As promised in Part 1, here’s a recap of the last half of my Spring Break!

This half of the week I have fewer finished products to share because I’ve been working tediously on one project: the Finlayson Sweater.

A few months ago, I got adventurous and thought I would try to make the Hubs a sweater. This all came about because I had been seeing all of my favorite sewing bloggers posting their finished Finlayson Sweaters on Instagram. My favorite (not to be bias..) was this one from Imagine Gnats. I hate to admit it, but I totally (I think it was technically an accident, but likely my subconscious shamelessly copying) ordered the exact same fabric: this Sandalwood cotton modal french terry knit fabric from Girl Charlee – it’s so soft and pretty light weight (even in the winter my husband is always hot so I wanted something slightly lighter).

I’m embarrassed to admit that this was originally supposed to be a birthday present for the Hubs at the beginning of February (oops). Like usual when I’m challenging myself, I became crippled with the intimidation of making something outside of my comfort zone. I’ve never made any sort of garment for the Hubs and I knew that collar (as awesome as it looks!) was going to be a serious challenge for me.

I pieced together the paper pattern and transferred the XL size to freezer paper to preserve the pattern (in case I needed to change the size for future versions…ha! Thinking I’ll be adventurous to make another in the future is cute. And by cute I mean crazy.). Why freezer paper you say? Well, because my friend AddieK is a genius – read her reasoning here and you’ll be hooked on the freezer paper method too.

Anyhow, I’m happy to report I’m making progress. At this time I’ve got the shoulders attached and reinforced and the collar attached (it’s not perfect, but I’m trying to be okay with that). Wish me luck on the rest!

Thursday was probably my most productive day. I met with the crafty ladies of Columbia’s Etsy Market Team in the morning. Emily of Butterfly Vintage, Shanika of Life is Pichey, Addie of AddieK and I (Jordan of this blog you’re reading right now) met to start planning Columbia’s 2015 Etsy Craft Party! Last year, Emily and Shanika did all the heavy lifting for our party (I provided social media support…aka: the light lifting). Since Emily is moving to Michigan before the party (insert huge crocodile tears & shameless sobbing), I wanted us to get started early so I could be as much help as possible this year.

If you’re local to Columbia, SC, mark your calendars for this year’s Etsy Craft Party: we’re going to host it on the evening of Friday, June 5th! More details are to come as soon as we have them ironed out, but for now you can drool over the fun we had last year – read my recap here.

That evening, our trio (me, Emily and Shanika) met up again to conquer First Thursday on Main. During my usual vanilla-flavored trim with my bestie Taylor at Metropolis Salon, she mentioned that they would be offering free braids and make-up for the event! After I let her practice her fishtail braiding skills on me, I was already craving more braids!

This fishtail survived several hours of sewing and a BodyPump class…pretty impressive.

Good thing we showed up early because not only were they offering free braids & make-up, but Occo was also there offering free massages, eyebrow waxing AND manicures!

As always, Taylor did not disappoint with my braid!

I chose eyes as the focus area of my free make-up lesson so Nicole showed me how to apply some neutral shades to my very neglected eyelids. I even bought some eye shadow primer that I intend to use (here’s to hoping I do!).

After my face and hair glam session, Jessie from Occo gave me a sneak peek at Essie’s spring collection (gorgeous!). I chose the light minty blue (aka: Blossom Dandy).

I’m really hoping to get a gift card to Occo for my birthday/Christmas/thanks-for-being-Jordan day {hint, hint family!} so that I can revisit my new friend Jessie who did a killer job on my nails.

You should go see her too…

Here’s her info – because what kind of blogger would I be if I didn’t give you all the deets?! Go book yourself a mani-pedi!

PS: If you love reading about the latest in beauty (or are clueless like myself and need some assistance in that department), you’ll love Jessie’s blog: The Cluttered Counter.

After we got all glammed up, we had to visit our team members: Chrissy of Hippy Do-Da Creations was having a trunk show at Nest while Mary Catherine of Uniquely MC was hosting an open studio at Tapp’s Arts Center.

While on the way to Nest, Emily & Shanika let me in on a secret I was the only person not to already know: the super sweet twins working at Nest have opened their own donut business – Double Trouble Donuts – and they were selling their very popular donuts that evening! The fear of these delicious treats selling out before I could get there nearly pushed me into a fast jog, but I only slightly suppressed my inner-fat-kid and started to casually walk ever-so-slightly faster to the land of sweet dreams.

This, folks, is the Strawberry Shortcake donut. It’s heaven.

Follow the sweet donut crumbs to Double Trouble Donuts on Instagram (@DoubleTroubleDough) so you can get some of this donut bliss in your life too.

After leaving Nest stocked full of donuts, we passed the most precious sight. This sweet older gentleman was playing the accordion (and very well I might add!) on the corner of Main Street wearing the cutest sweater.

I wish you could hear the beautiful music he was playing.

THIS is why I love Columbia. Sweetness overflows our little city and warms my heart.

And so, my 2015 Spring Break comes to an end. The days are never long enough for everything I want to pack into them, but I have to admit my Spring Break was pretty awesome. I hope you had a great week as well and I wish you all lots of moments as relaxing as this one…

Alas, I now know what Twitch does in the middle of the day.