Took the Plunge

After my minor melt down last night, my husband and I decided to clean up our apartment a bit. We did every single dish in our house nearly, put them all away, cleaned up our living room, and truthfully, just enjoyed the night together. I had a really good night for how poorly my day started out.

This gave me the inspiration to redesign my blog like I've had in my head for a little while. Don't worry, I still have the old template and buttons and such all saved up in case this is drastically underwhelming to any of you. But I would love some feedback. I truly love the color scheme, and whilst many blogs I see prefer the bright white and openness it can lend, I just felt like there wasn't enough fun for me.

I adore graphic design, and through many communities I'm apart of, I feel like I've come to have an adept hand at it. And while this isn't the most fru fru and strictly professional layout I'm sure I could have settled on, it is what makes me smile. And really, that's what this blog is for. To make me, and others, happy. To gain inspiration from others in the community and hope to share some of my own. And while I want to some day be up there with the big dogs in a following and all that good stuff, I think for now, this suits me just fine.

I'd love to hear what you think, as well as any suggestions you might have. For now, I'm proud to have reconquered something and made it more my style, my taste and something that really speaks about me. Rather than trying to imitate and follow along the crowd of what I think others might like to see.

Cheers,

Very First What I Wore

So my husband just finally had a day off since I had decided that I wanted to do a little what I wore exposition. And so we crept out to a hallway outside of our apartment, and found a good bit of light so that I could use him as a photographer. He was an extremely good sport, and looking at myself and the pictures, well I couldn't really blame him. I didn't look half bad in the get up. So, without further adieu, here is what we ended up with!



Shirt: Khol's
Skirt: Handmade
Shoes: Thrifted





Also. Just signed up for Linky Followers yesterday, after all the hype that GFC is limiting who can follow through it. And when I got around to putting the gadget up on my blog, I already had six people following. I had that insane moment of 'omg who are these people?!'. But I got over it quickly when I decided, I didn't particularly mind who they were, they were following me! So yay for me!

Also, through my guest posts, I'm assuming, between yesterday and today, I had over 120 page views! Do you know how incredible that is for me? I'm at shocked, lemme tell you. I'm also super ecstatic. It has bumped me up over 1000 total page views. For how long I've been blogging, and how I know that perhaps several of those have been me checking on things, I find I don't really mind. I feel accomplished!

Well... now that I'm done tooting my own horn, I will let y'all go. Thank you so much for stopping by!

Toot toot,

Guest Post from Pig & Paint!

Hey everyone! We have a brand new guest poster today. I've been talking her up something wonderful here, Alison. She's got some great projects to share, as well as her answer to her creative side. Hope you enjoy! P.S. I hit double digits in my followers. To you that might sound underwhelming, but to me, with how I feel like I've worked for that many, I'm quite excited! Now! Onto Alison!
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Howdy! I am honored to be able to spend some time on Little Homemade Housewife today. My name is Alison, and I write a blog called Pig and Paint, where I feature my adventures in foodie-ville (Pig) and home décor-mania (Paint). First, allow me to tell you a little bit about…um, me. I work for a great company in the wireless telecom industry overseeing marketing and communications, and am married to a pastor. We live in the San Francisco Bay Area -- literally a stone’s throw from Napa – and are parents to a hilarious boxer dog and a crazy parrot. My husband is brilliant! No, seriously – he is.

Mrs. White posed the following question to me, and I really had to give it a lot of thought:

“What would you say is your main creative aesthetic, and how did you start/find it?”

{hmmm…}

Let me start by explaining that I am extremely right-brained (creative) and extremely left-brained (analytical) – there’s not much going on in the middle. So, naturally the frosted side of me wanted to respond with “EVERYTHING!!” but the wheatie side of me pumped the brakes and forced me to really think about what ultimately led me down the road of starting Pig and Paint.

I’ve had a lot of great influencers in my life, who have helped shape who I am today. My mother taught me to be proud of the person God uniquely designed me to be, and to stand up for what I believe in. My dad taught me that with a little determination, some krazy glue and rubber bands, you can fix just about anything – and if you put your mind to it, you CAN do anything you dream. My husband taught me that some of the best experiences in life are, in fact, spontaneous, spur-of-the-moment, and completely unplanned. My mother-in-law taught me to savor life’s precious moments, and that food is a language of love. My sister taught me to truly enjoy the things you love (read that one again…it’s harder than it sounds in today’s “always connected” world). With these great encouragers in my life, I’ve poured myself into my hobbies in a big way.

Food and I are great friends. We hang out after work and on weekends. I love inventing new recipes on the fly, like my Truffled Shepherd’s Pie.



I enjoy following a trusted source’s recipe to a T, like my made-from-scratch mozzarella.



I love putting my own spin on the classics, like my Split Pea Soup with crispy shallots, prosciutto and charred bread.



I am a restaurant hunter. I constantly seek out new and exciting food adventures for my friends and family. But is food my main creative aesthetic?

DIY and craft projects are also good friends of mine. Awww heck, decorating too! One of my proudest moments has been sharing my DIY capiz shell chandelier with the world.



Before that, my painted rug and framed wallpaper were the most exhilarating projects I had tackled to-date, and they make me smile every time I walk by.



Watching a room or a project come together is exciting for me…. But I’m not sure I would label those things as my main creative aesthetic either.

So, if I had to boil it all down into a gooey, caramel-y sauce…..my main creative aesthetic isn’t cooking or eating, decorating or DIYing. It’s simply creating. It’s that sense of determination, coupled with krazy glue, that my dad taught me. It’s loving something because I (me, no one else, Alison) love it, so I’m going to craft it into my own meal, wall art, chandelier, rug, whatever. It’s being able to say “I made that. And I had a good time making it.” Not every project turns out beautiful, but there is beauty in the journey of creating.

Thank you so much to Mrs. White for letting me share my thoughts with y’all today! I hope you all will visit me on Pig and Paint someday soon and share your creations with me.

Cheers!

Alison

March Sponsorship Coming Up

Don't you just LOVE daffodils? I do. I remember them being one of the first flowers that would bloom out at my parent's house each spring. They're not poked up just yet, but I'm sure they'll be here soon!

My very first sponsor, Kate, has been an absolutely wonderful sponsor for the month of February. She's been incredibly supportive, and given me some great confidence with the whole doing of my blog. I couldn't have picked a first time sponsor.

And whilst I hope to have her as a reoccurring sponsor for March, I'm also looking for some fresh blood! I've already got two, possibly three, lined up, and I'm looking for more! I don't know when I'll cut it off, but if you're interested, I don't mind if you're new, seasoned, have three hundred followers or three. I'm interested in helping promote you and having you promote me. Plus, with as much fun I've had with guest posters and the like, I'm super excited to have more people sharing their stories here.

So if you're interested, please don't hesitate to e-mail me at 1035kwhite{at}gmail{dot}com or leave a comment here with your contact info and I'll get ahold of ya. We'll work something out super spectacular. I can't wait to hear from you, and get some more wonderful connections throughout the blog community!

Wonderful and happy spring time coming,

Wonderful

Hey everyone! I hope you enjoyed the guest post from Kate yesterday, and I was pleased how it turned out. I'm also always excited and intrigued to have that answer answered by others out there that indulge in creativity. So hopefully perhaps I'll have her back again to share more things!

Things I'm Excited For:

•Tuesday (or perhaps Monday night so I don't have to wake up so early) is the debut of Alison's guest post!
The same question as sweet Kate answered was also posed to the wonderful Alison of Pig and Paint. I'm looking forwards to sharing her response with you too, and perhaps someday have a whole smattering of different people who have guest posted all answering the question. I'd love to see it together, and see how varied the answers become.

•I have my first sponsor for March lined up!
Another swap. I love those things. They're free and nearly effortless, and plus it just offers communication and connection between yourself and some of your favorite bloggers! I won't tell you who it is yet. It's going to be a surprise. But it does lead to an excitement of perhaps others will be interested in doing some blog sponsor swappery with me. (Maybe I'll even be the contact-ee instead of the contact-er someday)

•I have a mystery appointment at 3 today.
I don't want to share what it is just yet, because I think my husband reads me pretty regularly and it's a surprise. But I'll be sure to take pictures of before and after. Also hope to take some shots of what I wore for valentine's day to share with y'all. Yeah I know it's late, but better late than never right?


Wonder Why I Started Lists?:

I am going to lay full blame on Digger from Digging Deeper Design. She is also a fan of lists, and ever since I started reading her humorous musings, and did a list of my own from her example, it seems that I've caught the bug. They're so simple and handy, and it makes me feel like things are organized and concise. I don't have to worry about writing a novella for each blog post if I'm just doing lists, because lists are supposed to be shorter. Right? At least that's my line of thought. Anyway, I highly suggest you go check her out. She's sweet and funny and she makes me feel a bit better for my eclectic off the wall nature.


Now I'm off to go procur some more sponsor swaps and I hope y'all have a wonderful day, the sun is shiney here and I'm excited to be enjoying it!

Dance in the sun for me,

Guest Post from the Guest Room

All right fellow fans, I've been building this up since the end of January, and the time has finally arrived! Here awaits you a wonderful post by Kate. She has a wonderful blog that I've been talking up since I first found her, full of fun and interesting tidbits and fashion. She is also one of the kindest, most encouraging people I've ever had the great fortune to meet, so I'd highly suggest dropping by her blog and getting to know her!
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Hello! My name is Kate and I blog over at From the Guest Room! I am very excited to be apart of Mrs. White's blog today and share a little bit about my creative thought process!

What would you say is your main creative aesthetic, and how did you start/find it?

I have been creative since I was a little girl. I went through many many phases, trying to figure out what my niche was. I wanted to be a fashion designer, then a photographer, then a musician and so on. In high school, I kind of got lost in the crowd of my friends and ventured into sports more so then the arts. I don't regret it, because it really did teach me a lot about myself in other areas that might not be as dominant in my life today.

After college, I actually moved to Australia. In that time, I was away from all that was familiar and I was confronted with having to figure out who I was and how I was going to choose to live my life. This is where I really started to discover just how creative I truly was. However, I also realized just how organized and particular I was as well. Many artists I knew were very un-structured and so for me to see myself as an artist, I thought maybe that structured part of myself had to go. Thankfully, I started to realize that that was what made me, well, me!

I read an article about dancers who perform with harnesses attached to the ceiling. They are limited in some sense, but in another, they are able to move much more freely. After reading this piece, I identified with what the writer was sharing and felt that I was that type of artist. I loved to create with in structure. So, to this day, much of my creativity is very organized and thought out. When it comes to decorating my home, colors coordinate and the layout of furniture is very even. In my fashion, I love to match and I prefer that my clothes fit my body in just the right way. I am not obsessive about looking perfect by any means, but I definitely will notice if a shirt does not lay nicely across my waist or shoulders.

In my writing, painting, DIY projects or sewing, I like to have all my supplies organized and in one area, so if you would take a look at my desk, everything is very orderly. I have learned to be okay with this. I feel much more able to express myself in an environment where I know where everything is. Though, I am not limited to my desk. I also like to take supplies on the go and create outdoors or in places like a coffee shop. I respect and admire my creative friends who have a crazy "mess" of a studio, but I also know, that would not serve me well in my creative process!

Creativity is not reserved only for the un-structured and eclectic. That is something I had to learn and I am so glad I did, because I surely can not imagine living an un-creative life!

Excitement!

So! I have something exciting to share with you all. Or well, perhaps I have a few differing things to share from you. ALl right, maybe three, but I think that's it!

The main two, are things to do with valentine's day. I made a previous post of what I was -planning- on doing for valentine's day. And as we all know, planning doesn't always work out precisely how we..well...planned it. But it was still a very fulfilling and exciting day! We both had a lot of fun, and in the end, resulted in being very proud of ourselves for what we had accomplished.

First of all, my mom and my husband and I had had a conversation the night prior about actually doing something about our bills. We are, as the average young couple, in a bit of a debt situation with bills, including medical bills and my student loans. No credit card debt, thank goodness, but still, it was a real shock to see such strong warnings from my student loans, since I'd hardly been out of school for more than a year. So, we decided that we were going to actually get started on fixing this problem with our tax return. It wasn't much, but it was enough to get started.

So, for the big excitement!

We got to pay off three accounts! We even still have money left over. But the important thing was that we actually started. Both of us were vaguely phobic about calling a company to start paying off bills, because it's like once you drop some blood in the water, all the sharks can find you again. But surprisingly, everyone we talked to was really really nice. First we paid off the last account my husband had left at the actual hospital, (the others had gone to their collection agency), and she kindly transferred us over to them, so we could talk about getting those paid off. I had only one account open, and she gave us 20% off the bill if we paid it in one lump sum. Since we had the money available, that is what we did, and so I have no bills at our local hospital! We also took the discount of what we saved with my bill, and paid off another one of my husband's accounts. Now he only has three open. And we have a payment plan set up to begin to pay it off monthly.

It may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, but it was a really big deal for us. Especially since thus far we've lived our life in relative ignorance and chosen the route of ignore things for as long as possible. So to meet it head on was invigorating and empowering. We couldn't believe how good it felt to get some of those things taken care of.

The next thing we did, upon being so proud of our newfound adulthood, was decide that we'd splurge a little on a meal out on valentine's day since we'd just taken care of some bills and had some more tax return left over. So I got dressed up to the nine's. My cheery red pencil skirt, a white sweater with ruffles along the front from Khols, some ridiculously high red peep toes. Did my makeup. I looked very cute, and I was excited. (I might get some pictures up later of the outfit).

The bad thing is, we live in a small town, and apparently, valentine's day is one of the only days of the year where our restaurants get packed to the brim and then some. The new steakhouse, Brik, that opened, Applebees, everything was backed up to the point that we couldn't even fathom trying to wait.And frankly in our town, there's not that many options. And anything else we had was fancy enough to require reservations, and I knew that'd be a lost cause. So, we decided to go through the Dairy Queen drive in. And we had a lot of fun, laughing and joking about how great we looked going to the ol' DQ.

Want to know what's great? We both found it incredibly fun and romantic even with the way it turned out. We wouldn't have changed it any other way. I love that about my husband. We're both fairly easy going people, and we enjoy just being together, no matter what we're doing. (Excluding perhaps jail time).

And the last exciting thing! Speaking of that pencil skirt, that skirt was previously a failed project. GASP. I had crafted it myself, and then when I took it out on a test run, the slit split almost clear up to my backside. I was miserable to see it ruined, and it has set crumpled in a corner for a long time. But the exciting news, is that I have a post all about how I repaired it over on my sponsor's page! Check it out here!

I'd really appreciate if you went to go look at it, and here's a preview of how the skirt looked prior to my fixing!



So go visit Kate over at From the Guest Room and let me know what you think!

P.S. It's also entered into the CSI Project's Red Inspired Link Up. We'll see how well it fairs!

P.S.S.
Stay tuned tomorrow for Kate's guest post on her creative process!

Best wishes

Happy Valentine's Day!

So far I have to say my valentine's day has been nonconformist. And I absolutely am having a blast so far. My husband just got his greedy little fingers on the new Mass Effect 3 demo for multiplayer, so my background noise this morning is lasers, cursing, and explosions. But I know he's been waiting for this for a long time, so I don't fault him.

But we've been hanging out on the couch together, something we both still love very much since we don't get to do it as often, and we've spent some time giggling over making some very inappropriate candy heart graphics. It's a game over at a forum that I participate in that is looking for the funniest and/or most inappropriate candy heart designs. So my husband helped me with some inspiration, and we had a lot of fun with it.

We're planning on making dinner and dessert together, something we absolutely love, though our tummies were both slightly upset from last night's lasagna roll ups. Think we just got a bit too rich in the cheese department. We might even have a few of our friends over that would otherwise not have plans today, but that's up in the air.

Something I got pretty excited about myself was that our funniest date story got posted up in a 'Gal'-enstine feature over at my wonderful sponsor, From the Guest Room. Scroll down, I'm way at the bottom, most likely because I forgot all about the picture I was meaning to take. Oops >.< But Kate totally pulled it off and I was still pretty excited about it. So thank you Kate for your awesome improvisation!

So however you choose to spend your Valentine's day today, I hope it's a happy one, because so far mine has been really great. May you feel the love of friends, family, and if you're lucky, a superb partner like the one I've got. Because no matter what you're doing, if you're with someone you care about, what more can you ask for on this halmark holiday?

Love and stuff!

10:10

Hey to you out there whoever may be reading this, which my number is increasing all the time! I'm up to six followers, I'm so proud *wipes tear*

Recently it seems I'm becoming obsessed with lists, and I'm not entirely sure why. It makes me self conscious if my blog is actually really considered 'post worthy' if I'm just posting lists, but perhaps it's because that's just what my mind's thinking in lately. So, that is most likely why there's this rambling little intro here, so I don't feel like my whole kit and kaboodle has been totally wasted and I'll have you six little readers out there wondering what the hell I'm going on about. Okay, so I'll stop now. Promise.

Onto the lists!

What's Coming Up:

•I've submitted my guest post that will be featured over on From the Guest Room.
though I'm still waiting on hearing back that it was well received and approved. If it's not, I'll post it up here soon and work on something else. I'm quite excited over it really, just because I enjoyed how it came together post wise, as well as it's a simple project but meaningful to me. Anyways, I don't want to ruin the surprise!

•Alison from over at Pig and Paint has e-mailed me her guest post!
It is scheduled for the 21st to be posted up and around here, so you should be particularly excited about that. I know I am, so maybe I'll get a bit more traffic over here and make some new friends.

•Valentine's day is almost here!
I know I know, this one is kind of obvious. But I do have an adoring husband, and it makes valentine's day so much more fun. We're not planning on anything fancy, just a night at home, fixing dinner together, doing the things we love. Drop me a comment if you have anything exciting going on, I'd love to hear about it.


What's On My Mind Currently:

•I'm on my first menstrual cycle solely on my own body's cycle.
Too much? I'm sorry if it is, but I'm really quite excited over it, and I had to share it with someone. A brief explanation. My husband and I are extremely excited of having kids someday, but prior to us getting married, I'd been on an IUD. I didn't have a monthly cycle the entire time. Understandably, since I had it removed, my hormones have been lacking, and I still wasn't having a period. This can happen, I understand, but with my lack of available doctor's visits at the moment, it was worrying me. So I went on birth control, just pills, for two months, getting on a cycle. This past month was my first month no BC and it came right on schedule. So it was kind of a big moment with us. Okay. Moving on to more interesting things.

•I won my first giveaway!
Laura from Along for the Ride hosted a giveaway for three cabochon jewelry items, since she is no longer going to be carrying them in her etsy shop. (Totally check it out, still some pretty cute stuff there for cheap). Anyway, I won! My very first giveaway that I've ever won, and let me tell you, I'm kind of a giveaway-aholic. Before you say anything, hush, I'll start attending meetings soon.

•The expression kit and kaboodle.
I'm curious over it's origins, because I have a strange sense it might have been an eighties toy? I'm not entirely sure, but I'm intent on looking it up after this.

•Blog hops are pretty awesome.
After my fascination with the link party, just learning it, becoming obsessed with it, and now with a lower track of current projects, I've had to kind of back off on them. But now, the wonder of blog hops! You go sign up, get your blog out there, no project to enter required! Yes. It blew my mind too.

•The name and look of my blog.
I'm thinking I'm going to always be self concious over my poor little blog here. Especially the more exposed to other blogs I am. I have a terrible habit of comparing myself to others, and so the more cool layouts and names and ideas I see, I keep asking myself, why am I not doing some of these things? Some are out of my reach at the moment, such as doing things like link parties and the like because I think in order to do that, having a decent following is essential for having any kind of success. But then there's other things, like giveaways, I'm totally mystified on how to start. So I focus on design, which I can control and readily access. So I'm wondering if I should change mine again, and/or change my blog name. Any thoughts?


What I'm Grateful For:

•My Husband
First and foremost is always my husband. He's the most amazing man I think I've ever had the pleasure to know in my entire life, and the most miraculous human being. He's my best friend, and I have loved him since high school, perhaps in a different way than now, but we literally made a pact way back then that if we weren't married by the time we were thirty, we'd get married to each other. Yeah, he was that guy. So instead, we jumped the gun by about 9 years. But I've never regretted a moment, and I can't believe how lucky I am each day to wake up beside him.

•Garlic Salt
Yeah I couldn't keep that gooey stuff up very long. So onto the more mundane. Garlic salt makes everything better, point blank, shut the door, conversation over. Is it healthy? Probably not, especially in the amounts we use it. But we had a really awesome steak last night with garlic salt as one of the seasonings and it was just plain fantastic.

•Fellow Bloggers
I see a blog nearly every day I look that inspires me in some way or fashion. Y'all have some great stories, experiences, and most of all crafts. You make me want to push myself every day to be better and somehow more deserving of being in this community. And I sincerely appreciate the friendliness I've found from every single person I've contacted through the blogs I read.


All right. I think that's all the lists for today. I'd love some feedback, and I appreciate any and all of you that have left comments so far, know I read each and every one of them. ;)

With All My Love,

Oh who could fortell that it would go so well?

A vaguely organized list of things I'm infatuated with...

REALITY SHOWS

This is my guilty obsession in life. And let me tell you, I don't even watch the 'good' reality shows, like American Idol, Survivor, etc. Those don't do it for me. I like the trashy kind. The kind where normal people are like 'oh god my IQ is dropping by the moment as I watch these'. The more horrendous the better. Dating shows are particularly good for this. I just gain immense amusement from them.

BRAIDED HAIRSTYLES

This is a more recent thing, though I blame pinterest personally. I enjoy the whole trend of little braids woven everywhere, and there's so many fun tutorials on there on how to do them. That and my hair isn't that long and I can still usually pull some of them off. So! Always a bonus!

MUSICALS

I love musicals. Pretty much any and all kinds. I love them in play form, I love them in movie form, I love them old, I love them new, I love them over here, and I love them over there, but strangely not in a box...

CUPCAKES/BAKING IN GENERAL

Cupcakes have become my new "happy food". When I'm in a really great mood, I always want to make cupcakes. Baking in general has been a passion of mine for a little while now, since I met my husband really. And I always love making things that make him and his friends dance around like little children. It's quite precious.

FIRST PERSON HORROR MOVIES

I will admit... with this particular 'love' of mine, it falls more under the infatuated aspect. It's a love/hate/OMGI'MGONNADIE kind of relationship. I will tell you, I am the -biggest- baby about these things. I cannot watch them after dark, and I absolutely will not watch them without my husband. But there's something about this genre that creeps me the @&#$* out. And for some reason...I continue to watch them...

FANTASY BOOKS

I enjoy fantasy stories. They can be just about anything, as long as they're totally out of our realm of reality. I think I'd have to say my favorite ones are those that take place in a modern setting. Something about the juxtaposition of our reality and a different 'race's' (for lack of a better term) reality side by side is really intriguing to me.

SPORADIC CRAFTS

There's something that's just so incredibly satisfying of getting a random inspiration for a craft, and being able to enact said craft right now, just because you already have everything you need, or at least enough things to improvise what you need. This might not be most people's style, but with my enjoyment of impulsive actions and excitement, well, it is mine. Some of my favorite craft projects are those I decided to just do and finished in a few hours.

This blogpost was inspired by Digger over at Digging Deeper Into Design And... Everything Else! I'm a recent follower, and so far have enjoyed her blog a great deal. I thought this might be a fun thing to do on my Friday morning, so here is my list!

In Constant Wonder,