When I found out that the infamous stair car from Arrested Development rolled into town, there was no way I could skip out on it. So on Sunday, John, my brother Andy, and I headed down to Santa Monica for a Bluth mobile sighting and a walk around town. The beach, the buildings, the Bluths…what more could you ask for on the day of rest? (Ummm…how about more parking?)
The countdown to the BIG PREMIERE is on! George Michael, I’ve missed you so…
This week, you guys. HOLY COW. It nearly sent me back to the 8-5 world with paid health insurance + guaranteed weekends. It was a doozy.
But as I sit here in my sweats + no makeup on a beautiful Friday afternoon, I am just so happy to be self-employed. My to-do list is still four miles long, but for the time being, I am pinning + catching up on blogs + gathering ideas for our Save the Dates that should go out two months ago. My head is spinning with DIY ideas that are, surprisingly enough, based around fabric (Ann-Marie Loves Fabric??). I am dreaming of revamping this blog in every way imaginable + creating a solid editorial calendar week after week. And of course, I am still reeling from The Office finale last night (it was perfection). So all in all, a good day to stick out this self-employment thing a little bit longer (or forever).
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Over the years as I’ve gotten to know myself a little better, I’ve found many ways to stay get inspired and stay inspired. Recently, I’ve become obsessed with making mini “mood boards” on my iPhone. It’s very simple and it brings me an unparalleled level of joy (SO NERDY, I KNOW).
Here’s how I do it: whenever I am looking for a certain type of inspiration (the image above was for wedding planning), I’ll browse Pinterest + Instagram for photos that are speaking to me and then take screenshots. Next, I will use a free photo collage app and play around with various arrangements of the screenshots until I am loving the “mood” I created. Finally, I save the collage as my wallpaper so every time I look at my phone, I get that wonderful burst of inspiration all over again!
Mood boarding, ya’ll. #cantstop #wontstop
The other day as I was browsing the shelves of the Goodwill, I spotted this muffin tin + knew instantly that I wanted to turn it into a planter. Once I picked up the muffin tin for $1.50 (50% day – look out!), I swung by Lowes and had a wonderful time picking + choosing my succulents.
Click here to see my Vine video of the planting process!
To create this planter, you will need:
After cleaning the muffin tin as best I could (a good rule of thumb for all thrift finds), I flipped it over and punched drainage holes in all six of the cups using a bookbinding awl. Luckily the tin was super easy to punch through, but if yours is thick, I recommend using a drill with a small bit.
From there, I added a vinyl bumper to each of the four corners of the tin to allow for proper drainage. This is key if you prefer living plants.
I then played around with the arrangement of the succulents and placed them in the muffin tin.
Then I began moving the soil around, adding in a handful of small rocks, and finessing each of the plants to my liking. After that I lightly watered the individual plants and called it good. The thing to remember about succulents is that they require minimal watering. In fact, it’s best if you leave them alone until their soil is completely dry. (You can read even more care + keeping tips here!)
So there you have it! A quick + easy Springtime DIY that has yet again fueled my thrift shopping habit! I have plans to make a bunch of these for my wedding and display them amidst other floral centerpieces on our tables. Good times ahead!
If there’s one bit of wisdom I can impart on all you work-from-homers, it’s this: leave the house.
I don’t know why it’s taken me this long to figure out the beauty of a change of workspace scenery, but boy, does it ever make a difference. By going to a coffee shop for a few hours, I get so much work done, I get my caffeine fix, and did I mention that I leave the freaking house? Yes. It’s amazing. Coffee shops are amazing. Checking things off my list in an awesome atmosphere is – you guessed it – amazing. Better late than never, right?
Which coffee shop is your favorite? I need something other than the old standby! (;
There’s really nothing in this world that I love more than a good treasure hunting excursion (obviously). I mean, what could possibly be more fun than digging through others’ discarded junk and giving it new life?! (Uh, just about EVERYTHING is more fun than that, my mom would say – ha!) Thrift stores, flea markets, garage sales – bring it on! So on the fourth Sunday of every month, I love to attend the Topanga Vintage Market in the San Fernando Valley. This market hosts a wide variety of vendors + vintage products in all different price ranges. Of course I’m always on the lookout for unique glass + tableware, but even if I don’t buy anything, it’s worth it for the visual inspiration alone! Here are a few of the awesome items I spotted the last time I attended:
One of these days, I want to purchase a giant sign like this and work it into a lush outdoor landscape. I love when urban + natural aesthetics collide, a la my beloved Grow.
The wooden crate! The orange tackle box! The yellow lawn chair! Everything about this photo makes me want to dig in.
If I had a few kids + a few hundred spare dollars, I would definitely snatch these chairs up and put them in a playroom or on a patio for outdoor dining. You could even use one as a place to stack books or blankets! Aren’t the colors just perfection?
These handcrafted glass beaded necklaces are amazing. Not only would they be great for wearing, but they would also look fantastic if they were tied into a loose knot and displayed on a dresser or coffee table. So many possibilities in so many beautiful colors!
P.S. If you make it to the market, be sure to stop by booth F-20 and say hello to my lovely future in-laws! (:
What are your favorite things to look for when you go treasure hunting?
It pains me to think that bookstores are a dying breed, so whenever I’m near a B+N (RIP Borders), I absolutely have to visit.
It goes a little something like this…First stop: Magazines! Second stop: Coffee! Third stop: Design / Crafts / Home Decor section where I grab a fat stack of inspiring books! Fourth stop: Find one of those step-stools and park it for an hour or more! HEAVEN, I tell you.
Here are two of my recent finds that I am in love with:
STYLE ME PRETTY WEDDINGS | Obvious choice, much? YES. But I don’t care. This book will stay with me long after I say “I do” since it’s chock-full of beautiful photos, plenty of party inspiration, and a ton of DIY’s that can apply to so many things other than weddings! It’s funny because I always associate the Style Me Pretty blog with high-end, super extravagant weddings that quite honestly, never really appeal to me. So to pick this book up and be genuinely inspired by all the real-life (read: potentially low budget) ideas was such a wonderful surprise! I can’t recommend it enough!
(Both books pass the very important well-designed spine test.)
100 WAYS TO HAPPY CHIC YOUR LIFE | This book is part design inspiration / part self-help and I LOVE IT. My favorite little nugget of wisdom from the book is the one you see above, but really, all of Jonathan Adler’s ideas are sheer genius (obviously). However, the best part of all is the little fold-out pages that feature DIY projects to make for your home. Crafts? Home Design? Life tips? Yeah, I’m in.
What books are you loving these days?
P.S. Remember how I was telling you about being a contributor to Everyday Storyteller Vol. 2? It’s now available for purchase! Get your copy here! (:
A few weekends ago, John and I decided to venture up north and take a little day trip to Ojai. Can you believe that in the twenty-plus years I’ve lived in Southern California, I had never visited this amazing town before? That’s just crazy to me now that I’ve experienced the wonder that it truly is. Everything about Ojai (well, except maybe the overuse of Papyrus…I’ll try to look past that – ha!), is perfection. We spent the first part of the day exploring the main street, dining at an awesome Mexican food joint, and strolling through the park. As the sun began to set, I knew we had to head up to Meditation Mount (after reading this post!) and take in all the soft colors and citrusy smells from the top of the city. My instincts proved correct…it was spectacular.
Ojai, you’ve won us over. Well done.
P.S. Hey locals! Any ideas for adorable SoCal towns that I need to visit? I would love to hear your suggestions! xo
You guys, I think I may have found the secret to getting things done: a timer! Yesterday as my to-do list continued to grow and my productivity began to plummet, I decided to break down each task into 15 minute increments and focus, focus, focus. Before I knew it, I was checking items off my list and wondering why the heck I hadn’t tried this sooner! There’s something about a ticking timer that makes any task feel more like an exciting game than a monotonous job. And I like it.
What do you do to trick yourself into getting things done?
P.S. Today on the BG blog, you can see my super (not) glamorous styling + photography set-up!
Welcome to the Everyday Storyteller Vol. 2 blog hop! I can’t believe we are just a few short days away from the big reveal – so exciting! I’m still feeling incredibly honored to have my projects featured alongside such a talented and diverse group of women! In case you’re just getting up to speed, Everyday Storyteller Vol. 2 is a brand new idea book offering more than 100 tips, tricks and techniques for scrapbooking. Go behind the scenes with 33 of your favorite memory keepers to see how they capture moments, tell stories and document their best memories. Sign up for the VIP list right here to be the first to know when the book is released and receive an exclusive discount!
Each book contributor participating in the blog hop is giving away an eBook copy of Everyday Storyteller Vol. 2. Use this entry link to complete your entry form. You must enter by 11:59pm PDT on April 30, 2013 to be eligible. You may enter from each stop. Winners will be contacted directly as well as posted at everydaystoryteller.com on May 1, 2013. Good luck!
Tangie Baxter | Kerri Bradford | Joscelyne Cutchens | Catherine Davis | Patty Debowski | Lisa Dickinson | Karla Dudley | Leah Farquharson | Karen Grunberg | Jenni Hufford | Donna Jannuzzi | Amanda Jones | Mandy Koeppen | Riikka Kovasin | Kami Leonard | Amy Mallory | Amy Martin | Celine Navarro | Lynnette Penacho | Kelly Purkey | Krista Sahlin | Linda Sattgast | Cindy Schneider | Wendy Smedley | Elisha Snow | Amy Sorensen | Neisha Sykes | Jill Sprott | Laura Vegas | Allison Waken | Crystal Wilkerson | Jennifer Wilson
