Lunch at the Kitchen

Just a little post to share some pictures. :)

A few days ago I had the pleasure of joining a wonderful gal and friend of mine for a delicious lunch on a beautiful property. We went to the Farm Kitchen at South Mountain, and if was truly enchanting. From the wicker baskets given to carry our salads and iced tea to a picnic table under a pecan tree to a barefoot walk through grass and soft wood-chips to spy on crowing roosters and organic gardens, simply charming.

If you're in the area, I highly recommend it! For now, I hope you can enjoy it through these pictures. Thanks for a great lunch and wonderful spot choice, Annika!

<3 Laurynn Elise

Friday Fun Fact: Dog Training!

In September of 2008, I got certified to be a dog trainer, and have been training pooches around Arizona for the last five years. I got certified and worked for PetSmart for about a year, and have been free-lancing since then. It's a really fun side job, and it satisfies my desire to work with animals and educate people about proper pet ownership without having to be a full time zoo keeper. (Which would be awesome.) I'll probably post random pet-related tips through this blog, and have a goal to eventually put together a full length DVD set of my training curriculum. But in the meantime, what are you all curious about? Feel free to ask any pet related questions, I'm also trained and have experience with cats, small mammals, birds, reptiles, and freshwater fish. And dogs, of course. :) Here's a few training related photos, as well as my favorite student, my pup Sydney. I'm a little biased, but she's really smart.

Forgive the hair please. 

Such patience!

A student on graduation day :)

She's SO spoiled. Whatever.

Bring on the furry questions! 
<3 Laurynn Elise

TBT: 24th Birthday Party

So a recent phenomenon has been sweeping the internet called Throw-Back Thursday. The idea is to post a picture of a memory in the past, so we can relive cool things we've done. Or whatever. So I'm jumping on the bandwagon and posting a bit of a throwback for you all. Not going too far into the past (embarrassing pictures of my childhood will come later. I promise.), I decided to post some pictures of my 24th birthday party. It was my Golden Birthday (24 on the 24th), so I threw a fancy little shin-dig, dubbing it a masquerade cocktail party. Complete with fun masks, yummy food from my wonderful mamma, and the best photo-booth photographer ever, it was a wonderful party! Thanks to my pal Ashley for taking amazing photos so I could be free to dance and socialize. :)

Mini Bunt Cakes <3

Ellie @ Designers Mark did a great job arranging those flowers!

Yummm :)

Nice face ;)

:)

Saving his damsel in distress ;)

<3 Laurynn Elise

Tutorial Tuesday: Adding length with lace

Being long-legged has it's advantages, but unfortunately those advantages don't usually translate into finding clothes. Often, dresses that would come to a normal length on most women hit a bit too short for me. Especially when it comes to wearing something on stage. I found this cute dress at Khol's that was perfect for Easter Sunday, but a little too short for singing, so I decided to fix that by adding lace to it! Whether you need to add length to something or just want to give it a cute and girly edge, this tutorial works for dresses, skirts, and simple blouses. Best of all, it really requires little to no sewing skills, so no excuse! I sewed mine on my machine, but you could easily hand stitch this, it will just take a little longer. Good luck!

 Step 1: Take a piece of lace (or other trim) a few inches longer than the base of your garment. Mine was about 2 yards long. Pin to the WRONG SIDE of the bottom hem, this will allow the lace to peek out the bottom. The stretchier your fabric, the more pins you need. I pinned every 2-3 inches. I recommend staring to pin at a side or back seam. Leave an inch of lace at the start, and at least a couple inches at the end.

 Step 2: When you get all the way around, Stop pinning an inch or two away from your starting pin.

 Step 3: Select your stitch. I chose a long basting stitch, so that if I decide to take the lace off at a later time, it wont ruin the fabric as much as a short stitch. If yours is going to be permanent, go ahead and choose a short stitch or a zig-zag.

 Step 4: Using a matching or coordinating color thread, sew all the way around the hem, backstitching at the start and end. Stop just before the pieces meet. This is also a great time to break your machine. I highly recommend this if you only have 15 minutes before work to get this done.

 Step 5: Line the ends of your lace up, facing away from the garment, pin, and sew a line down the lace, joining the ends.

 Step 6: Finish your garment. Trim off the extra lace, any loose threads, and turn your garment right side out. Great job!

 <3 Laurynn Elise

Weekend Update

Happy April Fools! Did you fall for anything? Did you play any tricks? I stayed away from big crowds today. ;) 

What at eventful and fun weekend! I performed in two shows on Saturday, with friends in the audience at the later one, and got some beautiful flowers from my man. :) Easter Sunday was a beautiful day, a long but wonderful morning of singing worship at four church services, spending the day at the Wildlife World Zoo (a tradition in my family), and diving into some much needed Pei Wei take-out. All in all, it was an amazing day! I'm still editing my photos from the zoo, so those will come in a separate post, but I will add some pictures I took of my own personal zoo. Hehe. Today (Monday) was a nice recovery day of catching up on my favorite tv shows (Doctor Who ftw!!), editing photos, and Andy and I's second dance lesson! So much fun! I hope your Easter was great, I spent mine relishing in creation and prasing the name of a risen King! Halleluia! Here's a few pics:

<3 Laurynn Elise

John 20:29