The Versatile Blogger Award!

I have a new exciting little piece of bling for the blog today, thanks to my lovely friend at Living & Learning With a New Last Name.  She was so sweet to pass on the Versatile Blogger stamp of approval to me, and I couldn't be more honored.  What a wonderful little token of love to spread around the blogosphere!

Definitely go check out her beautiful blog for all kinds of delicious recipes and sweet love stories from her life with her (relatively) new Mr.

Here are the rules:

1.)  Thank the person who passed this on to you and link it back to them (Thanks Anna!)

2.)  Share seven random facts about yourself.

3.)  Pass the award on to 15 new or newly discovered blogs (And let them know!).

So here are my new-to-me favorite blogs.  Go check them out, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Baby Mine

Bap Story

Bike Snob

Bluebird Vintage

Closet Visit

Design for Mankind

HGTV's Design Happens

Destined to Design

Grow 365

The Kitchen Generation

My New Roots

Oh Happy Day

Remodelista

Unruly Little Things

We Used to Make Soup

Seven random facts about me:

1.)  I'm 5'4''.  This is way taller than I actually think I am, but I'm learning to deal with it.

2.)  I'm a vegetarian, but when I cheat, I go to Chick-Fil-A.  And I'm not ashamed.

3.)  I married my best friend.

4.)  I'm extremely double-jointed.

5.)  I will always be a die-hard Dave Matthews Band fan.  And again, I'm not ashamed.

6.)  I have 3 tattoos, and many more on the way.

7.)  I am in the process of making a super secret anniversary gift for the Mr. and our one year anniversary is Sunday!  I can't wait to show the finished product!

Now go show some love to other bloggers out there by presenting them The Versatile Blogger Award!

XOXO

--MEL

Collected

Please direct your attention to the best online magazine I have ever seen:

This is Collected and it's amazing.  I adore everything from the advertisers to the items touted in the pages to the beautiful spreads and great stories.  Seriously, go read it, you will not be disappointed.

And because I love this magazine so much, I thought I'd include a special wish list, completely compiled from the pages of Collected.

Plaited Shopper

Osborn Ikat Oxford

Eva Solo table grill

Okay, you can clean the drool off the keyboard now.

To poo or not?

Hello everyone!  I'm so endlessly sorry I've been away for what seems like ages--I've got no excuses except for this incredible FL weather which could have something to do with the fact that I'm now outside 97% percent of the time and never around the computer.  You can't blame me, can you?

I suppose my recent "nothing but nature" attitude has lent itself to this post.  I have to say I've been especially intrigued in all things natural as of late and so when I read about this, I was super curious.

The question is:  "How to quit shampoo without becoming disgusting"

Quit shampoo?  Why would you want to quit shampoo?  Yes, I know, you're probably concerned I've gotten Vitamin D poisoning and am now going insane.

The idea is that chemicals in shampoo can irritate your scalp, cause complexion problems, contribute to the piles of waste littering our earth, and possibly lead to nerve damage and Alzheimer's.  Yikes!

Now who knows if all of this is true, but it does get me wondering, could I go without?  And what's more, could you?  I'd love to know, my dear internet cosmos, your opinion!

My current shampoo.  Do you think this is safe?

P.S.  Check out this beauty--she's going for it!


UPDATE:  She quit!  I mean, I don't know if I'd be able to do it, but I kind of really want to try.  Thoughts?

One for Y'all

I'm excited to share a small (but very fashionable) way you can donate to help rebuild Alabama.

One For Y'all sells t-shirts to benefit the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham's Alabama Tornado Recovery Fund, which meets needs throughout the state, and the United Way of Cullman County.  100% of the proceeds from the t-shirts go straight to Alabama.

Please consider purchasing a t-shirt to help our southern neighbors.  Not only are they for a good cause, but I think they're adorable.  I think this one is my favorite.

If I were a Mother...

...these are the things I'd have on my Mother's Day wish list.

I would love this perpetual gardening calendar so I can teach my kids how to garden; or just have something beautiful to hang on my wall.  (Found via Hither and Thither, images from krankpress)

And this amazing knitting clock--because being a mom, I'm way to busy to sit down and enjoy my old favorite past-time.  And let's face it, this thing is so damn awesome!  (Found via Poppytalk, image from Siren Elise Wilhelmsen)

And this sweet bedtime story for my newest who screams all night long.  (Found via A Cup of Jo, image from Amazon)

Here's to our Mothers--where would we be without them?  XOXO

Now

I just finished watching President Obama officially announce the news.

I went on Facebook (like any good American would, of course) and a friend posted a portion of this Martin Luther King Jr. quote.  They were the exact words I was searching for.

The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, 

begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. 

Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.

Through violence you may murder the liar, 

but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. 

Through violence you may murder the hater, 

but you do not murder hate. 

In fact, violence merely increases hate. 

So it goes. 

Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, 

adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. 

Darkness cannot drive out darkness: 

only light can do that. 

Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.

May God grant us the courage to show compassion during this time, to remember that life is but a breath and it is a miracle for us all.  May we try even more now to examine ourselves so that we may learn to live out in love and not in hate.  May we find peace in our hearts so that we may radiate that peace to the world and show through our example the way to live.

Let us not allow anger and revenge to take over our being.  Let us remain humble and still, quiet and reverent, loving and open.