checkin' out the neighborhood {amy's candy bar}

Outside it's getting colder and darker.  Gone are the days of leisurely strolling, now is the time for brisk walks to determined destinations.  What with snow on the horizon and a pocket book ravaged by holiday sales, The Man and I haven't been checking out the neighborhood as much as we'd like, but we still, on occasion, find ourselves somewhere new.  And a few months back, when my parents were in town, we made a sweets stop at Amy's Candy Bar.

This place is candy heaven.  The decor is beautiful and the treats are plentiful.

They have every candy imaginable.  From old fashioned to fun and new, and even a little section of nostalgia candies for the young at heart.

 (A gumball table!)

We bought a bunch to try and I ended up discovering a new favorite.  Sponge candy! It's super delicious, and I don't even have to share because The Man hates it! Double Delicious!

renegade dream loot

I went to the Renegade Craft fair Holiday Market last Saturday, just as I said I would.  It was loads of fun and way too crowded and I spent a tad too much money.

I'm not going to show you what I bought because I'm pretty sure the only few people who still read this blog are the same few people I bought the gifts for (hi mom & dad!), but I will show you the many many things I almost bought . . .

I could not stop laughing about these prints from Slightly Insulting Chicago Posters:

They are so funny and too true. I couldn't decide if I should get the neighborhoods I've lived in or get the ones I thought were the funniest . . .so instead I didn't get anything at all.

I'm a little tired of crafty stuffed creatures but these hamburgers from Steff Bomb are just too good:

I was two seconds away from getting this adorable print from Yellow Brick Home's The Pet Shop:

These cards and prints from Nourishing Notes are so sweet:

This one came in a tea towel I almost bought . . . I love donuts

I loved these earrings from Mikinora:

Kate Funk and her cat AC are amazing-ly heeee-larious:

"AC is the Loch Ness Monster"

She takes photos of her cat dressed up in the most ridiculous costumes and this years she's made a calendar for 2013 of AC dressed as different monsters.

The Abominable Snowman is the Best!! I'm still a little upset at myself for not buying at least a card of this print.

There were a lot of great booths this time around and if you live in Los Angeles or San Francisco there's still time to go, so GO!!

wishful wednesday {office supplies}

Soooo, is it weird that I have a "dream cubicle" ?

There's only so much "sprucing-up" you can do in a beige box.  I have my coloful little picture corner, but everything else only exists in the rainbow of black and brown from the alternate universe that is the office supply warehouse. So here are some fun desk accessories I've come across that would be wonderful and welcome additions to my whimsy-less work existence. . .

Tape Dispensers are always black or gray and come from swingline, but these cuties would be a fun replacment:

 17.99 at ruche.

24.00 at anthropologie

Sticky notes are my favorite part of our office decor, they come in so many colors and since I order the supplies I can pick any color I want (was that a sad thing to brag about?) but these "Leaf-it" notes from Appree are even better:

Aren't they beautiful? So far they come in Original (the slender green leaf at the top), Ginkgo, Maple, Oak, Ivy, and Cherry Blossom.  I just want to cover my walls with them and, from the looks of it, so does everyone else:

 via.

 via.

 via.

Need to keep it together?

I've been pretty bummed that these Poopy Tasks Binder Clips aren't available any more, they have other sets over at knock knock, but none of them are as funny as these.

 4.00 at Omoi Zakka Shop

If you're too classy for poop clips than maybe these Mondial Lus Italian push Pins are more your style. So pretty, and who doesn't love something from Italy?!

My all time favorite office supply are these animal D-clips from Japan, I got some last year for everybody at work as a party favor at our holiday dinner, but I want the whole set:

6.99 each at Tokyo Pen Shop

They are so cute and awesome, and so much better than regular paper clips. Why keep your papers together with some boring loop when you can do it with a Hippo!!!!!


Have you seen enough?     No?

Great! There's more! . . .
Awesome wood "USB Sticks" - get it?! sticks!!

 29-39 euros at oooms

Beautiful labels and number clips from the Brass Collection (for you classy people who didn't get that awesome stick joke)

 20.00 at baum-kuchen

 18.00 at baum-kutchen

and an Adorable Wood Whale to hold your random necessities

65.00 at The Utility Collective

There are so many awesome, hilarious and beautiful desk accessories out there so why do we all use the same dull black generic junk?

So how about you? Do you dream of piggy paper clips and a hot pink stapler? Have you never ever thought this much about a post-it note? Or are you now under the impression that I'm a crazy person?

Tell me, I want to know!!!

quarter century talk

25!!

It doesn't feel any different than 24, but it sure does sound different!

Today is my half birthday, I've been 25 for six months. Back in April I talked about going through the oh so silly yet oh so real and common quarter life crisis, and it's only been heightened since the slew of weddings we've recently been to.

Do you ever think about where you thought you'd be at your age now, when you were younger?

When I was 14 I was sure that I'd be having kids when I was 26, and now that just seems like the most ridiculous timeline I've ever heard. It's funny to think about the expectations and deadlines you set up for yourself when you were younger and had no real life experience. With every t.v. show and movie you see, every "milestone" year seems like it should be a big life changing moment.  Like when I was 8 and watching Clueless over and over again , Cher is supposed to be 16! It made 16 seem so old and mature, like everyone was completely independent. Then I turned 16 and I was still a kid, nothing really changed. 

And now at 25, an age that always sounded so adult, I still feel like a kid, I mean I definitely don't feel like a grown-up yet (for example I still call adults "grown-ups"). I'm not ready for weddings and babies and buying houses, I'm still trying to balance what will make me happy and what will pay my loans off. Some people get there quicker but I feel like for most of us, those deadlines are unrealistic. I'm at the age now where many of my friends are getting married, everyone is telling me, "oh, just you wait a couple years when all your friends are having children, that's the real kicker." We can't even afford the time and money it takes to own a dog, let alone do all that marriage/house buying/baby stuff!!

I feel like everyone goes through these stressful "crisis" periods because we are given so many expectations to live up to. And I know that a lot of them we put on ourselves but it's hard to let go of what 14 year old Aly thought was reasonable and right.

I want to do all those things, but dagnabbit, I'll do them when I'm good and ready!

renegade holiday market

Get Pumped! Cuz this weekend is the 7th Annual Renegade Craft Fair Holiday Market!! Woop!

I will be the first to admit that many "craft fair" events are just a lot of junky tchotchkes, and you may even find some things in that category at renegade, but you'll also find some awesome handmade gems!  It's the perfect place to find holiday presents and stocking treasures.  Last year I was in Portland for the weekend so I couldn't make it (not that I'm complaining, I had a wonderful time), but this year I'm definitely going, and if you're in Chicago you should too!!

It's this weekend only, December 1st and 2nd at the Pulaski Park Fieldhouse, so Go Go GO!

turkey day

I hope everybody had a fantabulous Thanksgiving!

We had a great time in sunny sunny California, we ate delicious food (The Man's Uncle Frank makes the best tri-tip and blue curacao margarita's in the world!), spent time with wonderful people, and even went bowling!!

Now we're back to the daily grind and it's already time to think about christmas trees and stocking stuffers.

So Happy five-days-ago Thanksgiving

wishful wednesdays {dining room}

It's been quite some time since I wrote a "wishful wednesday" post.  They were by far my most popular posts, and also the most time consuming.  I took a break from them because I had less time and less inspiration, but now that The Morning Man and I have moved into a bigger better apartment I've got inspiration comin' out the wazoo!

Now that we have the time and space to really make our house a home The Man and I just can't stop thinking, and wishing, and planning, and (for the first time) doing.  So wishful wednesdays are getting a little re-vamp.  At times they will still be about my fantasy future, but now they will also be about our real life plans for our real life home.  Of course we're renting so there won't be any big over-haul projects, but we plan on focusing on making each room great and perfectly us (and adaptable for when we inevitably move again).

First things up - The Dining Room!

I haven't talked about it too much so far, but The Morning Man is an incredible craftsman.  He designs and fabricates beautiful and unique furniture, and I am the lucky girl who gets to take it all home.  Back in the beginning of July he started working on our dining room table (yeah, we have a dining room!).  He had this crazy idea and with his woodworking skills and my powers of sudoku he created a one-of-a-kind and totally awesome dining table:

Here's a picture of it in the shop before the clear coat and glass.
The table top is comprised of  368 blocks, there are 6 different sizes and they are spaced out so that blocks of the same size never touch (sudoku power!).  The base of the table is really cool too. From this photo it looks like it's just painted black, but look a little closer . . .

and you'll see that it's actually burnt! It's a Japanese technique called Shou-sugi-ban.  It creates a beautiful texture.

Once The Man finished up the table we began our hunt for the perfect dining room chairs.

The table is so strange that it was really hard to find the right fit.  At first we tried out chairs at Ikea.

(The white chair with wooden legs and the ghost chair are not from Ikea, I just loved and wanted them)

Many of the chairs looked liked they'd do just fine in photos, but up close it was a whole different story. There are many things I am happy to buy at Ikea but furniture doesn't seem to be one of them.  When we went in we saw that all of the chairs in our price range were just too cheap, and any chairs that were decent looking just weren't worth the price.  We sat there contemplating buying the cheapest chairs (the all black with metal legs for 24.99) just for the time being, so we could sit somewhere in our house, but even that seemed like a waste when we flipped the chair around and saw how easily the "finish" a.k.a. black paper, had pealed off the particle board.

It was impossible to find and cheap and classy chair option in Chicago . . . until The Man typed "cheap furniture Chicago" into google.

Now why didn't I think of that?

Those three magic words lead him to a place called Interior Express Outlet.  It's a warehouse in a strange vacant area near the airport, and it's chock-full of decently priced, great looking knock offs of chairs that we had never even considered, due to their price everywhere else.  Like fantasy home chairs, your wildest dream chairs, wishful Wednesday chairs! EAMES CHAIRS!!!

That's right, those beautiful, goes with everything, you can't find them for less than $250.00 a piece chairs that we never thought could possibly exist in our own home were only $55.00 each! $55!! AHHHHH!! I'm in love, and his name is Eames Shell Chair.

And now everything is together and we feel like fancy grown-ups, with a fancy custom made dinning room table and six fancy shell chairs, all in our fancy dinning room. And we stare at it lovingly while we eat dinner off of $12 tv trays in the living room . . . where the tv is.

the conversation

Alright, I don't know how I missed this, but maybe you did too.

While falling down the rabbit hole that is the internet I happened upon an interview between Garance Doré and Amanda De Cadenet. Garance Doré is a wonderful fashion blogger, photographer, illustrator... who, on her blog, has a web-series called Pardon My French (which I love to watch).

Although she looked familiar, I had never heard of Amanda De Cadenet, but in this 10 minute video they talk about her new venture, The Conversation.

As it turns out The Conversation is a series that came out at the beginning of the year on Lifetime. I started watching the videos on Amanda De Cadenet's website and I just had to share.  The videos are a series of interviews with various women, from actresses, to authors, to senators, etc. but unlike the type of interview you're used to seeing on television these are  . . . comfortable.  It's like watching two friends chatting without any pretense or prodding, and what they discuss is both relatable and genuine. It's really refreshing. 

Here is a link to the first episode. Give it a try, I found the series quite wonderful, and you don't have to have an interest in these women's lives as celebrities (the first episode is with Jane Fonda, Gwyneth Paltrow, Sarah Silverman, and Zoe Saldana) to have an interest in what they have to say as women.

And if you like it:
Second Episode
Third Episode
Fourth Episode
Fifth Episode
Sixth Episode
Seventh Episode
Eighth Episode

happy halloween!

Happy Halloween Y'all!!

So The Man and I were pretty lame this year.  No costumes, no pumpkin carving, no maize maze,

and to all that I mutter a sad little "boo."

Since we went completely under-board with decoration and celebration I decided to double up on the nail art.

First set - Frankensteins and Pumpkin Faces

Second set (and my personal fav) - Skulls!

SPOOOKY!!

I hope you all had a scary and sugar-filled night!!

flocky flocky

Want to see my nails?! I know you do!
I recently purchased this nail kit from Sephora:

It's called ciaté and it's a velvet manicure.  I wanted to try it out for the wedding in September but it did not work at all.  It just looked like my nails were strangely dirty.  So last week I decided to give it another go and it turned out really cool:

In the kit they give you nail polish, a bottle of "crushed velvet powder" (so basically flocking) and a little brush.  The directions tell you to paint one coat let it dry and then, one nail at a time, paint another coat and sprinkle on the velvet.  That's what I tried the first time when I got the dirty mange look, so the second time instead of sprinkling it I poured a bunch out into the plastic tray they give you and smashed my wet-nail-polished-finger straight into the velvet so it was totally covered.  

The powder comes out of the bottle so slow that your nail dries to quickly for it to stick, and you need a little pressure so the powder really gets in the polish, so the smashing method works really well.

The flocked nail look was fun for a while but it starts to feel weird after a bit, like when you run your fingers through your hair, or when you eat french fries like a slob and get ketchup all over your finger tips (licking ketchup off velvet just feels unnatural).  So try it out for an event . . . but maybe take it off before you start cooking :)