more discoveries

The mister likes to blame everything in the house on poor Gladys, the lady we bought the house from. The weird side room? Gladys's fault. Paint on the ceiling? Gladys. Copious amounts of pink flowering bushes? Darn you Gladys! It is unfair but kind of funny. And I'm going to do a little bit of it now.

I've been doing a little digging around in the junk room today and found an old iron, a shower head, and electric scissors all in their original packaging! As a keeper of packaging myself, I really appreciate the fact that old Gladys hung on to this stuff. Look at that, a spraying mechanism on an iron! Exclusive spray control (and scandalous nakedness) on the shower head! And, well, nothing quite as exciting on the electric scissors but it's neat nonetheless. 

Think anyone would want to buy this stuff?

shiny and new!

Can you believe this

and this

could turn back into this?

Impressive. Polka Dot Robot tells you how. I can think of a few things around this house that could use that kind of treatment. And if there are any great fixes for getting really old paint off of stained wood without messing it up, I would love to hear it. Whoever painted the inside of this house before us clearly did not care what the heck they were doing. It's sad.

I don't like anything on the internet today

It could be because I woke up at 4:30am this morning for work and know I have to wake up at 3:30am tomorrow morning. 

So here's a photo I took while I was waiting for my other opener to get to the store this morning. Old Town Alexandria before sunrise. At least it's pretty.

floor envy

I dream of the day we can afford to put new floors in the house. But until then, feast your eyes upon this beautiful wood flooring from Bolefloor. The planks have natural curves that follow the actual tree trunk growth, efficiently using more of the tree resulting in less waste and more amazing flooring.

That second picture with the orange ottoman and the book? In love.

just sing

Source: vi.sualize.us via Melissa on Pinterest

The complete library of housewifery

The time has finally come to start sorting through all of the crazy unusual things that were left behind in this house when we moved in. The old mattresses and disgusting couch were taken away yesterday (thank you mister!) and I can now get to some of the stuff we've been storing in that side room all winter. Other than some long expired canned food and National Geographics, I really had no idea what I would find out there. I was surprised and delighted by some of the things I discovered this morning and it makes me want to spend all day out there. The mister might be dismayed at how much I want to keep instead of putting it in the yard sale we're planning. Ooops! But it really is like the complete library of housewifery in there! Knitting and sewing and lace making, in both English and what I assume to be Hungarian. Cooking. Children's books (I think. Again, Hungarian). Even a "Furniture You Can Build" book with sketches but no explanation of how to make it. Many of these books deserve their own posts. Today you get cooking.

 

This lady clearly bought anything Better Homes and Gardens sold her. I love it.

But here's what really stuck out in the collection.

Microwave cooking! Gourmet microwave cooking! The Exciting World of microwave cooking! 

There is everything you could possibly ask for here. Hot dogs, sandwiches, casseroles? Yes. Meat loaf, lobster tails, bread, apple pie? Yes. It wasn't a true American household in the late 70's and 80's unless you were cooking in your microwave and loving it. Also, there is some fantastic kitchen inspiration to be found in these books. The pictures are amazing!

Now how could I be asked to part with this?

Oh, and one more thing. Definitely keeping this one. Published in 1969.

the cutest Easter project there ever was

Go ahead and whip up some of these little cuties from Not Martha... if you are so inclined.

Like an Easter egg and a pinata in one. Destruction and treats. Smiles all around.

dreaming of a tropical vacation

Our next vacation is due to be my choice, and we all know that my choice is laying around on a beach somewhere doing nothing. No question. I will choose this every time. Don't get me wrong I love the mountains, and the city is great and all, but we're talking beaches people!

So. With that settled, here are some lovely bathing suits to get you in the mood.

 

1. Anthropologie 2. J. Crew 3. J. Crew 4. Anthropologie

making a conscious effort to do more of this

Source: lostbirdfound.typepad.com via Chantra on Pinterest

almost ready!

First of all, this little bundle is like my own little baby. We have been working on them for months, getting ideas and inspiration, designing, gathering materials, and much trial and error in the production process. But they are finished. And I love them so much more for everything we put into them. For those of you who will be receiving them in the mail, I hope you love them as much as we do!

And it's all happening!

We got the first draft of our ceremony from the officiant the other day and  reading through it is so surreal. Yeah making plans to get pretty and have a big party is fun and all, but this is what it's all about. It's huge and serious and exciting and amazing! I'm still a little bit nervous about all the attention and everything, so I'm trying to consciously think less about all that and more about the marriage that comes after. That's my goal.

:)

feels like that

Source: None via Melissa on Pinterest

The inspiration has been a little bit lacking lately, so I apologize for not being around as much as I could be. These things pass, right?

Spring surprises!

Since we bought our house in the dead of winter we really have no idea what sort of landscaping is going on here. It's quite interesting watching it take shape! There's a group of strange alien plants that shot up a couple feet from out of nowhere (seriously, it's crazy), purple wildflowers COVERING our back yard (I suspect this most likely means bad things for the health of our grass but it is rather pretty), some trees that we thought hopeless have sprouted some green, and these bushes out back that are suddenly covered in little pink buds!

 

 

 

Pine Point

Hands down the most interesting thing on the internet. 

You can watch the trailer, but it doesn't do it justice and doesn't prepare you for the fact that you're about to spend an hour on the site. It's fascinating, thoughtful, engrossing, interactive, beautifully produced, moving. I haven't seen anything like it before. Just do yourself a favor and set aside some time to click the darned link!

Welcome to Pine Point

spotted at Poppytalk

oh em gee

Paper Record Player from kellianderson on Vimeo.

grabbed from Craft Magazine on Facebook

jewelry tree

I happen to need a new solution for jewelry storage/display. They are currently hanging on either side of the mirror on my dresser which is neither attractive nor functional. I don't necessarily think this is the perfect execution of this idea, but the idea itself is great!

Source: offbeathome.com via Sydney Kate on Pinterest

found on Pinterest

But on the off chance (extremely likely) that I end up not wanting to hang stuff all over my walls, have you seen any good jewelry stands out there?

super spectacular amazing-pants

Spotted over at Bleubird Vintage

loooooove

These are pretty much the best Save The Dates I have ever seen. It kind of makes me glad that we didn't do Save The Dates, because I would have serious Save The Date envy. (I refuse, by the way, to use the acronym for Save The Date. Just think about it. I cringe every time I see it used.)

Green Wedding Shoes

a stitch in time (yes, that was terrible. so terrible I could not resist)

Now that we're a few months into the year and it seems silly to be putting up a wall calendar at this point, it's safe for me to say how much I LOVE this one by Iwona Przybyla. After all, I would never use it and feel guilty about throwing it away at the end of the year, and thus it seems better not to get it at all. Because that's how I roll. And you couldn't get it even if you wanted to as it is a one of a kind creation.

Spotted on Twig & Thistle

scentspiration

Though it was not originally part of my errand list today, I ended up in the fragrance department picking out a perfume for my wedding day. It's one of those small details that just seem special to me. And I will not be getting an expensive mani pedi or having some fancy pants do my hair, so I'm allowed to splurge where I choose, right? Right.

I haven't been a huge perfume wearer, and certainly not a huge perfume buyer (let me tell you, there is a benefit to working retail and having constant access to perfume testers) but sometimes a girl just needs a good fragrance. I didn't even consider my old stand-bys from my Macy's working days (Lovely by Sarah Jessica Parker, Betsey Johnson) because they wouldn't be special enough. I needed something classic, something I have never worn before, something I could always think of in the future as what I wore on my wedding day.

The contenders:

Marc Jacobs Daisy Eau So Fresh

fresh, floral, citrus-y

Chanel No 5

the definition of classic

Chloe

powder fresh, rose scented, romantic

Which one would you choose? Or do you have another in mind? And is it crazy that I'm leaning away from the Marc Jacobs just because of the daisies on the bottle cap? They're a bit much for me. The other bottles seem like something I would like to have sitting on my dresser for years to come. Why do I have to be so particular about these details?

Sneak Peek

We did some screen printing last night, and after several unsuccessful trial runs we finally had SUCCESS! That's all you get to see for now. :)

To Read

Kind of excited to read Bossypants, the new memoir from Tina Fey. I love Tina Fey. I love memoirs. What could go wrong? (I'll tell you what could go wrong, it could be a little something like Gene Wilder's memoir. The man may well be a genius but I was disappointed to learn that he can't write to save his life.) And it's called Bossypants! Need I say more?

because you can't register for this stuff at Target

Lusting after these plates from Aedriel Originals spotted on Pinterest.

Dwell

Would you judge me if I set up a nursery in my home simply because I am absolutely smitten with Dwell Studio for kids and baby (and everything else Dwell for that matter), and because I think it fits perfectly with my house? The rest of the stuff that comes with the nursery, well, there's time.

it's better than a brown paper bag

If you read any craft or design blogs at all, chances are you have already seen these embroidered book covers for Penguin Classics by Jillian Tamaki.

Jillian Tamaki

For a split second I thought oh my goodness if those are really embroidered book covers I must go out and buy them immediately, but luckily for my wallet that is not really the case. They were indeed hand embroidered but merely copied (which seems obvious when you think about it for more than a split second) for mass production.

Those are great and all, but what gets me going even more than that:

Chez Beeper Bebe

For serious. Everyone always says you can't judge a book by its cover but I disagree entirely, and I have been known to go through a lot to get just the cover I want (like my copy of The Bell Jar printed in 1978). One thing I hate more than anything is books that have been made into movies which then feature the pictures from the movie on the book cover. Silly. Annoying. No good. I think I have one or two of those. But those lovely vintage Penguin classics up there? If you know where to find them I would be perfectly happy to receive them at a book themed bridal shower or a rainy Tuesday afternoon. I'm just sayin...