the man made {coffee table}

The Man has made many things for our apartment and slowly but surely I will show you them all but I thought I'd start with an all time favorite.

The Man is incredibly creative.  I don't get how he comes up with this stuff half the time.  One day he'll say "Hmmm, we need a new _____" and the next day he'll show me what he's started, and every time it blows my mind.

In this instance it was: "We really need a new coffee table..."
And a few weeks later we were setting our beverages on this bad boy:

This piece is made of MDF. Walnut and Acrylic.  In real life the wood is a lot less red/yellow than it came out in these photos, actually, the whole room is a lot less red/yellow!

The table is so gorgeous and unique, and I love how the center hovers above the ground.  Each side is canted at a different angle so as you walk around it the form is always changing, no side looks alike.

So awesome right!

I recorded a video walking around it so you can see how it all comes together.

(please excuse the quality, it's from my iPhone):

coffee table from Aly Flint on Vimeo.

 I love this piece and everything else in the living room, which you can catch little glimpses of in the video, but don't worry I'll show you all of it, one by one!!!

randolph market festival

Hello All!
The Man and I were pretty productive this weekend.  We.... left the house!!!!!!!!!

We went to the Randolph Street Market Festival, which is an outdoor antique/vintage/handmade/art market with food and music held once a month from May to September.  I had never gone before, although I've been hearing about it for years now, so it was fun to finally check it out.

It was really similar to the Brooklyn Flea (remember when we went last year?).

We walked around for a bit but had to stop for a bite once we passed all the food vendors.  There were some amazing smells wafting around, but as soon as we saw the huge vat of Pulled Pork we knew what we had to do.

It was so delicious that The Man was in an eternal state of thumbs up!

(he wasn't doing it on purpose, but I thought it was hilarious)

After satisfying our stomachs we went searching for our friends.  First we ran into the lovely ladies of Lost Girls Vintage.

Out friend Sarah and her partner Kyla re-vamped this awesome camper van and travel around selling their vintage wares.  Their RV is named Winnie, and she's a lovely shade of orange with chevron stripes and inside they've fitted her with clothing racks, shoes shelves and even a dressing room!

Not to mention all the other merchandise they display on racks and tables outside of Winnie. (So many bags!!)

(Sarah, Kyla, Me!)

 We said our goodbyes to Sarah and Kyla and just a few steps later we found Brett!

Brett Whitacre is a fantastic artist.  I first saw his pieces 4 years ago when I was working with his wonderful wife Kate. He uses reclaimed objects like old windows and suitcases and spray paints images on them.  I love his window pieces.  I've seen people try to paint in this technique (painting on the back of the window so you're creating your image in reverse) but for most people the image always comes out flat and dull.  Brett's window paintings and have so much color and detail and humor, I want one!!! 

After we saw Brett we decided it was time to head back home to Geoffrey to cool down for the day.

mani monday

Happy Monday Dudes and Dudettes!

I hope you all had a fantastic weekend! The Man and I went to Randolph Market Festival on Sunday and had some fun in the over-heating sun, which I'll tell you all about tomorrow. But for now here are this weeks nails:

This week I did little bouquets.  I wasn't too pleased with how it came out so I decided not to finish (which is why you only see one hand in this post).  But I figured out what I'm going to do next week and I'm reeeeally excited!

Talk to you tomorrow!

doodle day

Whenever I have a free moment I try to doodle, whether it's using a pen, pencil, paint or pixlr.  So I thought I'd start a new weekly post called "doodle day" where I post one of my drawings, cute, funny, strange or otherwise.

Today's doodle was drawn with pen:

I've wanted to paint silk scarfs for about 3 years now and I almost have all the supplies. 
How would you like to wear this pool doodle around your neck?

it ain't over till the fat lady... puts on coat

Summer is still going strong!
It cooled down for a while but this week we're back up to 80's and 90's, so it's time to break out the shorty shorts and procure some icy treats!

Which brings me toooo...
Popsicle Nails!!

I hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

destination: procrastination-station

When you're as Lazy as I am, procrastination doesn't follow too far behind.  I can't tell you how many papers were written the night before they were due or art projects were hung up still wet with paint.  At times I can motivate myself, but for the most part all projects and "to-do's" just fall by the wayside.

I am good at starting things, making the first move or collecting the supplies.  I can't begin to tell you how many projects I am prepared to do, or how many are almost done.  It's those last little steps that get me every time.

Remember the assignment? Remember how excited I was? How I had this huge list of creative projects and how I was going to show you the final piece when I was finished? Yeah... It's basically done, but the paper ended up being too thick for the frame, so now it's just sitting there, haphazardly.

Remember those chairs? Remember how excited I was? How I was going to teach myself upholstery and those chairs were the first step? Yeah.... They're almost finished, I just need to buy foam, but who knows when that will happen.

Remember wishful wednesdays? Remember how excited I was? How I was going to post one every week and chronicle my dream home aspirations?  Yeah... Those take a lot of research, and I'm tired.

Remember this post you're reading right now? Yeah... I started it a week ago, and now I don't remember my point.

I've told you many, many, many, many, many, many times that I'm going to whip myself into shape, and do things.  But let's be honest, we're all lucky I have the motivation to do my nails every week, let alone finish a craft or art project I've started!

So, here's my new point (since I can't remember the original point), I think it's time to post the "in-progress." If I keep waiting to show you projects when they're finished you'll never see anything.  Like our apartment, The Man has made some beautiful furniture, and even though the rooms aren't finished (or clean for that matter) you need to see them!!

Yeah! I'm going to go home and take some pictures!!


...or maybe I'll wait until the weekend when the lighting is better... hmmm.

mani monday

Happy Monday Y'All!

The weekend is over, and once again I'm already looking forward to the next.  Here are this weeks nails:

I decided to go simple this week, so I did a jaggedy pattern using Fiji by Essie and Chick Flick Cherry by OPI

mani monday {shark week!}

Happy Monday Everyone!

We had another friend-filled fantastic weekend.  On Saturday we went out to dinner for a friends birthday, and on Sunday we drove out to the Indiana dunes with our friends Maria and Daily. It was so fun!  I feel like The Man and I have really been taking advantage of the nice weather this summer.  Normally we just sit around the house but this year we've been doing so many things outside...  I love it!

Ok, on to this week's nails.  As I'm sure many of you know, today is the first day of Discovery channel's annual Shark Week. I don't watch much of it myself, but I just couldn't pass up the chance to celebrate it.

 SHARK NAILS!! Aren't they terrifying!!

we're baaack {our mexico trip}

It's been one week since The Man and I got back from Mexico and I'm (finally) ready to tell you all about it! 
Get ready for a photo heavy post!

We went to Mexico because my life long family friend Nicole and her now hubby Mike decided to have a destination wedding in Playa Del Carmen.  It was such a wonderful trip and I am so thankful to Nicole and Mike for giving me a reason to go on a week-long vacation.

Our first day there we went straight from the check-in desk to a pontoon! The Bride and Groom were really awesome and organized a few excursions for anyone who wanted to join.  It made it so much easier to see things outside of the resort.

So, with barely any sleep and almost no food in our stomachs we went out into the Caribbean Sea to go snorkeling.  Besides the sea-sickness it was fantastic!!!  I've never been snorkeling before, and at first it was a little uncomfortable but once I got used to it I didn't want to get out.

We saw so many schools of fish and a giant stingray and a big adorable turtle!!

The next day we all went to Tulum and Coba.

Tulum was beautiful...and scorching hot.  Most of our party wore swimsuits under their clothes and jumped in the ocean as soon as we got there.  My parents and I weren't that prepared and decided to find a shady spot to sit and enjoy our surroundings.

My favorite part of that day was when we were all let off the bus to go find something for lunch. The Man, my parents, and I all decided to break away from the crowd and wander down the road a bit.  We stopped at La Bisteca where my parents ordered steak tacos and The Man and I had choripan (an Argentinian sausage sandwich). It. Was. Delicious.  So amazingly delicious!!

The resort we stayed at was "all-inclusive" so the all-you-can-eat buffets and restaurants weren't really trying that hard, if you know what I mean.  All we wanted all week long was authentic Mexican food and we got it at La Bisteca.

After lunch was Coba.  The great thing about Coba is they're not as determined to preserve the ruins so you can climb all over them! Unlike Tulum, Coba is surrounded by jungle so it was really nice and cool while we were walking around.  However, Coba is large, and very spread out, and, like most places in Mexico, there are no maps. So when The Man and I got back to the bus we soon found out what we had missed.

Apparently the reason to go to Coba is the giant ruin that towers over the trees, which you can climb all the way to the top of.  Most people in our group took bicycle taxis around the ruins so they could see all of it, but The Man and I lost the group and my parents (holding all the money) within the first 5 minutes of entering the park.  It was kind of a bummer once we saw how beautiful everyone's pictures were, but maybe now we have a reason to go back one day :)!

The fam and I aren't really resort people so we tried to get out a little bit everyday.  Friday there was nothing pre-planned so we took a taxi into town.  It was pretty and fun to see more of Mexico, but we got tired of being attacked by all the store owners trying to sell us tchotchkes and decided we'd have more fun in the pool.

For the most part we all hung out and ate together, but that night The Man and I decided to have a little date night.  We went to the Japanese restaurant at the resort and sat at the grill, like you would at a Benihana.  I’ve never been to a place like that so it was really fun.

Saturday was the wedding.  It was beautiful.

Surprise, surprise, I was a blubbering mess.  Nicole was beyond gorgeous in her wedding dress and the hotel did a beautiful job with the flowers.  The ceremony was on the beach and the reception was held in the Italian restaurant (which was the best restaurant at the resort).  The food was delicious and everyone had a blast dancing the night away.

The last day was my Mom's birthday.  She got a sneak attack saxophone serenade for breakfast, complete with a napkin hat.

And in the afternoon we decided to go to Cozumel for lunch... that's when I realized I don't like big boats! I got super sea-sick, like shaky, sweaty, up-chucky, about to pass-out sea-sick!

Apart from the dock workers recognizing me as that sick crying girl on the way back, Cozumel was beautiful and I wish we could have stayed longer.  We went to our friend's hotel restaurant for lunch and I'm glad we did!  It was the second delicious Mexican meal we had in Mexico, with juicy steak, seafood, and enchiladas!  The ferry back to Playa Del Carmen was at 5, so we headed to the resort for one last dinner together.

Mom got her birthday full moon and in the morning we said our goodbyes.

It really was a wonderful trip, I'm so happy we went!

p.s....I caught the Bouquet!!