A Little Me: A to Z

Here's a little more about me!

A. Age: 25

B. Bed size: twin

C. Chore you hate: washing the dishes

D. Dogs: Pepper and Shelby

E. Essential start to your day: coffee

F. Favorite color: purple

G. Gold or silver: silver

H. Height: 5'5"

I. Instruments you play: violin, piano, mandolin, pennywhistle, guitar

J. Job title: strings teacher

K. Kids: none

L. Live: Greenville, SC

M. Mom's name: Teresa

N. Nicknames: Em, Emma, Emmaline, Emmy

O. Overnight hospital stays: the ICU for a few days when I was an infant

P: Pet peeve: when people I don't know invade my personal space

Q: Quote from a movie: "You have bewitched me body and soul." ~Pride and Prejudice

R. Righty or Lefty: lefty

S. Siblings: younger sister, Elizabeth

T. Time you wake up: around seven

U. Underwear: um, I wear it

V. Vegetables you dislike: cabbage, collard greens, cooked carrots

W. What makes you run late: oversleeping

X. X-rays you've had: teeth, spine

Y. Yummy food you make: blueberry pie, poppyseed chicken, coffee cake

Z. Zoo animal favorite: penguins

A Little About Me

Since I have some new readers I thought I would share a bit about me. I found these questions on the back of a bookmark in a book I borrowed from my mom.

Author you love? Jane Austen

Best friend? Daniel

Can't live without? Chocolate

Dream destination? Santorini, Greece

Embarrassing moment? Forgetting to tune the orchestra

Favorite food? Chocolate

Greatest achievement? Masters degree

Hometown? Greenville, South Carolina

Innermost fear? Disappointing others, failure

Just finished reading? The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society

Kindle? Yes

Love to read? Yes, very much

Makes you laugh? My friends

Number one movie? Pride and Prejudice

One wish? A cure for cancer

Pizza topping? Pepperoni

Quote that describes you? It is your duty and also your entitlement as a human being to find something beautiful within life, no matter how slight.

Reading now? The Postmistress

Siblings? Elizabeth

Texted last? Daniel

Understands you the best? Daniel, Elizabeth

Vanilla or chocolate? Chocolate

Worst habit? Procrastinating

X-rays you've had? Teeth, Spine

Your favorite song? On A Night Like This, Dave Barnes

Zodiac sign? Capricorn

:)

Greenville Is Awesome

After graduation my mom and I headed to downtown Greenville for Artisphere, an annual art and music festival. It was so fun to walk down Main Street, gazing at different booths and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Afterwards, we headed up to Coffee Underground for some iced coffees.

I know in this picture it looks like I chopped off my hair, but it's just behind my shoulders. Part of me wants to cut it, but part of me loves my long hair.

What do you think?

Dear Daniel

*Warning: Please excuse the extreme mushyness ahead.*

;)

Dear Daniel,

I know it's only been about four months since we started dating, but I feel like I have spent some of the best moments of my life with you.

The long awkward silence when we met for the first time...but then we ended up talking for hours for the rest of the weekend.

You sending me "snow" for my birthday.

Ice skating by The Bean in Millennium Park in Chicago.

Seeing Chicago and kissing you from the top of the John Hancock Building.

You teaching me how to make latte art and the giggles that ensued.

You waiting for me and hugging me at the end of my first half marathon.

Stuffing our faces at Paula Deen's Restaurant on Valentine's Day.

Sharing my favorite coffee shop, Coffee Underground, with you.

(Coffee Underground)

Sitting in a swing by the Reedy River and talking about the future.

Watching the sunset from Caesar's Head.

Dancing with you at your cousin's wedding in Charleston.

Still getting butterflies when I look at you...

Thanks for sharing in our adventures! It's been a wonderful journey so far!

I love you.

The Little Things

My new reading, coffee-drinking, and knitting corner makes me smile.

:)

Loop Yarn Shop

Remember how I told you here that Daniel and I visted a yarn shop while I was in Milwaukee?

I think it's a good thing that I didn't have very much time to shop or very much room in my suitcase...The shop was bright and cheery, with all of the yarn stacked on shelves by weight and color. 

(Loop Yarn Shop)

Ah, so pretty! I love it when things are arranged by color! I actually bought some of the yarn in the picture below in light blue.

And the shop is right next to an Alterra coffee shop - what could be better?

(What could be better - or worse - is that I just discovered they will soon have an online shop!)

While there, I also bought some yarn to knit a scarf for Daniel. I think this is how the deal went down*:

Me: (while admiring a chunky cream scarf and some bulky weight yarn near it) This is really nice!

Daniel: It is. It looks really warm!

Me: I could make you one like it, but I don't have any needles big enough for this size yarn.

Daniel: I could make you some needles...

Me: Really?!? Ok. If you make me some knitting needles, I'll knit you a scarf.

Both: Deal!

Done.

Yep, Daniel made those for me. Isn't he the best?

The yarn is fifty percent wool and fifty percent alpaca and extrmely soft. I had so much fun using my new needles to make the scarf, and I can't wait to give it to him!

:)

*I just made up half of that conversation, but that's basically how it went.

How To Waste a Gallon of Milk

During my trip to Milwaukee, I decided to try my hand at latte art.

(Yes, I just linked to Wikipedia. Don't judge. You know you use it, too.)

Daniel works at an Alterra coffee shop in Milwaukee and is learning how to make latte art. Here's one of his mocha creations...

...be still, my heart.

I wanna learn! So learn I did.

We used a gallon of milk, some old espresso beans, and Daniel's new Presso espresso maker.

My first attempt? A major fail.

I think I'll call this "blobby-bent-spoon-thing."

Just let me tell you now that I am a perfectionist, and I don't like trying something new and failing. I was determined to make something pretty. I think Daniel was amused by my eagerness to keep trying!

Attempt number two:

Sigh...more blobbiness. (I just decided that's a word.)

I turned to the internet for a little help and watched this video about ten times in a row.



Attempt number three was a little better...

...a blobby heart.

I watched the video a few more times, put my game face on, and moved on to attempt number four...

...SUCCESS!

Isn't it pretty? :)

Daniel can tell you that there was much squealing and jumping up and down after I made this one.

(I did try one more after this, but let's just say I should have stopped while I was ahead.)

Here's one of Daniel's from the night:

:)

p.s. More on the yarn shop later...I know you guys want to hear about it!

Chocolate Milk. Oh, and Milwaukee.

I'm back from my trip to Milwaukee!

(And a trip this weekend to Augusta to play with the symphony.)

Daniel and I had a great weekend together exploring Milwaukee!

He picked me up from the airport, and during the car ride to his house he told me that there was a present waiting for me in the refrigerator. (Wait, what?)

Yes! Chocolate milk! He apparently read this post, and there was chocolate milk waiting for me.

He's a keeper, right?

That night we went downtown to dinner and the symphony, where we saw one of my favorite violinists, Itzhak Perlman, play! It was a beautiful concert!

Here we are all dressed up - and freezing - waiting for the bus.

On Friday, we drove down to Chicago! Lots of pictures to come!

The next day, we went on a tour of Lakefront Brewery. It was a fun time...

...and we met up with a friend of mine from Florida State who is now living in Milwaukee.

By the end of the tour, I was pretty giggly, and Daniel and I tried to take some photos. He and his family often make "The Face" in pictures, and I tried...and failed. It's hilarious!

On Sunday, we made some yummy breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and some real bacon...

...and drove around Milwaukee for a bit looking at some huge houses, including one by Frank Lloyd Wright. (At one point, I wanted to be an architect, and I love Wright's architecture!)

We stopped for some coffee at Alterra, the coffee shop where Daniel works, and I ended up buying a cute mug and a t-shirt. (I have a thing for coffee mugs. And teacups. And t-shirts.) I also had my first taste of chai - so yummy!

There happened to be a yarn shop across the street...more on that later. Let's just say that if there had been more time to shop and more room in my suitcase, my bank account may have been depleted...

So, on Monday, it was time to say goodbye, but we got to hang out again this weekend in Augusta!

:)

MKE. Brew City. The Wauk.

Yep, I'm heading to Milwaukee today!

(Milwaukee At Night) 

Although when I get there it will probably look more like this...a little frozen over.

(Milwaukee)

I've had my fair share of cold and snow this week, and I'm hoping that I can get out of the South without too many problems!

I'm going up until Monday to visit Daniel, and I am so excited!!! We haven't seen each other in over a month now!

We have plans to see Lake Michigan, drink coffee, travel to Chicago, visit the Milwaukee Art Museum, go on a brewery tour, and go ice skating.

But tonight when I get there, we're going to see Itzhak Perlman, one of my favorite violinists, play with the Milwaukee Symphony!

(Itzhak Perlman)

What to wear to said concert in frigid temperatures and still manage to look cute is a bit of a head scratcher, but I'll figure it out. I'll be sure to post pictures when I get back!

Have a great day everyone!

:)

Secret Talents

So apparently Daniel has a secret creative side, which he neglected to tell me about.

(If you're new around here, this is how we met.)

I got four packages in the mail yesterday, including one from Mandy and one from Daniel.

I was super excited about Daniel's package, and I have absolutely no patience when I get fun mail, so I ran upstairs with it and immediately opened it. Inside was a new French press and some delicious freshly roasted coffee beans.

French press coffee is pretty much the way to my heart. That and chocolate.

I'm sporting my new Mandipidy cap, too! Isn't it adorable? I love it!

(I didn't take it off when we got back from dinner last night, and my mom asked if I was going to wear it to bed. No, of course not - that would be weird. Ummm....maybe?)

Anyway, I've been telling (ahem, complaining to) Daniel that Greenville has not yet seen any snow, and he insisted that he was going to send me snow for my birthday. I was skeptical.

But I found this in my package...



Hmmm.....ok.

Inside, I found this:

Sweet, right?

Also impressive. I was never good at making paper snowflakes when I was a kid, and I haven't figured out how he made this one. I've told him he's gonna have to teach me.

The snowflake is now hanging over my bed just in case the current predictions for a white Christmas in Greenville fall through. And because I like it.

:)

p.s. Don't forget that today is the last day to enter my giveaway!