicure. 

Many of you know about my LOVE of fireworks already. 

This year I got to see fireworks two days in a row. 

Once on Thursday and then again on Friday! 

Wednesday was D's sister's 18th birthday and we celebrated on Thursday. 

We went to a neighboring small town 

and had supper and watched their fireworks. 

Friday: 

I baked an apple pie and brownies 

for D's family gathering. 

At the family gathering, 

we grilled hamburgers & hot dogs 

and spent all afternoon swimming in the pool. 

We capped off a great day by going to see more fireworks! 

Our view waiting on the fireworks show

Saturday: 

D and I went to his cousin's house and went tubing. 

They also had a giant swing off of a dock. 

It was so much fun! 

However, my arms are still killing me. 

I think it's possible they may fall off. ;) 

Sunday: 

D and I had a lazy Sunday morning, 

drinking coffee, eating cinnamon rolls, 

and watching Wimbledon. 

We were both cheering for Federer, but Djokovic won. 

It was still an excellent match to watch. 

Whew! I think I summed that up pretty well. 

I saw most of your recaps yesterday 

and everyone seemed to have an excellent Fourth as well. 

I know it's a day late, 

but I am linking up with Picture Practice. 

apartment tour -- library & bedroom

Part two of my apartment tour is my library & bedroom. 
You can see Part One here. 

The library is my FAVORITE room in my apartment. 

When I was apartment searching, 

two bedrooms was one of the only requirements. 

I have to have a space for all of my books. 

The library is also the office, craft room, & music room. 

I am slowly learning to play the piano and 

D keeps a guitar there as well. 

On to the pictures: 

Library ... 

One of my favorite parts of the library is my gallery wall. 

My best friend, Ams, is an incredibly talented artist. 

{previously gushed about here} 

She has sketched a ton of my Dr. Seuss books. 

So, I framed a few of my favorites and created a gallery wall. 

It turned out amazing! 

click on the picture for better detail

click on the picture for better detail

click on the picture for better detail

My bedroom is the one room that needs the most work decor wise. 

I just don't even know what to do in this room. 

Bedroom ... 

I wish I would have gotten better pictures of this.
I turned a desk into a vanity, where I do my hair & makeup. 

I think I need more scarves ;) 

There you have it, 

my apartment. 

It is small and cozy 

and I love it! 

The big open living area makes it great for entertaining. 

Well, my kind of entertaining which means no more than six people allowed. 

I have already warned D that I will never want to move again. 

Linking up with 

 The Secret Blogger Club

&

SUYL: 4th of July Traditions

Today I am linking up with Kelly's Korner 

Show Us Your Life series. 

This week the topic is 

4th of July traditions. 

Independence Day
is seriously my favorite holiday of the year. 
I love it more than Christmas and Thanksgiving. 

I have always been very patriotic 
and I love anything to do with history. 

But also on a completely different level, 
you get FIREWORKS 
and no obligatory family dinners. 

What is not to love about July 4th?! 

I have never really had any traditions. 
Unless you count mandatory viewing of fireworks as a tradition. 
I have seriously driven hours to see fireworks 
when my local show has been cancelled because of weather. 

D's family, on the other hand, does have traditions. 
Every year the entire family, 
I'm talking 40-50 people, 
gathers at D's grandparents' pool house. 
There is always food, fun, and lots of swimming. 
Definitely my kind of people! 

D and I almost missed fireworks last year because of rain, 
on our FIRST Independence Day together. 
We hadn't been dating quite 3 months yet. 
It was flooding 
where we initially planned on watching fireworks. 
So, D literally sped to get back to town 
and just as we arrived the 
first fireworks were shot off. 

Close call!

My plans this year are to hang out with D's family, 
eat, swim, and watch fireworks. 
Sounds like a perfect July 4th to me! 

all images courtesy of google image search

apartment tour - main living area

I moved into my new apartment in February. 

So, I figured it was time to give my blog friends a tour. 

I actually took the pictures when I hosted wine club in April. 

I know I am a procrastinator. :) 

I took way too many pictures. 

In order to prevent picture overload, 

I am going to split the tour between two posts. 

This first post will cover the main living area: 

kitchen, living room, & bathroom. 

The second post will cover the bedroom & library. 

Now on to the pictures ... 

My kitchen and living area are one big open space, 

which I love. 

Front to back view of living area

Back to Front view of living area 

Kitchen details ... 

Living room details ... 

Library through the right door,
bedroom through the left door

You can see the laundry room beyond the couch 

Bathroom ... 

I am still in the process of decorating. 

I think I have finally figured out what to do with the wall above the couch. 

I just have to find all of the pieces I am looking for. 

Stay tuned for part 2 of the tour. 

SUYL: all about hair

Today I am linking up with Kelly's Korner 

Show Us Your Life series. 

This week the topic is 

all about hair. 

I am a pretty low maintenance girl. 

My favorite outfit is jeans & a tshirt, 

I only wear makeup when necessary, 

and dressing up is a hassle. ;) 

However, my hair is pretty high maintenance. 

I have always had long hair. 

Currently, it is a little more than halfway down my back. 

I think the key to having long hair is to have healthy hair. 

I always get comments on how healthy my hair looks 

and my stylist says I have the healthiest head of hair she works on. 

Now, I think part of this is genetics. 

I have naturally straight hair so I do not have to use a lot of heat on it daily. 

Oh how I have always wanted curly hair. 

But the other part is product. 

I use quality products on my hair and probably spend way too much money. 

I figure it balances out with the money I save on makeup. 

I have also never colored my hair either so I save on that expense as well. 

I have used the same products on my hair for about 5 years or so now. 

I found the perfect mix for my hair! 

Here is my laundry list of hair products that I use daily: 

S Factor Smoothing Shampoo & Conditioner 

It's A 10 Leave-In Conditioner Plus Keratin 

S Factor Smoothing Lusterizer 

S Factor Dream Drops 

I am always interested in hair products other people swear by. 

What is your favorite hair product? 

***all pictures found on Amazon.com***

picture practice: summer

Today I am linking up with 

Kelli at Just Beachy 

for Picture Practice. 

This week's theme was summer. 

So far, this summer has been full of weekend pool days. 

The only tolerable way to deal with the South GA heat & humidity. 

With a little bit of grilling and summer storm watching, 

it has been a great summer so far! 

How have you been spending your summer so far?