these days.

these days i can't decide if i'm coming or going
these days i'm so happy to be busy with notably noted orders
these days i'm excited about the opportunities everyone is discussing with the conocophillips split
these days i'm enjoying a night in with my boys ... a must needed evening in
these days i'm flattered that someone i met a year ago kept me in mind and gave me a call
these days i'm trying to decide if i will go to my ten year {1o year???} reunion tomorrow
these days i'm trying to figure out how to balance everything
these days i've been cooking and cleaning up a storm
these days i'm happier than i was a few weeks ago
these days i'm looking forward to the crisp clean air of fall {and wishing fall lasted longer}
these days i'm beginning to run again {and am enjoying it!}
these days i'm making sure to get to my google reader because it inspires me
these days i'm feeling old
these days i'm grateful for the true friends in my life
these days i'm enjoying men of a certain age and franklin & bash
these days i'm on my way to do a million things ... so goodbye for now

children's books.

"children's books?" you say. i love them. i always have, and i'm pretty sure i always will. i was reminded of this a couple of times this week. once while i was doing research for a new event and the second time while we were at the bookstore yesterday. i spent most of my time in the children's section of the store. i originally walked back there to continue my research ... but got so distracted by all of the wonderful books i had loved as a child and new books i felt sure i would love that i didn't really leave the section until travis was ready to head home.

here are a few i remember really popping out from the displays yesterday:

there were so many more, but i'm kind of drawing a blank right now. i just know i could have spent hours and hours reminiscing.

i want this dress!

i have been daydreaming of this dress for the past week or so ... and then i saw it on another sweet girl's blog, which reminded me of the dress again and made me want it even more.

image courtesy of anthropologie.com

tulsa is getting an anthropologie this month, and i couldn't be more excited! some of their pieces are a little too bohemian-chic for my tastes, but so many of their outfits are classic with a touch of trend. i love it.

it's the most sniffle-y time of the year.

on tuesday evening travis sniffled once and told me, "i think i'm getting sick." i told him that he wasn't and to think positive. on wednesday morning he woke up bright and early so he and lindsay could head to work in tulsa. at 9:30 i got a phone call from him. "do you think you can pick up lindsay from work today?" i had an afternoon full of designing, but no set appointments so i told him i could if he needed me to. "good. i'm coming home." david had walked in that morning to find him in the office with his head tilted back and the lights off.

he stayed in bed all day wednesday and thursday (so i knew he was really sick). thursday evening he was beginning to have cabin fever and was tired of lying down, so we headed out for a little fresh air and a drive around town. we didn't go anywhere particular and found ourselves back at the house before too long as being up caused travis to feel bad again.

i had just gotten in the house and changed into baggy, baggy sweats when he asked me if i felt like running to the store. i threw my hair up in a pony tail and away i went. i was certainly winning no beauty competitions that evening.

i picked up sudafed sever cold and sinus caplets for him and then grabbed a 2-liter of 7-up, because who doesn't like 7-up when they're sick? as i was making my way to the front of the store i saw the most glorious aisle. the spring candy aisle. travis and i both love starburst jelly beans, but they are only available in the spring until easter. then they disappear from the shelves for the rest of the year. tragic, really. i made a quick turn down the aisle. it was my lucky night! they were two bag for $2.00. score. i headed back to the house with my goodies in hand to cheer up the boy and hopefully nurse him back to health quickly. we spent the next two evenings snuggled up on the couch with a box of kleenex, our bags of jellybeans, and a stack of movies.

leartec solutions.

the picture is grainy & blurry, definitely not the best i've ever taken, but you get the idea ...

travis has talked about owning his own business for quite some time now. he really enjoys computers, and that's the field he is currently in, so it's likely that's the kind of business he will open when the time is right.

a while back i designed some collateral for him, but we never did anything with it. he has started doing computer repair work on the side this past year and we're crossing our fingers that this business will begin to grow gradually as well. if we had the means, he would be ready to leave his job and do the same kind of work for himself today. for now he will continue to spread the word and build his business on the side.

google reader.

i mentioned google reader in my last post. i said that i use it, but that's really not true. you see, i have 59 subscriptions, and it gets a little out of control trying to keep up with that many subscriptions. so yesterday and today i set out to edit a few of these subscriptions. which blogs do i really, really want to keep up with? which blogs really inspire me?

i just finished cropping my list ... i now have 38. {and that's not even counting the blogs of the four girls' i mentioned yesterday. you know, the ones i stalk repeatedly}. that's not great, but still pretty good compared to where i started. and ... i added a couple of new gems that i found in my weeding out process.

i am going to make an effort to cut back this list further. i will try to check out my reader on a daily basis so i can see which blogs i truly love and which ones i can live without.

i know i've done this before, but what are some of the top blogs you're following right now? maybe i need to check them out ... ;)

fourteen days of love. 13.

13. dave ramsey

you may wonder why i've not posted a lot of "things" i'm lusting over and ready to purchase. perhaps i should have started my fourteen days of love with this particular post.

for christmas this year, travis and i received dave ramsey's total money makeover from one of his aunts. dave talks a lot about the freedom that comes with being debt free. he's not against having and spending money and even coaches on wealth building, but his biggest lesson is that you don't need credit to do so.

we have made a committment to get rid of any debt we have so that we may experience that freedom. we are utilizing the debt snowball tool to get ahead of the curve on our payments and pay things off much faster than if we continued to only pay the minimum payment.

it's so funny. since getting the book, i have heard several exceedingly "wealthy" people who would like to experience this freedom ... and they weren't part of the dave ramsey program. one person was a very famous country singer who was more exited about getting debt free than he was about his latest single being at the top of the charts. the other was a husband on the real desperate housewives of orange county. (don't judge. i only saw about fifteen minutes of the program while waiting for the deep end). my point is that everyone wants to escape the clutches of debt, regardless of socioeconomical status.

so, while we're working toward this, i try not to spend a lot of time looking at the lovely new things i could add to my life. it just tempts me to buy it. =)

fourteen days of love. 12.

12. big sexy hair root boost


oh. my. gosh. as soon as i fixed my hair today, i knew exactly what my love post for the day would be. big sexy hair root boost. i constantly battle with my hair to not lie flat against my head. while i don't want the big hair of the '80s to return, i also don't want helmet head with my hair flying flat against my scalp.



i've been a big fan of the catwalk root boost for years. and while i would still recommend it, my heart was immediately taken with the results i got from the big sexy hair brand. goodbye flat locks ... hello gorgeous! {hear barbara streisand}

fourteen days of love. 10.

10. panini press

wow! only four more days to go after this. in the beginning i wondered if i would be able to write for fourteen days about things that i love right now, especially since i was also doing it for the notably noted blog, but now i look up and we're ten days in.

when amelia and i lived together, we {read she} had a panini press. we used that puppy every. single. day. okay, maybe not every day for three years ... but enough for it to feel like that.

this past christmas when my mom was trying to decide what to get me, she realized that i didn't actually own a panini press. i had done all this talking about how wonderful they are, how much we used it, yada yada yada, so she couldn't believe i didn't have one of my own.
i took a picture of the one my mother got me, plugged in on the kitchen counter ... but it's on my phone, and i don't have my phone by me. i thought about not posting this tonight, but i want to stay on track with my fourteen days of love ... so the buy.com version is what you get. =)

it took me a few weeks to remember the joy that is the panini press, but this past week i was reminded, and inspired!

one of my favorites that i've made is on earth grains thin wheat buns. i don't like a lot of bread and i rarely eat it, so these are wonderful for me. plus they're whole grain. i've put a layer of fresh sliced mushrooms on the bottom slice of the bun. next comes a slice of swiss cheese. then a slice or two of thinly sliced turkey breast. topped with a slice of fresh tomato and thinly sliced mozzarella. i put it on the press until the bread is nice and warm and the cheese is melted. then i open the sandwich back up, and add freshly smashed avacado.

mmm. delish.

fourteen days of love. 09.

09. photos of connor

of course i have always loved our little guy, from the moment he came to us at christmas {2008}. i've mentioned before that i've gotten so terrible about taking pictures. since we got our iPhones, however, i take quick little shots more often. usually still nothing of travis and me or any of the fun activities we're doing ... but it's a start right?

i had planned to upload a few more pictures, but again, they're not working at this time. i'll wait a bit and try again.

fourteen days of love. 08.

08. snow!

this winter we have seen more snow than we have in many years. there was the wonderful white christmas we had. a couple of weeks ago we had another beautiful snow, and i was able to capture the pictures above.

today, it's snowing again! i couldn't be more thrilled. it's a gorgeous snow, too. the kind with big, fat snowflakes. they're lovely. i have a few pictures that i've taken today with my iphone that i'm trying to post below ... but at this time, they're not cooperating. if they ever come through, i'll post them here as well.

okay, they worked! the first picture below is my favorite. it's my parents' magnolia tree and i think it's gorgeous. certainly not anywhere near what jen could do, but beautiful still. =) in the last three pictures i was trying to capture just how big and fluffy these flakes are ... but i don't think the phone camera did them any kind of justice.

happy winter!!!

fourteen days of love. 06.

06. pencil skirts

i'm actually a little surprised at myself. while i enjoy pretty dresses and getting dolled up on occasion, i've never just loved wearing skirts for work ... much to my mother's chagrin. every time i put on a suit, she asks why do i always wear pants; why don't i wear skirts more.

lately, however, i've been in such a mood to wear skirts. especially cute pencil skirts like these, and i don't even have an office to go into! unfortunately, due to my lack of ever wanting to wear skirts in a professional environment ... i own only one. i've worn it several times, but it has lost it's appeal and i'm ready for a new one.

oh! and i also don't usually like to wear nylons {again my mother and i go 'round and 'round on this one} but i've really been leaning toward fishnet stockings {with the tiniest holes; those with larger netting are definitely not appropriate} and herringbone stockings.

what do you think, though? are nylons or stockings a must? stacy london and katie couric don't think so, but i never know.

fourteen days of love. day 05.

05. remote control access

okay, as i type today's favorite, i have to laugh just a little bit. it's definitely travis's tech-y side rubbing off on me. i absolutely love remote control access to my desktop from anywhere in the world.

as you know, this past year has been a little crazy for us. on top of notably noted, i also work for sixbyte + i still consult with companies regarding their client appreciation & retention programs. i am back and forth between tulsa a lot, plus with my family owning the pool hall and spending most of their time there, i'm away from my computer in the evenings a lot too.

since my laptop died, i do all of my designing + bookkeeping on the desktop at the house. not very portable. when i had the laptop i could bring it with me to tulsa. to the pool hall. to friends' homes. to trunk shows. just about anywhere i needed to be, i could bring the laptop.

now, i still have to go each of those places (or spend all my days locked up in the upstairs office secluded like rapunzel in her tower).

travis showed me the delightful tool that is mstscn and i able to access my desktop from any other computer. fabulous! it looks as if i am sitting at my own computer when i remote in, but i can be hundreds of miles away. a little geeky that this is one of my favorite things? sure. but it has been a lifesaver.

it's times like this i'm so grateful for technology!

fourteen days of love. day 04.

04. jane austen

so i'm not quite sure how this happened, but i had never read any of jane austen's books. it's really quite surprising, especially with all the reading i used to do.

when we got our iphones, i immediately started checking out all the apps available and came across books. i rarely get to read {i think the last time i read an actual book was when travis and i went on vacation to tennessee last summer and i read the little lady agency books!}; i thought it might be fun to download a book to read whenever i'm sitting around waiting {because that happens so often} instead of incessantly blogstalking waiting for the authors to update {now that really does happen often. pathetic. i know}.

the first book i downloaded was pride & prejudice. i. loved. it. again, surprising that i had never read it before. i had watched the miniseries several years ago and liked it okay. and then more recently i had seen the movie a few times. i loved the movie. in this instance, i'm actually a little glad that i had seen the movie before reading the book {usually i do it the other way around}. i was able to better visualize the story {sometimes the reading is a little different from novels written today}. i was able to keep up with who was speaking. funny enough, however, i did not picture any of the actors as i was reading the book.

i finished pride and prejudice in a few days and have now started on sense and sensibility. i've not had the opportunity to read through this one as quickly, but am still enjoying it.

i think after i read it i will check out the movie that came out a few years ago. i never did see it and am looking forward to it.

fourteen days of love. day 03.

03. magazines

i don't often get to read magazines these days, but when i do, two of my favorites are southern living & real simple.
they inspire me to be suzy-homemaker. i especially love the recipes and meal-planning in southern living. the recipes change with the season {as do most magazines, i suppose}. they remind me of my mom and her southern hospitality and meals she made when we were growing up.

real simple is just all around wonderful. home decor. entertaining. meal planning. organization. fashion. everything a girl could need.

definitely guilty pleasures ... and i love every moment of them.

ha! i just thought of a funny trait about me ... i can't read a magazine out of order. even if there is an article i am particularly interested in. nope. i have to start from the beginning and read from cover to cover. weird, i know.

fourteen days of love. day 02.

02. blogging
okay. okay. so my first post for fourteen days of love was posted earlier today ... but i'm a day late, so i'm catching up.


you may find my next item funny ... because i have tended to neglect ours lately, but my number 02 favorite thing right now is the blog world. i have a couple of people that i stalk oh, a million times a day, at least.




thecollierfam: a private blog that tells the story of my sweet friend jen and her growing family. jen is the one who really introduced me and got me involved in the blogging community about a year and eight months ago.


talesofthetrees: i've decided that megan {the blog's author} needs to quit her job and do nothing but write new blogs. all. day. long. i'm not sure how i became so obsessed with her blog, but she always has the funniest stories and the greatest followers and blogs that she follows.


prlindsay: another private blog, my "twin" andy's website ... though like me she has begun to neglect her blog a bit, so i have to wait ages to read anything new.


justjennyproffitt: another one of the few friends from high school that i keep in touch with. i never get to see jenny. this way i still feel involved in her life and in the know.


hostess with the mostess: this site never gets old. i can sit and look at it for hours, though i never get to.


100 layer cake: oh. my. gosh. gorgeous. everyday. i am never disappointed by this site.


and last but not least ...


notablynoted: i finally got the notably noted blog up and running and while it still has a long way to go, i have big plans for this puppy! i hope that people start following and enjoy the posts that i publish.

fourteen days of love. day 01.

each year my dear, dear friend jen does "fourteen days of love" in february. i've decided to take a page out of her book {a screen out of her blog??} and do the same. i'm supposed to do one post each day for fourteen of my favorite things that i'm just loving right now. i think it will be a lot of fun and i encourage you to do the same.

01. iPhone
to start 2010, travis and i both got iPhones. i am surprised how much i really do love mine. i was never part of the iPhone craze, but when christopher {our boss at sixbyte} offered to buy them for us and do away with additional work cell phones, we said yes, please!



these are a few of the features i love the most:

email on my phone again. surfing the internet as if i were on a laptopdesktop. a phone camera that actually takes decent pictures. the loseit app that tracks my caloric intake and exercise. downloading books like pride & prejudice and sense & sensibility. (i had never read either). checking out the upcoming weather with the push of a button.

all things rhiannon.

okay, so maybe not all things. i have been tagged to do this before, but i have never done it. i'm supposed to list seven random things that no one knows about me. let's see if i can come up with seven ...

01. hello my name is rhiannon, and i have a problem. any time i come across a new blog that i like, i am forced {okay, so maybe no one is twisting my arm}, to start at the very beginning of the blog, even if the person has been blogging for several years. i just can't stand not starting at the beginning. and most blogs are not very user-friendly for this type of reading.

02. hmmm, i'm only on number two and already i am stumped. i'm trying to think of things that i think no one else {or no one who reads my blog at least} knows. okay, here's something. my hair color is, and always has been my natural color. while i have it professionally cut and styled, i have never had highlights, lowlights, or any kind of color change.

03. i loved watching the andy griffith show with my dad when we were growing up. it actually brings back a lot of good memories of my childhood when i hear the infamous whistle. i also think of tuna fish salad sandwiches on whole wheat bread, ruffles potato chips, a half eaten dill pickle, and pace picante sauce. it was a favorite lunch of my dad's and it seemed like he ate it often while watching the show. he almost always had a mountain dew that he drank out of a mason jar. ... this sounds more like something about my dad than something about me!

04. i like having a unique name, despite the trouble it often causes me ... try answering to the name "RY-uh-non" gracefully. i like it so much in fact that when i dream of being famous {like that's ever going to happen}, i consider using the nickname my mom almost gave me before naming me rhiannon -- Dani. in fact, my etsy shop was almost named dani's designs. {i know other rhiannon's exist out there. i've just never met another}.

05. i love playing games {board games, cards, etc.} but i hate playing any game that really requires me to think {i.e. trivial pursuit, etc}. i consider myself a somewhat intelligent individual, but if i am going to play a game, it's because i absolutely do not want to think any more. or make any decisions. i just want to have a good time. pictionary is my all time favorite. i rarely lose. :)

06. i have been thinking about babies a lot lately ... and surprisingly, i find that i still don't find i'm ready to have a baby {which is good since i'm still not married!}. i was thinking about it because it just seems all of my friends have babies. i'm not saying that i don't ever want to do this, i just find it surprising that i don't have this deep, burning desire that every other woman i know seems to possess. everyone within my age range give or take 3 years {or even more} already have a least one baby, are ready for their next one, may already have two, or if they don't have one, they are anxiously awaiting the day they can announce to everyone that they are pregnant. i think travis and i will {someday} make great parents. and we still have a year until we are married and can even begin to consider thinking about babies. i just find it odd that my "clock" hasn't kicked in and. is there something wrong with me??

07. and that reminds me, here's something i bet a lot of you don't know. everyone i meet {okay, everyone is an exaggeration} tells me that i am going to have twins. it happened to me again today! and in the past year and a half, i've even had two completely random strangers tell me the same thing! how odd, right?

so now maybe you know a few more things about me that you didn't know ... and probably a few that you wish you didn't! i know they were weird and random; i was just trying to think of things i hadn't ever really told anyone. i hope that you jump on board a post seven random things about yourself!

obsession: google reader.

my good friend jen collier introduced me to the world of google reader. i immediately fell in love with this handy tool (isn't google terrific?). admittedly, i've gone a little too crazy with it. for those of you who don't know, google reader is a tool that allows you to follow all of your public blogs in one place. when you access reader, it shows you exactly which blogs have new postings, and how many postings have been added since you last checked. this is much easier than checking each of the blogs you follow multiple times a day to catch the latest news and designs. i also love that i can "star" my favorite posts and it saves them for me in one place for safekeeping. this has been especially handy as i've comes across different pieces of inspiration for the wedding. in an effort to get you addicted as well, i've decided to post the blogs i follow. (granted, many of them are wedding blogs, but there are also food, photography, and entertaining/hosting blogs). here's to being inspired!

(each of the blogs below include a hyperlink ... it just doesn't look like it on the blog. simply click on the name of the blog in which you are interested, and you should be taken right there.)

wedding blogs:
from i will to i do
grey likes weddings
little white book
100 layer cake
idiy
my diy wedding
intimate weddings
2000 dollar budget wedding
a very chocolate wedding
bridetide.com blog
inspriations & creations
michele rago
perfect bound
snippet & ink
something old something new
style me pretty: the ultimate wedding blog
the brides cafe
the brides guide: ideas from the editors of martha stewart
the preppy wedding
vintage glam weddings
wedding chicks
weddingbee
{ritzy bee blog}

entertaining, food, etc:
hostess with the mostest
hip hostess
paper & cake
ilovelolliblog
swanky tables
the tomkat studio
the cooking photographer
the party dress
cupcakes and cosmos
head of the table
most likely late
my baking addiction
giverslog.com

photography:
jenny collier photography
color me katie

nesting & home design:
grey likes nesting
creature comforts
lucky me!
design*sponge
glamour this!
the vintage moth

my friends' public blogs:
tales of the trees
conversations

02 jun to 04 jun: vacation

we were pretty tired by the time that we left the smokey mountains. in fact, the trip from the mountains back to lou's house is when i spent the most time asleep in the car. i couldn't keep my eyes open. when we got back that night, we stayed in with cyle and watched movies. wednesday and thursday we did much of the same. living with my family, we're not used to having any time to ourselves. (don't get me wrong. we appreciate all that our families do for us, and enjoy being around them, but their households are much louder than mine and travis's apartment ever was). it was nice to just relax in a quiet environment. we drove around and explored the town of oak ridge. one day we went to the bookstore, and i found a new series to read: hester browne's little lady agency series. it's definitely a guilty pleasure, and i enjoyed every moment of it.

the bookstore didn't have the first book in the series, so i started off with the second.

travis made fun of me because i read the book in about a day. i have always loved to read and it has been quite some time since i've really sat down and read anything that i really enjoy reading. when we got home from vacation, we immediately went and bought the first one

our bookstore didn't have the third book when we purchased this one, so travis ordered it for me on amazon. i blew through the first one, so i started on the second one again while waiting for the third one to arrive. when the third (and final, i think) book of the series came in, i didn't read it as quickly just because i knew when i was finished with it, i would have nothing else ... which is actually probably a good thing. when i have books like that, all i want to do is read them. i can't wait to find out what happens, and i feel like i am hanging out with old friends. now that i have finished all of the novels, i am getting more work finished again!