3 years

I started this blog three years ago today on a whim. I had no idea what it was going to be or what I wanted from it. Over the last three years it has been both a place for me to document life and what inspires me. I love this blog and although I've made a few (okay a ton) changes to its appearance and the name I still love it all the same. Out of this blog has come a more confident me, a shop soon to be restocked with pretty things, and above all a documentation of my last three years of college and the beginning of my fourth. It's funny to look back and cringe at my writing (not that it's fantastic now or anything) and see the things I wore and said. I can't wait to see what the next year will bring and what this little space will become.

Thank you so much for reading and your comments. Although I don't always have the time to respond I read every single one you leave and I appreciate them from the bottom of my heart.

xoxo Sarah

Week 9

I never used to drink coffee. I thought it was bitter and strong and I just never got into it. But recently it has turned into one of my favorite drinks. It may be the chill in the air that makes it so appealing or maybe I'm just getting old (friends do say I'm a granny at heart). I'm not sure but whatever it is I'm happy, because it has gotten through so many more nights studying :) My current favorite is a soy dark chocolate mocha but I really love anything with espresso in it. I guess the next step is learning how to make something similar at home! If you have any tips leave them below pretty please!

School was crazy this week! So many exams and care plans to write it almost made my head spin! But luckily it's the weekend and although I have an obstetrics test on Monday the rest of the week is looking pretty good.

I hope your weekend is cozy

xoxo Sarah

What makes a home?

As a child who moved back and forth between two households and has spent the last three years living in a 12' by 15' dorm room the concept is a bit hard to grasp. People often times say that "home is where the heart is" but my heart is many places. In the people I love, in obstetrics, in pretty frocks and in nature. So when I think of home I think of a marriage of all these things. A place the people I love can come together, filled with quirky charts and anatomy models. Where I can hang beautiful vintage dresses on the wall and where the natural light can shine.

I can't wait to have empty rooms with wooden floors and white walls to fill with personality and love. To make memories in a place that is all my own. Me and Jordan daydream a lot about this future sanctuary. We build it brick by brick in our heads, we add flowers and weeds, we knit together the fabric of our future world and I can't wait to make it a reality. 

What’s Home to you?

Xoxo Sarah

p.s. this lovely photo is from Sandra Jutos beautiful home. This is a lady who knows how to create a beautiful space! I really recommend reading this interview of her and her man in their home.

Sunday

Sundays are the best days. Fridays are nice, Saturdays are fun, but there is just something about savoring the last bit of freedom Sunday has to offer before the beginning of a busy week that makes it such a unique and special day. Every other day of the week most people are looking forward to the weekend. But on Sunday, you live in the moment.

This Sunday me and Jordan went to the pumpkin patch where I picked out three little pumpkins for my dorm. I usually invest most of my time in school so it was nice to go out and do something completely frivolous even if we were only there for fifteen or twenty minutes.

I picked out two little orange pumpkins. One to keep simple and the other to draw a jack-o-latern face on. I think I love my pretty cream pumpkin the most. It' tied my pumpkin selection into the cream color palette that's been in my head the last couple weeks. After that we took a little detour on the ride back to school and found a sandwich place. And what a coincidence that my shoes matched the sidewalk! I just had to snap a quick photo :)

Sunday ended sitting in a coffee shop finishing an ethical analysis paper. There so many good things about doing homework in coffee shops. The rich smells, the hissing sound the espresso machine makes, and the caffeine buzz the entire room seems to have. Its both exciting and calm all at once. I feel even though it wasn't the ideal way to spend a beautiful Sunday night I can't complain one bit for being able to do what I'm doing right now.

What day of the week do you love most?

xoxo Sarah

Week 8

The semester is halfway over. I won't bore you with the details but each week becomes more stress filled than the week before. It makes me so happy that I discovered knitting last semester. Its such a comfort to be creating something with my hands that doesn't take all my concentration and that can be set down for a day or two and picked right back up. I just love picking out a new ball of yarn. My favorite I've gotten recently is this fisherman's wool that Jordan gave me on our anniversary. It's pretty course in the ball but once it's knitted it almost transforms into this soft cuddly creature. I can't wait to give someone this scarf when I'm finished. My other new favorite is the hand spun alpine wool I just picked up. I love the way the yarn gets thinner in some areas. Sometimes the beauty is in the imperfections.

Something has drawn me to wear (and buy) things in cream this fall. Something about the color is so cool but at the same time is warm. I love the contrast of a light cream lace dress and a thick knit cardigan.

I promised I wouldn't bore you with the details but if you don't care about nursing cover your ears now! This week has been such a blur of stress. I have had presentation after presentation and paper after paper. This weekend I'm mainly working on a ethical analysis paper and I am really just looking forward to Wednesday. But on a more positive note I had such a wonderful day on the pediatrics floor on Tuesday it really makes it all worth it.

I hope you take this weekend to stop and enjoy the little things. I love the way a small cup of coffee or a tiny package in the mail with a little deer notebook can make my day so much brighter. Some days I just need to remember that even when there's overwhelming amounts of stress there will always be coffee, knitting and people you love to make you smile.

Have a great weekend

xoxo Sarah

p.s. My cousins getting married tonight! If you follow me on instagram @ dottidee I will be posting photos! 

What’s in a name?

Welcome to my new space! I thought the switch merited some explanation so here it goes. I've called my blog The Antique Pearl for nearly four years now and my feelings towards that name has been a love-hate relationship. I created this blog on a cold October day my Freshman year of college and the name seemed pretty insignificant to me. I really thought about it for ten minutes and chose the prettiest thing I could think of (domains apparently were more plentiful back then because I got it on the first try). At first I ran with it but soon I came to learn the name reflects the content, and I felt that as my space has evolved more into a journal about nursing school, DIY projects and selling vintage, the name did not come to reflect the change.

Dotti Dee is a combination of nicknames I've had at different points in life (it is also my instagram username @dottidee). A gentleman from my past used to call me Dotti and although it never stuck I secretly have loved it for all these years. Dee has been used as a replacement last name throughout my life to differentiate me from other Sarah's in my class plus as a easier substitute for my extremely polish surname.

As for The Antique Pearl, you will still see the name in my etsy shop Antique Pearl Vintage. I intend to keep that name to hold onto a piece of the pretty name I chose on a whim nearly four years ago. I hope you all like the new banner and didn't get too mixed up with the change! I contacted bloglovin and they have switched all of you over from the other account so hopefully this post came up on your feed alright!

Welcome all! I hope you like it here ♥

xoxo Sarah

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xoxo Sarah

Little things

I've been told a lot lately that I possess a quality I never knew I had. A love for the little things. Little things like; new yarn, hot coffee, the way the light looks in my room in the morning time. During a stressful day when I feel like I can't keep doing what I'm doing a smile from a patient can fill my heart or when someone says "thank you" it gives me warm fuzzies like nothing else. I think stopping to enjoy the things you usually overlook is the most important thing you could do for yourself during a stressful day. So next time you grab your coffee or see that pretty view out your window just stop, and take it in.

xoxo Sarah

Be still my mustard loving heart

Mustard is the color of fall. I see it everywhere lately. In the trees, on the ground, the reflection of the sun in the river. It's the warm hue that seems to touch everything in these crisp cool months and I love surrounding myself with that extra touch of warmth as the days get shorter and dimmer. Pretty soon the ground will be covered in snow and all the dark rich colors I love about fall will be a thing of the past. So for now I'm going to embrace these hues as much as possible!

Whats your favorite fall color?

xoxo Sarah

Memory

Hey ya'll!
Isn't it amazing what technology does? I have a chronic bad memory about life events and my phone allows me to remember even insignificant days like this one. I love that a month or so later when I look back at these photos I remember the small stuff like that this was the day I got my hair colored, went to my residents rugby game and attempted to make my own version of a white chocolate pumpkin mocha (and failed). If it weren't for technology I feel like I would forget a lot of the beautiful tiny things in life and I'm happy I have this blog as a place to document it all. I hope your week is going well!

xoxo Sarah

Catching Up

Dear friends,

Life catches up with you so fast doesnt it? One day I'm taking this photo for Modcloth's fall style contest and picking out paint at Joanne's and the next I'm in pediatrics clinical nearly a month later in the blink of an eye. Since we last talked a month ago I've picked up a naughty habit (coffeeeeee), written four papers, given three presentations, read 1000+ pages for nursing school, finished my first scarf, thrifted some beautiful things, learned how to crochet, celebrated 5 years with the boy and had my first ever baby patient. I feel so happy and so content right now as I'm sitting on the cusp of a 5 day weekend and I can't wait to catch back up with you! I'm going to try and do a couple posts over the next couple days that will bring this ol blog back to speed and I hope to hear back from you! Have a fantastic week everyone!

xoxo Sarah