Story Time With Chestnut Mocha

Today Katie & Ben from Chestnut Mocha are sharing their delightful story behind one of their favourite photographs. As soon as I finished reading this gem, I had to read it again because I loved it so much & I couldn't stop smiling! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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This is a photo of Katie in Montana, taken by Ben when she was far away.

Ben went to school in Bozeman, Montana. I studied Hotel Management in Russia and went to Montana for an internship for two summers in a row. Ben and I might have met earlier, but the first time I came to Bozeman, Ben was studying abroad in France. We finally met on my second summer and became really good friends. When the summer was over, I went back to university in Russia and Ben (who had just finished university) went to South Korea to teach English to kindergarteners.  Just after he arrived there, I had a chance to take a trip to visit him.  We had a really good time, and although it was a little crazy, we started dating long distance, visiting when we could.  There were long spaces of time between our visits and it was really hard to miss each other so much. As soon as his teaching contract in Korea ended, Ben moved to Russia to be with me, but after just a couple of months, he had to go home to the US for six weeks to get a new work visa.  We had spent so much time apart that even the short trip was a wrench. While waiting for his documents in Idaho, he took a trip to Montana and brought this photo of me along. He posted this picture on Facebook and wrote: "Thanks for coming with me :-* " This April, three years after meeting each other, we got married. We moved to the US in June and took a trip back to Montana. We took new photos in the same place, this time together. 

Thank you Katie & Ben for sharing this little sweetheart of a story!

If you would like to share your favourite photo + the story behind it on Tastes Like Love, send me an email!

Now + Then: Shy Scout

Hello Tastes Like Love readers!! I am Allison and I blog over at ShyScout - a quirky little lifestyle blog which covers my love for life, thrifting, design, fashion, travel, toy collecting, and just about everything else in between. I am beyond excited to be guest posting today on Tastes Like Love! Lovely Lauren came up with a fun idea for today's post - Now & Then - a mini glimpse at the present and past of her fellow blogger buds.

THEN -

I suppose I should keep this chronological and start with the mini me photo. My "then" photo was taken around the time I graduated kindergarten. My 6ish year old self was a major diva (if you couldn't tell by the pose). I only wore dresses - the twirlier the better. My activities included endless hours or arts and crafts, ballet, and dressing up like my favorite princesses.

NOW -

The present photo was taken for one of my Wardrobe Wednesday posts on the blog last week. While a lot has happened over the years, surprisingly my wardrobe is slowly reverting back to my 6 year old self (dresses fill the majority of my wardrobe and I still love any excuse to dress up). Thankfully(?) the diva-ness has taken a back seat - hence my blogs name "shy"scout. I have almost done a 360. If you were to meet me today I just might be the shiest person you have ever met. It is something I am working on though... I have also refined my arts and crafts skills and currently work as a graphic designer :]

& THE AWKWARD IN BETWEEN -

Let's be real, I went through those awkward years as well. *smacks forehead* I spent too many years trying to do whatever everyone else was doing. Thankfully, I have started to develop my own sense of style. It only took a little less than 20 years to come full circle...

Moral of the story - dress in and do whatever makes you happy and you will feel so much more confident in your own shoes :] Thank you so much Lauren for having me on your blog today. It was fun to look back through old photos and laugh hysterically along the way. I suggest you all take some time to do the same. You just may be surprised at what you discover about yourself.

Psssst!

Sponsor Feature / Lazy Explorers

Hello, my name is Chloe and I blog over on Lazy Explorers. Lauren's blog is a favorite of mine and I am so happy to be guest posting today!

1//Most the shoes in my collection are from thrift stores. Here are my favorites, do you see a color trend?

2//When I saw this camera in the box with film I about screamed. I figured the garage saleswoman would want a fortune for it ($30 is a fortune when you are shopping at a garage sale). I asked her how much she wanted for it and she said "Uhhh, I dunno, how much do you think?" I was taken off guard, but managed to say "Five bucks?" We made the deal and I was off with this beautiful Polaroid. I have yet to use it because I don't want to waste any of the film. I love to think about the fact that this was the highest form of camera technology at one point. It amazes me how far we have come.

3//Since my recent hair epidemic, I have been using my creativity to hide the bad hair cut. I have seen people wear scarves in their hair before, but if you go to the mall they can be quite expensive. One day while I was thrifting, I saw a bunch of scarves hanging on the ends of the aisles. Since then, I have bought at least one scarf every time I go to a thrift store.

4//These dachshund pillows are probably my favorite find so far. They will be traveling with me to my apartment for sure. I love the colors on them and the fact that together they were about $2.

Thanks again Lauren for having me!

Xo Chloe.

Guest Post / Elissiam

My featured February sponsor Kirsten, who blogs over at Elissiam, is here today to answer a couple of questions about herself and her blog. If you haven't already exchanged pleasantries with this fine little lady, I do suggest you do so. Kirsten knows how to put together a cute outfit, and turn it into a sassy blog post! I love her blog, and I hope you all do too!

When did you start blogging/why/what is your blog about?

I started blogging in August 2011 for no particular reason other than I thought it would be fun. I had been reading fashion, beauty and lifestyle blogs for about a year prior to starting my blog, and then decided to start one of my own once I bought a fancy-pants camera. My blog is just about my silly little life, and what I wear during it. So far I have found blogging to be heaps of fun and it really has become one of my favourite things to do!

What character are you most like?

Ohhh I have no idea. I just googled "what character are you most like quiz" to try and get an accurate answer. Unfortunatley pretty much all the results are along the lines of "What Twilight character are you?" and as much as I love Twilight, I don't want to risk being compared to a certain whiney Swan girl. So I will leave you with a picture of who I wish I could be more like because she is awesome and I would like to marry her please.

What is a typical day for you?

It depends! At the moment I am doing absolutely shit all, because I am on holidays, so I just spend most of my days watching intelligent shows such as Snog, Marry Avoid and Hotter Than My Daughter (soooo gooooodddddd) and hanging with my best friend Mr Laptop. In a couple of weeks university and work starts again, so I'll have a bit more of a routine then. Not sure if I am looking forward to it or dreading it! A bit of both probably.

What are your plans for 2012?

Wellity wellity well. I'm not too sure really. All of the excitement seems to be happening in April, which is when I am moving to a nice house overlooking the ocean, and also going to Sydney for my grandmother's 80th birthday. Other than that I don't know, besides the usual "uni and work" crap. I'd quite like to set up a piano teaching business, or start performing at weddings and functions, but I don't know if that will happen this year. I hope it does!

Do you collect anything?

Haha, do clothes count? I have a lot of clothes! Other than that ... no I do not. Although I would like to one day be an old crazy woman with millions of cat-related items. Looking around my house right now, I realise that my mother owns a suspiciously large amount of ceramic cats. This means that I am the offspring of a crazy cat lady, so it is a scientific fact that I will morph into a crazy cat lady myself one day.

What is on your bedside table?

I don't have a bedside table. I do, however, have two bedside crap-holders. I don't know whether to feel proud or embarrassed about having a Thomas the Tank Engine lamp at the age of 23. I think I feel mainly proud.

Be sure to stop by her blog & say hello!

Guest Post / Brock Paper Scissors

 

Hi, I'm Joanna from over at Brock Paper Scissors. 

Lauren asked me to do a guest post answering some questions about myself, so here goes...

I first got into reading blogs a couple of years ago (sewing and cooking, then when I got preggo with Lola, baby blogs), but it wasn't until around June of this year that I decided to start blogging myself. I've never been good about keeping up with baby books, so I thought this would be a good way to document our daily happenings. So far, I've really enjoyed it!

A typical day for me (if Nico has preschool)...

Wake up to my alarm clock or Nico waking me up; whichever comes first

Get the kids and myself dressed and ready for the day

Get everyone fed and out the door by 9:00a.m., so we can make it to preschool on time

Run any errands I need to with Lola, while Nico's at school

Pick Nico up from school at 12:15p.m.

Come home and eat lunch

Nap time (this is the time when I get laundry, blogging and housework done)

After nap time, we all play until it is time to make dinner

Cook dinner and sit down at the table as a family to eat (this is really important to us)

After dinner and dishes, the kiddos get baths (thankfully, the husby does this)

This is followed by story time and bedtime for Nico (Lola stays up with us right now)

Dan and I usually hang out and watch TV for an hour or two

Bed time is around 10 or 11 for us (we act like old fogies)

I have plenty of weird quirks and habits, lol! Probably the one that annoys the Hubs the most, though, is that I have to check the closet and under the bed before I can go to sleep (not even joking). Gotta check for murderers, yo!

The highlight of 2011 has probably been our move from San Diego to Virginia (my husband, Dan, is in the Navy). While I loved the weather in SD, VA just feels more like home (Texas) to me.

This pic is probably one of my favorites! It's of the 3 people I love most in this world!

Thanks for sharing Joanna! 

I have a similar quirk, I check my house for uninvited guests when I get home!

Make sure you pop over to her delightful blog and say hello.

5 Things I do Everyday

 

I'm over at Life As Twiggy today sharing 5 things I do everyday. 

Come over & say hello!

Spend the day with A Cup Of Subtle Tea!

Hello Tastes Like Love readers! I am so excited to have been the Feature
Sponsor for Lauren this month. I absolutely love her site, her
illustrations and of course, her!

I am popping in to share with you guys a peak at my day-to-day life. Since
I don't currently work it leaves my days open to a million possibilities. I
do my absolute best to keep busy so that the house stays clean and I don't
turn into a complete vegetable. When James travels for work my days vary
greatly but luckily he was home for almost two weeks during this holiday so
I can show you a little bit of what our day consists of.

My days usually start not wanting to get out of bed. It's unstoppable. I
will continually fight my night-owl-ness because I dream of being a morning
person. I always feel more productive and successful. Someday, it may
work.

Random Fact # 1: I feel so lazy and unproductive when I'm a night owl
that I will probably spend the rest of my life continually fighting until I
can be a morning person for more than a week at a time.

Once I finally get up I get ready (this week
meant I could finally wear Christmas jammy pants!) and then I go open up
 the blinds and windows. Rain or shine, I love having them open. This is
 one of my favorite parts of Virginia.

Random Fact # 2: The whole front of my house is floor to ceiling
windows. This is both awesome (for light and fresh air) and awful (for
furniture placement and wall decorations.

Then I get up and make breakfast. Check out the recipe for these waffles here! 
I am a huge advocate of breakfast. I know that everyone says it is the most
important meal of the day but coming from someone who ALWAYS skipped
breakfast in her teens... It really is the best thing I could have done for
myself. I couldn't have lost so much weight without breakfast.

After breakfast I usually assess my to-do list and see what needs to get
done for the day. This can be anything from laundry, dishes, sewing,
blogging, web design, lawn work, decorating or catching up on tv shows.
This week has been spent decorating the house now that all the paint work
has been completed. These adorable fall frames will be on the blog soon as
part of an "interchangeable" wall decor post!

Up next is lunch. Lunch = tv break. It's true, James and I are serious
homebodies. We love "our shows" and making lunch or dinner to eat while we
catch up is always my favorite part of the day. We have been on a serious
grilled cheese and tomato soup kick lately. We make several variations and
we haven't come up with a bad one yet!

Random Fact # 3: Even when we first started dating, James and I had "our
shows" that we weren't allowed to watch without each other. No matter what,
whether his schedule is busy or mine, we always make time to sit down and
cuddle while catching up on our favorite shows.

After lunch is straight back to my to-do list. James has been watching
college basketball and some NFL games this week so I can plug my headphones
in and bang out posts for myself but also guest posts like this one!
Occasionally we will head out to see a movie or go run some errands. Over
the weekend we went to see The Muppets and it was FANTASTIC!

Random Fact # 4: I used to think that a "sports" guy was a dealbreaker.
Thank goodness James came around and proved me wrong. He is the best thing
to ever happen to me.

The ends of my days are usually followed by dinner and baking. Unless of
course we go to the gym. Since it's a holiday weekend, we are taking a
breather so we can get all of our handmade Christmas decorations finished.
(By we, I mean mostly me. lol) This is the remnants of the mini apple pies
made for our Thanksgiving feast . Check out an apple cinnamon recipe here 

to use up leftover apple pie filling!

The night usually comes to a close with sewing in bed, cuddling and
Supernatural. James has gotten me absolutely hooked on this show. It is a
miracle I don't have nightmares everyday because I really don't do well
with spooky things, nonetheless before bed. This is one of "our shows" so
at least I don't have to watch it alone.

Random Fact #5: I have a really bad habit of sticking my needles in the
bed, when I move around or get more thread, so I don't lose them. When I
start looking for them again I, almost always, can't find them anywhere.
This usually gives James a heart attack because he wont sleep until I find
it. I haven't been banned from it just yet.

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A huge thank you to Lauren for having me as her Featured Sponsor for
November!