Two days gone...

...and I missed you all!
I intended to be back quickly .... then I wasn't. But now I am.
(Fo reals this time.)

Photo of Dagmar Björk by Paul Romo, via Fairy Tale Diaries.

Busy bee & back tomorrow

Photo from Caitlin Wilson Design

I've missed you, bloggies! I've been busy, busy, busy these past few weeks (two jobs, oh my) but I'm doing my best to keep on keepin' on and to keep posting here.

I'm signing off to work for the rest of the day, but I'll be back tomorrow with all-new stuff. See you then?

LoV-E illustrations

Aren't these prints from LoV-E (aka Lorena Vigil-Escalera - ha, clever name to boot) beautiful? When I spotted her illustrations on design work life the other day, I immediately fell in love with the colors, patterns and style.

But they're not all froth and style, they've definitely got substance too. I only wish I could read some of the ones she's created in Spanish. If you can understand espanol or want to see more (or buy one for yourself), you can find them here.

Thinking about: summertiiiiime

Argghh, so annoyed. I've been transferred back and forth between departments from, or on hold with, the credit card company for 27 minutes now. Laaame. So, in the meantime, I am going to distract myself by thinking about the impending nice weather and summa-summa-summatiiimme. Summertime. :) I can't wait for some of this good stuff:

Outdoor showers:

Okay, so we don't actually have an outdoor shower, but I've always dreamed of one. Isn't this one awesome? So dark and dreamy - I bet it'd be amazing at night, looking up at the stars.

Garden-fresh veggies:

Yeeeah, we don't have a garden either, but B is growing a ton of stuff in our lil' home anyway. I can't wait to feast on our very own crop (which will be heartily supplemented with stuff from the farmers market - to which I plan to ride the scooter).

Outdoor movies or concerts:

Wouldn't it be cool to have you very own backyard theater?

What are you looking forward to this summer? (Aaand, have to run, the credit card company's got me back on the line...wish me luck!)

Photo credits: 1, 2, 3.

"Where my mother-fathers at?"

Speaking of hipsters...here's a video featuring a grown-up set...

I can't endorse mini-vans, but I can certainly endorse this video (which endorses mini-vans...it's a quandary).

The Swagger Wagon:

Link (in case you can't see embedded videos): here.

Seriously hilarious.

Originally spotted here.

The Hipsters did it!

Coming home from Mother's Day dinner last night (hope you all had a good one, and a good weekend!), B and I stopped to put gas in the car. In my old home town of Columbia, MD, I observed a slew of hipster high school boys hanging out at the BP gas station in their brand-spankin'-new-but-meant-to-look-old kicks, paired with ironic t-shirts and hipster haircuts. So many hipsters around these days. I think this tee is hilarious:

Spotted here and available here.

And in case you're completely out of touch, or just slightly confused about what a hipster is, here is a bingo card slash cheatsheet:

Unknown source.

Watch out for those hipsters! ;)

Have a great (Mother's Day) weekend!

Photo by Chelsea Fuss on {frolic!}


Photo from T. ruffles

Happy Friday, everyone! I am so happy it's Friday and that it's so beautiful out. I have a jam-packed weekend of work (bleh), parties (late Cinco de Mayo fiesta), and of course, celebrating Mother's Day with my family. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and don't forget to call your mom on Sunday!

xo, r.

See you Monday!

Tea & serenity

Photo via Mary Ruffle.

What's SUP

Last night a few friends and I got to try out stand up paddling (or SUP, as the pros call it, evidently). I was so excited to finally give it a go - I've only been talking about it forever now.

We didn't get to take any pics (I was fairly certain I was going to fall in at any moment - which I never did, thankfully), but here are some good shots of other people SUPing:

This is not me. I wish.

Again, not me, or B, but I'm pretty sure this is B's dream scenario.
Man. Dog. Water. Paddle. Yup, B would be in heaven.

I can't wait to get out there and try it again. Now I just need a board, a paddle and a whole lotta free time SPF. Anyone want to "sponsor" my burgeoning SUP career? (Ha.)

p.s. You should all give it a go if you get the chance! It didn't feel too hard at the time, but it was a great workout - I'm definitely a little sore today, even from my quick runs out there. And happily, I can honestly say I didn't eat it once - woohoo! It was a blast!

Photo 1 by Allan Mozo; photo 2 by David Olsen.

Bringing the outside in: wrap-up

With spring in full swing, I keep noticing all the beautiful greenery that seems to be popping out all over the place. (Thank goodness I don't have allergies!) Today I came across another gorgeous "plant table" on sfgirlbybay and was about to share it. It's not outdoor greenery, but it is indoor greenery at its best.

Funnily enough, sfg's plant table was inspired by one from Lonny mag, which I featured here back in October of last year. Since I was already sharing another indoor plant set-up, I thought I'd do one final round-up of all the gorgeous indoor garden scenarios I've come across and love. So, without further ado, enjoy this collection of verdant indoor pics (and then get outside and enjoy it in real life!):

I love that this (photo above) was inspired by this (photo below):

Via.


Via.


Via.

Aren't they all so pretty? They make me want to run out and buy a plant table or supplies for a greenhouse window post-haste. Oh wait, we've already got a ton of plants in our guest room window. Well then, I guess I can just breathe deep and enjoy the purified-by-plants air I'm breathing. Happy Spring, y'all!

Tweets from before Twitter

What would King Tut or Alfred Hitchcock have tweeted to the masses if Twitter was around in their respective times? I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess it wouldn't be "smashed on honey wine! heading down to the nile to look for biddies" or "Damn birds!" I would have loved to receive tweets from, say, Oscar Wilde or Marilyn Monroe (I bet hers would've been good!).

If you're curious, you can check out Historical Tweets and pretend like you're reading tweets from historical figures. They're hilarious. I mean, Ghandi, dieting? Whaaa?:

Ha.

Here are some other good ones:







Haaahahaha. Seriously, too funny. And there's a book of these coming out soon. (Hello, gift for my little brother...oops, hope he isn't reading this.)

Originally spotted here.

To my friend Sara the napper:

You can thank me later.

Cocoon chair available here. Spotted here.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Ohmygoodness, I can't believe I almost forgot - today is Cinco de Mayo! ¡Ay ay ay!

In honor of this holiday, here is some gorgeous fiesta eye candy from Design*Sponge:



Photos by Jesse Chamberlin of Our Labor of Love. Event design and styling by Ashley Meaders of The Flashdance.

Check out even more photos of this event over at Design*Sponge, and happy Cinco de Mayo! Drink a margarita and eat some chips and salsa for me! (I'll be doing the same...)

Tiny dancer

Amazing Grace by Lissy Elle, spotted on Mary Ruffle

This photo is incredible. I love everything about it, from the perfect lines to the which-way-is-up composition, and the beautiful dancer legs to the dramatic arms and hair. It makes me want to don pointe shoes (even though I'm not a ballerina) and trod all over the house en pointe. Do you like it? Or do you just wish you had legs like that too? (My answer: both.)

Word.

People. Are you in need of a last-minute Mother's Day gift, preferably one that is free? Well, lucky for you I am a genius. Oh boo, I can't lie, it's really my un-sister-in-law (B's sister) who is the genius.

I hope she doesn't mind that I am sharing this. I give her full credit. She is crafty and smart and has excellent taste - and she always gives thoughtful gifts. And luckily for me, she's a very busy lady (mother of an almost two-year-old and preggers plus working), so hopefully she isn't reading this to know that I totally jacked her idea... ;) Also, no one she's giving this gift to reads this blog (her mother and MIL are slightly technologically challenged, unlike my iPhone toting mom, so I think she's safe).

So get to the point, huh? Here is Kel's great idea:

DIY Word Clouds - otherwise known as Wordle. Behold:

"Art"


"Sound Poem"


"Month of March"

Still confused? These are totally customizable word clouds - you enter the text (deeming which words to make bigger or smaller by how many times you enter it); pick the font, the colors, the alignment; and re-arrange or randomize however you see fit until you find an arrangement you like. You can make these for all sorts of things: poems, thoughts, inspiration words, family members, etc.

Kelly is making one a custom one of these - including all the family members' names - for her mother and MIL, then printing it out and framing it for each one. Nice gift for a mom, right? And, except for the frame, totally freeeee!

Very cool, Wordle. Genius, Kel.

Enjoy! (And if you make your own, share it with me here!)

Hello. on paper.

The cuteness! If I am ever fancy-pants-y enough to have personal calling cards, I want these ones that Erin Jang created, which were printed by the awesome Studio on Fire.

I'll take 250 with my info on them, please.

Spotted on Black Eiffel.

Lemon leaf garland of goodness

Buckle your desk seats, folks; this one almost knocked me out of my chair. I want Jordan Ferney's brain. This chick is brills. Look what she's done now:

What you see running down the middle of that gorgeous table is a handmade lemon leaf garland with oranges and lemons. Who needs crummy carnations that will probably die shortly after you buy them from the grocery when you can have this gorgeous garland? It's colorful, seasonal, and can you imagine how good it must smell? Probably so fresh and bright.

No need for cut flowers when you can use these easily attainable "ingredients":

Oh and did I mention that Jordan's instructions make a 14 foot garland for only $16? Yep, told you she was brilliant.

Here's the post about it on Jordan's site (Oh Happy Day!) and full instructions are here.

Now, GO. Get the instructions for thyself. I want to throw a party post-haste and do this, like, yesterday.

Love 101: sweet thoughts

Aren't these two sentiments/photos/quotes/thoughts so sweet? I couldn't not share them. The top idea is so true, oh and wait, so is the bottom. Right, B? ;)

Image 1- le love; image 2- Truly Smitten

To touch up or not to touch up?

These side by side photos provide an excellent example of the genius of Photoshop. Seeing that (lovely before, but even better after!) girl's skin in the photo on the right, don't you wish someone would just follow you around all the time, taking your photo and then Photoshopping you? Who cares about fake - that second pic looks awesome! Just sayin'...

Photos from Nicole's Classes, from the Photoshop 101 Online Course. Perhaps I should take this course for myself so I too can just Photoshop the heck out of all my own photos...

Breaking the rules

Photo by Cass Bird for Paper magazine, via Aubrey Road

I once read - on another, much more established, very popular blog - that one of the most boring things to do on a blog is to apologize for not posting consistently. Oh and posting about what you ate or are currently eating is supposed to be a no-no as well (but I routinely break that because, hey, I want to know what you're eating too! Feel free to share, b-t-dubs).

Well, I'm going to break that apology rule right now and just say: My Bad. Between work, traveling, baby showers, friends, family, kickball, life - blah blah blah - I got busy. Aren't we all though?

But anyway, the point is that I'm BACK. Didja miss me? :)

Real posts to come shortly...