Lion Necklaces and Baby Ducks

Have you seen these adorable necklaces from EmersonMade? I have been in love with them since they came out but sadly, a lot of them are sold out. (for now!)

But Mitchell, being the sweet boy he is, ordered me one way back when I first saw them! (I sometimes send Mitchell links of things I can't live without and occasionally, I guess he doesn't delete them as soon as they come into his inbox!) He gave it to me this weekend as sort of a, "Sorry I am ditching you on your long weekend present" (He is in Arizona for spring training, lucky guy) I got the lion one and I love it! I can't wait until she does another run so I can get another!

And in case you don't look at EmersonMade's blog, you should. She and her husband and too cute for words and they have a baby duck!

I think my chickens would like a baby duck friend for their flock, don't you? And speaking of chickens, mine are laying eggs like crazy as the weather gets warmer, I need to find some ways to use them!

I have said my view of Sunday's as the most relaxing day of the week and today is not an exception, Sarah is coming over and we are spending some quality time doing whatever we want. My vote is going to be watch a movie and eat a lot of popcorn, its pouring rain here and I don't want to go outside!

 What are your Sunday plans?

St. Patrick's Day

I am not a huge fan of St. Patrick's Day. Not that I have anything directly against it but I just have never had a raging good time on the day and I'm not Irish so I guess I just don't feel all the love. Maybe part of the problem is also the fact that I don't live in a city where they dye their river green.

So this year I decided to hunt for some St. Patrick's Day fun that could get me in the "Kiss Me I'm Irish" spirit. Here are some things I found that are really making me change my tune.

These Design Sponge, DIY, leprechaun spirit bottles make me want to have a party just to have a reason to pass these out. They would also be cute (in a non alcoholic version of course) for a St. Patrick's Day classroom party!)

Aren't these "how lucky" cards so simple and sweet? They are blank on the inside too so you could use them for invitations, thank you notes, or anything else, even if its not St. Patrick's Day!

Irish Coffee with whipped cream, guaranteed good time

This is another cute idea for a St. Patrick's Day party, I love the idea of putting little shamrocks as decoration. There is a delicious Irish Creme flavored version too!

And lastly is this wonderfully done St Patrick's Day wedding. I love the way she used the green and white theme in a very un-tacky way and the little shamrock place holders are so darn cute I can't stand it. See many more pictures here.

I hope everyone is having a great St. Patrick's day! Does anyone do anything fun and exciting for the holiday?

For Japan, With Love

As I am sure many of you have heard, the lovely ladies from Utterly Engaged and Ever Ours are organizing the blogging world to help Japan during this tragic time.

 

You can help by going here for more information, or here to donate. All proceeds go to ShelterBox, a disaster relief charity that provides boxes containing relief tents, blankets, water storage and purification equipment, cooking utensils, a stove, a basic tool kit, a children’s activity pack and other vital items.

The second part of this mission to help is a blogger's day of silence on this Friday, March 18th  where we will be turning off our computers in memory of everyone suffering in Japan. Many blogs, including mine, will be participating and we would love to see your support as well!

If you are interested, email Lydia {lydia@ever-ours.com} or Lucy {info@utterlyengaged.com} for more information or check out their pages for updates.

What I Wish I Were Wearing Wednesday

What I wish I were wearing Wednesday is back for another week! This weekend I am going to Santa Cruz for my aunt's 50th birthday dinner. We go to Santa Cruz a lot and always stay at the The Dream Inn. It's the coolest hotel on the water with the pool and balcony over looking the ocean. The rooms have bright colored, retro furniture and old pictures of the Santa Cruz Boardwalk and beach framed on the walls.

My favorite part about Santa Cruz is the antique shops and lunch at the best bakery around, Gayle's. Once a month or so, my mom, my grandma, and I drive over the mountains to go to a couple of our favorite stores in the Santa Cruz, Capitola area. After some hard-core shopping we always stop at Gayle's for lunch and let me tell you, it is a dream. Have you been there? You need to try the creme brulee. And just look at these adorable bee hive cupcakes!

Anyway... Here is what I wish I were wearing for our shopping trip!

This is actually coming pretty close to what I will we wearing, but on a slightly less cute, much less expensive scale (I wish I had this 500 dollar sweater and 900 top but sadly, I don't). I might also have to swap out those darling flats for some boots since the weather man is talking about rain. Both the bracelet and the earrings are Kate Spade, I have been drooling over her jewelry ever since I got this necklace for Christmas.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Wednesday! I have a lunch date with Mitchell to eat burgers from The Counter so it will be a good day for me!


Also, be sure to check out this giveaway at this fantastic blog (its one of my favorite daily reads)

Chalkboard Love

I love chalkboards. I love how vintage-y they feel and how anything written on them just seems like so much fun! I have a dream to have a huge wall painted with chalkboard paint in my kitchen someday but until then, I have this framed chalkboard hanging in my hall.

I actually got this chalkboard from Liz from Say Yes to Hoboken in San Fransisco. She made it from an old frame with magnetic and chalkboard paint. She also drew the sketch of the Golden Gate Bridge in the corner (I could never do that) and its so good I don't have the heart to erase it!

This is so nice to have in the hall because I pass it anytime I go in or out of my room or the bathroom so I see it a lot. This picture was taken a while ago but right now it is covered in paint samples of colors I love and more instant pictures. I had big dreams of long lists of groceries and things to do written on this board but I realized after I got my first pack of chalk (did you know chalk is really hard to find?) and wrote that messy list you can see in the photo that I hate the feel of writing with chalk! So until I conquer that fear I guess I will stick to photos and paint samples.

Getting back to my chalkboard dreams, here are some other chalkboards from around the web I am adding to my chalkboard dream house. 

I can only imagine what a good chalk artist could do with this chalkboard, imagine the dinner party conversation!

I love the idea of a chalkboard on a pantry door!

On a closely related note, how cool is this chalkboard globe? My dad traveled a lot when I was little and I wish I had this in my room then to mark where he was when he was gone! 

Images

1.  Eric Roth Photos

2.  Country Living

3.  Design Sponge

Instant Party

I love parties. I love planning for parties, making decorations, choosing food to eat and drinks to drink. But sometimes, instant parties, parties where you find out an hour before that family or friends are coming over and you haven't planned a thing end up being the very best. My apartment is in a great location, really close to downtown Campbell and tons of fun places so I get a lot of calls that start with, "Hey, we are in Campbell, can we stop by?" I love times like this, they end up being the best nights and I never turn them down!

Last time I had people come over I was scrambling to find drinks for people, and snacks to serve. The next day I made a list of all the things a girl should have to throw an impromptu party

• A Bottle of Champagne - some people would argue wine should be in this spot and that's good to have too, but champagne is a party starter! Try serving champagne and not having fun.     

• A Pretty Pack of Napkins - Whenever I see a pack of cocktail napkins I love at a party or home store I always grab them and save them for a party. Nothing says, I am totally into this party more than a great pack of napkins!

• Ice Bucket and Glasses- Everyone loves a pretty ice bucket full of drinks
   
• Candles - These are a lifesaver because most of the time my apartment is a mess so I throw all the clothes lying on the floor in the closet, light some candles, and hope no one notices 
   
• Snacks - I always try to keep snacks like cheese, crackers, olives and some cute serving plates or dishes around so I can easily set out a put-together looking plate of snacks

Anything else you like to have on hand for an quick party or get together?

Weekend Plans

My lovely readers, what are your plans for the weekend? This week seems like it has flown by so I feel like I don't have tons of set-in-stone plans I need to get done today and tomorrow. This is great because it means more time for things like this-

 {Sleeping In}

{A Picnic in the Park}

{UnStraightened Curls}

{Tell me this picture doesn't make you wish you had red hair, just for a second}

{Pretty Lipstick}

{And Maybe a Hat as Cute as This}

 

I hope everyone has a lovely weekend full of things they love!

Images:

Photo 1: vtwonen 

Photo 2: thejewelsofny.com 

Photo 3: Fleshandblond 

Photo 4: karleksillusioner 

Photo 5: Fancy Treehouse

iPhone Photos of the Week

Here are some photos from my phone this week, including:

1. Some beautiful flowers Sarah brought me from my favorite farmers market in the San Francisco Ferry Building

2. An adorable baby cow and my sister's zebra rain boots

3. My newly planted herb garden 

4. Luca getting to know the plants for my terrarium

5. A pretty seed packet display

6. My grandpa getting frozen yogurt for the first time!

7. Lizzie playing with the front camera on my new iphone

8. My cake ruined by Piper an hour after I finished frosting it

9.  Succulent place card holders made by my mom and me

10. Abby looking really cute after a nap

Motivation (or lack of)

Maybe it is the warmer weather and upcoming spring, or maybe (most likely) the enormous number of amazing blogs, online shopping sites to visit, and beautiful pictures to pin, but I have been having the horrible time getting motivated  to actually do the things I need to get done recently. 

I am so close (3 months!) to finishing the class portion of my teaching credential program and I just can't muster the motivation to buckle down and write the endless papers, lesson plans, and class write-ups I need to finish by May. The classes are all self-paced which means if I want to put that paper off another day, or two, or four, I can, and no one will know or care. This mentality is hard to get used to for a girl who just finished 16 years of regular, "do it by Friday or you will fail," school. Does anyone else have this motivation problem or any tips on how you get things done with some many appealing distractions on the world wide web? I could use some advice!

Anyway, while I sit here struggling to put together an 8 page paper on Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences, here are some pictures I found of PM when she was little. Because who doesn't like a kitten on a doily? 

What I Wish I Were Wearing Wednesday

This weekend was a tease. Saturday was almost warm and sunny and while Sunday was a little dreary, it wasn't nearly as cold as it has been lately. But now it is the middle of the week and it is freezing again, what a let down. I am very much craving warm summer days where I can wear this easy breezy summer style.

After pulling this outfit together, I realized to make this look happen I am going to need some new shorts and a great pair of sunglasses for the upcoming warmer weather!

New Orleans Style

Aren't these masks gorgeous? These pictures make me wish I were going to a glamorous masquerade party to celebrate Mardi Gras tonight. Instead I will be spending the night at home unless I give into peer pressure and end up in downtown Campbell for the night. What does one wear for Mardi Gras celebration aside from beads and a mask?

Does anyone have any fun plans for Fat Tuesday?

Image 1: valentino haute couture, photography by sofia sanchez & mauro mongiello for vogue italia via {this is glamorous} 

Image 2: Federica Simoni

Image 3: unknown, if you know please let me know!

Image 4: GQ 

Terrarium Update

I had a lovely, productive, fun-filled weekend. I made pizza with Mitchell, planted a little herb garden, went to the library, made a cake (that Piper ruined by eating the most of the frosting off as soon as she was left alone for 10 minutes) and started watching season one of Dexter. And I finished my terrarium!

I took pictures of each of my steps in case anyone wanted to try making one on their own, it was surprisingly easy!

Here are my supplies. I got a bought all types of different plants, ( I only ended up using one but I had a very hard time choosing my favorite), dried moss, rocks, and soil.

I put a layer of rocks on the bottom to keep the plants root's out of the water ( I bought these at a craft store but thinking back I could have found them around my street and saved 3 dollars)

 Next I put a layer of soil over the rocks

then planted my favorite plant off to the side

I finished off with a layer of moss and some extra rocks for decoration!

<> 

My helper for the afternoon

I really like the way it came out, now I just need to find a home for it and try to keep it alive (even as I sit here writing this I am thinking about the fact I haven't watered it for 3 days...)


Did any one else do anything the last few days? I want to hear about your weekend fun!

Sunday To-Do List

I love Sundays because they are a day of rest. Saturday is for getting things done, finishing chores and errands put off during the week. Sundays are for sleeping in, eating brunch, staying in pajamas, taking walks, reading books, and talking about the night before.

I want my Sunday to include:

{Messy hair in a bun}

{Breakfast in Bed}

{A Trip to the Farmers Market}

{Some Fresh Flowers for my Apartment}

 {And maybe a nap in a bed as cozy as this}

Photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5