Most of the pictures I take every year do not end up posted to either my blog or any of my social media pages. That is one thing I would like to get better about but we will see if that actually happens or not. While I may be bad at taking and posting a ton of pictures I am relatively good at living in the moment! Here are some of my favorite pictures from this year.

 Buster used my ball of yarn as a pillow.

 Henry trying to get me to move.

 That look...too cute not to include!

 DNA hats for the March for Science.

 A trip to visit friends in La Crosse! I do miss the food. 

 Bobby and I learned we are really not march activists...so we got a fabulous lunch. 

 Sun set on over the Mississippi River

 Always loved this view!

 High water over rapids...Getting to explore with someone new!

 Where I fell in love.

 Where he eventually broke my heart.

 Moved to a new city...and trying all the resturaunts!

 Exploring my new home. My brother was with this weekend.

 Meeting new friends!

 RIP Droid Mini you made it 3 wonderful years!

 Home for Christmas...I always love the tree!

 Buster is King of the ripped wrapping paper.

 Christmas Selfie...First one with my new phone!

And Henry...once again trying to get me to move so he could have my spot. 

Overall there were a lot of ups and downs this year. There are a lot of things I am proud of, like finally finding a job, and I learned a lot of lessons. Overall I am not sad to see this year go. I am looking forward to 2018 and hope it will be a great year. 

Have a fun and safe New Years Eve

~ Katy

At the beginning of October I moved into my first post-college apartment because I finally got a real job! I have worked multiple jobs during and after college but this is my first job working in the field I want to be in and using my degree. 

After moving and settling in a bit I have started to realize there are some things I want and need for my apartment. My kitchen is super small and there is really no room for a Keurig. Thankfully my mom recently got a new kettle so I was able to take her old one and have a relatively easy way to boil water. To make coffee I got a Bodum French Press. 

The style is Eileen and I got it on sale for $14.00. 

I also got some coffee to go with it. I found "When Coffee Meets Vanilla Glorious Things Happen" from The Village Coffee House. 

Personally I would give it a 3.5 out of 5, but for $4.99 how could I go wrong. 

I also realized I need a cup of some kind to keep my tooth brush in. I wasn't in love with any of the ones in the bath section; I did, however, find a thick glass in the normal kitchen wares section. 

It is by AmiciHome and I got it for $2.00.

I am finally starting to truly settle in an most things are finding their place. I also finally got internet in my apartment yesterday but did pretty good with only having internet at work. It was kind of nice to have limited access to social media for awhile. 

What are your favorite places to shop for home decor? 

~ Katy

I have always been a creator. From the time I was a little kid arts and crafts has always been my favorite thing to do. Over the years this developed mainly into jewelry making and knitting, but I dabble in other crafts as well. One of my favorite things about this is finding inspiration for crafting everywhere I go. 

Magazines and the internet, especially pinterest, have always been a constant source of inspiration. One of my current favorite Pinterest board is my Colors pinterest board which I have been using to inspire color combinations for various things. 

I have also always been the type of person that takes pictures of seemingly random things everywhere. On a recent day trip to a historic site I took multiple random pictures of designs and textures. 

I spent several minutes trying to take the perfect picture of this door knob. The patern on it is absolutly stunning.

I liked the way the wood was angled for this door as well as the nail heads. It is a wonderful reminder that changing the angle of a line can completely change the look of something. 

Comment about what inspires you! (Pictures, quotes, books, everyday items)

~ Katy

I love navy blue, really just all blues in general. I know navy blue isn't technically a neutral, but I feel whites and blacks often look to harsh on my pale skin tone. For this reason I have a lot of navy and other blues in my closet. 

This dress from Old Navy has been one of my favorites this spring and summer. I got it this spring and unfortunately it is no longer available online but they do have a similar one. The denim jacket is also from Old Navy, I picked it up a few years ago but they have similar ones every year. The sandals I got at a local shoe store and are by Jellypop shoes. I will have links to similar items at the bottom of this post. 

For the stack I wore with this outfit I wore a bracelet I picked up at Old Navy on clearance. I always check their jewelry and have found some of my favorite costume piece for a phenomenal price. I am also wearing the The Elephant Charm Bangle, in Rafaelian Gold by Alex and Ani. 

The watch I am wearing is the Frankie 35 in Zebrawood and Navy from Jord Watches. I recently won a contest hosted by Emily Selby from A Fashion Statement Blog, I am in love with her blog and instagram. I am planning a post on this watch with more details soon. 

Links:

Similar Old Navy Dress : Printed Sleeveless Swing Dress for Women - Currently on Sale

Denim Jacket: Denim Jacket for Women - Currently on Sale

Similar Sandals: JELLYPOP Gitane Sandles

Alex and Ani Bracelet: The Elephant Charm Bangle

Jord Watch: Frankie 35 in Zebrawood in Navy

A Fashion Statement Blog - By : Emily Selby

Happy first day of Summer! One of my favorite things to do on summer mornings is to sit outside and read. Every year I come up with a book list, which as always is overly ambitious and usually takes me into the fall to finish.

This year I have seven books picked out. All of which have been on my to read list (or reread) for quite awhile.

I have two classic books picked out. 

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald which was by far my favorite book I read for high school english. 

1984 by George Orwell which is a book I have always wanted to read. 

I have two mystery books, both of which my mom has read and liked which is how I found out about them. 

The Woman in the Photo by Mary Hogan

The Forgotten Room by Karen White, Beatriz Williams, and Lauren Willing

And of course my favorite type of book to read in the summer is girly books. I really enjoy books like this to break up more serious reading, which I frequently do. Girly books were pretty much the only type of book I read in college to break up the text book and journal paper reading. My choices for this summer are: 

Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella - I absolutely love the Shopaholic Series so I am very excited for this book. 

The Unfortunates by Sophie McManus

Very Classy by Derek Blasberg

What are your reading plans for the summer?

~ Katy

Flipping through Cozy Knits by Tanis Gray I fell in love with the Raindrops and Rivulets pattern. I found the texture of the body of the hat absolutely gorgeous, and knew almost instantly that I had to make it. The next trick was to find the perfect yarn. 

The top of the hat ends up looking like a bobbled rain drop. While it does make the hat look a little boxy, I think it is a different way for finishing the top of a hat but is rather cute. 

Overall I really enjoyed making this hat and think I would make this pattern again. 

~ Katy

This past weekend I went with my family to pick out flowers for our patio. During the summer my mom and I like to drink mojitos and it can sometimes be hard to find mint at our local grocery store so for the last two summers I have gotten mint plants. While looking for a mint plant I decided I wanted some other edible plants as well.



So today I dragged my brother back to Home Depot for edible plants, pots, and some potting soil. Thanks Ed for lifting and moving potting soil for me.

I got home and put some rocks in the bottom of the pots for drainage. Put in some potting soil, that was quite a challenge until I was about two thirds of the way through the bag. I then planted the plants based on the directions that came with them. 

If my plants work out well I am hoping to make salsa!

~ Katy

For those of you who may not know, or may have ended up here by accident, a UFO in knitting is an Un-Finished Object. To this day I have never had this many at one time as I try to keep all my projects in the Work In Progress (WIP) phase. Well anyway I currently have four UFO as well as two work in progresses. I know to many people this may seem small but to me it is a lot and one of them is a rather large project. 

I have two pairs of mittens about half finished both of which are part of 12 Months of Mittens. 12 Months of Mittens has started out rough but will hopefully get better as the year progresses. 

January's Mittens 

I have yet to start the second snowflake mitten, and this mitten does not have a thumb.

February's Mittens

I have the cuff of the second mitten started neither have thumbs. I am planning on adding these back into my rotation soon. 

I also have the Raindrops & Rivulets hat started which hasn't been picked up or thought about in probably a month. It is a pretty pattern and the yarn is gorgeous but I got side tracked by other projects. 

For the March for Science I also did several of the cable version of the GENEie Hat pattern from ChemKnits. I was able to finish three of them but still have a few left. The one I have started is out of gorgeous teal 100% alpaca yarn.


Another hat which I believe I started last spring or summer that has never been completed is a Flower-Motif Benie. Thankfully I haven't needed the needles for another project because it has seriously been sitting for months.

I am also still working on the Babies and Bears sweater, I have both sides done. Now I need to Kitchener stitch the two halves together and add on a boader and coller. I has been very easy for me to get side tracked from this project because it is rather hard to see progression in the pattern.

My current plan is to limit the number of proejcts I start until I get some of these done. This has included some yarn buying freezes until I get certain projects done. So far it is working and I plan on updating on the projects I have finished soon.

~ Katy