Currently- Fall Edition

Some of my favorite bloggy friends have been posting about what they are "currently" doing. I felt inspired and honestly can't believe I pulled off this adorable post. I did make it then close the window without saving it and had to start all over. So here is what I am Currently up to - Fall Edition!

Thanks for the inspiration Carly at TexasLovebirds!

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Where you SHOULD be shopping

If you are like most people you haven't even started to think about Christmas shopping. I have to admit I am a little excited that I have gotten a jump start on it already and have managed to pick a few things up already. I thought I would share a few awesome companies with you that are giving back.So not only are you purchasing a great product but you are supporting something bigger. 

Your purchase of a fashionABLE scarf creates sustainable business for women in Africa.  Their commitment as a non-profit is to the development of people — fashionABLE works with women who have been exploited due to the effects of poverty.  So, when you purchase a scarf you are providing jobs, and then they send the net profits back to holistically rehabilitate more women. This is the beauty of non-profit….Scarves provide jobs, profits provide restoration.

One of Better Life Bags purposes is, Give back to those in need.  They started by loaning 10% of every purchase to low income entrepreneurs in developing countries through Kiva.  Incredible.  NOW, they hire first generation immigrant women in their community who otherwise could not work outside the home.  They rent them a sewing machine and tools while teaching them a skill set that allows them to become a primary or secondary provider in their families.  Each bag is lovingly made with their hands and each purchase gives respect and dignity to their lives.

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5. For the past two years Tisa's Creations designs an item in their shop and then donates the proceeds to a local non-profit. This year you will find this colorful and bold poster with powerful words of encouragement. The proceeds of the teal version {pictured}will go to the Austin Chapter of the National Ovarian Cancer Coalition. Also available is a pink version benefiting Breast Cancer Resource Centers of Texas.

Do you have a favorite shop that gives back to the community or even on a bigger level? We would love to have your share about them in the comments. 

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Friday Letters

Dear Grandma,
I hope you feel better, being sick is no fun and everyone is worried about you.

Dear Bed Bath and Beyond,
Thanks to the awesome anniversary gift card from grandma, their is a Keurig in our future:)

Dear Hubs,
I wish you hadn't had to go out of town this week, or least that I could have gone with you. So glad you are home now. 

Dear Craft Show,
Lets rock this, please?

Dear Schedule,
Something has to give! There are just not enough hours in the day. I swear as soon as the holidays are over I am taking a staycation. 

Dear March,
Hurry! I have so much fun planned. 

Dear Eric Church,
I really like this Springsteen song.

Dear She Reads Truth,
I am really enjoying your site, you rock!

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Samaritan Purse...Because We Can

Part of my Winter Bucket List {still in the works} was to be involved in a holiday charity.  We always help a local family in need at the office by providing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners as well as gifts for the children. This year I wanted something that Hubs and I could do together and incorporate Elle Dee Designs into as well. 

Last year my parents were active in OCC or Operation Christmas Child in their community. This year my mom took on a more active leadership role and is working hard to spread the word about this awesome cause and get others involved {as you can tell, she really good at it}.

The mission of Operation Christmas Child is to demonstrate God’s love in a tangible way to needy children around the world, and together with the local church worldwide, to share the Good News of Jesus Christ.

So this year we're putting together 5 boxes and praying daily.

  What is in these boxes you ask? Well, a little bit of everything! Here is a list for the Samaritan's Purse website with a few suggestions.

I shopped Target and Dollar Tree to get everything that was on my mental list.Here is the breakdown of who our boxes are for.

Boy 10-14 yrs

Girl 10-14 yrs

Girl 2-4 yrs x2

Boy 2-4 yrs

I figured that the 5-9yrs age group would be popular, so I figured I diversify some.

All packaged up and ready to go.

Girl 2-4 yr Box

Girl 10-14yrs Box 

Are you interested in putting a shoe box together? You can request the supplies to be shipped to through the OCC website, or use a similar sizes box and wrap it fun with Christmas wrap. The labels identifying your box can also be printed directly from the OCC website. 

After you have filled your box check the website to see where the local pickup is in your are. November 12-19 is the official collection week and there are locations just about everywhere for you to drop your box off. They would love for you to include $7 to help with the cost of getting your shoe box to its location, but understand if you can't. By donating your $7 online you can track your box to its destination {great way for the kids to see where their box goes}. Please continue to pray for these children and the workers with Samaritan Purse as they hear and spread the Word of Christ.

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Where We Call Home

I'm a born and raised Texas girl with the extent of that year and a half on the West Coast. I came back and that's what counts. 

We call Austin home now. We've been here for 2.5 years and can't think of a better place to be. It's the best of everything, and it's Texas of course! Here are all the reasons that I think you should move visit Austin;)

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#1 Zilker Park's Barton Springs: 

This is Hubs favorite place. No kidding the man swims daily come rain or shine. The Springs are beautiful, natural spring fed swimming area that remains 68 degrees year round. It is definitely a must do when you are in town.

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#2 Jo's Coffee

With their iconic "I love you so much" graffiti and a nice cup of Jo. This is a great place to sit and people watch and there are always fun people to watch along the South Congress. 

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#3 Bat Watching: Congress Street Bridge

We have yet to make it out to the bridge at just the right time. Nightly from April to October the bats fly out at dusk and are quite a sight.

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#4 Homeslice Pizza: South CongressAfter trying this our first week in town on a friend recommendation, it has continued to be a weekly tradition for the past 2 years. They have the most amazing pizza and subs. There is always an awesome mix of music playing, booths are great for large groups, or enjoy a seat at the counter and watch you pizza made. Kids get a plate of pizza dough to play with while mom and dad can enjoy a glass of wine or a cold one.  

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Make sure that while you are here you stop by our awesome mural  and take you souvenir post card photos.

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Influenster...can you be Influenced?

 

 

Turn Your Social Influence Into Rewards

 

 

 

Have you heard the word on the street? All the cool kids are hanging out over on Influenster. They have recently given their site an awesome makeover!

 

Earn points by taking surveys, answering questions about the products you love and blogging of course! The more points you earn the more badges you unlock. Badges for every topic you can think of from beauty to pet care and fitness. Badges that focus on the different stages of our life.

 

Influenster chooses from their active user to send awesome product testing boxes to! I just got my first box in the mail the weekend so stay tuned to see all the goodies that were included in my box!

 

 

I would love to send you an invite, so if your interested in participating leave me a comment!

 

 



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Friday Letters

Dear Hubs,

Thank you for making time for me this week. I think we both needed it.

Dear Mom,

I had so much fun this past weekend on our road trip.

Dear Shoulder,

I need to get through the next 3 months, please, please behave! I can not afford days in bed.

Dear Country Music,

I've missed you. It's been a fun reunion. 

Dear Customers,

Why would you think you can order a custom product for  a holiday and expect to get it within days. Do businesses really do this? Sad to say I have had to turn a lot of you away this week:(

Dear Skye,

Once again you are my hero this week.

Dear Twitter,

We got this. 

Dear Etsy,

Thank you for being you! So excited that we reached the 500 sales milestone this morning!

Dear Facebook,

Yes, that is 2000+ followers!!

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Celebration Giveaway!

One of my FAV Party People is celebrating this week! She is having her 3rd Anni Blog Rave, and we are in on this party. Head over to The Purple Pug and enter to win 1 of 2 fab Kitchen Aide Mixers in the color of your choice! 

I personal LOVE my Apple Green Mixer:)

So head over and enter to win!

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Friday Letters

Dear ATX,
Enjoy all of your live music at ACL this weekend. I'm headed to the Big D and away from the craziness.

Dear Ashley,
I am soooo excited to have you on board. Can't believe that Elle Dee Designs hired it's first employee this week!

Dear Skye,
Never thought I would need a virtual assistant, but you ROCK! and I am so glad to have you!
{Skye can be found as @rinderceIIa on twitter or at http://www.skyemclain.com}

Dear Mom,
So glad you are here, Road Trip here we come!

Dear Land's End GIANT Tote Bag,
I am so glad you are giant size, I will be filling you full of stuff to work on in the car this weekend.

Dear Hubs,
1 set of clinicals down! I am so proud of you, this semester will be over before you know it. 

Dear Etsy,
Not sure how I feel about these "changes for the better" that you have going on. We'll see...

Dear Week,
I am glad you are coming to an end. This has been one of my busiest weeks in months.

Dear Readers, aka YOU,
You should really subscribe to my new newsletter. Its gonna be awesome and packed full of cuteness or and coupon codes and event info. Click here to sign up ---->http://eepurl.com/c7jr-/

Dear Cousin J,
Congrats on getting married this weekend, thanks for having a fun wedding so we can get dressed up:)

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Awesome Weekend Recap!

Weekend was AWESOME! Spent Saturday with the Bestie shopping and crafting.

 

Bestie getting ready to craft at our monthly Stampin' Up class.

 

 

Had so much fun making awesome fall cards and treat bag!

 

Early morning trip to the Farmer's Market for some yummy fresh foods

and handmade goodies!

 

I'm totally in love with my new earrings.

 

Even managed to fit a little work in.

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Friday Letters

Dear Gym,

Oh, how our 0615 meet ups are working for me! LOVE IT!

Dear Tisa,

Can't wait to hit the farmers market and craft with you on Saturday.

Dear ACL,

I am dreading your weekend. I think I'll stay close to home and avoid all of those people.

Dear Mom,

Can't wait for you to get here next week! Looking forward to our road trip!

Dear Employee Who Can Not Yet Be Named,

Where are you? I need to find you!

Dear Hubs,

I miss you! I feel like we are both so busy we never see each other{even though we see each other everyday}.

Dear Mall,

I survived you! I made it solo through my bi-annual outing and feel good about not seeing you again until late Spring.

Dear Virtual Assistant,

I see the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

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Living Room Makeover...PART 1

This is something I don't often like to admit, but here goes. I have hardly any furniture in my house! There I said it, I feel better now. So here is a little background. When hubs and I met he had his own home and I lived with my parents. Therefore, we had his furniture (also known as whatever my mom picked out) for the first few years. When we left Texas and headed for California a few years ago we took everything with us, thanks to Hubs company moving us I didn't think twice about it. While we lived in California we purchased a new bed {why we bought ANOTHER full size bed, I'll never know!}. When it was time to move back to Texas we knew that we would be staying with my parents for a while until we found a house, seemed like a good time to get rid of a few things to avoid storage room cost.  Mind you all that stuff we let the company move for us sat in storage for the majority of the nearly 2 years we were in California. For some reason we never figured out how to get a pool table into our apartment, who would have thought?! 

So we cleaned out the storage room, sold the pool table, refrigerator, wash and dryer and so much more! We moved ourselves back to Texas and into a store room...again. The short time we were to live with my awesome parents turned into a year. It was a really good year though. We made offers on a few houses, something always came up and we would pull out of negotiations. Then it happened....Hubs got a call about a job offer. Something big, and when something is big there are nerves involved. Lets just say that California was a long way for me to be away from my family, I really struggled with it and visited once a month. That is the main reason we came back to Texas. This new job would have taken us really far....as in Saudi Arabia! We talked about it, we prayed about it, we talked to our parents about it, we made lists. Then when we thought, why not lets give it a go we'll have 3-6 months to get geared up for it while we get papers together {we are married now and staying behind wasn't an option for me}. So that last phone call Hubs made to discuss with the company, we find out that there is no 3-6 months. They can expedite out papers and we will have them within a week! A WEEK to move across the world!! I don't think so, to say the least we turned the job down and know to this day is was the right decision for us. A week later we were interviewing for his current job in Austin and within the month we were here. We love it and are super happy about our decision. 

Turned it down cause it was just too much too quick...

YES!! SO happy to still be in Texas!

  

Now back to the furniture, we got ride of everything, then we didn't need anything and then we moved again...to a 3rd floor walk up apartment. We knew we would only be there a year and decided that the idea of moving everything down those stairs was less than appealing and we would wait to make those purchases till we were settled in a house. Fast forward... we've been in our house almost a year and a half and my living room is serving as Hubs office.  Why you ask does he not use the 3rd bedroom upstairs as his office as was intended? Because he loves his desk, his $25 garage sale, old school teachers desk that has students names written in the desk draw and has some sticker from a Janis Joplin concert on it.  Said desk refuses to make it up the stairs and around the corners into the office. But I am Jonesing for a cute Living Room! We have saved and put the money aside to buy a new Living Room with CASH! Always makes a girl happy. It's the end of September and Hubs says that over the Christmas break we can make the purchases and figure out the layout. 

WOW! That was a lot of background on the reasoning behind my lack of seating. I have been surfing the web and looking for ideas to put this room together. Here's a little bit of what I have so far. Tell me what you think.... I love suggestions!

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