the loveliness of quiet enjoyment.

in the haste of this busy month - what with 3 weeks of jury duty, camping and holidays - i had forgotten about one of my favorite television premieres...project runway. ! lucky for me, i had never removed the series recording option on my dvr from the previous season.

so now, on one of my first quiet saturday mornings in quite awhile...i am sitting down with some pumpkin bread, a venti soy hot chocolate (my sad starbucks addiction) gathered by my boyfriend (we alternate saturday runs), and a happy dvr discovery of the first project runway for the new season.

i hope your saturday brings you as much surprise, excitement and/or relaxation as it did me.

fancy on the eyes.

initially, i was thinking that it might be odd and possibly even awkward to dedicate an entire post to one particular person...especially since one could even classify said person as a girl crush. but then i quickly realized that im not alone. emily from cupcakes and cashmere has loads of followers whom, im sure, share my same opinions, (including coach.) her style is some of the best ive seen, her baking escapades look not only delicious but also fun, and her splashes of diy and home decor are just enticing. as i suggest you do too, i follow her blog daily and love starting my morning off with some fabulous blog candy. !

...also, i dont think ill ever fully get over my jealousy for her nude prada heels. *shaking fist in air*

inspiration found.

i love found objects. i love sculptures made from found objects. i get super inspired by things made out of things.

these fabulous creations are made by stuart haygarth who works on "design projects which revolve around the collections of objects." im loving the plastic wine glasses lighting unit and the glass lamp shades chandelier. !

this makes me want to go to a junk yard and find some inspiration of my own!

oh, inspiration.

super inspired.
super.
my boy has wanted me to paint a mural on his man-room wall...lets leave the specifics out, as its very...man-roomish. but i recently came across this mural by charlotte mann that is done purely by marker. i am loving this. so much.
ive been having some debates on what direction im going to go with for my bathroom.......and now, im thinking it needs a marker mural. !

credit: living etc

out an' about.

in the midst of rain and sun in our lovely seattle - the grass in our backyard has gotten...quite out of control. we took a day to do some intense mowing, and alas, our lawnmower broke. so today we had a young college entrepreneur come out and get it all spick an' span.
so many ideas fill my head of how to go about the designing of my new clean slate.
to get inspiration - i scoured living etc, one of my faves.

merry fourth of july!

cupcakes - check.

ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

good times holiday.

long weekends.
so many days off - so much time to relax and do nothing...then again, theres so many things i want to do...so many things i need to do...and baking cupcakes is definitely a need-to-do.

my checklist for the weekend:

~ load new songs onto nano
~ find nano
~ bake cupcakes and master fondant
~ return to freddie's for nail polish
~ pack jury duty survival kit
- nano
- magazines
- book
-snacks/gum
~ catch up on netflix tv show...............ok! ok! its tori & dean! i cant help it - ive recently become addicted! ........i apologize for nothing!
~ 'tan' legs
~ pack for family overnight

whats everyones plans for the holiday weekend?

color me super happy.

with the long holiday weekend coming up, ive been thinking about the many things that i want to do to waste my time (and money.) ive got a 4-day weekend from work for the 4th and then come tuesday, i have some time to spend at jury duty. and, honestly, im hopin' my jury duty takes a good amount of time...i could use the [additional] break from work.
im super pumped to make my 4th of july cupcakes, and ive got an appointment with a fabulous buddy to go get manicures on saturday. ive never EVER gotten a manicure before...the thought of messing with my cuticles is equal to how to people feel about the whole nails/chalkboard thing. plus, im pretty good with a polish brush. but i have recently discovered calgel via cupcakes and cashmere, and have since become obsessed with the insanely awesome gold glitter emily got done. sadly, there are only 2 known places that do the calgel process in washington...and neither of them have the gold color. !
super bummed. SUPER bummed.
but im still loving the idea that it stays on for some 3 weeks and doesnt hurt your nails...so ill still go for it.
another thing that i have been obsessed with finding for the past...few months is a neon pink nail polish. im talkin' day-glow. for some reason, i stock my supply with loads and loads of pink varieties, but have never been completely satisfied.
insert fred meyer.
a dog-food errand and last minute turn towards the make-up aisle last night brought me face-to-face with my perfect color: fusion neon (by sinful colors.) internally, i jumped for joy. my journey was over. the picture doesnt deliver the goods...its almost glow-in-the-dark. i love it.
THEN, off to the side of my perfect neon pink...there it was: matte nail polish. maybe its easy for some to find, but i have been in love with anything matte for...forever. and i have wanted matte nail polish for years and have only seen it in expensive designer products...which i never want to pay for. i probably just havent looked hard enough...even so, i plan on stocking up on numerous colors.
**bonus: i found the perfect gold glitter polish. usually when i hunt for a sparkly nail polish, im only presented with the visually sparse glitters and quickly get deflated. but i found some sort of nail art polish (dont have the name 'cause i didnt buy it...just yet...i will return) that is pure gold sparkly glitter and i couldnt be happier........well, aside from the calgel being available in said gold.
so my dog-food errand to fred meyer quickly pumped me up and gave me three fantastically awesome surprises.
i see some nail polish posts in our future.