This weekend

This weekend, I believe Marc and I singlehandedly--I guess that would be doublehandedly, technically--pulled the U.S. economy out of this nasty recession. What started out low key enough with a BYOB Indian dinner on Friday ended in an ORGY OF RETAIL CONSUMPTION (albeit a very tame one).

It was a good weekend (Except for the fight we got in Sunday night at Target about leggings. What have you done to the fabric of America, Lindsay Lohan?)


I got these adorable clogs on sale at Anthropologie, which means they were still expensive, just not as high as my portion of the mortgage. They're so very comfortable and I think it's true love. If you're a size 7 or 9, they can be yours too. We can be shoe twins.

No pictures yet, but I also stopped by the Jayson Home and Garden warehouse sale and picked up an old schoolhouse light to install above our kitchen sink. Right now, we have one of those Ikea Fado deals up there. It's not bad, but it's super hard to change the lightbulb and it's kind of blah and filthy.

Jayson Home and Garden is kind of like the Anthropologie of home stores. Stratospherically out of my budget, but it was kind of fun and worth it to go to the warehouse sale for this one item. Plus, there were ladies with dogs in their purses there, which makes any shopping experience extra fancy. Was the light as cheap as a Fado? No way man, but it was a steal at $99 vs. its original $550 (say what!) price tag.


It's not unlike something you'd find at Schoolhouse Electric, but it's the prettiest pale jade green.

Not to be outdone, Marc went and bought himself a bike.


It's so pretty. I usually don't like new bikes (I had my grandma's 1960s Schwinn until it got stolen a few years ago, and I replaced it with the exact same bike in red), but it's a really simple and lovely thing. No joke, people were nudging each other and pointing at the bike and stopping him to ask about it when he was walking down the street yesterday. It was like he was strolling around with a super hot lady. My clogs and I were a little jealous.

So all of our consumption may mean we're going to be eating lots of canned goods and spending quality time with ye olde Netflix queue, which is more than fine by me. It's getting to be about that time of year in Chicago when everyone hibernates anyway. Ugh. Sick of it.

P.S. Posting may be light this week (not that it hasn't been this whole year...but hey, blogging is something free I can do, right?). I'll be in New York until Sunday for work. Have a great week, everybody!

P.P.S. I almost forgot--I dyed some chunks of my hair pink! It's so fun. Circa 2000, Gwen Stefani, look out! I'm coming for you!

Three Snaps in a Z Formation!

Well, I let August zip past me, didn't I? It's one week until the wedding, and I feel like I should be freaking out more (or at all), but I think everything will fall into place. The only thing I'm really concerned about is the weather, and since I can't really do a damn thing about that, it's time to just chill. At the end of the day, Marc and I will be married and with any luck, everyone will have had at least a teensy-weensy drop of fun. That's all that really matters. I can't wait to see the people I love!

Stuff that's bothering me these days:
1. Cauliflower. Sick sick sick.
2. When people hang guitars on their walls.
3. My cat Harvey digging up all the new plants I'm trying to start in the windowsill. Haven't the squirrels done enough!?!?!
4. Hard water stains on old jars. After trying to clean them, I smell like a disgusting cocktail of Efferdent, Goo Gone and Vinegar. Very sexy.
5. How the library won't even let you reserve a book until you pay your fine. Can't I just pay it when I come in to fetch the book?

Stuff I love these days:
1. Triple Ginger snaps from Trader Joe's (when I eat them, I think of In Living Color)
2. The shake weight Marc was given at his man shower (except for when the time I used it and hit myself in the face)
3. Friends who know you so well it's shocking
4. White marble countertops. Obsessed.
5. My new water carafe (thanks, Leah!)

What's happening with all y'all?

(image via Design*Sponge)

Engaged in some marrymaking

It's super weird for me to be as writer's-blocked as I have been for the last few months. I thought at first I'd just go with it and let myself have some time to ramp up to writing new posts and keeping in touch. That doesn't seem to be working at all, since this corner of the web is about as dusty and neglected as the top of my fridge.

So I think I'm going to have to put myself on a schedule and post something up here every day...at least until I get my blogging discipline back.

It's not that there's nothing happening. Tons, actually:

1. I turned--gulp--30. I guess since I put this out there on the Internet, there's no lying about my age option anymore.
2. My reward from Marc for making it to my fourth decade was a sweet-ass Nikon SLR camera. I guess this means I'll have to challenge myself to take nice pictures and post them here. I guess this also means the old Minolta is staying at the suburban Steak N' Shake indefinitely.
3. Oh yeah...Marc and I also got engaged. On my birthday on the Ferris wheel at Navy Pier! It was wonderful and fun and I feel like the luckiest girl in the world these days.

...so I suppose that means I could torture you loyal readers who still check back from time to time and turn this into an OMFGWEDDING! blog. But I promise not to...well, not too much anyway.

Seriously, though. Our plan is to have a lil' civil service ceremony at the Chicago Cultural Center ($10, yo!), followed by a nice cocktail party reception for some family and friends. Not janky, but not break-the-bank expensive, either. If anyone has any tips or suggestions, give them to me. I'm begging! I've called about 10 restaurants and go through my spiel about doing this without picking up a bridal magazine or attending a wedding expo, and just when I think the event coordinator gets it, he or she starts trying to give me vendor information for lighting technicians, aisle decorators and trolley rental services.

It's really starting to freak me out. So much so that, in the face of wrangling so many vendors and writing a big old stack of checks, committing my life to one special person seems like a piece of (tiered, overpriced) cake.

In my orbit

This

= mine. At half price!

(I still owe Design Crisis props for bringing this light fixture into my world.)

I got 5 on it

If anyone is just tuning in, here's the second half of the 10 things that make me happy that I began yesterday.

Obviously, there's tons more I could write about (Craigslist, Red Bull, Harold and Maude, Papa John's pizza, "that's what she said" jokes, Intervention, but I think that's all been pretty well documented in my real life or my online life here on my Internet diary friend).

On to the list...

5. Belgian beer. I can't drink it too often because I need my clothes to fit. But it's so delicious. One of my favorite Saturdays is when we go to beer school at the Map Room.

It's getting really popular, so it's sold out the last few times we've tried to attend. But really, what's better than drinking and learning?

4. Terrariums. My love for plants has also been well documented on this site, but I'm adding them again because they're so important to my well-being.


I love having bursts of life around the house--especially in the winter. It makes everything somehow feel more fresh and alive.

3. This is kind of a two-for-one entry: My co-workers and snacks.


They spelled my name out in donuts for my last day at my current job. Everyone wants their name spelled in lights, but pastries suit me just fine! How literally/figuratively sweet is this?

2. While I'll miss a lot about my job, I'm super excited to kick things off here. I feel so lucky to have this opportunity; it's basically a dream job for me. Plus, everyone has been so nice so far, and I can't wait to be working with some crazy gorgeous stuff.

1. And finally, the three amigos, the main guys in my life: Otis, Harvey and Marc.


They're the cutest, most fun roommates ever...even if they have their faults (howling incessantly at 3 am, digging up plants, being a finicky eater, respectively). They're the best trio in the world to come home to every day!

I'm going to tag someone else today too! Jess at The Wife of an Artist, you're up!

Lucky 10

Erin at the fabulous Design Crisis tagged me to round up ten things that make me happy. Right now, I'm wrapping up things at my current job all while learning the ropes for my new gig,which involves a big gear switch and two trade shows in the next week. So things have been more than a little hectic for the past two weeks or so. Adding this round up as just one more task to my gigantico to-do list almost sent me over the edge...until I started doing it.

Seriously, so much drama is making me focus on all the irritating things such as the fact that if I don't do laundry tonight, my swimwear is going to have to pull double duty as undergarments. Which in turn makes me think about cellulite remedies, which drives me to the kitchen in search of chocolate. Good God, I am such a Cathy cartoon these days.

Anywhoodle, taking stock of what makes me sigh and smile is much more therapeutic than dwelling on everything that makes my shoulders hunch up and my left eye twitch. Thanks, Erin. I needed this!

Ok, here goes. I made a point to not make this all about food. It was tough.

10. Indian food. With lots of Naan in particular. I'm craving it like whoa.


9. Grenada tiles.



Love love love. I would possibly tile my bed and my sofa in some of these patterns. And I think a lot of the appeal of these is their old-worldliness. Mostly, they make me want to take a trip to Greece or Turkey.

8. Design Vagabond. Great design blog from an industrial designer who manages to find awesome stuff that's not reported on other sites ad nauseum.


Here's an example post on wonderful Crudo ceramics.

7. Writers who are so hilarious they make me laugh so hard I forget to be jealous. I'm thinking of Tula from Whorange and April Winchell at Regretsy. Those two are always good for a pick-me-up.

6. Speaking of bloggers, I am madly in love with this Patrick Townsend Orbit Light (in white) and am determined to get with it and hang it somewhere fabulous in my house.


I never knew how badly I wanted it in my life before I saw it on DC, so thanks for that, ladies. And thanks for making me cheer myself up today.

This is so fun I'm going to stretch it into two posts--top 5 to come tomorrow.

Even though I'm only halfway done, I'm tagging Melina at Owl and Peacock. And I'm expecting at lest one cheese-related entry.

Yo la tengo

Sorry for the general quietness around here...busy times, folks.

That's why I'm going to rewind and talk about stuff that happened almost a month ago! Santa got it all wrong this year and thought I was good enough to deserve some seriously awesome Christmas gifts. Here are some snaps of the shelf I really, really wanted.

I think it's doing an superb job of housing some of the crap I drag home on an almost-daily basis.

You can also see another jazzy gift peeking out of the corner of this picture.

My parents were so thoughtful and got me this wonderful mini tabletop photo studio thing that includes some great lights, a itsy-bitsy tripod, a light tent and an assortment of different colored backdrops. The cats are really enjoying naps in the light tent, but the tabletop lights alone have been worth it for photographing things for the shop. Such a sweet gift!

Hey, punkins

What am I thankful for?



In short, YOU!

It's that time of year to say thanks, so heeeere we go. Thank you to everyone who stops by and reads what I ramble on about here and thank you to everyone who comments to let me know you're out there and hats off to everyone who takes time out to keep up his or her own blog. You're all a source of laughter, enjoyment and inspiration to me and I appreciate it all.

We have a month to go, but 2009 has been one of my happiest years so far (2002 comes in close second), so I want to send a big thank-you out to the universe. This year I:

- Moved into a home I love with the guy I love and it's been a dream. Every day has been better than the last, and I can't imagine doing this without him.

- For the most part, my friends and loved ones have spent their days healthy and happy.

- Managed so lose some baggage that I never realized had been dragging me down quite so much.

- Traveled to some magical places and experienced new things I'll never forget (until I get Alzheimer's).

- Finally feel like I'm on the track to finding what I want to do with my life, big picture style. Not to be confused with Big Willie Style.

- For the first time in forever, I'm really looking forward to a holiday season full of good times with family and friends and pretty much devoid of stress and expectations. And I CAN'T WAIT.

- Through this tiny corner of the Internet, I've been lucky enough to correspond with--and meet!--some incredibly creative, kind and super cool people. I love making new friends!

Lucky. I have a lot to be thankful for, and one of those big things is you right there reading this. Thank you and have a fabulous long weekend!

What do you have to be smiling about these days? I'd love to hear.

(Image via Recovering Lazyholic)

Fall brings out the nostalgia

Aww. Look, it's my old bedroom on Apartment Therapy.

I can't believe it's been a year since I took that photo (or that I only ended up living in that apartment for about six months).

I never would have thought that in less than a year's time, I'd be shacked up with my boyfriend (sinners!) and sharing the joys and pains of home ownership(hello, very expensive window bars to keep out would-be robbers. Oh, didn't I tell you? Someone slit the screen in our kitchen window and tried to shimmy in to steal stuff. While I was home most of the day. Literally the day before we left the country for a week. Awesome times! Luckily, s/he was thwarted by our window locks and a vigilant neighbor. But still, the bars are worth it.)

So many changes. It makes me wonder what these next 12 months will bring. And it makes me curious: What big changes did you experience in the past year? And what are your hopes for the coming months?

I wasn't quite expecting to end up behind bars, but it's not quite a gilded cage either.

Ok everybody, get ready

Sorry to do this to you so early on a Monday, but I'm about to get sickeningly cooey and lovey-dovey.

Don't say you haven't been warned. Barf bags are available in the seat pocket in front of you.

Remember those windows I painted with chalkboard paint a bit back?

Well, Marc is a brilliant genius and hung two of them for me last night:


Mr. Dreamboat in action:


He even left me a nice love note this morning (along with a message from the cats).


Now that we have these hung and in use, I'm hoping that I can put up a really hard math problem and Matt Damon will come over and clean our place before he solves it.

Chalkboard + locker bins + entomology book plate + philately letterpress + plants = back-to-school NERD corner. I love it!

And I adore Marc for making it happen. Thanks, tiger!

To make matters even schmoopier, it will be three years to the day of our first date in a couple of weeks. I decided we should mark this auspicious occasion all month long.

So I made a banner of all the cards we've sent each other over the last three years and hung it in the doorway between our kitchen and living room. Feel free to avert your eyes now:


Here's a picture looking into the living room:

Aww.

Ok, back to our regular schedule of things I want to buy/random junk I pick up all over town.

I heart Paper Heart

Marc and I went to a screening of this movie tonight:
Super, super cute, everybody. It comes out next month, so go see it if it looks good to you.

It's late (yes, 10:30 is late for me sometimes) so read what the movie's site has to say for synopsis. Sorta documentary, a little bit of a romantic comedy and just a smidge puppet show, this movie helped pull me out of a mid-week funk. I thought it was really funny and a lot different from anything I've seen in dog's years.

I hope you like it too!

P.S. Sorry if all of the videos lately are annoying. I took the five minutes it takes to figure out what "embed" means and now I'm like a kid with a new toy right after Christmas.

I let the Internet tell me what to buy

And usually it turns out reasonably well.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who loves Mindy Kaling's blog Things I Bought That I Love. I don't read it often, but it's so cute and endearing and--of course--funny. The last time I read it, she wrote about Frenched, a bright red lipstick from Benefit. Well, Frenched has been rattling around my head for the last couple of months so I finally picked up a tube at lunch today.

Guys, it's a really great color.

A rich, retro red that I agree would probably look good with a spectrum of complexions (fyi I'm a whiter shade of pale than you are).

Despite/because of the name of this blog, I actually hadn't previously owned any lipstick. I do tend to get even the sheerest of lip gloss all over my teeth and even sometimes on my chin. I'm not nearly as glamorous as I am clumsy and awkward. My life is like having lipstick on your teeth: You make some effort but something is always askew. And it's ok. Everybody's more at ease when there's a flaw. It's real life and pained perfection is uncomfortable (see Exhibit A)

So what I'm saying is this. If you see me out and about with my lovely new Frenched lips, it's pretty likely that I'll have some smears on my cheek, eyelid, whatever. I'll get better at lipstick wrangling over time, but in the meantime hand me a tissue. I'm excited to try this!

Two times a charm?

Really, Mighty Haus? You posted the same thing I did last week? Again?

This is the coolest I've felt in years. This event is a lot like the time Andy Davis, the boy I had a crush on in the first grade, not only came to my 7th birthday party but also brought me a really awesome gift in that it was most likely unintentional but still pretty snazzy.

More happy things: The "Come on shake your body, baby, do that Conga!" edition

1. The ever-more AMAZING flower spikes on my aloe and sanseveieria (mother-in-law’s tongue) plants:


I can’t wait for the blooms.

2. This book: All Families are Psychotic. I decided to read it (affectionately) in honor of my trip home last weekend and loved it. I recommend! Someone brilliant should make it into a movie. It would be a fun one to watch.

3. Sunday dinner at Smoke Daddy with 312 (It’s 4U). I love you, cornbread.

4. Poetic Licence shoes. I just ordered two pairs. Oh my god. Shoes. See also: Let me borrow that top.

5. Ripping a bunch of free jazz from my dad’s CD collection. Too bad my computer’s battery died before I could grab all the jams from his Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine albums.

6. A coworker giving me free cat food “just because I showed up at work on a Friday.”

7. Plans to pick up a great little teak dining table (with leaves!) that I got for a song on Craigslist.

8. Finding out why Damen Avenue used to be Robey Avenue.

9. This text I got first thing this morning (sent last night): “Overheard at Empty Bottle just now: ‘We’re kinda looking to leak a sex tape. You into that?’ Made me laugh.”

10. Not being born into the Baekeland family.

13 things that are making me happy right now

1. Going to Happy Village AND Inner Town to play ping pong AND Silver Strike Bowling this weekend.

2. Baking three loaves of banana bread and making pecan-filled, strawberry-topped pancakes on Saturday morning.

3. Finding out MoMA will have an exhibit on modular housing when I'm in New York next month.

4. "Sorry you're bad, but better luck next year" horseshoe and four-leaf clover t-shirts from our euchre league organizer.

5. Ever-elusive flower spikes on some of my plants (photos to come)and new weird plants

6. Exploring Chicago from a high, hidden angle (photos to come)and not getting arrested (or flashing anyone, for that matter)

7. FABRIC (see below), sandpaper and stains (in English chestnut, of course)

8. Milk Duds

9. $50 faaaancy restaurant gift cards for no reason

10. Hop, Skip and Go Naked

11. My favorite passage from the book I'm reading right now: "...we'd all be so lucky to wind up a punching bag and still find our crates full of Birds of Paradise." So true, so true....whatever it means.

12. Emulating Laura Zehetner in Brick when I get my feather hair clip (as seen at Mighty Goods)

Though I think this is more of a fall look. Annnnd I'll need some more dramatic eye make up. Oh! And we can't forget JGL.

13. No Red Bull at all this weekend! I just realized that. I can't believe that happened.