4 Simple Goals: Photography

If you remember a little while ago I posted about 4 simple goals I wanted to accomplish before 2013. Here is one of what I am sure will be many follow up posts to come. Since I started these goals I have spent a lot more time just enjoying life. Taking photos of the beauty that surrounds me, and even trying new recipes(post on that coming soon). I highly recommend setting a few goals to complete before the new year, so far it's been nothing but rewarding! Happy Fall everyone!

1890's Weekend

In some towns they hold huge celebrations for the fourth of July, or Christmas, or Thanksgiving... well my town dedicates an entire weekend to celebrating the 1890's! It's so big someone even created an entire website for it! For music student's 1890's weekend means Marching Band and Prism Concert. My mom and sister came up for the concert to hear me sing a duet with my friend Derek, and in the concert choir's performance of The Laughing Song! I had them get here early enough to experience some of the magic of 1890's weekend... that way the next time they make fun of me for talking about it, they will have experienced it first hand.

Mom and Gabby got into town right before the Parade!

 Our Mascot: the Mansfield Mountie

 The Band!

 The nice part about small towns is knowing everyone 

well enough to scream "sing something" at a group of guys 

and have them come over during a parade and serenade you!

 Thank you my Phi Mu Alpha Boys!

 I melt every single time!

 Littlest cowboy ever? I vote yes!

 After the parade was the fair. 

I don't have many pictures from it aside from the face-painting ones.

SAI did face-painting as our fundraiser!

 I painted vines on Mom!

 A Butterfly for Gabby!

 A tiger on Josh!

 And Gabby painted a girl tiger on me!

 After my painting shift we splurged on a Bloomin' Onion!

 Tigers like bloomin' onions!

 After the fair portion we went to the football game, 

but only to hear the Marching Band play at half time!

 

When we got there, 

we had the most awkward thing happen. 

We realized the Mansfield Mounties 

were playing the Princeton Tigers.... 

Oops!

 Despite our appearance of support for the other team- 

we cheered our band on during the show!

After the show we explored the Allen Hall Building, got some Night and Day, went to the Cider Mill, stopped briefly at the library sale, went to the Prism Concert(I performed!), and grabbed some dinner after while watching the fireworks out the window. It was a wonderful day spent with family and friends. I can't wait to go home to visit all of my family for Fall Break! 

Back to School

Welcome back to school everyone! 

Fall is my absolute favorite season, and part of that is because of the back to school hype. As a child one of my favorite pastimes was back-to-school shopping with my mom. Now, in my last year of undergrad I still participate in the back-to-school shopping, but find myself buying housewares and textbooks! I still do buy a few notebooks or folders for old times sake- this year I even bought ones with cute designs. 

In honor of my favorite time of year I wanted to share the joy with some wonderful fall/back to school ideas! 

#1 challenge of my year- eating. Healthy- cheap- yummy- food seems to not exist! But I found an article this morning with 40 healthy school lunch ideas! 

(Sure they are meant for children- but I certainly am still a child at heart!)

Although food and meal planning is important nothing is quite as nice as some back to school shopping for my favorite items! 

My biggest-most thought out-researched buy is always my planner. Generally I go to at least 5 stores before I find anything that could be deemed as suitable. This year I started in the place I ended last year- Barnes and Noble. :) My planner is great- one week in and I am totally loving the nifty layout and convenient stickers that came with it!

Once the planner is purchased it is always a good idea to beef up your desk and office supplies! I would look around online for some inspiring ideas- and then find it cheaper or make it yourself!

Now with every change of the season I like to redo/reorganize/ and rethink my space, life, wardrobe, etc. 

Storage space is always an issue and I have just recently reorganized a lot of my room! 

1 nifty idea I came up with** I had a hanging shoe rack that clips to a bar of a closet- holds about 11 pairs or so, it took up too much space that I needed to hang dresses/coats etc. The width of the cloth rack I found fit exactly under the side of my bed between the poles of the bed frame... TADA! lift up the bed skirt and you have 11 pairs of organized shoes... already at foot level! 

I found an article on book storage under the stairs and thought the idea was wonderful! Check it out and be inspired!

After reorganize- why not be inspired with some fall fashions/essentials? Check out Ruche <3 one of my favorite online stores! They even have a cute Chalkboard Basics section!

Reorganize/Redo/Rethink! 

Rethinking your lifestyle is a good thing to do every now and then! I found a cool site with tons of green back to school ideas- everything from practical/material changes to theoretical changes! They even have a whole section of ideas for college students and professors- and if you happen to be a teacher there is a section for that too!

Last but not least I think with every season you should strive to create, to try something new, and do something you love. For me my fall goals are to create a piece of art, sew myself a skirt, and learn how to play the Ukulele!

 

A great idea for some new art work with a back to school feel...

 Find out how easy this project is here!

Happy fall everyone I hope I have inspired some of you and at least made you smile!