Also Needed: Romper

LOVE this look from an amazing collection I stumbled upon - Harvey Faircloth. The whole spring/summer collection is much fun. At 190 bucks, this is even less likely than the linen hat.

I am SWOONING

Over this amazing handmade linen hat from Etsy seller Sanchia. Alas, there is no way, no how, that I can justify 75 bucks on a hat right now.

More great hats here

couple of things I'd like for spring/summer

French striped sailor shirt (mini-sized, apparently). I swore off horizontal stripes a long time ago, but I think I could pull off a beachy, off the shoulder version....

Loose fitting oxford shirt (not at j. crew prices). I'm still undecided about high-waisted shorts.

!@#$%^Y&*

Okay, this is awesome. I'm no saint, no prude, I enjoy a good dirty joke now and then, and a well placed swear word can feel so good. But I'm inspired by this - started by a 14-year old, California is officially declaring the first week of March "No Cuss Week". It takes a lot of courage to stand up for something you believe in. We could probably all benefit from softer, kinder, gentler words used in society and towards each other. More info here

easy does it....

I keep finding easy DIY projects as I browse around blogs...I love this bulletin board - just wrap fun fabric around a bulletin board and add a fun frame....the possibilities are endless. Cheap corkboard, fun fabric, a frame from a flea market or garage sale...

I will make something fun and crafy this spring instead of just posting pictures of fun and crafty things....

found here

floral headbands

need to make this, asap

via psimadethis

Can I skip ahead to J?

I got this awesome jar at school today. It was lying around in the office. When I asked our secretary about it, she said it used to be in the principal's office, but the principal didn't want it anymore....and she didn't want it either...voila. Tis mine. This is the kind of thing I troll garage and estate sales for....so pretty. The bottom says made in Italy, although it doesn't scream Italian glass to me. It just needs a good wash, then what to put inside....

grandma pants

What do we think? For spring? I can't say that I fully advocate the high-waisted trend (it makes me think of grandmas with their shirts practically tucked in all the way up to their boobs) but urban makes it look awfully good.....grossly overpriced at 48 bucks but I could find similar elsewhere perhaps.

Amor

In the spirit of Valentine's Day, some classy and sexy lingerie from Australian Etsy seller Hopeless...

Tonight I'm going to my brother's high school-a cappella-love themed choir concert (thinking Glee), lunch with family and friends tomorrow, creating art on Sunday? And the Olympics are starting! xoxo

wheeeee

Incredible Flying Man Necklace....very tempted.

I love the featured sellers..uh..feature...on etsy. This one was a couple of days ago. Old Victoriana images set to jewelry....love.

C is for Crayon

Is there anything better than the smell of crayons? I think not. I love how smells are instant time machines. Crayons take me back to childhood, the art room, and happy days coloring. Even I, with no artistic ability whatsoever, enjoyed a good crayon session. As a teacher I've found colored pencils have definitely taken over most elementary schools these days (except maybe in preschool). The best part of crayons are the names....red orange yellow green blue indigo violet have come a long way. My personal favorites are burnt sienna and scarlet.

friday frolic

obsessed. with blog and photo.

soooo bad about posting lately. 3 times a week is my new goal, I swear. xoxo

hermes paris

I wanna stick more and more things in my hair

I swiped some feathers from the craft jar in the kindergarten classroom the other day to attempt a hair piece. shameful.

B is for Beagle

Come on. This face is ridonkulous.

Following the acquistion of my beagle Cadet, I've created the kind of gibberish language that evolves around babies and other extremely cute things. Hello, pookie-pumpkin-loverbug-snufflebear-sugar-honey. What the heck? I doubt I would even talk like that to the absolute most adorable baby in the world. This dog has taken over my life, my words, my bed (she still sleeps in her crate overnight, but my bed is pretty much hers at all other times. All of the sudden everyone loves beagles too. Everyone I see when I'm walking her has a beagle story or grew up with a beagle or whatever. The dog hair everywhere is well worth it.

some of the loves of my life

fun weekend.

A is for Alabaster

Alabaster was an unexpected inspiration for me. Two of my closest friends recently brought me back this alabaster box from their voyage to Egypt.

Alabaster can be traced back to ancient times. In Egypt, it was used to worship sun gods. In Biblical times, putting something in an alabaster box or jar was a sign of honor and esteem. It is found in calcite or gypsum form, and today is used in ornamental decor, architecture, and carvings. What kind of treasures are you putting in your (metaphorical or real) alabaster box?

Other 'A' contenders and inspirations: antiques, art deco, arbors

A to Z

Recently I was browsing the archives at psimadethis (tipped off by the lovely abigail) and found this great list of decorating/life inspirations. In the spirit of lists, which I make obsessively, and my love of the alphabet as a teacher, I decided to make my own list of inspirations for each letter. The initial goal was to post a letter daily and be done in January. Ha. It's now a Twenty-Ten project. I'll post a couple of letters a month. Enjoy. And see the great list @psimadethis here.

chairwhore

blog featuring only chairs = love, yes?

found here

3 Things

So I don't cook super often. I enjoy it at times, but don't often feel inspired to make full meals - I'm pretty good at putting together little snacks and yummy things to nosh on. I've decided, however, that I should have a few signature dishes.

I absolutely love crab cakes. Good crab cakes that really melt in your mouth are so hard to find. This would be a big endeavor, judging from the recipes I've googled. Lots of subtle flavors and tricky to get the texture/doneness just right. Still undecided as to whether I'll attempt these.

Lasagna - love a good lasagna. However too many recipes turn out with emphazise pasty, too-thick noodles, soggy sauce, and plain ground beef. I need to find a more sophisticated recipe.



I love enchiladas, both the more healthy recipes and the greasy ones at Mexican restaurants. I have an okay recipe for chicken enchiladas that I need to refine a bit.

Twenty-Ten: I become gourmet.

so much to say

Okay, Twenty-Ten (that sounds much better than saying two thousand ten). A new decade. A couple of days before New Years I reminisced with a friend about the year 2000 and how quickly things have gone since then. I graduated from high school that year. I also went overseas for the first time and went away to college (quite far from home, as opposed to most people at my high school) where I didn't know anyone. Apologies for the cheesy cliche, but I truly felt like I had my whole life ahead of me and anything could happen. While 10 years has flown faster than I ever could have imagined, I fortunately feel the same way about the next 10 years. The transition from college to the adult world isn't easy, but I've learned so much along the way and I'm so blessed with a great family, friends, and a job that I love and can grow with as a career. Not a lot of people can say that in their 20s and I'm so grateful. I'm also grateful for new hobbies and interests I've found along the way, such as photography and decorating.

So the sad news is that my hard drive died over Christmas. My laptop was new in May, so this was a bit frustrating. I transferred everything onto it when I got it and backed up on an external hard drive, so I didn't lose totally everything. My music and most of my Word documents are fine. What I did lose is all my pictures from the summer. That was sad. I have some in an album in facebook and some on flickr, but there are hundreds more, just mundane things but special to me, that are lost. While there's no one to blame but me, I didn't anticipate a 7 month old hard drive dying out, so it was a bit upsetting. Now I need to get things from my external hard drive onto this new one and start organizing things again....

Here's to bigger and better blogging in 2010! I'm going to be starting an A-Z list of different things that inspire me...hopefully up in the next few days. I'm also going to try and be more consistent with my photography, something that fell by the wayside this fall. Cheers and Happy New Year!