Giveaway at The Quiet Owl

The Quiet Owl

Hey guys. Did y'all know Karen over at The Quiet Owl is having a giveaway for her Large Ad space for the month of October? What a sweetheart. Go check it out!

 - Jana

The Day That Never Ended

Holy macaroni. It's 9 a.m. and that list up there is everything I have to do before I go to class at 1. And that book underneath the book with the list is my school planner, so there's even more to do in there! Normally I don't mind being so busy but I'll literally be going non-stop today. After my classes end tonight (at 9:30) I have to go to work, and I'll be lucky if I get home around midnight. At least my 8 a.m. class is cancelled tomorrow.

Today in Photography we're having our first critique and my stomach is in knots. I've taken tons of studio courses and actually looked forward to the critiques, but photography is what I want to do for the rest of my life! The pressure is on.

Before that, though I'm going to eat lunch with one of my sisters (Ashton) and my niece. (I talk about my family a lot, one day I should probably do a post to introduce them. I am the oldest: I have six little brothers and sisters!) Hopefully that will put me in a better mood.

Alright, time to stop procrastinating and time to end this whiney, rambling post. I hope everyone's having an awesome Wednesday!

 - Jana

Tenstagram Tuesdays #3

It's been a little while since I've done one of these so I'll do my ten favorite since last time. Here we go:

1. Earlier this summer Matt and I drove out to Chattanooga to see Ruby Falls and Rock City. It was absolutely beautiful there! My favorite part would probably have to be all the gnomes at Rock City.

2. This little bunny used to belong to the people next door, but I guess they let him go free. Now he comes over all the time. He'll let you pet him and pick him up, he's just so sweet.

3. Working on ye olde button shoppe whilst enjoying Nutter Butters and milk out of my favorite cup.

4. Sometimes me and Matt go shoot pool for fun, so for his birthday I got him a tiny pool table. I am HILARIOUS.

5. So how freakin' sweet are those earbuds?! Mushrooms and gnomes, AND they don't suck? They were made for me. And the people at Perpetual Kid even drew me an awesome picture of a gnome on the box (which now hangs on my cork board). I was thrilled.

6. Freshly dyed hair. Red is such a pain in the ass to keep up. I should've been born with this hair color.

7. Riding to Nashville to start work on a portrait series I'm doing.

8. On the way there, me and my friend/subject stopped at Dunkin Donuts (let me repeat that I am so happy I'm drinking coffee again). She has three cats and she was eating a powdered donuts, thus she was covered in cat fur and powdered sugar which I thought was hilarious and set out to embarrass her. She got the last laugh though when later I laughed so hard I almost choked to death on my coffee :/.

9. My previously mentioned Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee and apple donut.

10. There just aren't enough in-the-car-self-portraits. (That's sarcasm.)

If you'd like to follow me on Instagram, click here! 

 - Jana

Family, Crabapples, and Hilarious Tan Lines

Friday morning, I started working on a project that doubles as something that will fulfill the requirements of a class assignment as well as something I'm continuing on working on for a really long time. (Vague.) Later that day, my dad came up and took my youngest sister and I to see ParaNorman for her birthday. (She turned the big 1-3!) It was a pretty good movie, but us three are super excited to see Frankenweenie and Hotel Transylvania. Also, did you know a new Wizard of Oz like movie is coming out next year? Yep.

Afterwards we stopped at a little park near the theater and walked and caught up.

It was here that I found the largest freakin' crabapple I have ever seen:

Tried to teach Tori how to focus my camera before the shot. Tried.

Gigantic! Also, note the crazy tan-line. Remember last weekend's horrible sunburn? That's the result. Hilarious.

Saturday I gave my sister her birthday present (she's going through this Metallica phase, so her present was very...Metallica-y. Her favorite part was where I photoshopped a picture of her onto one of the band so it looks like she's hanging out with them. I cannot look at it without laughing.)

Afterwards I went to hang out with Matt. We went to a restaurant we used to go to every single week, but stopped because I had a really bad experience with them. I'm really glad we went because this place has completely redeemed itself with me!

Sunday was absolutely wonderful, for no particular reason. I really felt fall starting to set in so that probably had something to do with it. My sister and I started working on a project together, and then afterwards she, my mom, and I went shopping together which was great because I needed a couple of tops and I actually found some I really liked. (I absolutely hate shopping, because it's extremely hard for my to find clothes that fit properly.) On the way to the mall, we saw a pumpkin patch and immediately went insane with excitement. Hopefully we'll be going soon!

I think this weekend was great because I got to spend time with my family, which definitely hasn't happened very much lately. But now it's Monday and there's school/chores/work to be done. So how was your weekend? Are you as excited about Fall as I am?

Can I Interest You in an Ad Swap?

Do you love Button Munch and want to tell the world? Would you like your own ad to show up in the side bar on the Button Munch blog? Well, allow me to make your dreams come true.

Just click here to check out the buttons I have available to share on your blog. Need a different size? No problem, just leave me a comment with your email or shoot me an email (Buttonmunch@yahoo.com) and I'll send you one!

Next click here to "purchase" a 200x120 ad space for my blog. Be sure to use the code SWAP at checkout so you don't pay anything!

Super simple, super fun. If you have any questions or need help, don't hesitate to let me know!

Off to class now, hope everyone is having an awesome Wednesday!
 - Jana

Craft Fairs, Frogs, and Mushrooms

So this weekend was mostly great.

Thursday Matt and I celebrated our five year anniversary with yummy food, a bottle of wine, and finally starting Breaking Bad. (Five episodes in and it's already one of my favorites!)


Friday was spent on craft fair preparations and the actual fair was on Saturday. Note to self:
 If someone is sweet enough to offer you sunscreen, accept it. (Really Jana? Did you really say 'Oh, the sun isn't that bad!'?) Now I've got the second worst sunburn ever, and probably the most interesting in burn pattern. It is ridiculous. (And so painful :[.) I should also mention here that while I was being burnt to a crisp by the Sun, I got a text from my little brother telling me he had just met Jack White (y'know, of the White Stripes/The Raconteurs/The Dead Weather). WHAT?! He even got a picture with him. My uncle and little brother have seen him around Nashville various times, but this time Jack White just happened to be at the same car show my brother was. Some people get all the luck.

 Afterwards I slathered on the aloe and watched Ginger Snaps (one of my very favorite horror movies), and went to bed. Nothing beats going to bed after sitting in the sun all day. Despite my whining, Saturday was really great and I had such a good time at the craft fair!

Sunday Matt and I went to the park, and it was one of the best times we've gone, I think! We saw so many things but my favorite findings were what I always hope to find lot of when we go walking in the woods: frogs and mushrooms. My mission right now is to find out what kind of mushroom this is:

Busy day ahead: unpacking the fair stuff/cleaning/school/work. Better start that now!

So how was your weekend? Got any tips for dealing with this horrible sunburn?

Feeling Thankful

So after reading Kaelah's and Nicole's posts about what they were thankful for, it inspired me to think about what I've been especially thankful for lately.

 - My supportive family: I am so lucky to have parents who wholeheartedly support me in what I want to do with the rest of my life. At school, I often hear other Art majors talking about how their families don't support the path they've chosen and that SUCKS. I am forever thankful for having my family's encouragement. Without it, I'd probably be too scared to go through with what I really want to do!

- My boyfriend, Matt: Well, he's just great. Any time I'm down, he can cheer me up. Everyone needs someone like that. (Tomorrow is our five year anniversary!)

- Taking my niece to the park and watching her play on the swings that I used to play on.

- Pumpkin Flavored/Scented Anything: Holy macaroni, do I love pumpkin flavored/scented things. I can't wait for Fall to start setting in! Yesterday one of my sisters (Ashton) and I lit a pumpkin spice candle and baked pumpkin muffin. It doesn't quite feel like fall, but in the house it definitely smelled like it.

- Stomping through the woods with Matt: This is something we do fairly regularly and it's always a good time. Now that the weather is slowly starting to cool down it's going to be even more enjoyable!

- Coffee: Okay, just about everyone is thankful for coffee. But I am ESPECIALLY thankful for coffee because up until Saturday I hadn't had coffee in almost TWO YEARS. "Whaaaat?!" You are likely asking. I know. I gave it up because caffeinated/sugary beverages were pretty much all I ever drank, so I decided to see how long I could go without it. Success. Now it's time to allow myself some coffee again and it is amazing. That probably sounds really silly, but I have a whole new appreciation for coffee now.

- Red hair dye: Because I couldn't be a red head without it.

 - Where I live: Sometimes I feel like I absolutely cannot wait to leave Tennessee, but most of the time I can't imagine living anywhere else! Pretty much my entire family is here, I (usually) love the weather, it's absolutely beautiful...what's not to like?

- Sadie (my family's dog) : She's a good girl.

- Sad Clowns: Because they crack me up.

-  Peanut Butter: Peanut Butter needs no explanation.

 Of course this is a very short list and by far not all of the things I'm thankful for! Just the things the are make my extra happy lately. What are you especially thankful for today?

Life Lately

Warning: This post is filled with me rambling on. 

So apparently I suck at posting regularly. Life got kind of busy, blah blah. The main reason I wanted to start blogging was because I suck at keeping a journal (I don't know why I thought a blog would be any different) and I want to have this to look back on, and I want to share craft tutorials. So simple. So easy. If I want to do it, then why aren't I? I have no good excuse, so I'm just going to do it more. That's a problem I have: there's so many things that I want to do, and I just never ever do them. That's boring. No more I say! Starting here with this little chunk of internet I call my own, I'm gonna start doing shit.

 So a couple weeks ago, I had to quit my full time summer job (yay!) because school started. Graphic Design had been cancelled last minute which really sucked because I feel like that class would be really beneficial to me, so instead I was forced to take ceramics, which is okay. As of right now, I like all of my classes: Photography, Ceramics, World Lit, Philosophy, and Astronomy. The first night of Astronomy we got to look through the telescopes and see Saturn. Mind BLOWN. It was awesome. For photography, we had to buy DSLR's, which really made me happy because since my goal is to become a photographer professionally, I'm kinda gonna need one of those. We did our first exercise which was to photograph shoes. I really had trouble finding a pair of shoes I wanted to photograph. I went through my mom's closet and then I saw them: a pair of hot pink snakeskin boots, that belonged to my grandmother. My granny has been on my mind a lot lately, I guess because the 1st was the 3 year anniversary of her death, so finding these boots and doing the project just kind of felt right. Monday's my critique, so hopefully it goes well. I'm a tad bit nervous.

Hope y'all like cute baby pictures...It's pretty hard not to post pictures of Lila.

I cut my hair some and dyed it a different shade of red then I normally do. My niece Lila turned 9 months old and is crawling now. Today I drank coffee for the first time in over a year and I feel like Jonah Hill in Get Him to the Greek when he got stabbed in the heart with an adrenaline needle. I feel stressed out about some things that need to be figured out by January, but other than that I'm feeling pretty great, optimistic about life and all that jazz.

It's really rainy out today which means it's the perfect day to watch Breaking Bad on Netflix with Matt and do some homework. We're just starting the show today; I'm pretty excited, I hear it's really good! I should also start working on things for the small craft fair I'm doing next Saturday...

If you've made it through all this rambling, thanks for staying with me! I promise I have a really great D.I.Y. to share with you soon, I'm just looking for the perfect materials for it. How is your life lately? How do you stay motivated to blog?

 - Jana