{a letter to my readers}

love,
rindercella

{what i wore wednesday ~ 11}

back for another week of wiww and linking up with the pleated poppy! click over to see lots of other beautiful women gettin snazzy!

wednesday


boots - miss me from amazon
jeggings - maurices
striped top - old navy
cardigan - target
scarf - salt & pepper boutique
purse - salt & pepper boutique
earrings - oh so sweet petite

congratulations! you have just witnessed my first stab at mixing prints. pretty daring, no? i know from seeing all over everwhere that stripes and florals play nice together but i was still unsure. however i love it! (i am now on the search for a pretty floral skirt to wear with this shirt!) also. these boots were a christmas gift last year. yes. in 2010. and this is officially the second time i have worn them. sad, i know! i received several comments on them - from "you expecting flood waters?" to "wow those are cute where did you get them?". they are comfy and evidently they are cute. i just need to be braver and wear them more often! :)

thursday


sweater - walmart
scarf - salt & pepper boutique
jeans - thrifted from a friend
boots - cavenders
bracelets - gift from my auntie kay
headband - cvs (goody's)
pup - that's my rebel-man! my first furbaby. :)

so on this day... i woke up an hour (A WHOLE HOUR PEOPLE) late. i was seriously rushing here! so obviously i didn't put much thought into this and just kind of threw it all together but i am pleased with the result. and the fact that rebel jumped in that last picture made my whole day. that dog is the hardest dog to take pictures of. he is such a diva sometimes. when i get my camera out he leaves the room. so enjoy it - you won't see many pictures of his pretty face! :)

ps - he is the COOLEST dog ever. i got him as a 6-week old puppy. i never house trained him. i never leash trained him. i have never done recall training with him. it was like he just knew all that stuff. he never leaves my side. he can jump eight-foot tall privacy fences (you can read about that here) and he looooooves to ride in the car. one day i will have to video him in the car. it's hilarious. ok enough about my baby. :)

friday


top - osu fan store in tulsa, ok
jeans - maurices
toms - uuhhh toms.
suitcase - packed for pine cove (church camp)
yellow bag - my gussy!
bandana - made by me

so for two weekends every fall i get to turn into a middle schooler/high schooler again and be an adult chaperone at church camp. we take the kiddos to pine cove camp in tyler, texas and they LOVE it. and so do i! i get to act like a little kid again and no one judges me. and of course it is friday so i'm wearing my osu garb! go pokes! (in fact that bag is full of osu gear for the entire weekend!)


monday


dress - rue 21
scarf - steinmart
leggings - walmart
boots - cavenders
bracelet - souvenir shop in spain

so remember on friday i said i was going to pine cove? i'm totally using that as excuse as to why i put little to no effort in today's outfit. i'm tired. my legs are sore from hiking back and forth from leader meetings and meals. i have a knot and bruise on my back from where i fell off a barn swing and landed on my back. my nose is stuffy. i haven't washed my hair since friday. i know. gross.

but you know what. i got to bond with nine goofy, awkward, fun, amazing junior high youth. so it is really all worth it in the end. to have one of them announce on facebook that they are lucky to have my husband and me as their youth leaders is really just the cherry on top.

tuesday


gray top - old navy
purple cardigan - old navy
jeggings - maurices
shoes - toms
earrings - gift from the hubs
bracelets & scarf - salt & pepper

i'm still in recovery mode from pine cove but i am pleased to say that i am feeling better and a little more rested! :) happy wednesday everyone! :)

{bacon & ranch grilled cheese sandwiches}

psst! i just announced the winner of the snowcones & lollipops giveaway! was it you? click here to see!

what makes bacon so dang magical?

salty. chewy. crispy. crunchy. smoky. perfect.

and who is the brilliance behind combining bacon with cheese?

and what about the lunatic who threw ranch into the mix? i'd like to lick shake their bacon-grease-covered hands.

this is certainly not a ground breaking recipe or a revolutionary combination of flavors. but it came through in a pinch and was delicious.



i also happened to have sourdough bread on hand and that just upped it several notches on its way to flavor town.



bacon & ranch grilled cheese sandwiches

4 slices of sourdough bread
butter
6 slices of bacon
1 cup of grated cheddar cheese
4 tbsp ranch dressing

put the bacon in a cold pan over medium heat. bring up to temperature and fry until it is the perfect crispy/crunchy/chewy consistency. drain over paper towels and set aside.

brush four sides of the sourdough bread with butter. place two pieces butter side down on your preheated griddle/grill pan/skillet over medium heat.

spread 1 tablespoon of ranch dressing over the inside of each pieces of bread, place three pieces of bacon on top of the ranch and then sprinkle each sandwich with 1/2 cup of grated cheese.

spread each of the remaining pieces of bread with the ranch and place ranch side down over the cheese.

we used a cuisinart griddler (best. wedding. present. ever.) so we closed the top and let it cook from both sides, essentially making them into paninis. you can place another skillet on the sandwiches and put a couple of heavy cans of food in it to achieve the same effect. or you can use the regular toast-and-flip grilled cheese method.

once the cheese has melted throughout the bacon and melded the slices of bread together and the ranch dressing has incorporated itself into the bread, bacon and cheese and the outside of the sandwich is nice and toasty, slice in half and serve with chips and applesauce. that's how we roll.



enjoy!

linking up!

{in the mood for fall}

i will be the first to admit that i am usually a week month or so behind on pulling out seasonal decorations. so even though technically it still feels like summer on some days around here i am probably the last blogger in all the land to put out some fall stuff.

but last week my hubby surprised me and got my one lone box of fall decorations out of the attic and i used it to prettify the top of my pantry, which is an antique pie safe that belonged to my grandma.



here it is before. as you can tell it is just a mish mash of stuff thrown up there. a mason jar, a antique milk glass vase containing a single black rose, a painting that my friend dan gave to me as a gift, a texas-flag-adorned armadillo, a breakfast in bed tray, a panda bear, and a mortar and pestle from our honeymoon in st. lucia. the only thing these items have in common is that they were all in the way and the top of the pie safe seemed like a good place for them to go at the time. excellent method of decoration, i know. (and don't worry - i dusted!)



after a few precarious moments on a step ladder (anything more than one step off the floor is considered a health hazard for me) i stepped back and was very pleased with my new arrangement.



i used an artificial plant from ikea that is popped into a white planter, also from ikea, to add some bright greenery to offset all the muted autumn colors. on the left is the mason jar that i stuck a couple of rogue leaves from my garland in. the pumpkins came from hobby lobby and have been spray painted heirloom white.



the bronze leaves are napkin rings (of the better homes & gardens variety from walmart)



this pumpkin was specially made for me out of horseshoes! it is sitting on a candle stand i got on clearance at hobby lobby and gave the heirloom white treatment.



the blue pumpkin, which is probably my favorite, is sitting on a grapevine wreath (both from hobby lobby) and an antique cake stand that was passed to us from chris' grammie.



living in the delta has given me a new appreciation of the phrase "harvest blessings and the song "rain is a good thing" by luke bryan. when it rains, the farmers have good crops. when they have good crops they make good money. when they make good money they come buy new trucks in town. and a new truck means a new farming radio, which means we get busy. i like being busy.



i used gold napkins (also of the better homes & gardens variety from walmart) as a base and used books to give it some varying height. (i actually used my twilight books - holla to edward and jacob for holding up my pumpkins!)



i also did some decorating in my living room but that is a whole other post you can read here!! :) how about you? are you the last to pull out the seasonal decorations like me or are you a week a head of everyone else?

linking up with beth!


happy fall yall!

{subway art & a tribute to my cowboys!}

this year, toe met leather for what will undoubtedly be a brilliant college football season. what with all the drama surrounding all of the teams and their shenanigans i can't wait to see how the season unfolds.

i. big. fat. puffy. heart. love. college football. if you follow me on twitter you have probably gathered this much already.

so much in fact that on our honeymoon three years ago (sheesh - three years? where does the time go?) i woke up one morning, stretched, curled around my new husband and whispered in his ear...

i can't wait for college football!!

according to my hubs, that is the moment he knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, he married the right woman! and every year, around july, i start getting really antsy and excited for the season. last saturday we spent the day decorating the living room for football season!



i know you are probably scratching your head wondering why, being from texas and living in louisiana, i'm an an oklahoma state cowboy fans. well i went to college at letourneau university (no football team) and chris went to centenary college (no football team). chris' dad and aunt were born and raised in oklahoma and both went to oklahoma state so we sort of adopted them as our team!



these beautiful plates were a christmas gift from jared and alina a couple of years ago and i cannot wait every year to put them out! this year i tried to come up with creative ways to display them. i wanted it to look more intentional and less haphazard, which is how my "decorating" usually turns out.



we have also started a collection of osu trinkets and this year i wanted to incorporate them as well. so i scoured the house for randomly placed plush bears and footballs, bandanas and other memorabilia to decorate with. i have to say that even though we do have quite a bit of osu stuff, i'm itching to get some other little things. especially now since i have a better idea of where it will go! :)



one of my favorite osu trinkets that usually sits out all year long is my osu scentsy! i keep in the man cave when it isn't football season to keep it from smelling like a 12-year-old-boy in there. but i love to bust it out for football season!



in this corner on the top shelf i desperately needed another pop of color! i thought it would be the perfect spot for some subway art! so i grabbed a picture frame from our gallery wall (which will now have a blank spot in it until the national championship is over - sacrifices must be made people!) and worked up a bit of subway art using microsoft publisher! in the picture on the left, you see chris' aunt jeanne (who we call tink because as a child she was a dead-ringer for tinkerbell) and her husband larue with their pup. jeanne is chris' aunt that went to osu so it seems fitting to have her picture in with the rest of our memorabilia!



i had a lot of fun with this and i am considering adding some of these to the shop. i have looked around and haven't seen much in the way of college football subway art pertaining to specific teams. or i might just make some for fun for my friends! :) leave me a comment with your fave football team and you just might get a surprise from me! :)



here is another one i did for my dear friend rhiann who is, quite obviously, an aggie!



also, i'd just like to throw out there that WE DEBUTED #4 ON THE BCS RANKINGS LAST SUNDAY NIGHT! this is the highest osu has ever been ranked by the bcs and it means we have a real shot to the title game. they (when i say they i mean all the people that really understand the bcs) are calling this the "season of hope". i am calling this the "season of one box of alkaseltzer per game" because i get so nervous and anxious every time the boys step out on the field!

so do you do anything special for college football season? any great tailgating tips to share? i think we are hosting a couple of tailgating parties for the young adults at our church this year so i could definitely use them! who is your favorite college football team??

{favorite accessories - inspiration workshop}

inspiration workshop
with gussy sews

this week's inspiration is your favorite accessories! i have been avidly participating in and enjoying wiww (what i wore wednesday) for the past few weeks. before i probably couldn't have told you what my favorite accessory is. but now i am seeing a definite running theme!



bracelets! i puffy. heart. love. bracelets these days! they are a really simple way to give a great pop of color and jazz to any boring outfit. and they make me feel a little glamorous when i am doing something boring at work. i can jingle my jangles and it makes me smile! :)

two other "accessories" that i am rarely without are the rings i wear on each hand.



the first one is my wedding ring. the first awesome factoid about this ring is that together, the engagement ring and the wedding band, cost us around $1,200. chris bought the engagement ring at a pawn shop in kilgore, texas for $700 and we got the wedding band online for $500. i told him in a conversation once that i would never want any guy to ever spend anywhere near $2000 on a wedding ring. it was ludicrous and frivolous. well he went above and beyond and spent only $1200 on a ring that appraised for nearly triple that! i nearly hit the floor when we got the appraisal back!

the second story is that almost every. single. one. of my friends knew about the ring and the impending engagement. i had absolutely NO CLUE WHATSOEVER. most of my friends had even WORN MY RING before i ever even knew it existed! my friend ashley asked me to come with her to shop for her ring. she kept asking me if i liked this or that and i refused, saying "this was her trip - let's focus on you! i'm not expecting a ring any time soon so why even look?" she got so frustrated with me that she called chris after she dropped me off and said she was NEVER trying to take me ring shopping again!

needless to say the ring is perfection and i still smile really big when i look at it. (you did a great job honey!)



the ring i wear on my right hand is actually a combination of three rings. the top ring is my grandpa's wedding band. i inherited it after he passed away. he etched his name himself on the inside "john d. jett". if i ever get a really good macro lens i will take a picture of it because it is beyond cool to have it done in his scratchy handwriting. i had to have it sized considerably but i made sure they didn't mess up his name.

the middle ring was my grandma's favorite costume jewelry ring. i don't know how old it is, where she got it or what the jewel is in the middle but it is a gorgeous ring. i get comments on it all the time. i wore these two rings in their memory at my wedding and carried my dad's father's rosary around my bouquet in his memory.

the bottom ring belonged to my mother. my auntie kay has the other ring that fits to it. it is just a single band with an african-like pattern etched into it. but it always makes me think of my mother every day when i put it on.

those are my favorite accessories these days! come check out the inspiration workshop for lots of pretties and eye candy!

{what i wore wednesday ~ 10}

back for another week of wiww and linking up with the pleated poppy! click over to see lots of other beautiful women gettin snazzy!

wednesday


top - thrifted from the neighbor
boots - dillards
scarf - salt & pepper boutique on antique alley in west monroe
bracelet - don't remember??

this dress is super comfy. the only concern i have is that it looks like someone cut the hems off the sleeves - maybe because they were originally too tight? i didn't even notice until i got to work though, so maybe no one else will notice either? these boots were a gift from my mom almost EIGHT whole years ago for my first real job interview. they are antonio melani from dillards and i'm pretty sure i have gotten my mom's money's worth out of them. they are still in really good shape too! :) yay for timeless boots!

thursday


black shirt - downeast basics from bent oaks boutique on antique alley in west monroe
red sweater - dillards
skinnies - target
boots - dillards
necklace - shane & co. on the boardwalk in shreveport
bracelets - salt & pepper boutique on antique alley in west monroe

classic red & black combination today. i wasn't feeling very creative but i thought i would jazz it up a bit with a cool necklace. i remember when i saw this necklace the first time. it literally screamed at me from across the store! i have never seen another one like it. it is a total statement piece. also, the boots and the sweater were 75% off scores at dillards. i have had both for years. i'm also learning how fun and versatile bangle bracelets are. i think i need several more sets! :)

friday


pistols firin baby!
top - old navy
jeans - thrifted from a friend
boots - cavender's (even though you can't see them)
scarf - steinmart
necklace - salt & pepper boutique on antique alley in west monroe
bracelet - souvenir shop in spain

once again i'm pulling out the orange and black to support my beloved cowboys! fridays are usually casual for me but i wanted a different combination of orange and black today to look cute without wearing an osu shirt. so out came the orange scarf again. i have been getting a lot of complements when i wear it so what the heck! also - you can probably tell i am out of makeup AND windex wipes in this picture. :)

monday


top - downeast basics at bent oaks boutique on antique alley in west monroe
scarf - salt & pepper boutique on antique alley in west monroe
jeans - dillards
sandals - target
bracelets - souvenir shop in spain
hair - messy bun and flower headband from cvs

i am having a love/hate relationship with what our area calls "fall weather" at this juncture. i have to wear and scarf and sandals because it is 50 degrees when i leave the house in the mornings and 80 degrees when i leave to come home. this makes for interesting wardrobe choices and it is very annoying. i am, however, loving my downeast basics shirts! they are so comfy, great for layering and fit like a charm. everyone needs them. i'm saving up pennies to get one in every style and every color! also, i tried out a messy bun with a hippie-like headband today. i don't know how i feel about it. i'm just not very good at rocking a bohemian look for some reason. thoughts??

tuesday


dress - thrifted from the neighbor (it is the same as the one i wore on wednesday, just a different color! *wink*)
leggings - target
boots - cavenders
earring - gift from the hubby
scarf - steinmart
necklace - northeast trading company

all i kept thinking today is... i'm wearing black and brown. i'm wearing black and brown. i'm wearing black and brown. clearly this is something i am not very comfortable with. my grandma, who spoiled me from the get go with guess jeans and esprit shirt and keds, brainwashed me to believe that black and brown were never to be worn together. well today, sad as i am to say it, i think my grandma might have rolled over in her grave. i'm kind of digging it. i love the combination of black and cognac for fall and this is about as close as i can get to that while workin with what i've got. and it was super comfy. leggings = wearing pajamas to work. bonus.

{snowcone & lollipop designs giveaway!}

sorry - this giveaway is now closed!



i am so excited to be offering this to my readers today! i love kelsey's work and think the girl is just the bees knees all around. if you want to read more about kelsey, check out my sponsor shopping post!



kelsey of snowcone and lollipop designs is giving away the winner's choice of any of her DIY full collection party printables to one lucky neathering our fest reader today!



she is such a talented designer with a flair for cute and cohesive party accessories! each collection comes complete with everything you need to get the party started: a 5x7 invitation, a happy birthday banner, sheets of labels, favor bag toppers, water bottle labels, buffet table tents and a set of instructions for printing them all out.



kelsey personalizes all of her items before she sends them to you with names, addresses, ages and other details so they are perfectly tailored to your needs. here is how to enter!

mandatory entry:

visit snowcone & lollipop designs and come back here to leave a comment telling me which collection you love the most!

extra entries:

follow me on twitter

tweet this giveaway
enter to win a collection of party printables by snowcone & lollipop designs on @rinderceIIa's blog! www.neatheringourfest.com

like snowcone & lollipop designs on facebook

like neathering our fest on facebook

follow kelsey's blog

{please leave one comment for each additional entry}

entries will close on tuesday october 25th and the winner will be announced wednesday morning! good luck!

disclaimer: i was not compensated for this giveaway. i just want to be kind to my readers and help support local handmade artists. i also do not require you be a follower of my blog to win but if you leave a comment, please be sure your email address is attached to your blogger profile or leave it in the comment. i cannot be responsible if you are chosen and cannot be contacted to let you know you won!

{sponsor shopping - snowcones & lollipops}

today we will be sponsor shopping at snowcones & lollipops, a shop full of fun party printables! kelsey sapp, owner, designer and blogger extraordinaire, whips up a darling plethora of party supplies for us to ogle. since june of 2011, she has been filling up her shop with tons of cute accessories to bring your party details together. here are some of my favorites!


printable halloween trick or treat banner

how did you learn to do what you do?
i am currently going to school for web design at devry university. my own ideas, inspirations and adobe illustrator skills help me to create my designs.


pirate party photo invitation

where do you find your inspiration?
i find inspiration in everything. pinterest, other blogs, grocery stores, my children and friends.


printable candy land collection

what is your favorite product in your shop?
my favorite product is the halloween bat collection. i am really in love with it right now.


halloween apothecary wine bottle labels

what is your favorite handmade shop?
i have so many! where do i start? some of my faves are crafty pagan, sacari, and the pleated poppy.


little man buffet table tents

give us one tip for aspiring handmade artists.
never give up! it is always very hard in the beginning! try new things but don't fix something that isn't broken.



i am seriously dying over the apothecary labels - those are so cute! just think of all the fun things you could name your party cocktails... wicked witch brew, vampire punch, or pumpkin potion would all look adorable on those labels!

be sure to visit kelsey's shop to get party planning inspiration from one of her printable kits or tie up the final details with customizable straw tags. i know you will find something that you love!

psst! Come back tomorrow for a fun giveaway from miss kelsey herself! you won't want to miss it!!

find kelsey here:
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