Found : Enjoy the day and go outside!

Have a great weekend! 

Found: More books!

Going on a book craze here, but found these awesome pictures on Pinterest and just wanted to share with you book buddies! Enjoy, and happy week ahead!



Via



Via


Now wouldn't this be an awesome nursery?

Celebrations : Travel-themed Wedding

My sister and her husband had a travel-themed wedding. She had asked me to help her with some decor ideas, so I went and did some research. I shared them with her and now I'll share them with you too!




Via




Via




Via




Via



For their wedding, I made a travel scrapbook for their guestbook, and also a garland made from maps. I was too busy that day, so I didn't take any pictures of them (!!) but I will share a real simple garland DIY with you in my next post, so keep an eye out!

Have a great weekend!

Celebrations : Halloween Kiddy Cuteness!

Is it me or is Halloween just around the corner??

I just received an invite to a Halloween party and am scrambling to think up a costume right this minute. I had a few ideas months ago, but the procrastinator in me said "You know you'll get it done in a week, why worry now?"

Ok. It's time to start panicking... the party is in ONE week.


While doing research, the procrastinator got sidetracked (yet again).

And this is what she found...


via


via


via


via
I love this last series. The kids in the pictures have just the perfect expressions too. Frodo and Tintin are my favorites! So simple yet so clever!!

How are you dressing your kiddos this year?

Found: A Nautical Affair

Via

Now that it's summer, I'm longing to hit the lake!

And I actually sat down and created a mood board for it too! Phew! It was time consuming but super fun! Here are my picks from my favorite sites!



:: Swimsuit :: Bib necklace :: Heels :: Maxi Dress :: Tote Bag :: Ring:: 




I love stripes, the color palette red, white and blue. So one weekend I whipped these up!


Here and here




Have a wonderful week ahead! There's time yet, to plan for a nautical weekend!

Found: Crates and Barrels

Ever since my weekend on the Chadbourne Farm, I've been dreaming of redecorating our house, or just adding special touches to the home.

Here are some nifty ideas refashioned from crates and barrels. So neat!






Via
I'd love a beautiful organic bucket like this!



Via
Crates on wheels!


Via
Half a barrel makes a whole side table!


Via
Be creative with your spaces


Via
Vintage barrel repurpose


Via
This one is my favorite. Repurposed from pallets into wall shelving units. How creative!!

Have an inspiring home decor week ahead!

To-do or not to-do : What's your Motivation

via


Dear friends,

I received an email from a few days back, in relation to the previous post. Melanie is a contributor to the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance blog, and was inspired to write an article after reading my bucket list entry below. While I do not profess to know much about mesothelioma cancer, I agree with what she has written.

I am an extreme list-maker. I make lists about lists. But it is my way of organizing my life, and to help me make sense of it. I certainly see how a list can be a source of motivation; you cannot know the amount of satisfaction I derive just by crossing out things on my daily to-do lists. And I'm pretty sure all of you out there are list-makers in your own little way, regardless of reasons.

But I digress.

One of Melanie's aims, is no doubt, to spread the word about Mesothelioma cancer. There are links at the end of this post for you to read up more about it if you are interested. Although it is uncommon (the cause of it is from exposure to asbestos), I always believe knowledge and awareness is the key. There is definitely no harm in more knowledge, because you never know when it might come in handy. Also, personal motivation applies to just about anyone. I believe everyone can take a little something out of this. So, with that in mind, I am sharing this with you, my friends.


------------------------------------



Journal Writing as Personal Inspiration

For many people, writing a personal journal is a way to explore their thoughts and feelings about their daily activities or simply a way to keep track of past memorable events that have occurred within their life. However, a journal can also be a place to write about your dreams, ambitions or goals for your future as well. If you watched the move, “The Bucket List,” you have an idea of what can be accomplished if you allow yourself to dream into the future.



Your Personal Bucket List


Your personal journal is a great place to come up with your own personal bucket list. This does not need to be a list you share with anyone else, so it can be as silly, elaborate or simple as you like. A personal bucket list is a list of things that you want to accomplish. You can make your list of things you want to achieve within in the next year, the next five years or over the entire course of your life. It does not really matter what those things are, as long as you write them down and they have meaning to you.

Writing down your personal bucket list is important because somehow psychologically, writing something down gives weight and importance to your aspirations. As humans, we value what we write down; writing down your bucket list also gives you the ability to go back and look at it from time to time for inspiration. You may decide that you want to add things to your list as your life changes. You may also have a profound sense of satisfaction as you cross things off your list because you have accomplished them. In fact, accomplishing one thing on your bucket list may inspire you to add related things to accomplish in the future.



The Need to Look Forward


Writing down your personal bucket list can serve many purposes. For many people, it is a place they can turn to when they get frustrated with life. It gives them something to look forward to and think about for the future. If one of the things on your bucket list is to see Venice and ride in a gondola, when you get frustrated or depressed, you can mentally visit Venice in your mind and think of the things you need to do to make your dream trip a reality.

Having a list of things to accomplish can also be a wonderful motivator to actually accomplish those things. This can be especially true if you are looking for things to keep you motivated to keep moving forward. There are times in life when it is simply hard to keep going. For instance, if you are facing a challenging illness like mesothelioma or you have lost a spouse or someone you love, it can be tempting to just sit down and give up. But if you have a list of things you want to accomplish, then it gives you a reason to keep going and moving forward. Even if your prognosis seems grim, you can write down hopes for the future to give you drive to keep moving on to defeat your illness and live a happy life.

------------------------------------


Melanie has provided a link to the Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog and if you wish to learn more about it, please leave a comment or contact me so I may put you through to her. Thanks for reading!

Birding at the McAlpine Creek Greenway

I went on my very first group bird walk this past Saturday!

The McAlpine Creek Greenway, located on Monroe Road is one of the birding hotspots in Charlotte. Led by expert birders Sally and Sue, I saw at least 30 species of birds in a short span of 2 and a half hours! More than I can ever hope to see sitting by my window, watching my bird feeder!

The McAlpine Creek Greenway is a mix of open fields, wooded areas and marshland so there's a whole variety of birds to see! Plus Sally and Sue are so experienced they know exactly where to look for which birds. I added at least 15 new species to my life list, including the Great Egret, the Ruddy Duck, Red-shouldered Hawk and a Red-headed woodpecker!

Yes, I have a life list.

Every serious birder has a life list to keep track of the very first time he or she identifies a new bird. So far I have 48 birds on my list. I get butterflies in my tummy when I spot a new one. Every time I catch sight of a new bird, I have the urge to run and get my guide. In the beginning, I was always busy flipping through the guide, searching online, trying to find the bird that I only caught a glimpse of, without looking hard enough. As a result, sometimes I am unable to tell apart the more similar looking birds. With more experience, I now try to identify the unique markings on the bird before I feel I'm informed enough to rifle through the guide to identify the bird.

I thought I might have showed up at the bird walk a little too eager and over-prepared. I was the only one out of 10 birders to be equipped with a pair of binoculars, a guidebook, a notepad, a rain jacket and gloves! Turns out I had to use them all! Except for the rain jacket, it was a beautiful sunny day! But even Sally and Sue had to turn to my guide book once to confirm a rare sighting. I was beaming with pride at the end of the walk when they shook my hand and told me I am going to be a very good birder! What a teacher's pet! :P

I was sorry I didn't take pictures on my walk. What with the binoculars and the guide book and the notepad, I almost wished I had an extra pair of hands. Flipping through the pages of the guide was also extremely annoying with gloves on!

I started a Pinterest board for birding, feel free to look through and I hope you will pay a little extra attention to the creatures in your surroundings from time to time!

This weekend I'm dragging the J-man to the Latta Plantation Nature Preserve for another birding adventure!


Happy weekend ahead!

Thrifting: Prints for the home!

Source: design-seeds.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Our walls are looking a tad plain. I think it's about time to dress them up.
Found the above image on designseeds.com, which by the way is a great site for color palette inspirations, go check it out!

My living room walls are a shade of forest green like the first color in the palette above, and the craft room is a pebble gray like the 3rd color.

I was hunting out frames for some pictures/ paintings/photos i already own and found this set at Goodwill today.



I think I love them on the green walls! And I love the gardening theme too! We got a seed catalogue in the mail and they have some lovely full page photos of fruits and vegetables that I might want to cut out, mount and frame. I'm keeping a look out for pictures/photos of birds / mushrooms / plants for the house. Here are some on the wishlist!






{1}{2}{3}{4}{5}

'Tis the season...

Merry Christmas dear friends!

Hope you're all having a wonderful time with your loved ones! We're going up to the mountains to visit J's grandparents, have tons of homecooked food, and sit around the bonfire. I hope it gets colder (I can't believe I'm actually saying this), but 60 deg F is NOT feeling like Christmas.
We had SNOW last year. Today, I was prancing around in a short dress and leggings.

Definitely not feeling like Christmas.




I had been busy the last coupla' days sitting around and making accessories for my girlfriends for Christmas.

On my trip back to Singapore, I bought a yo-yo maker and OMG i couldn't stop making them. They're SO EASY to make! and such a great fabric stash buster idea.

If you have no idea what a yo-yo maker is, click here, or get one and have yourself hours of fun!!!

I actually brought my hoarded stash collection of buttons from Singapore and was glad they were put into good use! I made some hair ties, brooches and head bands.



This one is my favorite. I made it for my friend's daughter and I can totally picture her wearing a white dress with that on her head! Best of all, she's a little redhead so it'll totally stand out!

Sorry, not the best pictures, i know. But i did get many appreciative oohs and aahs over the accessories! Yay!

Have a wonderful Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

Crafting: Handmade Christmas gifts

So i got a little ambitious and decided to make everyone a Christmas gift this year. Not that I have a huge group of friends, but having two jobs right now has exponentially expanded my circle.

I was going to make bags for the girls, but i decided that it was going to take me till Easter to complete! So, it was straight to Pinterest for some Pinspirations!

Source: bhg.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: whipup.net via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: countryliving.com via chuiying on Pinterest

I decided since everyone must have a tree, that i was going to make Christmas ornaments for them, even the boys! Yay!

What are you crafting this holiday season?

Crafting: Halloween goodies and the Wonders of the Dollar Store!

Source: lilsugar.com via chuiying on Pinterest

Source: crafteecrafters.blogspot.com via chuiying on Pinterest

I wanted to give out some Halloween goodies this year for my friends at work. But i am useless in the kitchen and at baking. So the simple candy crafts will have to do to! And I found these simple ideas on Pinterest! Too cute!

So i went to the Dollar Store and got some:

1) Lollipops and mints
2) White and black plastic table coverings
3) Fuzzy pipecleaners
4) Googly eyes
5) Glue gun

A $5 dollar craft? Hell, yeah!


Cut out squares of plastic table covering. For the spiders i cut out 3"x3" squares, and for the ghosts i cut out 6"x6" squares, and cut all my pipecleaners half in length.



Wrap the plastic squares around the lollipops like so.



I don't even tape them up, I just wrap them tight with the pipecleaners. I use white for the ghosts, and 3 black half-lengths for the spider legs. I made a spider with 8 legs, but it looked too cluttered. The spider looked better with 6 legs, so maybe I'm just going to call them ants.



Use a sharpie to draw on features for the ghosts.

Voila, spiders and ghosts all done!

But waitaminute! There's more! I'd seen these mints at the dollar store and thought if i added some googly eyes on them, maybe i can turn them into bloodshot eyeball candies? So i whipped out my glue gun and stuck eyes on the mints. I'm going to add a sign that says "Have a ball!" *sniggers*



You guys have a ball this weekend! Happy Halloween!!!

Found: What to look forward to in the fall!

1. Halloween!!

2. Long socks, scarves and boots

3. Soups and broths

4. Blue Ridge Parkway and its changing colors

5. Bonfires!

This week the temperatures dipped. I pulled out my knitted hoodies and long socks. I can't wait to do a wardrobe overhaul! What are you looking forward to this fall???

Help wanted!

Source: asmalltribe.blogspot.com via Sarah on Pinterest

Good morning lovely people,


I need your help!


So I am planning for the museum school curriculum again and this time I am tasked with ...

"International play" - games children play all around the world.

Now if you'd be so kind to tell me where you are from and describe a few games you've played as a child, i would appreciate it very muchly!!!


You can leave a comment below, or you can email me at


granolabar [at] gmail [dot] com


I appreciate your feedback!


On a side note: check out the miniature wooden sewing machine in the picture above! so cute!!!!

Found: Things that make me smile

Source: inspirationsandramblings.tumblr.com via chuiying on Pinterest

My list goes like this: 

 stitching pretty patterns by hand a baby laughing reading in bed coffee brewing in the mornings a meal of buffalo wings munching on home grown food the smell of rain cuddling in bed toes in warm sand a deep back s-t-r-e-t-c-h 

 What are some of your best things in the world?