halloween party!

last night was our friends' annual halloween party, and we had just as much fun as always. 

luke and i kept our costumes cheap this year, but i think they still worked out great.

my costume was actually just a dress that i had received as a gift, but it ended up being far too short for me to wear so i just threw some spandex on underneath for a cheap and easy sailor costume. i bought the hats at a local halloween store for $5, and added a little gold anchor to them with puffy paint.

easy peasy.

i like easy peasy.

what did you/are you dressing up as this year?

xox eden

not gonna lie...

i have nothing interesting to write about today. i finished prepping luke and my halloween costumes for a halloween party we're going to tomorrow night. i'm pretty excited because they are our cheapest costumes by far ever. what up cheapass?! i'm pumped.

ok, i'm gonna go watch thor. i just bought it. LOVE this movie. i also like to pretend i'm natalie portman in the movie because thor is like your stereotypical scandanavian minnesotan...and i like it.

please don't tell luke. ;)

ok, good night.

xox eden

i knew there was a reason i love this boy...

he brought home the BIG nutella.
love you luke. you're the best. even if you do play silly online games with your friends and ignore me.
also, please come tuck me in already. i've been waiting for like 10 minutes.

xox your very-greatful-for-the-big-nutella fiance.

ps. my dad cracked another joke about my nutella obsession. he told me that the big one should last me for AT LEAST 4 pieces of toast. funny man.

pps. nutella came up in the classroom today (don't ask me how) and my students asked me what my favorite thing to put it on was...i answered "a spoon." i'm pretty sure it's changed their entire view of me. suddenly, i'm all rebellious. that's right...ms. mckee eats nutella with a spoon.

please allow me this one rant...

for those of you just itching to jump on the fur collar/stole bandwagon PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE buy faux fur. you have no idea the awful things that animals raised for fur go through. many are electrocuted and skinned while they are still alive, and there is no way for you to ever know if your fur came from a fur farm. who cares if it is vintage, it is sick sick sick stuff.

here are some awfully adorable FAUX fur collars. one. two. three.

i've been feeling rather hypocritical as of lately. as some of you know, i became a vegetarian around this time last year. my love for animals is so huge. i wish i could save every single one from the suffering that humans put them through. unfortunately, i failed this summer and started eating meat again. i have still cut back a significant amount, and try to buy free range as often as possible.

to those of you who made it as vegetarians, kudos to you.

thank you for allowing me this one rant. i know the collars are cute. but faux fur is cuter. :)

xox

here's to happiness.

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1// fresh apples straight from the orchard.
2// having a makeshift dinner with what few groceries we have, but doing so together.
3// listening to luke obsess over his fantasy football team. (because it's so important)
4// going to see paranormal activity with my favorite girls. (so scary!)
5// sweating to death during said scary movie, but refusing to pull your head out of your sweatshirt.
6// uploading a picture of your nutella-covered toast, and having your dad comment to tell you that the jar is supposed to last longer than one serving. ;)
7// sharing a large movie theatre popcorn with one other person...and finishing it.
8// sitting down on the couch after you just speed cleaned the apartment.
9// homemade pumpkin pie milkshakes.
10// kisses during commercial breaks of each football game. :)

sometimes it's the little things that count. :)

xox eden

p.s. i hope everyone else had a fabulous weekend! here's to a fabulous upcoming week! <3

I know it's early, but...

I've been meaning to pre-order the She and Him christmas album for a while now, and today I finally went ahead and ordered it. I am beyond excited. I'll be the first to admit I haven't been the biggest fan of all of their music, but Zooey has such a great voice for Christmas music as well all know from watching Elf over and over and over again. I might start listening to it as soon as it shows up. Shh.

Any other good Christmas tunes I should be on the hunt for so I'm ready for the season?

pumpkin carving date night!

Yesterday afternoon, Luke and I drove back to Big Lake to his parent's home. We spent the remainder of the day hanging with his mom, and their black lab, Vader. We had chicken breasts (so yummy!) and fresh baked squash (also yum!) for dinner. Thanks, Ann! After dinner his parents had to leave for a church meeting. We layed out newspaper on the living room floor, popped in Horrible Bosses, and carved our pumpkins. We saved the seeds, and are planning on drying and baking them soon! It was a basically perfect date night. <3

Have you carved jack-o-lanterns yet? Link up if you have! I'd love to see!

xox, eden

evil biscuits.

one morning there was a boy and a girl. they really wanted to have biscuits and gravy because boy makes the best biscuits and gravy from scratch. so the girl woke up bright and early to make a grocery store run for the few missing ingredients. the boy worked very hard to make the biscuits and the gravy. they spooned up their biscuits and their large spoonfuls of gravy and sat on the couch with their coffee. they looked at each other, eager with anticipation.

they took their first bite together. they looked at each other, and their happiness quickly turned to disgust. boy had accidentally read teaspoons as tablespoons and added far too much salt.

what was supposed to be the best biscuit eating morning turned to a morning of eggs and toast.

{ok, and the girl might have eaten every bit of gravy on the plate. shh! don't judge.}

let's hope the rest of the day is just as hilarious as this morning. :)

long weekend for me!

here in mn, the school systems have a three-day week that allows teachers to spend time at conferences on thursday and friday if they so choose. lucky for me, i'm not legally a teacher yet, so it's a 4-day weekend for me! i'm hoping to spend the next few days hanging out with luke and maybe getting my craft on. i've got a few home decor ideas in mind, and might even have a few diy projects to show next week.

i've also been trying to come up with something creative for a halloween costume. anyone have any great ideas? i'm open to any ideas!!

xox, eden

today was a good day.

for the first time in a very long time, monday, yes monday, was a good day.

monday was a good day for many reasons:


(1) my students were fabulous today...and when i say fabulous i mean fan-freaking-tastic! even my few students who on past occasions have flat out refused to do work were completely on task today. seriously put a huge grin on my face.
(2) one of my students told me that coming to talk to me at the end of the day always made her feel a little bit better. i almost cried. she's such a sweet girl, and i just want her to know that life is so much bigger than middle school.
(3) my momma booked my flight to go home in colorado for christmas! i couldn't be more excited. two whole weeks with all of the people i love the most.
(4) i started adding random junk to the "donation box." we're going to de-clutter. i think luke is finally coming to terms with the fact that he doesn't need that t-shirt that he hasn't worn in all the time we've been dating. (over 4 years) i'm quite pleased with the heaping pile that needs to be dropped off at goodwill in the next few days.
(5) i have the most amazing fiance in the entire world. no explanation necessary.
(6) i'm now allowing sponsors on my page, and they're free with a button swap! email me at edenmarie44(at)yahoo(dot)com!!

xox, eden

p.s. i hope your monday was just as fabulous as mine! :)

trip to the apple orchard!

this has been such a relaxing and fun weekend. friday i spent with luke on our weekly date night (though last week we were able to have two..yeeeah!). we went out to five guys and then snuggled and watched tv. on saturday, i was extremely lazy. i sat on the couch most of the day catching up on all of my tv shows, and even got a few lessons planned for the upcoming week. i'm quite pumped that this week will only be a three-day week, leaving me with a four-day weekend next week! :)

today, i went with my best friends (and three of my six bridesmaids) to the apple orchard. this has become an annual tradition. you can read about past years here. we had such a fun time, and for the first time in three years the weather was almost perfect. though the wind was quite bitter, it still beats the snow/rain from two years ago and the 80 degree weather last year. it feels like fall! we filled up on apples, cider, and mochas. such a perfect sunday.

what did you do this weekend?

xox, eden

dear luke,

there are about a million things that i love about you.

i especially love that you don't get mad at me for being literally insane.

and keep cool when i raise my voice.

and put up with my dirty clothes being everywhere.

and that you don't get mad at me when i rearrange your books to look more aesthetically pleasing.

(i'm sorry about that)

and thanks for making me food. i like it when you do that.

luke caught me writing this, and would like me to point out that he is not naked. {duh}

he just likes to kick back shirtless when he gets off of work.

he's cute.

yet another reason i love you.

xox, eden

happy belated birthday sista!

yesterday was my amazing sister's 19th birthday. i can't believe she's in college (or that i'm graduating in less than two months). when did we get so old?! anywho, i love you so much, haley. i'm so proud of you, and i miss you every single day. why do you think i've been hinting to luke that he should go to univ. of colorado in boulder every day? ;) hope your big day was incredible!

love you lil' sister. ♥

xox, eden

teacher style.

i had originally planned on having this feature appear much more often on the blog, but turns out..teaching is a LOT of work. who knew? my favorite part about wearing it to school was the kids calling my shoes "grandma shoes" or "peter pan shoes." sweet kids. ;)

 (please ignore HUGE pile of dirty clothes behind me...keepin' it real, y'all.)

home inspiration: maps + globes.

in the past few days i've been daydreaming about the day when luke and i own a home, and when i can spend my days decorating it...making it our home. lately, i've been finding tons of inspiration from maps and globes. funny thing is, luke has already started collecting vintage maps. he loves them. it's just another thing luke and i can love together. here are a few amazing images i've come across via the internet/pinterest.

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my favorite things about october.

1// fall scented candles in all shapes and sizes.
2// horror movie marathons with the girls.
3// trips to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch with my best friends.
4// fall walks with the lover boy.
5// pumpkin spice lattes and coffee with pumpkin creamer.
6// ghost adventures marathons on travel chanel.
7// celebrating my awesome sister's birthday. :) love you butt!

i can't believe we're already 10 days into october! time is going so fast!

<3 what are your favorite things to do in october?

xox, eden

rainy day.

today has been one of those days.

you know, the kind where you try so hard to be in a great mood but you just can't.

it all started with one of my morning classes. the class with all of the behavior issues. the one with the kids that will flat out tell you they are bored, or stand up and shout, "I GOTTA TAKE A PISS," and storm out of the room. the kids that tell me they're about to, and i quote, "slap a b***h" or remind me for the umpteenth time that i don't know what i'm doing, when in fact i'm pretty sure i do. let me remind you, these are seventh graders. i'm fairly certain that i still secretly played with barbies when i was in seventh grade...shh don't tell anyone. and to top off all of the behavior issues in that class, my university supervisor was there to observe me. talk about sweating to death. the entire class period i was thinking how terrible my classroom management skills were. in the end, he told me that i did very well with the cards that i was dealt in that class.

the rest of the day went ok, and i was glad to come to my afternoon classes that tend to listen to me better.

...and just like me better overall. i think...i hope.

to make a bad day even worse, i went to pick up my car tabs, which have been expired for months. long story short, i renewed them months ago. they never came in the mail. i called about it. they said they shipped them to my old address. i updated my address, and was told to go pick them up at the dmv. then was told by the lady at the dmv that i had to pay $11 because i updated my address. the man on the phone never told me this. so i was charged $11 for "duplicate" tabs even though they messed up my address and i never received them. woohoo. *insert sarcastic comment*

lastly, after watching ellen, i caught a clip of a news segment and found out that one of the sped teachers that i worked with in my last field experience was shot and killed. he was such a wonderful teacher. the kids loved him. not to mention he was just a good man over all. he loved the outdoors, and had such a strong faith. he will surely be missed by many.

let's hope tomorrow is better.

xox, eden

p.s. life is short. you never know when it could end. tell your loved ones that you love them.

under the weather.

(don't mine the pile of nasty kleenexes in the background...eww)

i went to bed with a stuffy nose and body aches.

i woke up with a stuffy nose, body aches, a headache, and a sore throat.

did i mention i sound like a manlier version of myself?

well, i do.

so, i stayed home sick from school.

perfect day for catching up on reading my favorite blogs, sipping coffee, and golden girls reruns.

what are your favorite sick day activities?

xox, eden

p.s. dad, if mom reads this to you, could you fly to minnesota and make me a hot toddy? please, and thank you. ;)

grandma's sewing machine.

after sitting alone in my grandpa's basement for years after my grandma's death, her sewing machine has finally found a new home, my home! i couldn't be happier or more honored to inherit such a special piece of my grandma. she loved sewing, and i'm hoping to pick up where she left off.

ok, so not right where she left off because i'm quite rusty...if you can even call it that.

i'm so excited to get started, though i'm thinking it may be a while because of how busy i am with student teaching. (i'm currently working on a lesson plan about minnesota's native/european fur trade of the 1700s and 1800s. not that any of you care) i can' wait to start sewing skirts and napkins and curtains! i've been "pinning" away on pinterest, looking specifically for beginner sewing projects.

did i mention the machine is a perfect retro, light-blue shade?

well she is.

♥

wish me luck!

xox, eden

autumn fashion wishlist.

fall wishlist by edenmarie44 featuring loop scarves

Button dress, $55
Button up shirt, $88
Wrap coat, $174
Red hosiery, $15
Chelsea Crew tan oxford, $60
Original Neoprene - Dark olive - Hunter Boots, £85
Ray-Ban Glasses - Collection Optical - RB5226 | Official Ray-Ban Web...

things i'd buy if i had a money tree.

anyone know where i can find such a tree?
xox, eden

my new favorite hair product.

the first thing i noticed about my new do was that i was having to wash my hair everyday, which i would really rather not do. being the broke college girl that i am, i decided to peruse the shelves of my local target. for only $4 i couldn't pass up giving tresemme's fresh start dry shampoo a try. i had heard great things about all of these expensive dry shampoos that, once again being a broke college kid i just cannot afford, that i decided to give it a try. i am so glad that i did. i can now wash my hair every other day just like before without having nasty, oily, greasy bangs. after all, middle schoolers like to comment on things like that...and my teeth...and my hair...and how most of my dress pants are gray...among a million other things.

gotta love 'em. ♥

xox, eden

ps. tresemme has no idea who i am and i am not being paid to endorse this product. remember i'm just a broke minnesotan girl.

nature walkin'.

luke and i have been having a very pleasant weekend thus far, with the exception of course being my ten hour shift yesterday. last night after i got off work, i drove to big lake to luke's parents house. they're out of town and luke's been dog sitting for the weekend. we stayed the night, and woke up this morning to blue skies and a perfect fall day. we decided to take advantage of the beautiful hiking trails around us and went for about a mile long hike with vader, his parent's spunky 2-year old black lab. this is by far one of my favorite things about minnesota. i feel so bad for those of you who live in states that don't experience autumn. the colors, the temperatures, and even the smell of fall are so incredible. i will surely miss minnesota falls when we move next year.

on a side note, speaking of my ten hour shift, it was my second to last shift. i put in my two week notice earlier this week after having a disagreement about scheduling and interferences with my student teaching. so, i decided it was time to move on. i've worked there for 3 years, and absolutely love the people i work with. i'm a little sad to leave, but am very pleased that i will be able to focus on my teaching and getting my minnesota licensure ready for substitute teaching next semester.

wish me luck!

xox, eden