3 Something I Learned This Week: Last Minute Packing

Don't wait until 11:30pm the night before to start getting ready for an overnight weekend trip!

I am so. tired.

6 The 2012 Summer Bucket List, In Conclusion

Well guys, I kinda dropped the ball as far as documenting our summer adventures goes. I have some pictures for a few of the items, but that's more of a happy accident than it is due to any planning on my part. I wish I'd done progress reports after every ten items or something like that instead of waiting until the end like I did. Now I know for next time!

Be warned: this list is overwhelming! (Feel free to skim without guilt, haha.)

1.  Water Park 

(I've lived here almost 12 years and I'd never been to Nashville Shores before this summer! Happily, we remedied that.)

2. Tennis

3.   Wear Sundresses "Just Because"

4.  Picnic Date 

5.  Frozen Yogurt 

6.  Complete Summer Reading List 

(Er, kinda.. 8.5/10 is close enough for me! :P)

7. Fired Up

8.  Chalk Art 

9. Host 3 Giveaways (got 2/3 of the way there! YEAH)

10.  Midnight Premier  (Batman, duh)

11. Wildflower Centerpieces

12. Zoo

13. Art Crawl

14.  Drive-In Theater  (check out the rest of this date here)

15.  Fresh Blueberry Waffles 

16.  Visit Library 

17.  Campfire Cooking 

18. Ride the Train

19. Go Through 4 Rolls of Film

20.  Make Another Everyday Video 

(I've actually made two this summer, but haven't made the time to edit either one yet, ha. And I'm not even sure if I'll ever post both of them, if either. But you can see my first everyday video here!)

21.  Backyard Survivor 

(We renamed it "Resilience"and played three games this summer! We're currently planning our next game for October, and Josh & I are co-hosting that one. FUN STUFF!)

22.  Movie Marathon 

23.  Day Trip  (to Estes Park, CO from Denver)

24.  Weekend Trip  (to Irving, TX)

25.  Road Trip  (to Colorado)

26. Plant Something

27. Lake

28.  Be a Tourist 

29.  Home Made Soda  (using a delicious recipe from here)

30. Find the Perfect Swimsuit

31.  Share a Strawberry Milkshake with Josh 

32. Soda Shoppe

33. Bowling

34.  Bean Bag Toss 

35.  Gabby's Burgers and Fries 

36.  Meteor Shower 

37.  Game Nights 

38.  Fireworks 

39. Parade

40.  Farmers' Market 

41. Flea Market

42.  Feastival 

43.  Free Concert 

44. Cookies for Neighbors

45.  Breakfast for Dinner 

46.  Stargaze 

47. Mini Golf

48. Bumper Boats

49.  The Fair 

50.  Museum 

51.  Planetarium 

52. Make Applesauce

53. Pizza from Scratch

54.  Banana Soft Serve 

55. Riverside Park

56.  Overnight Trip 

57.  Dress Up 

58. Adventure Science Museum

59.  Beach Hair 

60. Horse-Drawn Carriage

61.  Home-Froze Popsicles 

62.  Fancy Restaurant 

63.  Watch an Entire TV Series  

(I totally fell in love with Firefly this summer.)

64.  Katniss Braid  
(kind of... I've not very good at french braiding my own hair)

65. The Pharmacy

66.  Arcade 

67.  Survive Summer of Blimey Cow 

(Blimey Cow produced 2 videos per week this summer and it was CRAZY but we survived!)

68.  72 Hour Film Festival 

(Click here for the Top Ten Submissions list!)

69. Percy Priest Dam

70.  #blimeycowphotoaday 
(We couldn't believe the amount of people who participated in this month-long photo-a-day challenge with us. This mobile screenshot was taken on like the third to last day on Instagram. This was such a fun project! Psst - I shared the Blimey Cow team's photos from the month here)

71.  Meet Blimey Cow Fans 

72. Craft Night

73.  Meet a Long Distance Friend 

(I am so glad that we got to meet this beautiful girl in person! Bethany is such a blessing and I'm incredibly happy to have her as a friend.)

74. Host a Favorite Things Party

75. Visit a Local Farm

76.  Adventures in Odyssey Live Show (TX) 

(click here for my blog post about the show)

77. Hair Cut

78.  Colorado  (pt. 1 and pt. 2)

79.  Bubba Gump Shrimp Co 

80.  Eat More Salads 

81. Photo Shoot

82.  Eat Ice Cream at Whit's End 

83.  Grill Out 

84. Eat at a Vegan Restaurant

85.  Make Pickles 

86.  Watch the Original Star Wars Trilogy 

87.  Make Banana Bread 

88.  Watermelon 

89.  Kiss in the Rain 

90. Finish Portal 2 Co-op Mode

91.  Create New Wall Art 

(This took me about 20 minutes to make in Picasa. I printed/framed it and gave it to Josh for his birthday, and he loved it!)

92. Centennial Park

93. The Bicentennial Mall

94. Develop 2-3 Disposable Cameras

95.  Josh's Birthday Week Extravaganza! 

96.  Finish Re-reading Catching Fire 

97. Fannie Mae Drees Park (aka "Dragon Park")

98.  Rearrange Dining Area 

99. Journal Consistently

100.  Keep House Tidy 

101.  Drink More Smoothies 

102. Downtown Walking Bridge

WHEW! 

9 Currently Digging

Pandemic

This game is so fun. It's a cooperative board game - the goal is to discover cures for four diseases before they spread too much and wipe out the population. It's very difficult to beat (we've only beat it once, and that was under questionable circumstances) and there are so many different ways to lose.. it's a race every time! But you finish the game feeling proud of your teamwork, even if you've lost - it's just a solid game.

Babel by Mumford & Sons

| source |

Mumford's new album Babel came out on Tuesday, and Josh & I have barely stopped listening to it since. We're really digging on the new stuff and the old stuff. Their sounds hasn't changed much, but the spiritual undertones are a little more overt this time around.. and it's all so beautiful. We're fans!

Tomato Sandwiches

Honey wheat bread, mayo, tomato (pink ladies are my favorite), and a little salt. Best sandwich ever.

The Return of Two of Our Favorite TV Shows:

(Survivor and Parenthood)

| source |

It's no secret that we love Survivor for its entertaining mix of colorful personalities, competition and strategy, and Jeff Probst's undeniable dimples class. This season is already proving to be a winner with returning injured players and the three-tribes-twist.

| source |

Parenthood is such a great character-driven show with talented writers and actors, that it's easy to get lost in it every episode. I'm not ashamed to admit that I cry almost every week. I just love those Bravermans!
    *Bonus TV-related item: this commercial. It is just too cute - I grin every stinkin' time. 

Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter

It's a healthy version of Nutella. Win-win.

Age of Empires

via Josh's Instagram (@blimeycowjosh)

Recently, I got a hand-me-down desktop computer (officially for the purposes of helping Josh with our workload). Not gonna lie, I was mostly excited about the ability to play Age of Empires online against Josh. We've had a few "date night" tournaments in the last few weeks, and this game just never gets old for me.

Bonus link: excerpts from The National Geographic Photo Contest 2012

What are you currently digging?

5 Modest Pop Winner!

source.

Hosting giveaways are so fun because they mean I get to give one of you something cool for reading my blog. That means a lot to me! This time there were 116 entires, and may I just say that YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. I wish I could give you all a thank-you gift, but there's only one Chevron Cardi from Modestpop.com to give. Thank goodness I didn't have to choose who gets it! The random.com robots helped me out with that..

Congratulations to Victoria!


Email me at kelli@blimeycow.com to claim your prize!

And for everyone else, don't forget that you can use the discount code shelearns10 for 10% off anything in the Modest Pop store (which is already super affordable) for a limited time.

12 "Pay It Forward" & a Questionnaire

Today, I came across a cool idea (via Claudia, originally from Mandi).

It's called Pay It Forward. The idea is to connect with other bloggers, sending a simple gift to the first three who are interested in playing. Here are the rules (with my own twists):

• The first three bloggers who comment on this post with the phrase "PAY WITH ME!" will receive a small gift from yours truly.
• In order to be eligible for the surprise, you must be willing to pay it forward yourself - reposting the rules on your blog and sending something to the first 3 commenters on YOUR blog post. *note: you may leave a comment expressing your interest before you write up your own Pay It Forward blog post. 
• You have 72 hours to repost the rules on your blog or I'll move on to the next commenter. 
• You must have a U.S. mailing address. I'm sorry, I can't afford international postage - but feel free to start Paying It Forward with your blog-friends in your own country!
• Please leave your blog url in your comment here so we can swap information.

If you see that three people have already commented, don't be discouraged from commenting (or from starting your own pay it forward movement on your blog). If someone doesn't follow the rules or if I can't get in touch with them, then I'll move on to you and you will get a special little present from me! :)

And now, a questionnaire:
Because writer's block and stuff. 

1.) Mood:
Bummed that our plans for tonight were canceled, but glad to have a lazy evening for once. I'm content. Experiencing a little writer's block (seriously I scrapped like five drafts today).

2.) What are you looking forward to most today?
Getting to chill with Josh when he finishes his work.

3.) Someone is bringing you breakfast in bed, what is on the perfect tray?
<<Egg-in-a-basket OR french toast OR chocolate chip pancakes; a spinach/mushroom omelet with goat cheese; green tea (iced or hot with vanilla almond cream); and fresh fruit. And some chocolate ;)

4.) Current nail polish:
None. I'm bad at keeping up with polish.

5.) Where do you keep your handbag when you are home?
On or under my desk.

6.) Current outfit:
Gym shorts, t-shirt. Total comfort.

7.) If you could try on any celeb's hairstyle for a day, whose would you choose?
Victoria Beckham or Taylor Swift, haha. Or Emma Stone! Always wanted red hair.

8.) Do you sleep with your bedroom door open or closed?
Open.

9.) What is the last beauty product you finished?
Does soap count? If not that, I have no idea.

10.) Weekly goals:
Clean the house, get the laundry done, eat well, finish my current book, blog consistently, help with Messy Mondays however I can. (The usual)

(Questions taken from Amarixe via A Thousand Words)

What do you do when you're experiencing writers' block? Also, let me know if you want to Pay It Forward with me! 

17 Something I Learned This Week: DIY Blog Makeover Edition

I've always enjoyed playing with blog design, learning mostly through trial and error. This week I learned some cool new tips and tricks and I thought I'd share them today (mixed in with a few old tips and tricks that you might be interested to know, too).

• First, get familiar with the advanced template editor behind your blog. I don't know how it works for Wordpress or other blog-hosting sites, but Blogger's real-time preview feature makes the Template Designer super fun to play around with. Make sure you backup your blog template before you start messing with code!
• Google is your best friend when you want to DIY your blog design.
• How About Orange is a great resource for free design elements. I've been following this blog for more than a year, and she's shared so many cool ideas - some of which I used for this new design: Free Thin Fonts, where I found my main font; Vintage Printable, where I found the tulip and flower petal graphics; and RepeatxRepeaty for seamless backgrounds. (My current background is not from this site, but several versions of my design featured backgrounds from it. Plus, it's such a cool site that I wanted to share it with my lovely readers!)
• This tutorial from Blissfully Domestic taught me how to easily create custom blog headers. I used the same technique to create custom sidebar buttons and labels. 
• Photobucket is a free and easy photo-hosting service. I use it for hosting sidebar buttons and labels.
• I use Picasa and Pixlr for creating and editing blog elements. They are both free (Picasa is a free download) and relatively easy to learn. 
• I've wanted numbered comments for a while, so I finally googled how to do it this week and came across Help Logger's easy-to-follow tutorials here and here. 

Finally, I learned that creating a custom design all by myself is super fun and incredibly rewarding! Hopefully some of these links will be a helpful start for those of you who are interested in revamping (or starting!) your own blogs. Have fun!

P.S. After previewing a draft of this post and seeing the "blog within a blog" effect.. I couldn't resist going all Inception on y'all and playing around with it a little. I'm a dork, so it made me chuckle. I present: Blogception.

What are your favorite blog design resources? Are you a DIY blogger or do you prefer prepackaged designs? 

8 Make It A Date 07/12: July

Sadly, I can't find the Instax pictures from this date - I've looked everywhere I can think of. Honestly, I'm pretty bummed about it, but what can you do, right? So I'm going to have to use only the low-quality, (admittedly over-edited) iPod pictures I took that night. I didn't take the real camera along because I didn't want to carry it around all day. I'm regretting that now.. OH WELL.

"First Date"

Remember our first date? IMAX Batman + walking around the hotel + the "will-they-won't-they-hold-hands" tension ;) I'm pretty sure we ate at Subway beforehand, buuuut I may be wrong. In any case, let's recreate our first date for this month's surprise date! You can totally hold my hand this time.

I'll always be popular with you,

Your Keener ♥

Contents: $10 gift card to Subway, $40 cash to buy IMAX movie tickets.

When Josh and I started dating, The Dark Knight was in theaters (and we were both geeking out over it). So when we became an official couple, Josh took me to the local IMAX theater so we could watch it in all it's high-def glory. After the movie, we ate in the food court and then walked over to the beautiful Opryland Hotel to walk around inside (it's not as scandalous as it sounds! The hotel is known for it's HUGE indoor gardens).

I remember wanting Josh to hold my hand so bad during our first date, but he didn't. I was his first girlfriend, you see.. so he wasn't sure how to initiate (he's since admitted that he was too scared that his palms would be sweaty and I'd be grossed out, haha. In hindsight, it's kinda cute!).

So for July's envelope, the goal was to recreate that first date with The Dark Knight Rises, a casual dinner at Subway, and a stroll through the Opryland Hotel.

This ended up being somewhat perfect because before we opened the date envelope, Josh was saddened by the cost of IMAX tickets (they've doubled since our first date). We were going to be responsible and not spend forty bucks to see it in IMAX. At least that's what Josh thought ;)

Obviously, we loved the movie. We're both big fans of Batman, Christian Bale, and Christopher Nolan. I'm glad I was able to take Josh to see it, because he's also a big fan of the IMAX experience.

We ended up amending the plan a little bit.. neither of us were in the mood for Subway that day, so instead we ate at this great "camp style" restaurant across from the hotel called Caney Fork. It was a great day.

(Btw, he DID hold my hand this time - the whole day!)

This post is part of a series chronicling my 2011 Christmas present to Josh: A Year of Dates. See this page for more info and other date recaps!

Linking up with Let's Go on a Date

118 Modest Pop Giveaway!

***This giveaway is now closed***

HEY GUYS! I have two really exciting things to tell you!

1) If you're reading this on my blog, you'll probably have already noticed the change.. But ff you're reading this in an email or some kind of RSS feed, you should hop over to see my new, custom design! I've been working on it this week and I'm pleased with how it turned out :)

2) I have a GIVEAWAY for y'all! Admittedly more exciting for you than the new blog design, right? 

Modest Pop is a new online clothing shop that offers modest, stylish, and affordable clothing. All items are $15 or less, and there is a new deal every day. Every item stays in the shop for 24 hours, or until purchased. 

To celebrate their recent launch, they're giving you the chance to win your very own Chevron Cardi! (Pictured above, in the middle.) Isn't it cute?! It even sort of matches my new design! Y'know, chevron and all..? I'm stretching it, aren't I?

Here's how to enter: 
- You must be subscribed to She Learns As She Goes in some form. You can follow through Google Friend Connect, email, bloglovin, Google Reader.. whatever works best for you.
- "Like" ModestPop.com on facebook, then come back here and leave a comment telling me that you did so.
- Drop by Modestpop.com and check out their shop, then come back to this blog post and leave a (separate) comment, stating your favorite item.
*Please be sure to include your name if you leave your comments anonymously.

ModestPop.com is also offering a 10% discount to all She Learns As She Goes readers for a limited time. Simply enter the code shelearns10 at checkout.

Best of luck! The winner will be announced on Wednesday, September 26th.

8 Slow Down!

I feel like I am the very last person to welcome fall this year. 

Don't get me wrong, I love autumn - the crisp air, the changing leaves, the pumpkin-flavored everything - so why am I hanging onto the last remnants of summer so strongly? I admit that it may have something to do with our incomplete Summer Bucket List. But also, it just doesn't feel like fall to me yet. The leaves haven't really started changing around here, and I can still get away with wearing shorts and flip flops every day. Maybe I need to spend more time on Pinterest, basking in the barrage of autumn-themed pins. Maybe I need to break out my scarves and start researching costume ideas. For some reason, fall also reminds me of Harry Potter..? I have no idea why. Perhaps because the students drink pumpkin juice and Hogwarts embraces Halloween decor all year long? Perhaps because I read all the HP books during the fall? It's probably those things. 

I guess it also won't really feel like fall for me until we've completed our August surprise date. I've still got this supposedly summer activity hanging out in the back of my mind, refusing to let me move on until it's completed. 

That's pretty silly, though - I like fall! I want to get excited about it! But. Those trees are still green, I tell you. It isn't real until they're on fire with orange and yellow leaves.

Who knows, maybe I'll wake up tomorrow and the leaves will have a hint of yellow to them. Maybe the breeze will nip at my nose. Maybe I'll get on Pinterest and one of my friends will have pinned the perfect fall outfit to snap me into it. 

But for now, fall doesn't officially start until Saturday. And as soon as those leaves start changing, I'll gladly switch to full fall mode!

Am I just weird or are there others like me out there?

Note: I wrote this last night, and ironically enough, I woke up this morning to fall-esque temperatures, a little bit of fog, and even some yellow-tinged leaves in my neighborhood. Ha! Funny how those things work out. I did get away with flip flops and a light blouse today, but I had to ditch the shorts for some jeans. It still doesn't feel *quite* like fall to me yet, but today has been the first day that I can really feel it's imminent return. And I'm excited about it.

2 Make It A Date 06/12: June

Hello, lovely readers! I've finally completed our June Surprise Date recap for you all! Aren't you excited?! Since so much time has passed since June, I'm afraid I won't be able to give this Monthly Date recap the detail it deserves. But I will do my best!

"Your Birthday Month"

Happy Birthday to you! Remember when I surprised you with the Drive-in for your birthday when we were first dating? And we stopped on the way home to stargaze. That was romantic, wasn't it? Well, we should recreate that night sometime this month, in honor of your birthday. I actually have a bunch of ideas to celebrate this month... we don't have to do all in one day though... It's your birthday month! You deserve multiple surprise dates :)

Happy Birthday to the love of my life,
Your Keener ♥      .

Contents: Birthday month activity check-list, $15 cash for the drive-in theater, $25 cash for dinner, $10 gift card to Berry Bear for frozen yogurt, and a birthday card to be opened on his birthday. 

Birthday Month Checklist: Drive-In Theater, Candlelit Dinner, Date to Restaurant of Your Choice, Picnic + Tennis at the Park, Berry Bear Fro-Yo, A "Night In" with Games and Other "fun" ;), (plus the option for Josh to add any activities he wanted: "It's your month! What do you want to do? :)")

As you can see, this month's surprise date packet was pretty jam-packed with activity suggestions. When I planned it, I thought it would be FUN to have a bunch of day dates planned out.. but when it came down to it, we were much too busy to accomplish all of them. In fact, almost all the items we did accomplish weren't done until the beginning of July (which was partially why this post is so overdue). Note to those of you who are thinking of giving A Year of Dates as a gift: keep the dates simple. Don't have multiple-day dates if you can help it (unless they're consecutive, like an overnight trip or something). You never know when life will be extra busy, making even ONE day date difficult to plan for. 

So, which parts of this date were we able to complete? Check it out: 

Drive-In Theater: CHECK.

When we first started dating, Josh's birthday fell about 10 months into our relationship. I told him I wanted to surprise him with a special birthday date. I knew he'd never been to the Drive-In Theater, so I took him to see the double-feature Night at the Museum 2 and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. (We concluded that Cloudy was far superior to Museum, haha. We're kids at heart!) So when I was planning this Year of Dates gift, I wanted to start Summer 2012 off with a re-creation of that night. We packed a picnic dinner, watched The Amazing Spider-Man, and it was.. well, amazing. (sidenote: I love Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. I normally don't keep up with celebrity gossip, and I know it's none of my business, but I want them to get married and live happily ever after. I can't help it.) We didn't get to stop and stargaze on the way home like that first birthday together because it was overcast this year and we were both pretty tired. But it was certainly a lot of fun to relive a date from our first summer together! 

Candlelit Dinner: NO :(

Date to Restaurant of Josh's Choice: CHECK.

Josh decided to use our restaurant money to try a gyro place near our house. It was delicious. The owner was a sweet man who was very proud of his new greek sauce. He took great care of us, giving us extras of everything for free! Josh still talks about that gyro almost every time we drive past the place - it made quite an impression on him ;)

Picnic + Tennis at the Park: NO (though we did have a picnic at the drive-in theater, so maybe that could count for half...) 

Berry Bear Fro-Yo: CHECK.

Frozen Yogurt is always a good choice. (and oh, those eyes..)

Game Night at Home: CHECK. No pictures to share, though :)

Ultimately, we had a lot of fun going on these birthday month dates, but I still think I would've done things a little differently if I'd known how difficult planning multiple date days was going to be. However, Josh felt very special and loved - and that was the point! - so I'd say it was a success. ♥

This post is part of a series chronicling my 2011 Christmas present to Josh: A Year of Dates. See this page for more info and other date recaps!

Linking up with Let's Go on a Date