Monday, February 28, 2011

The Quarter on Etsy

Corban's super creative and talented cousin, Janice recently opened an etsy shop called The Quarter featuring the most adorable hand-painted onesies. Someone needs to have a baby so that I can gift them this cutie.

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Save this link for all those baby showers (or just babies) in your future!

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

National Margarita Day

Yesterday was my favorite holiday of the year.

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How did you celebrate?

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Geeking Out

I have been so obsessed with tattoos lately. I really need to geek out for a minute over a couple of tattoos that I am kind of in love with.

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(images via Rock N Roll Bride)

How beautiful are these? So feminine and gorgeous. I die (that's me channeling Rachel Zoe.)

I've also recently been a little obsessed with working out. How weird is that? Who have I become!? I joined a gym last month (hello, New Year's resolution!) and just started taking yoga and pilates classes. It is so
painful
fun! I'm looking forward to the day when I can leave an hour-long class not feeling like I am going to die. Also looking forward to that pilates butt that I am going to have in my swimsuit this summer. :)

What are you geeking out over these days?

The Why

In order for you to keep moving forward on your big dreams you must have a substantial compelling vision. Your Why must be monumental. It must be something you care about so deeply in your gut that it will continue to propel you forward during your darkest hours. Your Why should keep you up at night ... Following through on your big vision will be hard. It will require you to do things that the average person wouldn’t consider. It might mean missing out on happy hours or working more than 1 job. It will mean pushing forward after a failure and continuing to have hope in the bleakest moments. It is in these extra tough moments that you will need to call on your Why to keep you motivated to keep going.

Nailah Blades

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Valentine's Day 2011

Me and the mister pretty much fall in the middle as far as "people who celebrate Valentine's Day" go. He gives me flowers, I usually get him a small gift, and we have a nice dinner together. We just try to use the time to appreciate having each other and to acknowledge the effort that we each put into our relationship. It is always a lovely little private celebration.

Yesterday he sent me roses at work (red and yellow, his favorite and my favorite), then we came home and fixed a delicious steak dinner, complete with wine and a cheese/fruit dessert course. I spent the morning putting together some pretties to make our humble little coffee table a bit more special. :)

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We finished the evening by watching Firefly and reading Lord of the Rings. Yes, we are hardcore.

Now it is the early morning and we are enjoying some tea together before we start our days. The windows are open and birds are singing. Such a pleasant sound.

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Monday, February 14, 2011

Future Statements

We all know how embarrassing it feels to make a big statement about our future to our friends and family, and then have what we were hoping for fall through. So when the same thing happens to someone you love–they made a grand plan for their future, shared it with everyone, and then things didn’t work out–show them compassion, remind them reorganizing a dream isn’t failure, and keep being their biggest cheerleader.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Getting Mail Makes Me Happy

I just received my Caitlin Shearer prints in the mail, and oh my lordy, they are so lovely.

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She also included bonus prints! I can't wait to hang these in our bedroom (which, due to another bout of crazy weather has recently been festooned with additional handmade bunting and pillows...seriously, it looks like a carnival threw up in there...in a good way!)

Today is looking a little brighter. ^_^

P.S.-Who else is totally excited for the new season of The Real Housewives of Orange County? Anyone, anyone? Bueller, Bueller?

This is what I feel like...

...most days.

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Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Snow Day Photos

Remember when I promised to share photos from my film camera snowy day adventure? Despite having to drive 15 miles to the closest camera shop that could decently develop my film (yes, I live in Dallas, the thriving metropolis of opportunity), I am here to make good! Disclaimer: this was my first outing with a manual film camera, I am simply proud that these photos are viewable at all.

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(this was a (adorable) test shot...the aperture is obviously way off)

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Deep Thoughts

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Boy Scout Boots

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My favorite of my love from our snow day

Playing with the aperture

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Escaping the cold with a delicious Pastazios lunch.

Did you notice that last photo? Do you see how delicious that pizza looks? Yes, that is Pastazios pizza, and it is awesome. If anyone is ever visiting Dallas and is in need of delicious pizza, this is where you should go.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how these came out. The camera was super fun to use, and now that I know that it still works, I think I'm going to try to take it out more often. If anyone has experience using vintage film cameras, I would love any advice you could give!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Bunting How-To

This month I've finally gotten around to starting a decorating project in our bedroom...only a year after we moved into the apartment. Better late than never?

I started by making/hanging a cute little string of bunting. :) I always try to be conscious of not making the spaces my husband and I share too "girly," so I chose neutral colors from my stores of left-over fabric. The whole project only took a couple of hours (I did all my cutting while watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid) and was made completely out of supplies I had lying around!

First, I made a pattern out of a piece of computer paper. I created the flags by pinning the pattern to the fabric and cutting around (to save time I folded my fabric in half and did these two at a time.)

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Second, I folded and ironed the tab on each flag to prepare them for the sewing machine.

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Third, I sewed the tab down on each flag. I used grey thread to give it that hand-made, carnival look. I used a sewing machine, but this could be done fairly quickly/easily by hand.

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Fourth, I threaded basic craft twine through the loops that I just sewed by taping my twine to an unsharpened pencil with blue painter tape.

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Fifth, I tied loops on both ends of my twine, and voila! Bunting!

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So cheerful, it really brightens up a formally drab little space! I've also ordered some lovely prints and can't wait for them to come in. Our little room is really coming together. :D

Friday, February 4, 2011

Jane Austen's Fight Club



You can't tell me that this isn't the funniest thing ever, because that just simply would not be true. I'm not normally a fan of remixes or fan fiction based on classics (maybe I'm just a fuddy-duddy, but I couldn't get more than two pages into Pride, Prejudice, and Zombies without wanting to injure someone...don't even get me started on Mr. Darcy Takes A Wife) but, this is just great.

Dialect Meme

I decided to jump on the bandwagon and film my own version of the dialect meme that you've all probably seen going around. I studied linguistics in college and English dialects (micro dialects in particular) are completely fascinating to me. I would still love to get my masters in some kind of linguistic study.

Anyway, here's my video. Please ignore my makeup-less, frizzy-haired appearance. Corban and I just got in from playing in the snow.



Say these words:
Aunt, Route, Wash, Oil, Theater, Iron, Salmon, Caramel, Fire, Water, Sure, Data, Ruin, Crayon, Toilet, New Orleans, Pecan, Both, Again, Probably, Spitting image, Alabama, Lawyer, Coupon, Mayonnaise, Syrup, Pajamas, Caught
Now answer these questions:
What is it called when you throw toilet paper on a house?
What is the bug that when you touch it, it curls into a ball?
What is the bubbly carbonated drink called?
What do you call gym shoes?
What do you say to address a group of people?
What do you call the kind of spider that has an oval-shaped body and extremely long legs?
What do you call your grandparents?
What do you call the wheeled contraption in which you carry groceries at the supermarket?
What do you call it when rain falls while the sun is shining?
What is the thing you change the TV channel with?

Wow, I knew that I had an accent, but there it is in full force. I tried not to "refine" my speech as I often do when I am being recorded or meeting new people. I'm a southern girl and proud of it. Also, I definitely could not figure out where the "stop" button was for a moment. As you can plainly hear, my cat got the last word...as she always does.

I tried out my dad's old 1980-something Canon AE-1 while Corban and I enjoyed the winter wonderland...hopefully at least a few of the photos turned out and I will be able to post them in a week or so. :)

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Etsy Love

For those of you who don't know, Dallas is completely iced over right now. There have literally been people ice skating down our street.

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We have left our building once in three days, and only because we have a friend with a Jeep who is not afraid to die and has very particular ideas about draft beer vs bottle. Aside from that one outing, I've basically just been drinking wine at Astoria, watching Frasier, shopping etsy, and trying not to freeze to death every time the electricity goes out. On the upside, I have found some amazing art prints that I am determined to own one day.

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Sooooo gorgeous! Time to start saving my pennies. :)

Stay warm, all.