dinner

chicken. salsa. cheese. = mexican delight

xmas gift idea 20.

a huge-mongus calendar.

this could serve as a piece of artwork itself!

only $30 from see jane work.

festive mantle

lovelovelove this idea for displaying christmas cards!

i have a mantle on the way, now send me christmas cards!!

from AT

a wonder autumn evening.

last night we saw stevie wonder at the RBC center. i came to an important revelation about 20 minutes into it: i want to be a backup dancer. like for my career.

lily allen bang update

they're always workin. getting business done. those bangs.

mine don't work like that.

image from go fug yourself

xmas gift idea 19.

i would die if i got these. of happiness.

coasters from iomoi

xmas gift idea 18.

cookbooks! everyone appreciates a good cookbook. for inspiration, for recipes, for tips, or even just to look pretty on a shelf!

yum

i think this recipe for steak and potatoes looks delicious and easy!

i love the blue cheese addition!

plaque attack

this plaque from ballard designs caught my eye. its magnetized, so you can use it as a bullentin board of sorts.

xmas gift idea 17.

this would be a super snazzy gift for a lucky friend.

all the makings of a festive holiday bar.

letterpressed coasters from etsy, mojito rimmer, cocktail tray and napkins from crate and barrel.

mojito mix from stirrings.

glasses from west elm.

bookcase of the day

many books @ emma rose papery, originally uploaded by sfgirlbybay.

from sfgirlbybay

happy birthday mom!

$15

a few dresses worth mentioning from the $15 store.

new print

here's my new print, hanging in the kitchen. i feel like i so rarely get to see my house in the daylight, its quite an occasion when i do.

chili cookoff

the chili cookoff for jennifer and chad's engagement party was lots of fun, and went pretty well! the weather was chiilllly, but we had a great fire with bales of hay to sit on.

chili voting central

chili stations set up and awaiting crockpots!

the happy couple

the winners got t-shirts.

fried turkey

looks like this.

xmas gift idea 16.

two TINY cast iron casserole dishes from martha.

on sales for $19.99.

they also come in red and are cute as pie.

back at it!

hello!

i hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving. here's brian rocking out at the turkey fryer.

we had a great long weekend -- did lots of stuff: t-day, jennifer's party, to the beach for flotilla and picking up a new purchase for brian.

will divulge more very soon!!

xmas gift idea 15.

planet earth dvd.

because its good.

last minute t-day table ideas

huh?

what, pray tell, is this?

she looks like kenny.

discuss

bookcase of the day

bookshelf spectrum, revisited, originally uploaded by chotda.

lovely. extra points for dog.

an early christmas present

from anna.

thanks!!!!

xmas gift idea 14.

fun cutting boards from chiasso

xmas gift idea 13.

grundig hand crank radio.

perfect for boys.

and girls who like camping.

woodstove

woodstove, originally uploaded by foohqwah.

say hello to our new woodstove. he's tiny.

cats let nothing darken their roar

clever 2008 calendar from noa bembibre

dinner

cheese steaks and sweet potato fries = highly recommended.

please note this is brian's plate. i am not a lumberjack.

xmas gift idea 12.

an envirosax.

this would be a very stylish alternative to a plastic bag at the grocery store.

xmas gift idea 11.

chevron pattern hot-water bottle.

i don't have a hot water bottle.

if i did, i would find something to use it for b/c i imagine it would be nice to have something hot drapped over you when you're cold.

ikea shelf thing

a long time ago, i asked about suggestions for a not so expensive shelf for our range.

update: i found one at ikea that was $6.99!! look how well he accomplishes his job!

season's greetings

laurie's invites got made today. i really love how they turned out. i think they are my favorite i've done to date.

i also bought a horribly corny christmas inspired book at barnes and noble last night. i think the gist of it is: 4 woman conspire in their knitting circle to boycott christmas b/c their families don't appreciate all of the effort they put into the holidays. i know, it sounds riveting.

additionally, next week is a short week. now is the weekend. it was pretty and sunny out today so i took two walks. i ate some hummus and we found out that the house next door to us (as in 4 feet away) is going to be torn down starting in january and replaced with a behemoth.

xmas gift idea 10.

i had almost forgotten!!

hark!

andy warhol prints. already framed. $39.99 each.

faux or no?

ok, in all seriousness, i need to know what you think about this. and no, i am not kidding.
what if we got a faux fur bedspread?

here's what i'm thinking:

we need a new bedspread since the incident.

we have three cats that laze about on the bed daily and nightly.

they have claws and hair. they used to pick the suzani and will continue to pick anything woven. their hair gets everywhere. it looks like they roll across the bed in a very purposeful pattern, making sure that they maximize every square inch of coverage.

so, with this faux fur idea, we get no pickage. and fur will not show up b/c its ON FUR! ingenious.this could go slightly south of ghetto, i realize. but i think its worth considering. in caramel. on the bed. you like?

cute as a bird.

i think these invites from cake and milk paperie are so very cute. you could make these very easy-like, i'm sure of it.

bookcase of the day

organized by color, of course.

broken

during a series of unfortunate events that occured at my house last night, i broke the salt shaker to my favorite salt and pepper set. anthropologie doesn't sell it anymore, so now i'm saltless.

xmas gift idea 9.

i think this owl magnifying glass necklace is lovely and utilitarian!

xmas gift idea 8.

hello!

today is a new day! i am reinvigorated and on a manic upswing!

this bay leaf wreath would be an excellent xmas gift - providing lovely decoration and excellent spaghetti sauce! $28 from williams sonoma.

hello

Hello Collage, originally uploaded by One Good Bumblebee.

today i feel sort of overwhelmed. again. like i do.

i took the day off, and my mom came to raleigh to help me put the finishing touches on jennifer's party next weekend. that went fine.

it somehow amazes me each time i realize that thanksgiving is next week. and jennifer's party is the day after!

in related news, brian and i decided to bite the bullet and spend about 38475837845dollars on getting some projects kickstarted, like a mantle, bricking the front of the house, finally plumbing our hot tub, a woodstove for the front room and a new trashcan thing.

and this would be fine if each one of those things didn't require a requisite 7 other things to make it happen.

for instance: buy the woodstove - think you'll just put it in fireplace, have fire? (i did) well, no.
a chimney sweeper had to come this morning to clean/inspect it. he wanted to be paid. we have to get a big old pipe thing on ebay to run up the chimney. they want to be paid for it. i'm sure we'll have to stuff dollar bills into the actual stove to keep it burning.

anyways, sorry to burden you. now i'm going to go drink a beer, and possibly watch a rerun of the kimora lee simmons show.

love and other indoor sports,
me.

xmas gift idea 7.

because everyone should have an uglydoll

erin fetherston

is the next GO international designer, however they call it, at Target.

her stuff has always been sort of interesting to me, although she seems like a total freak show. remember her house with her french boyfriend in domino? they had a like 8 dining room chairs just strewn across a room because they didn't like organized seating.

anyway, i saw the looooong commercial for her target collection last night during the hills and it was equally silly. but, cute dresses. they don't have much up yet on target's website, but there's more to come.

xmas gift idea 6.

my swap partner from days of yore, andrea, sent me some of this wonderful stuff. its a fragrance in a tube thingy, and mine smelled so freaking delicious.

and its so pretty, so you can keep it on display!

sweater

i think this sweater has really cute details, and you can't beat the price!!