Deer Silhouette Canvas

I've watched HGTV for years now (a lot more when it was actually interior design and not house hunting). But literally for years. I remember when I was in middle school and I was determined that I was going to become an interior designer. I loved how you could made a bare room so warm, cozy and personalized. There was this one episode of Design Stars that had this 3D silhouette of a deer in their space. At the time I thought it was so strange but as my styles have changed throughout the years, I've found myself looking back at how cool it was. So now that I have my space (a tiny dorm space but regardless) I wanted one. 

Now, you obviously can't have a giant 3-demenional deer head in your dorm room. I compromised and found a really cool looking canvas version on Pinterest. So I recreated it.   

It was surprisingly super easy! 

What you'll need: 

A stencil (I found one online) 

A canvas

Two different colors of paint (I used silver and gold)

A round sponge brush

A small sponge brush

A thin paintbrush (not pictured)

A plate for the paint (not pictured)

Pencil (not pictured)

Step one // Trace your stencil onto your canvas. It's totally okay if your lines are a little jagged since you're going to paint over it. 

Here's mine! Definitely not anywhere near perfect. 

Step two // Paint your deer head! I started with the head part of its head. (As strange as that sounds... but you get it). The small sponge brush is the best one to use here. I switched to the thin brush once I got to the ears and antlers that way you had a bit more control of the movements. Make sure you do two coats of the paint! That way you get the best color. 

Step three // Using your other color, dip the round brush into your other color and paint dots a llllllll over the canvas. You can go as crazy or as subtle as you want with this one. It's all up to how you wanted the final product to look. 

Step four // I'm not sure if you can really tell in that picture but the sponge left an odd texture to the canvas after you painted it. So I used my thin brush again and painted in all the spots that weren't filled by the sponge. 

And tada. You have a super cute deer silhouette canvas!!!!!

It'll look cute in just about any dorm/bed room out there. 

Until next time, 

Amanda Kate 

(PS I'm planning on pairing it with this super cute monogrammed canvas I also made.)

Mean Mugging

Summer is all about having spur the moment adventures. My friend, Shae, texted me this afternoon asking if I could do anything and since I'd only gotten to see her once this summer of course I said yes! We wanted to do something a little different than normal so we settled on going to an art studio (not sure if that's the right name for it?) in Lexington called Mad Potter. Mad Potter is the kind of place that you pick out a piece of pottery and paint it however you want. It's so much fun (even if you're not super artistic like me). 

I went with the "messy-but-cute" look and Shae just went with the "mine's-gonna-be-perfect" look. Oh, and (naturally) we both went with the "I'm-a-basic-white-girl" look with the monograms. But hey, they'll look awfully cute sipping on some tea in a dorm room. 

Also, if you plan on doing this, make sure you plan for at least two hours. Because it seems to always take much, muuuuuch longer than you'd expect to pick out the pottery, colors and design for it. Then you have to actually paint it and you certainly don't want to be in a rush. 

It was so much fun, so glad I got to see my ShaeBear again. 

Until next time, 

Amanda Kate

Dubai!!!!

I was originally going to do a post about the relationship my favorite store and I have, but then I started talking about a trip I took a few months ago while at work today and I just couldn't stop about it. So here we are and I'm still talking about it.

If you can't tell but the (very) boring title, I went to Dubai!!! It was hands down the best trip I have ever taken in my life. (It was so great I even had to split it into two different posts.)

Before I start talking about the trip itself, I need to give you a little background info. About 7 years ago, my family became super close with our neighbors. Our neighbors, The Dubs as we'll call them for the sake of the blog, had the opportunity to move to United Arab Emirates for a job. Sarah and Seth both grew up traveling the world, so naturally they saw this chance at adventure, packed up their things, and moved the UAE with their three kids.

When I started high school they kept telling me that for my graduation gift they would pay for my flight to Dubai to see them. I always just thought that it was an open ended promise, you know? I never expected it to be true. Then one day in January, Mom gets a Facebook message from Sarah saying that spring would be the best time for us to come and visit them. Next thing I know, I'm getting my passport and March 27th we were officially jet-setters.

We were toooooo excited. 

Naturally, I needed to take a selfie.

You could ask anyone I had any kind of contact with from January to March, I was so so soooo excited for that moment to finally happen. The flight was a draining 14 hours long with an 8 hour time difference from home and Dubai.

I couldn't begin to tell you how excited I was to finally see this. 

Day 1 // Pool day

   The first day we were there was just a chill out day to deal with jet lag. Noting too exciting. We caught up with our favorite family, lounged by the pool, and tried to accept the (incredible) fact that we were truly there. 

Day 2 // The Burj Khalifa and The Dubai Mall

This was the first "real" day we were there. So naturally, we had to do one of the most touristy (and most amazing) things Dubai has to offer. 

And it was to climb up this monster of a building. 

Ahhh.. The Burj Khalifa. The tallest building in the world. With the tallest open air observation deck. Yep. You were 124 stories in the sky with no ceiling above you. 

Can we just appreciate this view alone for a second?
It shows how diverse of a city this is. 

It may be nice to also  mention, there were still FORTY stories above the observation deck.....

I'm sure by this point you're thinking "Amanda, I would really just like to see the view." Let me just tell you, it's breathtaking. 

(My personal favorite picture)

Those weird shaped islands are The World Islands.
Completely manmade.
And you can buy your very own!
....If you have millions and millions of dollars.... 

Fun fact: an attractive Italian man took this picture. 

After this we went to the Dubai Mall. (The BIGGEST mall in the WORLD). 

You'd think I would have went crazy in this mall but it was just so overwhelming. It had Asian stores, European stores, American Stores. There was an entire part of the mall directed towards only selling shoes. Can you even imagine such a place? It was so hard to take it all in. I just wanted to go into all the stores I'd heard of online, just to say I've been there. So, I left with only one dress... in a mall with everything... one from Banana Republic, a store we have even in Lexington... naturally. 

The mall was just as beautiful as any other part of Dubai and I'm not just talking the abundance of stores. It was legitamently a beautifully crafted building. 

Like I said.... a beautiful building

Worlds Largest single panel aquarium
(They live for "Worlds Largest")

Annnnnd in case you wanna go ice skating while shopping.
You can. 

Something I found interesting was the clothing. I assumed that since I was going to go to the Middle East I was join got have to dress completely conservative. Which isn't necessarily the case for Dubai. It's considered disrespectful to dress with your knees and shoulders showing in certain social situations but others it's completely okay. The mall was place of dress code. 

Annnnnnnnd because I'm a white girl. 

Day 3 // Souk Madinat Jumairah, Jumairah Beach, Burj al Arab

A souk (pronounced sook) is basically like a market. Some of them are open air markets, some are like malls but instead of brands that you know they have all privately owned businesses. They're all over in this area. We went to Souk Madinat Jumairah which was absolutely beautiful. There are places in the that have views of the Burj al Arab!

While we were there, my mother insisted on looking for rugs (which is huge thing in this part of the world) I decided to pretend I was artsy and take a bunch of pictures.

I soooooo wanted to take one of these pretty lanterns home with me.
How cool would this be in an entry way to a house? 

Shoes are always taken seriously. No matter where you are. 

After a rug was (finally) picked out we drove over to the Burj al Arab. It was so cool seeing something you've seen so many pictures of in person. The hotel was beautiful and so was the beach. (Also, shout out to the European couple having an awkward photoshoot right in the middle of the beach.)

Annnnnnnd because this is already a really long post, the rest of my amazing trip will have to be saved for another post.

Until next time,
Amanda Kate

Realizations

"In just a few months, I'll never have to see all of these people ever again" is a sentence I said, I'm not kidding you, at least a hundred times during senior year and each time I was more and more excited to get it all over with. 

It's taken me until now to realize the full effect of that sentence. 

I was walking through Target talking to my dad on the phone today. We don't get a chance to talk much so I was telling him about my schedule for the month of August. I'll be in Michigan the first week. South Carolina (hopefully) for a weekend trip to the beach. Then my brother and sister start school on Wednesday the 13th. (My sister will be a freshman in at Henry Clay. Whaaaaat?) I move into the dorms the 16th. The 17th is both my 18th birthday and the first day of Rush Week. I'll rush that week. The next week is what's called KWeek which is pretty much just all the freshman meeting and hanging out. Classes start. Then it's September. Long story short, summer is basically over and things are about to change more than I can even imagine. In the middle of telling my dad all of this, I saw a guy that was in my computer apps class freshman year. I probably hadn't had a conversation with him since. After asking how we were, he asked where and when I was going to college. (This question is as common as 'how are you' nowadays.) He's moving a full eight hours away to Auburn and his Move In Day is in just three short weeks. We talked for only a few more seconds about how scary this whole process is. As we said goodbye, a wave of realization came over me. This was more than likely the very last encounter I'll ever have with him. And, the part that really gets me, is that there are probably more than 400 other kids that were a part of my class, just like him, that I won't ever see again either. 

I almost had an emotional breakdown right there in the middle of Target while completely by myself. I could feel my eyes get watery. (Thankfully, I held it in). This was the first time I truly realized the meaning of that sentence at the beginning and I regret saying it to begin with. 

You'll always hold a special place in my heart, Henry Clay c/o 2014. 

I love you.

Until next time, 

Amanda Kate

Taking Risks

I'm the kinda girl that lives in her comfort zone. I don't normally like to go to unfamiliar places, to try new foods, to go on unplanned adventures, heck even to date guys that don't seem like my type. The things in my (we're just gonna call it my zone) were always so good to me, so what was the point in messing that up just move in an unforeseen direction? The thing about a "comfort zone" though, is that it's neutral. You're not moving forward, you're not moving backward, you're just moving. So, I decided to take a small step out.

At this point, you're probably wondering what it is that I'm talking about. And you're probably going to laugh a little when you hear what it is. It's clothes. Which, in my defense, is actually a pretty tough zone to break out of.

In the last week I've found two very unAmanda pieces that I fell in love with.

1. The Camouflaged Jacket

This one was way out of my typical "style". Never had I ever owned anything camouflaged until I bought a shirt for the Camo Out football game at school last season. (And it may be nice to mention that I bought it on my way to the game) 

My friend felt the need to document this purchase on social media.
It was that big of a deal. 

There were a few things that went into making the daring purchase of the camo jacket. One (and perhaps the most important one) being the price. It was so low that it's almost inappropriate to call it a "daring purchase". 

And it was an additional 40% off that....
Totaling at $12.06

The second thing was that it was from Gap. I thought "camo can't be that bad if Gap is selling it, right?". 

The third thing was imagining how great it would be to walk around campus in. It's honestly the perfect fall jacket. It's light without being a cardigan but still nice and warm. It's also a little baggy (there wasn't a small since it was on the clearance rack) so that just makes it extra comfy. 

Overall, I'm actually really excited for this.

2. Boyfriend fit jeans

Normally, I go for skinny jeans or jeggings and that't it as far as jeans go. They're definitely my jean of choice to go into my zone. But, last week, I was looking on the JCrew Factory website (which lets first say is heaven) and I saw all their sale items were an additional 50% off that. Which was going to make these $80 jeans like 20 bucks! Who could miss that opportunity? So, I bought them. I'm a bit more shaky on them than I am with the jacket. But, the comfort level about 6 levels higher than an other jean I've tried on. They're so soft and baggy that it literally feels like you're wearing sweatpants with a waistband. Hopefully, I can find a way to make these work for me.

If not, I suppose I can always wear them to sleep.

Until next time,
 Amanda Kate

Awkward First Impressions

If we're going to be friends, we need to know a little bit about each other (okay, mostly you need to know about me but still).

 Lets start with the basics.

I have both a little sister and a little brother and I love those
boogers like crazy.

I live in Lexington, Kentucky. Which, for those of you that don't know, is smack dab in the middle of Kentucky. I've only lived in Lexington for about 4 years but I absolutely love it which is why I chose to stay right here and go to college at UK. 

With that being said, I'm a student at the University of Kentucky. I'm currently planning on
majoring in biology (very intentional emphasis on currently). #GOCATS

I'm living in the dorms on campus even though my house is exactly 7.7 miles away.  My roommate is a friend that I met junior year of high school. We have so much in common that it's a little bit scary at times but at the same time we're also very different. (If you can tell me how that makes sense, you get a reward).

I'm a graduate of Henry Clay High School class of 2014.

I'm not athletically inclined in any way, shape, or form. That's about all I can say about that. 

I've always loved photography but never had a reason to take actually do it. (I'm so excited that I do now!)

I, like almost anyone else my age, have an unconditional love for Netflix. I actually decided to do this in order to get myself to stop watching so. many. videos.

I always love starting my day with a cup of tea. 

Currently ginger pear white tea from Trader Joes is my favorite. 

I also love finishing my day with a cup of tea.....Tea is my favorite.

(I don't think I've ever started so many sentences with the word "I" before)

Annnnnd, I guess the rest of my secrets will come out when the time comes. 

xoxo, AmandaKate

Oh! And you can follow me on Instagram at @Amandarandall7

Hello for the Very First Time

Hi Readers,  (I say readers very loosely because at this point the only readers I have would be my friends and my mother..)

As you can tell/already know, my name is Amanda Randall. I'm seventeen years old and in just one short month I'll officially be a college freshman at the University of Kentucky. I've never been so excited for four years in my life. I'm so pumped for the adventures of a "college life". From dorming to classes to sororities to tailgates. Everything will be one huuuuge adventure. With that being said, I wanted a way to document my life as a college freshman.  So when I'm a senior I can look back and laugh at the time I thought I could start a blog. It's something I wish I'd have done in high school because you know that brought a change. I can only imagine what college is going to do to me. I'm excited to bring you along! 

We're going to be the best of friends. 

xoxo, AmandaKate

(Because every blogger wants to be like Gossip Girl and say xoxo at the end of a post)