V-day surprise: hubby reads my blog!

I came home from work Monday to find this giant fort in my great room, made out of every sheet and blanket we own it seems, and about fifty clothespins and binder clips.  Hubby definitely surprised me!!  There were string lights, a roaring fire in the fireplace, fresh flowers in a vase, a nice bottle of wine, board games, and take-out for dinner and dessert from Hot Italian!  Wow.  It was so awesome.

He told me that due to weather, he was on to Plan E for how he was planning on treating me for the holiday, and after reading my post on forts, he knew building me this was the perfect surprise.  He was totally right.  It is now Wednesday, and the fort still remains up.  I love how organic it is, with the ladder and all...:)

 

We spent the evening chilling in our fort with our dogs; played Battleship, Yahtzee, and card games; ate delicious salad, pizza, and Zucchero, with Kokomo Pinot Noir; and exchanged our traditional two-cards-a-piece: one sweet, one funny.  It was really a great night. 

 

 

And for breakfast...leftover Zucchero + coffee. yum.

How was everyone's Valentine's Day?? I hope yours was splendid!

{And yep! That's an EmersonMade Jack Tack on my shirt pocket!!} ;)

inspiration for creative minds

My fellow creators and lovers of all things creative {really?! that's the best I've got??}, I hope you take the time to watch this video.  It's only twenty minutes, and Elizabeth Gilbert has just done wonders for my personal psyche. 

Let me know what you think, and pass it on! :)

yummy healthy quick veg lunch

I am fortunate enough to live only a couple miles from work, so I usually go home for lunch during the week.  Lately, I have been making some pretty unhealthy choices {cheese, fat, more fat} and it was all catching up with me.  My body was getting mad, so I treated it to a refreshingly healthy lunch yesterday.

I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up the fresh ingredients and arrived home with a concept, hoping it would turn out delicious.  I say hoping because I come up with new ideas for food all the time and while they seem great in theory, they don't always work in execution.
Well, I'm proud to admit, this lunch was a hit!

{photo taken w/ old Canon Powershot, not my new fancycam}

Salad:

Spring mix salad greens

blue cheese crumbles

walnuts

red d'Anjou pear

Dressing:

stone ground mustard

safflower oil

roasted walnut oil

white balsamic vinegar

KS&P

Main:

whole grain bagel, toasted

avocado

alfalfa sprouts, dressed with fresh lemon juice, KS&P, and a drop of safflower oil

KS&P, to taste

I know avocados and oil and cheese are fats, but two of the three are good fats, and I felt really good after eating!  I didn't experience that 3:00 crash at my desk, and I was sustained until I got around to eating dinner at around 8:00 last night.  So, I'd say this lunch was a success.

That smashed avocado on the toasted bagel was inspired by Miss Moss's tumblr page, dedicated to all things beautiful about breakfast.  So cute!  If I would have gotten up on time this morning, I so would have made one for breakfast, with some jam maybe.  Instead, I grabbed a banana and pop-tarts on my way out the door, hair in a messy ponytail, wearing an over-sized sweatshirt, boyfriend jeans, and Jack Purcells.  Oh well, it's Friday friends!!

I demand that you have a delicious weekend!

nostalgia: hair wraps

After spending the last couple hours perusing the archives of Miss Moss, I came across a photo she shared that took me back to my childhood summer vacations. This photo.

My Dad moved up to Oregon when I was eight years old, so from that time until I was twenty, I spent every summer there.  When I was a tween, I thought going to Saturday Market in Portland was so freaking cool.  I remember being thirteen, and my same-aged step sister at the time and I would take public transportation {from roughly 30 miles away} into the city and spend all day shopping, eating, and getting hair wraps!  I always had super long hair, so my wrap {including springing for the expensive ivory beads} always cost significantly more than hers, but I would keep it all summer and for a couple months in to the school year.  I loved them!  However, I learned after the first time getting one not to get the tiny bells added to the ends...they were pretty annoying, and my Cheerleading coach didn't appreciate the noise they made when I jumped around. ;)

Does anyone get hair wraps anymore??  I haven't seen any for years, and when I visited Saturday Market for Thanksgiving last year, I didn't see any booths offering them.  I suppose I could give myself one if I really wanted to.  I have a ton of embroidery thread and beads, and I mastered the Chinese Staircase knots at summer camp when I was like nine.  Or I could follow these instructions...haahahha! 

I might just give it a go...probably in an inconspicuous place like at the nape of my neck, since I work in an office.  I don't think pink thread sticking out of the top of my head screams authority.  Ah, to be young again.

That reminds me!  My cousin trusted me to cut out her hair wrap that started in the middle of the top of her head at her part, and I was so nervous, I accidentally cut her hair, rather than the thread.  She had this two-inch chunk sticking out like Alfalfa for months, and she was not happy with me.  Oops!  We were like thirteen at that time.  Sorry Heather! ;)

Did you gals every get hair wraps?

true to style

As much as I would like to think I would be satisfied with an all black-and-white-and-denim wardrobe, wearing simply jeans and a tee everyday, I am all too often reminded of how impractical that is.  Then I come across some gorgeous piece like this maxi dress, and I am grateful I didn't chuck all the pretty pieces I own! 

Like any chick, I get in these crazy moods, but in my {oh-so-mature, ha!} adult years I have learned some discipline when it comes to acting impulsively. One thing I do, when I think I am over an article of clothing in my wardrobe, is take it out of my main closet and hang it in my spare closet.  Usually I forget about it after a while, which is good, because when I come across it, I can more objectively evaluate whether or not I love it enough to keep it. I often throw clothing I'm on the fence about in a giant bag in my spare closet, and sometimes even sift through it looking for something to wear.  I guess to give it one more go...which is how a certain sherbet orange-and-magenta peasant skirt keeps making its way back in to my main closet.

Back to the gorgeous maxi.  When I spotted it this morning on ModCloth, a super cute site that features a whole host of new items every day, I quickly dreamed up this ensemble:

Day or night. Spring, summer, or autumn.  This outfit rocks!  I already own the shades, sandals, fragrance, and hair luckily, and I've got similar jewelry that will suffice, but I still need the dress and the jacket to pull off this entire look.  My tortoise shell shades are from anthropologie but look very similar to the Vans pair pictured.  I own the exact sandals pictured from J.Crew, and although I have some vintage jewelry with the essence of these pieces pictured, I am totally digging that bracelet {"oh pear bracelet" from ModCloth}, so I might have to add that to my shopping cart along with the dress...

A worn denim jacket has been on my list for some time now, but I just can't find one with the right fit yet.  The ones I have tried make me feel so butch...not a very sexy feeling.  I threw in the Marc Jacobs Daisy fragrance because it is my favorite accessory.  Not only is the bottle so beautiful perched on my vanity, but it smells divine.  Abby turned me on to it, then I turned little sister on to it. 

Full disclosure: knowing me, I would take that bracelet off and throw my hair up in a ponytail halfway through the day, but at least I could spend part of the day looking all put-together.  ;)  Now I just have to learn how to do that fishtail braid to my hair...

{photo sources: hair, jacket, shades, necklace, dress, fragrance, sandals, bracelet}