Learn to Love Me: Part II

Moving right along with the "36 Questions That Lead to Love" here is part two. I'm sure you guys are just head over heels for me by now, haha!



If a crystal ball could tell you the truth about yourself, your life, the future or anything else, what would you want to know?
I often think I'd like to know who I'll end up with, or what my career will be, how many kids (if any) I'll have, etc. but to be honest, I'd rather not know. I think it would take the fun out of life. Sure the stress would be gone too, but what would be the point of living?

Is there something that you've dreamed of doing for a long time? Why haven't you done it?
Have kids. I'm only 25, I've got things to do first.

What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
Earning my Masters, starting my own business, I really do have a lot to be proud of even though I don't always give myself the proper credit.

What do you value most in a friendship?
Honesty.

What is your most treasured memory?
The week leading up to graduation at Seton Hill. SHU was really great about planning the school year to allow for a week to be between senior finals and graduation. Meaning there is a week that the seniors are on campus for no other reason but to hang out with each other. We certainly made the most of that week and I cherish every moment.

What is your most terrible memory?
Finding out my grandma died.

If you knew that in one year you would die suddenly, would you change anything about the way you are now living? Why?
Stop working and travel. To far away places I've never been and to visit friends and family. And tell everyone how I feel about them all the time until they are sick of hearing it.

What does friendship mean to you?
My friends are my life.

What roles do love and affection play in your life?
Everything. Without love, we are all nothing and while I am not one to show affection in typical ways, I know how important that is as well.

Share five positive characteristics of your partner.
MJ always sees the best in people. He is blatantly honest and loyal to a fault. He has the biggest heart of anyone I know and gives love so easily.

How close and warm is your family? Do you feel your childhood was happier than most other people?
I'd say we're pretty close. However, I wish that I was closer with my cousins, I am always so jealous of how close MJ is with his cousins. I would say that my childhood was pretty awesome, so yes, I was probably happier than most people and I do not take that for granted.

How do you feel about your relationship with your mother?
My mom is my heart. I don't love anyone more than I love her.

Read Part I here.

And stay tuned for the final part, next week!

Learn to Love Me: Part I

There has been a string of bloggers recently filling out "The 36 Questions That Lead to Love" and I thought I would follow along so you all can get to know me even more. Sometimes I like to keep my life private but as a blogger, I feel like the more open I am, the more people realize there is a real person behind the screen. These questions come from the study that says if you answer these questions with another person, you can fall in love with anyone. The questions are in three parts and then the fourth part is that you're supposed to stare into the other person's eyes for four whole minutes! Intense! 

Obviously we cannot do the fourth part but over the next week or so, I'll be breaking up the questions for posts. When I worked at Jumonville, we did a similar exercise during staff training and I have to say that the partners I had still hold a special place in my heart, because of the closeness this activity really makes you feel. So let's dive in! 

Given the choice of anyone in the world, whom would you want as a dinner guest?

My Seton Hill girls. I've been missing them so much lately and I would give anything to be sitting around a huge circle table in Lowe Dining Hall with all of them again.

Would you like to be famous? In what way?

I don't like how much we pry into the lives of famous people, so no, not really. But I wouldn't mind being remembered for my writing and/or designing. 

Before making a telephone call, do you rehearse what you are going to say? Why?

Sometimes, depending on who I'm about to talk to or what needs to be said. Most definitely with phone interviews but not if it's just a casual conversation.

What would constitute the "perfect" day for you?

Oh, man. My favorite kind of days are the ones that I can truly enjoy because I don't have to do anything the next day, so I can just relax and not stress out about what needs done soon. So I guess I need a perfect weekend haha! But the perfect day right now would be one that involves warm weather! Preferably on a boat just lazy river style, with a good book and/or great company.

When did you last sing to yourself? To anyone else?

Myself? All the time. I sing while getting ready, while cooking, when I'm bored, always. To other people? Sort of by accident in a boot camp class last week. Sometimes the music just moves you!

If you were to live to the age of 90 and retain either the mind or body of a 30-year old for the last 60 years of your life, which would you chose?

This probably sounds conceited and shallow, but body. I like the maturity and wit that comes with age, so I'd be okay with being a bit more forgetful but I hate that an aging body slows down even the feistiest people. 

Do you have a secret hunch about how you will die?

Not really. But I (unfortunately) feel like it will be untimely. Hopefully that's just because I'm paranoid.

Name three things you and your partner have in common.

(I'm assuming this means the partner of the activity, but we'll say they mean life partner.) MJ and I are both fiercely independent, introverted-extroverts (yeah, that's a thing) and great judges of character. 

For what in your life do you feel most grateful?

My education. I'm especially grateful that my mom worked for a college for so long that it allowed me to go to undergrad basically for free, which allowed me to go right into grad school. I wouldn't trade those six years of higher education for anything in the world.

If you could change anything about the way you were raised, what would it be?

Honestly, nothing. When I was younger, I used to wish that Eric and I had more siblings, but now that we're grown up, I wouldn't change a thing. I think other kids in the family would have kept us from being as close as we were which would be sad.

Tell your life story in as much detail as possible, in four sentences.

I was born and raised in a small town outside of Pittsburgh and led a very active life. I went off to college at Seton Hill University where I earned my BA in New Media Journalism and Communication and where I met my boyfriend, MJ, whom I've been with since 2009. After graduation, I continued my education at Point Park University where I earned my Masters in Public Relations and Advertising, also during that time I was living right in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh and started this blog! In 2014 I started my own greeting card business, Marion Claire Stationery, which has always been a lifelong goal and is named after my grandmothers. (Queen of the run-on sentence right here.)

If you could wake up tomorrow with one quality or ability, what would it be?

Patience with myself. I honestly am so patient with other people (seriously, I'm told almost every day how patient I am), but I wish I could give myself that same patience. I'll give other people way more time than they deserve but then expect me to get results and get things done, like, right now. 

Stay tuned for part two!

Fill out these questions yourself in the comments - I'd love to read them!

Thanksgiving Traditions with the Olivers

If you were here yesterday, then you know that I'm following along with Kristen's blog, the MRS and the MOMMA, and her November Blogathon posts this month. Since I'll be posting a Chels Wears post tomorrow, I decided to jump ahead and use tomorrow's prompt for today instead. Today's prompt was to write about your favorite fall recipe and I don't really have one, so I'm skipping it. However, Wednesdays prompt is to write about your fall holiday traditions.

Thanksgiving 2013 with my brother, Eric, at our uncle's house.

For as long as I can remember, we have always had Thanksgiving dinner with my dad's siblings, which I really look forward to every year. My uncle is a great cook and gets everything together for dinner and since building his beautiful log cabin home, has hosted Thanksgiving. We always joke around that I will inherit the log cabin so I always like to think of how I would decorate or host these dinners many, many, many years from now.

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because of the fall season, football and the food, but I really like getting to spend the time with my family, laughing and playing board games after dinner. Eric and I will be heading back home this year for Thanksgiving and since this is the first year in a long time that I do not have to work on Black Friday, we will be heading out to support some local Pittsburgh record stores for their Black Friday Record Store Day sales. And on Saturday this year I'll be selling my greeting cards at a local "I Made It! Market" in Shadyside. So this year, I'm especially excited for old and new traditions to happen!

What do you do for Thanksgiving?

Guest Room Makeover

This little makeover might seem a little plain, but hear me out. Since moving in with my brother in January, the guest room has been such an eyesore to me. Eric's house is connected to the church where he is the pastor and they, 1) don't really want us to paint, and 2) left us with awful curtains, so just getting those out of the room would have been good enough for me.

I don't think I can explain how annoying these curtains were. Like a weird purple-pink color with little rhinestones pasted on in random floral designs. Not to mention, Eric and I have had a bad habit of just throwing our leftover comforters on the bed in that room and there was nothing on the walls, so it was just bad. Nothing went together and we usually left the door closed so we weren't looking at the space. Now, it looks like this. (And the door stays open.)

The bed frame and vanity were already in the room, thanks to the church donating them to the house.

I painted this little pot to match the frames and added an old alarm clock for good measure.

Pinterest told me that having a wifi picture would be helpful for guests and I thought that was brilliant.
But I don't know if our neighbors read my blog, so no close ups of the picture I made for our network & password.

This chair and a desk were bought at a yard sale for $5 - the desk is in my room acting as an over sized nightstand and
is holding my records and record player so the chair needed a home. Perfect little thing for holding towels.

Found this set of frames at a thrift shop and was going to paint them all white, but really like how they turned out.

This page is actually from a book that Eric gave me as a joke for my birthday last year called, The Art of Entertaining.
This was the only page in the book about guests and I thought it was cute to add to the room.

I've been planning to do a room makeover for awhile and since a friend of mine is coming up this weekend, I figured no better time than right now. And since my experience in other peoples guest rooms has not always been the most comfortable, I wanted our space to be different. I always feel like people put too much of themselves in a guest room. This isn't an addition to your personal bedroom, it's a room that anyone should be able to walk into and feel at home. I hope that's what this room is like to our guests.

So, who wants to come visit?

Memorial Day Happenings

Top: The view from our seats | Left: Eric eating | Right: Selfie with my new flag scarf

So, Eric and I had a pretty uneventful Memorial Day planned until one of the regulars at the bar I work at told me about the Erie SeaWolves game. Mondays are dollar days, meaning everything is only a dollar and since it was Memorial Day, what else did we have to do? Since we've never been we thought it'd be a great first trip and it was! We enjoyed watching the SeaWolves play against the Altoona Curve (a Pittsburgh Pirates double-A affiliate team), drank some crazy cheap beer, ate hot dogs and soaked in the sun. 

It was a great way to spend our first Memorial Day away from the traditional Ellwood City parade and picnic that we are used to. Maybe a new tradition? At least it will become a frequent stop during the summer. I didn't take many pictures because I'm horrible at remembering that I'm a blogger apparently. Hope you all had a great day. And of course, thank you to those who have and are serving. A special shout out to my blogger friend, Jess, who is in the Navy and who is an amazing young woman. I hope you had a wonderful day, sweet girl. Thank you.

Launching

This is it! You guys, I am so excited to be launching the indiegogo project page for Marion Claire Stationery. This is where I need you! I cannot make this dream happen without your help. indiegogo is a crowd funding site that allows people to create projects and their family and friends go to the project page and send them money in exchange for some fun perks. 

I have racked my brain to create perks that are worth donating for, but when it really comes down to it, I know that the donations will either come or not based on your belief in this company. I want each of you to know, that your emotional support alone fuels me. The women behind the name push me forward and the decade of desire to have this company is leading my way. As I said before, creating a greeting card company has been a dream of mine since I was a pre-teen, I just didn't expect that dream would come true so soon. This wasn't the "plan" for when I wanted this company, but it has again and again become the first thing I think about each morning. That's something I cannot ignore. This is the time. This project has my full attention. If you do chose to donate, I promise that I do not take that lightly and your contribution will not be in vain or go to waste. 

The indiegogo project runs until May 31st and if I am fully funded or over, I will be able to complete the fulfillment for the donation perks and the start up of this company right away. I hope that you will consider helping me in this journey, it honestly cannot happen without you. Check out the perks and read the story, because, like I said, it's really the story that will get you hooked or not.
And I'm hoping that you'll be hooked.

To donate and/or see the Marion Claire Stationery indiegogo page, click here.

with heart & sass

Marion Claire Stationery

Well, the big news is that I have started my own stationery company! And while I was hoping to launch a Kickstarter today, I didn't realize that it takes about a week to verify your bank information, so NEXT WEEK, that will happen too! This is seriously a life-long dream of mine and while I didn't think it would be happening this soon in life, I'm glad that it is and am excited to really establish this line and grow as a business.

So while there are still some edits that need to be done throughout social media world, which I'll be working on today, my website is up and rocking and if you'd like to learn more about why I have created this company, the reason behind the name and to see a sneak peek of some of my designs, please feel free to visit my website. And let me know what you think, seriously, tell me your opinon. I'm so excited, nervous, and ready for this journey to start and hope that you'll come along with me!

Marion Claire Stationery | About | Facebook | Twitter | Kickstarter & Etsy (coming soon!)

Five Things I've Learned Since Graduation

It has been one year since I finished my Master's degree. Technically, one year and two days. I am certainly not where I thought I would be when I was thinking about this point in my life last year. And to be honest, so many things have gone wrong this past year, but so many things have been sweet little blessings in disguise. Spoiler alert, this post gets a bit heavy. You are allowed to stop reading it if you only come to this space for the flowery and fashionable. Though I hope you keep reading. Here are the top five things I've learned since graduation.

Jeremiah 29:11 Chalkboard Print by Lily & Val.

1) Where you want to be is not always where you should be.
If I had it my way, I would still be living in downtown Pittsburgh. When my lease was up last summer, I cried. Literally. Downtown Pittsburgh might be the pits for some people and others don't understand why I loved it so much, but it was my own little slice of Heaven. However, if I was there now, I wouldn't get to have this experience of living with my brother. If you haven't caught on to this yet, Eric is seriously my best friend. We should have been twins, if only so he wouldn't have had to spend that first year without me. I wouldn't have the freedom to not be paying a ridiculously high rent payment every month on top of my student loan payments. I'm sure for those two reasons alone, I would have started to resent that location eventually and because I'm not there, it's still a little Heaven in my eyes. Do I want to move back? Of course. But now isn't the time.

2) No job is below you.
I recently took on another job of bartending just to be able to make a bit more money with tips and another little paycheck. Why? Because who doesn't want a little wiggle room when bills start rolling in? And while bartending is great, this job also has a waitressing aspect to it, which I have never done before. Do you know how awful people treat waitresses? Yeah, that's why I never waitressed before. Not like retail is much more glamorous, but at least there isn't half-eaten food involved. But not taking a job that most people would say is "below" me is stupid. Does it give me money? Do I technically get a workout in while at work because of how much running around I do? Am I physically able to do this job? Yes. So while I don't need a Master's degree to figure out how to put in an order for Chicken Alfredo and then sweetly hand it to someone, everyone could do with having a job that teaches you how to serve someone. Serving someone else and expecting little to nothing in return is honestly what everyone in this country should have to do for at least a year in my own opinion. I might as well get my year in now.

3) MJ is greater than the man of my dreams.
If you know MJ personally, then you know that he has three things in mind. Career. Family. God. Not necessarily in that order, but that's about it. From the beginning of our relationship, he has made it clear that he wants to be married and have a boat load of children, and I have made it clear that I don't want either of those things until I feel totally set and complete on my own and then after that, I'm all in. If you remember my 25 before 25 list, I wanted to get engaged this year. However, that was with the ideal in mind that I would have a steady full-time job and I would be living on my own before he proposed. Obviously he was on board for this, and we were on this track up until I was no longer employed by Dress for Success because of some unforeseen financial difficulties on their part. MJ told me on Valentine's Day about how he had planned to propose. Way to lay it on thick, right? And to make you love him more, it was going to be at the party for his parent's 40th wedding anniversary, which is the exact same way my dad proposed to my mom. Yeah. That would have been last month. But this man. THIS. MAN. My man has put me and my desires first, yet again. He knows I would not be happy being engaged without feeling complete on my own, so his dreams of a wedding and little family are set aside for my dream of a career. I am selfish and I do not deserve him. But I thank God for him everyday and always will.

4) I have the skills and power to make my dreams come true.
You guys, I am so excited to finally announce what I've been working so hard on! This Thursday, be sure to check back because everything will be explained, I will need your input, and I really hope that you are as excited as I am.

5) God has perfect timing and a plan greater than any of my own.
Thursday's announcement is a big deal for me and I don't think it would be happening if the mess of this year didn't happen. This has been a seriously rough road since graduation. From the high of graduating, to the low of leaving Pittsburgh, high of being employed by one of my favorite non-profits, to losing that job for reasons that I had no control over, to the mess of moving again to Erie, and struggling on the job hunt train, this past year has had it's great moments, but overall, it has just been rough. But through it all, I know God knows what he's doing. He has a plan for my life and while I choose my daily steps, he is guiding them and working in and in spite of them to make things happen. I trust in him to get it right when I am certainly messing it up. Is Thursday's announcement the end all, be all of God's plan? Probably not, but it is certainly his doing. I had this in mind for much, much further down the road in life and it has made it's way to the present. I also want to make clear that other ventures are not being let go because of Thursday's announcement, but they are on the back burner. This has made it's way to the front of my mind and for good reason and I'm putting my trust in God that it will work out.

Chels Wears: Grown-Up Easter Bonnet

I hope you all had a great Easter weekend and the weather cooperated with all of your egg hunting plans! Since Eric is now a preacher, our parent's came up to Erie for the weekend to dye eggs on Saturday (after Eric and I went to Record Store Day, of course) and hear him preach and go out to eat on Sunday. It was a great weekend! 

These pictures were taken by my dad at a local park that has just been cleaned up for spring and, fingers crossed, I hope that spring is really here to stay now! And although this outfit is a little dark for Easter attire, I wanted to wear the hat and this little boho look seemed fitting. I actually got every piece of this outfit from the Dollar General. Holler for a bargain! Since I always wore hats growing up, especially on Easter, I felt it only proper to bring that tradition back this year. Mom has always said I have the perfect face/head for hats, cannot blame her for thinking her only daughter is cute ;)

How was your Easter weekend?

If I Become A Hipster, Blame My Brother: 2014 Edition

This is what you wear when you wake up at 8am to go buy records.

Little bit chilly while waiting outside of Graham's before it opened!

Inside Graham's - great crowd!

As some of you may or may not know, Saturday was Record Store Day. And although my brother, Eric, and I are currently living near Erie and not the vinyl-loving city of Pittsburgh, we knew we had to still celebrate.

Eric looked up where to find some goods and we took an early morning trip into Erie. This year we were serious, too. We printed out the list of all the exclusive releases, highlighted the ones we wanted and hoped for the best. We went to a family owned place, Graham's Records, first (supporting the local economy is what it's all about, right?), and found a couple things we wanted and then headed to The Exchange in Erie on the way home. Although we both brought home a lot less than last year, it was a good experience for our first time doing Record Store Day outside of Pittsburgh. Graham's had a ton of old stuff that I would love to browse through again soon, like on a day where we're not looking for specific things, and The Exchange had some great new things and surprisingly still had a good bit of Record Store Day exclusives by the time we got there around noon. Although, if you know of any other places around Erie, please let us know! We're always up for exploring music stores and local businesses.

I also realized this weekend that Eric and I have four record players, we each have two. He has an awesome turntable that is in perfect condition from a rummage sale and one from our dad. And I have a cute little green portable one that Eric got for me at that rummage sale and the one I "inherited" from our grandma...aka, the one I stole from our aunt's house during Christmas time because she wasn't using it and said I could take it. Hipsters.

Chels Wears: Owls

Beanie: Charlotte Russe | Colored Denim: Target | Glasses: Rue21

Owl Ring, Necklace & Sweater: Charlotte Russe

Shoes: Sperry's

Okay, friends, I know owls are "on trend" right now so you all think I'm stylish with all my owls, but I'll have you know, I've always been obsessed with those birdies. I recently found out that one of my aunts actually collects these little guys too, which just makes perfect sense. I got my looks from her, I might as well get my taste from her too! (Hi Aunt Karla!)

In other news, this week has been pretty rough. (As you may or may not have assumed based on my lack of posts.) If you've followed along here for a while, then you know of my love for Seton Hill University (where I went for my undergrad degrees) and this past weekend, our little community has suffered another tragic loss. The former President of the University passed away and while that might not seem too important, especially if you went to a big college, it really hit each of us pretty hard since our littler community is so small and close. She was involved in the University (from a student, to professor, to President) for the last 50 years, so it's hard to think of anyone who wouldn't know of her and how truly wonderful she was. I was able to make a trip to campus for her memorial service and am so thankful because she will always be one of my greatest influences. Her ability to be present and live in the moment by focusing on whoever she was talking to always amazed me. She actually cared about each student enough to get to know us and I'm sure she got to know each person in our community. I loved her wit and ability to just relate to anyone, her sense of humor and grace are unmatched and I hope to someday be half of the woman that she was.

Taking that trip to campus also made me remember how beautiful it is in the fall. There is no campus like Seton Hill and it is so breathtaking to actually be there when the trees are in a full range of colors. Which made me want to get these photos taken with some real fall colors - though these are taken in the woods by my house, you get the idea...I love fall, I love owls, I love Seton Hill.

Birthday Weekend Recap

As you guys know, Wednesday was my birthday! Thanks so much for all your birthday wishes through email, comments, Facebook, text, calls, snail mail, etc. I am blessed to have such great people in my life! Here's a little recap of my weekend!

Last minute get-together to Dave & Buster's in the Waterfront with some of my favorites!
Front Row Left to Right: Jodi, Me & Heather | Back Row Left to Right: Liz, MJ & Erin

Me & Heather in the game room of Dave & Buster's

Family & I went to see Despicable Me 2, which you should go see, like today.

My brother was appointed to Pastor four small churches in Corry, Pa - Sunday was his first official day!
The four churches planned a service all together at the park to welcome him.
He gave a great message and we enjoyed meeting some church people at a picnic after the service.

What did you all do for the weekend? Hope it was something fun!

twenty-four

Happy Birthday to me!

Today I'm turning twenty-four and feeling good about it.

My mama got me these balloons and my dad took these pictures. 

Like they have anything to do with my birthday. (Just kidding!)

Later tonight I will be heading out with some friends and MJ to go to the Waterfront 

and this weekend my family will be celebrating at my brother's new house up in Corry, Pa
and we're going to see Despicable Me 2...because I am a child and that's all I want.

I think I've been pretty successful thus far, but am really excited for what this next year should bring!

Hope you all have a great day! I know I will :)