Hoo, looky what I found today.

I found a couple new blogs that I think are adorable, and one that is jaw-dropping.

This chickie at Romantic Home HAS A GORGEOUS HOUSE! AND SHE'S JUST RENTING!! My place surely don't look like that. Heh. She says she's gotten nearly everything at flea markets and thrift stores, and she has a wonderful eye and beautiful design sense. Check out the flickr page of stuff around her house!!! Her place LOOKS LIKE I imagine my place looking one day. Heh. She also makes me want to start a subscription for Country Living. I just started a new subscription to Southern Accents, and I let my Cottage Living subscription expire. It wasn't exactly what I was looking for, I think. And I DON'T want any more dang recipes! What I REALLY WANT is for the JUNKMARKET Style magazine to come back!! I remember seeing it in Target after I got back from my backpacking trip to Europe in 2006, and I freaking LOVED it. Read it from cover to cover, but was slightly broke, and busy getting ready for a new school year with a new classroom and grade level change, and told myself I'd reward myself for my first paycheck of the school year by buying the magazine ... and then I went back and hunted for it and it was all GONE!! Le crushed spirit. So apparently, only one issue has ever come out, and they go quickly on eBay. Grrr. But the editors/authors now have a couple books out, so I suppose that is okay. I LOVE info and pics about flea markets, though! I find it addictive.

I found Cynthia's Cottage Design through one of the pictures posted on the Home Goods blog, and I like her ideas. It's all maybe a bit too busy for me, but she puts things together very nicely. Granny Smith Green is going on my blogroll as well.

So, in wandering relatively aimlessly around the internet, I heard about the ADORABLE Free Hugs campaign (that's ancient history, though, I am so behind the times!), and then - Trash the Dress.

Seriously, it is frickin' awesome, and visual eye CRACK to me. There are some great pictures over on this blog. I guess it started at http://trashthedress.wordpress.com/.


Some more gorgeous pictures are here, and seriously? It is so something I would want to do. A great photographer with great shots, to capture that one moment in time ... that's kinda priceless.

Especially when gravity starts pullin' and tuggin' and things just AREN'T THE SAME ANYMORE. I forget where I read it, but I agree with having a few lovely, wonderful shots of yourself when you are younger, to keep for when you are older, to remember your glory days.

Is that vain??

I think a TTD (Trash the Dress :P) session with my sister would be something we could totally do too!! Maybe I will do it for her for her first wedding anniversary/birthday or something.

When she was shopping for dresses earlier in the year, she found a thrift store with sample wedding and prom dresses ... oh my gosh, GORGEOUS ones for only $50 each. There was one dress I loooooooved, but I was like - what am I gonna do with it???

This is the dress she first showed me, btw.


She took a pic on her cell phone and then texted it to me, and we went that weekend to take a closer look, and so I could give my opinion on it, as well as shop around for other dresses.

I seriously totally LOVE this picture I took of her, and kind of wish the stupid chair was not there. Oh well.

She ultimately ended up going with this one, though:

Ah, memories. I can't believe she's been married for two months now!

I am STILL trying to track down pics from her shower; I was genuinely so proud of that. I should go and organize the stuff that I used for the shower, really; some of it is still piled in the corner of the dining room. Hee.

Home Goods

OK, quickie post, because I just can't resist!

I typed in "Rachel Ashwell" (you know, I swear, I just made the same darn typo as I did before - HA!) "blog," just to see what would come up.

And I found another blog that mentioned the Home Goods blog ... whee!!!

I love Home Goods now. Earlier in the year, I was on a MAD hunt for a pink medallion-decorated teapot that I first saw at TJ Maxx, and passed on. WHY! DID! I! DO THAT! Anyway, I was thinking about it that whole week, still obsessing, and when I went back, it was gone. And I posted on the wonderful fishing site, and they recommended I check out Home Goods.

I was HOOKED.

I've gotten quite a bit there since then ... hee. Beautiful. I do remember a fellow teacher talking about it a couple years ago at a staff party, where the person in charge got the napkins or whatever from there, but I just wasn't into all that at the time, I think. Actually, a couple weeks ago, I ran INTO this teacher at the Kohl's next door to Home Goods ... she lives in the area and I had not seen her since the summer!

Anyhoo.

While I never did get the teapot, I did find the matching cake stand for 75% off at Marshalls ... $5. LOVE IT. Used it for sister's bridal shower. Will throw up a pic of it some other time. Still wish I'd gotten the matching platter! You win some, you lose some. :)

The one thing I REALLY regret not buying was a tall glass cloche for only $10. It was summer, I was NOT having all that extra bobbly money to throw around, and I had to choose. I KNOW the cloche I could use around Christmas (imitative creative blogger that I am ;) ), so I figured I could always get one later. And I probably will. But now that I am ready to buy one, of course they have none! But geez. $10 for a foot-tall cloche. That's a good deal.

So, the Home Goods blog has several different contributors, and I think one of them has her own beautiful blog too. She's down here in Southern California, but inland, I think.

WELL - this Thankgsiving them and table setting has me drooling. I LOVE aqua and that color blue. I want my bedroom in that color. With white and black accents in wood.

I also poked around their reader-submitted finds/pictures, and found this:

which is TOTALLy the color palette I have in my head for my eventual decked out living room. I am not sure about the floral/chintz couch, I kind of prefer more understated, neutral big pieces, and I KNOW I don't do white wicker furniture (only have a little thrifted wastebasket in the bedroom!), but the red, black, and goldish yellow?? I'm all about that. I have a rusty red rug, and a little tan sofa, and plenty of pillows, and black furniture. From Target! Yayness. I guess the overall feel is quite Italianate, I suppose?

Now to just pull it all together and not have it covered with yards of Target shopping bags.

Then again, I seriously think this season is the trend for Christmas ornaments made from Target bags. Have you seen these?

I saw them on The Hunt for Vintage first (she has more here),


and then a feature in a crafting magazine with Betz White.

:)

Just wondering ...

If anyone who happens to pop by (randomly, or regularly!) has any opinion on the new look for the blog? I've had a few different palettes percolating in the upper regions lately. I love me some fall colors, but found myself thinking of these current colors most often. Probably because I found some ADORABLE red kitchenware last week at the estate sale, and I love my little red, black, and white kitchen. Which (ahem), needs cleaning.

Any thoughts or feedback would be welcome and appreciated! I like the colors, but maybe the header is a bit busy. And yes, I DID spend way too much time putzing around with all of this this afternoon ... but I felt like it.

It seems most people end up here via google pics ... of diaper cakes, the Eiffel tower, and RACHEL ASSHELL.

Whoa. That was totally a typo, but I kind of want to leave it. My poor brain.

Try #2: RACHEL ASHWELL! and her blog. (I just checked it out today ... boy, it is cute. And hosted on blogger too. I love her pictures. I giggle inside a bit at some of her spelling, because that is just not the impression that I have of her ... but I like the authentic voice that it lends.)

Well, Cath Kidston gets a fair number of hits too, actually.

:)

I have also been thinking of hosting a giveaway, since apparently that is a pretty popular thing to do over in bloggyland, and there was recently that big bloggy giveaway/carnival. It was interesting to see that many blogs (um, seriously, like, 1500, no exaggeration) in one week, and see what was being given away. I know stuff I LIKE, and have been looking around for a swap, but quite frankly, I should clean first so I have goodies to give! And, considering the regular readership of this blog, I reaaaaally think it should be quite easy (read: non-competitive) to win. Ha! Maybe even so few people that everyone might as well get something. Hrm. :/

Being the Target addict that I am, I kind of want to host a "Target clearance" swap. Man, that would be kind of awesome. Hee. Maybe I will do that over in Fishieville.

I'm gonna turn this thing off for the night now.

So many pics to take, and finds to share, and gigantic messes of my own making, to clean. Grr.

The ugly truth.

OK, so today was going to be my DAY to CLEAN this place up before I have a houseguest in two weeks, or before I even seriously begin to entertain the idea of hosting a small Christmas/tree-decorating party ...

take a wild guess as to how much I have gotten done.

*le cry*

However, I DID clean my sink (whee, did the dishes! I should have taken before pictures. No, I shouldn't have. Oh my goodness, just the memory of the mental imagery freaks me the heck out.) earlier this week and, more importantly, I duly scrubbed my STOVE! Peeps, it was BAD.

My stove is so, so, SO clean. Shining and pristine. I feel the irresistible urge to touch it, and stroke it, and lay down on it. I know, I know, I have issues. However! Thank you, Bar Keeper's Friend. Thank you, Method Frosted Cranberry Countertop Spray. And lastly, thank you, Chipotle napkins.

And back to the brief interruptus of the ugly truth:

As much as I looooooove to decorate, and pretty things up, and my sister's bridal shower was probably fifty shades of awesome in terms of transforming the ambiance of her fiance's bachelor pad...

my hovel is currently, and totally, tricked out in the style of ... DIRTY, at this present juncture.

:(

Very very shabby, not very Chic, and certainly not SIMPLE. Oy. Pictures would just be damning, incriminating, collateral for shame-faced future blackmail!!!

Rain.

Oh, argh.

I was taking a nap and trying to rest, because that is what I need weekends for. Several weekends in succession, actually ... but I digress.

I woke up because the dang RAIN was pattering inordinately LOUDLY. And then my brain screamed "OH CRAP!!!"

Because the huge heavy boxes that I bought were way too heavy :(. And I knew I had to move them. BECAUSE THEY WERE IN THE BACKYARD AND GETTING RAINED ON!!!

I haven't had a chance to move them to the storage yet. They are soooooooooo heavy. So they were by the corner, and I wanted to at least move them under the balcony on the second floor. There is a good grading of the foundation away from the side of the building.

I got sooooooooooo wet. Dripping, wet, drowned, rat. Plundering deluge streaming into my eyes. Blech.

I hope the boxes are okay, because I love my furniture.

How could you not??

I bought this piece last year and I think my dad helped me carry it up the stairs. I knew as soon as I was putting it together, that moving it out would be a gigantic pain in the rear. I still don't know how we are going to move it ... I will probably have to take it apart ... but I love it so, so, so-so-so much, though. I seriously wish I had five. That would just look freaking awesome. It looks much better than "giant box in the corner of the bedroom posing as an inflated side table".

I got two of these last week:
and I figured out that while they are quite heavy, even in slickery drenching rain, if you clutch it close to your chest and hug the heck out of it, it is actually relatively easy to move if you are by yourself.

Two of these:

FYI? Estimated Ship Weight: 120.00 pounds. Ridiculous. That, I cannot move by myself. No way. That is why I bought a $20 dolly at Home Depot. Just for that. Yay, dolly.

And one of these:
I so stopped by Target last night and saw that they had it tagged 75% off at $37.24 ... and none left on the shelf OR in the bag. Le crying jag. Then I went back this afternoon and one was there! With ANOTHER dresser!!

All for 75% off.

So, where is the house where I will put them in?????

That's the next ... indeterminate ... step. I should work on that. I did see some surprisingly LOVELY-looking homes on my impromptu walk to a yard sale, early this morning though. I will take some pics and throw them up. They had Halloween decorations out, I wonder if they were all messed-up and ruined with the rain.

I am so sick of my apartment. 1, I have made it into a giant mess by not cleaning for weeks. :( 2, it feels crowded to me, but I refuse to stop buying stuff. 3) Rent is going up (okay, only $25, but still - why??? :((((((( ) as of next month. I can live with an extra $25 through the nose for six months, but dang it, I was planning on travelling next year. I think I will try and plan to move next summer instead! I WAS going to do that THIS summer until I got "laid off" from my old school and ended up having to pack and JUNK. So maybe instead of backpacking for TWO months (it did get quite long, actually), I will backpack for 1!! or 1.5!! And that should give me plenty of time to rest and relax and get into the classroom and clean again. Geez, planning.

What if I die tomorrow?? My mother would firstly have a heart attack, and then after she recovered, would have another one at the thought of cleaning out all my stuffs. :)

I would not have a fun house to clean out if I kicked the can. The ensuing sale (which would take months to prepare for, I assure you) would be kick arse awesome, but still. I have a LOT of stuff.

But still no cat!! Yay.

Hope those boxes dry out. :(