Bearded Guys

Every year after Christmas I get a bit greedy. There are things on my list that I didn't get, and when I do get something for my house as a gift there are things that get moved around so I need something to fill a hole, etc. This year I went a bit crazy in a section of town in Iowa City just north of the ped mall. I ate lunch with my mother in law at a place called Hamburg Inn (where all the presidential candidates stop by just before the caucases) and then headed to a few shops.

One in particular had a bunch of items from some of my favorite sellers-- Henry Road and Boy Girl Party. I happened upon a print of bearded men that I just KNEW i had seen somewhere and I loved, so I bought it. I just figured out I had seen it on Design Sponge , and it is by an excellent artist Ashley Goldburg . I can't wait to show you how it looks on my dresser at home!

Update

Oh, how life has been busy! Its been good busy, but so much of my free time these days is taken with Christmas shopping, holiday get-togethers, and reading the Twilight series (yes, I am a fan). Plus I am sort of sick of hearing myself talk (or reading what I write, in this case) that I haven't felt like updating much. I go back and forth with this blog, not knowing whether I even want to keep it up or not. Well, not much else to say. My classes are finished after tomorrow for the semester, but I'm still plugging away at my internship at a Springfield middle school as well as work and my graduate assistantship at Evangel. I'm exicted for Christmas just to have another break.

Christmas wishes!

So, its Thanksgiving, but I am thinking of Christmas. Jeff and I are in Iowa at the moment sitting around the living room watching Home Alone movies (Jeff's dad's personal favorite) and digesting our dinner with his family. Its been pretty fun so far. Yesterday I went Christmas shopping downtown and found a few fun things. More than anything I like getting my closest family and friends presents. If you'd like to know my personal Christmas list, (and even if you didn't) I am going to post it here. These are just a few things that popped up into my head today...

An orange throw for my room

New dinnerwear and bowls

Soap and Paper drawer liner paper
IPod Nano 4th Gen. Armband

A new robe

Target sandwich review

I love most things Target, as you well know, but today i ate an Archer Farms warm-up-in-the-microwave-sandwich that was just yuck. It was a breakfast sandwich, so maybe that has more to do with it than anything. Maybe it was just the taste of the french bread it was on, or the undercooked egg in the middle... I'm not sure. I was disapointed and now very hungry.

this weekend and next weekend...

This past weekend I went to Iowa City with my husband to see the Hawkeyes beat Wisconsin at home. It was a good time. Jeff's two brothers and sister were in town, so that made it extra fun for us. Every time I am there I just itch to get some time at the town's ped-mall (if you've ever been to Boulder, CO., they have one too...) and go shop in some of their unique stores. I got to for a few minutes Sunday morning, but not enough to really truly get satisfied. We're going back over Thanksgiving so I will for sure be hitting up AKAR, White Rabbit, and Revival.
Ps. I took in some jeans that I recently bought and don't fit (le sigh) and exchanged them for some way cool Biviel shoes at Revival. They are awesome (and were really cheap compared to the original price of the suckers).

In other news, this weekend I am going CAMPING with my girlfriends. I cannot wait!

lets see here...

What updates to give? Not really anything exciting to speak about. At the moment I am listening to our stray we hope to give away "squeaking" outside (he wants to come in and has a high-pitched bark), my sis Jenn is making me nachos-- (we just got done with "ear-candleing" her, and let me just say its messy and smoky. She sells the candles at Mama Jeans and wants to know what to tell customers about it). Ummm, what else??-- I have been working on my research project for the past four hours, and now its olympics time.

Earlier today I had my pre-operation appointment and got the run-down of how its all going to go. I will get there at 8am, then be wheeled off to pre-surgery where they'll knock me out, then when I wake up I'll have to eat, drink, pee, and breath into this tube thing, and four hours late I'll get to go home.

I'm actually more excited to have the surgery than nervous. Of course i will be nervous, but I can't wait to be able to go out and do things again! I tried to go to Marshals yesterday to shop just a little bit, and made it about 10 minutes before I had to go back into the car and wait for my sister to buy some jeans. I really want to shop right now b/c of all the fall stuff that has come out...

Um, I love the Olympics. The end.

I heart shoes!

OK, so I've been reading lots of fashion mags and am LOVING the new styles coming out-- especially in shoes. Everything is so modern and retro looking. Booties, "shooties," oxfords, moccasins, mary janes, t-straps, and riding boots are all over the pages of each of my favorite mags, so I thought I'd pick some of my favorites and post them here. I am kinda excited because I have some really great fall shoes already that fit into these categories... I have some great Franco Sarto mary-janes I picked up WAAAAY on sale last winter, I have had these amazing pair of riding boots for probably 5 years now, I have some cute booties I wore all last winter, and I just bought some awesome moccasins from target a few weeks ago (okay, so maybe I sent my brother-in-law to get them when he was headed to the store anyway)...

Kenneth Cole Reaction Party Bell-a mary-jane in berry

Calvin Klein Rocci Bootie

Frye Bonnie Tall Riding Boot

too expensive for me, but oh-so-cute mary-jane by Corso Como Virgo

Woven Oxford Heel at UO

Anthropologie Parula Peep Toes
Check's in the mail by Seychells T-strap

Anthropologie bootie:

Two Tone Oxford Skimmer at UO

decorating

So my parents are getting all new flooring in their house this week, and have suddenly been inspired to redo their bedroom and the guest bedroom. Since all I do is lay around in my room and do nothing, I have been shopping to help them figure out what would look good. I created this inspiration page in Polyvore and thought it looked good.

Plate search

So, I am a clutzy mess which means I drop things occasionally (see below post for a sad example). Most of the plates that my husband and I received as wedding presents have broken because I have dropped them, so I have decided to replace them with a random assortment of plates.

At first I thought I would just want plates that are either red or white with red in it... but then after looking on countless websites I haven't had the best luck. So I have decided to go with a new eclectic theme to fit in with my kitchen ware--- white dinner plates with either red, light green, or tealish-tiffany blue designs on them. I am going to start with the needed plates first, then hopefully start to collect bowls and dessert plates as well. Here are some examples:

Ikea Plates:


Anthropologie Plates:


Pier1 plate:

For Megan (late night and I can't sleep quick post)

My friend Megan was talking today about Urban Outfitters and how expensive it is. I thought I'd check out the sales online (since we don't have the store here-- I vote we get one in the new college station!) to see what I thought... I tried to find the stuff I thought was the coolest from U.O. and post them... What do you think?
Lux Wisteria Top: $19.99
Granny Satchel in Stone: $29.99
Ethereal Necklace: $19.99
Swedish Flower Printed Rug: $19.99 (I actually bought this one but had to take it back b/c it was a bit out of place in the room I wanted it for.
Made by Elves Evan Oxford: $39.99 (I WANT!)

Shopping in bed

I love online shopping. Well, I'd rather go to the store, but I obviously cannot at the moment. My mom and dad gave me a present today: 100 bones to shop online for whatever I want. Wanna see what I bought???

First thing: a new swimmie. Jeff and I went to Six Flags and walked around the waterpark in our skibbies and I was horrified at the feeling of nakedness in my bikini and just wanted to cover up... quickly. I thought this was very cute and reasonable.

This bag is from Target. I've had my eye on it for several months and then saw it online today for 8 BUCKS! Score!

This rug rocks! We could use a bigger one for the sunroom for when the doggies track in muddy-ness.

One red plate from UO. I know it sounds silly, but I am going to start collecting red plates for my kitchen because i've broken most of mine... mixing and matching means I won't have to worry about replacing the whole set!

From CB2 I got those teardrop hanging vases I showed pics of in a previous post, a new bathmat (exciting I know), and this cool planter on sale. (the green striped one)

There are more things like clothes, but if I went through everything you'd get bored fast.

I'm glad this has kept me a bit sane today since my sister and amazing friends all went to KC to see Feist. I had a ticket but ended up selling it to another friend so she could go in my place. They went to church today, ate at First Watch (a GREAT brunch spot), went shopping, and then saw Feist at the Starlight. I was really sad to miss out, but had the shopping to distract me which was nice. My mom came over for most of the afternoon too which was great. We had some great conversations and she did some of my housework for me, like sweep the ridiculous amounts of grass off my sidewalk and patio from when Jeff mowed yesterday.

Anyway, So far it seems like I'm inching my way to getting better, but I'm not nearly there yet. We timed how long I was able to be up today and I topped off at 13 minutes. Pretty exciting. It hurt like hell getting back into bed after that though.

still laying flat...

Well, here I am, five days into my injury and still laying flat on my back in a lot of pain. Trying to stay positive. Trying to get out into the world through cyberspace and continue to call and talk to people. Its been a huge test of faith and my need to control everything-- I surely can't right now. Its hard to even get up to go to the bathroom. honestly, I'm starting to get depressed.

So, wanna see some cool stuff I've been looking at when I am bored and no one is around?

I got the new CB2 catalog in the mail yesterday, and although a lot of it is way modern for me, I like to so much of it! I am the type who wants to mix modern decor with old grandma-y stuff, so I thought some of it was way neat and am coveting a lot of it. I can't get some of the pics to come up on my blog, but you should check out the website and the new catalog.

These are some hanging vases I am coveting from CB2. On sale even, super cheap, but what a great idea! I think I may order a couple.





These plates I found are on sale at Pier 1. Not that I can run out and buy them or anything, but I thinking I want to start mixing and matching my dinner wear in reds and whites so these would be perfect.


I have been super into gardening this year and am really into doing anything that spruces up the yard. Isn't this little birdie house cute?


Another covet of mine: Tom's Shoes. Ever heard of them? Its an AMAIZING company with an amazing mission. I love these red polka dot shoes. Before I post the pic, I sort of have a beef with Tom's shoes, not the company, but my husband. I bought him some last year and they were too small, he NEVER returned them so I'm sure they're way beyond the point of being able to. They're still sitting in our utility room for whenever he feels up to calling them to figure it out. We'll see. But here is my fave:

design website junkie

after surviving one of the most hellacious weeks I've ever had (god i love grad school) I decided to give myself a break tonight... Took a nap this afternoon/evening, ate like a pig, put my new duvet cover on my bed, (pictures to come!) and started sewing a blanket I am making out of the old quilt from anthropologie we had on our bed. I did this all while watching one of the prettiest movies ever-- marie antionette with kristen dunst and jason schwartzman.

Oh, also-- it was a freakin' monsoon outside today! I came home from work and had to park across the street because my driveway was impassible with water. The fenced in garden area was completely washed out too-- all the weed barrier was wiped away along with the mulch covering it. I waded around out there tonight to make a makeshift-creek to get the water to run to the ditch in front of the house. crazy.

To get back to my break though-- I have been laying on my couch this past hours parusing through endless design websites and admiring others' work. Thought I'd post some pretties for you to enjoy. so, enjoy!

Of course I started with design sponge (see link to right) and found tons of goodies! This is from a website called fawn&forest by a designer named "KLT works". My womb has been itching so I found this ADORABLE!



Lighting by Offi & Company:



Let me take this opportunity to say that when it comes this time of year I get really excited about looking at new things because its my birthday and I like to find off-the wall crazy stuff to ask for. This would go perfectly in my room:
found this on fawn&forest too... decoylab... from KC, MO!



Journal by Nantaka Joy off threepotatofourshop.com website


notebook on threepotatofour.com


art by bird nerd from viatmindesignshop.com

Renewed Interest in Design

In the few moments I've had to bask in my in-between-classes glory (didn't last but like, 2 seconds, I was done with my final last night I started to work on a paper this morning) I've had some time to think about design. This was prompted by some bad behavior of two dogs-- mugshots below:


Morris- aka "new guy." Love him. needs a home though.


Lucy-- aka "first born."


The other night while Jeff and I were watching (and getting very excited) Obama give his awesome democratic nominee speech these two hooligans tore the quilt on top of the bed to shreds. I LOVED that thing. It was a gift from the Fowlers and Dockerys-- a quilt from Anthropologie that I basically designed our whole bedroom around. Since then I've been frantically looking for a replacement to much disappointment. I think I might have found two candidates that would work with our two primary goals: #1-Budget. #2-color scheme of orange, pink, purple, and cream. Here are the two candidates, both from Ikea. Votes?

Number one:


Number two:



In other news I took pictures of the house today. I have updated a few things here and there and wanted to share the goodness on my flickr site. Thought someone who stops by the blog might wanna take a gander as well. Enjoy!