forget the hat.

I lovelovelove that fall is here right now!!

I love living in Indiana where we actually get to experience all four season!! Sometimes I think fall is a little too short and winter is a little too long, but I still love it.

I'm a hat girl. I love wearing hats. Any kind of hats. But sometimes, I just want to throw my hair in a messy bun on top of my head and you cant wear a hat with that. (well you can, but you'd look silly. and dumb. silly and dumb.)

At the request of my sweet friend Jovanna (don't you just love it when your friends see something and then hope that you can make it!:) ha!), I decided to try my hand at making some of these headband ear-warmer things (for lack of a better term). This is my own pattern and these are super easy to whip up!!
I love that you can do practically any color combination with these!!
I saw this pink cheetah print felt at Hobby Lobby the other day and just bought some, not knowing what I'd do with it. But look at how cute this freaking flower is!!!! LOVE IT!

I usually always put my flowers on pins so that they can be removed if need be.

Love these vintage buttons on the gray one. It looks so old world.

Yes. I'm selling these. I'll be posting them to my Etsy site today or tomorrow. And of course, everything can be customized to whatever color you'd like.

Being fashionable is perfect in every season! :)

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hooot. hoooot. hats. :)

I cannot deny it any longer.

I have a deep affection for owls.

No no no...not the real things. Quite frankly, those little hooters scare the living crap out of me.

No, I love owls in fashion. And I LOVE that they are still all the rage right now. So here's my take on some precious little owl hats. I need to find some cute babies to model these for me. But this is what I've spent the majority of my week on. I love coming up with cute color combinations.
Boys. Girls. Owl hats are perfect for everyone!

I love this one above...because it reminds of my Harry Potter and the colors of Griffendor! :)

Teal sparkly yarn from Hobby Lobby makes my day. Literally. I get excited when I see it. I think I want to do an entire blanket out of this yarn.

Oh enough about the teal sparkly yarn...the raspberry sparkly yarn also makes me happy! :)

So cute. I love these hats so very much!

Happy crocheting!

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care packages

Meet Chris.

He's in the Air Force.And is overseas right now to an undisclosed location.

Hopefully I'll get to see him in a few months (keep your fingers crossed for January).

So while he is gone, I have taken it upon myself to be the "Care Package Queen". I try to send him something every other week--or every two weeks at the latest. Honestly, I'm actually loving this part of his deployment. I mean, I don't like that he's gone...but I love sending him (and his unit) fun packages.

If you know but at all, you know that I LOVE themes. Any kind of theme. Theme. Theme. Theme. So obviously, I am theming all of Chris's (or CBB as I will refer to him as) packages.

Package #1:

Happy Birthday to Me package

Yes, it may seem weird that I sent him a care package on my birthday--but it was only because he wasn't here to celebrate with me so I wanted him to feel included in all the festivities.

Inside was:

My favorite candy--Dots, Gobstoppers, Runts, Starburst

My favorite Snack Packs--Butterscotch flavors

Birthday candles--a number 2 and a number 9

Birthday party hats

Mini Red Bull bottles

My favorite dipping sauce (I figured he needed some help with the MREs)

Cake in jar--in pink, which (according to CBB) didn't really make the trip halfway across the world, but its the thought that counts

Mad Libs--one of my favorite games

I wrapped up everything like they were birthday presents and sent them on their merry way. I think he liked it!

Package #2

Toilet Paper Theme

Hello!! Can you imagine being deployed overseas and not having the comforts of home--including Charmin extra soft double rolls?????????????

ME NEITHER!!!!!
So that's what he got. An entire box filled with toilet paper.
And inside was the following list:

If you can't read it--it's basically a list of the top 10 things to do with toilet paper! I KNOW he enjoyed this package!

Package #3 and #4
These haven't arrived yet (even though I'm checking http://www.usps.com/ every day!) so if CBB happens to read this, act surprised! :)
Since it's almost Halloween, I went with a Halloween theme on these packages. I sent two at the same time. One was TRICKS and one was TREATS. I'm really excited for him to get these. I think he'll think I'm a teeny tiny bit clever! :)

Tricks Package:
Trix Cereal
Twix candy bars (In case he has a lisp!) :)
Whoopee Cushion
Word Searches and Crossword Puzzles (hope they aren't too "tricky" for him)
Fake teeth
A stupid Halloween mask to wear around the base
Candy Vampire fangs
Fake spiders
Then I covered the whole package with that spider web stuff. That should be fun to open!

Treats Package:
Candy, candy and more candy
Halloween suckers. I covered a whole bunch of lollipops with white tissue paper to make ghosts and then orange tissue paper to make pumpkins. Literally, I covered most of the box with these.
Carmel flavored Starbucks VIA coffee
Pumpkin soap
Did I mention candy?
A skull goblet (kind of dumb, but I couldn't resist)
Some stupid little travel games that I got at Party City. I figured they must get bored over there.
Some Halloween decorations
Oh and I wrapped the entire box on the inside with more of the spider web stuff. He'll hate me but he'll laugh!

I already have my next package in mind. I'll keep you posted--and I'll start taking pictures too!

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Hooooo Are You!??!?!?!?

1. What was your favorite meal growing up?This is going to sound weird, but my favorite meal when I was a kid was broccoli with cheese and potatoes. The Mom of The Hicks Girls had an usual philosophy (one that sticks with me today...and will probably pass on to my children at some point): why eat sugary food for breakfast when it's the most important meal of the day? So instead of gathering around the dinner table, the Hicks Fam would gather around the breakfast table...and eat dinner food for breakfast. Tacos. Potatoes. Salads. You name it--it's what we had for breakfast. Steamed broccoli with melted cheese was my favorite! :) nom.nom. 2. What's your favorite month?September because it's my birthday month. And here in Indiana, September is the perfect start of fall. I love living in a state where we get to experience all four seasons. September is when the cooler weather sets in, the leaves start changing, the college football action is in full swing....perfection! 3. What store is most represented in your wardrobe?Nordstrom. Hands down. My closet is probably worth a small fortune but I don't care. Nordstrom is my happy place. My sanctuary. My love. :) 4. How many times do you go to the movie theater each month/year?Probably only a handful times a year. The next time I anticipate being at the movie theater is in November....for the 7th Harry Potter movie!! LOVE ME some 'Arry Potter! :) 5. Fill in the blank--I've never been able to _________?Get over my irrational fear of spiders. I realize I'm 100 times the size of them and they are probably more scared of me than I am of them (if that's possible) but I don't care. The sight of those eight legs sends me into a complete panic. Hyperventilating. You name it. And to quote Joey from Friends..."Is it on me? I feel like it's on me!" That's how I feel whenever I even think about those stupid little bugs.

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halloween!!

I'm finally getting around to getting all of my Halloween decorations up. I really wanted to make some Halloween subway art for this year. I am LOVING the way it turned out! The orange is actually much brighter than what it looks like on the picture. I added some black Martha Stewart glitter to black paint and painted that along the edges. I wanted it to look a little messed up, and I think I got it!

I got this idea from Eighteen 25's blog (one of my favorites!) and knew I had to recreate it. I just love easy and cheap ways to decorate, and these suckers look so cute scattered throughout my apartment (up high so Yankee can't eat them). In fact, I may or may not have sent a Halloween care package to a certain Air Force solider....and filled it with a bunch of these pumpkins and ghosts! So fun and so cute!

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banner by burgess

I totally have to brag on my sister--the other, more mysterious half of Hicks Girls. She is so talented, it makes me sick sometimes. :) Don't believe me? Check out the Halloween banner she made this week:

She saw the idea on Etsy earlier this month and just decided to recreate it for herself. I absolutely LOVE the way it turned out! It looks so great next to her brick wall and will be perfect for Halloween!

(I'm posting this for her because I highly doubt she'll get around to posting it for herself. We'll link it up to some Linky Parties this week!)

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meet baby Brin

Remember when my best friend had her baby?? Well Ambra (aka Best Friend) finally got around to posting pictures of sweet baby Brin. She's absolutely perfect. And gorgeous. And stunning. And amazing. Ahhh, LOVE her!!!

Am's had a rough past month or so. Actually rough doesn't even begin to describe it. But she's come out of it a stronger women, mother and friend. I just love having her in my life and thank my sweet Lord every day for her.

Have you hugged your best friend today?

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feast of the hunters' moon.

Don't you just love family traditions? Don't you just love fall? What about fall family traditions?!?! Me too!! Us Hicks' have a crap-ton of traditions...and they are all super fun and super special.

One started while Burgess and I were students at Purdue. Every year in West Lafayette, there is the Feast of the Hunters' Moon festival. Basically, it's a festival at Fort Ouiatenon to celebrate the annual fall gathering of early French settlers and Indians. Fort Ouiatenon was more of a trading post (fur mainly) than an actual fort. Back in the 18th Century, French fur traders from Quebec would travel down the Wabash River and stop at Fort Ouiatenon to trade with the Indians. (whew...didn't think you'd get such a stellar history lesson so early in the morning, huh?) Anyway, it's a great festival. Everyone dresses up in 18th Century clothing and sells items that were around during that time.

This year, Mom and Dad couldn't go (Dad just had knee replacement surgery) so Burg and I decided to carry on the tradition ourselves. We took Big Dub with us...and Adam, who strangely had never been before. (Homeboy grew up in L-town and has lived there practically his entire life. We need to get him out of his hunting bubble in the fall more often...)

We had a GREAT fall day. A little chilly at first, but it turned out to be perfect fall day!

Aunt Kelbs and Big Dub! I just love this little booger!

Mommy and Big Dub. Little stinker doesn't like looking at the camera most of the time, but this is actually one of my favorite pictures.

A few months ago, Mom (or GG) got Big Dub this skunk hat from one of her many adventures. The Feast was the absolute PERFECT place for him to wear it. This is me and him enjoying some delish Fry Bread! By the way, I'm loving the new I LOVE THIS YARN colors from Hobby Lobby!! This sparkly raspberry color looks so good as a newsboy hat!)

The best $3 purchase of the day....a wooden gun for Big Dub. hahaha, doesn't he look like Davey Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier here?? He was so stinking funny with that thing!
We had such a fun day walking around at all the booths and of course, Burgess and I got some craft project ideas. Hopefully we can get those in the works soon. We also had our share of fabulous 18th Century food as we ate our way through the festival (they don't call it The Feast for nothing!)

We had:
Handmade root beer (nom nom)

Apple Dumplings

Buffalo Burgers (Burg and I each had 2...oops)

Ribeye Sandwich (Adam)

Fry Bread

hmmm...is that it???

The food is so good because it HAS to be prepared the way it was prepared wayyyy back in the day. Everything is so authentic.

Can't wait for The Feast next year!! Can't wait to introduce LBB (little Baby Brown) to another one of our traditions!!

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hooooooo are you??!?!?!?

1. If you could add one room to your house, what would it be?Well, I live in a one bedroom apartment....soooooo, I'd just add another room in general. I would use it as a closet (because mine is overcrowding. What? I have a lot of clothes!), craft room, crap-holder, etc :)

2. How many pillows do you sleep with at night?Two. No more. No less.

3. What is the best costume you've ever worn for Halloween?This year's costume will be epic. I'm deciding between two: The Morton Salt Girl (if the other half of Hicks Girls would find my yellow trench coat) or Ke$ha!

4. If you could erase one item off of the face of the earth, what would it be?Price tags on gifts. My numero uno pet peeve!! Seriously. HATE THEM.

5. Where do you do your best thinking?I actually get my best inspiration while I'm sitting at work. Unfortunately, it's never for anything work-related. Either there or Starbucks...or my other happy place...Nordstorm. Walking thru Nordy's (as I affectionately call it) makes me happy. All the colors, smells, textures, etc.--I always leave there feeling more creative (and poorer). :)

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