Happy Birthday & Anniversary

Happy Birthday & Anniversary

Edit: So I got Kevin's computer working, yay!

So yeah I'm 25 today... so old, haha not really. I can't believe it. This weekend was pretty uneventful Kevin left this morning to go to Conneticut for business stuff, so yesterday was filled with packing. Today consisted of some video games, studying for the GRE (ack I really hate vocabulary), writing, and most of all stressing. The Faygo did help it a bit. So here are some cute and not so cute pictures of me to celebrate a quarter of a century.

Me and my grandma (who I look like)

My sisters and Grandma Peggy

The three Knapp nose generations, me, my mom, and grandma

Aw Freckles our Dalmation!

How cute was I?

When I thought I was a cool highschooler

ALSO, yesterday was the 5 year anniversary of Kevin and my first date. It was a total disaster but ended up being really fun and a great story. He took me to an independent movie theater to watch a docementary (so artsy haha), well we got there and the theater was closed as in shut down. But their were people in there so we knocked. They were Christian mimes practicing scenes from the bible for a show they were putting on. So then we drove around in his astro van, through scary east side of Detroit. Ended up in Greek town and had an awful meal. No offense but Greek food and me don't get along. Then ended the night at my condo where he proceeded to give me a kiss goodnight but tripped over the shoes in the entry and feel into me. Yep. Our second date was even funnier when he was trying to make fun of Creed and ended up falling on his face. It was the examples of how our relationship would end up being. Very silly and odd.

One of our first times out, I fell in a snow drift and puked out his car... hahah

Centennial Ball sophmore year

4th of July 2006

Wash DC 2010

There are three in the family, Oh! That's the magic number!

Time goes by so fast! Anyway see you later in the week!

Huggles,
Lauren

I'ma Purdy Girl

I'ma Purdy Girl

 

So for Kevin's birthday he asked to go out for seafood. Asking around work I decided to take him to Streetside Seafood in Birmingham, MI. And oh my, it was amazing. We started with drinks at the bar while waiting for our table, and they were delicious, I just told the bartender to make me a fun drink so I don't even know what it was :) It tasted a little like root beer. Then we sat down scarfed down some amazing bread, had a shrimp appetizer then awaited the main course. Kevin had the special, pan seared Yellow Tail Jack, and I had Crab topped Whitefish.... mmmmm.... I miss the taste. It was incredible. And I rarely eat seafood. I actually never ate fish unless I caught it until a couple years into Kev and my relationship (cause he loves fish, and was a fish monger). To end it we split dutch apple pie, kevin's fav. I can say I was full but I didn't feel grossly overstuffed. We came home then and fell into a food coma right when we hit the couch.




Good night had by us.

Oh this outfit, I've had the dress since the summer, it's a beautiful vintage piece I found with Jen. I've wore part of the dress on the blog, it's so silky and comfy. I wanted to go for neutrals with a pop of color. The only annoying thing is I hadn't worn those heels in a while and with tights my feet were sliding in them. I have super narrow feet so anything on the last hole in the buckle is usually still too big. Also heels make me taller than Kevin and most people, I'm a giant in heels. Sometimes I wish I was short, then I'd wear heels all the time... Oh well. I like the outfit, and what's this? I'm wearing makeup!!! Wowzers. That's rare. If I wear any it's usually just mascara and maybe eyeliner. I did a side bun with a french roll (not sure what it's called) around my head. I've been doing that a lot because I'm growing out my bangs. And do you see that! Kevin's mustache is MIA, I need to find it!




} Outfit Details
  Dress } Vintage from store in Ann Arbor
  Scarf } Gift from Hilary
  Cardigan } Target long time ago
  Tights } Kohls
  Wedges } Guess?
  Clutch } Incognito sidewalk sale (it's missing a fake gem so it was uber discounted)

} Kevin Outfit
  Jacket } UO
  Pants } H&M
  Shoes } Bruce Lee Asics, gift from me!

Huggles,
Lauren

Computers Hate Me

Computers Hate Me

So the other night I was working late at work and Kevin came by to keep me company. So we took goofy pictures around the gallery and of an outfit I really liked. Well I came into work this morning put the memory card into my computer and nothing. All the pictures we took yesterday, plus pictures of artwork I took during the work day were gone. Vanished. And on top of that my computer is acting up because it doesn't have enough memory. But see my portable hard drive failed so I can't use that, and my disk burner won't burn disks. Which that was what I took my computer in for and they said they burned disks with no problems. So I'm in a catch 22 with my comp, it won't run right because the hard drive is almost full, but I can't burn disks to free space up... grrr.

On top of that I don't know if I mentioned it but Kevin's computer got fried from a power surge we had a couple weeks ago. So we are in the dark ages.

So instead of an outfit I'm posting some inspiration for weddings, since I'm newly engaged. We haven't decided on when yet but it's always fun to gather things.

Dream Dress
Well I'm not going to show my actual dream dress cause someone looks at this blog too much :) But here are some things I love, and are WAY too expensive.

Another thing, I tried on my grandma's and my mom's wedding dresses, and boy was a depressed about it. See they were both pear shaped, small shoulders and big butts, but if you've noticed I have very large shoulders. Kevin says they are swimmers shoulders. And when trying on their dresses my thought was confirmed, my rib cage is about 5inched bigger then my grandma's and 3 inches bigger then my mom's, this is the case with most all vintage I try on. I have found that I'm probably going to have to go with a low back, which is fine cause I love them... But yeah my shoulders and rib cage can't fit into most cuts... grrr. Why must things be made for petite shoulders? Oh well onward.









Of course I love love Vera Wang, she knows how to manipulate fabric so well... And I love the ivy crowns they have, that is a def for me. I want to be like Titania from a Midsummers Night Dream, hehe.. I'm totally growing out my bangs too, cause I want long fairy hair :)

So I've been scouring OnceWed.com and theKnot.com to get ideas for dresses and prices... Any other places I should look?

Ring Pillow
You may not know this but I'm pretty crafty. So I'm probably going to make a lot of my things, mainly the ring pillow. I've made them before and will probably be making them and selling them on etsy soon. Here's one I did for a friends wedding. We used scraps of fabric that matched her wedding party then I made little roses out of felt. What do you think?


If you know anyone getting married I can do commissions of ring pillows too! I need to earn some more wedding money, haha!

Huggles,
Lauren

Tripp Tuesdays

Tripp Tuesdays

If you don't already realize this then you are silly, but you see I love love my puppy. He is perfect, although I wish sometimes he wouldn't bark so much. :)

I've wanted a dog since I graduated from college, for me having grown up with dogs (I had a beautiful Dalmation named Freckles) it didn't seem like a big deal. But to Kevin who was allergic as a child and never had any family pets other than a Rock Bass, the idea of a dog seemed crazy. I scoured petfinder.com daily looking through the Korgi mixes (spelled with a K like fake Crab is Krab, haha). I knew I wanted a Korgi mix because Kevin and I both love Corgis and they are smaller dogs, I had to remember if I were to move to another city I needed a dog that would be able to live in an apartment. I came across Tripp in October and with only one picture of him I thought he was beautiful. So we drove out to the adoption day in Brighton and played with him and walked him around. At closing Kevin and I left empty handed and a little teary eyed. We decided to wait a week and see if we still really wanted him. Kevin says he thought about the dog daily, so we decided to go back and get him. We walked into the adoption store on Saturday and low and behold someone had taken him for a trial night. We were too late. But we were determined, we drove back the next day and waited for the people to come back with him. Luckily they did, and the sad thing is they just threw him back in his cage and didn't look back. They obviously didn't realize that adopted dogs are a lot work, and he is hyper, needed attention and training. But no they just threw him back into a cage. I guess that was lucky for us.

Kevin bought him for our birthdays/anniversary (the November Juggernaut as he says) and since then it's been great. It's been a chore learning how to train an adult untrained dog, but it has been totally worth it. Tripp is incredibly smart and witty. I can't believe he went through the first year of his life with no one to love him, and had to go from home to home. He was wanted for his cuteness but then unwanted because no one had properly trained him. He bit, because as a puppy he was never taught not to. Now through Kevin and my teaching he doesn't bite anymore, he still sometimes plays with his mouth open and looks as though he will bite, but he hasn't bitten us in months, and I'm so proud. Getting a rescue dog is something that is very rewarding but is also hard work.

It's funny to see how unsure Kevin was of the entire thing and how now he is totally obsessed with his dog... haha he is a sucker for Tripp.

With all that story behind here is a silly video Kevin took of me making Tripp dance. I put the song "I love onions" to it because really it works, and Tripp just so happened to get onto the table the other day and eat an onion... oh dogs...




And a equally cute picture of Kevin and the doggy.

Huggles,
Lauren

Dirndls and a Hammocks

Dirndls and a Hammocks

Ok these are my two favorite things, and combining them together... whoa.

When I got home from work on thursday Kevin and I enjoyed what may be one of the last nice evenings (since it's been so cold here!) and played in the backyard and snuggled in the hammock. This hammock is amazing, you can wrap yourself up like a burrito in it... sooo cozy. So here are some outfit shots and a bunch of ridiculously adorbz dog and couple pictures... I'm sorry if you get a cavity from this inducing of sugary sweetness.










Outfit:

} Dirndl - Vintage on Ebay and resized to me
} Blouse - Vintage, was my grandma's
} Belt - F21
} Wedges - Guess





His ears move independently of each other, haha!



Belly scratch dog!


And the overly sweet... My new favorite picture. Adorbz. (that word is directly stolen from Marlee)


Have a great weekend! I have parties to attend!

Huggles,

Lauren

It's the high 80's

It's the high 80's

Man this past Tuesday's weather was beautiful!! It was in the high 80's and felt like there was no weather. No blustery wind, no hot sun, no rain. Perfect, just like a warm puppy. I was so excited for tuesday because my Michigan friend via Alaska was visiting for work stuffs. I met Maggie in Alaska and we were both from Michigan spending our summers there. It was instant friendship, her and I are so different but so much alike. She really helped me a lot during some really rough times I had up there and I know, even though we hadn't seen each other for a year, that she will be there for me if I ever needed it and I for her. Those types of friendships are hard to come by and I thankfully have some great friends that are spread all around the country and I can still feel their hugs when I am down. So I'm going to tribute them right now, sorry but I love my friends, and I want them on my blog :D

Maggie!! This was when we left the bar at 2:30a after a great night of girl talking... and a creepy spanish guy. See how light it still is? Yep Alaska. I can't wait to visit the west side of Michigan and squeeze your cheeks, since I forgot on tuesday!

My other Alaska girl, Ashley. She is the most amazing photographer and I love her dearly. I had the most amazing memorial weekend visiting her in Louisville, and now that she's in florida, I can't wait to go see her. She also was a rock during my stay in Alaska... Now you are my FL rock.

Now for my Junior High gang... It's funny how a few people at a certain time in your life will stick with you forever.

Marlee, even though she was only in my town for two year I can't believe how much she is in my life and thoughts. I want to live with her so we can have girlie conversations while hanging out in my room. Now I have to move to California so we can giggle everyday, hehe!

Kate! Oh we had a crazy friendship haha, we made it through the green hair and all, and she is the most together girl I know, I don't know how I'd go through life without her wisdom :) And man if I live in NYC, Virginia is pretty close!

Oh Erik, we were neighbors, and we liked Sailor Moon.... 'nuff said. haha Oh my Dayton friend.

And my twin, younger brother Mark. Not really but that's what we told people. Mark and I were glued at the hip, we met at art camp, how cute! He and I would hang out at my grandma's with our "raver" looks. Yep we had parachute pants and bracelets up our arms. I was Spanker Ren and he was Scawffy Coffee, and we would draw up an anime storm. Gah! Mark, we had some awesome sleepovers (is that weird that my parents allowed that? I don't think so)

And so there are my far away friends that I can always count on, aren't they all so cute?

Now on to what I wore on tuesday, to work then out and about with Maggie on a glorious day.

Outfit Deets:

} Scarf - Thrifted (It says Mackinac Island Service Camp, got it with my local bestie Jen for .40!)
} Tank - Kohls
} Skirt - Stepmom found it in a closet at home
} Tights - Kohls I think
} Shoes - Anthro (I really wear these ALL the time)
} Earrings - from a vendor at Emerge & See 2010

Huggles,

Lauren

Hanging with my dad in Romeo

Hanging with my dad in Romeo

My dad, stepmom and nephew came to visit this weekend and we went up to my art show in Romeo so they could check it out. Romeo is such a cute little town with apple orchards surrounding it. I wish it wasn't an hour away or I'd hang out there a bit more.

We ate at this really cute deli/ice cream parlor with 50's toys all on it's walls and a logo with a George Jetson character on it. So here's what I wore, just a simple outfit... We then walked around the little town eating ice cream and shopping in antique stores, I got a few plates for my vignette for work. I really need to go back there, so many antiques and vintage clothes, and at such reasonable prices!!

On the car ride home I got bored and took a couple pictures of myself, I know I know it's lame but you probably do it too! haha! I actually found the last picture of Kevin on my camera, see! even boys take pictures of themselves! I think he looks very handsome :)








Too bad Kevin said "Detroit 187" was terrible last night, was really hoping it would do well since they film it here.... Did any of you guys see the premier last night? 

} Shirt - Thrifted (I think)
} Scarf - Not sure
} Sweater - Gift from my mom
} Belt - UO (one left on sale in L, so I sewed it and made it fit me!)
} Jeans - AE (I used to work there)
} Boaters Hat - Vintage from Lost & Found
} Shoes - Converse from Brasil

Huggles,

Lauren