Dogs, bubbles, sliding ladders, moms, girl scout cookies, and little sisters

"I daresay you haven't had much practice,' said the Queen. 'When I was your age, I always did it for half-an-hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." - Lewis Carroll

1) I will always have a dog I love in my life. Always. 

2) I will forever smile when bubbles float by.

3) I will someday have a library with a sliding ladder. 

here

4)I will be as beautiful as my mother.

5) I will eat as many girl scout cookies as I want and never feel guilty. 

6) I will forever have this beautiful girl in my life. 

Week 27

1) Gif text wars with far away friends in Utah....here is my favorite exchange to date

2) This delightful study mix

Fall Study Sessions from Emilyc15 on 8tracks Radio.

(Please...I know it's not fall...but I can't help it....I'm already dreaming of pumpkins)

3) Horseback riding with my little. A bit complicated with a sprained ankle but we figured it out. 

4) Academic conferences....particularly those that I leave with a reading list that has grown exponentially. 

5) And just one more good study mix, because my online class over Ulysses started today and I really wish I was reading Harry Potter instead.

Reading With Ms. Granger from TheWishingBone on 8tracks Radio.

What's your ultimate study music?

DIY: Flower Power Maxi Dress

I have been so tempted the last few days to blog about absolutely nothing. I composed numerous blog posts about job hunting, bordem killers, etc, but nothing felt right. And so I decided I needed something worth blogging about. So I dug through my fabric scraps and found something to blog about. 

It started with this tutorial from pinterest. Katy from Sweet Verbena suggested a jersey knit for a maxi dress but all I had was this retro sheet. The print was way too fun to pass up.

So I changed a few things up from Katy's tutorial that I'll let you in on. First, let me say using a sheet made a few things much simpler. First, it was already the exact right size to double over. Secondly, the bottom was already hemmed (although I ended up shortening it so the pre-hem didn't make much of a difference). It's really a fairly simply design. Here is what this baby looks like without a belt. Zero shape.

As you see a belt is absolutely necessary to make this outfit work. But as you can also see this is about the size of a twin sheet folded over. For the first half of the tutorial I followed along with Katy's tutorial perfectly. However, the neckline caused some issues. Because Katy worked with jersey she was able to cut a slit and have the neckline fall fairly naturally. However, when I did this it looked funny, so I improvised. First I cut a deep "V" for the neckline down the front and the back. 

Didn't stop there though. When I cut this deep "V" the dress kept slipping off my shoulders. So I took a dart in the back and added a bit more fabric to bring up the back more. The Results looks like this.

The full dress only took me about 1 hour. What a wonderful way to spend an afternoon. And bonus, Walter likes my dress too!

What I've learned from...my dogs

When you see the chicken, you eat the chicken. 

Sitting still is hard to do when you are excited. Embrace the wiggle.

Nap often. 

Hugs are necessary when you haven't seen someone for a long time. A long time can be defined as anything over 2 hours. 

Magic is way more fun if you play along. If the ball looks gone then the ball really is gone. Don't spend too much time worrying about the logic behind it all.

Sometimes complaining enough can get you exactly what you want from someone else. If they really love you they'll forgive you.

Flies are the spawn of the devil.

Mistakes happen. Move forward. Don't keep blaming yourself when everyone else around you has already forgiven. 

Looking guilty can seriously deplete anger. 

Love. With everything. Don't hold back. 

Finding the Color in The Book Thief

Title: The Book Thief

Author: Markus Zusak

Six word summary: Death meets girl, girl meets death.

If you love historical fiction about World War II you'll love this book.

If you dislike unusual narration styles you might want to steer clear (although really you shouldn't because this book is amazing).

A favorite quote:
"Steadily, the room shrank, till the book thief could touch the shelves within a few small steps. She ran the back of her hand along the first shelf, listening to the shuffle of her fingernails gliding across the spinal cord of each book. It sounded like an instrument, or the notes of running feet. She used both hands. She raced them. One shelf against the other. And she laughed. Her voice was sprawled out, high in her throat, and when she eventually stopped and stood in the middle of the room, she spent many minutes looking from the shelves to her fingers and back again."

Review:

As the title of my new series was inspired by this book I felt it was absolutely necessary to start here. I first met Liesel Meminger when my roommate from college, another avid reader, thrust her worn copy of The Book Thief into my hands and exclaimed "You have to read this."

The second time I met Liesel was in an academic course. Our professor asked us to read The Book Thief as a way to access how powerful literacy can be in a life. For Liesel, words become everything.

I was swept away by Zusak's artful storytelling surrounding the young protagonist and her experiences living in Germany during World War II. Liesel is sent to live with the Hubermann's, a poor family living in rural Germany, by her mother in the beginnings of the war. However, Zusak has written her story with a twist. Death is the narrator. Death meets Liesel, the book thief, three times. Each marks another death surrounding Liesel's life.

Death is able to tell Liesel's story when she, in her grief, drops a handwritten life story and he scoops it up. The book tells of her life, her friend Rudy, and the mysterious Jewish man the Hubermann's take in, Max. Books become her source of power, legitimacy, and connection and it is through books she is able to communicate, respond, and grow.

A powerful read and artfully crafted, Zusak has created a story which not only reveals the horrors of life in Germany during World War II, but also the connection which can be formed through words and community. Well worth the read.

Memory 23

Of all the fictional men I've loved, Gilbert Blythe will always be the first and longest running.

For those of you that weren't homeschooled in the 1980s and 90s Gilbert Blythe was Anne Shirley's best chum in the 1980s Canadian adaptation of L.M Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series.

I cannot tell you how many sleep overs were had to binge watch both Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables: The Sequel. With a combined running time of just over 7 hours these movies made the perfect marathon sleep over movie (along with the BBC Pride and Prejudice, a running time just under 6 hours, with Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy...swoon) 

I was not prepared to be so heartbroken when I heard the news of Jonathan Crombie's death. And yet it really did feel as if an old friend had passed. I immedietly dug up copies and recreated my old binge watching. 

One article, "Why We Loved Gilbert Blythe" by Sarah Larson perfectly describes my ache. She says, "The “Anne” series let us dream about adolescence while holding on to childhood. The world of Avonlea—Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, the apple blossoms and the knickers and caps, dance cards, hay rides, Gilbert’s patient and steadfast heart—was gentler than what we might have imagined about adolescence. It wasn’t “The Breakfast Club,” and that was, on some secret level, very exciting—a last moment of being able to enjoy gentler childhood ideals. “Anne of Green Gables” appealed to those impulses without condescending to us. It wasn’t exactly cool. It had no edge. You didn’t want to race into school and announce that you were obsessed with “Anne of Green Gables.” But, to your bosom friend, you could discuss its many joys to your heart’s content."

What is one movie from your childhood you still watch today?

Let me reintroduce myself...

When I started this blog in 2009 I never imagined it would last. However, I eventually found the value in having a little corner of my life dedicated to making mistakes, writing about weird things, and taking pictures. A place I could come at 2 AM with coffee and an idea and make things happen.

I've been reading the book Girl Zines: Making Media Doing Feminism by Alison Piepmeier for a master's course. She talks through the Girls Zines which were made in the 1990s by young feminists looking for a way to express themselves. As I read through I was struck by what these zines did for young women. In short, Piepmeier argues zines "are sites where girls and women construct identities."

Ok, I get it, I get it. Blogging is different. And I know that. But it made me nostalgic. For the moment when blogging was that for me. It was my community and my way to think and take care of myself.

So I wanna try this again. With a face lift. I said earlier I don't know how to blog now that I'm different. But instead of giving up I'm just gunna wing it and try.

I thought it might help to reintroduce myself. So....

Name: Hannah Elizabeth Cole

Age: 26

Career: I'm a student and GTA at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. I graduate in August

Favorite book: Peter Pan

One thing I've learned today is Hobby Lobby closes at 8 pm

One thing that makes me happy is my coffee mug collection

One thing that makes me sad is breaking a coffee mug

I've tried sushi once and threw up afterwards. My best friends still make fun of me for it

The most important thing for you to know about me today is I am terrified of taking a course on Ulysses this summer

Thoughts from an Extrovert

I refuse to only blog about being married. I refuse. 

But I have to say, being married has taught me some really interesting things. Or maybe it's just been the past year and a half that have taught me a lot of interesting things and I've just happened to be married in that time. 

I am an extrovert. I knew this. But I never realized how much. 

Example, I was home all day yesterday by myself and the day before. When Isaac came home I was a hot mess. Seriously. I am never spending that much time alone again. 

I've always thought I liked being alone. But it turns out I like hanging out with myself...if that makes any sort of sense at all. I'm still interacting with a person. Journaling. Writing music. Dreaming about my future kitchen. 

I sound like Rachel from Friends when she was dating herself. But I digress.

I need to learn to follow recipes. 

Before the last year and a half I thought I was an amazing cook. Turns out scrambling eggs and cooking Kraft Mac N' Cheese doesn't count. 

I love beautiful quotes about simple things. 

"I do believe in an everyday sort of magic - the inexplicable connectedness we sometimes experience with places, people, works of art and the like; the eerie appropriateness of moments of synchronicity; the whispered voice, the hidden presence, when we think we’re alone.” - Charles de Lint

via  

Currently Obsessed

Well Earned Soul

"But in the meantime we've got it hard 
Second floor living without a yard 
It may be years until the day 
My dreams will match up with my pay" 

-Mushaboom (Feist)

Occasionally I write bad poetry. 

That is not to say the rest of the time I write good poetry. I just don't write the rest of the time. 

But usually when I'm writing poetry it's an attempt to capture the purest feeling that I am feeling at that moment and bottle it up and show it to other people and hope that little bit of feeling looks familiar to them. 

Like they have a bottle in their pocket with the same feeling. 

I think this is how a lot of artists feel (far be it from me to use that word to describe myself). And occasionally I'll be listening to another artist's words and they'll jump out of the pages and speak to me. So clearly, so precisely  I have to pull out my own little bottle of feelings and compare because that person must have stolen mine. 

"But I went to Walden Pond a year ago, just to see and feel the place, just to walk alone around the water, and they've made a suburb out of it. It hurts to hear the traffic rolling in through the trees...and I wonder if Walden exists anymore. I am not talking about the real Walden...I am talking about the earth God meant to speak before we finished His sentence." - Donald Miller (Through Painted Deserts) 

Sometimes I don't like feeling things, especially when I feel like I can't communicate them into words for the people around me. It feels like I'm stuck behind a black curtain holding out my bottle of feelings for nobody in particular. 

But sometimes, somebody will reach back blindly, holding their little bottle of feelings out to me, and I remember that we're, none of us, alone. 

“Sometimes you’re 23 and standing in the kitchen of your house making breakfast and brewing coffee and listening to music that for some reason is really getting to your heart. You’re just standing there thinking about going to work and picking up your dry cleaning. And also more exciting things like books you’re reading and trips you plan on taking and relationships that are springing into existence. Or fading from your memory, which is far less exciting. And suddenly you just don’t feel at home in your skin or in your house and you just want home but “Mom’s” probably wouldn’t feel like home anymore either. There used to be the comfort of a number in your phone and ears that listened everyday and arms that were never for anyone else. But just to calm you down when you started feeling trapped in a five-minute period where nostalgia is too much and thoughts of this person you are feel foreign. When you realize that you’ll never be this young again but this is the first time you’ve ever been this old. When you can’t remember how you got from sixteen to here and all the same feel like sixteen is just as much of a stranger to you now. The song is over. The coffee’s done. You’re going to breathe in and out. You’re going to be fine in about five minutes.”

Written by: Kalyn RoseAnne 

(via Little Reminders of Love) 

I'm curious, are there any artists that make you feel this way?

Wedding Wonderment: The Reception Look

I would have been lost the day of the wedding without our fantastic florist and decorators at Blue Bouquet. If you are looking for an incredible florist look no further  They are one of the best in the city.

The thing I loved most about Blue Bouquet is they encouraged me to be as involved or as removed as I wanted to be from the design process. The things I wanted to be picky about (like the overabundance of pumpkins) they let me be picky about, but the things I didn't care about as much (types of flowers in the decor) they just went with something that would look good with the overall look. 

Isaac and I went hunting and found some vintage comic books to use in the decor to give it a fun flair and we even found a wedding one from Superman. So cute. The burlap was plentiful and mason jars were everywhere (all things I had requested in our consultation). It was so rustic and beautiful. And look at it lit up at night!

Their team spent so much time hanging string bulb from the rafters of the outdoor location to achieve this look. It was so worth it don't you think? A perfect soft glow. 

The desert table was a joint effort (and one of my favorite things of the day). I made the cinder blocks painted different colors (thank you pinterest), my Aunt loaned me the smaller of the tree stump cupcake holders, I bought the large cupcake holder and the cake topper via etsy from some fabulous sellers, the amazing Melissa Hill made my cupcakes and small cake for the top as a wedding present, and Blue Bouquet brought in the large apothecary jars and set the whole thing up. 

The cake was incredible. I found the cake holder on Tex and Paula's shop on etsy. They do amazing work. The wood was all untreated and smelled amazing. They had it to us just in time for the big day. The cake topper actually has a fun story behind it. I was browsing Offbeat Bride (a fantastic website for unique ideas) and they featured a wedding with this cake topper. I fell in love and commented asking where the bride had gotten it and she offered to make me one! Gasp! Her etsy shop is amazing, and I'm sure if you wanted a cake topper that was similar she'd be more than willing to make another. 

While Blue Bouquet did most of our decor, my mom's friend set up the front drive for us with the sign made by another of my mom's friends reading "Eat, Drink, and Be Married." It set the mood as people came in the front. 

Last was our incredible "guest book." I had the idea to imitate the up house with the thumb prints being the balloons but I'm no artist so I took my idea to one of my bridesmaids moms, Anna Poindexter, and she painted this for us. It now hangs in our bedroom as a reminder of all the people who love us and shared our day with us. 

Whew! That was quite the post. Here are the vendors:

Photography: Abundant Life Photography

Decor and Floral: Blue Bouquet

Cupcakes: Melissa Hill

Cake Stand: Tex and Paula

Cake Topper: Amanda Kaliski Alvarez

No question

Tig Notaro. Enough said. It's so incredibly worth the listen. 

Week 26

1) This. Just. Yes.

2) SNL this week. Do yourself a favor and go watch. Such a hysterical opening. 

3) Better Homes and Gardens website. Specifically this article on Cottage Kitchens. 

As you can tell, things are a little tight right now in the Snail house so I redecorate my house in pinterest. 

4) The smell of fresh laundry

5) I have no idea why this is as funny as it is. 

Happy Monday!

If I live the life I've been given, I won't be scared to die

"And now I spend my days in search of a woman we called purpose

And if I ever pass back through her town I'll stay"

- The Avett Brothers 

My brother has some of the best taste in music of anyone I've met. He was the person that bought me my first Jack Johnson, Sufjan Stevens, and Fleet Foxes CD (yes this was when it was still CDs). 

Among many things, something I miss most is riding in his car and grabbing his I-pod to see who in the world possesses the beautiful voice that was coming from his speakers. 

I'm not sad. I keep telling myself that and I'm not sure why. Maybe because it's true, but my thoughts make it seem like I am. I'm... dissatisfied. Almost worse really. I don't feel sad but I want more. I want to feel the wonderful of my life more. 

I suppose that comes down to wanting more stuff too, which really won't help anything so it makes me feel dumb to want more. Yes, I want stuff, but not the stuff you might think.

I want a backyard with a garden and a tea set, welcoming friends to come and sit and rest and stay. I want a view of the mountains and hiking trails in my backyard. I want to be modivated to exercise and eat well and I want to grow my own food. I want to travel and meet people and raise babies to children and children to adults and live in the city and live in the country and live without electricity and sew my own dresses that are beautiful. 

I want to live, not the life I've been given, but the life I'm creating in my head. 

But that's not the life I'm given now. We don't have the money to move to Colorado and travel to New York and buy a house with a big backyard. We have enough to buy groceries and dog food. That's the life I've been given now, and I want to start living it before it goes away. I need to start living it before it goes away. 

Am I alone in this? Or is this a human emotion, to want a life that's so much bigger than the one you've been given for the time being. What do you think?

Wedding Wonderment: The Wedding Party

When it came time to choose our wedding party it wasn't very hard. Every single person in our wedding party has had a significant impact on one, if not both, of our lives. Many of these friends (siblings of course being longer) had been in our lives for over 10 years. 

After Isaac and I had our first look we got together with everyone to take pictures and goof off for about an hour before the guests started to arrive. I didn't know it at the time, but this was about the only time that whole day I got to spend with these important people and it was so sweet and fun. 

We even had a few visitors as were were taking shots sneak in with us. 

We decided we wanted to keep the dress pretty casual and cheep. Some of our wedding party was traveling in from out of town and we wanted to keep any cost we could down. I knew I wanted our colors to be bright and fun without overpowering everything and looking like a circus. I went to a fabric store and picked out fabric that was in the colors I wanted. Then I just sent the swatches to all my bridesmaids and they picked a dress in that color. I didn't like the idea of having all my bridesmaids in the same dress. I wanted to be able to see their personalities come out when I looked back on our wedding photos 20 years later. They all looked so beautiful.

 The guys all went out and got the same pair of pants (JC Penny) and just paired it with a white shirt and shoes they already had. I ordered the suspenders and bow ties together so they would all look the same. Don't they look handsome?

My favorite pictures were what we captured on the old couch we brought in for the wedding. This couch, fondly called the pit, had been in my family for 30+ years. My mom has pictures of all of us kids crawling, laying, wrestling, and playing on this couch. 

And most of our wedding party had partied on the couch on one night or another, watching movies or playing games in high school. 

It was perfect that it's last hurrah was with people that loved it dearly. 

Also, I can't get over how cute our two little flower girls and ring bearer were. Instead of throwing flowers, they carried a sign that said "Here comes the bride." Got the "aw" factor up for sure. 

Vendors featured:

Abundant Life Photography

Reconcile Yourself

I'm not sure why reconciliation has been on my heart so much lately. Probably cause I'm reading so much darn Donald Miller. But I think people forget how important reconciliation can be. In the bible, Jesus talks about it in the same breath as hate and murder, saying even as someone is dragging you to the jailer to reconcile yourself to him.

Ouch. 

I think in America there is a mentality of "screw them." If someone has a problem with you, screw them. You don't care about their opinion anyway. And yes, God's opinion is the ultimate opinion, your worth comes from him, but doesn't that then free us up to reconcile ourselves to others without feeling like we're doing it so everyone will like us? Rather the motivation comes from following the only one who does matter. 

I don't know, I guess I just feel convicted. And that's good, and hurts. But maybe they're growing pains. Who knows. 

And it makes me thankful for the times I have reconciled myself to others. 

Because if I hadn't, I would be without a source of very good things indeed. 

Wedding Wonderment: First Look and the Dress

I've always been the nervous type and I knew my wedding day would be no exception, so I asked Mr. Snail early on if we could have a "first look" rather than waiting till I walked down the aisle to see each other. 

It ended up working out perfectly and I highly recommend it to all my friends who are getting married. It felt so much more intimate and it really capture the moment. I love the look on his face. 

It also gave me the freedom to cry and get all my emotions out (ok, not all, I still cried like a baby during our vows) before I greeted people. I had been so nervous the whole day but after that, having Mr. Snail with me calmed me down. It felt real. And it felt natural. I feel like part of the wedding day jitters have to do with not being able to be with the most important person before you make the most important decision.

It felt perfect. And it ended up being some of our favorite pictures as well. 

The dress is usually my favorite part of any wedding. I used to work at a bridal store and it cannot be expressed how much a dress can transform a girl. So when it was time for my beautiful dress I skipped back to my stomping grounds of Amore Bridal and Tuxedo. 

There are a few things I always told my brides when they were shopping with me: 

1) Know how to dress your body type

2) Just about anything can be altered, changed, or added to. Love the dress but want some straps? Done. Need a little more coverage up top or want a deeper sweetheart? Done. 

3) Any dress can be made into a corset back and you should do it. A corset allows you to gain or loose as much as 5-10 pounds (depending on how tall you are) before the wedding. And it makes you look skinny to boot. 

I knew with my big bust and hour glass shape I needed something that covered, had no waist line and fitted through my hips. This particular cut hides some areas that jiggles and gave me a teeny tiny waist.  

 I'm not a big sparkle girl so the muted beading and ruching was all the detail I needed. And the pop of tulle underneath gave it just a touch of whimsy and magic that I wanted. 

Amore really is one of the best places in Kansas City to shop for a wedding dress (or a Bridesmaid Dress or tuxedo for that matter) and I'm not just saying that because I worked there. They have an in-house seamstresses to take care of any alterations and they are fabulous. On my dress they added fabric to the top, put a corset in the back, and put in bustles (I think about 14). They really know their stuff and have a great selection. My dress was designed by Allure Bridals but they offer dresses by over 10 other beautiful and affordable designers.

Featured Vendors:

Abundant Life Photography

Amore Bridal and Tuxedo

Allure Bridal