new item on etsy!

i just listed this little cutie for sale on etsy !!!

go check him out!

DIY Earring Holder/Organizer

another blogging first for me! my first DIY post!!!

so i really needed to do something about my little "jewelery box" seeing as how 95% of my jewelery is still at my mom's house in my legit box. it was just a huge dumping ground for gauges, rings, earrings, noserings, etc.. it was getting way out of control. i used to have two of those little earring holders from Claire's or afterthoughts but one got tossed back in the day and i think the other one is at mom's. and i can't find anything like that ANYWHERE. so i went through the interwebs and found an idea that involved plastic canvas. in reality, that's what i should have used because it's more stable, but i didn't feel like going back out and spending money (especially when gas hit $4.15 today in ohio. ouch!).

i found this link. it's a great idea and looks really cute. however, for some reason i just couldn't get it right. maybe i just didn't fully understand or read it closely enough. so i did my own take on it.

and here's a close-up of my post-earrings!

i kind of screwed it up. i used an old pair of nylons. i cut it off all the way up at the thigh. then cut that in half and cut them long-ways (hot dog style as per joe's request).  

i cut the top off of the lid to a shoe box so that just the edges remained. here's where i think i messed up a little bit. i should have left some of the top of the lid to keep the corners stable. but to fix that i just taped the corners to make sure they were secure. 

then i just stapled the nylons around the edges and viola! 

let me know if you try this DIY and i hope you enjoyed it!

adventures in gardening!

i want to share the pictures of how my plants are coming along! they're from my fourth roll of film. the black and white roll that i got back..ehhh, there are some good ones. and this fourth one..ugh, it's just terrible. the exposure is too high on some of them and the rest of them are just way too dark! i'm so annoyed at my amateurism. but practice makes perfect, right? i freakin' hope so.

so without further adieu, here are my flower photos!

big smile grape hyacinth

forget-me-nots

mounding perennial

habanera english daisies and pansies

another mounding perennial and a mounding annual!

till death thursday

i may be going a little bit overboard with these theme days but i'm really just trying to figure out what works and what i can continue for a long time. so being that this is a lifestyle blog and being married is apart of my life, i thought i'd try to write about different aspects of relationships and being married. 

my first topic that i want to discuss is how long it takes to be fully comfortable with your significant other. most people (usually women) are comfortable enough to let their partners see them unclothed in order to have sex. yet other things are sooo embarrassing. ladies, you know what i'm talking about. society or something has made it so that us girls are supposed to pretend like we don't do certain things that men are able to freely joke about with their friends. i couldn't even say that i didn't feel well and then go to the bathroom, even if it was just to pee, because i felt like my guy would just assume i was doing something else. 

it took me a really long time to get comfortable with Joe. mostly because he's five years older than me and (no one knows this until now) i thought that he was soooo cool and sooo mature. i didn't want to do or say anything stupid or embarrassing in front of him. i couldn't even say the f-word. i don't mean the one you're thinking of...that's right. i couldn't say the word "fart" in front of the person i was eventually to marry. until one night, he did it in front of me randomly when we were watching tv. in my mind i was like, oh my god, how embarrassing, how is he just okay with doing that in front of me??? then we got a puppy and with her having accidents, it still made me blush a little bit. however, the more it happened, the less awkward it became and the more open he was, the more comfortable i got. 

i'm still not fully open, but i'm very comfortable with him. ladies, it just takes time. the more you share with each other, the better and less tense the relationship is. i think its 50% familiarity and 50% gets easier with age. the older you get, the less you give a damn.

well i hope this post was at least somewhat interesting and i didn't share too much!!

how long did it take you to be 100% open with your partner? 

must watch.

i really don't want my blog to become a place for silly photos of animals and youtube vids, but i HAVE to post a link to these. i just have to.

and

please watch them and the rest of his translations. they're hilarious, i promise.

wishlist wednesday!

ahhh! i'm so excited for my first wishlist wednesday post!

fish pendant. $1.50 

www.forever21.com

floral ankle socks. $0.95

www.forever21.com

flowers & leaves necklace. $6.80

www.forever21.com

flowing flowers ankle socks. $0.95

www.forever21.com

i SOOO need one of these!

hair tye ball. $3.50

www.forever21.com

please excuse the terrible quality of these next photos! i couldn't save them from the internet as photos, only internet links!

i can't decide which one i want!

www.target.com

diana mini. 

www.lomography.com

pinhole camera.

www.lomography.com

fisheye one.

www.lomography.com

i hope you enjoyed this post!!!

"wishlist wednesday" photo credit to oohvelocitygirl !!!!

do you see anything you want? tell me!

suggestions, please!

i've been trying to think of ways to keep Hello Kelly interesting and make it something that readers want to see and come back to. one way i thought that i could do this was days-of-the-week-themed posts. like how some people have friday favorites or mixtape mondays. so i googled it and the only thing that i found was a suggestion for a "mommy blog" called wordless wednesdays. this gives mothers the opportunity to post pictures of their kids, basically. ehhh, kinda lame and not something that thrills me. so i thought maybe sunday fundays. since we usually do at least one interesting thing on sundays. if we don't, i can post a fun memory from back in the day. the other thing that i thought of, being that this is a lifestyle blog, is wish-list wednesdays. i'll post things like clothes and accessories that i'd like to add to my collection. joe suggested tuesday take-out where i discuss foodie-type things. he also suggested moronic monday. he said i'm always ranting about something (am i?) and that it could be an outlet for one rant a week. i like these ideas!

if anyone has any other suggestions i'd love to hear them!!

also, an idea that i've been toying with. i have my personal twitter (@okayykelly) and my blog-promoting twitter (@helllokelly). i've been wondering if it would be better for me to only have ONE twitter. then bloggers who follow me on twitter wouldn't think oh well, she never tweets anything except for blog updates so i'm going to unfollow her."  but then, my personal twitter i've always said i don't link it to my facebook for a reason. it's my true venting outlet. i'm very vulgar and sometimes insulting. but it's also a good representation of insight into my life. i'm horrified at the thought of making my personal twitter public. but i guess making it private wouldn't necessarily deter bloggers from requesting to follow me.

does anyone have any thoughts on this twitter issue??

delta zeta lamps are burning.

i'd also like to dedicate a post to my sister who i shared the story of when i got my sparrow "in memory" tattoo. today is the two year anniversary of her passing.

the title of this post is a song that we sing during rituals and things like preference. we sang it before they lowered her casket. every time i hear it, i think of Jess. i've never in my life seen so many people at calling hours before in my life. she was truly loved by everyone and touched everyone's life.

on friday i got a facebook message from Jess's aunt. it said that she was telling Jess's parents about my tattoo and they were very appreciative and wanted my address. tattoos touch lives as well.

delta zeta lamps are burning,

are burning bright and true.

delta zeta vows we're keeping,

keeping all for you.

delta zeta now and ever,

we will faithful be.

delta zeta how we love thee,

our sorority.

easter/spring decor

in keeping with my post-my-holiday/seasonal-decor promise from st. paddy's day, i will now share with you my spring decorations. i'm not a religious person at all, so it's not very eastery and i tried to stay more on the spring side.

earth day!

well i didn't realize i was such an environmental advocate until i received this text from Joe!

how freaking cute is that?! i guess it makes sense that he would wish a happy earth day to me. i don't let him throw away pop cans and i drive him crazy because i HAVE to save all of our grocery bags. i constantly bug him about recycling. i feel like there is too much trash in the world. i hate wasting things. i'm such a hoarder! when i was little, i used to save my colored pencil shavings in ziplock bags because i felt bad throwing them away because my parents spent good money on those pencils!

 i especially hate bottled water. sooo much of our water supply is in landfills trapped inside of water bottles. but i'm a bit of a hypocrite there because i always stock up on bottled water. they're just so convenient! i also have two or three starbucks tumblers that i never remember to use! i just can't wait until we have a townhouse or something so that we have room for those little blue recycling bins. 

also! in honor of earth day i will be wearing this dress to work tonight!

SHOOT! i forgot to add this when i first posted this!!!

ALSO!! please visit the website that promotes my very own sorority's PINK GOES GREEN!! http://www.dzpinkgoesgreen.org/ !!! you'll find great green ideas!!

the one where they high-five.

SOOO i just found out that it is national high-five day. what?! why didn't i know this earlier?!?!?!?!

being that it is such an astute holiday, i thought i would post this picture.

i was so excited that we got this shot. all i wanted all day long was to add our own little touch. i wanted to write our own vows and he didn't feel comfortable doing that. high-fiving is totally an "us" thing. we're basically bros and it only makes sense that a bro would high-five another bro after said bro gets married. we just so happen to be lucky enough to marry our #1 bro!!

this was apparently a bigger deal than i thought. a good friend of mine actually started a story with the sentence, "These are the two who high-fived after the wedding." YES. that's exactly the effect i wanted! hence the Friends-esque post title.

photo credit goes to my bff, Kelli, as i said in my intro post. you can find her flickr here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/kelli_carney/

she has also been trying to figure out here own blog so be on the look-out for that link from me!!

finally, film.

i finally was able to pick up my film from wal-mart. NEVER take film there. they're terrible!

anyway. these two rolls were the first time i really got to use my n2020. a lot of the pictures were just things around the apartment. the weather has been so lame that i had zero determination to go outside and adventure around for photos. i think my problem was that i got so excited that i could at last use my camera that i wasn't the most precise and would forget to let it focus! so all but 14 are pretty much complete, blurry, fail. (out of 60 prints!)

i uploaded them to my flickr page, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellyannee) but here are a few!

joe took the one below of mollie and me!

so, this one needs some explaining. it's our congratulations note from the Obamas! ha!

i kind of like that this one is blurry!

18 Ways to Enhance Your Photography Skills

a while back i bought a couple of photography books. one that i really like is called 150 Projects to Strengthen Your Photography Skills by John Easterby. here are 18 that i love and i will be trying asap!

1. try shooting with your phone
2. build a creativity scrapbook to look at when you need some inspiration. it can contain lyrics, photos, paintings, etc.
3. take your camera out with you and take a shot every 20 minutes, no matter where you are.
4. capture human interactions in public places.
5. shoot without looking through the viewfinder to remain unobserved.
6. still life shots
7. domestic wildlife and zoo animals
8. shoot a protest or demonstration
9. local sporting event
10. portraits -- no smiling!
11. photo essay
12. learn about lenses
13. use lomography cameras
14. shoot with long exposures
15. practice capturing fireworks
16. understand depth of field
17. explore relationships between two people
18. photograph white/blue collar and outdoor workers

14 Fun Photography Projects

i've always been interested in photography. when i was younger, i had a little barbie film camera, a black polaroid and always had disposable cameras. up until i was about 15, i always used disposables until i was given a hello kitty digital camera as a gift. for graduation i got a legit kodak digital camera. i mostly always just used my cameras for capturing memories, never for artful projects until i took art II for the second time my junior year of high school. our instructor gave us somewhat challenging photography projects to do and gave us a crash course in the Gimp photo editing software.

i'd really like to reawaken my skills and do some fun projects. as i've said before, i finally have a lens to use with my nikon n2020 and yesterday my polariod land camera came in the mail!!

it seems like a good time to try out some photo projects. here are 14 i found that i love!

1. photowalk once a week - go somewhere you don't normally go and click away.
2. photograph 100 strangers - always ASK to photograph strangers. especially if you plan on putting it on the web. take their photo and get a small back story.
3. A-Z photos
4. pick-a-something - pick a theme and take photos! (i.e. things that start with G, shoes, everything red, etc)
5. scavenger hunt
6. light graffiti
7. shooting from the hip - people and public places.
8. same scene, different time of the day/week/month/year
9. color co-ordinated
10. bokeh
11. facial expressions
12. word of the day
13. disposable camera fun
-smack it for double exposures
-damage the film - throw it in a pool, put it in the freezer, poke holes for light leaks.
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/30749835@N00/pool/with/2797774400/)
-damage the lens - use a hot tool, scratch it with sand paper, put nail polish on it.
(http://www.flickr.com/groups/95028261@N00/)
-send it on a journey!
14. make a polaroid calendar by snapping photos of different signs and such that contain numbers

i can't tell you how excited i am to do these and share them with you! if any of you try these projects, let me know so i can see them!

CREDITS
#1-6 www.digital-photography-school.com
#7-9 www.photoradar.com
#13-15 www.photojojo.com

MELT #4

well today was our fourth trip to Melt. we brought Jessie this time and met Kelli and Dave there! i was so excited for Jessie to try it and for the rest of us to get the Corny Beast. it's essentially a super-cheesy corn dog--stick and all! it comes with a chipotle ketchup which was really good. overall i really liked the sandwich. it was good. but i wasn't as in love with it as i thought i would be. it's not Melt's fault, i think i just built it up in my head and expected it to be more extravagant. but sometimes simple is good and in this case it was. i also got the Parmageddon to go! which i'll update on after i get out of my food coma.

Jessie had to go back to school because she had to work and the rest of us went to Beachwood and shopped at H&M and forever21. honestly, i wasn't impressed by H&M at all. i always see sweaters in outfit post and i thought their stuff would be really cute. but i only got two sweaters. everything looked like it was from the same five materials and were semi-trendy, middle-aged styles. i was thoroughly disappointed. but on the other hand i spent $107 at forever21. i could have spent more but there were so many people, it was crowded and the music was really loud, i couldn't concentrate on the items and i think i was over-stimulated. it was kind of stressful. i'm happy with my purchases regardless and it was a really fun day. 

here's a peek at our day!

corny beast!

i love the random stuff written on the walls in the bathroom.

and this funny grammatical horrorfest.

i want this in my apartment.

and a few edited with instagram.

joe and my new shades.

i thought the clouds would look cooler than this.