Oh My Hamish

I've lost my sunglasses. They had prescription lenses and I now live in the middle of nowhere. This might be the right time to try Warby Parker; they're like the TOMS of vintage inspired glasses. Rumor has it that they use the same production facility as Chanel eyewear, but every complete pair is only $95! They also offer a virtual try on feature and send you five pairs of frames to try on for FREE. Lucky for me they start selling sunglasses in August!

Hamish pic via awesomepeoplehangingouttogether . 

I Made It!

I finally moved in! I'm still unpacking all my junk, but I couldn't let Harry Potter Day pass without sharing this parody video:

Accio me some tissues, indeed. I can't believe it's over!

What To Look At When You Are Not Packing

 . . . which I am not. Which is bad. Look! Pretty things!

Video of 8,000 paper lanterns floating into the night sky:

Project SOS: Send Love. A daughter is helping her mother "travel the world" while she is being treated for colon cancer by asking people to send her postcards! Isn't that sweet? P.S. - That picture is from MY first trip to Italy in 2005! I went again in 2008, but I'm ready to go back right now! I can't believe it's been so long!


I ordered this cookbook from the "quarter-life chefs" at Big Girls, Small Kitchen:

I can't wait to try the Sexy-Ugly Onion Tart!

Can I borrow $64 million real quick? This 9-14th century, 30 bedroom castle is for sale: 

Or, I suppose this 15th century, 17 bedroom castle will do: 

 Individually and beautifully handwritten note cards at sparrownestscript : 

Only $15 for ten cards, which is not too shabs at all considering she does them by hand! 

Jane, of Sea of Shoes shared her makeup faves : 

Her makeup always looks amazing, so I'll have to test some of them!

I'm LOVING the Art Deco inspired Neubauten Necklace from Mod Cloth:

Hmm. . . I suppose I should  go pack some things now. My friend, Emily, is coming over to help me tonight and promises to reward me with cocoa covered almonds from her co-op for packing excellence! Four days until I'm in my new apartment! 

Checking Things Off My List!

I did a lot this weekend - I'm exhausted! That might have a little to do with the fact that I got locked out of my house this morning with my dog and ended up at work two hours late. Oops.

Back to Friday - Remember the inspiration video from my "To Craft" post?  I finished my poured paint table top! My friend, Kelly, came over and we tackled it in about three hours. Here is the plain IKEA tabletop (and Kelly) all ready to go:

We mixed about 60oz. of acrylic paint with lots of water and about 5oz of Liquitex Pouring Medium . You could play around with the levels here if you would like to try this project; but our paint was the consistency of melted chocolate. Then we started to pour! 

It was going pretty well . . . then (probably because of the metallic pigment) the paints started to bleed into each other and stopped flowing in rings: 

We also realized that the ground wasn't exactly level. So, we decided to just roll with it and do a bunch of little circles instead of one big one. We ended up with this: 

It's about 50% dry right now:

Once it's dry I just need to attach the legs and put a piece of glass over it - then I'll have my new makeup table! 

The only tip I would add for someone interested in trying this; use less paint. We mixed a lot more than we needed (and I bought more we didn't open). I would say 40oz would have been ample. It was just really hard to guess how much we really needed since we kept adding more water to the cups as we went. You could do this whole project for about $40!

As for the other crafts on my list . . . I didn't exactly finish any yet. I did iron the duck cloth for my bulletin board for about a HOUR last night - and it still needs a little more work. That stuff looks good, but is a pain. P.S. - it stinks when heat is directly on it. I also sorted about 20 storage tubs full of apartment/college stuff and consolidated them into 8 tubs. See? Productive! All I have to sort now is my closet! 13 days left until I move!

What do you think of my new table?

The Paint is Drying!

I'm actually making progress on my "To Craft" list and can't wait to share all my finished projects with you. Look for a full post on Monday! Here is a little teaser photo from my poured paint project:

Thanks to all my new and old followers for your encouragement! Have a great weekend!

To Craft!

Jillian, over at cornflake dreams is hosting a blog link up today all about summer to-do lists! Oh boy, do I have a long one! Because I'm moving in 17 days, I'm trying to jam visits to all my favorite places in before I go, as well as prep for my move. At the top of my list - guava margaritas at Dos Rios.

Before that can happen, I have a serious "to-craft" list that I need to tackle!
This weekend, my mom and I started to paint a bedside table, mirror, chair, bookcase and vintage vanity I'm using in my dining room.

My mom's friend was just going to throw it out! I think storing my wine is a much better alternative. Everything needs another coat or two of paint, but I should be able to finish (and share pics) once it stops raining. 

Also on my list is this nailhead bulletin board project from Live Creating Yourself:

What's sad about this- all the materials are sitting in my house right now. I've been so lazy about the easiest thing on my list! I'm officially setting a goal - this will be done by Saturday. Internet, hold me accountable! 

Next, while I'm working with nail heads, is this great headboard project from Freckles Chick :

I'm pretty sure this one is not going to get done before I leave. It's not because I'm lazy, but because I don't want one more giant thing to move! However, my goal is to at least buy the fabric and nail head trim.

While I'm at the fabric store, I also need to pick up some fabric for my Moroccan style poufs!

My friend, after seeing my post about them a few weeks back, said she could sew some for me. I'm also going to ask her to sew some regular throw pillows as well (surprise!). Thanks, Emily! I bought some great fabric for the pillows:

One last really big thing I need to tackle is my new makeup table. Someone randomly gave me a new IKEA tabletop and legs a few months ago. I was going to paint them anyway, but then I saw this really interesting video: 

I'd like to try this with some classic metallics (less rainbowy!). I've been kind of freaking out about finding the right kind of paint and something to seal it all with; but it has to be done this weekend. I want to give it a full week to dry!

What do you think? Can I get all these things done and pack up my life in two weeks? We'll see!

Hammyham and Miscellany

Exciting news! My favorite Hamish has revealed he is working on an auto-biography. So excited!! I'm still waiting impatiently for Grace Coddington's auto-biograpy and Dita Von Teese's beauty book. Come on, ladies! 

Diana, over at exPress-o is hosting a giveaway from Albeit. All you have to do is follow and choose which colors you would like your three bracelets to be! While I was poking around the Albeit site I, of course, found something three times more expensive to fall in love with. 

This gold initial necklace ($310) is so cute! I love how the letter is tilted and there seems to be enough chain to drape it couple times.

Last weekend, I went with a friend (Maria of Urban Cowgirl) to the Better Homes and Gardens charity sale. They publish in my hometown! BHG hosted a once in a lifetime sale of their photo props and furniture to benefit an anti-hunger charity. We got there around 6:45AM, the sale started at 8, and by about 8:30 most of the stuff was gone! It was a bloodbath! There were about 100 people in the line ahead of us and I'm guessing about 300-400 people in line behind us. We were all just grabbing anything! Maria got a really great bench and some cookbooks. I got a Ralph Lauren floor lamp ( I didn't know there was such a thing), two footed bowls, one giant glass bowl, copper ceiling tiles, three big mercury glass style candle holders, one vintage copper mold and three stools for $44! Here is a little teaser photo of our haul:

I'm waiting to share good pictures of all my new stuff until I move into my new apartment! I'm moving, by the way, in 24 days! I didn't expect to move so soon, but something came up at my new office and they wanted me to start a little earlier. Yikes! So much to pack! I also need to squeeze in all my favorite Des Moines things before I go, so look out for those posts!

Missoni for Target

I knew these pictures would leak eventually! Missoni has collaborated with Target for a fashion and home collection that will release in September!

So many zig zags. They will all be MINE, I say!

Loving It : A Discovery of Witches

In my last post, I told you I had ordered the novel A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.

I started reading it on Thursday and finished Friday afternoon. I loved it! It's kind of a combination of Harry Potter plus Twilight plus Da Vinci Code; but is absolutely its own unique novel. Harkness is an accomplished historian, so she includes actual historical and scientific information in the novel in a very interesting way!

Apparently, ADOW is the first in a trilogy - which I'm certainly happy about! The next one comes out sometime in 2012. That seems so far away! I suppose if you consider that ADOW was only released this February . . .  I guess it's cool if Harkness takes some time to write the next one, haha! Also, there are some rumors flying around about a movie version. I think when you read it you will agree that it screams to be made into a movie. In fact, on Harkness' Facebook page it has become a fun game for fans to try to cast it! For the two main characters, I think I would go with Henry Cavill for Matthew and Emily Deschanel for Diana. 

Don't they look nice together? I think I'll stop before I give anything away, but really - go read this book!  I need someone to gush over it with! 

PS- I tweeted Harkness to tell her that I liked the book and she tweeted back! How nice of her!

Just a Few Treats

I've been so busy helping to put on a bridal shower for one of my friends I haven't had time to post! Now that it's over (boo), I can get back to sharing a few things with you (yay)!
First things first - Nutella cupcakes! My new favorite thing!

All I did was swirl some melted Nutella on top of cake batter - done! No frosting required! The super cute cups I baked them in came from Think Garnish! I also bought straws from them, but accidentally left them at home! Oops. The only thing you have to remember if you choose to bake in cups like this is that you can only fill them about 1/3 full with batter, otherwise this happens :

Awww, sad little reject cupcake. The rest of them went over well at the shower, though! Special thanks to Diana of exPress-O; I found the cups through her blog!

I'm expecting a few great things to be delivered to me soon! I got a really great deal on a pair of  Safavieh pillows from Gilt Groupe *, plus an extra 20% off, so I'm pretty pleased! I can't wait to put them with my new bedding!

Through the end of the month, West Elm is offering free shipping on reg. priced bedding, and since it would have cost over $20 to ship the duvet cover and shams I had my eye on (ridiculous, right?), I ordered this set this morning.

I can't wait to dive into that! I also ordered a shower curtain from One Kings Lane * : 

Then, after I ordered it, I realized as I was looking through a folder of inspiration images that I had clipped it from Apartment Therapy in August! A couple things to note- it does NOT have that text on it (that was the best pic I could find) and I only paid $12 for it, NOT $30! Not too shabs. 

Though I should be trying to get rid of books before I move  - I had to order a couple more!  A Discovery of Witches and Bossypants should be at my door today!

Bossypants, well, because it's Tina Fey! As for A Discovery of Witches, I read great reviews of it from tons of magazines including Entertainment Weekly, Marie Claire, O and Allure. When I finally remembered to check it out on Amazon I was surprised to be able to read the first few chapters for free! That hooked me, so now I'm ticking off the hours I have to wait until I can curl up in bed with it tonight!

Did you give yourselves any treats this weekend? Let's hear about it! 

* Disclaimer! The links that have * after them will take you to the site, but give me a small credit the first time you buy something. If you don't want to use those links for whatever reason, that's cool! I think you'll like the sites anyway!