Short Notes . . .

Just a short post today: happy Friday to everyone!

Yesterday was my father's birthday. He is easy to please - no fancy dinners for him - just out for delicious pizza and birthday cake at home.

Today, I chose to look on the bright side of my very frustrating job search and enjoy having free time in the day by going ice skating. When I was younger I was fairly serious about figure skating; I skated year-round and took private lessons. But in college I gradually tapered off, not having a rink easily accessible. In the past few months, however, I've been going to public skating just about every week for exercise and it's been nice to get back into it.

Tomorrow I'm going to see "He's Just Not that Into You." I've heard from a lot of people that they enjoyed it, so hopefully it will be good.

p.s. Flip flops are on sale at J Crew this weekend (in-stores only) - summer is coming!!

The Real Housewives: Gretchen v. Tamra

Tuesday night the political junkie in me won over the soapy-tv lover in me and I watched the President's address to Congress. So, I didn't get around to watching the Real Housewives of Orange County Reunion episode until last night. The first 45 minutes of the show were, I have to admit, pretty tame, with the exception of Lynne randomly bursting into tears. The fireworks, however, came at the end when Tamra accused Gretchen of essentially only having a "for-show" relationship with her now deceased and much older fiancé, Jeff. Tamra revealed off-camera phone conversations she had with another man claiming to be Gretchen's boyfriend. Who to believe? Was Gretchen dating two men at once (one for money and one for love)? Or is Tamra just jealous - that's what I thought before watching this reunion show, now I'm not so sure? Who do you believe? What a wacky mess these housewives are!

Ribbon Time

Yesterday's mail brought ribbon I ordered from J Caroline Creative last week - isn't it cute? They had so many fun patterns, I had trouble choosing!


I'm going to use them to make keyfobs with a couple of my friends on our next Craft Day in March. I have one by Eliza B that I got a few years ago and it's showing its age, so I thought it was time for a new keyfob.


I've mentioned Craft Day before - my friends and I started it last year after we graduated from law school because we couldn't believe all the free time we had on the weekends now that we no longer had to study! Our craft day group has unfortunately dwindled this year as two friends moved to DC, but it's still so much fun, and relaxing, to spend an afternoon making a little project and catching up on the latest gossip at the same time.

You can get the instructions for making these yourself on the J Caroline website.

Headbands

I signed up to exhibit at a spring craft fair in April, so I've been working on a few new items in addition to jewelry. I was inspired while in New York City earlier this month to try some new headbands: I made grosgrain ones for my fall fairs, but I wanted to take things up a step and try something a little more fancy.




These styles will be available in my Etsy shop later this week.

Spring is Coming

In one of the surest signs to any Bostonian that spring is near, there are only 3 days and 3 hours until the first Red Sox spring training game! And . . . yesterday, I got GREEN MONSTER SEAT tickets to a game in August!!!!!!!!! I actually already have tickets to 6 other games this season (obtained after many hours sitting at the computer each day various tickets went on sale), but Green Monster seats are extra special and very hard to come by. You can't even buy them unless you enter and win a special lottery - this year my mother won and was able to go online and buy them yesterday for a game this August!

I can now say that one of my Red Sox lifelong goals has been accomplished! These are my other Red Sox goals:

(1) Attend a World Series game.

(2) Watch a Red Sox game at another ballpark.

(3) Become a season ticketholder. (There is about a 5-year waiting list.)

(4) Sit in the front row behind home plate (never going to happen unless I make friends with the CEO of Giant Glass who sits in the best seat in the park every single game).

Can you tell I am one of those crazy sports fans? Ha, ha :)

Keep Calm and Carry On?

I keep seeing this print pop up in various magazine articles and online:

After seeing a poster in a room featured in the latest, and last-ever(!) issue of Domino I decided to do a little investigating into the saying's recent popularity. The magazine article said that the print was purchased on Etsy. I searched on Etsy and you can find the print in all sizes, as well as in totes and pendants. A lot of the sellers, however, didn't really explain the poster's origins so of course I turned to Google News :)

As it turns out, the print is a reproduction of one of three posters commissioned by the British government in 1939 with WWII looming. The posters were designed to boost the public's morale and resolve. Especially interesting, however, is that although 2.5 million copies of the poster were printed, they remained in storage throughout the war and were eventually destroyed. Two known copies currently remain: one is in the Imperial War Museum and the other was discovered amongst a pile of books by a second-hand bookstore owner in Northumberland, England. The bookstore owner liked the poster and decided to display it in his store. Customers loved the poster so much, he decided to start selling prints. In these unsettling times, the poster's saying has apparently resonated with people all over the world.

For more info about the posters' fascinating history and recent surge in popularity, check out this article in the BBC News Magazine and this one in the Telegraph.

My favorite version of the poster is this navy blue and pink one from www.keepcalmandcarryon.com which is the site owned by the bookstore owner who found one of the original prints.


With spring graduations coming before you know it, I think a copy of this poster would make a great gift for a graduate or someone starting college or grad school. (I am thinking I need one for myself to look at everyday that I go online to search job postings and find no new ones that I am qualified to apply for!)

A Quick Note - great book!

I just finished reading The Beach House by Jane Green yesterday. It was a great read and I highly recommend it. It's a little different from other Jane Green books, so if you aren't a fan you still might want to try it. The novel is set mostly on Nantucket and will make you want to start researching summer rentals on the beach for this summer!



Next I am starting my book club book, American Wife.

DIY Time: Easy Wall Decor

Remember this DIY project from October: the previously trés ugly, but now chic stool sitting in my parents' front hall?



Well, at the time my mother purchased this black and white fabric our local fabric store was going out of business so she bought a few extra yards. I had seen a tutorial for making fabric wall art on the fantastic How About Orange blog a while ago, so I decided to make something similar for my mom with the extra fabric. The tutorial suggests making a frame yourself with interlocking wood strips from an art supply store. I, however, am lazy and last week the pre-stretched canvas was on sale at A.C. Moore so I just bought that in the 24" x 30" size. I stretched the fabric over it, staple gunned the back, screwed in a hook for hanging and . . .


and instant wall decor for my parents' upstairs hallway. The canvas is hanging over an antique, claw-footed "hope chest" that was my grandmother's so I think it makes a nice contrast of old versus new.

Lilly Fabrics

Calling all of my Lilly-loving readers: does anyone know if it's possible to find Lilly Pulitzer fabrics online? My mother's signature look on almost all her crocheted projects is a flower pin. Right now she centers them with either a simple gold or silver button or hand-sewn beads. She's starting to use fabric covered buttons as centers and thought of using Lilly Pulitzer fabric. After a little googling, it seems like there's fabric out there, but Lilly is no longer making new fabric? Anyone know the answer? If you have bought from a reputable Ebay seller, please share! My mother is just looking for small fabric swatches, like quilting squares.

THANK YOU!

A Little Shopping

I feel like Ms. Repeat lately with post after post about J Crew, but here is another! I had a J Crew Rewards card burning a whole in my pocket this weekend, so I decided to stop into the store and check out the sale rack. I found this: the cotton interlock Ava dress. It's currently in the sale section on jcrew.com, but unfortunately I can't link to it because I keep getting an error message (I have pretty much had it with J Crew's website lately, I haven't been able to get it to work for the past few weeks. Have other people experienced this? I'm glad I'm more of a store shopper than online shopper.)

I have a number of occasions coming up this spring and summer where I'll need a dress and this seems to fit the bill perfectly as it can be dressed up or down. I am picturing it with a long black beaded necklace and black peeptoe pumps.

Movie Time

I saw "Confessions of a Shopaholic" yesterday and really enjoyed it! I must admit that it wasn't as fabulous as the books were, but the movie did quite a good job of capturing Rebecca Bloomwood's character and consolidating it into a cohesive movie. There were a few things that were a bit disappointing, like Suze and Tarquin are such hilarious characters in the book series and I thought they fell sort of flat in the film. On the other hand, I kind of liked the Americanization of Rebecca's parents - Joan Cusack and John Goodman are always hilarious in any role. And Leslie Bibb was perfect as Alicia *** Longlegs :)

So, whether you've read the books or not I definitely recommend seeing this movie soon. It was funny and light, just the type of movie I think we all need when the news is constantly bombarding us with lousy real world events.

Did anyone else see it yet? What did you think?

p.s. Here is the link to Entertainment Weekly's review of the movie, they gave it an A-.

To Do List Update

After trying them on, I chose the long version of the middle dress (see today's earlier post). I have to admit it was a little difficult to pick because the store samples were not in the same color as the dress will be and they were all many, many sizes too big. I know that this seems to be standard bridal shop practice, but it would be nice if they had each dress style available in at least 2 sizes so that you could try something somewhat close to your real size!

The color is called desert rose and looks like this:

This is probably only the first of many posts of me talking weddings - hopefully you all will be interested! I am making the jewelry for all 8 bridesmaids and I want to chronicle the process here.

Today's To Do List

On my to-do list for today:

1) I have an appointment to try on bridesmaids dresses for my friend J's wedding. J was nice enough to pick 3 styles from which the bridesmaids can choose, all in pink and all long (I could only find a photo of the short version of the sash one, but you get the idea).



2) Return library book. I just finished reading a Vineyard in Tuscany. If you are at all interested in winemaking and Tuscan life, this book is a fascinating read.

3) List a few clothes for sale on Ebay. I've sold books on Ebay, but this is the first time I'm trying out clothes. I have a few items with tags that I've never worn so I thought I'd give it a try.

DIY Wednesday: One Minute Earrings

As I mentioned in Sunday's post, I made these simple earrings over the weekend. They take literally a minute to make and require no jewelry-making skills whatsoever!

You'll need:

- Flat Earring Posts like those shown below
- Two Beads with a flat back and which you can't see the holes too well when looking at the bead from the front.
- Hot Glue or Super Glue (I used hot glue because it dries fairly instantly)



Just glue the flat back of the bead to the post and you'll have instant earrings!

For this project, I recommend going to your local bead shop rather than a craft store. Craft stores don't always have the earring posts and if they do, you'll end up having to buy a whole bag of them rather than just 1 pair. Also, it will help to have the earring post in your hand and hold it up to each individual bead to see if it will fit well.

The earring posts at the bead shop I went to were about .60 to $1.00 for silver and gold-plate and $2-3 for sterling or 14K gold-filled. Each bead was $1.50.

Of course, with just glue, these earrings won't last forever but at about $4-5 total they will be fun for a while (and you can brag to your friends that you made them!).

Confession Time

After buying 5 pairs of $19.99 J Crew shoes at TJ Maxx on Friday, my friend L called me yesterday and said they still had a lot of stock at the one in downtown Boston and would I like a cute pair of gold ballet flats? Could I resist? - No.

Am I a shopaholic? I cannot lie, I love to shop and love the thrill of finding a great bargain. I've been on a strict budget and my TJ Maxx bargains have been my only big purchase lately (my J Crew sample sale purchases in NYC a few weeks back were my birthday gift from my parents). I am also a person who will go from store, to store, to store to find the perfect dress or top or best price on a simple black t-shirt. And I love to browse. So, oftentimes I can come home from a whole day of highly enjoyable shopping with one tiny bag or even nothing.

Am I as nutty as Rebecca Bloomwood, the lead character in the movie, "Confessions of a Shopaholic" which opens this Friday? I hope not! Am I really looking forward to seeing this movie? Absolutely. The book series by Sophie Kinsella, on which the movie is based, is one of my all-time favorites. I have prepared myself that the movie will not live up to my expectations as it is only loosely based on the books: all the book characters are after all, British, and for the most part the books take place in England while the movie is set in New York City and Rebecca is American. The books are laugh-out-loud hilarious and hopefully the movie will be too. I'm hoping to see it right away on Friday!

Enjoying a Sunny Weekend Afternoon

I hope you all had a lovely weekend! I saw "New In Town" with Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick, Jr. This movie did not receive that great reviews, but it was so cute and funny. I would classify this as a chick flick that a guy might enjoy as well, as it was a classic, comedic fish-out-of-water story with a bit of romance on the side: Renee Zellweger's character moved from sunny Miami to snowy Minnesota in the dead of winter to oversee the town manufacturing plant's downsizing.

And speaking of snow, the weather here in Massachusetts warmed up a bit over the weekend and although the snow is still piled high it was temperate enough for my friend L and I to venture out and browse the shops in Harvard Square in Cambridge yesterday. I picked up 2 boxes of Christmas cards for $1 each at the Harvard Coop and we stopped into our local bead shop, Beadworks, to get supplies to make these cute earrings for ourselves:



I think it may be a vestige of too many years of schooling, but I find complete happiness in aimlessly walking and browsing on a sunny weekend day. During law school, weekend days were for studying, studying, and more studying and I still feel surprise (a year and a half out of school) that I can just do nothing all afternoon!

$770 Worth of Shoes??

I walked into my local TJ Maxx yesterday and what was staring out at me from the shoe section? J Crew shoes for only $19.99!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needless to say all shopping willpower promptly went out the window and I proceeded to purchase 5 pairs. I reasoned with myself that I had not bought any new shoes since last summer and that this was just too much of a bargain to pass up - a good investment, yes? I had an old J Crew fall/winter catalog still lying around so I was able to look up all my shoe purchases and they total about $770 full-price!

I checked the J Crew Aficionada blog, definitely the best online source for all thing J Crew and it looks like J Crew items only started popping up in TJ Maxx on Thursday. So, definitely take a peek into your local one if you can this weekend. They also had a small selection of special occasion dresses for $19.99 and flip flops for $7.99.

I am off to the movies this afternoon with my friend J and her sis, we shall see if I can resist popping into another TJ Maxx on my way home!

PINK Swap Success!

Yesterday's mail brought a fantastic surprise - my PINK Swap gift from Katy of Tripping Down the Aisle! Wrapped in this cute pink bucket with cellophane and ribbon were all sorts of great goodies: stationery, candy, Bath & Body works products, a cute little laundry bag, a magnet . . .

Thank you so much Katy! And a very special thanks to Kappa Prep at Monograms and Manicures for hosting this lovely swap; I hope it can become an annual event. To those readers out there who have not yet participated in a swap, you definitely should. It is a lot of fun to pick out the gifts for your swap partner and to receive a fun surprise in the mail.

Winter Giveaway Winner!

So, today was the day to pick a Winter Giveaway winner: Each giveaway entrant was assigned a number (or multiple numbers if they satisfied the giveaway requirements for up to 4 entries) and I used random.org's Random Integer Generator to draw a winner.

Congratulations to CRICKET of Pearl's are a Girl's Best Friend who will receive a pair of fuschia and olivine Swarovski crystal sterling earrings (and a little extra surprise!).

Thank you so much to everyone else that entered the giveaway! All giveaway entrants are eligible to receive free shipping on their next purchase from my Etsy shop (through June 1st). Just mention your blogger screenname/blog in the comments section of your purchase and I will credit you the shipping cost.

Bargain Time

Yesterday I had to stop into Target to pick up a few necessities and I couldn't resist buying this:






They had maybe 3 Anya Hindmarch bags left and this one was only $7.50! When a clothing item or accessory is under $10 I have little powers of resistance!


I also got some binder tab dividers in the $1 section to finally finish re-organizing my idea and recipe binders. I started filing everything about a month ago and all the tear-outs have been sitting there in a pile ever since.


P.S. Today is the last day to enter my winter giveaway for a pair of earrings and a surprise!

DIY Design Wednesday: Pillow Talk

Expecting company and need to spruce up your couch or a chair ASAP? Grab one of your scarves and make an instant pillow cover! I found this idea in Good Housekeeping last year and just came across the clipping.

You'll need a square scarf and any square pillow. The scarf should be about 2-4 times the size of the pillow.

1. Lay the scarf like a diamond on a flat surface. Place the pillow square in the center.

2. Fold 2 opposite scarf ends into the middle of the pillow and knot. Tuck the ends under the knot.

3. Then fold the other two ends in and knot so it covers the other knot.

Instant pillow makeover! Note: I first tried this with a pashima, but it came out too messy - so make sure you use a square scarf only.

Spring Shopping

With a rewards card burning a hole in my pocket, I set out in the direction of J Crew today. I had told myself I would wait a bit longer to use it (until spring items go on sale), but I couldn't resist stopping in now.

Two pieces caught my eye and I'll be looking to see if they go on sale!

The Palace floral mini:

And this tissue tee with pretty appliqued flowers in light chartreuse:

(They also had gorgeous, brightly colored fabric belts, but unfortunately they aren't online.)

I am off to watch American Idol now - I know it's cheesy and overly dramatic, but I can't help but watch!

Dreaming of Sunshine and Sandy Beaches

We had a warm-up today in New England - temperatures were in the 40's. But tomorrow the snow returns. This winter weather has been the worst and I cannot wait for warmer weather to return.

So, tonight I'm dreaming of Positano, Italy's azure sea, brilliant sunshine, lemon groves, and me at a seaside cafe dining on some impossibly delicious pasta dish and a glass of Italian wine . . .

Someday! I've never been but it's near the top of my vacation wish list!

A Breakfast Indulgence

This morning I woke up and made myself fresh-squeezed orange juice with my breakfast. Fresh-squeezed orange juice is one of my favorite small indulgences. I became hooked on it during college where we had a juicer and pre-sliced oranges ready to make our own juice in the dining hall. It served as a major motivator to get out of bed early on days when I had late classes and ordinarily would have slept right through breakfast!

One of my favorite things about vacationing is that restaurants and room service usually always serve fresh-squeezed juice. Last weekend in New York City we started off our Sunday morning with room service of fresh juice, tea, and croissants. Then, after a morning of sightseeing we stopped at Cafe Lalo on the Upper West Side for a late brunch.

Excuse the photo, please! I am bundled up in a thousand layers as it was freezing!!

Cafe Lalo was featured in one of my all-time favorite movies, You've Got Mail. Meg Ryan's character arranges to meet her online mystery man (played by Tom Hanks) there for the first time. The cafe has a European aethestic with French posters on the walls and most importantly, good food! Their eggs are steamed with no butter or oil making them absolutely delicious and guilt-free! And of course, fresh-squeezed orange juice in an elegant stemmed glass!

p.s. I've decided to extend my giveaway through THURSDAY of this week. Don't forget to enter to win a pair of earrings (plus another surprise!).