blogger coffee date

Yesterday I shared that I've hired Rachel to do an overhaul on my blog, which I could not be more excited about. I love reading what is on other blogger's hearts and minds, and I love to write about my own thoughts and desires,so I was thrilled when I discovered that today, she and Madison of Wetherills Say I Do would hosting a blogger coffee date linkup. I'm so happy I discovered Rachel's blog, for so many reasons!

So, if we sat down for coffee together, I would order a tall no water Chai latte with skim milk if we were at Starbucks, or a large house blend with a pump of vanilla at any other coffee shop. You can learn a lot about a shop by their house blend.

We would start with casual conversation, the usual small talk, I would ask you about your work and tell you I am so in love with mine it's not even funny. But alas, I am not very fond of small talk. I enjoy long, deep conversations with my friends, so the small talk would quickly transform to something more.

I would probably have a journal in my purse, because I carry one everywhere just in case. I would pull it out and show you this little hand lettering of a part of 2 Chronicles 20:17 I did last Sunday.

This verse and the story it's found in made a big impact on my faith. Lately I haven't been quite as sure of God's presence as I have been in the past. Lately I have felt like He wasn't there, and I had to control it all. If we were sitting down for coffee, I would tell you that reading this verse was the biggest reassurance He's still on my side.

I would tell you that this week I have gained so much insight into myself. I'm finding my voice in a whole new way. I would tell you I've rediscovered my passion for writing, and that I've realized it's okay that Sew My Soul had to change along with me. I'm seeing some possibilities for my future that make me so excited and nervous at the same time. And my dear, sweet husband is so supportive through it all. Every new realization I've had and every possibility I've been seeing has him so excited for me to. That man is such a blessing. God really outdid himself.

So, friend, what would you tell me if we sat down for coffee? How is your heart? What has you excited and is awakening your soul today?

Grab the button and link up with us!

5 on friday: five most embarrassing moments

This post is inspired by a comments discussion with Lisa at Two Martinis in which I described my horrific fear of pedicures and the incident that has led me to refuse all future pedicures.

Also this is my first five on Friday list and I'm about to publicly humiliate myself with it. Please be nice to me...

Also sorry for the lack of images. I don't have pictures to go with these stories. You'll understand soon.

Five most embarrassing moments:

1. When I kicked a Canadian pedicurist in the face and maybe broke her nose.
2. When I was three and farted so loudly at the kitchen table at a big family dinner it got named The Classic.
3. When I was eleven and casually asked my mom what anal sex was over after school snack.
4. When I was a freshman in college in Charleston, SC and not used to uneven sidewalks and ran into a large folding sign and faceplanted in the middle of the entrance to one of the busiest parking garages in downtown.
5. When I was at work two weeks ago in a very important meeting and stood up and heard a ripping sound and discovered my pencil skirt ripped all the way up to the waistband.

Stories behind each...

One. I hate having my feet touched. At all. Never ever ever ever touch my feet please ever. When I was 13 I went on a business trip with my parents to this convention in Canada at this really cool lodge with all kinds of amenities including an indoor pool, horseback riding, shopping center, and salon and spa. Our luggage had gotten lost and we were all having a terrible time, so to make us kiddos feel better we each got to do something "special." My something special was a haircut and a pedicure. I got a great hair cut that I loved and sat down in the pedicure chair thinking I was just going to soak my feet in the warm water and then someone would just paint my nails. But then the exfoliation started...and I couldn't take it...my reflexes got the best of me and my foot spasmed and before I knew it the lady down by my feet had a baddd bloody nose. Manager asked me to leave and I RAN out of there. No more pedicures. Ever.

Two. I was literally the shyest child ever. I barely spoke to anyone who was not my mom or my dad at all if I could help it. So big family dinners with all extended family and everything was the scariest thing in the world. One night we went to my grandparents' house for a big huge dinner and I was nervous as can be. Right when my grandpa started to pray, all of a sudden the loudest.fart.ever. escaped my tiny three year old body. Everyone laughed and I started bawling and hid upstairs for the next hour out of embarrasment. It's now fondly referred to as The Classic.

Three. To help me prepare for growing up mom had gotten me a few books about changing bodies and such because I was showing some early signs of puberty and had already had to have The Talk which I didn't fully comprehend. I was a smart kid so mom didn't really read the books before giving them to me assuming I would be ok with them. She had always said I could ask her anything, which I fully believed. One of the books mentioned something about the dangers of anal sex, and I had basically no clue what that meant. So after school one day, I casually said, "Mom, I have a question. What's anal sex?" Needless to say all future books were proofread carefully before being placed in my hands.

Four. Fast forward to college, freshman year, first few weeks, and me in a new city where I know no one. I was going to eat with a few of the people who lived in my dorm building, trying very hard to seem cool and not nearly as naive as I really was, and not paying attention--bad idea when you are as clumsy as I am. You know those folded signs they have all over the place in front of stores and for event parking? Well there was a very large one right in the middle of the sidewalk in a highly visible location, but I was trying to be cool and make eye contact with my hopeful new friends, so I didn't see it. I walked into it, and did a front flip landing straight on my face. Very uncool. Lots of people saw it. I had bruises all over for a week.

Five. I have a big butt. I've mentioned it before in refashion posts that it has to be carefully considered while making new clothes. I have literally one pencil skirt that fits. Just one. So I wore it last week knowing I had a big meeting for a very cool project we are working on and I wanted to look professional and fashionable. The meeting went great, and at the end, I stood up to shake hands goodbye, and I heard an almost cartoonish ripping sound behind me. I carefully took a back hallway to my office, shut the door, and turned my skirt around, and discovered it had torn ALL the way up to the waistband. All. The. Way. I did as much damage control as possible with safety pins, went and told my boss so I could go home and change, and after she laughed for a good ten minutes, she said "Now you can go home and tell Drew you strip at work!"

So there you go. My top five most embarrassing moments. Linking up with Carolina Charm today with this one...hi, you who found me through this link up...please read my other posts so you can see I'm not always this lame.

What are your most embarrassing moments? (you have to tell me one...I just told you about farting at dinner and baring my butt in the office)

kaitie lately...

Let me start with...holy {words i try not to use but still pop into my head when really excited/surprised/anxious/in sudden severe pain} my wedding is in two weeks and two days.

Is this real life?

Also the title is because kaitie lately sounded better than kaitlin lately and because my family and my man and my closest friends call me Kaitie basically always. My brother has called me Kaitlin twice ever and both times it was highly upsetting.

Since I'm kind of a homebody with a love for my family and a love for all things handmade and artisan crafted, here's the pergola my father designed and built and younger brother stained for me to get married under.

Heyyy little brother who is actually much bigger than me. Thanks for the stain job!

My family is pretty talented, I must say. If you love timber and are in the home building market (decorator, architect, builder, new homeowner...) you should check out Accent Truss. I'm biased but I have toured many houses in my day and seen many jobsites, and I must say...no one does trusses quite like my parents. Dad has the best eye for timber frames and he and my mom are an excellent partnership.

Here is me telling my amazing hairdresser for pretty much ten years straight because I have trust issues and no one else is allowed to touch my head what I want my wedding hair to look like.

Donna Hathaway. Upstate SC peeps, find her. She's the best at hair. Plus she's gorgeous, hilarious, and happens to be a super cool biker. For real, go get your hair did by her. It's great.

Drew and I are really really good at presents, but we are also really really bad at them. We cannot keep secrets from each other basically at all, and we have the hardest time not accidentally revealing surprises. So obviously we decided that we should just go ahead and open one present each (he had me open 2 because he technically got me a higher quantity of presents within our budget) this week because we won't be together on real Christmas and have to do it early anyways.

Open gift one and....

We got each other the same thing. Each of us has talked about cast iron skillets so much we each decided it would make a great gift for the other! And we were right--we love them.

He also got me a French press! I adore it. I've admired them for ages but never bought myself one because it wasn't a staple and Liz gave me a big regular coffee maker she and Kyle had before they got a Keurig for their wedding. But it's so pretty! And makes the perfect coffee for my pretty mug collection.

I made our stockings this year by buying the $0.98 ones from Wal-Mart (I've only started shopping at WalMart since moving. I still hate it. But it's cheap.) and then embroidering our names on them. I think they're super cute but I think next year I'm going to make some nice ones that have more detail.

I also made my garters. I took basic ones from Hobby Lobby and totally changed them up. In true refashioning form, I had to take old to make this new...

...so I used beads from my mom's wedding dress all over one. The dangling part on the garter I will be keeping was hanging where Mom's bodice met her skirt. I love it. And I took lace from the hem of her dress to my florist to carry in my bouquet on the big day. She's also my matron of honor. Have I mentioned that I love my mom?

So that's life in the world of the soul behind the seams right now. How about you, readers? What's new in your world?

PS--I'm super excited because on Monday we are FINALLY having a last minute engagement photo shoot! Stay tuned for the pics!

PPS--There is a strong chance I'll be somewhat MIA from the blog for a few weeks due to wedding and a honeymoon cruise but I promise I'll be back soon!

Meet the Bloggers: Elizabeth

Hey everyone! I’m Elizabeth, a junior in college and communications major. When Kaitlin and I were thinking about projects and she suggested repurposing, I immediately thought of two things, my grandma and Pinterest.

When I was young, my grandparent’s basement was always filled with toys and, as a girly girl, my favorites, of course, were the Barbies. One of my favorite things to do with my grandma was to sew Barbie clothes and various accessories for them. She would let me pick out the fabric and taught me how to use a pattern and a sewing machine. She was the one who opened my eyes to how much fun sewing can be.

And who can think about much of anything these days without it somehow relating to Pinterest. When I joined Pinterest, I realized the amazing things that can be done with a simple T-shirt. The more involved I got, the more I realized the amazing things that can be done with all kinds of clothes.

The problem was, because I live in the dorms and don’t have access to a sewing machine and also am lacking in experience, I haven’t been able to do any of the projects. So, when I got the chance to learn from Kaitlin and actually get to work on repurposing projects, I was so excited and I can’t wait to get started!!!

Meet the Bloggers: Kaitlin

Hello lovely readers! I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. I’m Kaitlin, a 21 year old senior in college (eek! Graduation time!) and I LOVE to sew. Most people think of their grandmas when they think about a sewing machine, but when I look at a needle and thread I see nothing but possibilities. The best thing about it is that you can be the designer. What you make is exactly what you want, and you never have to compromise like you do when you go shopping.

Over the years I have really fallen in love with clothes. I mean really. When I moved into my first dorm over half of what I packed for the move was my wardrobe. My wallet wasn’t exactly thrilled with my addiction to all things fashion, so I started looking for ways to save money and still look good. First I discovered Ross and TJ Maxx (what magical, magical stores), and then….I discovered Hancock Fabrics. I started scouring the racks to find the best deals on fabric I loved, and learned when the $1 pattern sale was happening, and thus began my adventures in a homemade wardrobe.

Lately, though, just sewing from a pattern hasn’t really been enough. I have been wanting a little more adventure, and a little more of a challenge. So what did I do? Go to Goodwill, naturally! With most of the clothes costing less than $8 and wildly oversized, there was a whole world of undiscovered fashion waiting to be made! Plus, it’s way more eco-friendly to upcycle and repurpose, and as all my friends and family will tell you, I’m a sucker for ways to go green.

When Elizabeth and I started classes this semester, we were given the opportunity to design our own project for the semester. I had been thinking about a sewing blog for MONTHS, and was so excited to finally have a reason to get started. We sat down and started brainstorming, and Sew my Soul was born!

Buckle up, girls! We’re about to change the way you look at sewing for good!