Pillow Lust

I love this bookcase that Jamie of I Suwannee posted awhile ago, but the pillow really caught my eye.  I think it's this pillow from Jonathan Adler and I think I need it in my life.  Christmas is coming!

Ooh preeeeeeeeetty!

I think this would look lovely with my green winter coat.  The blue is gorgeous too, but I would have nothing to wear with it:

Cashmere Squiggle Scarf from Anthropologie.

Updates around the casa

Two of the four walls in the den are now this color:

The other two walls will get painted when I get around to it.  Also, later today I should be receiving this (in chrome) for the guest room:

And this (as a runner) for the hallway:

I'm very excited.  I love me some bold zig zags!

Office Inspiration

Last weekend I was watching The Devil Wears Prada (again) and among all of the shoes, bags, and other fabulous accessories, what grabbed my attention was Miranda Priestly's office. It got me thinking that it would actually be really easy and not necessarily expensive to recreate. A Parson's desk, a pewter lamp, and several Ikea Ribba frames with black and white photos is really all it needs. Some chic accessories like the fabulous mirror and a green vase with white roses and voila! It's all making me feel like the futon and bargain-basement desk in our den is so very...ick. The desk needs to go. Soon.

Best. Show. Ever.

Hands down.  We're currently watching the entire series for the second time, we're that obsessed.  Yes, it came out a few years ago, but it holds up well.

Favorite characters?

Omar:

Bubbs:

Stringer Bell (yum):

Full series available here. 

(photos from HBO.com)

On Repeat

A little random this week, but if you've never listened to Steve Earle, you should.  He's got a really unique voice and his music runs the gamut from rock to bluegrass.  I happen to like his bluegrass stuff the best.  My favorite off the "Townes" album is the song "Lungs."

Drinking

This has become one of my new favorite wines.  It's jammy and big and instantly gratifying.  It's also totally smooth and incredibly easy to drink.  It usually runs $14-16 and is available at most of the chain grocery stores around here or you can buy online here.  I've also tried their Shiraz and the Malbec, but the Primitivo far and away my favorite.

A few things on the ol' wishlist

OMG

YES!!!

Odd

Garden and Gun magazine. Yeah. Go figure.

It's published every two months and they have fascinating articles, mostly not about gardens or guns, but mostly just southern stuff, like where to find the best barbeque in North Carolina, the resurgence of moonshine, and the Blind Boys of Alabama. Pretty neat!

Goin' veg

I've decided for no real reason in particular to go vegetarian for dinners this week.  I could use some more vegetable-based meals in my repertoire, so I think this will be fun.  So, on tap for dinner this week is:

Vegetarian lasagna, made with mushrooms instead of ground beef
Quinoa-stuffed squash
Roasted vegetables over creamy polenta
Cheese ravioli with walnuts, cranberries and dates
Tofu (not sure what I'm going to do with it)

I'll report back.

On Repeat

The songs "Well Well Well" and "Mother Pray" are particularly good.

Movies I Want to See

Where The Wild Things Are

New Moon (shut up)

Coco Before Chanel

The September Issue

WTF JCrew?

$325 and no, they're not prescription.



Hot pink anklets? These are just all wrong.

Jenna, you're much better than this.

Awesome

Oh Bono, I love you and your weird glasses:

Photo from U2.com

"The Claw"

Saturday night's set list in Raleigh:

Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
No Line on the Horizon
Magnificent
Elevation
In A Little While
New Year's Day
I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stuck In A Moment
Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy - Remix
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
One
Where The Streets Have No Name
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Back! And now with more cat!

Well, after 5 years of marriage, we finally decided to step up our commitment level by adopting a cat.

I visited the SPCA of Wake County a few times in late August and ran into this little girl in the shelter. She had come into the shelter as a stray and looked like crap: her coat was matted down, she had a string of drool hanging from her mouth, was totally scrawny and smelled kinda bad. But she jumped into my lap and stole my heart and it was all over from there.

We brought her right before Labor Day and she settled in pretty much immediately: she started eating right away, slept on our bed the first night we brought her home and found the litterbox with little problem. The SPCA estimated her to be around 10, but we think she's about 3-4. We'll know more when she gets her teeth cleaned next week (I guess checking their teeth is like counting rings in a tree). Aside from bad teeth and some tape worms that have now been taken care of (side note: GROSS!) she seems to be perfectly healthy and is gaining some much needed weight.

Her name is Grizabella, but she also goes by G-Dizzle, Grizzle Dizzle, G-Money, or Li'l Squirt.

The Road

I just finished reading "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy and I'm still not sure what to think of it.

The premise of the book is that following some event (the reader isn't sure what exactly happened), the earth is rendered almost completely lifeless save for a few people who presumably were able to take shelter during the event and live through it. There are no animals, no foliage, nothing. A father and his son, armed with a pistol, two bullets and a shopping cart, are trying to make their way to the coast. What the father expects to find at the coast is unclear, but it's clear they can't stay in any one place for two long--roving bands of canibals roam the land and no place is safe. Because what happens when there's no vegetation and no animals? There's no food. (The father and son are not canibals and survive on what few canned goods they can scrounge up here and there, but they're at starvation's door throughout most of the book as it's been years since the "event" and most places have been thoroughly ransacked by the few remaining humans.)

So what follows is 287 pages of utter bleakness. It's hands down the most depressing and disturbing books I've ever read. By far. After one particular scene, I had to put the book down for about two weeks and switch to some light-hearted chick lit in order to give myself a break.

I contemplated shelving the book permanently, which I rarely do, but in the end I decided to keep reading anyway and I'm glad I did. Despite the unyielding bleakness, the book is absolutely captivating and compelling. For someone who reads at night and is lucky to get through a single page without my eyelids getting heavy, I found myself easily reading 20+ pages a night. Part of that is the style: there are no chapters, just short paragraphs and the narrative is pretty concise. There is little in the way of punctuation (which apparently aggravated some people on Amazon) and what little dialogue there is is short and to the point. But the other part is the story itself; the father's love for his child is deeply moving and their hope that things will get better makes it difficult to put the book down.

It's hard to say that I enjoyed the book because it was so heavy (oh hey, did I mention its bleakness yet?), but it's undeniable that there is something to it. Apparently, this is a pretty good representation of McCarthy's other books, but this is the first I've read. I'm honestly surprised that it's been as popular as it has been because I have a really hard time figuring out how this appeals to the masses. And what further boggles my mind is that they're making a movie out of this. According to IMDB, Viggo Mortenson plays the father and Charlize Theron the mother. If it follows the book at all, she's going to have a very small part. Oh and if you doubt my description of how utterly depressing this book is, check out the list of characters on IMDB. See what I mean?

Anyway, it's expected to be released October 16, 2009 and honestly, I doubt I'll see it. I think the book was enough for me, but we'll see what Pajiba has to say about it when it comes out and decide then.

Need

Our living room needs this:

Moroccan leather pouf from here

Much like my shoulder needs this:

Coach Parker Leather Satchel from Nordstrom

Dreaming of Spring

It's February 8 and it was about 70 degrees and sunny. Beautiful enough that I went outside and washed both cars.

This weather has me yearning for spring and spring clothing.

Here's how I envision a perfect spring work look:

Daisy necklace, Juicy Couture, $48; Gladiola Print Cami, JCrew, $118; Nolita Denim Jacket, JCrew, $98; Classic Pencil Skirt, Banana Republic, $59; Genevieve Hobo, Cole Haan, $395; Felix Sandal, LAMB, $395

I'd wear it mostly jacket-less, but reserve the denim jacket (which I think I'm going to have to get at some point) for when the office gets chilly (which, now that I think about it, is always).

Of course, the $395 (fierce!) shoes are probably not going to happen and unfortunately I doubt the delicious hobo bag will either. A girl can dream though, right?

Um, yeah, hi. It's me.

It's been awhile since I've posted here. Unfortunately, I have no good story as to why I haven't blogged in months. I haven't been hot-air ballooning around the world; I haven't been on a three month research project in Antartica; and I haven't been scaling Everest. Nope. I've been here in Raleigh, not blogging.

As you might have noticed, it's 2009 now, we have a new administration, and I'm 28. And speaking of a new administration, how great was Tuesday? Our office closed because we had 4.5 inches of snow, but Chris had to work and then volunteered to stay in a hotel so he could get to work the next day, so I had the day to myself and watched, oh, 14 straight hours of television.

A few random thoughts about the day's events:

1) I thought Aretha's hat kicked ass. She pulled it off, plus, she's Aretha Franklin, so that's all that really matters. And did you know you can become a fan of the hat on Facebook?  Now you do.  You're welcome.

2) The inauguration was pretty spectacular. I thought Rev. Joseph Lowery, who did the benediction, was fantastic. I loved him.

3) Chocolate cookies sandwiched together with chocolate buttercream don't suck. There's something to be said for having 4.5 pounds of chocolate chips in one's freezer for occasions when you're snowed in.

4) My husband rocks. He surprised me at Christmas with these red Hunter wellies that I'd been wanting for awhile. They're perfect for snow. I need to get the wellie socks to put in them to keep my toes warm though.

5) Our backyard looks pretty when it's covered in fluffy white snow.

That's all for now, kids. I'll blog more later. Promise.

New Shoes!

I haven't bought any new shoes for myself in quite awhile and to keep my head from exploding under the weight of that fact, I bought these.

I had a 20% off Piperlime coupon and since they have free shipping, they were a total steal. I hope they're comfortable and they fit and I hope they don't look super cheap.

Room and Board Carona table

I have lust in my heart. We have a little breakfast nook (no formal dining room) and it has a bay window which positively aches for a round table. With perfect French bistro chairs around it.

Table from Room and Board. Alas it's $1,300 and the husband says that our current table still serves its purpose well enough and that it doesn't need to be replaced. Isn't he quaint?

Hanna

One of the coolest things (okay, the only cool thing) that's come out of this week's hurricane prep has been finding this website. It's totally dorky-in-a-good-way, like Google Earth and Wikipedia.

Off to the upper right hand side of the screen you can play around with different functions, like the historic track, forecast models, clouds, and ocean buoys. I have a feeling you'll like this especially, Kathy.
Anyway, it's raining now as the outer bands of Hanna are approaching. The driver's side window in my car picked a really good day to stop working. Boo.

Off to the Lake

I haven't posted in ages, mostly because I haven't felt like posting. And there's not much in the way of a post in this one, either. We're off to the lake for Labor Day.

Catch ya later.

"Tell that bitch I want my purse back"

So, this week hasn't exactly been the best week of my life.

Remember how last week I posted about my exciting new Blackberry? Yeah, well it's gone now, along with this purse, my wallet, my iPod, my favorite sunglasses, and everything else that was in my purse, including but not limited to: my debit card, my work credit card, my personal credit card, my driver's license, my Costco card, health insurance cards, and lord knows what else that I haven't even thought of yet.

What happened, you ask?

I got to the gym around 5:40 p.m. on Monday, changed my clothes and hopped on a bike at 5:50 with just enough time for a warm-up prior to our 6:00 session with our trainer. We had a great workout and stopped at about 6:55 which gave us enough time to go out to the car and give our trainer a case of free beer that I had come by. So I went to the locker room to get my car keys and when I got there, I couldn't find my purse and backpack, which I'd locked in a locker with my combination lock. I got one of the girls from the front desk to help me look through the entire locker room (including the trash can--yuck!) and couldn't find anything.

Chris immediately called the police, then called the various credit card companies to cancel the cards. When we called the various credit card companies we found out that by 6:45 p.m., Bitch Face Thief used my various credit cards to purchase $5,500 worth of stuff at Target and Best Buy.

Jaw...floor.

$5,500. In one hour.

My God, even I'd have a hard time dropping that kind of cash that fast!

All joking aside, once we had cancelled all the cards, we then realized that the thief had keys to our house and our address from my driver's license, so Chris had to go buy a new set of locks and change the locks on the house. Then we had to disable my Blackberry, filed a police report, etc, etc.

I still don't really know how it happened. Apparently, a guest checked into the gym under a fake name, wrote down a fake address and paid the $15 guest fee (not a bad ROI for her!). Bitch Face Thief (or BFT, as I'll refer to her) either cut the lock or watched me dial in my combination and took my stuff within minutes of me leaving the locker room. I'm pissed because she got my black Hayden-Harnett purse (which I adored and is no longer on their website!), my red Coach wallet that I'd had for like 5 years, my new Blackberry, my iPod, the DVD set I just bought for my nephew, and all the other stuff of various importance that happened to be in my purse.

Looks like I won't file an insurance claim because our deductible is so high that it's hardly going to be worthwhile. The upside is that I'll get to pick out some new stuff (like the cute wallet I just got online marked down from $170 to $42--yay!), but I'd be more excited about the shopping if I had a choice in the matter. I'm still pissed about the Blackberry and the purse. I'll eventually replace the Blackberry, but that purse is no longer available. And that purse was perfect.

Lady Suki Bag, March 2008-August 2008

RIP, purse. You deserve better than a dumpster grave.

I'll miss you...

New Discoveries

You know how there are some people that are the first people to get in line to buy the newest technology? I think there's a marketing term for those people, but I wouldn't know it because I'm clearly not one of them. I move at my own pace (a very, very slow one) on stuff like that. (Which is all very good since I'm the IT person at work and I just figured out how to turn on a Blackberry--aren't you glad you work in my office?) I don't believe in buying first generation anything because it's always more expensive and not as good as later generations.

But lately I've found myself getting more and more up to date on some of these new-fangled contraptions:

1) Remember how we remodeled our kitchen earlier this year? Well, you know what we did? We bought a microwave. And you know what? It's amazing. We didn't have one for the last 3+ years because there wasn't one built in to the kitchen and a microwave took up way too much counter space, so we just did without. Now it feels like my world is turned upside down! You know how when you're not done with your coffee yet, but it's gotten cold? You can put it in the microwave for 15 seconds and...get this...it's hot again! I mean, will wonders never cease???

2) Moving forward a few decades, about a week and a half ago, I bought a Blackberry. I know people have had these for years now, but this is my first PDA. And it is so cool. I bought it primarily because my old phone would constantly drop calls and then once the calls were dropped, it wouldn't let me dial out (or text) for another few hours. And you want to know how frustrating that is??? VERY. So I wanted a functioning phone and the ability to text better with an actual QWERTY keyboard so my phone didn't have to try to guess what I was typing, because guess what? I wasn't furiously typing "I have my mother ducking cell phone" when it dropped yet another call.

So, I got a Blackberry and it's super cool. I had to go on a business trip to Myrtle Beach last week and the whole ride there, I was fascinated with it. (I wasn't driving, FYI.) Poor Chris got multiple emails, the majority of which were along the lines of "Hey, guess what? I'm emailing you! FROM THE CAR!!! HAHAHAHAHA!" He loves that.

3) Finally, and certainly not least, I have discovered the coolest thing: Google Reader. Oh. my. god. It. is. awesome. You take all the blogs you currently read and enter them into your Google Reader account and when you sign into iGoogle or go to check your Gmail, it displays all the updated blog posts from all the blogs you read! I think it's similar to an RSS feed, but since I'm not entirely sure what an RSS feed actually is, I'm not 100% sure on that.

Fourth of July Weekend

A little late, but here are some pics from the Fourth of July. We spent that weekend at my parents' condo on Lake Norman, near Charlotte, NC. It's spectacular even the most ordinary circumstances, but the Fourth was amazing. We saw tons of firework and add to that a bunch of beer and wine and a meal consisting solely of ribs and dessert, and we were pretty happy.








And finally, there were the baby ducks. So. freaking. cute. There were 8 of them and they came around periodically to be fed, so we'd hold some bread over the wall and they'd jump out to get it out of your fingers:

And that, along with a LOT of rain, was our Fourth of July weekend and it was fabulous.

Totally Necessary

I really don't need this and I haven't even been looking at mobiles to purchase, but I recently got an email from Kiln Enamel saying that their mobiles are 50% off. And now I really want the one on the left. It reminds me of dogwood blooms in the spring.


Chris says I need a new mobile phone before I need a mobile. Which may be true. But I hate talking on the phone and I really like this. We shall see.

Oh and in case anyone just wants to go ahead and buy this for me, you can get it at Kiln Enamel for 50% off with the code "mobile".

Al Gore, Eat Your Heart Out

In general, I wouldn't say that Chris and I are die-hard environmentalists, but we do like to at least be semi-concious about the things we buy, what they're made of and packaged in, and how we can be less wasteful. We do what we can here and there and that includes making small changes when they're within a price-point that seems reasonable.


So, anyway, I recently found these toothbrushes on a blog somewhere in the world wide internets (can't remember where) and they looked cool, so I bought some at Trader Joe's. Amazon has them for $17.93 for six (about $3 a piece--comparable to other toothbrushes, I think) and Trader Joe's also sells them for about $2.50 apiece.


The handles are made out of 100% recycled materials, mostly recycled yogurt cups. And they're totally recyclable when you're done too--you just send them back in a little pre-paid envelope and the company recycles them. The company also makes razors, which I'll have to look into when I'm done with my Costco-sized quantity of razor blades.


Anyway, if that isn't all tree-huggery enough for you, we've also been using this:

Tom's of Maine Cinnamon-Clove toothpaste. It tastes pretty good, although I actually think I like their Fennel flavor just a bit better. It's very fennel-y. It's a nice change from regular old mint toothpaste.


Okay, off the high horse for now.

A Happy Accident

The above shoes? They're mine. You like them? So do I. You know that thing that cats do when the rub their cheek next to something to mark it with their scent glands? Well, I did that.

I was originally going to order the shoes that I had posted in my summer wishlist. Actually, I thought I did order them and it turns out I almost did, but I forgot to hit "Confirm" or whatever to actually finalize the transaction on the website and so like a week later when I was wondering when my shoes would finally arrive, I checked the Piperlime website and found out that I actually hadn't ordered the Seychelles sandals and they were sold out by that point. Got it? Okay. So, then I decided I really needed some chunky sandals for the summer to go with skirts and dresses and whatnot and my tummy hurt and I figured what better way to cure a tummy ache than buying shoes? So I ordered these. They were 20% off already and then I had a coupon code for another 20% off and shipping was free, so I bought them. And then I took a Pepto Bismol, and you know what? My stomach stopped hurting. So see? See Chris? Buying shoes does cure a stomach ache.

Oh yeah, the shoes also come in green and I adore them, but my size was sold out.

So Worth It

I went to The Fresh Market the other day on my lunch break to pick up some shrimp for dinner and since they always have a great selection of chocolate, I had to check out their goods before I left. I ended up picking up these two chocolate bars from Vosges.

The Barcelona bar is milk chocolate with sea salt and roasted almonds. And the Creole bar is dark chocolate with chicory coffee and cocoa nibs. In other words, they were both heaven.

At $7 a piece, they're not the cheapest chocolate bars, but they were totally worth it. I'm dying to try some of the truffles they have listed on their website, especially some of the exotic ones. Mmmmm.....