Monday, November 28, 2011

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Giving Thanks

I honestly cant believe that tomorrow is Thanksgiving.  Where has the year gone?  This time of year is always my favorite and my least favorite at the same time.  So many exciting things happen, with turkey day, and then my birthday a week later, and then family parties and ultimately Christmas and New Years.  Although I am a grown up, I cant help but admit that Christmas and my birthday are still my favorite holidays (yes, my birthday IS a holiday).  I love getting gifts and celebrating with my family and friends.  Yes, giving gifts is fun too, but I am not one of those people who would rather give than receive.

Anyways, here is my list of what I am thankful for this Thanksgiving:

1.) That my parents are driving 6 hours to come celebrate the holiday with us in New Jersey
2.) that the tree department finally picked up all our branches from the Halloween snow storm
3.) That I have a home where I can host Thanksgiving dinner with our family and actually enjoy it
4.) My new DV shoes that I havent stopped wearing for a week
5.) Our fireplace
6.) For the husband, who makes more messes than a toddler
7.) For the husband, who cleaned the upstairs yesterday
8.) For my family, be it my brother in Texas or my in-laws. Not many people can say they have a family that gets along as well as mine does and i truly appreciate them all
9.) The pup
10.) football tomorrow, Friday, Saturday AND Sunday
11.) frozen hot chocolate
12.) pies, stuffing and gravy
13.) For my king size bed, where my perfect little family sleeps each night
14.) For health and happiness, sarcasm and humor.


Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving with their families and friends!

Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Favorite Home Ever

As a blogger and self proclaimed stalker of all things interior design, I tend to find alot of things that inspire me on a daily basis.  My ultimate goal is to one day have a job where I can simply take tours of people's homes and then write about how amazing they are, a la Apartment Therapy.  I see pictures and drive by gorgeous homes every day and there are many different things that attract me to the ones i love.  Bright colored front doors, hand-crafted shutters, large and inviting porticos with the perfect lamp hanging above, lattice work and hard wooded porches, the list goes on and on.  But every time I see these homes I love, there is always something that is out of place.  Maybe the colors are all wrong, or the area sucks.  Or maybe the house is a cookie-cutter type, for which I have never been fond of. 

When we started searching for our first home over 2 years ago, my biggest "want" was for it to feel like a home, and not a carbon copy of the house next door.  I wanted an open space and new fixtures, but i didnt want boring basics.  I didnt want to miss out on all the perfect imperfections that make a house a home.  So when we found our colonial home, it really packages up everything I wanted.  It needed some love but had good bones, and by changing some colors and putting our own design spin on it, it became ours.  It is still changing (I literally move things from room to room on a weekly basis), but we love it.

So what is the point of all my babbling?  Its that I have found my dream house.  No, its not a mansion on the water, or an old, renovated victorian in some overpriced neighborhood.  Its simple and plain, lived in and imperfect. It doesnt have shiny sparkly appliances and a chef's kitchen.  It is quaint and cozy and is filled with amazing, one of a kind pieces that I would happily accept from the owner, say, if they wanted to give them all to me.






  I want to live here.  I dont care that its in Sweden, or that it is easily 100 years old, if not more.  It has land, a view to die for, and I want to wake up every day in this attic-bedroom with exposed beam ceiling, go downstairs and light a fire in my kitchen stove while I yell at the husband to go outside and get more wood.  Yeah, thats what my perfect house wish is.  Whats yours?

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Nailed It

With the holidays coming up, I am always looking for some sweet new way to make my nails really pop.  Out are the days of boring old manicures with one shiny color, and in are technicolored nails that are sure to get attention.  Check some out below:

Peacock inspired

 
nice and light, with minimal artwork
 inverted and matte, probably my favorite and something i can definitely not DIY

A bit southwestern/Aztec-ish

Now this is amazing.  Supposedly if you add water to a bowl, add in some of the desired colors (they will float), swirl with a toothpick and then put your nails in, you get this result!

This one might be the most manageable of them all, easy and straight lined, with great color.  

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Ive been a bad bad blogger

I have been MIA lately, and its totally lame, I know.  Last week was truly a week from hell, and so far this week aint gettin any better.  Let's review:

It all started last Monday, when the proverbial shit hit the proverbial fan at work.  Nothing to do with me, but I of course had to clean up the aftermath and everything that was in it's wake.  Tuesday wasnt so bad, and then Wednesday hit me in the face like Chuck Lidell with brass knuckles.  My blackberry broke.  As in the screen went black, the buttons stopped working, and I couldnt do any work.  I happen to be in CT when this all happens, so I high tail it to the nearest Verizon store to get a new phone, because (yay!) Im due for a new one anyway.  They are so nice, and after 3 hours of waiting, I get me a new phone, and bam, its on like donkey kong.  I return to work/home with my new blackberry, and the world is good.  The weekend came, TG, and off we went to PSU (more on that later).  Then yesterday rolls around.  I happen to be at lunch with my boss when my brand spanking new blackberry stops working. Completely. 100%.  Im thinking it must just be a system upgrade.  I drive back home, I head to Verizon, where Im told "we cant do anything for you mam because you bought this phone in CT".  I fight the urge to jump across the counter and slap Olga, my friendly sales rep, with every ounce of me.  I leave and decide that although sitting in my car crying will make me feel bad, it aint gonna fix the phone.  I go to another store, and 3 more hours later, I walk out with a brand new iphone.  I didnt want an iphone to begin with, but it was cheaper (woot woot) and i guess sooner or later i was going to have to make the switch.  So now im the proud owner of a white iphone. with instagram (see photo below).  and a new app that translates my dogs barks into English.  and the husband believes every word of it. and its only wednesday.  Isnt it depressing to think that I have at least 1500 more Wednesdays to work before i retire at the ripe old age of 60?

I do love me some instagram though.  how you like them bangs? and yes, I know, my shirt looks like it has animal crackers on it.  back off me yo.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Food for thought

Loving this modern/industrial mix of dining room storage.  The husband and I are thinking of jazzing up our dining room a bit and this is really on the right track to what I want...






In a completely unrelated but still pertinent note, we have a big project going on over here this weekend.  And when I say we, I mean me.  So you know it involves painting, since the husband doesnt take part in painting. EVER.  Here's a little teaser for you on your Friday:


Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Bang for your buck

Or should I say bangs for 30 bucks?  I got bangs.  It happened last weekend.  Im not sure exactly how it went down or why I decided to do this, but some friends and my hair stylist promised they would look good.  And they do, well, they did.  And then this rainy weather came and made my bangs are floppy like on my small head.  I want bangs like Jules:


why not knot your hair

Im always looking for a quick way to throw my hair up and have it look cute for when I am just hanging out at home.  My hair is super fine and long, so most updo's that I see are completely impossible for me to perfect, unless of course I join the hair club for men.  But I did just come across this little "how to" and I have to say, I love!


The perfect knotted hair:


Seriously, this could be wedding hair people!  Find the Tutorial (its easy, I promise, I just did it) HERE

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Wish List

While it might be a little early for an official Christmas wish list, I am one of the crazy people who tend to have a birthday wish list planned out way in advance.  This year is a big one though, because I am turning the evil 3-0!  People always say "your 30s are the best blah blah"- I dont buy it.  My 20s were awesome, and i cant imagine outdoing those wonderful years, some of which i dont remember.  But since this year is a big one for me, I am hoping to get myself something nice...something to reward myself for all my hard work over the last 8 years since I graduated college, met a guy, got married, moved to NJ and found my dream job.  Typically, a large bottle of vodka would suffice in this instance, but after my not so sober antics last Friday night, I am on the wagon.  So chickens, behold my wish list, something of which will be purchased for me, by me, very soon.  I mean, obviously whatever I buy will be worn out with my birthday suit.  Get your mind out of the gutter, not that kind of birthday suit.


Alexander Wang Rocco bag- found HERE

 Egyptian Blossom bracelet- found HERE

Inca dress from shabby apple- found HERE

Brian Atwood Platform chain pumps, hotter and more comfy than Louboutin...holler- found HERE
 Key to my hear necklace- found HERE

La Mer Multi-chain wrap watch- found HERE

Note how i inserted links to each item, so in the case anyone reading this would like to send me a gift, its as easy as snappity snip snap, boom!  If we have learned one thing today, it's that I like to plan ahead and make lists.  It's no doubt I learned this from my mother, who has been making lists like a bad ass since I can remember.  "if you dont make a list, you are a fool" she says.  Well, actually, she doesn't say that ever, but Mr T would.

"I pity the fool who doesnt make a list!"

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Falling for Python

I am slightly obsessed with python lately. I am seeing it everywhere, and I want it all.  Especially some cute slip on flats, and a clutch.  But how amazing are this jacket and pant by Chloe?



I am currently coveting these clutches- one really needs to appear on my doorstep, like, today:



Monday, October 3, 2011

final reveal- our new patio!

It had been months and months that the husband has ben saying he wanted a patio area in the backyard.  After sending him a few links from some of my fave bloggers who had done their own patios, he took charge, and away he went to order paver stones, 450 bags of sand, etc.


I will let him document the actual process (he pretty closely followed THIS link), but here are some photos i took via my blackberry- apologies for the horrible resolution on these:


Looks amazing!  it took him about 2 days of digging (remember that movie Stir of Echoes?  Gotta dig, gotta dig says Kevin Bacon) and then another 2-3 days of laying the pavers, pounding them in, filling in with sand, etc.  He also made a sweet little mini patio for the firepit to sit on, so we dont end up with a crop circle in the lawn anymore!  Job VERY well dome hubby!

Now we have to add in dwarf evergreens along one side, plant grass seed (done this weekend, crossed off list), buy new patio furniture, and build some type of flower bins for the corners. Lots left to do, but it looks so much better than before.  This patio was meant to be!

Over the weekend

 My parents came down to visit last weekend, and as usual, their time spent here was filled with lots of laughs, tasty food and drinks, and of course, a surprise or two (enter the Bloomfield Fire Dept pulling up, sirens blaring, at 9pm on Saturday night because they thought our house was on fire from our backyard fire pit).

On Friday afternoon, I took the parents out to lunch at Holstens while the husband finished up his work day.  Little known to outsiders of Bloomfield NJ, Holstens is the restaurant where they filmed the last scene of the Sopranos (you know, right before the screen went black?  Meadow was actually parallel parking on our street- donttt stop, believinnn).  Anyways, we are having a nice little lunch and all of a sudden, 150 people are jamming the doorway, taking turns sitting in a booth next to us and taking photos like crazies.  A Sopranos tour is what it was, and i was astonished that people pay money to sit in a booth and take photos of a where a tv show happened.  We did our part, by making stupid faces in the background.  These dumb tourists are going to get home and see My Dad pretending to stab me with a fork in the background of each and every photo.  Gotta love Joisey. After that, my mom and I headed out dress shopping for my brother's upcoming wedding next April.  After walking about 3 miles through the mall, we found a dress! Great Success!  If momma aint happy...well...its a scary situation.   Friday night we cooked a nice little dinner at home and relaxed with many mudslides.

Saturday, we hit up the Harvest fest fair in the downtown (see:ghetto) area of our town.  Dad watched some mini ninjas practice and the parents got their first taste of Zeppolis!  Then off we went to Yankee Stadium, to watch the Red Sox lose (again) to the Yankees.  Dad was the only happy one on the way home.  See- it was an action packed weekend.  And yet somehow, someway, my mom found time to take a ride on the back of the husbands Harley.  Cross another item off the bucket list for Patty!










She loves that dirty water!!  We cant wait for another visit (turkey day?)

Friday, September 2, 2011

Art

Some new art (DIY) from around the casa:



image quality is terrible (taken with my blackberry, which is clearly absolute crap compared to the iphone).  Next time you call up, just ask for Picasso.

HAPPY LABOR DAY WEEKEND PEOPLES!!!