Happy Thanksgiving!

I was in a terrible mood earlier this week. My enthusiastic attitude resulting from winning an amazing scarf give-away ( from this awesome shop--check out her blog!) was dashed when my camera broke. And by broke, I mean it literally fell on the ground and will not be working anytime soon. BUT, how can I let this get me down when there is so much I should be thankful for today?

I saw this on the DvF facebook page and thought it was tres chic and tres appropriate. I think I will make a list for myself today! I hope everyone has a happy and healthy Thanksgiving with their loved ones!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes!

Yours truly is terrible at maintaining a blog! This should not be news to you, but it is strange considering I enjoy creating posts of my favorite things and new trends and that reading blogs is part of my daily routine. I think my priorities have gotten a little out-of-focus (but that is a topic for a whole other blog... focused on therapy! hehe) but something about feeling settled after the big move has made me want to realign the important things (and the fun things) in my life to hold a higher place on my "totem pole of focus"... In an effort to inject a little change in my life, I took a fun class this semester, I am creating a home office, (hopefully better and more consistent posts will result!), and I put in my two weeks notice at work....which is terrifying, but I know it will be good for me. I have been working a ton and will be up until the end (which is Sunday), so sorry for the lack of posts, but I will have plenty of time for posting when I am free! And unemployed (read: heart palpitation)!

In the meanwhile, I am looking for sweaters and warm wear and have been looking for ways to incorporate fun trends into my winter wardrobe. (How can I make a snow suit look less like... a snow suit??) We all know southwestern prints are having a moment and I have been enjoying the Pendleton "Portland Collection" lookbook for that reason:

Just one of the looks. But see the rest here.

I have also been spending an inordinate amount of my free (and "should be doing productive things") time on Pinterest. If any of you are on the site and I don't follow you yet, holla at your girl because I love discovering new boards. Check out my boards here and if you aren't on Pinterest yet, leave me a comment and I will invite you :)

  

I hope that this pre-Thanksgiving week finds everyone happy and healthy and to all of you peeps with M-F, 9-5 jobs--- it's almost Friday! ;)

PS- I will be in the Chicago 'burbs for Thanksgiving, any suggestions for fun and fantastic happenings that weekend? I would normally go shopping to get my Zara-fix,etc, but Black Friday + Chi-Town just seems like unnecessary stress! Maybe one of those flea markets is happening? Or something involving hot cocoa? hehe

Happy Halloween!

This year I am working late, so I left candy in a bowl near the door for the Bf to hand out to kiddies...if there are any? (As it is our first Halloween in our new neighborhood, we have no idea if any kids will ring our bell)  Although I put (a minute amount of) effort into the candy-prep, I have not decorated or even thought about a costume. Instead, I have been spending my precious free hours before work searching for heeled loafers... not so festive, but really fun, I assure you! I have seen two fun pairs with great tassels on blogs recently and now have the itch to get a pair of my own.

When I saw these on  Saucy Glossie, I immediately loved that these heeled loafers are very lady-like, but have an exaggerated tassel for a bit of fun:

But how cool is this super bold Alexander Wang pair from the ManRepeller?!

I think that a trip to the craft store is in order today, too, so I can make these earrings that I saw on I Spy DIY. These would be so fun to wear and are pretty simple to make! (Or I might just be addicted to embroidery thread projects like this one)...

Happy Halloween, everyone! I hope today is as spooky (or not spooky) as you can handle!

{Sketchy} Flea Finds!

I am not a flea market junkie, I swear! But my haul from this last weekend begs to differ ;) I went to not one, but two flea markets (junkie denial seems even more weak now, yes?) and totally scored!

I have been trying to find a desk chair for my slowly-coming-together office and was debating on whether to go modern or vintage. The zig-zag rug (post on that here) is modern, but I am refinishing an antique door from the 1920's to use as the table top for my desk, so the room is a mix of modern and vintage. My debate on which direction to go with the chair was settled when I found this chair waiting for me at the flea market:

 And with a price tag of only $6, I had to take it home with me! (You can see a little bit of the antique door in the background. Hopefully I get it refinished this century!) I think I can incorporate more modern touches with the other furniture and textiles to create a good sense of balance... 

I also found:

I also got these candlesticks for $2. I can't wait to have a variety of silver and crystal holders for tapers and tealights to make a variety of fun arrangements, and these are a great start to my collection.

 And last but not least, I found this cool work on canvas that is sketchy-- in a good way. The frame is a little junky and it needs a light cleaning, but I love this painting, and at $3, the decision to purchase wasn't much of a decision!

Close-up of the vague, sketchy lines.

So I spent $11 total and got a chair, candlesticks and a painting...maybe I am a flea market junkie! That is all for this week, which my garage is happy about because it would like to store cars instead of furniture projects one of these days.... Any design suggestions for the office?

It's almost Friday-- hang in there, everyone!!!

The Coveteur in the Fashion Offices of Rachel Zoe

What a great way to start the week! RZ's show is one of my guilty pleasures, although I wish they would spend less time on Rodg and RZ picking at each other and more time in her vintage archives. The Coveteur's post for today includes looks from said vintage archives as well as shots of her work space, which made me go "bananas" ;) I wish I had my own "branding office"!!

 Shoes. Shoes. Shoes. I die ;)

I love that she puts statement rings that coordinate with nail colors on the bottle of polish.
Effective and attractive organization-- I want to do this!

 

 The "branding office"...I will take one of these along with 300 pairs of shoes, thanks.



All photos from The Coveteur. Check out the post here. So, do you love RZ or are you over the dramatics of Team Zoe? In any case, I hope everyone's week has started out on the right (well-heeled) foot ;)

Autumnal Embrace ;)

Something is in the air...!  (Besides clouds, pollution and the usuals). I have always thought of autumn as depressing, what with the changing leaves plummeting to the ground-- soldiers in blazing hues perishing in the battle to keep the cold at bay, but people love it. Maybe the cider drinking and pumpkin carving is our last hurrah before resigning ourselves to inevitable hermitage of winter? Let's just say I didn't "get it" until recently. I was enlightened during the camping trip the weekend before last (oh, that fresh air works wonders) and from my experience on Tuesday, my random day-off during the week. I was in the kitchen cooking my usual breakfast (AKA, open almond milk. Pour over cereal. Consume. Complete.) and I had the windows open to take advantage of the fantastic indian summer (is that PC? Everyone says it here, but I just don't know!) of a day when I heard the leaves falling from the trees. That's right-- heard-- the leaves. No one talks about this part! I get the beautiful colors and the breathtaking tragedy of their graceful arch of death and yadda yadda, but the soft, sad, final sound of the leaves connecting with the slight cushion of grass, the slightest breath of air mixed with the tiniest crinklely crunch in a instantaneous-yet-completely-unhurried moment was almost moving. If I had not opened the windows and it had not been the witching-hour between rush hour and mid-morning errand runs, the hour when the street is quiet without vehicle or foot traffic, I would have missed the sound.

Spurred by the intent desire to capture something of the moment, I went outside and gathered up leaves (I probably looked crazy picking them one by one off the lawn, but I had to get the good ones!). Yellows from our tree mixed with the red leaves that traveled over from our neighbor's yard and when I looked at the collection I had amassed in my hands, I knew I would make a wreath. Now, this wreath is not an art project I would normally lay claim to, but it was fun and although it won't last forever (I assume this because I have never made a wreath before and I hold no illusions about my skills in this area) it was a great craft that kept me from shopping for an hour ;)

Here are some pictures of the camping trip that inspired my "autumnal embrace"-- which is what I decided to call the wreath. Just now. I am a genius and so full of it ;) And some pictures of the wreath itself at the end:

 Green trees with a dash of red leaves--something tells me fall is coming!

 After we got home I was obsessed by the table scape I could have made at camp. If I was camping with Martha Stewart and we weren't, like, you know, camping.

 Sneaky-peaky at the layering of leaves...

And the final product. I should have mixed the different colors in a haphazard fashion, but I had intended to make an ombre wreath, but then didn't have the necessary color gradation (Sigh. Nature, can you help a sistah out?!?) Anyway, I enjoy it for two unexpected reasons: 1- It hangs over the square glass peephole in the front door, so when you look out the peephole, it frames your face and you look like a crazy, flamboyant lion and 2- I went to ASU and the bf went to UofA, which he argues is the better school (which is obviously false) -- so a wreath proudly bearing the maroon and gold colors of my ASU Sundevils is hanging on his front door  is hilarious to me! We'll see if he puts that together before the leaves crumble away ;)

What makes you all twitterpated for autumn? Any cheesy crafts you want to admit to? And don't worry, this will hopefully turn back into a fashion blog next week ;) Happy Friday!!

Monday: Gettin' Down to Business...Sort-Of...

I am on my lunch break catching-up on what's happened in the blog-o-sphere this weekend. I went "camping" this weekend with the Bf and his coworkers (and their respective significant others) and had a blast. (I wrote "camping" bc we stayed in a rustic cabin with five sets of bunk beds and a heater, so it wasn't camping in the strictest sense, but it was "roughing it" compared to everyday life!) I am sorting through the pictures-- why do I take so many blurry pictures of leaves every time I am in the wilderness?!?!?-- and will post if there are any good ones (no promises!) but during my sorting I ran across a recent DIY project that I thought I'd share. I didn't include step-by-step pictures because I made this on lunch break at work, (I have gotten really productive during lunch, haven't I?) but I love how easy it was to make!

Ta-Da!

Here is somewhat of a close-up:

 

I have seen these on the wrists of many-a-fab blogger but only just felt like making one when I found an old chain I haven't used for a project in a long time. If you want to make one for yourself just grab an old, chunky chain (or a cheap, new chain) and two colors of embroidery thread. I simply knotted one color thread down each side of the chain....really, that's it. I am excited to wear my new bracelet because the changing seasons have me defaulting to a wardrobe palette of charcoal and black. At least I will have a little color in my outfits while I work on this whole "changing seasons" and "layering-for-necessity-rather-than-aesthetics" thing ;)

Hope everyone is having a great Monday, (well, as good as a Monday can get), and let me know if you have tried this DIY project before or if you have any layering tips!!!