a very swell giveaway

You know when you find some great treasure and you kinda/sorta want to be selfish and keep it all to yourself? But then you start to feel guilty cause it's just too good not to share?!

yeah, I have one of those little gems for you today:

Jordan McKell has been a lifelong friend of mine. We grew up in the same neighborhood and our birthdays are just a day apart, so we'd always have a double party together (coolest parties on the block I might add!). Well she's got this special talent, nah, it's more like a GIFT. She does hair. And she does an amazing job! and {excuse me while I mini brag here} I've never had more compliments on my hair IN MY LIFE than from my last visit with her. When I ran out of the stack of her business cards and began writing her contact on napkins or books or movie tickets for complete strangers (true stories), I knew I had to share her with you blogging friends.

SHE IS THE BEST.

and guess what?

Jordan's offering 25% off one cut&style to one lucky reader!

to enter, leave a comment below! It's just that easy :)

(open to all Utah county residents, or anyone willing to travel to Orem Utah)

I'll randomly pick a winner on Monday .

can't wait?

call her NOW and schedule an appointment:

Jordan McKell

Amara Salon

870 N 980 W

Orem, UT 84057

801-226-2300

I trust her with my life, I trust her with my hair. and lets be honest, thats a scary thing to do! Finding the right stylist is sooo hard! A bad hair cut can ruin the way you feel about yourself. But a great one? A great haircut makes you feel like a rockstar. That's how I feel when I get my hair done by Jordan, I walk away with my head held a little higher and more confidence in my stride. Oh, and I can't help but catch my reflection in every shiny object around..... :)

anyway, good luck!

xoxo

claire

oh my! how embarrassing...

I had the previous post scheduled.....but put the wrong date! I didn't notice it was up until today, Sorry! Giveaway coming real soon! And it really is a good one :)

also, I loved this documentary. I think both right & left brains will find it interesting. you can watch it for free here.

instagramed today: I love these rocks

hey hey hey

facts and confessions

I always heard of girls crying their way out of tickets and thought "yeah, I can do that". And the other night, I had my first chance ever. Thats right, 22 years: pristine driving record {almost} ruined by my naivety. I forgot/(never got the reminder in the mail) to re-register my car. tears were shed, hands were shaking, officer was the sweetest guy ever. I drove away with a stern warning and a few self inflicted slaps on the wrist.

I played hooky today. well, actually I was feeling a bit under the weather (perhaps mentally more than anything else) and called it a sick day. A sick day that I spent re-registering my vehicle. vehicle is the weirdest word ever, just look at it: vehicle. I'm a little disappointed I've let school stress get to me so early in the semester...

B has been working a lot of extra graveyards at the hospital which means we RARELY ever see each other. I even slept at my parents two nights since I was so lonely. Today was his day off, we packed a weeks worth of laughs to make up for lost time.

we've been on a plant-based diet for 5 days now. I might talk more about this later, but probably not. alls I can say is happy happy tummies over here!

we only see movies when they come out in the dollar theater (unless we can bum off our parents). Tonight we saw moneyball, and snuck our vegan treats in with my oversized purse. Brad Pitt is brilliant.

In the past month I've quit one job and gained another. Was released from one church calling and got another (that I'm soooo excited about). And gained another year+ of school that I hadn't planned on but am very grateful for.

and now you know.

crush

Let's just say we've been waiting for this for months. Brandon and I both have a crush on Wes Anderson and all that he does, (we've planned half our future home based on homes in his films). He's on my list of top 10 people I really want to be friends with, up there with Jack White and Miranda July.

yup, this one looks like a keeper.

lately on instagram

//primary colors//

//painting in bed// //my weakness//

//clown feet// //daily breakfast//

//practicing my penmanship// //practicing my danny guitar//

//keeping my hands busy// //keeping my tummy happy//

//follow me @belleandwhistle//

color study

winner winner!

The winner for the YES YOU CAN giveaway chosen via random number generator is.......

ERIKA RAE!

Congratulations! Please send me your shipping info & which color you prefer: electric berry, mint green, or pink.

(yes I totally just made up those names.....I mighta got a little lazy on the last one/two, could you tell?)

And thanks to everyone who entered! I loved hearing about your goals for the year!

Also, I'll be selling journals and other handmade goods in my shop (to open this spring!) so if you didn't win, not all is lost!

What are your plans for this weekend?

I'm:

-shooting a wedding all day saturday (brrrr)

-trying to recover from a lousy cold

-going to church with my husband

-doing laundry

-reissuing some news years resolutions I've already slipped up on......

-homework {welcome back to school!}

maps

I finally put my ever growing collection of maps to use this last semester and made these studies for an art class. I don't know what they mean, if they mean anything at all. But I like them alright, and Brandon is rather fond of them. He says someday, we'll hang all 30 of them (yes, I have 30 of these) in a grid on a wall.

p.s. this giveaway ends soon!

Today

what I did today:

-slept in for the first time this holiday break!

-woke up to brandon saying "your gonna be late for work" followed by "take these" (my dreaded vitamins. bleh)

-went to work & dressed a bazillion naked mannequins

-bought myself some uber cute jeans from Gap (I plea "back to school" as my excuse)

-picked up another shift and dressed even more naked mannequins (your welcome, mall)

-came home and broke a new years resolution by eating half a jar of nutella

-thought about running

-ate more nutella instead

-caught up on emails (one of my least favorite things to do)

-exchanged a handshake with my poor sick husband before he left to work a graveyard shift.

-said a little thankyou prayer for the worlds best husband

-played minesweeper on my phone

-stalked everyone's instagram

-completely changed my school schedule {it's a day-before-the-first-day-of-school tradition}

-planned my outfit for tomorrow

and then had a little ol' chat with myself about my life. which, as mundane and unexciting as it is, I happen to love.

xoxo

looking back

all in all, it was a pretty great year.