My brief love affair with eBay...

... and how it saved me $318.92 (and then some).

A few weeks ago, I came down with a mild bug. And so, in an attempt to rid myself of it quickly, I spent all of Sunday afternoon and evening in my bed. But after falling asleep at about 7:30 pm Saturday night, I couldn't really force myself to go to sleep. I read, caught up on blogs, blogged some more myself, and then found myself in a very dangerous place. EBAY!

You see, eBay and I have a history. We tried things out my freshman year of college and had to break it off because he just wasn't good for me. He made me spend too much money and react

too impulsively. Eventually I had to block him from my computer to stop thinking about him.

Well, with so much time in bed, my mind and typing fingers wandered over to eBay to see how things were going. And lo and behold, I had this thought that I really need to start dressing like a grown up, since I am a youth minister and I am no longer a student. Before I knew it, I'd won five auctions!

Well ladies and gentlemen, I would love to say that I regret spending the money and I've blocked eBay once again with his lustful temptations, but I don't regret it. Here's what I got with a breakdown of my winning auction, the shipping and retail prices.

An H&M purple dress with polka dots that ties around the waist-

very appropriate for work or church.

Auction: $13.80

Shipping: 4.99

Retail: $29.99

A brand new BCBG black button down blouse with white polka dots and a cute tie in the front, very appropriate for work or church.

Auction: 8.99

Shipping: (included)

Retail: 39.99

Black scoopneck dress with pleated skirt, from a boutique in DC

Auction: 12.99

Shipping: (included)

Retail: 75.00

Silk Navy dress by Anna Sui for Anthropologie

(no photo available :( )

Auction: 15.99

Shipping: 4.50

Retail: about 200.00

Black tunic with lace detail by Ella Moss for Anthropologie

(no photo available :( )

Auction: 11.50

Shipping: 3.26

Retail: about 50.00

Total spent on auction and shipping: 76.02

Total retail value: 394.98

Total savings: 318.96

And just recently, I found another little gem. The J Crew Juliet dress, retailing right now for $195.00 at www.jcrew.com, I purchased for a whopping $25.49

It's 100% silk chiffon and sooo pretty. The color is discontinued, but it's a lovely peachy pink shade. I wore the dress for graduation and it was the perfect material for the muggy, humid heat and our outdoor ceremony.

(Yeah I know you can hardly see it in the picture,

but in all the other ones I have on a cap and gown!)

Auction: 25.49

Shipping: 5.95

Retail: 195.00

Total Savings: 163.56

Winning, Duh!

Southern Charm Photography and Austin

About a month or so ago, my friend Katelyn from Southern Charm Photography traveled to Austin to take some senior pictures for me. It was a fun chance to highlight parts of Austin that I love. It was a VERY sunny day and she did a great job of still capturing all the color and beauty of each destination. I was happy that David got to come along and keep everything comfortable. We even got some really cute pictures together!

Our first stop was Big Top Candy Shop on South Congress. They have ahhh-mazing Italian Ice Sodas, nostalgic candy, and a chocolate case to die for. My first foray into this delightful store was on a First Thursday for a handmade Dr Pepper and I've been hooked ever since!

I have no idea why I chose a green drink this time.... it tasted awesome, so I definitely recommend green apple, but yeah. Maybe a purple one would have matched better? Or pink?

Get it?? Because I'm a sweet-tart and he's a bazooka?? I really wanted to find a big box of Hot Tamales for him, but alas we had no such luck.

Our next stop was Hey, Cupcake! which was, unfortunately, closed. And here you can see the sun's glaring rays reflecting on that airstream trailer goodness :)

Our next stop was one of my favorite spots in Austin! It's on the edge of Zilker Park where a little pavilion looks over Town Lake and has a perfect view of downtown. It's actually one of the places David and I went on our first unofficial date. It's just as gorgeous at night!

It was really cool, too, because beautifully decorated (but poorly tuned) pianos have been placed all over Austin by the Austin Art Alliance- so David serenaded us with a pretty tune.

I think this one is my favorite. It's before my hair got too terribly wild. This photo was taken on a walking trail beside the lake lookout. I once got lost on the trail with a friend and accidentally walked nearly 5 miles when I intended to walk 2 miles.

Then we went to Mt Bonnell, another place we visited on our first unofficial date. I know it's cheesy and cliche as far as romantic places in Austin... but I honestly do have some great memories from this place- romantic and not, with David and with other friends. It has a lovely view of the city of Austin as well as over the water.

Katelyn was unaware that there'd be quite a climb to the top. I probably should have mentioned that before we got there. Oh, well! She was quite the trooper. Oh, and it was incredibly windy at the top of the mountain. Maybe you can't tell but my hair was W-I-L-D.





This is the picturesque staircase to the top. I remember taking Lindsey up here while she was still in high school. A raccoon was being pretty noisy in the brush and she got sooo scared!

Next we hit up the center of UT's campus- our eternal phallic symbol- the Tower. There's a lot of history in this tower. Terrible events occurred her in 1966. But every year, the Gone to Texas program welcomes new students here. The Torch Light Rally and the Hex Rally are held here to cheer on the Longhorn football team. Free concerts are put on- I saw Gavin Degraw here! And finally, graduation. The tower symbolizes achievement, success and pride in our alma mater. It lights up completely orange for national championship victories.

And last, but certainly not least, we visited this mural on South First and Annie. Of course it's a staple in Austin portrait sessions. But I LOVE this mural. It features some of the most prominent and beautiful parts of Austin in the painting. It displays Austin's friendly, quirky and overall weird feel.

Murals were one of the big reasons that I fell in love with Austin. From the first days I spent at UT during Honors Colloquium of my junior year in high school, I felt God pressing me here. I felt like I belonged... and it felt so different from high school. I loved the educational/intellectual/creative sense of the school. But walking down the drag with my mother during orientation I noticed colorfully tiled sections of sidewalk, guerilla advertising campaigns emphasized with sidewalk chalk, marbles creating designs as I walked along.

Sidewalks are mundane. Not in Austin. Austin is anything but mundane. Alleyways are scary and ugly. Not in Austin. Alleyways are covered in paintings, artistically rendered to be funny, politically relevant, beautiful.

I love Austin.

I love the colorful sidewalks, the incessant art wherever you look, the farmer's markets, the live music, the FOOD, the thriving cultural communities, the strong support of local and small businesses, the beautiful skyline, the 24 hour availability of queso. I love that those who follow Christ here truly follow Christ in word and deed- giving to the communities and going where the gospel has never been heard. I love that following Christ here means loving people and meeting their needs just as Christ did in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

I will be in Austin for another year or so working at Oak Meadow Baptist Church and I honestly hope to return after I obtain my Masters degree. This beautiful city has a hold on me.

Thank you Katelyn for capturing it all so beautifully!

A Board Games and Brunch Bridal Shower for my bestest best friend!

This weekend I was absolutely thrilled to host a bridal shower for my best friend in the whole world- Miss Danae Sparkman! (soon to be Nelson :) ). It was hosted in Stephenville for a younger, more relaxed crowd and we had a greeaaaat time.

When you came in, the first stop was the guest book! There was an ornately framed engagement picture of Danae and Clay, a lovely arrangement of white and yellow daisies and orange carnations. The theme quote was also framed there- "Love is a game that two can play and both win." -Eva Gabor

Notice the signage! I worked hard to design labels made with Scrabble tiles- all other font is Girls Are Weird from dafont.com!

In the sitting room, we set up a faux-to booth- with a backdrop held over the fireplace by two oversized "Scrabble letters" (for Danae and Clay), s

ome instructions for the pictures, and flowers!

In the dining area, we hung a banner that said "Love is sweet" and put up our tissue paper poms!

On the serving side table, there were more tissue paper poms, and stacks of board games. Atop one stack were oversized "Scrabble tiles" that I painted and on the other was another flower arrangement!

We ate and played games in the living room. There was a matching banner that read welcome and the rest of the tissue paper poms.

We gathered the generous gifts from guests in the living room.

We also displayed the super cute favors here! I'm sad I didn't take a picture of the actual favor, but they were magnets made out of Scrabble letters, spelling out words like LOVE, TRUE, or WISH.

Danae's seat was specially decorated!

We played two fun games- first Wedding Candy Land! Danae drew a color and had to answer a question correctly to continue on the board. Each color had a different category of question including- her fiancé, their relationship, wedding tradition/culture, her parents' courtship/wedding, and household knowhow. For every wrong answer, she had to add a piece of bubblegum to her mouth... so it got pretty hard to answer by the end! But she did very well :)

We also played Wedding Taboo! I printed out homemade Taboo cards and all the words somehow related to weddings or love. Everyone got to play and it ended up being a VERY close game.

We also had a fun faux-to booth!

I was VERY lucky to have such amazing help preparing the brunch for the shower too! Let me show you our spread. We had a waffle station, complete with two waffle irons, butter and syrup, peanut butter, and whipped cream and fruit.

We also had a breakfast taco buffet with yummy tortillas, eggs, potatoes, sausage, bacon, cheese and salsa. Mmmmm!

And Clay's mom brought a fantastic fruit tray!

And there were some fantastic desserts as well- strawberry cupcakes with cream cheese frosting, red velvet whoopie pies, and vanilla cake balls! (I sadly did not not get a close up of the cake balls- bad me!)

To drink, we had hot coffee, milk, orange juice, and punch. I loved the pitchers we used for the drinks!

notice our pretty, striped paper straws? love.

And here's the full table spread- it came together so nicely and everyone complimented how well everything came together. For my first bridal shower, I'd say it was a success. I am so happy for Danae and Clay and am super pumped for their wedding this summer!

Tutorials for the cake stands, tissue paper poms, and such to come!