HAPPY 2 0 1 4

New Years, one of my favorite holidays to celebrate! I love the way celebrating the new year makes me feel inspired and excited. It's a time to set new goals, plan new adventures and celebrate everything you have accomplished in the past year. 2013 was a huge year for Michael, Dusty and I. Our life changed incredibly since we moved to Charlotte. We have had some struggles adjusting to our new city but I am so proud of everything we have accomplished. I am really looking forward to what 2014 has in store for us!

Happy New Year! My new planner is full of empty pages to fill with adventures and I can't wait to share all of them with you! Cheers!

xoxo

Emily

Credits || Photography: Emily Verdonk 

High Shoals Falls

Recently I visited High Shoals Falls in South Mountain State Park with my parents, it was beautiful. Waterfalls are by far one of my favorite things about living in North Carolina. You have two choices in North Carolina, the mountains or the beach, I tend to choose the mountains where you can find LOTS of waterfalls. I always enjoy a good hike and Dusty does too!

xoxo

Emily

Credits || Photography: Emily Verdonk and Per Verdonk

Gearing Up For The New Year

Merry Christmas Friends!

I hope everybody is enjoying some holiday fun this year! Dusty and I are gearing up for the new year and working on a few things to share with you. We can't wait to fill you in on our latest adventures!

My first few months as a blogger have been such a blast, I have learned so much and love all the new friends I made along the way. Check out my personal favorites from 2013!

Teach Your Dog to "Say Cheese"

DIY Heart Coffee Sleeve

Crabtree Falls Adventure

Looking forward to the new year! 

xoxo

Emily

Friday Fringe: Romantic Faux Bob

I am happy to share the romantic faux bob with you today! This is one of the MUST HAVE styles right now by Loreal Professionnel. Have a holiday party coming up? This hairstyle is perfect, it is quick, easy and looks beautiful. You can't go wrong!

The artist in this video who created the look is actually going to be teaching a class at my salon in a few weeks! I am thrilled to learn from such a talent!




I added a few extra curls to the top layer of my hair just to give it a looser effect! Have fun and play around with this style.



Now go faux bob it up!

For more on this look and many more check out lpmusthaves.com.

xoxo 

Emily

Friday Fringe: My "Perfect 5th"

I would like to welcome you to a brand new weekly feature here on A Doodle Dose. This feature is called Friday Fringe! Every Friday I am going to share with you either a beauty tip, a beauty tutorial, or just fun things that are happening at my salon and in the beauty industry! Are you excited? I sure am!

This week I wanted to introduce you to my career, and how I got to where I am today!

Back in November 2008 I began my journey. I attended beauty school at The Douglas J Aveda Institute in Royal Oak, Michigan.

My graduating cosmetology class at Douglas J

In December of 2009 I became a licensed cosmetologist and worked at my very first salon as an assistant. Working at this salon I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to the Loreal Professionel Academy in SOHO N.Y.C. It was a life changing experience!

I took a two day color class at the academy and learned from some of the leading artists in the beauty industry, including the remarkable Suzie Bond. They were two of the most career inspiring days I can remember. 

Training in SOHO with Suzie Bond

This was just the beginning for me. I was expanding my career and learning new tricks of the trade! My journey led me to a new salon where I met the most amazing group of hairdressers I could ever ask for. They became not only my co-workers but my best friends. We were an unstoppable team at Textured Salon.

My team at Textured Salon

As you know my boyfriend, Michael and I were on an adventure of our own, which lead us to North Carolina. In April of 2013 sadly I said goodbye to my team and set sail to continue my career in a whole new part of the country. Four salons later I am now a licensed cosmetologist in the states of Michigan and North Carolina and a part of a brand new team at Perfect 5th Salon!

Okay here comes the fun part. In 2011 when I went to New York I had no idea that one day I was going to be living in North Carolina. I also never imagined that after meeting Suzie Bond in SOHO I would get the amazing opportunity to be a part of her incredibly talented salon team. Yes that's right, I am working with Suzie Bond! You never know where life might take you. 

Perfect 5th got it's name from Suzie's musical background, but it just so happens to be the 5th salon I have ever worked at. Therefore I am calling it my very own "Perfect 5th". I am truly excited about my career and hope you will join me on my new adventure!

Check out Perfect 5th on Facebook, Instagram and our website www.p5salon.com.

xoxo

Emily

Chasing Leaves

Hello! This past week was a little hectic around here. The weekend was much needed! I caught up on all my favorite TV shows, cooked some yummy food, and hiked with Dusty and Michael at Lake Norman State Park. It was just perfect! Dusty really enjoyed our hike, you can see he was literally jumping for joy!

Dusty is Crazy!

Also I hear it's been snowing in Michigan...yuck! Right now I LOVE LOVE LOVE living in North Carolina, the weather is just perfect!

xoxo

Emily

Trip to Virginia

This past weekend I got to visit my sister, niece and nephews in Virginia. I don't get to see them very often so it was really nice to catch up and laugh with all of them. I was only there for two days, which was definitely not long enough! I can't wait till I can see each of them again! Here are a few photos!

xoxo

Emily

Crochet Heart Coffee Sleeve (Free Pattern)

Today I am happy to share a super easy crochet pattern, perfect for all you coffee lovers out there!

What you will need:
- 6.5mm (K) crochet hook (sleeve)
- 5mm (H) crochet hook (heart)
- Yarn in any color
- Scissors
- Yarn needle


Sleeve:

1. Begin with a slip knot.
2. Chain 22, join in round with a slip stitch.
3. Chain 2. half double crochet in each chain (22), ending the row by joining the round with a slip stitch.
4. Turn and repeat step 3 until you have 7 rows total. 
5. End with a slip stitch.
6. Weave in loose strings with a yarn needle. 

Heart:

1. Begin with a slip knot.
2. Chain 4.
3. In first chain (chain farthest from crochet hook) make 3 triple crochets, followed by 3 double crochets.
4. Chain 1.
5. Make 3 double crochets, followed by 3 triple crochets in same chain.
6. Chain 3.
7. Slip stitch together in the center.
8. Cut yarn and weave in loose strings with yarn needle.

To connect the sleeve and heart, simply stitch together with a yarn needle.

Happy crocheting and coffee drinking!

xoxo

Emily

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from Dusty and Chico! Hope everybody is having a spook-tacular day!

xoxo

Emily

Busy October

October around here has been crazy busy, my brain can barely focus on one thing at a time! Life has been hectic, but hectic is a good thing these days. My career is heading in a positive direction, I have been meeting new friends, and I am inspired with AWESOME ideas for A Doodle Dose.

This week my mom is visiting! I couldn't be happier to have my partner in crime with me. She is in Charlotte for two weeks and then we head to Virginia to visit my sister, niece and nephews for the weekend. My mom and I have been catching up on some much needed shopping and story telling.

If you follow me on Instagram you know that this past Sunday we took a trip to Hodges Farm. It was a nice little farm. We got some sunflowers and walked around the pumpkin patch. The pumpkin selection wasn't the greatest so we ended up not getting any, but I will be getting a pumpkin or two this week. I have some crafty ideas for them!

Hope you all are enjoying October as much as I am.

xoxo

Emily

On A String: Blogger Meet-Up!

Thursday night I attended my first blogger meet-up with The Charlotte Social. I had such a great time at On A String, I met so many great people. It was fun hanging out getting to know all these great bloggers and chatting about blog tips and tricks!

Photo Credit to A.Liz Adventures

We each got to make two bangles. I made mine with more neutral colors, so that I could match it to my work clothes. I did love all the fun colors that some of the other girls chose. They all turned out so cute!

Above is a photo of all us bloggers together and below is a shot of our finished bangles!
I can't wait to for our meet up next month, but for now I have a bunch of NEW blogs to follow!

Happy weekend!

xoxo 

Emily

Blue Ridge Parkway Adventure (Part Two)

Crabtree Falls!

This was my favorite part of our entire trip! Despite the fact that it was a little rainy we decided to venture down to Crabtree falls. I am so glad we did. We had the entire trail to ourselves! :)

Dusty is so silly!

For part one of our Blue Ridge Parkway Adventure click here

xoxo

Emily