Currently

Baking: lots of English Muffins.  It turns out these are really easy to make by hand.  Brett loves having them for breakfast before heading off to the farm so I try to keep them around as much as possible.
Drinking: iced tea (like actual cold tea).  Funny how in August I was drinking lots of hot tea and now that the weather has turned I am craving iced tea... Strange.  I like to make mine out of Earl Grey tea with two teaspoons of sugar and lots of ice.  Delicious!
Reading: I Have Nothing to Wear by Jill Martin and Dana Ravich.  It has been really great so far in helping me to define my personal style and make it easier to put together outfits, as well as knowing what to shop for.
Wanting: this Canon Rebel T5i.  I think it is going to be my graduation present to myself.  Only six and a half more months!

What a beauty.

Looking: at lots of travel websites.  We are hoping to do a trip to Europe next year.  I am obsessed with Scotland.  What a magical looking place!
Playing: with procrastination.  What is it about fourth year that makes me not want to do any school work?
Sewing: baby gifts.  More on this later...

Enjoying: my favorite shows being back on.  Loving Heartland and Grey's Anatomy!
Wearing: lots of layers.  It is taking me a while to adjust to the cooler temperatures.
Waiting: impatiently (something that I need to work on...).
Loving: riding boots season (as you have all heard about at length already).
Anticipating: final practicum starting in January!  I can't wait to get back into the hospital setting.
Smelling: Bath and Body Works Pumpkin Spice Latte pocetbac hand sanitizer.  Cold and flu season is upon us people!  Wash those hands!
Praying: to safely finish harvest this week.
Feeling: thankful for a productive long weekend and excited to finish up this term in a month and a half.

Happy Thanksgiving and some housekeeping items

Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!  We are still in the field so this was a pretty low key weekend for us - with some amazing food from my lovely mother and mother-in-law.

I've also been using this time to get some much needed book work done such as papers writing, studying for midterms, organizing business papers for taxes and some minor redesign stuff for the blog.  Whew.  I am going to need a weekend from my long weekend!

A lot of tea was getting drank indeed... And what is that on my computer screen??

The blog officially is linked with social media!!  That is the Live, Love and Be Married blog's facebook page you can see on my computer scree in the picture above.  I have been thinking about doing this for a while now and finally I decided this was the weekend to get things up and running.  I am new to all this (particularly Twitter) so please bear with me as I work to find a balance.  I you look to your right (said in my best flight attendant voice) you will see a "Follow Along" section on the toolbar.  Those links will take you to the various social media sites that Live, Love and Be Married is now on.  I would love for you to follow along!

Oh Hey Friday // Friday Confessional

Hello on this lovely Friday!  As per usual I am linking up with  The Farmer's Wife and September FARM - click on those links to check out more of the Oh Hey Friday link up.  But to switch it up a bit this week I am also linking up with Blonde Ambition's Friday Confessional post. 

So this week my list of five will be five confessions from the week.

1.  I confess I am so happy to be back on the farm for a long weekend (it is Thanksgiving weekend in Canada).  I have been feeling a little frustrated with the city lately - it has nothing to do with the people in it and everything to do with the fact that I just don't like the city living mentality.  I hate having to rush around constantly, trying to do stuff at specific times to avoid rush hour and how the whole place just seems so impersonal.  What can I say, I am just a farm girl at heart - and it makes my heart so very happy to be back in our small town and on the farm.

2.  That being said, I confess that the farm is getting on my nerves just a little bit.  We are STILL not done harvest.  Seriously.  What the heck.  Last year we finished on October 6th and I thought that was late.  Our parents are always talking these days about "back in the day" when they were still harvesting when there was snow on the ground.  Heaven help us if that happens this year, I won't be able to take it.

3.  I confess that I got a somewhat embarassing injury this week, and that my semi-clumsyness led to it.  I was going to give myself a bit of a manicure the other night so I was gathering my things.  I went to grab my manicure scissors and started to drop them, so obviously my first reaction was to try to catch them.  Well... I did, with their point straight into my palm.  It is possible that I could have used a stitch... But in classic nurse fashion, I didn't want to go to the doctor unless I trully felt awful.  So I fashioned a steri strip out of a bandaid, cleaned my hand really well and left it at that.  Hopefully I don't end up with some crazy infection.  Don't try this at home people.

On the upside, it actually looks like it is healing pretty well.  Woohoo! #nursingstudentskillz

4.  I confess that I have a midterm in less than a week that I have not yet started to study for.  They say that fourth year is the easiest year of university.  I would agree, on the stipulation that it isn't actually easier; you are just better are organizing your time, and care a lot less about little assignments.  I have become much more of a big picture person on my journey through nursing school.  I care about learning the most important information - the stuff that will make a real difference in my patient care and success in the workplace - but the individual assignments/tests themselves... Not as much.  Obviously I will study for this test, but will I kill myself just trying to get a 90% for the sake of it?  Most definitely not.

5.  I confess that I have never had a pumpkin spice latte, muffin, or actually anything labeled pumpkin spice.  Gasp!!  All I see and hear lately are things about pumpkin spice, so I guess I am avoiding just to be stubborn (also lactose intolerance seriously gets in the way of trying cool drinks; plain tea for me).  Exhibit A:

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Hope you all have a lovely weekend (and Thanksgiving if you are a fellow Canadian)!

Cable Knit Beret Pattern

I feel a little like Blair Waldorf when I wear my beret... It makes my heart happy.

Does it feel like forever since I last posted a tutorial or pattern?  It does to me.  Fall has gotten me into the knitting mood again and I finally, after much trial and error, finished the beret I have been working on.  Woohoo!  About four years ago I got a really nice beret from Mexx, and after many years of love the poor thing is starting to look a little ratty.  So I decided it was time to try and knit one myself.  As it happens, it turned out really well and knitted up really fast once I finally figured out how to get the right size.  I figured I had to share the pattern with you!

I found the yarn at Micheals on sale in store (online here).  It is Lion Brand's Wool-Ease Thick and Quick in Cabernet metallic (you can see a few of the sparkles in the photo above).  I used circular needles and a cable knit stitch to do this.  Both are really easy to get the hang of, but if you haven't done either, here are a few links to check out before starting this pattern:
       ~Joining and knitting in the round.
       ~How to cable knit (this tutorial is on straight needles, but the process is the exact same in the                                              round)

I made this hat to fit my approximately 23" head.  To measure my head I started at the top of my head right behind my bangs, then went around (over my ears) to the bottom at the nape of my neck and back around to the top.  For every knit-purl there is about an inch and a half when it is stretched out.

Top view.

Supplies:
2 balls of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick and Quick
US13 (9mm) circular needle in the 16" length
Large eye sewing needle or crochet hook

Abbreviations:
C/O = cast on
Inc = increase
Dec = decrease
K = knit
P = purl

The pattern:
1. C/O 57 stitches (casting on in the round works the exact same as casting on on a straight needle)
2. K1, P1 around to make a 1.5" band (this needs to be at least 1.5" for it to not fall off your head)
3. *K1, Inc1, P1; repeat from * around once
4. *Cable stitch at the K2 space (either to the left or right, just stick with the same thing for the whole hat), P1; repeat from * around once
5. *K2, P1; repeat around 4 times
6. Repeat steps 4-5 to make 7"
7. Dec the K2 down to K1
8. *K1, P1; repeat from start to make 2"
9. Decrease stitches down as much as possible in the next round - I wasn't able to do a whole lot on the round (I am still learning to knit in the round and don't have all the tricks worked out)
10. Cut off your yarn (while the hat is still on the needles), leaving a 20" tail
11. Thread the yarn tail through the loops on the circular needle as you pull the stitches off the needles (wow that was confusing... check out this link to see someone do it.  I used a crochet hook to pull my tail through though, because I didn't have a needle with a big enough eye for the thick and quick yarn).
12.  Pull the tail tight to seal up the top of the hat and pull the left over tail through the hat.

You're done!!  Hope you enjoyed!  If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment or send me an email!  I would love to hear from you!

Coconut oil everything!!!

I am not the type to jump on fad band wagons.  I am usually the person complaining about all the silly fads and how I am sick of hearing about this or that (ie: kale).  However, I was asking a nursing school friend what she uses on her skin because it was always so glowy and moisturized looking.  She said she uses coconut oil every night.  I had been hearing lots about coconut oil, but hadn't wanted to try it, mostly because I just didn't want to jump on the band wagon (some have called me stubborn).

In any case, I went out to Superstore and bought some coconut oil and started using it (just straight cold pressed coconut oil that you'd use for cooking).  Well, I have to admit defeat on this fad.  Coconut oil is straight up amazing.  I had some eczema patches that I couldn't get rid of with corticosteriod creams that coconut oil has basically cured.  I cannot say enough good things about it.  I would get hives sometimes after my showers (I still have no idea why), but that hasn't happened since I started using coconut oil.

I've been looking for a deep conditioner for my hair to combat winter dryness and when I saw the organix coconut instant repair treatment, I figured I should try it.

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For some reason I could only find this online at Walgreens, but I think I got mine at Target on sale.  I'm thinking you could get it pretty much anywhere.

First off, the smell of this is worth the $7 alone; even if it did nothing other than smell great I'd probably still use it.  I have found it has made my hair so soft, but it doesn't leave any residue at all.  I seriously recommend this stuff.

Do you have any new and awesome products?  I would love to hear!

Oh Hey Friday // Oh Hey Fall!

Hello again to the Oh Hey Friday link up.  I am sad to admit that this post just did not happen for me last week.  Sigh.  Unfortunately that darn nursing school gets in the way of things I would rather be doing (like making random lists of things that I like) and we just got through our first round of assignments and papers.  So now that that is done, we are hopefully going to be back to the usual blogging schedule of Monday, Wednesday and Friday.  As usual I am linking up with The Farmer's Wife and September FARM - click on those links to check out more of the Oh Hey Friday link up.

I have a confession to make.  I am guilty of having pinterest home envy.  It still blows my mind that there a people who live in the homes that you see in the home decor section of pinterest.  Seriously, who has the time and money to not only put the look together, but to keep it looking that good??  Not myself, that is for sure, much as I try.

I would, however, like to change a few things around in my decor to have a bit of a fall theme.  This is mostly a coping mechanism to keep me from being the person trying to put up Christmas decor in October.  Micheals needs to help a girl out and keep their Christmas crafts/decor/ornaments awesomeness to themselves at least until November (I swear they've had Christmas stuff out for three weeks already).

So my list of five this week consists of my fall decor lusts/goals.  I want to choose some items that I can transition into more wintery pieces as well (since according to my hardworking farmer, we don't have endless amounts of cash lying around for me to spend on home decor... Men, sheesh).

1.  Fall pillow covers like this:
     I am hoping to make something sort of similar and post a tutorial on it, so stay posted.  I like this harvest one since we are farmers, very fitting.

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2.  A tartan blanket like this:
     This would be for my sofa though, not my porch (especially since I don't even have a front porch).  I don't know if it is because Brett and I are looking into a trip to Scotland next year or what, but I have been tartan obsessed lately (like the tartan blanket I used as a scarf in my outfit of the day post).  It is also a great transitional print from fall to winter.

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3.  Ceramic pumpkins (oh Pottery Barn, you get me every time):
      I am not the biggest fan of decorating with real pumpkins.  Don't get me wrong, carving them is fun (I have wonderful memories of pumpkin carving with my mom and dad) but I hate that they rot and get stinky.  Ceramic ones like these will stay beautiful for years to come.

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4.  Bronzey log holders:
     I must admit that our fireplace room gets forgotten about on the decorating side of things.  Basically we painted it and put a picture above the fireplace.  Other than that it is a bit ugly.  But I have decided that I want to make it my project to fix it up before Christmas (perhaps a before and after post will be in order).  To attempt to corral our chopped wood and paper, I would like to use something pretty like these bronze buckets from Target.

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5.  A trunk coffee table:

     Technically we don't have to buy this because our coffee table is actually an old trunk.  It was an antique one left from Brett's grandma.  The poor thing is not in the best shape anymore (funny how that happens to decades old things...) and just needs a little TLC for it to fulfil its full potential.  And perhaps some Pottery Barn ceramic pumpkins to dress it up a little.

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What are you lusting for this fall?

Outfit of the Day

Top: Target similar // Scarf: HomeSense // Belt: Diesel similar // Jeans: Le Chateau buy // Boots: Arnold Churgin buy (currently only shipping to Canada, sorry!!)

It has been a while since I have had an outfit that I love and feel really comfortable in that I also feel fits my personal style (or what I want my personal style to be).  This one definitely fits the bill.  I have been searching for a tartan "blanket scarf" - yes that is an actual thing, I didn't just make it up - for my fall/winter wardrobe, but was having a hard time finding one that I could wear with both black and navy clothes.  The ones I was finding were either black or navy, and since I have pieces of both I wanted something that would be really versatile.  So I ended up at HomeSense the other day and happened upon this "scarf" (which is actually a blanket) in the blanket/pillow section.  Because it is a small blanket, it happens to work as a scarf, and is also super warm.  It was only about 13 degrees out today and I was totally comfy with just this scarf and no jacket.  Unfortunately, I cannot find a link for this scarf/blanket anywhere (this is the problem with shopping at Winners/HomeSense/Marshalls).

What is your go to outfit that you are comfortable in and absolutely love?  How would you describe your personal style?  I would love to hear in the comments!