Pinterest Recipes: Part I

Good Day ladies! Recently I have found myself addicted to Pinterest. For those of you who don't know what Pinterest is, it's a virtual pinboard for you to collect and organize images that inspire you in various ways. My boards are everything from, images that I love to recipes and craft ideas. I've been pinning a lot of recipes recently and thought it was about time I try out one of the easy, no-fuss, simple appetizer style recipes.

Last night my husband and I decided to try out the croissant jalapeno puffs. They are super tasty and very rich. They are SUPER easy. All you need is cream cheese, jalapenos and croissant dough, (we just bought Pillsbury). They turned out really nicely.

Yumm!!!

Hair Cut!!!

Ah, can I just say how nice it is to have shorter hair! My thick, yet baby fine hair has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember. Why I thought it would be fun to grow my hair out, I will never know. Last night I reached a breaking point. After 4 hours of untangling, I decided I was finished with it. I spend countless hours untangling it every week and I was just fed up. I didn't go with the longish pixie cut I've been craving. Instead, I went with a just above the shoulder cut. I figured since I'll be starting my new job soon, that I didn't want to do something too drastic. Here's my before and after. As a heads up, my before picture was taken about 4 months ago, so it was about 2-3 inches longer than what you see in the photo.

I felt so much lighter with the first cut and am so so happy that it's shorter and most importantly, manageable!

Lovely Little Lois is Up and Running!

Hello my wonderful friends!!! I finally have my 2nd Etsy shop, Lovely Little Lois, up and running! I've named it after my grandmother and just like my jewelry shop, 100% of the sales from this shop will also go to ALS research. (I don't mean to be inundating y'all with all of this charity stuff, it's just ever since we found out, I've been desperate to do something and this is all I know to do. So apologies to anyone who feels overwhelmed). My goal is to raise $500 by the end of the year. Originally it was going to be by the end of October for my grandparent's 65th anniversary, but I just don't see that happening. I'm also going to be taking custom orders for this shop, so if you have an animal you'd like as a pillow, hit me up. Right now I'm working on a custom moose and frog. They are so much fun to make and I love doing custom orders, so please please ask! Here are the ones I have up at the moment...

Some Good News

Hello folks! We'll amongst all of the crap that's being thrown my way, I actually have some great news. A while ago I applied for a museum job that I desperately wanted. It ended up falling through and I was left heart broken. Well, wouldn't you know the position popped up again and this time it's mine!!! I'm so excited. It's the best news I've had in a while and I cannot wait to get back into the museum world. Although it isn't restoration, I'm just as excited as I would be if it was. I'll get to give tours, teach special classes, and help set up exhibitions! I'm finally going to get to use the degree I worked so hard to obtain and it feels wonderful!

My mom told my grandmother today and it made her super happy too, which made me feel great!

I wanted to take a moment and again say thank you to everyone for leaving such sweet and lovely comments. It means a lot to me that y'all would take the time out of your day to do so. Your kind words have really restored my faith in people and are continuing to get me through a really rough time. So, once again thank you!

ALS Research Fund

Hello to my wonderful readers. I wanted to say thank you for all the kind words and thoughts you've sent regarding my grandmother's recent diagnosis. It was so nice to read your comments and feel all of the love and support.

I wanted to let everyone to know that from now on 100% of Pretty Penny Mae Jewelry sales will be donated to an ALS research foundation. Blog readers will also be able to receive 10% off with the coupon code "LoisC". So please get the word out and let's do our part to help end this horrible, debilitating disease.

♡♡♡♡♡
Brooke

Devastated

I wanted to let y'all know my blogging may become more sporadic than usual. My grandmother was diagnosed with ALS, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, this week and I am devastated. I cannot process this information at all. It's extremely quick moving and I need to make sure that I spend as much time with her as possible. I'm dying inside. I love her so so much, I cannot even describe how much she means to me. She's my Mimi. This is going to be the hardest thing I've ever been through. Ugh. Life is never going to be the same.

Dolly Parton Tickets!!!!!

My parents just did the coolest thing for me. They bought me tickets to see Dolly Parton!!!! I LOVE Dolly Parton. I grew up loving her and it has yet to stop. One of my mom's favorite memories is of me standing on top of the dresser in an over sized t-shirt when I was 4 singing a Dolly song into a hair brush. She and I go way back. Plus, 1970s Dolly Parton looks eerily similar to my grandmother in the 70s, so I've got a bit of a soft spot there too. The concert isn't until October 7th and it just can't get here soon enough. I'll be going with my mom and I think we're going to have a blast. I'm going to dress up pretty damn fancy too!

Today wasn't too busy, just ran some errands and headed out to the folks house for the weekend. Here's what I wore.

OOTD Details:

Dress: Asos via Ebay
Yellow Skirt: Handmade
Cardigan: Target
Belt: Torrid
Shoes: Patagonia 
Necklace: Gifted from Maoiliosa (Check out her wonderful Etsy Page)

Quick little ditty about this dress. I had seen it a long time ago on Asos, but missed out on buying it when it went down to like $10. Well, I ended up getting this one on Ebay for $2.oo. The only issue is that I bought 1 size up and it is a lot bigger than I thought it would be! It's essentially a tent dress or could be used as a swimsuit cover up. I love the color and it is so light weight that I don't really care that it's so large. Plus, I figured I could just alter it with some ties in the back so I could adjust it.

As you can see I've decided to go sans leggings recently. I've decided it just too damn hot, so it's time to let my pale legs breathe!

It wouldn't be right to end this post without leaving y'all with some Dolly, so enjoy!

Dog Days of Summer

My wonderful summer camp job has come to an end, so that means I am once again trying to find a job. This time I've been looking to become a pre-school teacher as over the summer I kind of fell in love with that age group. The only up side to not having a job at the moment is that I get to stay in doors and between job searches, I can continue to make my little felt toys. I swear, they are the only thing keeping me sane at the moment. My goal is to have another Etsy shop up and running by the beginning of September. So fingers crossed for that.

Here's a few photos of what I wore today and some of the little creatures I've been working on...

OOTD Details:

T-Shirt: Room Service Vintage
Cardigan: Old Navy
Skirt: Handmade
Shoes: Target
Belt: Target
Necklace: Vintage, was my Grandmother's

I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed this outfit. I am usually one that enjoys very vibrant, rich, jewel tones and colors, but the muted pastels on top with the brighter yellow skirt was really pleasing. This is a shirt from my ALL TIME FAVORITE vintage shop in Austin. I furnished my entire house with their furniture and wares. I've been shopping there for about 11 years and just love everything about it. Check out their website here to get a feel for the place. It's a vintage wonderland. Anyway, I won this shirt as part of a Facebook trivia thing they have going. I normally hate white t-shirts, but I love this one with Nauga on it.

Here are a few of my newest felt animals....

Fox

Pig

Sloth

Happy 1 Year Blog Birthday!

 
Today officially marks Pretty Penny Mae's 1st birthday. I started this blog a week after losing my job  as a way to fill the newly acquired time on my hands. I had no clue that the "Fatshion" blogging community even existed, but happened to stumble upon it while looking for cheap dresses. I'm so glad that I did! I've met wonderful fellow bloggers and genuinely lovely people. I also never thought I'd be 3 followers short of 100! I just wanted to celebrate this with y'all and say thank you to everyone that makes this community great!!!

♡♡♡♡♡ Brooke

Too Damn Hot!

41 + days of 100°+ weather. Today was a cool 107°. Are you kidding me? I HATE this. I have no idea why people flock to Austin because of the "good weather". It's this hot from May to September. It's awful. I just do not get it. I'd like to be anywhere cooler than this. I know everyone always says this, but I'd much rather it be a dry heat, because 107° with humidity of 75% makes it feel like it's 115°. It's really hard to dress for this no matter what size you are. Everyone reaches that point where one realizes more clothes cannot possibly be taken off and at that point you wonder if you can shed your skin too. Ugh. That's how I feel about it, UGH.

Anyway, here's how I dressed today, in the hellish heat.

OOTD Details:

Skirt as top: Old Navy
Cardigan: Old Navy
Skirt: Torrid

The one thing that has been keeping me busy while I'm forced to stay inside is making felt toys/pillows. I just love it. I can shut off my brain and relax. I think I'm going to open a second Etsy shop to sell them I don't know if anyone would want to buy them, but I thought it might be worth a try. Plus, if I keep making them at the same speed I currently am, I'll have to do something with all of them. I've already given some as gifts and they seem to be a hit! What do y'all think? Are they worth a second Etsy shop?

This one I recently gave as a gift. My husband was sad as it was his favorite

Horace Hedgehog

Walter Whale

My personal favorite, Hamilton Hamster. I love his little tail.