Jennifer Andrew

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new bedroom inspiration

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Moving is stressful. In college, I moved between my mom’s house and my dorm like twenty times. Because you know, holidays and stuff. But that was a piece of cake compared to moving out of a house – especially a super old house that collects dust and dirt by the minute. We’ve been cleaning the heck out of that place. However, I honestly can’t wait to finish moving and I have so many hopes and dreams for my new place. This may be a stressful week, but the fact is, this weekend is going to arrive. And everything will be fine. :)

So about these hopes and dreams! Well, my new bedroom is huge. Definitely at least twice as big as the bedroom I have shared with Sara for the past year. We just wanted to live in that cute old house so badly…sacrifices! Anyway, my new room is a master bedroom and while most would say it is meant for a couple to share, I say it’s meant for a girl with too many craft supplies (me). There are two closets and a bathroom. Two closets!!!

Here is a little mood board with the look and feel I want to create in my bedroom:

 

one/two/three/four/five/six/seven/eight/nine

There is nothing I want quite more for my room than that duvet cover. I think Holli Zollinger is the best, but I can’t justify dropping $200 dollars on anything like that. So my search continues. Duvet covers are hard to find, man! I may be purchasing those hanging mirrors very soon though.

I want to try to keep most of the colors as simple as possible (ivory, black, neutrals) and then add pops of colors. My favorite group of colors has stayed the same for quite a while now and that makes me proud. I think it means I won’t be changing my mind anytime soon. I’m loving goldenrod (always my number one), mint, and pale pink/peach. A little chartreuse is going to be thrown in there too. I just don’t want to go overboard with colors because I mean, my yarn collection will add enough color by itself.

On another day, I’ll share my mood board for the bathroom.

Although moving is crazy, the chance to redecorate definitely makes it worth it. I have many Ikea trips planned in my near future… Have you redecorated any of your rooms recently??

Happy Birthday Adalin!

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See, August really is the month of all birthdays! Today, my other sister Adalin turns ten. Oh my gosh, I have so many things I want to say about her.


(this is a picture from about two years ago, but I thought it was too cute not to post)

Until I was twelve, I was an only child. I expected it to be that way forever (though I did secretly very publicly hope that I had a long lost identical twin out there in Europe). One night, my dad sat me down and said he had to tell me something and my sisters’ mom and him, and I blurted out, “She’s having a baby!!!” And then all of my dreams came true. I mean, I guess it’s okay that Adalin isn’t my twin.
This girl! Where do I begin? I think the first thing people notice about her is that she’s brilliant. Seriously. Sometimes when I’m talking, she reminds me of more complex words I could be using. She is like a real-life thesaurus. When Adalin was around three or four years old, she declared that she wanted to be a dentist. It is still her dream job and she is very serious about it. I mentioned this before, but two summer’s ago I taught her how to crochet, thinking that she wouldn’t really understand it. The next time I saw her, she had made a headband and a belt for Danali. Then she started on a blanket. The other day, she gave my mom an embroidered iPhone cozy. It is all just insane.

I’d say that she is the kind of kid I wish I had been. I was smart and everything, but I was super awkward. Adalin is so cool. Like, if I were in fifth grade, I’d want to be her friend so badly. She writes amazing stories, does crazy flips in the air, learns every cool dance move – she is the bee’s knees!

In addition to being super smart and cool, Adalin has the most empathy I’ve ever seen in someone her age. Once we were playing with the sprinklers and pretending it was raining. She started singing, “It’s raining it’s pouring, the old man is snoring…” but she got super unsettled at that part where it says that he couldn’t get up in the morning. I told her the old man was just tired, and she just shook her head and said, “I don’t think so”. Oh my gosh! She is a deep lady… maybe a little too deep.

Everyone who meets her knows that there is something special about her. She’s unbelievable really. Happy, happy birthday to my dear Adalin! I love you so stinking much.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

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Today is my dear mother’s birthday! They say that once you leave home and go off on your own independent adventures, you will realize how similar you are to your mother and she will become your best friend. It’s very true. My mom is really, really, cool!

 

Some of my favorite things about my mom: She loves to dance and often times goes to African, Reggae, or Jazz concerts. I grew up going to the reggae concerts with her and I have funny memories of them. My mom is hilarious without meaning to be. When I had a twitter, I would quote her all of the time. She would always yell, “STOP! Are you going to twitter me?!” Now that I don’t use twitter, I just text the quotes to my friends. ;)

My mom loves nature more than almost anything. She spends a lot of time in the redwoods, she gardens all the time, and she hates killing spiders. On more than one occasion, I have found my mom marveling over the birds or butterflies in our backyard. Once she exclaimed that these two yellow butterflies were going to “fall in love and have children!!!” And I could never get over it. But really, I’m exactly the same. :)

One of the best things my mom has taught me is how to be an independent woman (queue Destiny’s Child). Because of her independent spirit, she has been able to form her identity and make choices that make her happy. It’s admirable.

Happy Birthday Mom! I love you very much.

 

happy birthday danali!

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My littlest sister Danali is the gem of all gems. She’s kind, considerate, loving, and ridiculously silly. The other day, Copper kept trying to jump on her and bite her (in the innocent way that puppies do – only his teeth are sharp!), and Danali would run away for a second before slowly coming back to pet him. It happened over and over again. She’s forgiving like that.

One of my favorite memories (well, I guess it was more like a season) is the time when Danali had a huge crush on Justin Bieber. Every time I mentioned his name, she would start giggling uncontrollably and hide her face. Once while I was teasing her about her crush, she pointed her finger at me and said, “You CAN’T tell anyone, okay? Except for Sara. And Stephanie. And all of your other friends.”

Danali used to be a sassy and mischievous tomboy. Then one day, she started wearing pink and hugging everyone all the time. For the past couple of years she’s been counting the hugs she gives me, and we’re always at 30,000 something. Just an estimate. :)

Today, Danali is eight. I’m so lucky to have her as one of my sisters. She is a cuddly little girl with wild lion hair that she embraces. She is also super tech savvy, so who knows, she could be reading this.

Happy Birthday, dear Danali!! Love you. :)

blog, shop, & real life

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I’ve been trying really hard to consistently schedule themed posts, but today I just want to talk about what’s been going on lately. Let’s catch up!

What’s going on with the blog:

Well, a few things are new! I switched my advertising host from Passionfruit to Adproval. As many of you have heard, Passionfruit is going to start charging monthly for their accounts. Seeing as most of my ad spots are free, that wouldn’t make sense for me. I was also having some issues with the display of my ad shop in the sponsor info page. So far, I’m loving Adproval. It’s easy and free and visually appealing, I think. If you are interested in sponsoring or swapping ads, visit the sponsor page!

There is a giveaway going on right now, hosted by the wonderfully talented Gold House Paper + Press! I love them and you will too. For entry requirements, see this post.

You might see my blog in shambles here and there over the next couple of weeks. I plan to move some things around. I am not doing a complete blog makeover at all, just trying to fix up the design a little. :)

(Is anyone else doing the selfie challenge right now? I’m getting to that point where I just don’t want to take any pictures of my face. So here are some of my feet.)

What’s going on with the shop:

Oooh, remember that time I had an Etsy? I can’t wait to get it up and running again. This summer, I’ve been planning products, color schemes, etc. I plan to open the Earl Grey Shop up a few weeks into September, after I move. The house I’m moving will be better equipped for product development and storage (that makes it sound a lot fancier than it is). In the mean time, it has been really rewarding to focus solely on this blog. Oh, and real life of course.

Speaking of real life:

I have been loving my job more than ever! I’m learning a lot about products, visual standards, productivity, and what shoes not to wear (the other day was horrible! I walked to and from the train station barefoot).

On Sunday, I went to Outside Lands with my roomie. We were feeling happy and carefree all day listening to a bunch of talented peeps. Vampire Weekend was amazing, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers evoked more nostalgia than I expected. We wanted to see a couple of other bands, but my phone went missing! It literally disappeared. I don’t think anyone stole it, but who knows. So that little incident, along with some ridiculous traffic on the way home, took away some of those happy and carefree feelings. C’est la vie.

Can I just say that being phoneless is really, really weird? If I didn’t have a roommate, I don’t know how I would have woken myself up for work the next morning. At the same time, it was very freeing. :)

I hope you all are doing well. Anything new and exciting happening??

Meet Copper!

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Okay, it’s about time I tell you a little more about my new puppy, Copper. If you follow me on instagram, you may be aware that I’m pretty much posting 100% Copper pictures. And I have no shame! He’s a dang cutie. So one of my favorite parts of working at Anthropologie is that owners can bring their dogs into the store. Any kind of dog. I think I’ve mentioned this before. It is seriously heartwarming getting to meet all sorts of pups at work. One particular time, I met a huge goldendoodle. He was so sweet and gentle, and he sat in the fitting room with his owner. So cute! The next time I met a goldendoodle at Anthro, I asked the owners a lot about that type of dog. Then not too long ago, I encountered yet another goldendoodle. She was fluffy and beautiful and so friendly. I basically stalked the couple who owned this dog. A little extra customer service never hurt anyone, right? ;) Oh, I should probably back up a little. As some of you know, my mother and I lost our dog Molly in March. It was a really hard month, but it was also really special to be able to take care of Molly up until she passed away. The thought of getting a new dog was a little weird at first, but my mom really wanted a furry companion again. A dog who would be sweet and cuddly, but would also run around on the beach and hike in the redwoods. We looked up a bunch of goldendoodles online. They were super expensive and also in far off places like Kentucky. The local goldendoodles were not born yet, so we’d have to be on a waiting list. And then it kind of just started to feeling like we were getting some fancy toy. Right? Anyway, on one regular old Wednesday morning I was randomly facebook stalking a friend who I went to college with. It was SO RANDOM! I was like, “Hmm, I wonder if Morgan is still in Australia?” and bam – a post about goldendoodles showed up on the screen! Her aunt was selling them and there was only one little guy left. I sent Morgan an email and immediately called my mom (who was in the forest with hardly any cell reception). It all worked out within the next hour, and we picked Copper up three days later. Copper was eight weeks old when we got him (nine weeks now! Such a baby), and the family we got him from made a baby book. Ohmygoodness. How cute is this?!?! I don’t live at home, but I have been visiting almost every day. Right now, I am at my mom’s house and Copper is all curled up, sleeping in the kitchen. He’s a dream. He is also crazy. But as I say in Tom Haverford’s voice multiple times a day, “He’s just a little puuupppppyy.”

This photo is terrible quality, but it was probably his funniest moment yet.

If you want to follow along on Copper’s adventures, you can find me on Instagram @earlgreyjenn. All of his photos are under #lifewithcopper. AHHHH, I love him. :)
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