Sunday, August 29, 2010

Mira Mira

Editor for Harper Bazaar Russia and style icon Miroslava Duma has seriously got my attention for her sick outfits that are a constant mix of brand name labels and classic cuts.  Love her!

She even looks adorable pregnant!  The last shot is my absolute favorite.  I need to buy some super long belts and tights ASAP!

Fall Style

I am totally digging the cat eyed, nude lipped looks for the upcoming fall season.  Theres a really good chance I will be trying this out in Europe in less than 48 hours!

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Farmhouse style

After 4 days of rain and cold, the sun has finally come out in Bloomfield NJ.  Lucky for me, I am trapped inside the house, working feverishly to get all these work projects done that have been hanging over my heads for weeks.  I was up until 1130pm working last night (during which time I also watched Deep Blue on TV and drafted a pretty sick fantasy football team).  All I really want to do is go sit outside and get some sun, but instead my ass is plopped at the dining table (apparently this is my new office) staring at my laptop. 

Speaking of dining room tables (I wasn't, but I am now), for the last few weeks I have been stalking craigslist, etsy, flea markets and the goodwill stores in the area for a quality farmhouse style table.  So far all I have found out is that the table I want, is going to cost somewhere in the range of $700 to $1000 dollars, not including chairs.  Last night at exactly 1:02 am I gently asked the husband if he could make us one- you know, find some salvaged pine, stick it on top of iron legs and voila! our very own farmhouse table.  He mumbled something which I took as a "yes, of course darling" and went to sleep.  But I am not stupid and I know that this will not happen, not in this world and definitely not before my deadline of the week before Thanksgiving.

While I am away maybe one of my dear neighbors will decide that they would like to donate their farmhouse table and mis-matched chairs to me?  That would be lovely.  I will leave you with some of my favorite tables and some other pretty photos- enjoy!


Oh snap...look what I just found- the plans for how to build the West Elm Farmhouse table (shown above). Make Your Own by following the easy step by step directions!  Sold for $50!!  And now I just need to find some ghost chairs, like the ones seen HERE.  My day just got so much better!


Monday, August 23, 2010

Almost to 200 and other ramblings

It seems like just yesterday that I started this little bloggity blog after much urging from the husband and others.  I cannot believe I am almost at 200 posts- sort of...weird.

Anyways so we are finally off for our Europe trip in 6 days.  I cannot even wait.  Each day that passes gets me more stressed out and anxious about all the amazing things we are going to experience and the fun people we will meet.  I wonder if the pup will remember who we are after we dump him at his grandparents house in MA for 4 weeks.  They say dogs only understand that you are gone, but they dont understand how long you are gone...so I am sure the little pup pup will run over when we return and greet us by peeing on our feet.  Typical day in "my dog is an asshole" land.

So this past week has been crazy.  I spent 2.5 long days out in California for work and somehow managed to drink more wine/beer/vodka/other random liquor than I did sleep.  Our first day in CA brought us good food and cocktails and some rowdy late night swearing (talking) in the hotel bar, where our second day there brought on 4 glasses of red wine with lunch followed by a quick trip on the cable cars down to Pier 39.  The last thing I remember is my coworker, Jenna, shouting "whatssss upp motha fucka" at the Fedex truck driver who nearly pancaked us into the side of the cable car.  Oh, and then we found a place that served "beers to go" and naturally we took our Bud Lights wrapped in a paper bag and our pride right back to the hotel and then on to our meeting (who has a business meeting at 7pm at night anyway)?  After the meeting we got to the airport for my first ever red-eye flight home.  Bad idea.  We consumed another 3 glasses of wine each while listening to the man on my right telling his baby momma that "he would be home soon" and watching the disgusting woman to our left (orangutang) polish off an orange in 14 seconds flat.  Im telling you- the place to be at 11pm is the San Francisco Airport Continental terminal bar.

 So- we board the flight and immediately are involved in some sort of altercation with the man in my row.  The attendant is screaming at him because his seat back is not in the upright and locked position and he is screaming at her because his f'ing chair is broken.  Oh good- just the right way to start a 6 hour overnight flight to NJ.  Really- this cant get any better. I fall asleep and wake up as we are approaching Newark airport.  Like I said, it cant get any better because I can smell Jersey from 30,000 feet. 

So i get home around 9am and sleep my ass off until 4pm and completely miss a whole day of work.  I feel like i have been beaten by Hulk Hogan, or maybe David Hasselhoff.  Listen people, dont hassel the hoff.

But I somehow make it through a tough weekend of sleeping, eating, drinking, sleeping, eating, sleeping, napping and revive myself a little bit for this last week of work before the big vaca.  I am pumped.  Bags are half packed and my plane tickets are corrected (yes, i booked them with the wrong last name and had to pay a fee to change them, awesome).  I cannot wait to land in Amsterdam, plunk my bags down in our hotel and hit up the first "coffee shop" I see.  In case any of you forgot (or if any of you care), here is a list of the cities we will be visiting:

Amsterdam
Berlin, Germany
Prague, Czech Republic
Rome
Venice
Florence
Milan
Interlaken, Switzerland
Munich

Pretty much a wine drinkers dream come true...thankfully, we have a group of wine drinkers.  I plan on being in a gelato induced coma for at least 10 days of the trip and a pasta induced coma for the other 7 days.  Life is good people, life is friggin good.

Monday, August 9, 2010

More of White

Found this sneak peek into an Amsterdam home on Design Sponge...and they have white floors in every room. I love the look!  And I love the bed frame made out of scaffolding tubes even more.  I am silently hoping that the husband gets a burst of creativity and wants to make me a bedframe out of scaffolding tubes too...

Friday, August 6, 2010

Happy Birthday To the BFF

Today is my best friend Jenn's (28th) Birthday!  Its hard to believe we are getting so old- but its reality and I will deal with it.  Jenn's boyfriend Adam surprised her with Red Sox/ Yankee tickets for Saturday's game, so naturally the husband and I are going as well!

Lots to do this weekend, like:

-throw a little party
-Enjoy some delicious cocktails and birthday cake
-Spend time with good friends
-People watch in the Bronx


Have a great weekend everyone!

Sunday, August 1, 2010

Sneak Peek- Office Reonovation

A quick little peek into what we have been working on for the past week:




Awwww yeaahhh baby! Look who painted her hardwood floors WHITE.  Yowzah, these suckers look awesome.  I have never been happier with the outcome of one of my "stupid" ideas.  Take that haters.  More photos of the finished office to come this week!

p.s. did you see the white deer head?  He will be so happy in his new home...once we figure out what wall to stick him on.  My vote is for above this shelf.

On a mission...

A Mod Mission that is!  Earlier in the summer I read an article about some great little vintage stores a few towns over in Bogota NJ. Naturally I ripped out the article, stuck it in my purse and forgot about it. That is, until my parents came to visit a few weeks ago.  My mom and I decided to head on over and check out the deets.  The stores were okay...but nothing caught my eye until....

...Yesterday!  The husband was in an ADD-type mood and wanted to see the stores, "I want to see the stores" he kept shouting (not really, but in my head its funnier if it went down this way).  So off we went, back to Bogota.  We walked into and back out of 5 stores before, low and behold, the husband spotted the mother load:

Yes, that's right.  A skull- with horns, and a rather creepy bullet hole directly in between where this little f*cker's eyes were.  Guess  they got him good- even his teeth are intact.  I have been scouring design sites for a skull like this since April and havent come across anything less than $200.  The price for this badboy?  $75.  Say it with me folks T-H-R-I-F-T-Y.  So we hopped in the car, sped over to the ATM and talked about how we would "haggle" this woman down to a price of $60.  The husband told me that if I went to the ATM, he would do the haggling.  Clearly, he is the lazy one in our marriage.  So we get back, and I am all excited, waiting to see my salesman of a husband haggle this old bat down to $60 for a sick bull skull.  The conversation went like this:

The husband " Whats the price for this again?"
Old Bat: "$75"
The husband " Oh, okay.  Heres your $75 dollars and would you perhaps like to take our first born child as well?  We really like this skull."

I stood there, astonished, as no haggling went down.  So disappointed, I was hoping to see some real wheelin and dealin.

Anyhoo- the skull immediately found its home, replacing the resin deer head from Z Gallerie.  No no, dont be alarmed; the deer head is being re-located to a more "cozy" space, up in our newly renovated office.  Not as much foot traffic, but the deer wont know the difference.

Stupid or Cute- you decide

Meet Barkley.  Our 4 yr old Pomeranian who is quite possibly the most energetic dog I have ever seen.  He loves to be the center of attention and naturally people love him, probably because he looks like part Ewok/part bat/ part old man.  Here is Barkley in all his glory before:

Total fur-ball.  I kid you not, there are tumbleweeds that fly by my face every night as I am trying to relax.  The damn dog sheds more than any cat.  Special shout out to his breeders for telling us "oh he doesn't shed and oh, he has hair, not fur."  Jerks.

Anyway, the amount of fur I was cleaning up on a daily basis was becoming ridiculous, so I made little pup pup an appointment with the groomer.  A few days later, I sent the Husband and pup pup on their way and instructed the husband to "have her give him a buzz cut".  A few hours later, they both arrived on my front door step, looking extremely nervous and embarrassed.

I present you Barkley- the awkward pup.  He looks like he is on display at the zoo.  What an asshole.

Ohhhh...hello there.  I have a huge head and a tiny body that closely resembles the cat from Austin Powers. If you need to find me, just look under my parents bed and you will see my legs sticking out from one side.  Because that's what I do, I hang under the bed all.day.long.

I can say that the tumbleweed sightings have stopped and I no longer have to vacuum fur every day.  In other news, Barkley loves his new found aerodynamic body and loves to show off all his sick moves.  So really, it was a win for everyone involved.