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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

Loving Lately | January

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1. Color Blindness Isn’t Helping Anything – I needed to read this and I needed this reminder. I talked to Jimmy about it and it’s something I want to keep in mind…not only in OUR lives, but as we parent.

 

2. Go watch this movie. Now. It’s on Netflix and it was absolutely amazing. It made me laugh and cry and I haven’t stopped thinking about it yet.

 

3. I’m back on Twitter. I didn’t think I’d miss it but I totally did. My old name is gone but you can find me HERE. There’s just not a better place for links, witty quotes, etc.

 

4. 36 Times Breaking Bad was the cleverest show on television. I read this and I was immediately in mourning all over again. I.Miss.That.Show.

 

5. Jimmy Fallon Blew a Chance to Date Nicole Kidman. I shared this on my FB page and I’ve watched it about 100 times since. His face KILLS me. Specifically at 1 min/17 sec. I can’t handle it. Y’all…I’m half in love with him!

 

6. 18 Best Netflix Movies You Haven’t Seen. Working my way through this list (see #2) and I agree with almost all the picks.

 

7. What’s the Best Book (new or old) You Read This Year? Pinned this a while back and think it’s such an interesting list.

 

8. This is my mantra for 2015. I wish more people understood this and embraced this.

Source : Society 6.

9. I’ve had so much fun meeting other expats and reading their blogs. Here are some I’m loving.

Girl in Florence // Freckle and Fair // Gillian’s Lists

 

10. Stitch Fix (which you all know I’m a big fan of) is now offering Stitch Fix Gift Cards. What a great gift idea! I think anyone who either doesn’t like shopping or is too busy to shop would love one of these.

 

 

Have a wonderful weekend sweet friends. See you on Monday!

xo

 

What I’m Reading | January 2015 Edition

What I'm #reading // Via Stephaniehowell.com
TGIF y’all!

Welcome to the January Edition of “What I’m Reading”. One of my personal goals for this year is to get better about tracking EVERYTHING I read on Goodreads.

I also joined the Goodreads 2015 Reading Challenge. J says I sold myself short going for only 50 books, considering I’ve read already read four so far in January. HA!

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{What I’ve Read Recently}

 

1. Station Eleven // I devoured this one and it stuck with me. I still think about it often. To me- that’s the hallmark of a great book. It’s a dystopian novel and I always love those. But this one just also has a wonderfully tender side too. I read a review somewhere that said that this book makes you “miss and long for the world you are living in right now” or something like that and I agree.

 

2.The Book of Unknown Americans // This book really touched my heart. I love that it was written by a fellow papercrafter, I love that it gave me insight into the life of an immigrant in America (one that I have even MORE compassion for after living in a foreign country and realizing how scary it can be), I loved everything about it. It was beautiful.

 

 

3.Yes Please // I can’t even begin to tell you how much I loved this book. Let’s put it this way. I’ve already read it twice and underlined most of it. This book will get an entire post to itself.

 

4.Everything I Never Told You // This book broke my heart. It was borderline too sad for me. But it was just so lovely I couldn’t stop reading.

 

 

 

{Up Next}

 

1. Revival // Who doesn’t love a new Stephen King novel? I got really excited when I saw this on the shelf at my library.

 

2. I Remember Nothing : and Other Reflections  and  I Feel Bad about My Neck: And Other Thoughts on Being a Woman // It’s been a long time since I’ve read Nora and I need her back in my life.

 

3. Neil Patrick Harris: Choose Your Own Autobiography // I LOVE NPH. I’ve heard mixed reviews on this but I still look forward to reading it.

 

And I also have five other books on order from the library. It’s a sickness.

I LOVE this time of year because all of the “Best Book” lists have come out. I pin them here if you’d like to follow!

 

Have a beautiful weekend!

xoxo

S

 

several of the links in this post are affiliate.

Simple New Year’s Eve Decor

Jimmy’s birthday is New Year’s Day. And though I’ve never been a big New Year’s Eve parrrrrtay kind of girl (I’m much more of a pajamas/TV/board games NYE kind of girl) when he asks for a party, he gets a party.

On January 30 He decided he wanted a party. Cue the frantic list making on my part. But I can’t lie. I love it.

I was able to make the party look super fancy with minimal effort. I used all of my fabulous My Mind’s Eye Paper Goods decor along with some of my favorite vintage clocks and candles.

Here’s what I came up with:

New Year's Eve Decor // via Stephanie Howell #newyearsevedecor
New Year's Eve Decor // via Stephanie Howell #newyearsevedecor

I’d been looking for a reason to buy these fabulous Kate Spade-esque champagne glasses and you bet this was a good reason!

New Year's Eve Decor // via Stephanie Howell #newyearsevedecor

All of the MME items are available at paper source. I used the:

trend confetti (this stuff is amazing, love the varying sizes)’

party fans

mini banners

 

Easy, glittery, and fantastic.

Happy 2015 lovelies. 🙂 xoxo

Wordless (ish?!?!?) Wednesday | Hallstatt, Austria

Today’s post will truly have very few words. Because I’m sharing photos of the most beautiful place I’ve ever been/seen in my entire life…Hallstatt, Austria.

I’ve been hearing about Hallstatt for quite a while. One of my sorority sisters lived there for a bit.

Nothing could have prepared me for the beauty of this place. Everything is straight out of a fairy tale. It didn’t even seem real. J and I bought ourselves a trip for Christmas and for J’s birthday and Hallstatt did not disappoint.

Happy Wednesday! xo

 

Hallstatt, Austria // via Stephanie Howell

Hallstatt, Austria // via Stephanie Howell

Hallstatt, Austria // via Stephanie Howell

Hallstatt, Austria // via Stephanie Howell

Hallstatt, Austria // via Stephanie Howell

Hallstatt, Austria // via Stephanie Howell

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My 2015 Creative Credo.

 

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1. I will have fun. If it’s not fun, I won’t do it. If it stops being fun, I give myself permission to quit and revisit later. If it’s still not fun, I will move on.

 

2. I will spend less time worrying about what everyone else is doing and figure out what works for me. As Amy Poehler says… good for them, not for me. If I start worrying too much about what everyone else does and thinks…see #1.

 

3. Instagram is a form of memory keeping. Blogging is a form of memory keeping. Artifact Uprising books are a form of memory keeping.

 

4. I will not just go in my craft room and clean. I will make messes. Sometimes I won’t clean the messes up.

 

5. I will finish a ridiculous amount of WeRMemoryKeepers Instagram albums.

 

6a00e551ef15fe883401b7c72f6926970b-800wi6. I will blog daily. Or at least I will think about blogging daily.

 

7. I won’t feel guilt if I don’t blog daily.

 

8. I will make more tags.

6a00e551ef15fe883401bb07d35523970d-800wi9. I will comment on blogs and Instagram accounts that inspire me.

 

10. I will make one layout a month.

 

11. I will start Project Italy again.

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12. I will take my DSLR on my Italian adventures. I used it for the Bolzano Christmas market photos and I love how they turned out. Every few months will take photographs of my children using the DSLR.

 

13. I will let my girls contribute to my projects.

 

14. I won’t try to catch up.

 

15. I reserve the right to do all of these things, some of these things, or absolutely none of these things, depending on the day or on my mood.

 

xoxo

S