hello from florida.

we're having fun just chilling poolside and today we ventured out to the beach.

i didn't last too long. i'm not a fan of sand. haha

i think tonight, little brother + his girlfriend + blake + me are going on a little double date tonight to go eat and see Hangover 2.

last night, mr. blake took me on a date to the sugar shak to get ice cream and to look through all the local shops (that closed early - silly us, we forgot it was sunday). but we sat on a bench eating out sweet treats, and he gave me a promise ring.. this one, to be exact. i love this boy quite a bit. ♥

see you soon. :)

xo haley

Etsy Update.

It seems as if a lot of you are interested in me reopening my Etsy!

This makes me *very* happy. Its been about a year since I had one, so it'll take a while to get back into the swing of things.

The way its going to work is I'll probably put up listings for paintings I already have done, but I'll put up more listings for custom paintings. Commissioned artwork is where my heart lies! I love working with people and producing something we both created.

I might also venture into hair accessories.. someday. I've kind of been messing with that sort of stuff lately, so my shop may include all of that eventually.

Okay. I'm off to Florida this afternoon, so as soon as I get back, I'll get to work on listing things for you guys. :)

xo Haley

P.s. I got feather extensions this morning! This is a bad representation of them, but they're so cute in person!

Leaving + Etsy?

The blog may be silent for a few days. I'm leaving for Florida tomorrow and I'll be gone until next Saturday! I'll try to update sometime in between - but I'll be chillin on the beach, so don't expect too much out of me :)

I have been toying around with the idea of reopening an Etsy to sell my paintings and such... I have a ton more free time now, and I would like to get back into painting.

What do you think? ♥

xo Haley

I'm not good with bad weather.

Bad weather has never been something that is easy for me to deal with. At all. I freak out easily and get super nervous as soon as a simple thunderstorm warning has been issued. I panic, and I'm not sure why. I've never been involved in something super bad that would scar me for the rest of my life, and my entire family l o v e s storms and watching the weather.

So, with the impending storm, being a) home alone and b) forced to watch the weather channel constantly really does nothing but freak me out.

And my phone is dead.

Oh, and we don't have a basement.

Cool beans.

Sooo... there's lots of lightning and thunder, and now it's starting to rain.

So, I think I'll go hide under some blankets and listen to the news.

ttyl, y'all.

xo haley

proud sister.

my little brother graduated last night! i'm so super proud of that kid. especially since up until the last week of school he wasn't even sure if he was going to graduate (it was all up to whether or not he passed his math class! haha). so seeing him walk across the stage and get a diploma made me so, so happy and incredibly proud.

the night started out very,very fun at Ebbet's Field in downtown Springfield for dinner. dad made sure to let everyone know it was 6pm, and we were in fact still alive.

(what a cute boyfriend i have)

it was a good night, and it reminded me so much of my own graduation (which was only a year ago. ha). and it made me so thankful for where i am now: that i'm finished with my first year of college, rather than just now starting.

i am so proud of you trevor and amber! i can't wait to see where life takes you both. :)

xo haley

I baked last night.

Last night, I baked the cutest little cupcakes!

I used Miss Kaylah's adorable recipe for them, and they turned out too cute to eat.

Of course, I did eat one. Or two. Maybe, just maybe.. three.

They were way easy to make, and it didn't take too incredibly long, maybe 45 minutes from start to finish?

I used my papa's homemade buttercream icing recipe.. but I think I added wayy too much milk, and I messed it up. Haha. Of course. I put it in the fridge overnight though, and it thickened a bit, at least enough to put on the cupcakes. Its a bit too sweet for my taste, but still very very yummy. :)

I can't wait to make more. :)

xo Haley

Proud Moments

*found on WeHeartIt*

I had a cute little outfit post planned, and ready to go, but I'll save that for tomorrow.

Tonight, I just felt led to share this with you.

A long time ago, on my old blog, I shared 'my story,' of my 2 year battle with depression and cutting. And I feel that after tonight (which I will get to soon), I really need to share this again on my new blog (seeing as I have new readers and y'all don't know this story).

When I was in 8th grade, I didn't feel... good enough. I'm not sure who I wasn't good enough for, but that was how I felt 98% of the time. I think it was my lack of self worth, rather than my need for other people's approval. I didn't feel good about myself, and I thought that the only way to express how I felt was through cutting. Maybe this was just the angsty teenage girl in me, but I truly felt this was the only way to deal with my own problems.

My mom eventually found out, and after it was all out in the open, and my family knew, I figured that I would just put it in the past, and that would be that. But that was definitely not the case.

Again, half way through my freshman year in high school, I started cutting again. It wasn't even for a specific reason; on the surface, and even (for the most part) on the inside, I was okay. It was almost as if I missed the feeling that cutting gave me.

Soon after, I knew I couldn't keep up with the way things were going, and I knew things would progress into something much worse if I didn't reach out for the help that I really, really needed. So I told my mom.

She got me into counseling, and I've been alright-ish since then.

I don't like to sugar coat anything, so I won't make it seem like everything is perfect now. That's not true at all. I still get that urge to cut sometimes. It's not something I like to admit, but it is true, and it is a part of me. I have never acted on this urge in a long time (nearly 4 years), but not acting on that urge led to other issues - I developed a minor anxiety disorder, and have had anxiety attacks here and there for the past 2 years. But I'm getting better, every day.

Tonight, I was invited by my friend Jacob to come hear him speak to the youth at my church. Jacob is the sweetest, most inspiring kid I've ever met. He will be 16 soon, and has already gone through so much, it's unbelievable.

During his 8th grade year, he came to me for help... for the same exact thing that I dealt with my 8th grade year. And hearing him speak tonight, about his struggle, and how he came out of it, and is growing closer and closer to God because of this, made me so, so proud to have been a part of his journey of getting better. I love him more than words can possibly say.

I've always questioned what the purpose of all that pain I went through was. I constantly questioned God, almost angry that I went through what I did. But when Jacob first came to me for help, I immediately knew what that plan for my pain was. I couldn't have planned it better myself, and it only goes to show how amazing God is, and how unworthy I am of God's grace.

Jacob is an outstanding kid. Absolutely amazing.

He has come through so much, but he is still struggling, and so I ask you to keep him in your thoughts and prayers, if you get a chance. He is so deserving of all the love we can give him.

Thank you, if you stuck with this and actually read to the end!

:)

xo Haley

blah.blah.blah

i thought i'd share a bit of 'home inspiration' i've been keeping lately. i'm hoping to move out (very, very) soon... so i've been piling up the inspiration, so i'll know what i want to do with my new space when that day finally arrives. :)

glee was super disappointing (i've been looking forward to this episode for too long. blah).

but i'm currently with breigh, getting ready to watch Never Say Never, and convincing grandma to keep her teeth in her mouth. she's a feisty one, that's for sure.

my tuesday has been way less than great, but i hope yours was a good one. :)*also! i updated my 'about me' and 'faq' pages! check emmmm.

Post-Wedding Happiness

One of the loveliest couples ever got married yesterday!I was so excited when I got my invite in the mail (it was seriously too cute), and Blake and I were so excited to dress up and be part of this special day.

I didn't bring my camera along, but I did take a few pictures on my phone, that I sent to my parents & Miss Claire throughout the afternoon. Claire, you would've absolutely died from the cuteness!!

And this is what we wore...
I am happy to announce that Blake picked both of our outfits, when he was in DC last week. The dress was so perfect, and I was so excited to wear it - until it ended up being way too cold, so I had to wear tights - but it still looked adorable. I love you, boyfriend. You can go shopping for me anytime. :)

I'll probably wear it again soon, and do a proper outfit post on it.

So, now my day is half over, and I have yet to start any of my homework to prepare for finals. I still have half of an essay to write for Children's Lit (worst class ever), and it's already over 3 pages long. BLAH. So ready for this semester to be over.

Don't forget, if you have any questions for me, ask away here or here. :)

xo Haley

ask me anything! :)

Hi!

I'm working on a new, updated "about me" page, as well as a FAQ page, because I seem to get a lot of the same questions. So... if you have anything you'd like to know, or some questions you want me to answer, feel free to leave your question in the comments, or you can leave it on my Formspring, if you'd like. :)

So, anyways.

Thisweekend is quite the exciting one.

Tonight is little brother's high school graduation party! We're gonna party hard.

He's the oldest of my brothers, and the one that I'm closest to (since we're only a little over a year apart), and it'll be tough with him moving to California in a few weeks (!!!!), but he's not moving *for good* and will be coming back often, so that makes it a bit easier. I'm so proud of him, graduating is a big deal to him!

And tomorrow is Elsie's wedding! Mr. Blake is one excited boy. :)

Have a good day!

xo Haley

Awkward & Awesome + DC Cupcakes

Awkward.

- I have three finals next Tuesday. and one on Thursday. ONE. If it wasn't for the one stupid final, I wouldn't even have to go to Springfield that day! Lame sauce.

- I'd normally be very proud of having a C in math, but I need a B to pass. and the only way to achieve this is by getting an 86% on my final. Uh... yikes...

- Lady Gaga on American Idol last night. I told Blake she looked like a gay alien. I think it's a very truthful statement.

- I should be studying for this math final.. but I'd rather blog.

Awesome.

- Blake came over last night! I was so excited to have him back. I missed him a lot!

- Blake also came back bearing gifts (I'm a lucky girl). He bought us a bunch of new records (new Fleet Foxes and James Blake AND Bon Iver!), as well as a prettyyyy new dress that looks absolutely perfect on me (if I may say so, myself).

- his momma got me the shirt I'm wearing in these pictures. I'm sure you're familiar with the show DC Cupcakes on TLC....this shirt is from the shop! Lucky duck Blake got to have a cupcake there!

- This weekend is Miss Elsie's wedding! Yay for the blog/craft world's royal wedding!! I'm excited to go - I've cried at every wedding I've ever been to (including my friend's grandma's wedding), so I'm sure this one will be no different. Bring on the waterworks.

xo Haley

*Breigh is back in the hospital.. she went back last night, this time by ambulance! She joked about it on facebook, so it's good to see she still has her humor. Keep her in your thoughts and prayers, please ♥

a quick hello -

In the midst of a billion projects that I have to finish this week, I thought I'd say hello!

Sir Colby and I had a good day - despite the news that Blake's flight had been pushed from 1:00, to 5:30, meaning I won't get to see him tonight. But, life goes on - I will see him tomorrow!

Colby and I didn't do exactly what we had intended on doing. We did have lunch (duh, we're food addicts), but instead of thrifting (not so much in the mood for that today), and taking pretty pictures (it was a bit too overcast for our liking), we went to Target, where I bought new socks, and he bought a card for his mother (awww). So. Today wasn't all that bad.

I have two more days of school left! Thursday and next Tuesday and then I am finished with my first year of college! I'm am beyond excited about this, and I think I deserve a party.

Speaking of parties... since everyone in my family seems sooo against the idea of me having a birthday party for my 20th birthday ("there's nothing special about turning 20, Haley..") I decided I'd throw myself a party. A Justin Bieber party. Eh, Lehua? :) #babybieberfever

So, with that said, let the party planning commence.

As soon as I'm done with these finals.

Today is For..

Today is for this.

I woke up not too long ago, did a few things to clean up around the house, and now I'm about to take a shower & go to the gym.

It's grandma night, and these days, the photo above shows what Grandma Night is all about (as of lately, at least). Grandma has book club tonight, I'm pretty sure, which means Grandpa and I are on our own for dinner, which means we're either getting pizza or McDonalds. Healthy choices.

Blake comes back tomorrow. I'm so, so, so excited. These past few days have gone by sooo slowly, but I've tried to fill them with work & hanging out with Breigh. It's worked a little bit. :/

I hope your Monday isn't so bad, and its full of pretty weather!

I'm gonna go work hard at the gym & reward myself with a frozen strawberry lemonade at mcdonalds (seriously, have you had one of those? AMAZING).

Have a wonderful day! I'll see you tomorrow! ♥

-Haley

Happy Mother's Day!

My momma's a cutie isn't she?!

I just wanted to say Happy Mother's Day to all the momma's out there!

I'm gonna celebrate myself. I don't have kids. No where near it. But I will sooner or later, right?

So here's to you mom!

I love you a lot, a lot. Even though I'm never home, and I complain when you make me fold the white clothes. (Really though. It is the worst job ever, and I sort of understand why you shove that job off on your kids)

But you're the best!

Lets make cuppy cakes and watch Sleepless in Seattle, okay?! :)

xoxo

Haley

Friday Favorite & Various Other Thoughts

This song:

and this song:

-I have to work today, but I'm heading back over to Breigh's as soon as I'm done there. I think she's doing fine, a lot of it is just emotional stuff now. The poor girl, everything is happening all at once. :(

So, we're spending tonight together, and even planning a Biffy Night for next weekend (we want to see Bridesmaids a lot!)

-I have 3 more days of school! Next week is just reviewing for finals, and then all of my finals are on that next Tuesday. I'm so excited to finally be done with this semester. It's lasted way too long.

-I've been looking through my closet, and I feel like I have absolutely nothing to wear to Elsie's wedding. Haha, I feel silly for thinking that, but it's true! So I think a little shopping trip next weekend is in order.

-Blake just informed me that the Home Alone house is for sale. I want it.

-Oh, and... Regarding the Anonymous comments towards my boyfriend: The first one I received (last week, I think), was probably the nicest/edging on a smidge rude comment ever! It sounds exactly like something Breigh would say to me during one of our late night girl talk therapy sessions. Haha. But, I took whatever Anon had to say into consideration, because whoever this person is, did their best to explain what they meant. And then yesterday, I received an extremely rude Anon comment regarding Blake, yet again. I'm sorry, but... this is my blog. I will talk about my boyfriend as much as I want! If that bothers you, stop reading! I don't want to seem rude about it, but he is my boyfriend, he is the man I intend on marrying... I am going to talk about him a lot.

With that said..

-Dear Boyfriend, come home now. :)

xo Hay

Awkward & Awesome

t-shirt - boyfriend's//jeans - a.e.// cardigan - forever 21//

backpack - target//sunglasses - red velvet

Awkward.

- boyfriend is gone. i found myself wearing his shirt & listening to HEALTH on vinyl this morning. who am i?!

- that's all i can think of.

Awesome.

- my friend chris is currently drawing a cartoon of me:

- boyfriend bought Tyler, the Creator's new album, Goblin, a week before it's released in the US... um.. stoked.

- breigh is home (that's the awesome part). buuuut, she's back at the hospital, getting an IV infusion today, because she hasn't been feeling the greatest since she came home (not good. sad face). please keep her in your thoughts & prayers, please ♥

- that's all i can think of.

i'm at school, i have to go take a test like, right now, and i just lost track of time until right this very second, so it looks like i'll be late for class.. oops.

so i should probably go...

here's a random photo booth photo from yesterday, just because. :)

xo haley

Blog Love: Boyfriend!

Mr. Blake

First of all, is he not the cutest ever? I'm pretty sure I'm the luckiest girl in the w o r l d.

Here is more proof that I'm pretty darn lucky. And here's some more. :)

Anyways, Blake's blog is fairly new, so he's still getting into the habit of it all. But at first, I remember him sending me the cutest texts that would say, "I haven't blogged today, I need to!" It was seriously so adorable. Now he can't make fun of me when I feel the need to blog. :)

His blog is all about music. To say the least, he is completely obsessed with music. Like, completely. It's very refreshing to find someone who is so into what they do; he is so passionate about the music he makes, it's inspiring. So.. check out his blog. It's way fun to read, and he does "Song of the Day" posts when he remembers to blog. :)

Some of my favorite blogs he's written: Record Store Day + Elton John, April album picks, March album picks, HEALTH - We Are Water.

P.S. he's in this band. and his friend Ethan makes some pretty...interesting music, too. :)

Sigh. He's just so cute!

Follow his blog + twitter :)

xo Haley

Life.

Happy Birthday, Milo!

this little boy is a week old today! i got to meet him last tuesday, and i'm so excited to go see him again. i'm praying that he keeps getting stronger, and that he'll get to go home sooner than the doctors expect. he's so precious. i can't wait to hold him.

This is how I spent my Sunday afternoon:

Miss Breigh has been in the hospital (same one as Mr. Milo, too. haha) since last Wednesday. I stayed the night with her on Tuesday, and she complained of having trouble breathing. She went to the doctor on Wednesday and was immediately admitted. In case you don't know, Breigh has Gitelman Syndrome, which effects her kidneys, and causes sodium, magnesium, chloride and potassium to pass right through her system.

Well, Wednesday, they did her normal blood tests (she does them every other week or so), and her magnesium & potassium were very low, as well as her blood pressure.

I kind of avoided going to see her at first (bad friend award, i know. i just really don't like hospitals), but I finally went to see her on Sunday, and spent a good chunk of the day with her. I really, really love my best friend. She got the okay from both of her doctors to go home today, but, today she is feeling worse than she has since she was admitted. So please keep her in your prayers today as she goes home. :)

Thank you so much!

I hope you have a wonderful Monday. I'm just hanging out in my pajamas, looking for a movie to rent, and deciding what I want for lunch. Not an easy task I tell you.

xo Haley