a layer of froth is so good

kelly posted this picture and when i saw it i just wanted to jump feet first into this confection. oh so pretty.

turns out i might want to be a writer

or actually i think i might rather be an editor (one with no proof reading responsibilities ... i can dream can't i?) but that hardly matters at this point. have you guys heard of this new little beta venture out there called magcloud? it is fantastic really. a few years ago while sitting in a bar in chicago mas and i along with a couple of friends decided that we needed to get our sh*t together and make a magazine. there were four of us there and we have totally different interests, but we kinda thought that the mixing and matching of subjects might be interesting ...

well, the other two seem to be just as busy as mas and i are these days so maybe our publishing dreams won't exactly come to fruition, but yours can. for no set-up cost and a *maybe* reasonable $0.20 per page (only charged when you actually buy the magazine) you can write, edit, and publish your own glossy. i am intrigued. for more info head here.

{originally found here and photo found here}

i'm feeling a wee bit foggy this morning (not exactly atypical for a monday). i think i just need a cup of chai and a few minutes ...

{photo from yyellowbird's photostream}

happy friday

i am so happy it is friday ... i hope everyone does something fantastic and note-worthy saturday and/or sunday ... then come back and tell me about it. i think we are just going to sit in a vegitative state a release the stress from the week so i will need some good stories.

{why are you so naughty? print by robert ryan available in his etsy shop ... i found him here, a most fantastic blog.}

it's all french

1. looking at this girl's hair makes me want to maybe cut mine. (however i am not going to because i totally cannot pull of something that short.)
2. can i have that jacket, now please.
3. i might start dressing up for work (i.e changing out of my pjs or not wearing jeans every.single.day.) i'll let you know how this one goes.
4. have i mentioned before that i would like to be french?

{image from the sartorialist ... where else?}

good morning

it is finally friday. for a moment there i thought it might never come. and oh, have you met mr. gnome? isn't he handsome? he asked me to hang out with him today, and i think i just might.

{gnome photo from elizabeth soule available here or here}

reading is good for the soul

i have a bunch of annoying little tasks that i need to take care of this afternoon so i am going to leave you with this.


read it if you haven't, it is wonderful. i am half way through and i think i have cried about four times (both happy and sad cries). available all over the place (including your local library i am guessing) but amazon has it pretty cheap.

so not my style

or .... maybe they are and in fact i NEED them.

when i saw this picture of the most amazing bess jeans (which apparenlty aren't on the internet anywhere!!) i immediately set out on a search for jeans that don't really jive with anything else in my closet, which makes them just perfect. i also saw them here in black ... hmmm does anyone know where i can find them?

{image via jak & jil}

i want everything in this stinkin store ...

and i would happily toss out everything in our house if it mean i could have every last bit of wood, ceramic, cloth, metal and plastic contained in spartan's four walls. amazing, wonderous, and something to seriously start saving up for ... or start spending for.




{my new wallet, my new bottles, and my new lights ... not really but you know in my pretend world}

i LOVE a bride in galoshes

how could you not? i found this wedding over at the new to me blog the flash dance which is a pretty rockin collaboration between some of my most favorite wedding types - our labor of love, max wanger and michael antonia (see more about him over at east side bride - if esb bride likes him you know he rocks).

so ... you should check this flash dance business out because it is quite a good time.

ohhh pretty

meg posted these two dresses by sarah seven and i am once again thinking i need a few more white dresses in my wardrobe. for what you ask? um, i dunno, frolicking in the sand or lolling through a forest, maybe even dancing under the stars? or you (bride's to be) could support the etsy seller yourself and end up with a simply stunning wedding dress made just for you by someone that will probably take the time to learn your name. i'm just saying.

i want these

and they aren't really all that expensive, plus there is a 10% discount for creature comforts readers, which i know you all are, aren't you???? so i am thinking about it for a bit. i mean i don't really need another pair of shoes, but then that is hardly ever the point when talking about shoes.

{found here ... in case you hadn't figured that out already}

paper porn

it started with a trip to seesaw's blog and well it didn't stop there. i was so enamored with this business card that i clicked over to the maker, loveleaf press. their projects are hands down some of the best and most creative i have ever seen. they make me want to get an mfa in book arts (well ok i have been thinking about that for a while now, but now am considering it seriously).

hugs

because i feel like spreading happiness today ... i think it is due to my massive procrastination efforts regarding a bitty flash project. in the meantime i'm going to hug frances and pretend she is a deer.

{photo found here - check the rest of the blog out if you are searching for a fantastic way to disappear a few minutes or hours of your day}

it is time to bake.

mas and i were discussing what not good for us foods we were going to bake this week (all of my biking has increased my sweet tooth to a ridiculous degree) and the first thing we, or um maybe it was all me, decided on was strawberry cake. i don't know why but i have an insane craving for this kind of cake i have never even tasted. so i did a little googling and found the recipe that i am purchasing the ingredients for this afternoon. i can't wait. next on the list ... lavender pound cake and some sort of chocolatey goodness (most likely in the form of cupcakes).

{recipe and picture courtesy of joy the baker}

for you

in order to start your week off with a bit of sunshine and happiness. peonies are true happiness no? i hope this week is a good one.

{photo from jen gotch}

sunday brunch on saturday morning

i am using my saturday morning to catch up on some much needed blog time. while on said catch up mission i came across maybe the BEST little online shop ever. they don't have a lot, but what they do have i love. sunday brunch believes that "dresses aren’t just for swooning over dark, brooding men or inheriting spooky mansions on windswept moors." this makes a lot of sense to me as i spend very little time swooning over dark, brooding men or inheriting anything even kinda like a mansion or moors.

{quail wishful thinking dress}

{mel en stel convertible dress ... oh my i LOVE this one}

{lorick lee dress}

aren't pretty dresses so nice to wake up to in the morning? and speaking of nice things to wake up to, i think i am going to go and make waffles and take them up to my now sleeping mas. i love waffles almost as much as i love pretty dresses.

my love for the japanese transcends office supplies

i told you i don't know what i would do if we lived in japan ...

though that thought now applies to vancouver. i haven't ever been to canada but i am guessing the second i step foot in vancouver i am going to hit my forehead with my palm and have one of those, oh my what have i been doing all of my life moments.

{shirt by japanese brand chimala found on the lark blog, hence the vancouver reference)

someone really needs to stop me

i mean this could get dangerous. i am currently trying so very hard to convince myself that i DO NOT need 20 rolls of colorful japanese masking tape. really you wouldn't think this would be so hard to do, really, who in the world needs 20 rolls of anything?!? not me. but boy do i want them. i don't even have plans for them, i just want to stare at them. is that so wrong? maybe you could buy them instead? you know just so i don't have to torment myself anymore ...

{found in my latest obsession of an etsy shop, i really do not know what i would do if we lived in japan}

good things, they are a commin

a new cevd site is due to launch in about the next week or so and i am SO excited. i had some pretty spiffy girls helping me out this time and i couldn't be happier with the results. so thank you chelsea of {frolic!} for styling and lisa warninger for taking the oh so beautiful photos. more to come in a short bit of time.

the sweet smell of goodness

mas acquired a new bar of soap that he now rests on his sink, and every time i pass it i have to stop and take an extra sniff of the air. it is just divine. when i get out of the shower and the bathroom air is all steamy and thick i sit and sniff. it is kinda turning in to a bad habit that i think i must quit. but then again ... the soap is made by these guys and i pretty much have resigned myself to LOVE everything they make. it started with the peppermint shampoo and cilantro conditioner, but has since moved on to the bergamot body wash and vetiver candle (though the dark rum candle might be the way to go from now on). oh if only it was more reasonably priced (or at all reasonably priced) i might only have this stuff in all of our bathrooms.

i want a panda

and i know i am not alone in this. though if i think about it i suppose frances does come pretty close ... and she even cuddles in my lap when i am stressing at my computer.

{me and my panda available in danita's etsy shop}

new!

from sfgirlbybay ... yeah you know her. but did you see her new print? it kinda makes me smile. available in her etsy shop here.

cut and paste ... oh thank goodness

did you hear? cut and paste is going to be part of the new iphone 3.0! that and a bunch of other pretty nifty little things like, um, spotlight. rumor is that not all of these upgrades will work with the first generation (this might be the thing that finally convinces me to upgrade) which peeves me, but it was bound to happen sooner or later.

for everyone looking for a bit more info you can see the details over at gizmodo.

{picture found here}

i love invitations

oh so beautiful paper posted these a bit ago and i just came across them. oh how i love the idea of an invitation book. to see more or read more (which you really really want to do, trust me) click here. there are even pictures of their save the date that came in a custom mailing tube ... oh my.



{designed by the bride and groom, also a stationery designer here}

good things really do come from michigan

living in chicago, and mas being in school there, meant that we met an insane number of people from michigan. and that entire contingent was hell bent on convincing us that michigan (and everything that came from michigan) was the best thing in the world. i won't disagree entirely .. there are a lot of good things about michigan .. a lot, and this is one of them.


boxed water is better has maybe the best packaging design ever and a very enviornmentally responsible business plan (bottled water has always been a real pet peeve of mine). plus the people behind the brand seem to really care. once this stuff hits stores anywhere near me, i am stocking up. if only to decorate my shelves with.

{found over at swiss miss}

it's love and weddings but without the cheese

when i saw these dresses over at east side bride i kinda started dreaming about a wedding. not my wedding part II or anything of the sort, but perhaps a friend's wedding? maybe a cousin's?




they are all made from eco-friendly materials and far too cool for the average wedding. for more pictures of more dresses head over to blushless.

a new way to eat street food

mas and i got home last night from mexico, and i would just like to say ... it was pretty fantastic. it was also quite interesting, kinda stressful, very filling, and a ton of fun.

i'm eating something so wonderful i know i will not be able to do it justice with my words. we were walking to lunch when we saw maybe 100 people scattered about eating these things. we ditched the restaurant plans and started scouring the crowds for the maker of these wonders. we walked in circles for about, um 10 minutes, asked a couple of people, failed miserably, gave up, and then on our way out of the square happened across a woman hunkered down by a giant column with a bag of beans, cheese, cilantro and giant chips. it was wonderful, and only 15 pesos ...

i am seriously going to miss all of the bright colors. and the tile, oh my the tile. can we as a country please get rid of all of the carpet and start using tile??

our first hotel, or um b&b. i would highly recommend this place to anyone visiting guadalajara. it was fantastic. the courtyard was more of a rain forest than courtyard and the breakfast lived up to the hype (egg crepes with four cheeses, sun dried tomatoes, cilantro and rose petals ... yum.)

our second hotel (first in mexico city) was super swanky - radiohead also happened to be staying there. we only stayed one night, but it was a fun one, our second night was in a hostel (my first hostel experience ... not mas').

and then there was the rest of the food and drink. oh my. you could hardly walk 15 feet without seeing something that included tequila (i LOVE tequila). and as far as solids go, we absolutely gorged ourselves on tacos.

my favorite piece of graffiti in mexico city (this was a tough choice as there is a ton of graffiti in mexico city) and mas' new sneakers.

ok i think that is enough reminiscing on vacation. it is tuesday morning and i need to get to work.

it is just too pretty to blog. see you monday...

i'm not sure why, but i like these

i never really jumped on the silhouette band wagon. i mean it was a great band wagon and all, but just not one i wanted to join. things may have turned out differently if only these were the first silhouettes i had seen. can you imagine just seeing a row of leaf silhouettes on a white wall? i can and i like it. hmmm ... maybe i need a few, and then a white wall for them (our walls are kind of a beige/tan/khaki hue which doesn't really go with much of anything i like to put on them).


i wonder if she does dogs?

{available in jenny lee fowler's etsy shop originally found here}

i'm thinking of trading my bike in for these.

i would spend days and hours in these shoes ...

{omelle catia petal flat sandal available at shopbop}

lunch hour

this is a fantastic collection of scanned sandwiches ... yes i did just say that. they make me hungry. oh what i would give for a mozzarella, dressing and arugula sandwich on semolina bread.

for more scanwiches click here.

holy layers.

we have a smallish piece of burlap hanging in front of our porch door in the living room. it was put there for one reason but has been left there because it really adds a bit of homeyness to our otherwise kind of sterile room. currently drapes for us are not a feasible option (boo to apartments that are new and lack character ... no i don't want plastic strips that open and shut) but if they were ... or maybe when they are .. i will so dream of these. i mean how could you not???

by designer ritva puotila, go and check her woodlands site now, like right this very minute. originally found here, a new blog that has some AMAZING potential to be my new obsession.