Inspiration: Morning Coffee

Great, good morning! 

Enjoy your coffee, your space, and your day!

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-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

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The Anne's February Goals

If you're a regular follower of this blog, you know that we are big on goal making. We find that when you make them often and evaluate them in intervals, it's a lot easier to accomplish things. So here are our February goals!

Holli Anne's February Goals:

1. Do something good to my hair more days than not.

2. Dress like I don't work from home more days than not. (It just makes you feel better to dress nice sometimes!)

3. Buy new underwear.

4. Get my little family groomed (fiance-check, next up, me and dog!)

5. Paint my new house, move in successfully and finish planning this wedding.

Tyler Anne's February Goals:
I'm a big fan of doing the monthly goals but I need to get better at it! She Learns as She Goes was the one to originally inspire me to do them! Check out her February goals here.

1. Unpack my perpetual suitcase (A lot of traveling lately!)

2. Complete some Chalkboard DIY projects for the home!

3. Find a nightstand I can love (and that can hold all of my rando knick knacks that I NEED next to me while I sleep)!

4. Bake some red velvet cupcakes for V-day, of course!

Almost There's February Goals:

1. Finish creating and launch our first amazing e-course.

2. Convince you lovely people to purchase said e-course and love it and grow your blog or business!

What are some of your February goals?

Advice: Freak Out

Holli and I are pros at freaking out. Since we have chosen a nontraditional career path we probably freak out more than your average Joe or Betty. This, in no way, is a bad thing. 

Sometimes a bad hour can turn into a bad day and then into a bad week. A bump in the road can turn into a slump large enough to swallow that car that you can't afford the gas on anymore. Maybe you are having family issues, relationship hiccups, job concerns, or money problems...maybe you are having them all at once. If you are, worrying about not freaking out is just another anxiety on your long list of AHHs! 

So, my advice for this week is to make a date with yourself to properly freak out about all of your worries. Sit down and think about everything you're worried about. Really think about what scares you and what is going wrong. 

I suggest you:

• Cry
• Scream
• Stare blankly at a wall
• Blare music/ Scream sing to it
• Forget about your diet
• Eat some chocolate/junk food
• Drink some sweet tea or Coke
• Rip up some paper or tear apart a stress ball
• Yell profanities
• Cry a little bit more
• Take a nap
• Wake up
• Then relax

Once you face all of that head on and properly deal with it, calm down and move on.

Don't bottle it up or pretend that you're grand. You aren't. You need to be angry and sad and yell and cuss. You need to be alone and you need to realize that tomorrow is still coming and you need to get ready to be fine with that.

So, just remember, when times get too rough take a moment to go freak out.

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

Wedding Shower Fun: Illustrate Your Love Story

You know those wedding showers where there is just a random mix of people? I had one this Christmas with my family, my future family, college friends, high school friends and church friends. 

It was super wonderful to be around everyone, but when it comes to entertainment, the crowd was definitely mixed. It wouldn't be the crowd to say, make dresses of ourselves out of toilet paper (for me, there's NEVER a crowd for that). 

Our party host thought it'd be fun for us to tell our "story" since not everyone has been around for the whole thing. So right before the shower we came up with the idea of illustrating our love story for the group. It ended up being a big hit, even for the people who already knew it. 

Plus, who doesn't like hearing a sappy love story at a wedding shower? Mix that with silly little drawings and you've got a fun, unawkward way to talk about yourself to a crowd. 

Literally, this could go any way you choose, but I'll tell you our story, as we told it. It also may be a fun way for you to get to know me and Joseph, since I'm going to be blogging about our super thrifty, big, DIY wedding. 

Joseph and I met his freshman year and my sophomore year of college in pretty awkward fashion. (Yeah, I'm six months older…scandal!) I was working as a server at Ruby Tuesday, and this professor notorious for tipping 100 percent of the bill came in with a group of students. I obviously jumped on the opportunity to serve his table. Only drawback? My ex-boyfriend, Joseph's friend, was one of those students. Oh, well, I made $100 and met my husband.

Eventually, Joseph and I started gaining mutual friends. We worked on the school newspaper together. It didn't take us long to start crushing on each other either, but there was that whole awkward ex-boyfriend/friendship code thing we had going on. Solution for someone who wants to say "Oh, I like you" but can't: Call them Favorite. (Yeah, that's the silly nickname we have for each other).

Homeboy started to phase out of the picture and me and Joseph were just all friends and such. We liked each other. People noticed. And they started to harass us about it in normal fashion. We just kept right on being Favorites and dating other people though, no problem. 

Two summers ago, we finally weren't dating anyone at the same time. And, we also were the only two people of our giant friend group left in our college town. Naturally, we hung out every. single. day. One day, Joseph's little brother Phillip joined us for an all day hang-out. Afterward, he hardcore harassed Joesph about why we weren't dating. Joseph told me about it, and it finally brought us both to admitting outloud that we "liked each other." 

This is pretty self-explanatory, right? 

When I told him, "We won't ever date." I accidentally meant, let me dwell on this for a while. So that's what I did. I thought about it in my head…what it would be like dating…if we would ruin our friendship…you know, the things overthinkers think about before getting in relationships. Then one day, I just asked him what he thought about the possibility, expecting him to take some time to think about it. Instead he jumped right on it, and we started dating right then (September 18, 2011).

(By the way, I didn't name any of these "acts" or "scenes." I just feel the need to say it).

Anyway, we date, it's the best thing ever and about a year later we get engaged in my apartment with Joseph telling me lots of sweet things. Now, I'm less than two months away from getting married.

Hope you enjoyed our story, and we'd love to see an illustrated version of yours!

—Holli Anne

Books: Organizing, Reading and Writing!

I have a lot of goals involving books this coming year. You may have seen some of them in our New Year goals post.

Specifically, I want to read more books, continue writing my book and here's a new one: find a way to organize my books.

I currently don't have a bookshelf, but I have TONS of books. I found a creative way to display them around my house in decorative form. Some of them are a little practical, being end tables holding lamps. Seriously, they are everywhere: in the kitchen, in my office, in my room and in my living room. 

I like that I at least have something to do with them other than sit in ugly boxes, but my new house is a tiny, tiny cottage.

I'm going to want to control these a little better. 

Since the house is so small, I'm hoping to just find a simple, small bookshelf at a thrift store—no big fancy plans for this storage, but I do think it's a pretty important goal for the order of our future home. 

Other book goals:

I've been thinking about my "read more books" goal a lot, specifically how non-specific it is. 

I'm not ready to just out and claim a number of books I want to read, but I do know that tangible goals are much easier to obtain. So here's a few ways I want to narrow it down.

1. Read every day. Right now, I start reading a book, plow about half-way to three-quarters of the way through it and then stop for a while. I think subconsciously I just don't want it to end. If I make myself read everyday, maybe I can curb this habit.

2. Read and review books from Story Cartel, this super cool Website I found. It's a place where authors give away copies of their book in exchange for Amazon reviews. I loved everything I read on there last year. You can get free books, too, if you click on that link!

3. Read more classics. This is self-explanatory. I just want to read some of the ones I didn't already read in school. 

Do you have any goals involving books this year?

—Holli Anne

New Years Mood Pinning

I'm all about mood pinning (see here) and for this New Years I let Pinterest guide me. Here is how I feel New Years should be like!

All images are on Pinterest and when I'm all better from this dreadful cold I'll link it all up!

I hope you have an awesome New Years Eve! Be safe!

- Chick Tyler (aka Tyler Anne)

Oh My: Ban.Do & ModCloth

I'm returning home tomorrow and back to the office in the afternoon. My vacation is drawing to an end but I can't help but not be too disappointed--I can get back to blogging everyday. Tomorrow I will make a post with some fun & exciting announcements but until then here are some things I wouldn't mind owning!

Hailing from ban.do we have: a party pack of headbands (here), sparkle and shine bobbi pack set (here), superstar bobbi (here), and fame headband (here).

And, of course, the Count on Me glass set (here) from ModCloth.com!

I mean, really, can I have these?

-Chick Tyler (aka Tyler Anne)

From our hearts to yours...

May you spend your holiday time with the ones you love! Be safe, be loving, be merry!

-Tyler Anne & Holli Anne

Efficient Desktop Background (Freebie!)

I work almost solely on my computer. ONE computer to be specific. So before I know it, my desktop transforms into my college dorm floor--cluttered & chaotic. I don't know how many times I've told myself that I will not just drag, drop, and forget about the many pictures I find online and I will not just save all of my files to my desktop. 

But then a few days go by and my desktop is crazy cluttered and I become very lazy about organizing it. 

So, today I made myself get my stuff together and design a desktop background that would help keep me a bit more organized. 

I wanted it to be simple because I get distracted pretty easily. I also wanted it to have color but more on the subdued side. For inspiration I pulled up my Pinterest (okay, who am I trying to fool...Pinterest was already up) and the first picture I saw I just fell in love with.

This picture's colors were just what I wanted and meshed well with the handwritten feel I love.

So, I made four color blocks and labeled them as Work, Play, Life, and Random. Because, really, that's what I have going on!

Then I took my crazy desktop and put each file in their respective blocks!

It may not look like a lot but it does help me! If you want to use this background, just click on the picture below and save it to your computer! Then make it your desktop!

Enjoy!

-Chick Tyler (aka Tyler Anne)

Almost There's Holli Anne

If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may have heard mention of some girl named Holli starting to blog on here…and you may have thought to yourself something like, "Wait, I thought this blog belonged to that chick Tyler?" Well, it does, but now I'm joining in the fun, and I couldn't be more excited about it.

While I've introduced myself briefly on the About page, I thought it'd only be fair to give you a more thorough introduction.

So Hi, I'm Holli, a 20-something freelance writer and blogger from the south. 

My background includes a Bachelor's in Journalism with a minor in Photography and for some reason, a masters degree. 

Like Tyler, I worked on the same college newspaper as a reporter, News Editor and Editor, but we weren't really friends that spent time together back then. Now we are bestie boos who talk everyday.
After graduation, I took a job working as a reporter and then News Editor of a local newspaper before deciding to go to grad school.

During grad school I learned one really important thing: I just want to be a writer.

So now, that's what I do. I live a fun, creative life and I write about it. I also write about a bunch of topics for a bunch of different people, and it's great.

I am definitely in that almost stage of life. I'm almost married (March 9), and I almost have a house. 

Besides writing, I spend my days crafting projects, cooking food, thrift store shopping, Pinteresting and hanging out with my dog Charley. 

I'm joining Almost There (besides the obvious fact that I just love Tyler) because I really believe in its purpose: being "there," living creatively and dreaming big.

-Holli Anne

I Got a Tattoo

So I had one heck of a weekend! I took a road trip to Florida with two of my best friends to celebrate a graduation and boy was it fun! I would post ample pictures normally but it was one of those weekends where I certainly will do no such thing. However, I did take a few pictures of the tattoo I finally got!



This simple triangle tattoo is all about balance (and a few other sentimental things)!
(M3 Design, I told you I was getting a triangle tattoo too!)

Work, play, and love. Finding a balance between these three has been a constant struggle for me, but I'm learning to do better. One of my goals for the new year (and the rest of my life) is to keep the stress to a minimum and learn that happiness can be simple and easy to obtain.

Because I'm almost there...right? :)

-Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

Yummy Floors

Holli and I both had busy, busy weekends! We are getting back to schedule though and soon you'll have so many posts you just won't know what to do!

Until then, drool over these beautiful flooring pictures.

Enjoy!



All pictures can be found repinned on the #hgtv board here.

- Tyler Anne (aka Chick Tyler)

Christmas Craze Recap

Christmas Craze may be over but that doesn't mean you can't enjoy our 12 days of holiday DIYs!

Here's a recap!

Enjoy!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

Day 7

Day 8

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

BHLDN Mini Wishlist

BHLDN Mini Wishlist

1. Dapper Bottle Stopper
2. Salut! Flask
3. Inscribed Numeral Vases
4. Rustic Number Sleeves

Why I Created Almost There

This morning was not a good morning for me. I woke up to an upsetting email, got stuck in heavy traffic, wrestled with my internet and cable provider, and then had my car die while in said provider's parking lot. Did I mention it was raining? Because it definitely was.

There was a lot of silent contemplation (and weeping) while I sat and waited for the AAA man and then the tow truck.

I thought about my job, the future career I wanted, all the DIY projects I wanted to do for the new place, financial things (at which point I started weeping again), and what Almost There really means to me.

See, I created Almost There because I wasn't where I wanted to be in life. I lived in a tiny apartment that didn't even allow me to unpack all of my things. It drove me nuts! For an entire year I was stuck in that place when all I wanted was my dream house! After sulking for a few months I decided one very important thing--it's okay. Just because I wasn't living in the place of my dreams or making the amount of money I wanted, I could still be happy with what I had. Even though I had a small apartment I could still do some of the things I wanted. I could find DIY projects that I fit the space or alter the ones I wanted for a house. The blog also became a place I could store things that inspired me...things that were beautiful and creative!

After a few posts and the motto of "You're almost there!" I knew I wanted to share Almost There with other people who aren't exactly there yet. Those people who wanted to be inspired, who loved creativity, who liked being positive and happy!

How does all of this apply to my morning's incidents? After I started thinking about how much the blog means to me and what it is I want it to stand for, I realized that my current situation was indeed crappy but in the end everything was okay. Sure the situation sucked but there are definitely people that have it worse off. I had/have blessings to count and that was enough for me to suck it up and get by with a more positive mindset.

I also realized that Almost There, to me, is not only a blog--it's a lifeline constantly reminding me that even if life isn't going as planned I can still be happy.

So, I just want to thank all of you who read and comment on my posts. It makes my heart happy that MAYBE I'm helping inspire others out there to be happy too!

Now, time for me to drink my coffee and appreciate the rest of this rainy day!

Christmas Craze: Candle Holders

To say I'm not really pumped about Day 9 of Christmas Craze is a bold face lie. I've been wanting to make these candle holders for a long time and finally got down to it! They make my inner child do the happy dance and the adult that I try to be smile. So it is my pleasure to show you this very easy DIY for candle holders that can bring a unique look to your home for the holidays and make your young visitors smile!

Enjoy!

What you need:

• Plastic toy animals that are hollow! I got mine from Target for $3 each in the $1 bin section.
• Scissors!
• Free standing candles! I went for the long and skinny ones!
• Felt!

So the big move happened yesterday and I was just plain optimistic with thinking we would get everything moved in one day. The town house looks like a tornado went through it--the only room with semi order being the kitchen. However, I made sure to bring one of my craft boxes with me so I could do this Christmas Craze. The picture above is a good stretch of Chevron fabric I bought at Hobby Lobby a while back. I plan to make a table runner out of it for Christmas in the next few days. The candle holders I made, I knew I'd want them in the center of the table so I made sure I liked how they all went together.

I loved these two toys from Target and new immediately they would be fun as funky candle holders. I also liked the way they looked on top of the chevron pattern! Also since they aren't really "Christmas" animals they can be used year round!

To make these into candles holders you need to first MAKE SURE they are hollow inside. It's the easiest way to make this DIY work. 

Then you take your scissors and make a wide enough X where you want the candle to go. Now, fun fact: I am a pack rat. I try not to be but over the years I've collected odd things. The two candles I have (pictured up top) were given to me at a college assembly years ago. Since I didn't use them up then I put them in the side of my bag. For YEARS people have asked why I hadn't thrown them away to which I always said "I might need them one day!" Well, that day arrived! I got those candles out of my bag and decided they were perfect!

I made sure the cut was big enough that I could just push the candle inside of the toy. Now, if you really want, you can cut a circular hole and then glue the bottom of the candle there. I didn't want to do that if only for the fact that I want to change out candles eventually.

(Note: Milo sleeping in the background. Once I started working he refused to move!)

With both candles snug I wanted to make them look just a bit more festive but with nothing permanent. That's when I got out my nifty felt! (If you want to know how much I like felt go here.)

Again, I wanted to make sure everything matched to my liking. I had a sheet of glittery green felt that did just the job for me! (Hobby Lobby has a lot of glittery felt!)

Happy with the color, I folded the felt in half and cut out two shapes that I would use as "saddles" for the animals. I then made a hole in the middle just big enough for the candle to fit through!

Then I was done!

Easy, affordable, funky, and unique holiday candles that can be used year round!

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7 | Day 8