Five Friday Favorites

Welcome to my first installment of Five Friday Favorites! I can't wait to share some of my favorite things of the week every Friday (as often as I can)! Knowing me, literally my tastes can change week to week so it will be fun to see what's catching my eye through the year and depending on the season. 

Let's get started!

1. My family is coming to visit this weekend! 

I am very excited about this not only because I will get to see my Sister, Brother, and Mom and catch up with them all, but also because they are staying at our home so we finally get to break in our {now} functioning guest bedroom. I love the feeling of my home being full with people we love and we haven't had many/ any overnight visitors since our wedding time in September so it will be nice to wake up to the voices of those I love and show off some of the updates we've done since they were last here. 

2. My New Coffee Spoon 

It says, "Love you a Latte"

I have been eyeing up similar coffee spoons on Etsy, but never went through with buying one until I saw it in a store with local handmade items called The Nest, in downtown Columbia. It was the right price so I snatched it up! 

Also, I had been wondering about the process of making these hand stamped spoons, so when we got home I looked it up and realized I actually have a set of the metal stamps you need to make them that I got from my Grandpa's shop after he had passed (see below). I am actually super excited about the possibility of making these and I already have a ton of ideas swirling inside my head for sassy sayings for them! Stay tuned for this new possible business venture. ;) 

Love that it has his name on it!

3. Dripped Iced Mocha // New Coffee Place

In other coffee news, Brandon and I tried a new {to us} coffee shop downtown called Drip. It is on Main St. in Columbia for those of you locals and it is awesome! I figured I would step outside of my Starbucks addiction and try something new and man am I glad I did. I tried their Iced Mocha that you may have seen on my Instagram {if not, you should follow me!} that was like heaven in my mouth. It even had an edible chocolate straw that was deeeelicious. 

Nom, nom. 

4. Car Monogram // Monograms in General

I dunno if it is just since we got married or the fact that we live in the South now, but monograms have slowly but surely grown on me and now I can't get enough. In fact, I recently fancied up my ride with a monogram I purchased from Etsy and I love it. I may or may not have also gotten a shirt recently with my monogram on it...I told you, I'm a little obsessed now.

5. Getting Featured! 

I have recently started linking up a lot of my DIY projects as you may have seen at the end of a lot of my posts recently. To those readers who are not bloggers, this means that I have added a link to my project on another blogger's profile in what is known as a "Linky Party." Basically, it is a conglomeration of lots of bloggers DIY projects so that new bloggers and others can get their projects out to the masses. Then, typically the host of the Linky Party picks a few of their favorites to "feature" on the next week's link-up. The Linky Parties are typically held on the same day every week. 

In an effort to get more readers (don't get me wrong I love my fam and friends who make up most of my readership!) and hopefully get my projects seen by others, I have been linking up a lot of my original projects. Since doing this I have gotten my Ikea Hack: Fabric Covered Tupplur Blinds featured on Yesterday on Tuesday, DIY Vintage Chic, and The Silly Pearl, my DIY Nautical Boat Cleat Towel Hooks featured on DIY Vintage Chic, and today I just found out my Nautical Outdoor Oasis was also featured on DIY Vintage Chic. To most seasoned bloggers, this probably doesn't mean quite as much, but I'm gonna let you know, seeing someone pick my project our of hundreds of projects totally made my day, actually my whole week! And to see my Ikea Hack curtains featured THREE times {eek!} was just beyond awesome! Brandon probably thought someone died with the way I screamed when I saw my projects picked the next week hehe. 

Anyways, hope you have a great weekend! 

Peace, 

Allison