Frugal Fashion Finds

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Happy Monday!!

I had a fabulous weekend – did a little shopping, a lot of eating, and somehow managed to survive Bay to Breakers!  Does anyone watch How I Met Your Mother??  If anyone is obsessed with that show like I am, than you can fully appreciate my reference to the Murtaugh list.  There are no extended clips online but take a look at this BRIEF clip, and you’ll get the gist. I believe Bay to Breakers (while fun) is going on my “Murtaugh List”, if ya know what I mean 😉

On Saturday, I did a bit of retail therapy, and went downtown to H&M.  If anyone knows what the downtown is like on a weekend, then you know that I was a brave soul to venture out there with all the tourists, wandering aimlessly with their maps. Anyway, I am SO glad that I took on the masses, because I walked away with some true gems!

This dress is actually my FAVORITE thing that I walked away with this weekend, and of course I can’t find it on H&M’s site to save my life!  Luckily for me Google Images supplied me with a very similar (if not the same) dress, but in navy.

I’m not loving the navy, so I feel like this blurry pic does not come close to doing my new dress any justice, but I picked it up in the prettiest shade of pale mint green, with a lovely apricot belt!  They also had the same dress in taupe with white polka dots… it was a tough decision. Between the oh so fun color combo, and the flirty, twirly full skirt, I cannot wait to wear this baby!

The bonus?? It’s price tag, at just $29 bucks!  OH YEAH!

Kris has promised me a “dressy date night” this weekend, so I think I will get to show off my new dress sooner than later!

In addition to my ladylike dress, I took home a new sundress, a cute black tulip skirt (sans tacky belt), a peach lacy top (pictured below in aqua), and a new bikini courtesy of Victoria’s Secret.




Now if only I had Victoria’s Secret to looking that fabulous in a bikini, I’d have all the answers… (pun intended)!

Happy Monday!

Happy Weekend!

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I am seriously considering buying this poster and having it framed just because I love it so much!  When my sister and I were younger, our family vacation would not be complete until we’d jumped into a pool, ocean, or lake of glacial temperatures.  Mainly just to see if one of us would chicken out, but if one went in, both had to go in – ALL THE WAY.

This weekend is Bay to Breakers in San Francisco, and for those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s a marathon that has turned into one big party.  Almost no one runs, but everyone dresses up in costume parade around the city.  I’ve been saying for months that I was not going to do it again this year, but my best friend, Kira – god love her – has somehow talked me into going.  Her childlike enthusiasm in life is infectious, and I just can’t say no to her… and so, we will be going – as Batman and Robin no less.

Anyways, I had been such a grandma, INSISTING that I was not going to do B2B this year, but on Wednesday I was thinking, and decided that since I’ll only be young once, i need to go for it.  A few years from now, I’ll be juggling babies and real adult responsibilities – most likely wishing I’d done it just one more year.   So… tomorrow I’ll be “jumping in ALL THE WAY” – at 6am.  Wish me luck!!

To all, have a happy, and safe weekend, and do at least one thing just for fun.

White Wedding

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Oh my dears, it’s Friday, and I can’t think of a better way to end the week than with a stunningly beautiful all white wedding!

I’ve long loved the look of white on white on white.  My parents would tease me growing up because I loved my white, and while some might think me crazy, I sort of LOVE the idea of having your bridesmaids wear white in a wedding.  Actually it’s quite traditional to have bridesmaids wear white – back in the day, this was the custom – but as brides are constantly worried that they will be “outshined” (outshone?) on their “big day” the idea of having the bridesmaids wear white has faded away.

I mean, how pretty is this?  Varied shades of white, creme, and even the palest of pinks. So whimsical, and I think it really creates the look of a special event.

Of course, white flowers to match the white dresses, tablecloths, etc.  What else would you expect?!

Such a lovely wedding, and such amazing inspiration.  Thank you SMP.

A Jaunt Through Provence: Fashion Inspiration

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I recently posted about my fashion inspiration for a trip to Paris, and as I get the itch to get out of the country, I’ve gone beyond Paris, to daydreams of Provence.  Exploring old towns, biking through the countryside, and drinking wine at the local wine bar, bistro, or restaurant.

Hope you enjoy a few of my inspirations for a Jaunt through Provence.

1. Full Skirted and Feminine

Provence I

Perfect for meandering through fields of lavender, or touring the local wineries, castles, and chateaus.  Look for full skirted patterns with a sweet floral print – perfect for summertime, and perfect for the country.  As a side note, my sister and her husband spent their honeymoon last summer touring France (along with Belgium & London) and as a word of caution, the wine tasting in Provence (specifically the Loire Valley) is not at all like it is here – the doors to the winemakers homes are closed, so be prepared to walk up, knock on the door, and make conversation before tasting!

2. Figure Forgiving Floaty Fabrics

Provence II

Like the alliteration on this one?? Ha!

I love the idea of lazy days in the country, riding bikes, daily picnics, and many MANY naps under shady trees.  Floaty fabrics, and forgiving silhouettes are a must in order to accommodate all the cheese and baguettes you will inevitably be consuming.  Stick with a palette that can be mixed together – I’m still loving variations of coral and aqua – here its apricot and mint.  Stripes have to make their way in here one way or another, and neutral flats and fun sunnies cap things off.

3. Bistro People Watching + Dinner

While people watching, sipping a cold white wine, and eating your daily steak and frites at the local Bistro, you’ll still want to be chic!  I’d go for fun prints, and colors that will glow by candlelight as dusk turns to dark.  Dress it up from basic flats to kitten heels – still friendly for evening strolls back to the hotel, but a bit more dressy for the evening.

Best Meatballs You’ll Ever Have

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A CUP OF JO: The Best Meatballs You'll Ever Have

Not to totally re-post, but I saw the most AMAZING meatball recipe on Cup of Jo today, and I just had to share.  Not only does this recipe sound fairly easy (who can’t put meatballs in the oven) but it sounds perfect when cooking for a big group!  You can even make these ahead of time and store in the freezer for an easy dinner.

Now, all I need is a great recipe for homemade tomato sauce!

Check out the full post and recipe on Joanna’s blog 🙂

How Pinteresting – Week II!

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Here we go my friends!  Here is a round-up of all my Top 10 faves from Pinterest for the last week!  The most inspiring, pretty, funny, or useful… let’s just call it, the best of the best!  Feel free to follow me if you can’t get enough ❤

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1. Lauren Conrad’s Two-Week Bikini Boot-camp
Sounds hard since it requires more than an ounce of discipline, but look how FABULOUS she looks!  It really goes to show what dedication to a regular workout routine and careful eating choices can do!  Definitely want to test out this two week Bootcamp!

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2. Chalkboard Serving Dish DIY

Originally from Wit and Whistle I am just LOVING how easy (and inexpensive) this one is – perfect for labeling cheeses, cookies and other little goodies!
Inexpensive serving dish + Chalkboard Paint = Awesome idea! 
(shop Ikea for some awesome inexpensive serving dishes – you can’t beat $5)

Chalkboard serving platter. Love the idea!

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3. Peonies in the Bedroom
Do I really need to explain any more??  Best of all… they are in season!
peonies in the boudoir

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4. House Beautiful’s Chandelier in the Bathroom
This room was also featured in their magazine, but the entire home was one of my favorites in a long time.  Home owner Annie Brahler has a STUNNING chandelier adorning every room in her home, and I love her for it!  How dramatic are these dark chocolate walls with the white floors, claw foot tub, and blown glass chandelier??  It’s food for the eyes I tell you!
Such an Awesome Bathroom - thank you HB

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5. Bright Bud Vases
From a first look, these stand out to me as a cool DIY – simply glue down a graphic paper to a cheapo glass vase, but these are so much cooler than that!  What a great option for bringing some color into a room without a huge commitment.
bright patterned vases

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6. Turquoise and Yellow Statement Necklace
Is this not the perfect statement piece for summer?  Bright colors that go with so much!  If you are feeling bold, pair this with tangerine, or just wear it to spruce up a neutral outfit!


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7. Framed Chalkboard DIY
This idea struck me as being so cute and SO useful as soon as I saw it!  Can you imagine keeping this in the kitchen to write down shopping lists as soon as you run out of something?  Leave cute notes for your honey in the mornings? Doodle…  I have a few empty frames, and I think I know JUST what their purpose is going to be…
Chalkboard for kitchen!

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8. Wall Garden
Living in San Francisco, we have zero outside space (sad face) but for the lucky who do (my old apartment had a fabulous deck), this would be the ideal way to get some greenery around without taking up the square footage.  And succulents need so little maintenance… how perfect!!
vertical garden - cool idea for a compact outdoor area

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9. Homemade Oreos
Um…. such an easy recipe, and these look mouth watering.  If it weren’t for this dang “get healthy /lose weight for summer” nonsense, I’d be making these tonight!

Homemade Oreos

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10. Neon Yellow Skirt
It does not get hotter than this!  Short skirt, high neck lace.  So chic, and so flattering!  Must find full pleated skirt like this ASAP!

neon yellow

Sunburst Mirror Update

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Remember this post when I used a little paint to transform a cheapo sunburst mirror from Bed Bath & Beyond into something much cooler?  Well it’s only taken me two months or so to actually hang it (oh the shame), but there it is!  It’s made a home in our hallway that after looking at these pictures could quite frankly use a bit of sprucing.




After several years of service, the once life-like silk hydrangias are looking a bit sad.  I’d like to replace them with something a bit fresher.  This little hallway table is where all the stuff that doesn’t have a home goes.  The candles need to be downsized and stored, (but on the plus side, we are totally prepared for a power-outage) and I’d really like to find a new runner for this spot – something with a bit more contrast and color.  It’s hard to see from these photos, but its dark, and brown, and it served its purpose for many years, but it’s ready for retirement.













Here is a view of the hallway from the dining room.  Wouldn’t it be great if we could paint the storage cabinet in the hallway with a fun pop of color?  A light Kelly green would really wake things up, or even a darker version of the wall color in the dining room for continuity.  I used Benjamin Moore’s Opal Essence (look here for a photograph that really showcases this color).

For more intense versions of the dining room’s blue, I really like Kelley Moore’s Fair Farmington, Sherwin Williams’ Eerie Island, and Behr’s Gazebo.  All of them are very pretty blues with a little aqua and grey.  If it weren’t so permanent, that cabinet would be painted in a nano second.

Unfortunately for me, I’ll already be repainting the dining room when we move out – no fun!

Happy Mother’s Day

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I’m sure most people must feel this way about their mom, but my mother truly is the most loving, giving, and kind person I know. The best cook, the best advice giver, the best listener, and the best back tickler.  Always quick with a reassuring word when you need it, and always behind us, no matter what.

She’s not only an amazing mother, but a wonderful friend, the ultimate role model, and a true partner for my dad.  I like to think that she has passed down some of her most amazing qualities to my sister and I, and I hope one day to be a mom to my kids like she has been to us.

To my mama on Mother’s Day – we love you more than you’ll ever know.

xo

Sea Fan Shadow Box: DIY

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This DIY project has been a long time coming – mostly because I was too lazy to hang hooks on the wall (shameful, I know).  After lusting over this sea fan shadow box on Etsy for several months, I finally emailed the seller to find out how much she was selling it for.  I won’t totally throw her under the bus, but it was about 4x what I was willing to spend.  Eeps!

After the initial shock, I decided it didn’t look so hard to me, and that I could fairly easily re-create it on my own!  What do you think – pretty close!
Inspiration:

Sea Fan Shadow Box

Reality:

Bound and determined to recreate this project, I did a Google search for “sea fans” and found a little online shop, Sea Side Inspired, that sold the exactly what I was looking for: sea fans between 12-18 inches.  At $22 each, I was sold!  All the sea fans I’d seen online were dark – almost black – so I had resigned myself to the fact that I would be spray painting these suckers a light grey or buff.  To my delight, when they arrived, they were a perfect sandstone color with tinges of pink and lavender!  So pretty – no spray paint needed!
To be honest, the hardest part of this project was finding shadowboxes that were large enough to accommodate my sea fans!  I hunted around, going to Target, Aaron Brothers, and a few small frame shops in San Francisco.  What did I learn?  Shadow boxes are hard to come by, and custom framing costs an arm, a leg, and your first born child.  (Do people actually pay for that?!)
Anyway, after I was about to give up, my mom gave me the idea of Michaels, and with a coupon in hand, I headed over there.  
Bingo!  
I found 20″ x 16″ shadow boxes with my name written all over them.  The problem??  The only colors they came in were black and this awesome terracotta color (why god, why?!).  I ended up picking up the terracotta color because they were the cheapest, and I was going to have to paint them no matter what.





Don’t you just love the little cherub on there?  He says, “this frame is classy… trust me”.  I told him, “agree to disagree.”
A little painters tape around the edges, and I was ready to rock and roll.  The trick to taping it off well is wedging the tape almost underneath the edges between the glass and the frame – this way the paint won’t bleed onto the glass and you won’t need a razor to scrape it off later.

I liked the aged gold look of the frame in my Etsy inspiration, so I thought, “I’ll gold leaf it!”   I wasn’t born with the patience for gold leafing, so I got got gold leaf paint (same thing, right) – Martha Stewart calls it liquid gilding paint… potato potahto.  
I picked up a cheapo foam brush and used a left over birthday cake plate as my palette – hey, it was easy clean up (throw it all in the trash and call it a day).
The first coat went on splotchy, but this stuff dries fast (by the time you finish the final side of the frame, the first side you painted is dry).  Since it was so fast drying, I was able to do all the coats without stopping for a break (the picture below shows after one coat).  I ended up painting three coats in total – the first for a base, the second for coverage, and the third for artful imperfections.  I really should have sanded them for the paint to stick better, but I felt lazy, and it worked just fine without sanding.

For coats one and two, I brushed the paint on, but on coat three, I used the sponge to stipple the paint.  Some may not like the look, but I happen to really love it.  It created texture, and made it a bit more interesting.
I wish I had an up-close “after photo” of the painted frames, but the light was bad, I was tired, and I forgot.  Oopsy.
Final steps: I bought half a yard of dark grey blue linen to back the frames.  I just used fabric clue to adhere the fabric to the backing – very technical.  I think the Etsy version uses plaster – if you look closely you can sort of see the texture, but fabric was easier, and I was ok with that.
After getting the fabric on there, I positioned the fans on the backing, and used small silver sewing pins to secure them in place – you can’t even see the pins, and it works just fine!  I put the backs into the shadow box frame, wired the backs for hanging, and got a few picture hooks in the wall (after about a month and a half of these sitting on the floor in the dining room).
Originally, I toyed with the idea of tacking decorative frames onto the facade – something with a bit more ornate detail (see the terrible quality iPhone picture  here.  I love the look, but these frames are likely not made of wood, and after all the work of taping and painting, the idea of securing a heavy facade to the front seemed like a lot of unnecessary work.
My mom said she likes them better without the facade, so I’m going to go with that.  Simple is also probably better so this wall doesn’t look like there is TOO much going on.  If we move into a larger place, I may append a more ornate frame like this, but for now, I like them as they are.
Anyway, here they are hanging in the living room, and I’m pretty happy with the final result.  
I HATE that you can see my reflection here, but there was no other angle where I could avoid the glare from the windows… dah.
So here it is at dusk – I love how the room looks all lit up at night.  The tones of gold, creme, and amber really comes to life, and the cool greys and blues act as a nice balance (at least I think so).
Finally, just wanted to toss in a close up photo of the new throw pillows I picked up randomly.  I had been agonizing over pillows – what colors to go for, what patterns to get.  I picked up the gold and grey ikat from Cost Plus World Market of all places (do you remember this post on my debate over a grey / brown and yellow Ikat… hey now!), and the grey and white pillow from Target (oh, how I love Target.  I went in for toilet paper and came out with throw pillows).

I think they work well together, but I’m a bit worried that its a lot of pattern next to each other.  I’m actually looking at a taupe linen pillow to pair up with the Ikat pillows (there are two), and the grey pillows may live on the sofa.

Anyway, our little home is coming together, and I’m so excited for my honey to come home and see the new sea fans, framed, and hanging in our living room!