.maddie's rag quilt.

When Maddie's mom asked me to make a rag quilt for her sweet little girl, I was honored. Maddie is 4-years-old, and she was in my class last year. She is so smart, so sweet, and absolutely hilarious. When she got pink glasses because of a lazy eye, she became even more charming. She is a very special little girl, and she starts Kindergarten in the Fall.

Her mom found all this beautiful fabric and picked it out specially for this quilt. It's all Urban Flannels brand. I've never seen such fun and girly flannel before! Anyway, here is Maddie's quilt:

.front.

.back.

.front & back together.
A bonus perk that came from this project is that my passion for sewing has been renewed, and I can't wait to get started on my next project!

.easter dress.

Every year, I get excited about Easter for different reasons, one of which being I get to wear a pretty pastel dress. Usually this falls through since where I live it's usually cold and rainy on Easter (and I usually end up wearing a pastel turtleneck sweater as opposed to a pretty Spring dress).

To me, this is the perfect Easter dress:

J. Crew

It's a perfect example of wearing pastels and still looking classy and sophisticated. Would you wear something like this for Easter? It's definitely on the formal end as far as church wear goes, but you could get away with wearing this to church on Easter, right?

I just loves dresses and skirts and am so excited the season to wear them is finally here!

.husband's birthday.

Happy birthday to my sweet husband.

I hope you enjoy your lemon cupcakes with homemade butter cream frosting

tonight after dinner.

He is hard-working, caring, smart, athletic, honest and so very cute.

He loves God.

Today he is 28.

He's my husband.

.soft rain.

Call me crazy, but I love the rain. It's gentle, yet has the power to make everything outside come alive and just glow. I am on Spring break right now, so I got to sleep in until 10 am...while it was steadily raining outside. That is truly the only way I enjoy sleeping in. Otherwise, I feel like I am wasting sunshine and a perfectly beautiful day. When it's raining and I have nothing to do, I think I would be cheating the morning by getting up early.

Today calls for a little Spring cleaning in my classroom. Everything is getting disinfected. A new Spring bulletin board will be fashioned. I'll definitely be pulling up the blinds to my classroom window and watching the rain outside while I clean.

Daisies and Olives

What else would "Daisies and Olives" be than the name of the best antique mall ever?!! Thank you, Katie, for telling me about this place. I've experienced the magic and can now honestly say that this is my new favorite shop.

Have you ever noticed that the best hidden treasures are usually found in the most unexpected places? Daisies and Olives is located in a tiny town in Arkansas called Prairie Grove. If for some odd reason, you are ever passing through this area of Northwest Arkansas, you really must stop by.

They have a website. A sweet little old lady was working today, and she made the experience even more enjoyable. I think what makes this my new "place" is that is filled with antiques that I refer to as "relevant" to decorating today, and not just old junk that smells like must.

Here are my small purchases from Daisies and Olives:

This is our unfinished fireplace mantel. It's unfinished because I still need to buy something to sit on the candlesticks and I need a picture for the chunky wood frame. The green topiarys were purchased today at Daisies and Olives.

Here is a close-up of one of the topiarys. To me, they look whimsical but still elegant.

Leave it to me to be so overcome by joy from finding a white chippy chair to overlook the fact that there is a pole missing from the back...

So this is how the chair will be displayed for now:

Self-Tanners

It's that time of the year again... you know, Spring! That means sundresses, tank tops, skirts and shorts, which in turn means... showing skin. I am very fair-skinned by nature, and I've used a tanning bed to get color every Spring and Summer for the past 9 years or so of my life. This year will be different as I've decided to give up tanning beds. I've been convicted for a long time that I was knowingly harming my body in order to feel pretty, thus sacrificing my health for an outward vanity. It's hard for a female to give up something that makes her feel attractive, but for me, it was time to give up tanning.

This year, I'll be using self-tanning lotion. My goal is to not be brown, but to simply have a little bit of color and not be so pasty-looking.

This is where YOU come in. I need your advice on which self-tanner to use. Obviously, I want low-hassle, no streaking, no orange, and as inexpensive as possible. I've used Jergens Natural Glow in the past, and it never gave me a ton of results, but I've read online that it's been improved. I've also been reading online reviews of other self-tanners, and a lot of people seem to like Dove's tanning lotion, while some like Nivea's.

Have any of you ever used any of these lotions, and if so, which would you recommend? Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

My Necklace

I am so excited! Last week I won my first blog giveaway ever, and I received my prize in the mail today. It was a hand-stamped initial necklace like this:

Mine looks exactly like this one, only it has my initials on it (MCB). It was handmade by Valerie, and it is beautiful! It's simple and classy and the type of necklace I can wear no matter how casual or dressed up I am. Thank you so much for hosting this giveaway, Meredith, and thank you Valerie for my new favorite necklace! Check out Valerie's etsy store, Spunk and Sass. She is so talented!