floral nail stickerz

I got these nail stickers from Sephora a while ago, and last weekend I put them to use . .

They are pretty cool, and super super easy to put on.  They're fairly durable too, (you can see mine started chipping off, but that was after about 5 days).  I've received a lot of compliments on them this week, and it's definitely a design I wouldn't be able to replicate. . .  but still, I'm not sure if I'd use them again.  I love putting the effort in to decorating my nails by hand, and these just feel like a cop-out.

But if you want the pretty without the work, then you should try them. It seriously took me about 15 minutes to put them on, and there's no drying time!

clever bedding

I saw this post from a thousand words a few weeks ago, and I haven't been able to get it out of my head.  I just think this is the sweetest idea! Kids normally have their art up everywhere, and not only on pieces of paper clipped to the fridge, but on brown paper book covers, or t-shirt's, etc., but how many kids can say that they designed their own bedding?!

 Jen from a thousand words scanned in her son's drawings, tidied them up on the computer, printed them out on regular ol' computer paper, and then traced them through the duvet cover with a fabric marker.  Super simple, and a little labor intensive (she ended up transferring 119 of his drawings onto the queen sized duvet cover).  This is such a cute idea, you have to check it out!!!

spring has sprung

Everything is starting to bloom . . .

I just hope it's not too soon!!

sunnin' in the sun

I'm finally using my back yard the way is was meant to be used...

I hope everyone had a wondrous weekend!

kiss me i'm a redhead

I've never cared that much about St. Patrick's  Day, but that doesn't mean it doesn't deserve a good nail design to celebrate it!!

I'm a little late in posting this but . . . .

(ignore my cuticles, they're a little junkie)

Follow the rainbow!!

Happy (late) St. Patty's Day!

back to work - wah wah

It's been two weeks now since The Man and I took a little vacay to the Best Coast, i.e. the West Coast, i.e. Portland Oregon!!!  Back in December my dad found some insanely cheep tickets that we just could not pass up.  It was a great trip, as usual, and it made me long for the day that we move there . . . as usual.

This time around we didn't have any grand plans or big sights to see.  We kept it mellow, with lots of eating, and lots of naps (my favorite kind of vacation).  And although we kept the activities light, there still somehow wasn't enough time.  There are always so many people I love to visit when I go back home and I barely saw half this time around (sorry if I missed you!).

It was great finally showing The Man some of the sights within Portland.  Our first couple of trips out to Oregon The Man was really excited to go on long drives and check out all the big must-sees (Mt.Hood, Multnomah Falls, Canon Beach (/all up and down the coast), Tillamook Cheese Factory . . .), but this time he was out of destinations, so we took to the streets!

Day 1: fat city/hippo/vintage/tacos/rebuilding-center/car broke down

We woke up bright and early on our first day and headed straight to Fat City Cafe, our favorite Portland breakfast place, it's a must for at least half the mornings we're in town.  

After we stuffed our faces with eggs and bacon, we drove over to Hippo Hardware.

I've always loved the Hippo Hardware building, I've passed it a million times but I had never gone in before.

It. Is. Awesome.

 (This light cover is so cute, I don't care if I'm not a little kid, I want it in my room!)

(Every Hardware store has to have a man falling through the ceiling)

I really want to own a house in Portland so I can get my lighting and cabinet pulls at Hippo!

 We walked around Burnside a bit and went into some of the cute vintage stores (I got a "new to me" jacket and necklace!), but after all that scouring we were famished. 

¿Por Que No? was right across the street from our next destination so we stopped in for some delicious tacos.

Soooo Delicious.

Our "next destination" was the Rebuilding Center, its right across the street from ¿Por Que No? and Mississippi Pizza, and honestly you can't miss it.  The building itself is beautiful, the entry consists of huge trees made of recycled objects and metal scraps, and the fence surrounding the outside of the building is made of warped tools and bits of machinery. Way cool.

Day 2: fat city/goby/ hang with friends

More Fat City!!

After some sweet Eggs Bennie, we went to Goby.

The Man had just worked with some beautiful Walnut slabs that had been shipped over from Oregon, and got really excited when he found out the place was in Portland! So we drove out to St. Helens Road to check it out.

We were all in a tizzy looking at the piles of beautiful wood slabs and thinking of the endless possibilities of what each one could be turned in to. 

 (Huge bookmatched slab)

 (Gigantic hunk of trunk getting ready to be milled down on that crazy big bandsaw behind it)

(me and mom walkin' in the rain)

Day 3: tle/powells/oscars

No more Fat City. wah wah.

Sunday was the first day my Dad was able to join us, it was hard to get everyone out of the house but we had fun going downtown.  My parents were excited to show us Tender Loving Empire

I loved their cardboard city installation

It's a really cute shop, and it reminds me of Renegade Handmade (which recently closed it's doors, now that the Renegade Craft Fair has grown so much).
After looking at all the local wares we headed to Powell's.  We went there on our last visit too but it's always a must, even if you don't like books you have to go.  I was so focused on finding some of the books on my list that I didn't take a single picture! (so unlike me).

Day 4: country cat/pittock/ken's

On our last day we decided to go to Country Cat for Breakfast.

 Yum Breakfast!!!!

After eating my favorite meal of the day we went to Pittock Mansion

The past home of Portland pioneers and built in 1914, Pittock Mansion is located in Forest Park.  It's a beautiful house, and a fun peak into Portland's past.  It was almost destroyed in the 60's but the City bought it and turned it into a museum open to the public.

This was the result of me telling everyone to "act normal"

Beautiful ceiling in one of the little alcoves for card playing

Crazy looking shower!

After playing house and checkin' out some gorgeous views we had our last dinner at Ken's Artisan Pizza.

They're not too big so we tried 4 different kinds, my favorite was the arugula.

It was a lovely trip, and way too short.  I can't wait until the next time we go back so I can show The Man even more reasons why we need to move!!!