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12.31.2011

Pie N' the Sky in 2011

I cannot believe it's almost 2012! What in the world?? This year just flew by. So much has happened here on le blog that I thought I'd share with y'all some of the highlights of my blog life. In case you're new here, consider this a quick catch me up!





Yes, quite a spectacular year indeed here on Pie N' the Sky. I know many of you discovered this little blog this past year and I am so very happy that you've decided to stick around. I must say that I have an inkling that 2012 will be one very special year for Pie N' the Sky. I will have more time for posts than I ever have before, my mind is flooding with pretty posts and I simply can't wait for the new direction we're going in. Yay for a fresh start and a new year! 

Also, I know it's a little late, but I announced the two year giveaway winner here. Thanks all for entering!

xo.
Melisa

What I Wore // Cotton Fields

Growing up in New Mexico, I really never truly appreciated the beauty of my location. Our home sits on a huge piece of land surrounded by fields and fields. We used to have a barn, but still have a few sheds. I love going home and just looking out at the property; it's breathtaking, especially with those beautiful mountains. I must admit I miss those mountains the most. Here's an outfit I wore while I was home visiting with friends, eating at our favorite restaurants and drinking yummy bubble tea!




details// top & sunnies: forever21, jacket: target, jeans: hco, 
socks: h&m, boots: gianni bini

What are your plans for tonight?? Any fun parties you're throwing or attending? I honestly don't know that I've ever been to a New Year's Eve party. Lame, I know. I get the invites, but I'm more of a low key kind of gal, so I think I'll just be home with friends. Sounds perfect to me. They say whatever you're doing at midnight is what you'll be doing the rest of the year; surrounded by friends is a pretty good plan to me!

Coffee Date >> On Friends



To Drink: Iced Chai

On My Mind: Alright, so how did that whole trust/worry thing go? Did you check back on your piece of paper and see if it worked?? I bet it did! Hope so anyway. 
Today I really want to talk about friends. This holiday season I find myself extremely overwhelmed by the love and support of my family and friends. More than ever I am completely grateful for the new friends in my life. All my life I have had at least two best friends, you know what kind I'm talking about. The kind of friends who you can be completely yourself around, who won't judge you, who will call you out when you're being lame, who you can talk all of your problems out with, the ones who go through life with you and just get you. There are few people in life who you can call these types of friends. That's mostly why I'm writing this. Have you ever lost a friend? Not like through death, but as in drifting apart? I can attest to this and I must admit that while it is a horribly painful phase to go through, I've come to the realization that it's meant to happen. Sometimes people are in our lives for a season and others stay for years and years! Those friends are the ones you should hold on to and treasure, because they truly are rare. I went through about a two year phase of being "friendless." I wasn't a loser, you don't have to feel sorry for me, I had the other kind of friends, the hangout friends, the talk about surface-y stuff friends, the we go to class together so were friends friends... but no real friends. During that time I learned to be okay without friends. Sounds so sad, but honestly it was a time where I was able to grow closer to God, strengthen my relationship with the Mr and learn not to take for granted the friendships God would soon bring into my life. I'm so blessed to have the friends in my life that I do!

Until Next Time: Do you have a friend that you haven't talked to in a while? Reach out to them, maybe they're missing your friendship just as much as you. If you have wonderful friends, tell them they're wonderful! There's nothing like being reminded by your friends that they're grateful you're in their life. If you find yourself being a little lonelier these days, take advantage of this time to be alone with God, to grow and to learn. And if nothing else, you have a friend in me^_^



xo.
Melisa

12.25.2011

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas friends! I know it's only the eve of Christmas, but today is actually the day when my family celebrates and opens presents. Granted, we wait to open the gifts at midnight. I know it's a little different then some, but it's been working for us^_^ What does your family do? Are you a wait til midnight, or a wake up bright and early Christmas morning? Either way, it's fun to be with family, eat lots of food and see the happiness when they open the gifts you got them; kind of my favorite part! 

I hope you have a really special day, remembering the awesomeness that is Jesus and being surrounded by all those you love. 


xo.
Melisa

12.23.2011

On Lip Care...

I recently decided to buy myself my very first lipstick. Yes, it's true, before this I have never owned my very own lipstick. I've considered it before, but have been far too overwhelmed by all of the options! Which, let's be honest, there are SO many. I spent a good hour (or maybe more) trying to decide on one. I left with the perfect shade. I figured some of you might find yourself in a similar predicament so I thought I'd help you; not that I'm any expert. So here we go.

Picking the perfect shade. I have heard that when picking your shade you should stick with a color that best matches the current color of your lips. Lipstick should enhance your natural features, otherwise you can look a bit clownish, yep, I went there. It's fun to experiment with different shades, but I really think less is more. And if you are going to go with a bold shade, you should go pretty neutral on everything else. Also, I heard you should stick your tongue out and match the color to your tongue, which is silly, but could work, maybe? Let me know on that one!

I know everyone may not like lipstick and that's okay. So I thought I would share all of my current lip obsessions as well.  Something for everyone! Here are a list of my favorites

For Color...
I went with L'oreal, for two reasons. One, it's L'oreal, everyone knows that name so I was pretty sure it wasn't going to freak my lips out or make them fall off. Two, they had a ton of different shades and types. I picked from their Color Riche section and chose Cinnamon Toast; it's the perfect shade of mauve, red and brown. I kind of love it.


I also use a lip conditioner by Maybelline called Baby Lips; which is a strange name I'll admit, but it's just great! It comes in several different shades also! I chose it in Cherry. It provides lip moisture and adds a nice tint. This is great when I know my lip needs color, but I don't want to feel all fancy with my lipstick. Because lipstick makes me feel fancy. Cause I'm nine.


One of my absolute favorites is the Just Bitten Collection by Revlon. I wear this most days. It's great because one end is the lipstain and the other is the balm. Perfection. My go to color is Forbidden.


For Softness...
I use Rose Lip Balm religiously. It is like magic. My lips can be a bit finicky when it comes to chapsticks, but this one makes them oh so happy. I love that it leaves kind of a gloss and a pretty pink tint. The smell is quite nice too. I just put some on while I was writing this and yes, I stand by everything I just wrote ^_^


For Gloss
Buxom Lipgloss is the way to go! I have used this gloss for about 5 years now and though I have strayed a time or two, I always come back to it. It's a lip plumper, it smells delightful, the color is perfection and you need it. There, I said it!  I use Dolly and I think it's the most popular color because they seem to always be sold out of it. And by they I mean Ulta, Sephora, and Bare Minerals cause all three carry it. I'm not kidding, you need to go buy this and then come write a comment thanking me for the suggestion. I love it that much. There I'm done.



For Plumping...
As I said, Buxom lipgloss is also a plumper, but the ultimate plumper is by Du Wop and it's called Lip Venom. This junk will make your lips feel insane. I don't know how to describe it without freaking you out a little, but the first time you use it, you will feel odd, I promise though, it works and you will probably become addicted to it. So you're welcome.



Is it weird that I have all of these in my purse? I just really hate dry or pale lips. Hope this was helpful. If you all have any suggestions I'd love to hear them! Thanks so much!


xo.
Melisa

12.22.2011

That time I cut my hair...

I had a surprise day date with the Mr yesterday, when it turned out he had a day off and so did I! We met up in the morning at a local coffee shop, to chat and work. This is kind of one of our favorite things to do. Mostly because we're both able to work from anywhere and we love being able to bounce off ideas with each other. 



Oh, and I got a haircut! Nothing terribly drastic, cause I'm a wuss. But I did get tons more layers, which you can't really see, and I got some side swept bangs. I was trying to decide if I should go with the straight across bangs again, but knew how much they drove me crazy the last time; I like low maintenance. I like a little bit of change and as you can see in the far left photo, I was in desperate need! Overall I was happy with the cut and for the first time, didn't feel like crying when it was all over. I'm a tad bit attached to my hair because when I was a child I had "the mushroom" haircut, basically a bowl. Oh it was awful. So I vowed to never cut my hair short again, which I did one time but that's a whole other story of awkward embarrassment, ha! Hope you enjoy your day, I'm off to work!




xo.
Melisa

12.21.2011

That one time I stayed in bed all day...

I woke up the other day feeling a little... bleh. I had a lot I still needed to do, but decided that I could do most of it from the comfort of my own bed, so I did just that. It's actually quite amazing all that one can accomplish from home. 

I like to start my day with as little light as possible, ha! I stayed in the dark for a good two hours while I blogged and listed out what the day would look like...


Got some packages and letters ready to ship out. Mostly thank you cards and my credential renewal. Something I must do every year around this time. Oh, and of course I enjoyed some mindless reality shows!



Then I got the presents out. I had every intention of wrapping them, but alas I did not have any wrapping paper, so I organized them and figured out who still needed a little something. I was proud for having gotten so far in my Christmas shopping!



I wrapped up the afternoon with some reading. I'm kind of addicted to this book right now, but can you blame me?? Have you read it yet? I was real excited to finally read for fun and thrilled that I can do it more often, now that I have no school reading! hooray!


And that's what a lazy day looks like for me. Sometimes a girl just needs some rest. Granted I finally came out of my room about mid day to run errands, womp womp. Ya know, because I'm an adult or whatever. 

I'm getting my haircut today! Trying to decide if I should get bangs, go a little crazy, or stick with what I got. Any suggestions??



xo.
Melisa

12.20.2011

A Hue & Hum Christmas


Let me introduce myself, my husband, and our blog to you.  I'm an artist, Hum's a guitarist.  I met (and fell for) Hum when we were awkward teenagers in high school way back before I knew I wanted to be a hue and before he knew he wanted to be a hum.  We got married a couple years after that, and now that we're grown-ups (well, not really) we create art and music for a living.  I (Hue) am the pen and brush (literally) behind the Hue & Hum blog.  I paint for a living and am an aspiring artist.  Hum plays the electric guitar like nobody's business.  He plays in the band Fictionist who, believe it or not, recently got signed to Atlantic Records!... and yes, we were very excited.  



A couple of months ago Hum and I were playing a christmas carol called, "Were You There On that Christmas Night?", ever heard of it?  It's one of our favorites.  We were working on it for a different project, but we had so much fun we thought, "Heck.  We should record our own christmas album!". And so we did.  

Hum oversaw the production of the album.  He recorded guitars in our tiny bathroom at home, layered effects, and made sure everything sounded extra groovy.  I oversaw the album art and production, and it would be easy to argue that I had a little too much fun.  I felt like I was in 3rd grade again, I built a little diorama-like set up with fabric, cardboard, and ugly little plastic glittery snowflakes.  Here is a music video showing the in-process album artwork with the third track from the album, "Angels We Have Heard on High".  Enjoy.

Our blog is a place where I can document our art and music, talk about the creative process, show off our dog, and post ridiculous things because I like to use and abuse the privilege of being able to publish anything I want to on the world wide web.  We'd love to have you follow along with us, just don't say I didn't warn you.  


Thanks so much for sharing with us Caitlin! You all can pick up Hue & Hum Christmas via Hue's etsy shop. AND quess what!?  Here's a giveaway you can all win! Follow Hue & Hum on facebook for a free christmas download! 


xo.
Melisa

12.19.2011

That time my blog was 2 years old... & a GIVEAWAY!

Yay Yay Yay!! Two years ago I began this lovely little blog and my shop. It was quite possibly one of the best decisions I've ever made. I love the joy and fulfillment it brings. So of course, to honor how far it's come, I'm having a giveaway!! I thought what better way to celebrate Pie N' the Sky than with all things Pie N' the Sky?! 


Here's what you'll get: 1 leather bow. 1 flower crown. 1 printed bow. 1 book ring. 1 large ad space for the month of January. 1 feather leather. 1 pretty thoughts journal. handfuls of other pie n' the sky goodies that I will personally choose for you! Everything will be wrapped up and pretty for you^_^

To enter: 
You must be a Pie N' the Sky Follower (we're celebrating Pie N' the Sky... makes sense)
Write your name in the comments along with the number one thing on your wishlist

For extra entries: 
Blog about the giveaway and leave a link in the comments
Facebook about the giveaway and leave a link in the comments
Tweet about the giveaway, feel free to use this one (@melisashell is hosting a Pie N' the Sky Giveaway; enter to win tons of pretty things here... http://pienthesky.blogspot.com/2011/12/that-time-my-blog-was-2-years-old.html )

I'll announce the winner on December 26th; a post Christmas surprise for one lucky gal! Good luck! Oh and in case you just can't wait, all of these items can be purchased here!



xo.
Melisa
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you all for entering! This giveaway is now closed and the winner is Holly! Please email me with you shipping info. 


12.17.2011

Coffee Date >> Trust


To Drink: Chai Tea with two pumps of vanilla

On My Mind: As I begin this next phase of my life, I'm full of excitement, nervousness and overwhelming peace. While I may not have a full fledged plan, I find that for the first time in my life I have the opportunity to put my whole trust in God. While yes, I have trusted in Him on many occasion, at this moment in my life, I'm kind of putting all of my cards on the table and lets be honest, it's pretty crazy! I know He has a plan. I know He has one when I don't and even when I do. The joy is knowing that no matter what I do, His plan will prevail. So what about you? Have you been at this moment in your life? How did it go? I was talking with a friend the other day and I told her, "it feels like there's a stillness; I'm not sure if it's the calm before the storm, or if it's settled and the sunshine is going to come." I'm ready for either, but I feel so strange not knowing "what I do." You know, I was defined by "I'm a student, I go to college... it's kind of my job." Now, it's, "I'm a... patiently waiting? Currently trusting in God?" Exactly, I have no name. I've in no way lost a sense of myself, that's not what I'm saying. It's just, you know when you're a kid or even a teen and you think, "Someday I'd like to do that, or become that, or if I had more time (like once I graduate) I'll be able to devote more energy into that..." Well now is that time!! Now is the moment where I can look back on and either be filled with regret or know I made the most of it. 

Unless you've been in this position, it's very hard to explain and if you have, well I'm sure you're nodding your head right along. It's a cool place to be. Yes, I said it was cool. I know something exciting will come of this patient waiting game and in the end I can say, "Yes! My God is so cool, look at how far He's brought me!" Which, I already say, but I can say it... still. This whole shpeel, by the way, is what I want to tell every person that asks me, "So what are your plans?" You know the infamous question. Sometimes I want to simply smack them in the face and say, "I really don't know what I'm doing with my life right now. No, that doesn't make me a loser. It makes me brave because I trust God enough to know that He has a plan. Am I going to be homeless or starving? Absolutely not, ya crazy! Will I get a job? Yes, of course! I'm an intelligent, fully capable young woman who can and will do great things. I'm okay with waiting, so don't judge me. That is all." ... with a smile of course.

I just want to do the most with what I have. I have a list of skill sets that I would hate to not use, simply because I can't find a way to. Does that make sense. I want to do God's will. whatever that may mean. For now it means getting a job (anything for now) and patiently waiting for "the real job".  I just feel so aware of time. I will never be 23 in this position again, this is it, this is my one shot. It's so cheesy and cliche, but I must say it, I just want to live life to it's fullest; make the most of every moment. Thanks for letting me share that with you.

I hope to have these talks with you more often. Mostly because it's good to be open and honest, and because I know sometimes it's good to hear that you're not alone. 

Until Next Time: Let's plan to meet next week and until then let's take our biggest worry, right it down, put it in a box, or a drawer, or under your doormat, and let's pray about it. Let's give it to God and trust that in a week, yes even one week, He can take that worry and turn it into something that is no longer causing us to stay up late at night, but is in fact working towards our good. If God is for us, who can be against us? It's time we stop standing against ourselves. Good luck!



xo.
Melisa

12.15.2011

New Rates, New Sizes, New Location...

I'm quite excited to announce the newness that is coming to our lovely sponsors. New rates, new sizes and a new location! Yes, it's true! Sponsors will be moving to the left column, all the way to the tippy top! I think that new location will suit them quite nicely. 

I am so so excited for this new year and all the wonderful things it will bring here at the blog. I am introducing some new features as well as expanding my shop (more on that later), adding to the new overall design, keeping up with present posts and focusing more time and energy on DIY's, fashion and inspiration posts. I simply cannot wait! This year will be a year where dreams come true. Won't you be a apart??

You can see the new rates as well as sizing below. If you're interested in purchasing a spot you can hop on over to the shop or check out the sponsor info page!

And since we're talking about sponsors, have you taken a peek at this month's sponsors?? They're all so lovely and I find them to be quite the source of inspiration myself. I hope you'll go say hi. I know we all love a sweet comment or two ^_^



xo.
Melisa

Sponsors and their loveliness

I love strolling on over to my sponsor's pages and seeing what they're up to. And in case you haven't been over to see them lately, here's what you've been missing...
I thoroughly enjoyed this little home tour that Mindy shared! I just love Christmas; especially seeing everyone's unique decorations.

Simply adore this outfit post by Amy. She's just darling. I really can't express how much I enjoy reading her blog!


This workspace. I die. Lula is amazing.

Ummm... can we just marvel at the awesomeness that is Lindsay's new blog look?? Love!

I love love this feature from Scathingly Brilliant! So cute!

From thanksgiving, but I still, I can't get over how cute these photos are!

Love love love this new feature Savannah is doing! I'm going to be featured in one too!!

SO happy to see how well Hue & Hum's Christmas album did!! I personally love it and if you haven't already purchased yours, you're going to want to do so^_^


Loved this sweet DIY from Janee!


I enjoyed and empathized with this post. Mostly because I am so so happy to be out of school. le sigh.



Christmas. Family. That dog. I loved this post. That dog!


These instagram coasters are such a great idea! I may have to snag some for my sister!

This outfit from Stephanie looks so comfy and cute!


I'm totally digging this box

It is now two in the morning and I'm nothing but inspired. I'm not quite sure why I do this to myself, but making this post was well worth the missed sleep. Mostly because I believe in these girls and want you to see what they're about. Mostly because I need some extra inspiration every now and then. And mostly because I really do mean every word I just said about their posts, mostly. Sweet sleep!



xo.
Melisa