After My Morning Shower...

aftershowershop was suggested to me by Etsy the other day and I am completely smitten!  I love all of their cute and airy looks, especially in this summer heat.

Such cute little details and easy-to-wear colors and shapes!  The Sweet Thursday Dress is everything I want in a dress.

The Two Tone Part II dress would be a flawless option to throw on before leaving the house for any excuse; grocery shopping? no problem! dinner date? of course!  Maybe finish it off with an array of belts to switch up the look.

The long Waterfall dress is perfect.  I've been looking for a long dress all summer, to no avail.  I only wish I had seen this beautiful outfit earlier!

Back to School - Wrangling Up Your Writing Tools

Today's finds are based on your writing utensils!

First of all, you need a great pencil.  One that writes clearly and doesn't break every time you touch it to paper.  I think these from missisaau are so cute and unique, but she has many other varieties if you want to see what other pattern choices you can find.

In order to keep those pencils in tip top shape, you'll need a portable sharpener.  Is there a cooler vintage sharpener out there than this neato Stage Coach one from penorus?

To make sure that those pencils don't disappear to the bottom of your bag and get lost, they'll need a bag to keep them safe and on the top of the pile (or at least easily distinguishable at the bottom).  I'm loving this scooter one from jellytoastkids.  If it were only a bit more yellow it would look like my scooter, Daisy.

Back to School - Keeping Your Space Tidy

As I said yesterday, this week will be back-to-school week!  I shared some of my favorite carry-to-class items yesterday and today is all about keeping your space at home organized and tidy - keeping it a bit more user-friendly for those long nights of homework and studying.

Everyone *needs* a desk organizer of some sort.  If you don't have one, your desk quickly becomes a war zone and you won't want to go anywhere near it and your homework won't be done, or it won't be done to the highest quality.  This vintage one from ModishVintage would be perfect, and that color is great! (yellow being my favorite color and all...)

Bulletin or Cork boards  are great to have hanging over your desk.  Sticky notes lose their 'stick' too quickly and leaving a scrap piece of paper with an important note on it on your desk ensures that it will be lost to the depths underneath all of the other nonsense that takes up your space. I really like this one from boardvinos, and they're from Albuquerque (only a short drive from where I live)!

The cork board above your desk would be pretty much useless without some thumb tacks to secure things with, and these Wizard of Oz inspired ones from cocostitch are perfect!

Another Semester

Classes start back up today and in honor of that (and because I'm feeling quite un-organized and a bit frazzled being back in our house and having to unpack and make-ready) I'm sharing with you all some of the best back-to-school organizing paraphernalia I found on Etsy.  Who else gets excited about tidy work spaces and neatly organized desks?

Every stressed-out, over-scheduled, under-fed, insomniac college students owes his or her academic success to a well-used day planner.  I love these from muchadoaboutyou because not only are they colorful and stylish, the hours of each day are printed out so that I can "see" the layout of my day - when I have free homework time, when I have classes, etc. I also love being able to see the month laid out in the same fashion, I can see when long-term projects are due or tests are scheduled.

I don't know about the rest of you, but lists really help me keep control of what needs to be done and by when.  Marking something off of the never-ending to-do list is also a relieving little motion, helping me to see that, yes, things do (eventually) come to completion and not everything is as ever-growing as the list from which it is crossed off.  This List Taker from grandmaslittlelilly would be perfect to carry around, and those birdies are so cute! I also appreciate that it has pockets for a pen and important scraps of paper.

The size of this bag from GetReadySetGO is perfect, a large main compartment with a pocket and the external zipper pocket for pens is so functional and efficient.  The color is lively and the panda really tops off the charm of the vintage messenger.  Your bag can really make all of the difference, too small and you lose things, too big and you risk hurting yourself filling it up, but this one is a great size for running to class and making sure you have everything you need.

That's all for today!  Tomorrow I'll have more organizers and school supplies :)

Happy Birthday Momma!

Isn't she gorgeous?

I believe this picture was taken in 1974, so she would've been about 17 or 18 years old.  I've only recently come across it (while visiting her brother the week before last) and am completely smitten with its contents, the slight fuzz, the colors, and of course the beautiful subject (isn't her skin just perfect? and her hair? and her face? and and and...I could go on).  Looking at some of the pictures of my mom when she was about my age was very cool and we have much the same styles! Hopefully soon I'll get some scanned copies of more of the pictures and I can do a then and now outfit style post, what do you think?

Anyways, Happy Birthday Mom!  I love you!

Adventures!

I know, I've been a bad blogger.  Things have been crazy on this end with all of the traveling I've been doing!  Next week I'll be back home and things will get back to whatever "normal" might be and I'll be a better blogger, promise.  In the mean time, I wanted to share some pictures from the adventures I took while in Asheville!

The first real day we were there, we went to eat at Corner Kitchen (where President Obama ate while he was there) and went window shopping and to Yarn Paradise across the street.

The next day, we went to the Grovepark for lunch (where President Obama stayed) and got to drool over more than one gorgeous art gallery. (this was the view from our table)

The third, and sadly final, day of our trip we went to the Biltmore house which was so beautiful and huge and completely jaw-dropping in so many ways. 

The gardens here were ......... well, they make me speechless :)

I tried to keep this post short on the photos because I'm sure you all don't want to see all of the 300 pictures I took over a 3-day span ;)

Blackbird Jewelry

On our adventures in Asheville, NC last week, we went to go see my Uncle's studio which is part of the Cotton Mills Studios.

This space is shared by a number of artists including painters, potters and fiber artists.  Mixed in was a jewelry artist with some very intriguing pieces, Blackbird Jewelry.

I love her Back Beads and the silver earrings and necklaces, don't you?

More adventures were enjoyed and more photos and shops to share!

Travelling Again!

I will be traveling tomorrow to the East Coast!  I'm going with my momma to visit my Uncle and Aunt who live in Asheville, NC.  My Uncle (mom's brudda) is an artist who recently got back from a voluntary job in Iraq.  He paints mostly narative paintings and has a website where you can see all of his amazing work and a blog (where you can see his latest - a Star Wars Mural!!)

I will try to blog during the week, but if I don't, at least you know why :)

Here are some amazing Etsy Artists who live in the Asheville area:

1) Only One Rule by ragamuffinpress
2) Tree House in the Sky by thelindentree
3) Take A Hike by TheWheatField
4) Noodle stoneware Serving Bowl by OneClayBead
5) Taquito the Cat by ALTdesigns19
6) Baby Sparrow Ring by caitiesellers

A Recent Death

So, I don't know how many of you heard, either in my Ravelry Group or on Twitter, but I had a recent death in the family.

Little Wooden Surgeons by littlewoodpeople

My old Dell Inspiron E1505 went in for surgery a few weeks ago to try and help with his narcolepsy but tragically died on the operating table. 

The doctors did everything they could to fix him, but it just wasn't meant to be.  Since then, I have been hijacking Matt's computer while he's at work but all of my documents, patterns, spreadsheets, and important things are still on the dead computer.  Hopefully, we'll be able to conduct a heart-drive transplant soon so that I can retrieve all of those things, and I do have a new computer on order.

Laptop Charms from nicoledebruin

And yes, this is a double post from my other blog.  I thought it would be ok to post it both places because I don't know that anyone actually reads both...except maybe my mom.  *Hi Momma!* (Does anyone else read both of them?  It would be kinda useful information...)

Miniature Painting Jewelry

I came across HeatherKent the other day on Twitter when she posted pictures of her new work (proof Twitter does work!).  I fell in love immediately and am >this< close to giving into my inner desires.

She does custom pieces, so you can get your very own, personalized piece of wearable artwork!

Which necklace is your favorite?  (I'm loving that green tree one, personally :) )

Cupcakes!

While we were in Leesburg Virginia we were lucky enough to find a little cupcakery called Lola's.  Although they only had a few flavors to choose from, they all looked so delicious and decadent!  We decided to get this beauty:

How delicious does this look?!

It was so good, Matt and I don't usually like frosting, but the frosting on this cupcake tasted like...cookie dough ice cream.  Not the kind with chunks of cookie dough, like, ice cream that tastes like cookie dough.  Or maybe a better way to describe it is that the frosting tasted like viscose cookie dough, does that make sense?

Regardless, this cupcake was delicious and I almost wish we had cupcakeries out here...in my house... :)

Back!

Sorry I was MIA this weekend, I went to a wedding in Virginia and didn't have consistent internet access.  I'm back now and will be blogging regularly again :)

Wanna see some of the gorgeous pictures (out of more than 300 taken) from this weekend?  I thought so.

The first night we walked around Georgetown and saw the sights.

Of course I brought some knitting with me...

Ate a delicious cupcake (and got crumbs and frosting everywhere, I blame Matt)

Got a chance to wear a beautiful sweater I just finished. Read about it here, Ravelry Deets here.

The Big Moment

We stayed at a beautiful B&B called the Norris House in Leesburg, VA and the wedding was held across the street at the Birkby House.  It was a phenomenal weekend but this week is back to my ever-growing to-do list and blogging regularly!