Friday, January 28, 2011

Friday Design Inspiration

February is quickly approaching, which means that in a few short months, M. and I will commence our search for a new home.  We're kicking apartment style living to the curb and will, hopefully, find a house to make our own.  It's taken us a while to get to this point, especially me, since my ideal situation would involve living in a new city every other year up until we have a kid and set our roots down near our families.  But, we've decided that financially, professionally and for a whole bunch of other reasons that it's best for us to nix that moving around business and get to setting our roots down.

After much trepidation, I have come to happily accept our future and keep getting excited over different little aspects of home ownership.  I'll get to decorate the home as I please, I'll get to have a garden, in the summertime I can actually sit outside and soak up the sunshine without worrying about the people in our building staring at me.  However, I also realize that the driveway won't clear itself after snowfall, the grass won't just cut itself and when the shower acts wonky, I can't just call a leasing office to get it fixed for free, as we get to do in our apartment.  I am choosing to ignore all those downfalls and look towards what I am looking most forward to, which is decorating.

So, each Friday, I am planning on posting some of the design inspiration that I have bookmarked for when we move into our own place.

I have realized that I prefer a classic look that has some modern aspects, while M. tends to favor shabby chic looks.  I also love strong neutrals, like black, navy and gray, mixed with pops of color.  I also apparently love blue, which is funny because I never did in the past. 

I'm kind of excited to see how I use all the inspiration I find when we finally do move in.

But until then . . .























Centsational Girl






















Armonia Decor, via Little Green Notebook



















Tobi Fairley, via Everything LEB

Thursday, January 27, 2011

Snow Love

We got almost a foot of snow here last night.  The coolest part was that in addition to the snow, we got thunder and lightning.  A few people (my parents included) also lost electricity.  It flickered off and on at our apartment a bit, but nothing too bad.

This evening, after picking me up from work, M. and I went for a little walk in the snow around our neighborhood.  It might have been a pain this morning, but man, was it pretty.

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Daytime to Philly: Prison, Bells, Cheesesteaks & Mosaics

On Sunday, M. and I decided to jump into the car and make the 2 hour trip to Philadelphia so we could eat cheesesteaks.  Although it was an extremely cold day (so cold that M.'s asthma inhaler was spraying out little ice crystals.  He assured me that they wouldn't cut his lungs), we had an awesome time exploring Philly.

We started out at the Eastern State Penitentiary, which is one thing in Philly that I had been dying to do.  We did the 1 hour tour, which involved us being outdoors a decent amount of the time, it was worth it though.  Afterwards, we headed to the Liberty Bell so we could get another stamp in our National Parks Passport (more on that another day).  Since I had been to Philly less than a year ago and M. had taken multiple school fieldtrips there, we literally stamped our passport, walked past the Liberty Bell, took a picture and headed out to get our cheesesteaks.  Maybe 20 minutes later, we were sitting in the cold, outside of Pat's Cheesesteaks, enjoying a little break from our lifestyle change (diet).  Soooo delicious.




















One place that I remembered that I had wanted to go to was the Philadelphia Magic Gardens.  I had remembered finding it online, had meant to bookmark it and never did.  Well, I am happy that it suddenly came back into memory because the place was awesome!

The Magic Gardens basically consisted of a historic home and outdoor area covered in mosaics.  The artist, Isaiah Zagar worked on the project for 14 years.  Really, it is not a place to leave out when you go to Philly.  M. and I are going back in the spring so we can tour Edgar Allen Poe's home (to get another stamp in our passport book), stop by the 9th street Italian Market and hopefully go to the Magic Gardens again, since I am planning on bringing my DSLR with us on that trip . . . it was way too cold for this trip.

Here is a sampling of pictures I took, but believe me when I tell you that it doesn't capture how awesome this place is!




























 













Oh, and while we were there, I kept going on about how cool of a place it would be for a wedding or special event, and check these out!


































Source Unknown, taken from the Phildelphia Magic Gardens website


























Source

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Through the Lens

In December M. sold some of his old video games and purchased us a Canon Rebel t2i, with the intention of us learning how to use it successfully enough that we can have beautiful pictures when we go to Greece for our real honeymoon.  So, once the holidays were over, I signed up for a photography class through an organization in Baltimore called Art Exposure, Inc.  I had a great time with the class and learned a lot, and am now gearing up to take their "Beyond the Basics" class in February.

I am by no means a great photographer and probably still won't be by the time my classes up, but I am really excited to develop my skills and be ready to take lots of pictures in Greece!

I thought it might be fun to share some photos from my class's final photoshoot at the Palm House in Druid Hill Park.  I can already see a few things I would change, namely played more with field of vision, but I am pretty proud of my final work from the Beginner's Class.



























I also signed up to get weekly emails from the Digital Photography School that highlights different tips and information for amateur photographers.  They do weekly challenges, which I plan on participating in and posting here.  This week's challenge is a "Spot of Color."  I already have an idea of what to shoot!  I'll share it later this week.

Friday, January 14, 2011

A Novel Life: Ragtime

I am about halfway through Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow and man, it was a hard one to put an inspiration board together for.  There are so many things going on, so many different people whose lives intersect (or don't intersect), that it's hard to pin down one thing that is a constant.  Even coming up with a description is kind of difficult, so I'll let Amazon.com do it for me:




















The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, New York, at the home of an affluent American family. One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. And almost magically, the line between fantasy and historical fact, between real and imaginary characters, disappears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J. P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and Emiliano Zapata slip in and out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family and other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler and a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.


The book takes place until about 1917 and explores a wide range of American history.  There's diversity, movement and a sense of newness.  I suppose the main characters include the fictional family, who I assume are white upper middle class who live in Westchester; a Jewish immigrant called Tateh; an African American jazz musician named Coalhouse Walker.  Mixed in there somewhere is Evelyn Nesbit, a glamorous model married to a wealthy man who murders her lover; Harry Houdini, also an immigrant, as well as a famous escape artist/magician/whatever you want to call him; and many more historical characters.

You read about the boats bringing immigrants into America, about feminism (thanks to appearances of Emma Goldman), ideas of socialism and anarchy, the new experience of travel by train, exploration of the Artic.  Just so much!  I think it's so cool because all this technology and these ideas that are so old and part of our lives were once a new and exciting thing.  This book lets you see it through the eyes of those people experiencing it.

When I put together my board, I decided that America and New York was the one constant thing between all the characters . . . and, isn't it fitting that Father's business produces fireworks for special events, including political ones?  I think so.



































2.  Missing You Antiqued Book Locket by Back Street Creations
3.  Carolina Grey Stripe Seersucker Bowtie by Bacon Neck Wear
4.  1910 Steam Ship Medal and Labradorite Brass Bracelet - Vintage Assemblage by Velvet Otter Hound
5.  Ragtime Revival on Broadway Print by Squigs
6.  A Pleasure Sailing Boat Hand-cut Wood Silhouette by Mountain Brook
7.  Papercut Custom 8x10 New York Geography by Ashley Pahl
8.  Well Behaved Women Rarely Make History Statement Necklace by Corso Studio

I was going to include an explanation for each item, but didn't want to ruin the book for those of you who might read it!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

A Happy Exchange

I've spent a decent amount of my afternoon on the Garnet Hill website, trying to decide what items I want in exchange for some pieces of clothing my Mother-in-law got me for Christmas that I wasn't wild about.  I've settled on a few cute standards for Spring and am now ready to make the exchange.










Barcelona Skirt
Easy Cargo Jacket
Ballet Flats

However, I thought for a second about blowing it all off in favor of these adorable sheets.  And then I realized that I would basically use $130.00 on sheets.  Even if it's not my money, I can't do that. 

























Let It Rain Percale Bedding

I also loved these earrings, but my light spring jacket has holes in the lining and dirt all over it, so I figured the cargo jacket would be more practical than these.  But, sigh, they're so pretty!

























Mashka Teardrop Beaded Earrings

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Mad for Chevron

I am so loving how West Elm is representing the chevron.

I want these curtains for my future living room.














































Chevron Printed Window Panel

And how about this bath mat?  I have this fantasy of my future bathroom being painted black with lots of white accents.  I'm not totally crazy, I've seen it done before!

This West Elm bath mat would work perfectly, even though it's gray.  We could squeeze some gray into my black bathroom.

























Tribal Bath Mat

Monday, January 10, 2011

Crazy for Navy

When M. & I got our new couch, we discussed repainting our living room & doing a little redecorating in the apartment.  The color scheme we agreed to involved khaki (because of our couch), pear green, orange & brown.  I bought fabric to put on our pillows so they would match the scheme.

Then, we realized that we were going to move in about 6 - 7 months and decided not to paint.  And, if we're not painting, then there is no reason to re-cover our pillows with material that won't match.  And I am OK with it because I feel in love with a new fabric.





















It's "Pressed Flowers Teal" from Anna Maria Horner's Drawing Room collection.  I found it used on a couple pillows on Etsy (many thanks to Nestables for giving me the info about the fabric & your pillow covers are lovely).

I have a newfound love for navy blue, which has always tripped me up a bit . . . . I mean, what neutral color shoes do you wear with navy if you don't feel like wearing gray?  Because, I don't have many brightly colored shoes & we all know that it's bright colors that work best with navy.  I have recently determined that camel would work fantasically, unfortunately, I do not have camel colored shoes.  So, I stick with gray or brown . . . and I digress.

The bottom line is that if I could re-do my wardrobe right now, I would replace many of my black pieces with navy, because I love navy right now.

So, maybe in my future house, our future living room with utilize navy as a dominant neutral color and possibly our future pillows will be covered in that beautiful fabric and our future accents will pull colors from the design - lovely gold, shades of blue, mustard yellow, gray, white.  So many possibilities!

Till then, I can only dream . . .

Friday, January 7, 2011

Brick Succulent Planters are Pretty Awesome.

I'm loving this brick succulent planter ReadyMade.

I could see someone using it to illuminate their outside walkway or maybe using it as a centerpiece . . . maybe for a wedding?

M. and I are planning on buying a house this summer, when our apartment lease is up (so lots more home decorating/projects inspiration will come up this year).  This project has definitely been bookmarked as a DIY project for us!


















Source

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Green Snacks

M. and I both make effort to go green and waste less in our daily life.  Most of the ways we've gone green are really small switches that haven't made a huge impact in our life.  We stopped buying generic grocery store dishwashing soap & laundry detergent in favor of Seventh Generation products.  We've actually found that these product are less harsh on my husband's sensitive skin, so that's an added bonus for us.

Other little things we do include washing all clothes (except for dirty whites) on cold, instead of warm, which I prefer.  We hang dry whatever items we can.  We keep our heat down pretty low, so that we use less energy.  I'm a pretty big nut about turning off lights & water, you can ask M.  I tend to walk up behind him & turn off the faucet if I think it's been running too long.  We can always make improvements, but we're pretty proud of what changes we have made.  One thing we desperately need to change - start actually remembering to bring reuseable grocery bags INTO the grocery store!  They sit in the back of my car for goodness sake, why can't we remember?!?  At least we do the next best thing, we recycle the bags we have leftover at our local Giant grocery store, but we can do better!

One thing that I found together that made me a little excited are these reuseable snack & storage bags!  We try to use our tupperware as much as possible, but there are some instances where we resort to using plastic lunch & storage bags.  Each time, I think to myself that there has to be a better way to us to store our food than use plastic bags.  It would be awesome to have these adorable bags instead.  They're a little pricey initially but man, they could save you money in the long run, reduce waste & really, they are just so cute!
These bags are by Itzy Ritzy, who makes great products for babies and children.  The bags are 100% cotton, BPA & PVC-free.  And, they're machine & dishwasher washable.  And see the cute patterns, they have tons to choose from, so you can choose a design that's a little more manly.

There are tons of other options on Amazon.com, if you just search for reuseable snack bags.  I think it's worth the money & change.  If only I were permitted to shop . . . .

Monday, January 3, 2011

A Novel Life: Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette

I am currently reading Abundance, A Novel of Marie Antoinette by Sena Jeter Naslund.  I've never had much interest or fascination with Marie Antoinette, but after reading Naslund's book, Ahab's Wife, and enjoying it so much, I was looking forward to reading another one of her books.

The book is a historic fiction from the perspective of Marie Antoinette and details her life in the castle.  I'm about halfway through and am having a hard time putting the book down.  I'd definitely recommend it thus far.

I thought it might be fun to start a new series where I put together an inspiration board of items found on Etsy that remind me of the book I'm reading.

So, here goes!




































1.  I recently came to the part in the book where Louis XVI gave Antoinette the Petit Trianon, a place to call her own and give her privacy from the court.  This small hoop from Tialys' shop reminded me of the excitement "Toinette," as she liked to be called by her loved ones, felt when Louis XVI told her that it was hers.

2.  Much of the book recalls Toinette's letter writing with her mother, where her mother, the Archdutchess of Austria, guides Toinette in her assignment as Dauphine and then Queen.  This French Carte Postale Hand Stamped Ribbon Trim from homesteadtreasures' shop reflects that and the beautiful roses that Toinette loved so much.

3.  Toinette supposedly didn't really say "Let them eat cake," as rumored but this print from BluLima sure is fun!

4.  Toinette had very close friendships with the sweet virginal princess de Lamballe and with the beautiful duchess de Polignac.  I could imagine her giving them these simple and fun friendship necklaces from iadornu's shop.

5.  Much of Louis XVI's rule was plagued by discontent of the French people and their rule ended at the beginning of the French Revolution.  This tee shirt from Diatonic's shop recognizes that unsettling time in French history.

6.  In the book, Toinette loves pink and the simplest pastel colors bring her joy, much like these gorgeous earrings from ThreeWishesStudio.

7.  Toinette loved fashion and dressed proudly from head to toe.  So much so that she would have her hair stylist fashion elaborate designs in her hair.  At one point of the book, she even had him represent the Garden of Eden in her tresses.  I imagine that if she had a silhouette done of her, it would be much like this from thelittlechickadee.

8.  This beautiful cuff from RoseooftheMire is fit for that of a queen.  I could imagine Toinette wearing it at one of the balls she and Louis XVI went to in Paris.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

New Years Goals

I typically don't make New Years resolutions because, like most people, I break them within a month of making them.  However, M. and I have been discussing a few of our goals for this year and I am truly dedicated to stick with them.

And here we go  . . .

Goal #1 - Save more, spend less.  M. and I have a tendency to spend on small things, just because we can.  It could be a DVD here, a pair of tights there or even one too many beers at a sporting event.  So, we're putting a stop to it. My aim is to not buy anything unless I absolutely need it.  And then put that money in our savings account.  M. has made the same goal, which hopefully means we can put more to the side.  We're actually hoping to buy a house when the lease to our apartment is up, so hopefully this will help.

Goal #2 - Eat better, eat less & lose more.  I have to lose 25 pounds to get myself back to the weight I was when M. and I first started dating.  I need to get back on Weight Watchers - which I always do well with - and motivate my butt to get back to the gym.

So, we only have two goals, but they're big goals that definitely affects our lifestyle.  Hopefully we can both stick to them and end 2011 a lot lighter and although probably less rich, with a house to our name and living comfortably!

What are your goals for the new year?