Missoni for Target: My Faves

Definitely nabbing a scarf if I can get my hands on one.  I cant wait!!

Our Life in Instagram: June

Scrapbooking our nighttime regimen: Gin Rummy!

Breakfast pizza

My sweet muffin

Tree coatrack I never blogged about (maybe someday…)

Me+Melting Pot=Happiness

Me+Noodles=Happines

Me+Sushi=Happiness

My adorable niece and nephew on a sunset hike…

…to a waterfall.

Amazing coconut & pineapple cake my coworkers surprised me with on my last day.  So sweet!

I’m a pretty talented artist.

Lots of change in our lives over the past month.  All good stuff, but overwhelming nonetheless. Will be back to update y’all soon.

Sincerely, Jules

My most recent fashion blogger crush is on Jules from Sincerely, Jules.  I can’t even begin to pinpoint what her style is, but every outfit she puts together incorporates high and low pieces, vintage, a little class, and a little sass.  I’m also in love with her awesome hair.

Tags: Blogger, Fashion, Sincerely Jules

Making Do

If there is one thing I have loved seeing over the course of this looooong recession, it’s the sense of making do with what one has that I’ve seen people (in real life & in blogland) adopting a lot more frequently.  Picture perfect catalog type rooms have been replaced with rooms filled with found objects and diy projects.  And you know what?  I have found that I enjoy the latter much much more!  Borne out of necessity, I think people are getting more creative, more industrious, and more stylish on a tight budget.

Here are just a couple of my favorite “making do” projects:

More gorgeous than the most lavish of ice buckets.

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Who doesn’t have an old hose or two lying around?

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Sweet DIY letterpress stationary using mushrooms.

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Re-purposed palletes & crates become lovely shelving with a little elbow grease.

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Hand-stamped tea towels cost about the same to make as a piece of nice wrapping paper runs and last forever (er, a long time!).

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Puts everything at Petco to shame!   Bonus: Cheap vintage suitcases are super easy to find in thrift stores, especially in less than perfect condition.

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A family heirloom for the price of a 2×4 and some black paint.

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Cheeky Weekly: Father’s Day Edition

1) Cheeky cufflinks:

Available here.

2) Cheeky chart of beer types:

Available here.

3) Cheeky toiletries case (aka drop bag):

Seen here.

4) Cheeky camera you can mount on a helmet, wakeboard, boat, etc..

Available here.

5) Cheeky gift basket idea: The makings for a gourmet gin & tonic (Hendricks Gin, Q Tonic Water, fresh limes, cute vintage rocks glasses).

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6) Cheeky wrapping paper theme: Mustaches!Available: here.

7) Cheeky class to sign the dad in your life up for: Homebrewing

8) Cheeky father’s day weekend activity:

Go camping:)

9) Cheeky Father’s Day snack:

Whiskey & beer cupcakes via Smitten Kitchen

10) Cheeky Father’s Day DIY: Map Covered deer head

Start with a kit from here & cover in maps or whatever suits his fancy.

Tags: Camping, Cufflinks, Father's Day, Gift Ideas, Go Pro Camera, Homebrewing, Pop Chart, Wrapping Ideas

Daydreaming: Vintage Campers

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Tags: airstream, camper, motorhome, rv, trailer, Vintage

Our Life in Instagram: May

Tar being his sleepy self

champagne on Mother’s Day

waiting patiently for the ice cream to be done;)

my cute hubby at his graduation, so proud!

Sean’s sweet parents

post-graduation ceremony

showing off the tassel

my fave beer at the moment

very first blackberry & it tasted so good (Sean & I shared)

picture of a picture & my favorite new toy

our sweet $50 K-mart pool

memorial day beverages

pretty Lilly…muggin’

thrifted Reader’s Digest books with lovely binding and covers

DIY: sparkle manicure (blogging about this soon)

our nightly ritual of gin rummy.  nothing like a little intense rivalry before bed to keep a marriage lively, lol.

Tags: instagam photos, our life in instagram, Photography

Mellow Yellow

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Tags: Bathroom, Dining Room, Home Decor, Interior Design, Living Room, yellow

On Dreams

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You may have noticed from the content of my blog that I am a bit of a dreamer.  In my opinion, having dreams, big dreams, is a fulfilling part of life.  Just asking yourself what you want out of life forces you to discover the things that you should put at the forefront of your life right now.

I always have been a dreamer & the content of my dreams hasn’t strayed much from when I was a kid.  My dreams then were, in this order: 1) be a doctor 2) own a hotel so I could swim in the pool.  It never occurred to me that if I was a doctor, I could probably have a pool of my very own:)  While I no longer have aspirations of being a doctor (my sis will hopefully fulfill that dream for me), my dreams of owning a hotel or restaurant and having a pool to swim in are solidly in tact.

The most important things in the world to me are the safety, happiness, and health of all my family and friends.  If everyone I love, including our future children, get to live long, fulfilling, faith-filled lives, then all of my real dreams will have been fulfilled.  I also have some shorter range goals such as buying a home, traveling & going on adventures with my husband, building up my blog and Etsy shop, working on my photography skills,  and growing a garden that are important to me. The meat of this blog post, however, are dreams of the wildest variety.  These are the really fun, frivolous, motivating, crazy dreams!

Here are my dreams (don’t laugh, they are lofty):

1) Go to culinary school & also get my masters in sustainable agriculture/agribusiness.

2) Start an organic farm/restaurant/winery/microbrewery – Basically a restaurant where everything on the menu is either grown, raised, or made in house or sourced from local companies.  Attached to this dream is to possibly open up a small hotel or group of cabins and offer farming/wine making camps.

3) Open up a little shop full of vintage and handmade or local artisan goodies.  I want it to be the kind of place where you would go knowing 100% you could find a birthday gift for your best friend.

4) Start a shelter for families that have a strong desire to provide for themselves but do not have the means to get there.  We would provide an address to put down on job applications, resume and interview counseling, professional clothing, & most importantly the stability (place to sleep, warm food) to allow the family to focus on getting on their own two (or four, or six, or eight, or…) feet.  After they find employment, we would also help them to find housing and provide references.

5) I still want that POOL!

What are your wildest dreams?

Doily DIY: 5 Cute Projects

DIY instructions here

DIY instructions here

Unless you can read German, you will need to do a quick Google translating.  Once in your own language, the process appears  surprisingly simple, and the materials are available for pretty cheap on Amazon; however, I haven’t spotted the plaster in any of my local craft stores.

Via: Pinterest

No instructions for this one but I figure the process is basically the following: Find some vintage doilies (or new doilies), determine your layout, and carefully tack stitch them together.

Availiable here

No instructions for this one either but from other DIY doily rug tutorials I have read , you just need to find a doily pattern you like and follow it with heavy cotton cording and either a giant crochet hook or your fingers.  I’m hoping to finally tackle this type of a project soon and do a step-by-step tutorial for the blog.

DIY instructions here

This is more of a holiday project but, hey, it’s never too early to plan for the holidays!

Tags: Crochet, Doily, doily lamp, doily rug, doily runner, doily wreath, pendant lamp, wreath