High Five for Friday

So, how about having a H54F post on Friday?! Fabulous, I know.

1. Sometimes you have to snap a picture of the back of your hair in a mirror to get a sufficient view. Also, hooray for these bobby pins from Sally Beauty Supply. Invest! It's $1.50 that will change your life.

2. Apple picking with the hubby and a couple of good friends/family members :)

3. The first scarf of the season courtesy of a Three Bird Nest grab bag.

4. Using the recipe from Lauren at From My Grey Desk Blog, I ventured into the world of apple fritters. Though some of them looked like various aquatic creatures (see the whale in the upper right?), they tasted delicious.

5. No photo required. I woke up with a terrible sinus headache this morning. But, after two Ibuprofen, a Sudafed, a cup of coffee and two and a half extra hours of rest, it finally went away. That's the good news — the headache is gone!

See other H54F posts at FMGD!

Energy and shoes

It's amazing how energizing a visit with a great friend can be — especially if that visit includes a salted caramel mocha.

Today has been a little up and down — I woke up with energy and after a trip to the grocery store, I made some apple fritters (yum!). It was my first try making them, and I used a recipe from Lauren at From My Grey Desk Blog. Even though mine didn't look as pretty and round, they tasted delicious. So delicious that my husband dubbed them the best thing I had ever made, and that's high praise right there. I'm not the best cook, but in four years of marriage and nearly 10 years time together, that has to be pretty high praise.

Anyway, after a nap and a caffeine-filled visit with one of my BFFs, I have enough energy to tell you about my lovely shoes that arrived/were purchased this weekend.

First of all, I've been coveting (OK, I know I'm not supposed to covet) a pair of shoes frequently worn by Kate from The Small Things Blog for quite a while now. They're gray patent leather wedges, which doesn't seem too impossible to find, but apparently they are (especially within my price range, I suppose). So, I was super thrilled when Kate posted a link to some similar shoes on a blog post a few days ago.

Even though they're a different color and material and the heel appears to be a little bit higher, they were such a great deal that I ordered a pair immediately.

Love in shoe form | Urban Outfitters

The description said the shoes run a little large, so I ordered a size down. They're a little snug, but not uncomfortably so, I don't think. They're beautiful though, that's for sure.

While visiting friends yesterday, I stumbled into Urban Attic, a consignment store with great prices and cute clothes. I found a Banana Republic dress, a J. Crew sweater and a houndstooth pattern skirt, but possibly my favorite purchase was these suede booties.

They kind of have a western flair, I think, and the heel isn't so high that it makes them difficult to walk in. I can't wait to wear them, and with the forecast for this week, I think it may almost be time to pull out the rest of my boots and booties.

What great finds have you stumbled upon lately?

H54F (the abbreviated version)

1. This week was forever-long, and I am glad it is over.
2. I got more than 5 hours of sleep last night.
3. Weekend=football
4. I'm going to an orchard/farm/awesome place tomorrow with friends, and that sounds amazing!
5. I realize this is a subpar post and plan to make up for it with a post about awesome new shoes tomorrow.

Goodnight all, and darn, now it's technically Saturday. Oh well, I started typing on Friday ;) It still counts.

My NFL Sunday 'recap'

Can I just say how excited I am for the start of the NFL season? I'm a bit competitive, so with a little coaxing five years ago, fantasy football and I became BFFs. I now know about and understand the game of football (unlike when I cheered for it in high school), so nothing makes me happier than sitting home on a Sunday afternoon/night and watching any and every second of the games that my husband and I can find.

Yesterday, the first NFL Sunday of the season, we may have overindulged a little bit.

These two pictures were taken literally seconds apart despite the fact that it looks like we were watching football in the dark in the first one. I wanted to focus on the TV screen though, so everything else is dark. And in the second one, you can see what I mean by overindulging. But hey, that huge box of pizza fed us all day ;)

Though I won't know for sure until late tonight how my fantasy teams fared, it looks good so far! My QBs had stellar performances this week, so here's a shout out to Tony Romo and Matt Ryan.

Well, happy Monday (if there is such a thing)! This will undoubtedly be a rough week at work for me, so I would appreciate any positive thoughts and prayers. Have a great week!

Turning 'buy' into 'DIY'

Last night, I came ever so close to hitting the "buy" button on Etsy and purchasing an adorable pair of earrings. Trust me, I've done this many times. I've become especially fond of the Etsy iPhone app — it's so easy to browse and find all kinds of beautiful things ... but I digress.

I knew I didn't need to purchase any new earrings, mainly because I could walk about 20 feet down the hallway and have everything I needed to make a pair or three of my own.

So yes, along with watching the University of Kentucky get a win in football (!), I made these beauties:

High Five for ... the weekend?

I was too tired and in too poor a mood to post last night after work, so my high five this week shows up here on Saturday.

1. I bought a beading magazine, which had instructions on how to make a new style of earring. And by new, I mean, I hadn't made anything like it before. I have since made its mate, but here's the first one:

2. BUBBLES! My (first) two bubble necklaces finally came in the mail this week. I am so excited and trying to refrain from wearing them EVERY. DAY. I might have to order some more.

3. See what I mean? On Wednesday, I wore the teal necklace with a gray patterned shirt from Target (last year) and a gray-chambray skirt from American Apparel (click here).

4 & 5. Panera, need I say more? No, but I will. Panera is the only place I go to eat where the soup is the featured menu item and the sandwich is more of a side. I always get the broccoli cheddar soup, but depending on the mood I'm in, I pick a different sandwich. Also, my meal came with a 99 cent bakery item, so I tried my first muffie. I'm sure that means it's a mix between a muffin and a cookie, but it makes me smile to think it's just a muffin top.

(Ab)Normal

When did it become "normal" for someone to work 1.75 times the length of a typical American workday and be OK with it?
Maybe I'm just grumpy and sleepy (plus five other dwarves, right?!), but this 14-hour workday thing is for the birds.
Oh well, here's a positive about today — my new necklace and my seat on the lace-train, this pretty silver/gray lace top:

Necklace: New York & Company | Shirt: Dress Barn

Alright, goodnight all! It's time to set up my fantasy football lineup and go to bed :)