welcome back.

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I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome myself back to my own blog.  How long has it been?  Too long I think is the correct answer.  A lot of life changes have come about in the past few months.  I won't say I've been too buy to write as I haven't been, I think more than anything I needed some time to decompress away from the internet each night.

That being said, lets talk about life lately.

...I am starting a new job in two weeks!  Eeee!  I'll be working in Digital Marketing and am super excited to start working in the marketing and PR world again.

...I went to Ashveille in January for my birthday and had an amazing time with two great friends (pictures to come soon).

...Took an awesome photography class with my favorite photographer Lindsey Lee and learned soooo much.  Hopefully my new found skills will be portrayed in my photographs in the future.  We were able to practice with a model so I have like 300 photos of this beautiful girl whom I don't know and someone needs to see my fantastic photography skills (post to come soon!).

...Tried my first Sprinkles cupcake a few weeks ago and literally devoured it in about 3 seconds flat.

...Made a quick trip to D.C. and saw the sights as well as explored Georgetown.

...Became a runner?  Am trying to become a runner?  Sometimes I run during the week.  Why you ask?  I'll be running my first 10K in two weeks in the famous Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC.  Pray for me, running over a mile is still incredibly painful.

...Planning on celebrating Easter here in Raleigh with my parents.  We have a few things planned but notably my Mom and I are going to go check out Furbish which I could not be more excited about.  I've heard such great things.

...Debated adopting a Dwarf Bunny for about 1.5 seconds until my mom told me they chew on everything.  Did I think this through you ask?  Why no.  Did I even let me roommate know?  Smh, no.  All I needed to know is that it might chew on a piece of my furniture and nope, sorry bunny, you're going to have to stay with your lovely 5-year-old owner in Virginia Beach.  My next thought was how did my mother know this information.  Turns out my parents had a bunny when they were in college.  Excuse me?  They also had multiple dogs and a variety of other animals before I was born.  I come along and the only pet I ever had was a cat. I love cats, don't get me wrong, like really love cats but a bunny at 4 years old...heaven.

...This just cracks me up.

...I'm going on a cruise in November and I believe this little gem will be coming with me.

What have you been up too the past three months?

xo

differences.

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Sorry I have been so missing in action lately.  I feel like my last post was all about being grown up and in the past few weeks I've been having to make some very grown up decisions.  Its amazing how one day can make such a huge difference in your life and change everything.  I'm signing off for with this quote in my mind.

xo

twenty-five.

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 Today is my birthday.  Twenty-five seems like such a big age, maybe it’s that age when you feel like you’re supposed to be a true “adult”.  In romantic comedies I always picture the main characters to be 25 and they always seem to have it so together.  If only real life were that easy. 

In no way am I where I thought I would be at this age.  I remember thinking in college I would be in a large city, think New York, Chicago, Los Angeles with a very corporate job (business suit required).  I would also be married, living in a house I owned and have a pet, potentially children on the way.  I would hate that life.  Sometimes the things we imagine for ourselves aren’t what we end up really wanting therefore when we never meet those goals it’s okay. 

I’ve been conflicted in my professional life for quite some time and can’t figure out exactly what it is that I’m supposed to do.  I know what I like and what I dislike its finding a path to take that has been difficult.  At this age I feel like I should know by now.  But I don’t.  And that’s okay too.  So I’m going to continue on this journey, one year older now, continue reaching for my goals, and count my blessings.  It’s the journey, not the destination that counts, right? 

xo  

black & white.

 

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I am seriously in love Irene Langlois's home.  If you follow the link you can find more images of the entire house.  Her living however has my heart.  I've always been one to love color but in home design I always veer more towards neutrals.  This is a great example of the inspiration I've been going for in my own home during the design process but feel I haven't really gotten to where I want to be quite yet.  Progress I suppose is better than nothing.

That being said, it's Friday!  What are you plans for the weekend?  I am heading to the Asheville to explore the Biltmore Estate and celebrate my birthday with some friends.  The plans include eating at a lot of great restaurants which I'm told are in abundance, relax, and try some of the bars in the area.  I am thoroughly excited.  It's been years since I've been to the area and I've only heard great things.

Have a fabulous weekend!

xo 

1st birthday.

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This week marks the 1st birthday for All Things Jolie.  I had a lot of goals planned for this blog during the first year and I didn't reach a single one of them.  That's okay though.  What I learned from this blog is that I simply enjoy writing and sharing with all of you.  It's okay that I didn't reach 100 followers or have a certain amount of page views each day.  I think the simplicity with which I write and post make it something that I enjoy doing rather than a task I have to complete each day.

With that said I want to say thank you to all of you that stop by everyday.  Your my faithful online friends that I love sharing with all of you.  So keep on coming back, this year is going to be a great one!

xo

kitchen reno.

I last posted about my parents kitchen here and snapped a few shots of the newly improved space while I was home over the holidays.  Here is the before...

And the after...

Sorry for the random things on the counter, I was in a hurry and just needed to get the photos but I love how everything turned out.  For the amount of money they spent I think they really made a huge difference.  They painted the cabinets white, put down Pergo flooring, changed out the hardware, took down the wallpaper and painted the walls gray.

If anyone is currently debating about putting down a material like Pergo in a kitchen, both my parents have really loved it and no mishaps so far (knock on wood)!

Here is a side by side before and after.

For a very low budget I think the changes look great.  Once we do some styling for the top of the cabinets and maybe one day change out the counter tops and put in a back splash it will look even better.

What do you think?

xo   

galleries.

We finally got our gallery wall completely finished.  After living with empty frames for about a year each one now has a picture!  I actually liked some of them being empty, but the general consensus was that it looked better with framed photos and prints.  A lot of our frames are really big as the gallery covers an entire wall so ordering upwards of 20 prints was not in the cards right away.  We used this method to print most of the prints and will be switching them out soon enough with the real deal. 

If your looking for ways to fill up a gallery wall, Pinterest is your best bet with all the free printables they have floating around.  I also love this new collection, I am dying to add some of the pale pink prints to the wall. 

As it is everything is currently black and white and I would love to mix it up a little bit with splashes of color here and there.  My boyfriends parents bought me this lovely print which will replace Audrey Hepburn (sorry Audrey) in the next few days.  Not really helping on the color front but I have been lusting after that print for a long time, so I'm excited to finally be able to hang it on the wall.

Anyone else have a favorite place to purchase prints?  I have been scouring Etsy but there are so many sellers it can take awhile.

xo