Good morning! Thanks for all of that feedback on my post about bangs. My appointment had to be rescheduled so my hair is still the same and I still don’t know what to do with it! I think I’ll end up getting some form of bangs. I always think back to that episode of Sabrina the Teenage Witch when Jenny impulsively cuts off all of her hair and then freaks out. And Sabrina says, “Don’t worry Jenny, hair grows!” And they all start chanting, “Hair grows!” It’s a funny scene in my mind, but recently I looked up that episode and it was sorta lame. Oh, the nineties. Here’s a bit of what has been going on lately: 1. Anthropologie is beautiful these days! I know, shocking right? It’s always gorgeous. I especially love how the store smells during spring time. 2. I have been spending extra time with Copper. See how his head is bigger than mine? He’s a giant and we don’t even know if he is finished growing. I tried to teach him how to shake last week, and how to behave in general. He’s such a rascal, but he’s so dang cute I can never stay mad for long. 3 & 4. I took so many clothes to Freestyle a couple weeks ago and made some much needed cash. Then, I decided I would sell some clothes online. So, I’ve been working on that. :) 5. But I put the “shop my closet” project on hiatus when I started my flower projects. My blog design, the flowers, and WordPress.org are all tied together which is why I feel like I’m working at a turtle’s pace. So. Much. Coding. And so many decisions… 6. On Friday night, I had a sleepover with my two sisters. They are my world. We have so many amazing times together and sometimes I just feel like they’re my little besties. Adalin and I sang a bunch of Natasha Bedingfield karaoke while Danali practiced her Danish (what the heck? she’s obsessed right now). We wanted to make brownies but someone (Danali) thought it would be funny to punch the bag of brownie mix, so we ended up cleaning forever and ever. “And no one will ever know about this right?” said Danali. Haha. We ended the night in a king sized bed, watching Hercules. Perfect. 7. This weekend, I threw a tiny and belated Galentine’s Day party with a couple of friends. We sat around, drank champagne, ate pizza, and talked about girly stuff. After everyone left, I sat outside by the fire and wrote for a long time. It was so therapeutic and much needed. I need to make a habit of having solo fires. 8. Yesterday was the Davis Flea Market! I participated. It was alright. I’d do it again, but I would bring tons of non-vintage clothing and make it all real cheap. 9. Lastly… Girl Scout Cookies! I asked the girl scout if she had Samoas and she was like, “Yeah, but these are called Caramel Delites because we have a different baker. It’s so stupid because, like, no one is ever going to call them that!” Seriously. They’re called Samoas and that is that. Well, I hope you all have the best Monday possible. :) Make the most of today! I hope it’s beautiful where you are.

For the past week, flowers have been my entire world. I have always been in love with flowers but I never considered myself to be skilled in arranging flowers, gardening, etc. Suddenly, I am really hoping I can acquire those skills. Maybe it’s because spring is in the air. Here in California, we’re in a terrible drought. It’s so bad. On the one hand, I’m like “who cares! I love the sun!” but on the other hand, I know it’s awful and I’m hoping for rain like everyone else. Since it’s something I can’t control, I kind of just have to say “c’est la vie” and embrace this time I have to explore new outdoor places (flower markets).

A couple weekends ago, I researched the heck out of flower sources. I didn’t want to drive to any nurseries or flower shops until I knew what they had. The ladies of Studio Choo (authors of The Flower Recipe Book!) directed me to the SF Flower Market. Oh my goodness. I didn’t know such a place existed… I am pretty sure it’s what my heaven will be like.

home depot/my backyard/ace hardware/home depot

A couple of other places I went for flowers included Trader Joe’s, Ace Hardware, and the Home Depot. When I was little, I complained so much every time my mom took me to the Home Depot because I thought it was suuupper boring. Apparently, I was couldn’t see or smell when I was young because my trip there last week was amazing. There were so many good flowers everywhere! And trees!

san francisco flower market

The reason I went searching for flowers in the first place is because of a project that I can’t wait to share. It’s working out well, but I still have a ways to go.

If you’d like to follow along on my flower adventures, you can follow my instagram @earlgreyjenn.

These are a few things that I love.

I have noticed that many bloggers are posting about authenticity and how what you see on blogs, instagram, pinterest, etc. is not the whole picture of one’s life. People only want to display the fun, colorful parts. To be honest, sometimes I get discouraged seeing beautiful home renovation projects or especially, bright beautiful walls with big windows… Instead of feeling envious, I try to just feel inspired. Because I know that these people aren’t perfect and that they have worked so hard to get to where they are.

Oh and also, I do the same exact thing. I’ve started to see it as a way to help myself remember good, happy moments. Scrolling through my instagram makes me remember sweet memories, the same way scrolling through old texts might. It reminds me that the good outweighs the bad, and I should be thankful. :)

Anyway, enough rambling my life away…

1. This is what my days have looked like for the past couple of weeks. It was great at first, but I’m so restless. I love that I have had free time to work on the the shop, but I need to get another real job. This season of retail is my frenemy, you could say.

2. I keep buying flowers and those flowers keep dying. Any tips of how to make flowers bloom and stick around for more than a few days? I need to talk to my mom, the gardener, about this.

3. Pizza! I love it. I love it a lot. Too much. Many pizzas have been bought and eaten at our house in the past week, and I need to learn to miss it again. See ya in a while, pizza.

4. Lastly, my friends Stephanie and Daniel adopted a kitty named Louis! Pronounced Louie. Dan mentioned that I’m Louis’ aunt and I am taking that role a little too far. Louis is so sweet! I’m not used to nice cats.

Hope you all had a fun weekend! What did you do?

ps. feel free to follow along on instagram @earlgreyjenn

The past week has been a reality check in all kinds of different ways. I’m feeling more connected to my dream job than ever, although I’m learning that it is so hard to explain to people. I also have a strange metaphorical feeling that I’m being pushed out of the nest. Not the nest, like my parents’ houses. I guess it’s more like I am having to decide what’s next. I’ve been in the same spot for a while and I am ready for a new routine and a change of scenery. I know that is all very vague. I don’t get it either. But I’ll keep you posted. :)

When setting resolutions and goals, I try not to overdo it. This year I am “carefully” overdoing it. I feel ambitious and I have a strong feeling that this year will be very different than any other year. Then again, they are all different huh?

To drink more water, exercise more, and get enough sunlight.

To blog consistently and be thoughtful in the voice and design of each post. Also, to stay genuine, take more time for blog posts, and have no more filler posts! This means I’ll be retiring a few series and bringing in some more.

To network more in the blogosphere! Sometimes I get lazy. I see blog posts, love them, and promise myself I’ll leave a comment when I get to a real computer. Then I forget. Gotta work on that.

To finish what I start. There is a product prototype that I have been working on for a year. A YEAR! Oh my gosh. It isn’t something that should take a long time, I just keep working on it a little, changing my mind, putting it off, etc. The same goes for DIY projects. I’m hoping this will reduce all of my hoarded craft supplies and clutter.

To cook new things. Yikes! I like food. I like recipes. And I believe that I can cook (although I’m beginning to think that being able to cook really means that you can just cook up a meal on a whim with what you have lying around). I think I’m going to make myself cook one meal a month. I can do that. And while it might sound like the saddest resolution ever, I’ll have twelve delicious recipes in 2015 that I know by heart. You’ll wanna be invited to my fancy dinner parties for sure. Just kidding, don’t quote me on that. We’ll see how the cooking dealio turns out.

I also have monthly goals. My biggest January goal is to create a blog design that will last for the whole year. This is a big deal. I get tired of my blog design all the time as you probably noticed. That’s why it is so plain right now. I have been working on a design for the past two months and suddenly it has taken a very exciting turn. I think it’s something I’ll keep all year. :) More info to come!

Most of all, I just want to embrace being myself. I’m crazy. I say the weirdest things. I make messes and lose things. Sometimes I eat too much pizza. And I don’t think I will ever truly be organized. So! While I have a bunch of goals and resolutions to keep in mind this year, I want to learn to love myself more and not apologize for my quirky ways.

Do you feel like you usually follow through with New Year’s resolutions? Now that I think about it, I usually don’t reflect back on my resolutions throughout the year…I suppose that is probably step one. :)

Hope you all had a safe and perhaps sparkly New Year’s Eve!  I had some friends over for games, drinks, and lots of food. We played Cards Against Humanity, ate pizza, and took funny pictures in front of my sweet “best night ever” banner. At the end of the night, it was just three of my Anthro friends and myself. We went outside, blew party horns and took more pictures. We also opened these confetti poppers which, instead of having confetti inside, contained more party horns and riddles. Ha. Still fun!