Catching Up

Just popping in for a quick hello!  Where did this week go?  Time is flying around here.  [Insert mom talk about how fast the baby is growing up.]  But for real.  FOR REAL.  Audrey's new favorite trick is getting up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth.  Uh oh.  I need to focus on the babyproofing that I never really did.

I'm entering the above photo into the Paper Mama's "multicolored" photo challenge!  It was just a quick snapshot, but I was so happy to see that I finally caught Audrey being STILL and you can see her sweet little hands.  Usually the details are blurred.  And it's colorful, right?

I also wanted to thank Lauren for giving me a Liebster Award on her blog!  Such a sweet thing to do. 

'Liebster' means 'favorite' or 'dearest' in German. This award, which originated in Germany, recognizes up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers. In accepting the award, the recipient agrees to: Thank the person that gave the award and link back to their blog, copy and paste the award to your blog, and reveal the 5 blogs you have chosen to award and let them know by commenting on their blog!

I'm going to pass the award along to:

Robert -  We're married.  No big deal!
Stephanie -  She manages to make jewelry, be a librarian, and a government auditor!
Rebecca -  Who makes really lovely things and effortlessly channels minimalism!
Lauren - Click over to see some of the cutest little boys around.. her family is adorable!
Emily - Someone I know from real life who is pretty cool! 

So all of you, feel free to take the award and pass it along as you see fit.  And a big THANK YOU to everyone who happens to read my blog!  The internet is my favorite place and it's where I've met most of my favorite people. 

happy shoes

A little while ago, Anne at a cup full of sunshine tagged me with the Happy 101 award. I'm supposed to list 10 things that make me happy. I started out doing that, but felt that things were getting a little repetitious. So I decided to cheat, and I hope no one minds -- I'm going to show 10 pairs of shoes from Etsy that make me happy!

These are in no particular order. I didn't even pay attention to size or price, because I'm in no position to be spending money on shoes at the moment. Feel free to buy any of these and then take lovely pictures in them so I can live vicariously through you! (Click the pictures to go to the listings.)

Saddle shoes!

Ah, the beads on the ends of the laces!

Exciting boots!

Fancy wingtips!

The embroidered Zodiac logo is killing me with cuteness..

So snappy and bright.

Perfectly awesome.

Aren't these beautiful?

Totally ideal boots.

A sweet pair of wedges.

Ahh, wasn't that nice? Ogling shoes is just therapeutic for me, somehow! I found all of these a couple of days ago when I was doing some comparative pricing for a pair of shoes I listed in my shop. I became highly distracted, as you may have guessed. Happy Friday!

some facts and things

Thank you all for the sweet comments on the pictures from my last post! Everyone seems to be smitten with Zazie the hedgehog. She's cute, but she's also a grumpy little thing - I just enjoy taking pictures of her and rubbing her stomach when she's not curled up in a spiny ball. Hedgehogs can be found at exotic pet stores: my sister bought Zazie at S&S Exotic Animals in Houston. [They also sell two-toed sloths .. for $2000! Eep. Oh, wouldn't it be great to wake up December 25th to find a baby sloth climbing around on your Christmas tree? Hint hint.]

Hanging around. I hope you enjoy those shadows to the left!

How does everyone like December so far? I think it's spectacular! We put up our tiny, fake Christmas tree yesterday and I wrapped the first present... I'm excited about this month.

On another fun note, Emma Wallace from Emma's Music passed this Beautiful Blogger Award on to me. Thank you so much, Emma! For anyone who hasn't visited her blog, Emma is a musician with a fantastic voice. Her blog is full of good stuff, and each week she puts up a new song sketch. Check it out!

Here are the rules that came with the award:

1) Thank the person who nominated me for this award.
2) Copy the award & place it on my blog.
3) Link to the person who nominated me for this award.
4) Tell us 7 interesting things about yourself.
5) Nominate 7 bloggers.
6) Post links to the 7 blogs I nominate.

So, 7 interesting things about myself? Hmm. Many of you probably know more about me than you should, so I will stay off any previously-discussed topics and just go with whatever pops into my head first.

1. Yesterday Robert and I watched The Straight Story: a G-rated Disney movie directed by David Lynch (?!) about an old man driving his tractor across Iowa. Then we worked on a jigsaw puzzle and listened to Beatles records. We almost died from wholesomeness.

2. A couple of weeks ago I said I was going to get a haircut, but I never got around to it! That's pretty boring, actually.

3. I have lost the motivation / inspiration needed to update my Etsy shop. :( Has that happened to anyone else? I was going to take pictures of some stuff yesterday, but I just dread the entire process, and have been dreading it for months now. I think I'm bored with it, and I really need to come to terms with that + figure out what I want to do next.

4. I'm also coming to terms with the fact that I dress myself like a 5-year old, and that's funny. I can't make myself care about fashion. Boring! I have not shopped for clothes in a few months, and I'm okay with that. This may be related to the previous fact - even vintage isn't exciting me right now.

5. Did I just blow your mind with those last 2 facts? I hope not! I've had some blogging issues as well lately: I'm just not sure what to put here and who is in my audience and what is entertaining anymore. I often feel that I yammer on about insignificant things, and I do not enjoy the finished product when I do that! If I had more self-control, this would be a pictures only blog, but I feel the need to narrate.

6. Sticking to this candid trend, I can't seem to figure out what to do with my life right now. It's not a bad thing, it's just a weird spot to be in. I'm done with school (and not interested in going back), I have no job (but can't decide if I want one), and I'm just unsure about what comes next! I also feel this is a good thing - obviously if my circumstances were different I'd be forced to find a job and stick with it. So this is an exploratory phase! I'm just not sure where it's going...

7. It's hard to follow those last 3! I will just say that it feels nice to get all of that out there. I'm usually quite reserved on this blog, trying to keep everything upbeat and neutral, but I'm not really like that most of the time.

Well, that was enlightening! Now, onto the 7 bloggers I want to pass the award to. Some of these are newer finds for me, while others are blogs I've been reading for some time now (and have probably awarded before.. but they're just that good).

Oranges and Apples

dailee dose

Ambiguous Alliterative Abomination

our.city.lights

Much Love

(Into) the Fray

*Felinofelice

All of these blogs are written by multi-talented people who are just lovely! (Feel free to take the award and pass it along, or ignore it if you don't feel like digging up 7 interesting facts.. haha).

This afternoon I'm planning to make Christmas stockings! I'm going to use this template. They'll be small but that's okay because a) we have nowhere to hang them and b) who likes to put a lot of stuff in stockings? Not I. I just want to make some pretty badly. I'll let you know if they come out well! If not, we shall pretend I never mentioned them.

the end of august

I went missing again! Don't worry, nothing exciting happened... which is exactly why I haven't updated here in a while. Here are some things I've been doing lately!

• Reading Harry Potter books. All of them for the first time. I'm almost done with the last one! [I just started the whole series a few months back. I wasn't going very quickly until they got exciting - now I've been speeding through them like a 12 year old.]
• Watching Harry Potter movies. I only ever saw 3 of them, so Robert has insisted we watch them all in a row. We watched 1-3 this weekend - we're really dorking out over here.
• Watching Coraline in 3D. Most of it just made my eyes feel blurry, but there were some really amazing parts with neat depth of field!
  
• Getting excited about embroidery. I found the Stitch-It Kit at Goodwill for $1 last week, and I've been thinking of projects that I can do. I don't think I've embroidered anything since I was about 7 years old - let's hope I'm somehow a master!
  

I also got a haircut! And ice cream!! Yum.

Also, Anna of much love gave me a little award that comes with an assignment! This should be interesting.

The Premium Meme Award

For this, I have to list seven traits about myself and then pass the award onto seven other bloggers who deserve recognition for the personality they share through their blog.

So, here are my 7 traits! I am... playful, easily distracted, slow moving, very particular, sometimes hysterical, skittish, and fairly optimistic! In other words, I am CRAZY LIKE A CAT. [Haha, sorry I'm bad at these kinds of things - at least I amused myself pretty well!]

I will pass this on to Ambika, Diane, Olivia, Andrea, Sam, Ana, and Amy. All such lovely bloggers with radiant personalities!

treats

Guess what lovely surprise came for me in the mail yesterday? 2 rolls of Fleur de Sel caramels from Have it Sweet! Some of you may remember that this is a prize I won a while back from The Bright Side Project - and for any of you who don't know, check it out! The Bright Side Project is the loveliest thing which gives you a chance to win a prize every day by answering a question.

Anyway, this stuff is sooo yummy. So sweet (+ salty!) and it melts in your mouth. I think we're going to have to ration it so it lasts a while.

On another sweet note, Diana of our.city.lights gave me the above blog award! It's one that she created herself. Gabbi of *Felinofelice also passed it along to me. Thank you both! It's an honor because Diana and Gabbi have such interesting and beautiful blogs. I'm not going to hand this award out to any specific bloggers, but if I comment on your blog then you know that I think you're a great read as well! :)

I know it's not necessary to apologize, but I always feel guilty when I'm missing from here for two or three days in a row. My schedule keeps changing, but I've got a 4 day weekend ahead of me now! Hopefully I'll be able to blog about some neat things and also get some housework done. I've got nothing to show from the estate sale I went to yesterday - it turned out to be a nursing home selling all of its furniture, and it was a bit too creepy (and expensive) for me!

overwhelmed with awards

Over the past few weeks some very sweet bloggers have given me an array of blog awards. They've been piling up, so I thought it was time to show them off!

First of all, I received this from Jen of Pretty Little Pictures. - The Splash award is given to alluring, amusing, bewitching, impressive, and inspiring blogs. When you receive this award, you must:
1. Put the logo on your blog/post.
2. Nominate up to 9 blogs which allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire you.
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have been splashed by commenting on their blog.
5. Remember to link to the person from whom you received your Splash award.


Next came this adorable award made by Gabbi of *Felinofelice [with an image from Found in Mom's Basement]. And then...

Ana B. from on dressing up gave me these 3 (along with passing on the one from Gabbi). A lot of awarding has been going on around here! Thank you, ladies!

Aside from checking out Ana, Gabbi and Jen's blogs (if you don't already read them), I will include a list of some other places you should all visit! Going by the rules of the Splash award, these are all bloggers that "allure, amuse, bewitch, impress or inspire" me in one way or another! Some of these are new discoveries for me, but all of them are people I haven't passed awards on to yet!

The Blah, Blah, Blahg

loxlie

Lucy & Diamonds

matou en peluche

Kindred Spirit

I'll leave it at 5 - all of you are entitled to the above awards if you'd like them! And thank you again to... everyone. Haha! I'm sleepy.

hodge podge and oddities

My brain is a little over-excited today. There are so many things to talk about! This post will just be a random assortment of things. Part of my excitement is that I received another box of dresses from my mom today. [For new readers: my mom found a stash of dresses from the 1960s that belonged to a relative, and she's been sending them to me!] Most of these are airy little cotton dresses, so I was psyched - but they're all just a bit too big! They will likely end up in my Etsy shop. I need to do a big shop update because the dresses are stacked up on the couch just waiting to be photographed - and we're having company Friday night so I need to clear them out.
In other news, Lauren from Betty Mae Artistry passed this sweet award on to me! (Check out the cookies she makes - they look so yummy!)

About the Award: "These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbon of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers. Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this cleverly-written text into the body of their award."

I feel really honored, and I'm going to pass this along to: our.city.lights, much love, on dressing up, Pretty Little Pictures, The Clothes Horse, *Felinofelice, Pseudable Bliss, and AUREA. There was a time when naming 8 bloggers who are charming and friendly to me would be difficult, but I'm so happy that my readership has expanded! These are all people I've met through blogs and do not know in real life.

Now, onto the oddities! Diana at our.city.lights did a great interview with Yooni of genuine incongruity - it's definitely something to check out! My favorite part was about girls' body images. This is what I really liked:

"It's easy to just talk about body image in terms of weight, but I believe it goes beyond that. After my 18 years on this earth (ha!) I know at least this: people will find beauty in what you think are your flaws. So to that stray freckle, to that extra chub on your hips, that visible birthmark that creeps along your collarbone, that slightly crooked nose, those bushy eyebrows, I think you are beautiful, and someone else thinks you're beautiful too."

This is so incredibly true! I think that all of the oddities and unique features on people are what really make them beautiful. And that is why I'm going to show you my toes today.


I have webbed toes. Look closely and try not to be blinded by my ghastly white legs! Not entirely webbed, like a duck, but partially. It's more common than you'd think. Well, according to Wikipedia, "in humans it is considered unusual, occurring in approximately one in 2,000 to 2,500 live births." So, I'm special. As a kid I was incredibly self-conscious about them, going to great lengths to hide them. I even saw a doctor about having them surgically separated, since it caused me so much anxiety. Turns out the risks of losing feeling in your toes if they cut a nerve isn't really worth it, so I had to learn to live with them. Gradually, I realized that they were sort of an asset. Not only did they set me apart from other people (and I have to say - NO OFFENSE - I often find "regular" toes to look weird), but I realized that people thought they were neat. [I've seen several people who have the same webbing as me- once I sat next to a guy in history class who had them! My mom's cousin has them too.]

Of course, there are always people out there who don't like anything to be different, and this sort of thing scares them. I also dealt with a lot of teasing in elementary school because I have a little mole on the end of my nose which everyone claimed was a booger. You just get used to those things, and learn to love them.

Well! This has been a sort of long and rambling post, but I hope it's been slightly enjoyable and informative! This is the first time I've ever showed my toes off to the whole world, so hopefully it doesn't scare anyone away. I will be back tomorrow with pictures of dresses!

sweet little things

Check out this sweet award I received from Gabbi of *Felinofelice! I've been seeing it all over the place and I'm so glad it finally came my way. Of course it would be better if I could actually have that cupcake and that deer in real life... but this will do just fine! I would like to pass it along to Mothersvea and Pretty Little Pictures - both great blogs. Thank you, Gabbi!

I went to an estate sale this morning, mostly because I was enticed by this picture that went along with the ad:

Picture borrowed from this website...

Doesn't that room look lovely? It was. We arrived at the sale an hour after it started, and I think we were too late. There were so many beautiful shoes and hats and petticoats, but most of them qualified as antiques (things I would be scared to wear or to sell for wearing). As we were waiting in line to pay for the few small things I wanted, I noticed a couple of ladies with bags and bags full of dresses and hats - they must have grabbed up all the good stuff!! Just a lesson for me to get to sales earlier...

I couldn't resist the fat little raccoon on this pin, or this bunny barrette!

Sleepy little Dutch girl cuff links!! [Note to self: figure out how cuff links work.]

This is the only dress I bought. Like I said before, most of the things I liked were just far too old (or expensive). The big lacy collar on this dress is kind of discolored, but if I can't clean it well enough, I can just remove it - looks like someone just slip-stitched it on anyway, and I like the way the dress would look without it.

official business

I'm an official Ambassador of Lovely! I received the most adorable little package from Amy Krouse Rosenthal yesterday. (If you're not sure what I'm talking about, read this blog post.)

The package contained some of Amy's favorite poems, a lollipop, and a stack of cards to hand out to strangers. There was also mention of a dog tag necklace for Ambassadors, but sadly my package had a torn corner and the necklace is MISSING! Oh well. I'm not gonna cry about it. This was nice enough!

My favorite of the 3 poems, by William Carlos Williams

If you're still not sure what I'm talking about, you can visit The Beckoning of Lovely project and see for yourself. Also go there to check for events! Anyone in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Baltimore, Washington D.C., or New York still has time to get on board! I so so wish I could be in Houston for the 60 minutes of Lovely event! [Tim: If you're reading this, please go with Sarah!! It's Tuesday, March 31st at 6 p.m. at the Blue Willow Bookstore on Memorial Drive! And Sarah: please remember to go! I like you two.]

Speaking of, Diana at our.city.lights gave me the above award! Isn't that sweet? There were a couple more (it was like an awards ceremony over there!), but this is my favorite. Most of you who read my blog already have this award, so I'm only going to pass it onto a very small handful of people. And those people are...

Bianca at Adorntonia - a friend in Houston who makes pretty jewelry (somehow, we never met but have been online friends for a while!)
Sarah at Fistfight Analysis - my sister, who is ridiculously loyal to me (even though I once tried to kill her with a Barbie doll)
Liz at Pseudable Bliss - another online friend, who's kind of a writing mentor for my husband (and very nice to talk to!)

As a token of my appreciation to the rest of you, I've added a list of "Lovely People" to the sidebar of my blog, and you may be linked! If you're on that list, I think you're really neat and I'm glad to know you.

tagged and awarded

Ana B. of on dressing up has tagged me to do this survey of sorts. I've got some extra time this morning, so here it is! I'm also going to show a couple of pictures of accomplishments around the apartment, just so you don't lose interest entirely.

What is your current obsession?
Thrifting, Etsy, blogging. Those all sort of go together.

What are you wearing today?
Jeans, navy blue top, pink sweater.

What important issue in the world today would you solve if you could?
That's a big question with a lot of answers. Maybe working on the world's food problem... helping establish sustainable, local food sources everywhere.

Why is today special?
The in-laws are coming to visit! And I like them.

What would you like to learn to do?
Make dresses from patterns! The only thing I've ever made from a pattern was pajama pants in my high school sewing class. They came apart that same day. I would like to blame the teacher- she never really taught us anything. Haha.

What's for dinner today?
I believe there's going to be a homemade pizza!

What's the last thing you bought?
Groceries.

What are you listening to right now?
Just normal apartment sounds: the clock above my desk buzzing, the people upstairs squeaking around, Robert cooking something and playing video games at the same time. [I am also choking to death because he's roasting chipotle peppers.]

Finally finished hanging things up over my desk! Not as crooked as it looks.

What is your favorite weather?
Sunny and breezy. I like Spring and Autumn best as seasons, so that sort of weather.

What is on your bedside table?
I don't have a table on my side of the bed! I do, however, have a stack of books on the floor. That's where Robert tosses things he wants me to read, and I inevitably pick them up.

What's your style?
It's currently evolving. Every day when I get dressed I have to tell myself not to overdo it, to keep things simple. Also, whenever I put something on and I don't like it anymore, I'm banishing from my closet. Working on adding more vintage pieces and not buying anything cheaply made.

What is your most challenging goal right now?
Looking for a worthwhile job that won't make me want to claw my eyes out.

What are some of the things you like about where you live?
I love how small Nashville is, even though it's a city. I also love the hills, since I come from a very flat part of Texas. And I love all the flowering trees! Plus the mild weather, all the neat coffee shops, and the fact that they have a farmer's market open 7 days a week. Oh, and Trader Joe's.

Say something about the person who tagged you:
Ana - You're a pretty neat girl! I think it's really cool that the first time you visited my blog, you commented and linked me from yours. Super sweet!

If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the world, where would you like it to be?
Since I haven't been to many places in the world, I really don't know. But a paid-for, fully-furnished house HERE would be nice! Especially one of the adorable houses in the 12th South neighborhood.

Favorite vacation spot?
Here. But now that I live here, I suppose I should find another favorite place to visit.

That's our new little cupboard!

Name the things you cannot live without:
Thrift stores, estate sales, sugar, sleeping, and making up songs.

Name a memory from childhood that sticks out in your mind:
Playing hide and seek with my whole family. We would turn out all the lights in the house (but the seeker was allowed to carry around a candle). It was really spooky and fun. I always hid in my closet, because I could get behind my clothes and I was sure no one would see me. One time my dad went out into the car (we didn't think to check the garage!) and fell asleep. It took us an hour to find him.

What person would you like to have in your hands right now?
In my hands? That sounds like it'd have to be a tiny person. I will wish for a pet raccoon.

What would you like to get rid of?
All of the desserts we have. I forgot that my mom was going to mail us cookies, and we bought some yesterday... plus we're about to make a cherry pie. Unfortunately, I think we will end up eating everything.

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
I'm fine right here, but like Ana said: H&M anywhere in the Netherlands. Early morning. With coffee in my hand and a limitless credit card. [Sounds pretty good to me! Though someone else better be paying the credit card bill.]

Which language do you want to learn?
I've really given up on languages other than English (though I'm glad I can at least speak that). I took 4 years of French, and all I remember now are a few random words and part of The Stranger (L'Etranger) by Albert Camus that I memorized for a competition. It's the part about killing the Arab on the beach. I'm sure that will come in handy one day.

Which countries have you visited?
I've never been outside of America!! However, I have been all over the middle of America (never even made it to the East or West coast). I like roadtrips.

You have your pick of superpowers. What is it?
When I was in middle school I would watch Sabrina the Teenage Witch after school every day, and my favorite thing was how she could instantly change into any clothes she wanted. I would like to do that, please.

What do you want to be when you grow up?
Happy. I think that's a very good answer. I don't have definite plans besides that. Oh, except I may want to open a Bed & Breakfast at some point.


Ana also gave this Lemonade Award to me! (Thank you so much!) I'm really not entirely sure what it's all about, but I've seen it going around. Lemonade for everyone! Family's here now... I'll be back!