Put A Lid On It

My new hat. Cute, huh?

I bought a hat at Target the other day. It is a summer fedora but I couldn’t pass it up because I love hats. Frequently, however, hats don’t love me back… They are too small or the wrong shape for my face or some other weird thing. This hat fits perfectly and looks good on me, so how could I pass that up? Plus, since it’s off season I got it for a mere $3.88 + tax. Can you beat that?

While I’m happy with that purchase, what I really went in there for was to see if I could find some Fall/Winter accessories so I could stay warm during these chilly seasons. One small problem: I was totally underwhelmed by Target’s offerings this year. That really bummed me out because Target is my go-to place for fashionable, reasonably priced accessories.

So… I had to start looking elsewhere. I admit that so far I’ve only looked online. But I’ve found some stuff that is funky and fun enough for me to be happy with! Here’s what I found:

Kate Spade NY 'Big Apple' hat and convertible mittens @Nordstrom.

I really love the tinge of color on the edges of Kate Spade’s mitten/trapper hat combo and it’s a wool blend so it’s probably super warm. Honestly, the $80+ per piece price range isn’t too terribly realistic right now, so…

Old Navy's 'Color Block' & 'Super Soft Sweater' cold weather accessories.

Old Navy comes to the rescue! All of these pieces are $15 or less… and prove conclusively that I love green! While I do like these pieces the set I found online that I love the most is this multi-color set from Kohl’s.

'Zigzag' slouchy hat and infinity scarf @Kohl's.

I really like the ribbed chevron on the Zigzag set, don’t you? Well, the search continues… Where do you get your cold winter accessories from?

Have a good weekend, everyone! Until next time…

Strange Librarian…

I totally admit that this is out of left field. To be honest I was planning on going in a different direction when I started playing around with the Etsy Treasury tool… but that green scarf had “crazy, scary, sexy librarian” written all over it and the rest is Etsy Treasury gold. Well, I think so anyway!

My inner Halloweenista has stepped out into the October night!

Prelude to Halloween? Maybe… Could just be insomnia. Check out the treasury and tell me what you think. Until next time!

The Drawing Board…

I’m terrible about projects sometimes… You’ll remember how a few weeks ago, I showed you the lamps I bought that I wanted to do the neon + neutral bottle wrap project on? Well, when I went to Lowes to pick up the masons line (neon yellow and pink nylon) and twine to do the project, I didn’t like it! So now, I’ve got to back to the drawing board on that lamp project. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it now. I definitely want to paint it because brown is not a color I’m fond of (even though the brown on my lamp is a dark, glossy chocolate brown and not at all ugly). Since I’m bankrupt for a solid idea for the lamp, I’ve decided to try and do some planning for the desk I bought a while back:

Craig’s List desk.

It needs serious work! At first I thought that I wanted to do a standard white or ivory paint job on it but after seeing this room by Kimberly Ayres design (thank God for Google image search, btw! I actually first saw this picture on a blog without a photo credit and it took me ages to figure out who designed the room).

The main inspiration for my CL desk find is this room by Kimberly Ayres Design.

High gloss mint would look great on my desk, don’t you think? I think it would look awesome. I’ve been gathering paint chips for the perfect shade of mint green. Today I started looking for drawer pulls because I don’t really like the original pulls. I found these at Anthropologie:

Sardinia Knob, $12 each at Anthropologie.com.

I’m hoping to find some decent sized unpolished square brass backplates for the knobs to sit on. I think that’d look nice on the flat edges of the drawers. I’ve also wanted to use some of the metallic fine papers from Paper Source to line the inside of drawers for a while… I’m thinking this marbled gold would look good:

Gold on Natural Marble Fine Paper, $6.50 per sheet at Paper Source.

Well, that’s my wish list for my desk project. I’m hoping to find some inspiration for the lamp project soon as I think I’d like to tackle the smaller project first. Any suggestions for my lamp?

Awake

Jason Isaacs as Detective Michael Britten in NBC's Awake.

I don’t watch much TV. I think I may have shared that before. I do watch some and usually when I like a TV show, I really like it. There are two shows on TV that I’m really digging right now and one of them is Awake on NBC. The show stars Jason Isaacs as LAPD detective Michael Britten, who was recently in a car accident with his wife and son. As the show opens we see him in two separate realities: one in which his wife is alive, in the other his son is alive. The accident may have been an attempt to kill him and his family before he closed in on a shadowy group of criminals that may include his Captain.

The show revolves around Detective Britten’s cases, the attempts of the people who caused his situation to keep him from rediscovering them, and his ongoing therapy with two different therapists that are trying to help him sort out which reality is real and which is not. The latter is hard to figure out: there is crossover between these realities that bend Detective Britten’s ability to be able to make a sure determination. The viewer is unsure as well: the fun comes from trying to figure it out along with him.

Jason Isaacs, who is probably better known for his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, is excellent as Detective Britten. His struggle to ascertain his own sanity while dealing with the completely different emotional landscapes of his two worlds is compelling. I find myself rushing home every week on Thursdays to find out what is going to happen next. I totally recommend this show! If you like police procedurals mixed with family drama and a bit of the unexplained then you’ll like this show. Check it out if you get a chance! Until next time…

Totally Inspiring Room

Living room by Robert Passal in Trad Home.



Today I’m just throwing up this quickie post as I’m working all day. Today’s room was designed by Robert Passable and is from Lonny magazine’s collaboration with Traditional Home. A totally beautiful living room. Calm, serene, classic. Love it. See the whole article here.

Have a happy Tuesday, y’all!

One Tough Little Squirt!

I want these. Bad. Why? Because a company is brazen enough to tell mr that I can trust them with my delicates really and truly deserves my business. When you add on the fact that they’re a super green minded and are based out of the country that gave us Nicole Kidman, Lucy Lawless and the backdrop for LoTR… well, they still deserve my business.

I implore one of my stalwart young entrepreneurial blogger friends to import this stuff. Built in audience of one right here!

Check out the whole product line at B.E.E. (Beauty Engineered for Ever). A special shout out to Moo (@overheardatmoo) for the intro!

Happy hump (Wednesday) day, y’all!

Totally Inspiring Room

The truth is that the weather here in Charlotte has been very kind this Autumn. Daytime temps are usually in the mid to high sixties lately. I don’t know if that’s normal or not… I just know it’s nice!

But the evenings… definitely Fall temperatures! Somewhere in the forties or lower (though, so far, not below freezing). On these cool nights, I think of rooms like this one: small, dark, cozy and inviting. The kind of room that practically begs you to wrap up in a throw, turn on the lamp, and curl up with your favorite book… preferably with a hot cup of tea to hand. The design definitely speaks to the part of me that is used to long months of overcast skies and cool weather.

There isn’t one thing I don’t like about it: the deep window seat piled with pillows, low tables covered with books, art filling the walls, the dark, saturated color on every surface. It’s beautiful and intimate; a perfect getaway inside of the home. We should all be so lucky to have one of those!

I dont have any info about the room this today.  If anyone can tell me who designed this room or where it was published, that’d be great! I hope everyone is having an awesome day today. I’m feeling a bit under the weather… but hopefully that just means I’m getting my yearly cold out of the way. 🙂 See you tomorrow!

The View From Here…

I am feeling so uninspired right now. There’s a lot going on. I feel like a bit like Sisyphus, actually. Still, I refuse to pack it in. I just need to find some ways to regenerate. I have to remind myself that to be me right now involves pushing through the hard parts, not giving up, staying true to the vision. Sometimes, a little beauty can help me through:

The pic today is the view into the back yard from the gate. A little wild… but I like it.

Watercolor Summer Wear

This has been a weird day! A window in my bedroom got mysteriously broken. It scared me pretty badly. And I’m still not sure how it happened exactly. All I know is after that trauma, I needed something fun to distract me from being distraught.

I decided to see if I could find find some pieces to make an outfit out of this skirt I just bought from Ashley Stewart (plus size clothes):

Camera phone pic alert!<<

It’s a dirndl type skirt that buttons down the front and has cute little side pockets and a sash tie belt. I couldn’t find a pic of it online but Old Navy has some similar skirts (in regular women’s sizes, you’d need a belt though).

I flipped through some of my catalogs to see if I could find inspiration there and… I did! Spiegel has this cute cami and matching cardi in a beatuiful blue, green, yellow, and white watercolor print. Super summery, right? Here’s the look I pulled together:

Clockwise from top left: Floral Print Tunic Cardigan $49 ($54+) – Speigel.com, Floral Print Tunic Cami $34 ($39+) – Spiegel.com, “Ananta” earrings $98 – Anthropologie.com, green and yellow flower bracelet $21.95 – Braceletgirl.com, Kate Spade “Felice” tote in citron $295 – Zappos.com, “Strung Packages” sandals $98 – Anthropologie.com.

The cardigan has such a strong mix of colors that I really wanted the accessories to pop and be fun. I love those yellow sandals with their green beads and the texture on the Kate Spade bag keeps the mix fresh. I know it’s a little matchy but… I like that!

Anyway, that’s my attempt at fashion for the time being. Think I did OK?

Courting Summer

For my first post back from my mini break, I’d like to share some gorgeous outdoor spaces that I’ve come across during my surfing sessions.

Some are just really lovely backyards but quite a few are interior courtyards. I adore interior courtyards – they’re are honest to goodness “secret gardens”. Here are a few I’ve found:

I hope you’re having a beautiful, sunny Tuesday!