The Queen Mum

I was browsing Apartment Therapy a while back and came across this article that featured a color chart showing what the Queen's preferences in clothing were over the course of a year. The illustration struck me for a couple reasons. First, Mark is British and therefore loves just about anything with the Royal Family. Tins, mugs, tea towels... we've got it all. Second, I like color and loads of it. That's evident all over the house. So this particular piece seemed like the perfect marriage (haha, so punny) of my and Mark's predilections. I scoured the web for the largest size of it I could find, sized it up a bit more so that it'd fit a 12x18 sheet, and had it printed at Staples for just a few bucks. Into a frame I already had on hand it went, and we were left with the vignette you see below, which is atop a wardrobe in our bedroom.

Isn't it fun?! I love when a plan comes together and comes together cheaply. And I love getting items crossed off my to do list, even if it didn't happen until early September instead of August. Progess is progress, right?

Sources: Security Food Pail - Bellalulu Vintage, Fake Plant - Michael's, Corked Glass Jar - thrifted, Plaid Tins - Ikea, White Frame - Target


P.S. Happy, happy, happy, happy, happy birthday Mark!! I promise this artwork isn't your gift. ;)

School Time

It occurred to me the other day, while walking past the school supplies section of Target, that this time next year I'll be shopping for school supplies for Charlotte. For Kindergarten. Ugh. How is it possible that she's just a year away from full-time school? I mean wasn't she just a wee tiny baby with a bit of an attitude and a propensity for roundhouse kicks? So, in effort to just push the thought of her being in school from my mind, I got to thinking about the fun school supplies I'd want. For myself. Not for a certain curly-headed babe who is most definitely not old enough for school. :(

Here's links to the goodies: No. 1 - Mechanical Pencils, No. 2 - Anything Scissors, No. 3 - Striped Fleece Backpack, No. 4 - Animal Balance Eraser Set, No. 5 - Wooden Giraffe Ruler, No. 6 - Facebox Stencil Kit, No. 7 - Kate Spade Striped Notepads, No. 8 - Shark Pencil Case

What's your favorite? I'm partial to the giraffe ruler and the striped backpack. So much fun!

Fly the World

Have you taken the Etsy Taste Test before? If not, you should. You're prompted with several items and choose which you like best. After a few rounds of this Etsy compiles dozens of items that you're likely to be a fan of. They're not always up your alley, but it's a good way to find items you may never have stumbled across otherwise. The Taste Test is how I happened upon the Flutter By Globe in the top left. Click on over to it and check out just how intricate and beautiful it is. Out of my price range for sure, but enough to get me searching for other butterfly and world map items. Hence, my latest treasury. Hope you like it!

Our Good Will Tour

My mom, sister and I all had off work this past Monday. It was one of three days that I took off in order to catch as much Olympics coverage as possible (#officiallyaddicted). The fervor of the games, what with all their camaraderie and world unity, must have really gotten to us because we were inspired to go on a Good Will Tour. In 10 hours time we visited 14 different venues, over three different counties, with an untold number of nationalities represented. It was an inspiring and potentially life-changing experience. A tour truly filled with Good Will.

Alright, alright. So more than anything it was a tour filled with Goodwills. And Salvation Army shops. And thrift stores. :) And while it did encompass 10 hours, 14 stops and a lot of diversity, it was hardly noble or life-changing. But definitely fun!

A few friends have asked how I find so much at thrifts and Goodwills. The first thing I always say is that this is relatively new to me. Thrifting, I mean. My mom has done it forever. And as a kid (and even into my adult years) I hated it. With a passion. I liked new. I liked clean. And thrifting is neither of those things. But as my style has changed and become more vintage-focused, thrifting has become a necessity. So I've scouted the Goodwills in my area (there are 8 that I can get to with ease) and know which are the best. Same goes for thrift stores nearby. I visit them often - some weekly, others monthly - on different days of the week and different times of day. And I scour. As a kid it always boggled my mind how my mom could spend an hour or so at her then-favorite thrift store when I'd seen all there was to see in five minutes. But now I realize that if you spend a bit more time, you'll look past all the "special" stuff (see below) and be able to find the truly special stuff.

Our tour started at a Goodwill outlet (disappointing as it was much smaller than expected), followed by four other Goodwills, two Salvation Army stores, three thrift stores and an antique shop. We also threw in a Target, Home Goods and Hobby Lobby for good measure. Our main focus is always on housewares, books and linens. My mom loves old Reader's Digests, cigar boxes and anything she can use for crafting. My sister seaches out sports items and globes. And I am always after vintage sheets, old kids' books and just about anything kitschy. At least one of the three of us found something at each of our stops, with purchase prices ranging from as little as a dollar and change to thirty or so bucks. Our average was probably in the $10-20 range. And we got a lot to show for it. Check out my mom's loot:

For less than $30, my mom picked up a million embroidery hoops and old trims, plus a mirror, silver plate, candlesticks and angels. And some Reader's Digests, a lamp, a basket and some fabric samples. And let's not forget the super cute little doll (not pictured) in a trunk that came with about a dozen outfits and shoes. It's living at my sister's house for when her nieces come to visit. Speaking of, my sister got some good finds too:

Mandy spent about $60 total and snagged eight wooden tennis rackets to add to her collection (she's filling an entire wall with them), a couple globes (they sit atop her kitchen cabinets) and some milk glass. Oh, and an Anne of Avonlea book. Who doesn't love Anne Shirley!? And then came my finds:

Quite the haul, right?! I spent about $80 and picked up a ton. There's 24 books in that pile and a sheet, pillowcase, bedcover and tablecloth. I also found a small chalkboard, old toolbox, mail sorter, brass pheasant and a pair of kitschy owls. Not to mention a pair of tap shoes and raincoat for Charlotte. And how could I forget my favorite finds - the old horse trophy and an owl cookie jar (not pictured)?!

Now we'd never have found this sort of volume had we hit just one or two stores, which is why this day long event was so fun! I might even be thrifted out. At least until next week, when I start hitting them up all over again.


P.S. It should go without saying that you should ignore the crappy photo quality. All the photos, save for the one of my mom's stuff, were taken with a cell phone. Watching hour after hour of elite athletes show off the results of months/years of training hasn't done a thing to change my lazy disposition.

Ladybug

Back when my brother and his family stayed with us (more on that here), Charlotte was introduced to her cousin's ladybug nightlight that casts stars onto the ceiling and walls. And she was enchanted. She couldn't stop talking about it and said she'd like one of her own, in pink. As luck would have it, they do make a pink one and my girl was super excited when it arrived at our door in a package marked specifically for her.

It's the little things, right!?

Goodbye Boob Light

Charlotte spent the night at my sister's on Friday (thanks Mandy!). Mark and I decided to spend much of our childless time planning what needed to be done around the house. And shopping for supplies for a couple projects. High on the to do list was to replace the boob light in our upstairs landing area.


You're familiar with them right? Round, boring and look just like a boob when viewed from the right angle (once you've seen it, you can't unsee it). While they function just fine, they're totally lacking in style and I've made it a mission to rid this house of them. In less than an hour's time I accomplished that mission. Yeah, we're that good. And we only had one of them to contend with. Hehe. Don't fear though, we have plenty of other ugly light fixtures to tackle down the line. But, I digress... after we returned from the store Mark made quick work of removing the old fixture, so we could replace it with this little beauty.


Kidding, kidding. Well, sorta. This $10 fixture is probably uglier than the boob light, if that's possible. But it was a means to an end. You see, we Mark installed the fixture itself and left off the shade. That left us with a downward facing bulb socket that we could attach this copper tiered shade to. It's a favorite amongst bloggers and I anxiously awaited it to go back in stock at Urban Outfitters so I could grab one. I love it's beat up uniqueness!

Mark isn't in love yet, but he'll come around. Now I have to work on convincing him that we should paint over the chalkboard wall we have in the kitchen and instead paint the landing in black chalkboard paint. Crazy, right?! Yup, that's me. And once the rest of the hall is spruced up, I'll make sure to share a wider angle of the space with you.

Olympic Fever

Do you have it? I do. My sister does. So do our friends and family. We love all things Olympic and have started to think about what we'll do to celebrate this year's games. Traditionally, we have a meal during the opening ceremony that is reflective of that games' host country, so this year it'll be cottage pie. And we rank each country's "costume" during the opening ceremony with a 5 ring rating system. Yup, we literally hold up papers with 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 rings to reflect how much we like their garb. But, given that my sister hosted a fantastic Harry Potter party recently, and given that Charlotte's birthday parties (year two, three and four) have been pretty awesome, if I do say so myself, we've got the up the ante. So I've been doing a little research. Here are some fun Olympics ideas that we may do, and you should consider doing them too:

* Looking at great moments in Olympic history is sure to get you in the mood, and you could read through them as a part of your celebration. Kerry Strug pulling it out for USA gymnastics anyone?!

* You could serve some Olympic themed cupcakes, and play games like pass the torch, and Olympic bingo

* These invites would be super-cute for getting the word out about your party

* Your guests will love you if you served this Olympic ring fruit pizza

* And these photo booth props would be perfect for adults or kids

* It's pretty pricey, but Ursula Hitz's Game Torch 2012 is really awesome

* Love Rachel Whiteread's Olympic art (number 3 in the link) and it's something you and your kids could make easy enough

* Speaking of kids, Red Ted Art's Blog has tons of ideas for activities to do with them

* How about celebrating by dressing up yourself, maybe with a themed hat

Whatever we decide to do, I'll be sure to share the awesomeness right here. :)

Good Health

I've noticed a pattern in the past year and a half that we've owned this house. Others (ie. my mother) may have noticed this too. I can't finish a room. As many ideas as I have about what to fix up here, what to DIY there, I haven't truly finished anything. The living room is close, but I'm still struggling with what to hang over the couch. Charlotte's room has a clear plan, but I've yet to make her drapes or hang art on the walls. And here I am, moving on to another room. Ah well...

This time we're on to the bathroom. The only full bath in the house. Yeah, Charlotte's teenage years may kill us all. The space is snug, but has lots of great light thanks to the ceiling skylight. Everything is in pretty good shape, just not what I'd have picked. The tile, which fully encloses the shower and goes halfway up the other walls, is cream colored. I'm pretty sure it was a mottled cream before, but was painted over to be a solid cream tone at some point. I know this because the paint is peeling on the built-in soap dish. Weird, right?! So in the near future I'll be working to get the paint from the soap dish off completely and then sealing everything to prevent future peeling. We'll see how well that goes.

In the interim (and by that I mean until I finally get around to the paint removing/sealing project) I'm shopping. It's what I do. :) I already snagged a clearanced shower curtain and bathmat and have some other ideas planned. My favorite purchase thus far is in the art category. Check it out:


Pardon the less than stellar quality of the photos. Taking pictures of pictures isn't easy. But aren't they adorable?! These Good Health Pictures are from 1965 and are meant for educational use. There are 12 in total, so I've got 7 other adorable options, but the ones pictures above make the most sense for a bathroom. Now I just have to decide how to hang them. Do I laminate them and just tack them to the wall? Put them in frames? White? Wood? A metal tone? Is 5 pictures ok, or should I add in a 6th to even things out? Decisions, decisions.

P.S. If you want a set of your own, I found another Etsy listing. It's going for less than what I paid. Hmmfph.

$5 Flamingoes

I went on a bit of a spending spree this weekend. For no good reason other than I get into spurts where I barely spend at all, followed by spurts where I let loose with no abandon. This was one of those no abandon weekends. :) Most of what I snagged was practical - clearanced clothes for the kidlet, a new hair dryer, thrifted sheets. Not necessary, but certainly useful. One of my favorite purchases was of the impractical variety. Check out what $5 (plus tax) got me in the Target dollar spot:


Oh yeah. These two hot pink beauties. Please... run, don't walk, to get yourself a pair (or more). Even if your husband and/or father doesn't understand. Lord knows mine didn't. But I was so enamored with them that as soon as I got home I set out to find the perfect home for them. Let's take a look at the options:


First up, the west part of my yard. They look pretty cozy tucked in with those peonies (which badly need to be dead-headed) and primrose. Trouble is, this is in the far end of my long and narrow yard. And even though it's nearest to the back door, they're still a bit hidden. And that will not do for Chester and Norman. Yup, that's what I've named them.


So onward to bigger smaller and better substandard things. Our blueberry bushes. You can only see one in the photo, but there is a second bush off to the left of Chester. While I appreciate that these two sentinels would guard those bushes with every fiber of their plastic beings, truth be told, there's not much to guard. The bush in the photo has nothing but leaves and the one not pictured has a bumper crop of seven whole berries. I kid you not. Chester and Norman's valuable time is wasted here.


So I thought that instead of putting them to work, I'd put them in a spot where they could relax. Here they are in a shadier area of the yard, living it up amongst the creeping geranium (thanks Jacqi for identifying that!), lilies and lemon mint. And loads of grass that is in desperate need of a trim. While I'm sure they were quite at home here, something about their rosey color combined with the red of the birdhouse was making me itch. Blasted eye pollution. So on they went...


... to their permanent home, next to the shed. Perfect right? Not only do they get to cozy up to some ornamental grasses and lilies, and not only do they get to guard some grape hyacinth skeletons (yeah, I really need to do some yard work), but their bright pink plummage looks smashing with the aqua color of the shed. Success!


Besides, Chester was tired of moving and said this spot was it. And really, how can you say no to that face?

Weekly Daily Reader

Just before Charlotte's birthday party I was digging through my parents' storage room in search of my old dollhouse furniture to go with the dollhouse Mark and I got her. (I found the furniture. Maybe I'll snag pictures of it sometime.) In my search my mom and I unearthed a box full of old books that used to belong to my siblings and me. Here are a few of my favorites:


According to my mom, most of these were bought at the Weekly Reader book fairs that our elementary school had multiple times each year. I don't really remember the book fairs at all, but I'm pretty confident when I guess that all four of us probably loved being able to pour over the list of books to decide which was just the right one to use "our own money" to buy. I have a feeling Charlotte will be just as excited when she starts having regular book fairs at school.


For now she'll get to look over all my old favorites. I'm pretty sure that Stone Soup will get looked at a lot. (Did you check out the link in the book title? Crazy that this version is selling for close to $50!!) I'm sure you know the story -- some travelers are unable to find food in the town they're visiting because the townsfolks are too stingy to share and so they suggest making stone soup. With some prodding the townsfolks add ingredients to the stone-filled water until they have a delicious soup ready to share. I vividly remember making this soup in school and figure our family will make some this summer as we read through this book.


We also plan to read The Snowy Day since it's the book I remember most of the bunch. Although we may save it for fall/winter given the subject matter. It's about a boy spending the day in the snow. Nothing earth-shattering in terms of storyline, but the artwork is really fantastic! It's got a mix of watercolor, cut-outs and collage, all in interesting colors. It even won a Caldecott Medal in 1963.


Charlotte was never that into books as an infant. She'd much rather play with toys or sing. But she's all about reading now. I catch her on her bed long after bedtime every night, thumbing through a book or two. I did the same thing as a kid, so it's no big surprise that she's become a night owl with a love for reading too. I can't wait to add these oldies, but goodies, to her pile of choices! I may even let her keep the trio of owls piggy bank in her room with the books. Then she'll be able to start saving for future book fairs. :)

Outdoors

Do you spend a lot of time outdoors? I don't spend nearly as much time outside as I should. My normal day consists of sleeping (indoors), driving (indoors), working (indoors), cooking meals (indoors) and so on down the list. Up until recently I'd guesstimate that only about 5% of my day was spent outside. That's, admittedly, incredibly pathetic. But I've come to realize that this needs to change. The payoff for being outside is great, both physically (normally when you're outside you're engaged in some sort of activity) and mentally (improved focus and concentration).

I've increased my time outdoors in the past year in a couple ways. First, when we moved we inherited a lot of yard. And, more specifically, a lot of yard that requires a lot of work. So we end up spending a few hours each week outside tending to all our plants weeds. I've also started a Couch to 5K program, so for the past few weeks I've been running outdoors three times a week. But even with those increases, I still need to find ways to spend more time outside. I've decided, since I don't have a built in love for the great outdoors, that having some good stuff to look at will help. So the first step in luring me out of the house and into the sunlight was a bit of shopping.

Who doesn't love Ikea?! It's got loads of outdoor furniture options. We needed a lot of it (we hope to have friends and family over often), but didn't want to spend a ton, so we opted for two sets that each include a table, a bench and two chairs. For just $99 per set! And because our yard can get hotter than H-E-double-hockey-sticks with its complete lack of shade, we also picked up the biggest umbrella they have. It's more than 13 feet in diameter. Awesome, right?! Ours isn't black though. We picked up the white version figuring it'd reflect the heat better than the black version. My hope is that between the patio furniture and the wall of birdhouses that I've finally found a source for (duh, Michael's -- thanks Mom!), I'll have tons of great stuff to see and sit on while outside. Now to get that grill fired up...

Shopping Success

My mom, sister and I were pretty bummed to find out that our favorite antique mall in the area is closing its doors. Today is their last day open actually. :( While it can be really hit or miss in terms of finding good deals there (lots of vendors way overprice their items), with the closing came tons of sales. I spent about $115 and walked away with loads of goodies. Here's one of my favorites:


It's a Heywood Wakefield children's chair that I spent about $20 on - not too bad when they list for at least twice that, plus shipping, on Etsy. I love the beat up wood and that the bright red legs pick up the stripe of the same color in the crate bookcase I made last summer. And Charlotte loves it too! I'd contemplated hanging it on the wall in my laundry room for a bit of extra storage (sorta like this), but I'm fearful Charlotte would scale my washing machine trying to get to it! So the living room is its official home.


I also got a leggy old china cabinet (for about $23!!), a game from Mark's childhood, an old door, a few knick knacks and a huge dollhouse for Charlotte's birthday. It's ginormous - about 4 1/2 feet high from floor to peak - has some awesome 80s styling and is sized just right for Barbies. I'd always planned to transform her cube bookcase into a dollhouse, but at just $10 (yup, you read that right) I couldn't pass it up. Now I'm scouring the interwebs and my mom's basement for Barbie furniture. Hopefully I find good deals on them too!