I Gained 75lbs This Weekend

Finally I had a weekend worth linking up with Sami. If you're from New England (or live here now) you probably guessed I went to the Big E, and you, my friends, would be right If you're not from around here, it's basically a huge fucking fair.

I tweeted that I would be crafty and I was! I'm planning on a navy and gold accented bedroom (whenever the fuck we pick where we are going to live) And I want a collage wall so here's one of the pieces! It was a cardboard letter for $1.50 at Michaels and I just got glitter and navy paint and measured out stripes. Not bad I think! Also we planned on staying in but Tom's cousin who lives across the street invited us over and so we went, got hammered and came home and passed out.

Time to pack on the el bees. Not Spanish insects, but pounds. It was all glorious. I didn't have the Doughnut Burger because I had that last year and it wasn't yummy I'm watching my figure.

Here's what I had:
-tiny doughnut
-caramel chocolate blast cappuccino
-bloomin' onion
-pumpkin Long Trail beers
-Opa Opa Kix Ale
-chocolate covered bacon
-gyro
-fried dough
-fried samoas

Also, Tom decided he had to win me something and I let him know that the only acceptable prize would be a unicorn. And so he dominated skeeball and won me a pink and white unicorn. Also you should be my friend on snapchat. (dhaccessory) Cuz you would get videos of unicorns drinking beers.

As I was walking, a girl who was around 10 years old pointed out my amazing unicorn, and shouted to me about how much she liked it. I said "thanks!" and kept walking. And after I went a few booths up, I realized I couldn't reallllly take Harold (the unicorn) home cuz Lil would eat him. So I checked with Tom and then ran back and gave the little girl my unicorn. I told her she had to be good to her parents and all. And she was literally the happiest little girl ever. It felt so great to make that little girls day. And knowing how amazing it would be to have someone give me a big pink unicorn when I was that age, it basically would have made my life. 

Also we saw this chick who really took the whole Orange Is The New Black thing to heart.

 Also we were sheep.

and then Tom was drunk so on the way home he demanded McDonalds.. So I got a hamburger happy meal.

We got home at 8:30 and went to sleep at 9.

Tom and I looked at more apartments. Wooo. Insert the >< eyed crying face emoji here. I hate apartment hunting. Everyone hates Lil and wants a billion dollars. Anyway the first one was pretty great and it's in the final 3 options. The other was not good and the person was late so we got sushi instead. Then we came home, and watched Hercules and The Great Mouse Detective on Netflix and Tom and Lil napped. Then we went to Tom's parents for his pre-birthday dinner and that means the weekend is over.


And you absolutely have to meet one of my favorite people in real life and in blog land. She was my roomate our freshman year of college and we've been soul mates ever since! We're basically the same person soooo duh, she's awesome.

blog // bloglovin // twitter // instagram // pinterest

1. When and why did you start blogging?

I started blogging in the beginning of July. I had been watching Adriana grow her blog for a while it seemed like a lot of fun. Also my friends and family will only look at so many pictures of Angus & I needed a new audience.

 
2. What is your favorite post you've written and why?

I knew you were trouble was a ton of fun to write, and nothing says "I'm an adult" like making fun of exes on the Internet. 

3. Since we're IRL friends, what's your favorite memory of us?

Probably the hundreds of times we ran like lunatics across the quad on campus so that you wouldn't have to face the squirrels alone.  That pretty much set the stage for the rest of our friendship. 

Meet My Favorite Texas to North East Transplant!

If You Use Blogger- There Is Something You Should Know

I finally decided to get my own domain and now I'm officially www.doghairaccessory.com! No more .blogspot for me. It's great. It's easy. It's shorter. And it's cheap! (I used godaddy.com)

After doing that, I thought, Wow! Nothing I'm doing is changing. I'm still logging into Google and typing up my posts in Blogger. This is great! But then I thought about something I read recently..

Tom's mom showed me an article the other day about blogging and whether or not we, as bloggers, own the content we're putting forth. I was obviously intrigued and started looking into it. I love that Blogger is a Google Service since I'm comfortable with Google and their security and I've been using their other services so long, I know what I'm doing. I never had thought about the possibility that publishing thru their service would mean the content is no longer mine.

I looked up articles, terms, FAQs and here's some interesting things I found.

Per Google's Terms Of Service:

"You retain ownership of any intellectual property rights that you hold in that content. In short, what belongs to you stays yours"

That's a relief. But like the article says, that's almost false reassurance, because of what else it says-

"When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide license to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content."

Ok. So basically Google can take any and all of my ideas, quotes, and photos and do as they please? It goes on to add that they won't use these things for just any ol' reason. Only for...

"...the limited purpose of operating, promoting, and improving our Services, and to develop new ones."

Right. So basically anything they want.

Now the content you're posting on here is YOURS. You can do whatever you want with the content. But by publishing it thru a Google Service, you are saying, "Sure!" to Google using it however they see fit as well.

Lisette went though terrible experience with Blogger/Google deleting her design site because she wasn't posting anything new. They just told her it was gone. Luckily she got it back but soon after she switched to self hosted Wordpress and seems infinitely happier.

So what's my next move? For now I'm gonna stay on Blogger. But I will be looking into switching. Mostly I don't want to spend a shit ton of money to move everything over and get a new design (assuming I'd have to). So you win Google. For now.

What are your thoughts and/or experiences with Blogger vs Wordpress vs self hosting? If it's too long to leave in a comment, email me at acosta0097@gmail.com



Now, I want you to meet Jenny! She owns an etsy shop called Hole In Her Stocking Designs and she sells some really cute jewelry! My favorite piece is the turquoise and silver bracelet. Learn a little more about her and her shop!

shop // blog // twitter // shop facebook // blog facebook // pinterest

1. What is your the meaning behind your shop name? 
"Hole In Her Stocking" is actually part of the lyrics of the song "Dance With A Dolly" (my blog name) that my grandma and mother used to sing with me as a child. Some of my earliest memories. Song went as follows... "Gonna dance with a dolly with a hole in her stockin', While our knees keep a knockin', and our toes keep a rockin', Dance with a dolly with a hole in her stockin', Dance by the light of the moon"

2. When and why did you start your shop? 
I started this particular shop in 2011 because I love designing jewelry and always got compliments on everything I made and wore. I have just recently started to take this shop more seriously and will be adding a lot of new designs in coming weeks.

3. What is your favorite item in your shop and why? 
The Mint Beaded Bar Bracelet because I love the color and how pretty and dainty it is.

4. What has been the most rewarding thing about starting your shop? 
Having a great creative outlet and making money while at it. 

Meet My Favorite Texas to North East Transplant!

Welp, It's Fall.

I have mixed feelings about this.

Upside- I get to wear my new boots.
Downside- I'm already fucking cold.

I hate the cold. And I feel there isn't going to be much of a fall since there wasn't really much of a spring (or summer for that matter). When I saw Kay's post about her fall bucket list, I decided I'd make one to make myself more excited about cooler weather.

I plan on checking at least most of those off in the next few weeks. Including trying a PSL. Yes, it's true, I've never had a Pumpkin Spice Latte. I'll let you know how it goes.



And now I want you to meet one of the coolest bloggers around. She's sarcastic and curses like a sailor.. I mean you can see why I love her. If you need more reasons to be her new best friend read her Fun Facts page. And laugh a whole lot.

blog // bloglovin // facebook // twitter // instagram // pinterest

1. When and why did you start blogging?

I just started blogging this summer! I used to use LiveJournal back in the day and it was my everything! But it fell off and I've always missed it so I decided to crash the party in blogland. 

2. What is your favorite post you've written and why?

My favorite and the most personal thing I've written so far is actually my page called Boston to LA. It's my story on how I struggled through such a big transition when I left Boston. I know some people get the burning desire to make big moves like that but some sort of fear holds them back. I wanted to share it so people could see that (in any struggle) yes it is hard and sometimes you truly want to give up on everything... but also that it's really worth it in the end to just keep swimming.

Meet My Favorite Texas to North East Transplant!

My First Blate!

This past weekend I had my first blate!!!

For those of you who haven't gone on a blate ever, it's something you HAVE to do! It's hard to find blogger friends in some areas but when you do, and you make a connection, set up a blate. If it goes anything like mine went, you will not regret it!

Casey from The Aslan's Auspicious Albany Adventure and I started commenting on each others post very early in both of our blogs. Then came tweeting, then texting and then came Casey's amazing idea to both do the Color Me Rad 5k in Albany together! So I joined Team Texas and made plans to head up to Albany to meet Casey and her husband and go run a 5k!

My friends asked about my plans on Saturday, and this is how almost every conversation went:

"What are you up to Saturday?"
"I'm gonna be an Albany for the day, I'm running a 5k."
"Why the hell are you driving to 2 hours to Albany to run 3 miles?"
"I'm running it with my girlfriend who lives up there"
"Who do you know that lives in Albany"
"Casey"
"Who the hell is Casey"
"I met her thru blogging"

and then the responses varied from "Well, you're not staying over are you? You never know who someone really is online" to "That's really cool.. right? It will be fun! Hope it goes well!"

I was pretty nervous. I mean, what if she doesn't like me? What if I'm super lame or do something super embarrassing? What if I run for 3 seconds and want to walk? I mean she DID just run a half marathon!

Thank god when I got to Albany I found out I wasn't being catfished- Casey was just as awesome as she seems!

On the way up, I got a snapchat from her letting me know I had a treat waiting for me!

Once I got there, I got all my sweet Color Me Rad gear, a mimosa and we headed to the fairgrounds it was being held at.

We ran the whole race and it went by so quickly! It was super fun and we got covered in color. Casey more so than me. The race ended in a little party and we got color packets to throw in the air and it was really fun!

We brushed off and headed home. We had quick shower clean ups and then headed out for din at the coolest restaurant/bar ever!! It's called City Beer Hall. Get it? Like City Hall but with beer!

And they have a deal where if you buy a pint of beer, they give you a ticket for a free personal pizza!! WHAT? Yes. It's true.

Also, I know y'all (they're from Texas so it's ok for me to say that in this post) know how much I love truffles, and they had truffle mac & cheese so DUH that's what I got. And it was delish!

Sadly, after din, I had to leave. It was getting dark and I had a 2 hour drive ahead of me. It was SO SAD to say goodbye but I'm so excited that we are IRL buddies and we've already made plans for her to visit Tom, Lil and I in CT! I can't wait! And until then we will just snapchat, text, tweet, email and comment like cray.

Thanks Casey for making my first blate ever such a fun one!! You guys all have to go see her on her blog and tell her I say hi!!

Meet My Favorite Texas to North East
Transplant And IRL Friend!

Doggy Time Occupiers

I love Lil. I mean, duh. But a lot of the time sometimes she is just in a mood to harass Tom and I, and we are in the mood to not be harassed.

I find when both of us are on the couch, which happens a lotttt, Lil takes that as a cue to start playing fetch. I'm usually blogging or designing, Toms usually watching TV (and he is not a multi tasker) and Lil drops the ball on the couch and starts whining. She makes horrific noises really.

When I'm busy while Tom's a pain in my butt we're busy and we can't constantly be throwing her ball for her there are issues. We've had a lot of trial and error with ways to entertain her that keep her quiet and occupied but here's what we've found works the best!

These aren't in any particular order, and I wasn't compensated in any way for this stuff. I just have found that they get the job done.

kong wobbler- it's tough like all the kong products so Lil can't beat the shit out of it. It dispenses her treats or her kibble so we sometimes feed her dinner using it.

peanut butter kong- layering peanut butter and kibble and treat and/or freezing wet food and treats in the kong and giving it to her to work on takes her quite some time. She gets super committed to it so it's something she won't be distracted from

rawhide- we get her the biggest/ longest bones we can find. She can go thru the whole thing in one sitting if we let her but we tend to break it up. This is one that we have to pay attention to tho- you can't leave her in a room alone since pieces can break off and she could choke.

starmark treat dispensing chew ball- this is another treat vehicle. It's another way to feed her if we want to do that, or we can put some treats in there. Lil can totally go nuts and chew and chase treats and we don't have to worry about throwing it. Until she's done. Then we have to throw it for her.

skunk with no stuffing- Lil loves this thing. And there is no stuffing so I don't have to worry about her basically covering the apartment in fluff. She shakes it around and sprints from room to room like a psychopath. And she loves it

doggy ice cream- this doesn't take her long to eat but it's a very good distraction. They are sold in most grocery stores and you can actually find homemade recipes to try out!

This will be the last week of Tall Tails for a while. It may be back, but for now, Tall Tails out.

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Meet My Favorite Texas to North East Transplant!

2 Girls, 2 Blogs, 10 Questions

It's Monday again and I'm a little more sad than usual. Casey (who happens to have a banner at the bottom of my posts for the next 30 days!!!) and I went on our first blate this weekend and basically fell even deeper in love. I'm going to share more deets of that on Wednesday!

I'm really excited to have the prettiest princess, Jordyn, sharing my blog today! She blogs over at Fairy Princess Diaries and she's awesome. She such a positive blogger and I love that! She always has such a great out look and it's really inspiring. Plus her and her boyfriend make an adorable couple and they just moved in together! (Such a big step- snaps for Jordyn!) She blogged about their new place, and gave us a tour.

She is such a great girl and I loved getting to know her better through this sponsorship! When I asked what kind of guest post she'd like to do she responded with "Can we do this in interview style? I like to pretend I'm a famous celebrity being interviewed for Vogue…you know, it's fun." How can you not love her?!

So here we are, answering 10 questions about ourselves so you get to know us a little better! And then go follow her on instagram, bloglovin, and twitter!

1. What's your favorite part about blogging?

Jordyn's Answer: Blogging has added so much that I never would have expected to my life, I love meeting new people and making new connections but my favorite thing about blogging is the creative outlet. There is no prompt, no deadline and no real criteria. I can just write and be 100% myself, it’s so authentic and refreshing.

Adriana's Answer: I love all the opportunities! I'm talking the opportunity to vent and have people say "I'm with you sista!," the opportunity to "meet" so many incredible people, the opportunity to work with great companies, the opportunity to discover new passions of mine and it's all because of this little blog!

2. If you were a Disney Princess which one would you be?

Jordyn's Answer: Rapunzel from Tangled, I love her. Sometimes I listen to the soundtrack when I’m cleaning and pretend I really am her. I also am obsessed with her long hair. Ariel is a close second, because she’s a mermaid...obvi!

Adriana's Answer: Belle. I've wanted to be her for as long as I can remeber. I was her for halloween 2 years ago and it was AWESOME. She's not a bimbo, she's super pretty (duh) and I feel like we'd be friends.

3. If you could go on a date with a celebrity who would it be? (girl crushes count)

Jordyn's Answer: Taylor Swift, not just because I don’t want to make my boyfriend jealous but because I know we would be best friends in an instant and best friends are probably my favorite thing in the whole wide world. I will fight to the death to defend Taylor when people criticize her love life, and I think she could get on board with my collection of horse sweaters.

Adriana's Answer: Robert Downey Jr. He is amazing. He's hilarious and who doesn't wanna go on a date with Iron Man aka Sherlock Holmes?! RDJ would be an incredibly entertaining date and we'd prob want to hang out all the time after that.

4. Favorite season. GO!

Jordyn's Answer: How cliche is it to say Summer? I wish I could wear a bathing suit and frolic around in the sunshine 355 days a year. The other 10 would be fall and winter just to give me an excuse to wear cute sweaters with animals on them and have a white Christmas.

Adriana's Answer: Summmma summma summma timeeee. I'm pretty sure I have seasonal affective disorder. I need the sun and warmth and I'm so much happier when it's nice out. Plus I like dresses and BBQs and wineeee. I also have a actual medical condition that makes me cold intolerant which makes me cold cranky. 

5. If you could have one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Jordyn's Answer: Spinach salad with raspberries and feta cheese, tortellini with Alfredo sauce and a mimosa. Cheese Enchiladas are a close second though.

Adriana's Answer: I've talked about it before, but truffle fries errrrday. I mean if I can make it a meal, a burger (a really good one) and truffle fries. I constantly crave them.

6. What's the one item you couldn't live without?

Jordyn's Answer: My planner, because I am a psycho “Type A” personality and I make lists in my sleep. I would have at least twelve anxiety attacks a day without it...or Starbucks, it’s hard to choose.

Adriana's Answer: I guess my phone? Especially now that I'm a blogger social media is necessary. But there are times I leave my phone in another room and forget about it for a whole day. Maybe my HP and Star Wars movies. I need to be able to watch them whenever I want without delay.

7. Find a picture of yourself that sums up your personality.

Jordyn's Answer: The only thing that could make this photo more “me” is a glass of bubbly and some chocolate syrup on that ice cream.

Adriana's Answer: This sums me up because: I look like a mess, I'm about to cry (this time out out excitement) I'm overwhelmed, I'm hanging out with a dog, I love tiny things (this dog) and I'm wearing a tutu and tiara.

8. Life of the party or homebody?

Jordyn's Answer: I can definitely be a little of both. I love to dress up and dance on tables (you know, playfully) and be the center of attention but I love a sleepover complete with hours of girl talk and cards against humanity just as much.

Adriana's Answer: I definitely used to be the life of the party. Now I think I'm settling into my adult life quicker than a lot of my friends. When I'm in the mood/ in the right setting I go nuts but I usually wanna just booze with my group of friends.

9. Your biggest childhood crush

Jordyn's Answer: Besides Jacob, the boy I chased on the playground everyday at recess, I would say Ron Weasley. I have a thing for redheads, don’t tell my boyfriend.

Adriana's Answer: I think I'd have to say JTT from Home Improvement. And DUH Leo DiCaprio. I was a Titanic fan as was everyone in the world in the 90's (and still should be)

10. Heels or flats?

Jordyn's Answer: I want to say heels so badly because I am dying to be two inches taller and they’re the epitome of girly girl perfection but I have to say flats because I’m incredibly clumsy and when I walk in heels I look like a newborn deer.

Adriana's Answer: Heels. I have about a billion pairs of heels and I love them SO MUCH. I wear them as often as I can but I don't go outtt out very often. And in the winter I only wear boots. Whichhh are all flat.

Meet My Favorite Texas to North East Transplant!