A Brave New World

Hey there, berries!

As promised, here is my long- awaited dorm room post!

I am already moved out of the dorm room for the semester--

Christmas break is upon us!

I am tremendously relieved.

Let us rewind back into the semester for a bit... (:

As you know,

before I moved back into the dorms after Thanksgiving

I cleaned and put away all my decorations.

Well, after that,

I got back out everything I was going to use to decorate my dorm room for Christmas...

As you see,

I decided to change it up from my usual girly pinks and purples...

I opted for a richer color scheme

of mainly dark greens, blues and reds...

I accented with pinks and oranges and golds I saw in my dishes...

(I was going to use purple as well, but once I saw all the colors together,

I decided not to.)

When I got back to my dorm, I packed up the harvest décor

and everything that didn't incorporate these colors...

Then I laid out the decorations

and got to work putting together a new room...

^_^

I was up well into the night

decorating and piecing things together...

Some things didn't work out like I had expected...

several things I tried to hang on the wall--

ornaments, artwork, a mirror--

fell off,

and a couple things broke.

My sweet little record player,

which actually had a short in it from the time I took it out of the box,

finally kaput on me.

I'll have to ask Santa for a new one this year...

Nevertheless, the final result ended up more beautiful

and more to my taste than I had expected!

It might seem silly,

but being in this space

was like being a character from a fictional book!

I felt like I was in a special guest quarters

on a royal ship...

... probably because of the ship portrait that hung on my wall...

until it fell off.

When I added all the warm colors

and Christmas lights and pine fragrance,

the room just became the most magical place...

Below, you can see that I made another pennant banner,

this time with six flags instead of twelve...

I think I will make many more in the future...

;) ;)

--

In this post, you are only seeing one half of the room,

not that the other side isn't presentable.

I'm just trying to figure how to make all the practical things-

My television, kitchen area, bedside table, sink-

be as inviting as the impractical side...

The room as a whole is still super fantastical, though. ^.^

I sometimes find myself just sitting and staring...

because of how much I love it.

It is such an inspiriting thought that I made this beautiful living space

come to life out of my own imagination

with items from junk shops...

And speaking of junk shops..!

Here are some more treasures I found!

XD

^ ^ ^ You can see where I placed some of them in the pictures above. ^ ^ ^

The two Victorian style plates, Christmas chocolate tin,

picture frame and yellow sweater

were $3 total at the fill-a-bag shop I like to go to...

And the suitcase, old baby blanket, small lamp, and sprigs--

four of them with sparkly fruits and pine needles, and three of velvet holly and ivy--

were all $4 total at my favorite local thrift store in my college town.

^.^

 

The shade is something I already owned
(though I did get it at the same thrift store as the lamp a couple years back),
and it complements the lamp so well!

--

So, a few posts ago, berries,
I mentioned that there is "a lot of good change coming".

Little did I know that by saying that in faith-
I had no idea what was coming-
I was prophesying over my family!

Now I know what this good change is...
Haha!

It is so exciting, and soon I will get to share it with you!
Now, however, it must remain a secret...

--

Thank you, berries, for reading this post!
Stop by again soon, and continue reading the posts to come!

I can't wait to share the upcoming adventure with you.
<3

Until next time,
Lots of Love,

Thrift Trips and Newfangled Spaces

Hello!

Welcome back to a new post. (:

(Heads up, this is going to be a pretty long one...
soon after followed by another long one!)

Thanksgiving break is over, now!

The food was amazing,

the down time was much needed,

but now it's time to work again.

Juries are coming up,

I play off my project piece next week,

the band has three more parades to march...

There is still much work to be done.

That being said,

I am so thankful to be back at school!

This is my last year at this college

(I graduate in May with several good friends of mine),

and I am filled with endless gratitude

when I reflect over the past three years of my life here.

I have learned so much about music and teaching and life.

I have impacted and been impacted by

so many unbelievably remarkable and talented people.

I have gone through trials I wouldn't even waste my breath

on trying to explain, and I have climbed out of them, victorious.

God has gone before me,

God has gone with me,

and God will continue to do so.

He is so good,

and I cannot be any more thankful...

Speaking of thankful,

YEEE, I have my OWN ROOM AGAIN! XD

I will post pictures of my dorm room on my next post. >.<

It is quite magical. I'm so excited to share it!

For now, per contra,

I will show you my room at home.

That is, before I changed it.

As darling as it is in these photos,

I got tired of same old, same old,

not to mention my disaster of a closet...

Don't freak out, I didn't have a total style overhaul

and throw everything away.

I'm still me.

I simply could not take the feeling of useless clutter anymore.

I felt like I thrifted so many darling little things

that went straight to my closet to collect dust.

I reached a decision with myself:

I need to use my new things in old ways, and

I need to use my old things in new ways.

Over break, I was finally blessed with the time I needed to

completely ransack my room

in order to piece it together again in a newfangled way...

What I did was lay out all of my this's and that's together

(I have a lot of this's and that's),

and put the ones I don't care for much anymore in a trash bag.

I didn't throw out much...

^.^

After I put everything out,

I cleaned,

organized,

and put everything back in storage

so that when I go back home for Christmas break

in a couple of weeks,

I will have a clean slate to decorate.

So, right now, my room at home is plain- Jane empty.

(:

---

So, moving onward...

Here are some of the thrifty goodies I haven't gotten the chance to blog about yet...

Not all of the items in the photo below are recent finds.

I just like how they all look together here. ^.^

I need to start taking better pictures of my finds... :P

A while back, when my former roommate and I went thrifting together,

we ran across a huge collection of vintage Avon items

someone had hauled off to Goodwill,

and that was just the beginning!

The both of us ended up with a cute little stash by the end,

but the only good picture I ended up taking

was of this dress Feffy picked out for me.

^.^

I took no other pictures of my pile of trinkets

(although you may have seen some of them from this trip,

i.e. the small, vintage crown cologne from Avon)

I learned a lesson, though, and took this picture (below)

the next time I went thrifting with my old roomie. ^.^

I picked up this urn- looking bowl,

a flat, round mirror,

some peachy- gold ornaments with sparkly green and gold leaves on them,

These bell ornaments,

This adorable sprig- I just love finding cute little pieces of foliage like this!

And a tiny cookie cutter shaped like a kitty cat. =^.^=

Everything had an individual price,

but the lady at the counter gave me a tremendous discount,

and the total amounted to $3.59.

See, there,

you can find things that suit your style at great prices

if you just keep looking. ;)

In another trip with my mommy,

This painting was $10...

This silverwear set below was $4...

It came with more,

but my mommy and I shared it. (:

We also shared in a huge box

of vintage Christmas ornaments that we found

for only a dollar!

When I was home for the break,

I cleaned them up to make them shiny again...

And now, the final find I am including in this post

is my favorite of all- 

this red, vintage style

night gown.

^.^

It's so cozy and perfect! (X

I didn't expect to purchase it,

but I spotted it on the way to the checkout in a Goodwill.

It was less than two dollars, YAY!

---

Well, that's all for this post, Berries.

Thank y'all for stopping by!

I will post pictures of how I decorated my dorm room

with my finds

in the next post.

I hope it will be soon!

^.^

Until next time,

Lots of Love,