January Clearance Sales

January can sometimes be a hard month, there is always the let down that comes after Christmas and you still have 3 or 4 more months of bad weather to look forward to but there are 2 shining lights that get me thru this dreary month, #1 is A’s birthday & #2 is all the clearance sales. I have had pretty good luck so far and I’ll probably share more later but one thing that really stands out in my mind are these great little jeweled flats. I have had my eye on the Steve Madden version since early fall and at $79.95 they were a pretty good deal but when I found them on clearance at Target last week for $4.95 I was extremely excited.

Target version for $4.95

Steve Madden version for $79.95

I wore them to work the very next day and got tons of compliments, a great way to dress up a simple outfit without being too over the top and all for the cost of a cup of coffee.

New Year's Eve Wedding

As I mentioned here we had yet another wedding to go to this winter, this one was on New Year’s Eve and once again the bride had a photo booth there for all the guests to enjoy, and enjoy it we did. This time I think I walked out of the wedding with about 10 of those little photo strips. It’s fun to look thru them and see the evolution of the evening. In the first couple we couldn’t even manage to get all of our faces into the photos and by the end we had a large amount of people in there and were just being silly.



Can't quite seem to find the lens but apparently we all went to the same hairdresser.



7 girls, thats a lot of poeple in a small space



Little sister and brother in law even made an appearance


All in all a great way to kick off the 2011, surrounded by family and friends, in a small photo booth.

Plosive

It is no secret that shoes are an obsession for me so it was a no brainer when I found these while shopping for a baby shower gift; ok so I had wandered a little ways outside of the baby section. To say it was love at first sight is an understatement, I saw these Plosive by Wild Diva over the racks and they called to me across the store. I actually ran over another woman in my haste to get to these.

What’s not to love,

·         pretty pink color, check

·          Lace, check

·         Perfect heights, check

·         Platform style, check

·         Can be worn with bare legs or with tights, check

·         Great price, $19.99, check

Wild Diva is know for their great details and attention getting styles, plus how can you not love a shoe called "Plosive". Maybe its my 80's child coming out, these are definitely reminiscent of early Madona, but whatever you want to call it, another match in heaven has been made, thank you shoe gods for looking out for me once again.

Jessica's "Daily Affirmation"

Love this little girl, this is just too cute not to share and the pink bathroom is just an added bonus. If you ever need a little pick me up just watch this and your mood is guarenteed to get better.

Remodeling Retro Style

Lets start off the series with the remodeling genre as that seems to be the one that sucks up the majority of my time and energy at the moment, One of my favorites is  “Brooklyn Limestone", it’s written by a young couple who purchased a 100+ year old home in Brooklyn NY and have spent the last few years renovating it and bringing it back to its former glory. One of my favorite things about what they have done is having been able to add modern touches and conveniences while still staying true to the bones of the house, I can attest as to how difficult this can be at times and I am trying to be very intentional in my decision for the house for this exact same reason.  It makes it feel like the home is truly theirs and they are the homes. I really hate when people try to force a style or certain aesthetic into a space where it truly just does not belong and vice versa people who are so determined to re-make something into exactly what it was originally that it isn’t conventional as a modern day home.  While they have done a lot more extensive remodeling than I have done so far I still love seeing all the before and after pictures (here) and will admit to being extremely jealously.  They also have a great contest going on right now so this is a great time to pop over to their site and check it out.


Found this pic after I was pretty much done with our bathroom and was super excited to see that we had made some of the same design choices. (Brooklyn Limestone upstairs bathroom)

My other favorite hands down in the remodeling genre is “Retro Renovation”, Pam has given hope to thousands of homeowners across North America that they truly are not alone in their dream of bringing their homes back to their original mid-century glory. With greats posts like  “Save the Pink Bathroom” and links on where to find everything from design tips, to products and even where to find the best reproductions and lot and lot of pictures this is a must see blog to be sure. She is also very good at regulating the reader comments and always encourages her readers to renovate safely. While I have never met her I feel like she is a friend whom I can call on anytime with my design question and am working with her currently to get my kitchen featured on her blog to hopefully get some design help from her readers, I’ll keep you updated as to when that happens.

1st Series

Blogging is strange new world to be sure and it sucks you in. As I mentioned before (here) I have certain blogs that I check on a daily basis and I know without fail that there will be a new post up every morning and I completely envy their discipline to do that although ironically enough those are also the ones that their blog is their full time job, coincidence? Probably not J . While others post a bit more randomly and it is always a wonderful surprise when something new pops up. Looking at the list of ones I am currently following I found them divided into certain categories’, my friends & family, fashion, house (retro renovation and remodeling), and parenting. With this in mind I am going to do my first series of posts showcasing some of my favorite blogs in each category. Some of my favorite blogs I found as links from other blogs so I hope you enjoy this series and will hopefully find something that you also love.

New Years Staycation

Stay-cation is a word that was on everybody’s lips this year so it was fitting that we spent the last night of 2010 having one ourselves. With the economy struggling and people just glad they even had jobs; there was a definite trend to staying close to home for your vacations this year. Because of the new house we didn’t go anywhere this year and I was definitely feeling the need to go somewhere even if just for a bit. We had some friends that got married on New Year’s Eve at the Davenport Hotel so I took that opportunity to book us a suite at the hotel for the evening. The Davenport is one of the nicest hotels in town, and it feels so decadent to stay at a hotel like that, even if just for a night.



Davenport Hotel

We valet parked the car so we didn’t have to worry about trying to find parking and I got early check in and was able to get ready for the wedding in the room and even ordered room service for a light snack to share before we went down to the reception. We went to the wedding, attended the reception, had drinks afterwards, and watching the midnight fireworks display all without leaving the building. After a busy night nothing beats enjoying a leisurely morning after sleeping on a great bed, a Starbucks coffee stand in the lobby, and a late breakfast.  While it is only about five miles from my house it absolutely feels like you are somewhere else completely and I am definitely looking forward to doing another one soon. All in all a great way to kick off 2011.