One Stop Shop for Fabulous Gifts

If you need a fabulous gift or a treat for yourself you must check out the Gift Library of Caroline Standbury. This "Lady of London" has fabulous style and impeccable taste in everything from a $14 Jellycat bunny to a $5,600 backgammon board. It is a wonderful resource for gift giving or just online window shopping. 

The Best Spot for Shopping Resources

There are an infinite number of places to shop online but most of the time you have to just luck up on sites or hear about them from a friend. One of my favorite resources for new shops is magazines such as Matchbook, HGTV, Southern Living, etc. As an example of this I wrote down some of the different sites mentioned in the June 2014 Better Homes & Gardens and it is absolutely amazing how my resources there are. Here are a few that I thought were cute. So pay attention to your magazines, they more than just articles and ads. They are a plethora of shopping resources! 

Getting my Stitch Fix

I have been too busy (aka lazy) to blog this last month. So, I thought I would jump back in today with the bee that I currently have in my bonnet. Stich Fix has been a passing thought until seeing a couple of Facebook "friends" post their thoughts on how much they love it and how perfect it is for their style. Well this, of course, means that I must try it TODAY! 

From what I gather, Stitch Fix is an online personal shopper that has a sort of fashion algorithm to figure out the perfect clothes for each person that joins. They have stylists that put together outfits and accessories specifically for you and you are shipped a new box every month. Buy what you like, ship back what you don't. The longer you participate, giving honest feedback about what you like and don't like in the boxes, the more specific to your style they become. 

Although skeptical (as I am of everything) I think I am going to give it a whirl. I am tallish (5'7), fairly flat chested and carry most of my weight between by waist and my knees. Don't I sound gorgeous after that description?! So that means basically any top (other that a strapless top) fits me easily while getting the right fit from the waist down can be a challenge. I am convinced that most of the fitting models for stores are 11 year old boys or girls with no hips, thighs or rears. Although, that is a different soap box for another day.  

I am so green on this topic that I am not even sure of the cost. I think it is a $20 upfront and the clothes cost anywhere between $30 and $100. One of my friends who is a major penny pincher, and not at all a label whore like I am, loves it so that gives me confidence it is a good find. 

So as soon as I convince myself to jump off this cliff I will fill out my fashion survey and dive on into what I hope is not the Columbia Tape & Record Club for clothes. Will keep you posted on the good, bad and (hopefully not) ugly of it all. 

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This short article was helpful and convinced my to try it. If you want to know more, it explains Stitch Fix much better than I did. 

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There are also loads of Pinterest boards:

Lets Do This!

I am closing a chapter this week and starting a new one. For the last 12 years I have been a teacher and this is my last week. It has been a nice ride but I am ready for something new. Since the ripe ole age of 15 I have been gainfully employed and now, 21 years later, I will wake up Saturday morning without a job. My paychecks run through the end of July so I am sure the panic will set in around August 1st. The teacher retention rate these days is 4.6 years, or so I hear, so I feel quite accomplished at 12. As I start this new phase as a housewife (are they even called that anymore) and (finger's crossed) freelance writer, I feel as though I am free again to be me. Yes, I hear the song in my head as I type that. I have an undergrad in Journalism which I am still paying for so I might as well get some use out of it 14 years later. So cheers to the next chapter! I feel excited and full of renewed energy and excitement I haven't felt in quite a while.

As not to bore you with my personal life, here are a few things I am obsessing over these days. 

1 - Jen Lancaster...what can I say? Love her, love her, love her! She is brassy, sassy and balls to the wall. I love her and this is my online plea for her to be my best friend. Read her books, visit her blog and now you can actually buy her custom painted furniture.

2 - Pretty much anything that looks like it would have been at my grandmother's house. Like these gems below.

 

3 - Anything Green, always

And I always like to throw some music in which I don't think you can see on an iPad for some reason. Will look into that. Here is some good Summer-is-upon-us music. 

Shermer, Illinois 60062

How was this 30 years ago today? The older you get the faster the time goes by. The Breakfast Club is highly quoted between my brother, David, and I. We were actually texting quotes to each other just a few minutes ago. John Hughes had such a gift for capturing a snapshot of time. The 80s had their cruddy parts but overall they were great! I was a kid and loving every minute of this amazing decade. It was the last decade of actual childhood. We didn't have computers, 300 channels, gamers (unless you count Dungeons and Dragons), texting, snapchat, selfies,  etc. You still went outside after breakfast and didn't come back in until dinner. Like me, I am sure you can still remember the excitement of hearing the ring of the ice cream man coming up the street as you tore through the house searching for loose change. I am the queen of nostalgia and John Hughes movies take me back to a simpler time. Yes, at this point, the 80s can honestly be called a simpler time. So, today (and always) I salute the brain, the athlete, the basket case, the princess and the criminal as I take a trip down memory lane to that legendary day of detention. 

March 24, 1984. Shermer High School, Shermer, Illinois. 60062

Oh Spring, How I Have Missed You

Welcome Spring! It is a mild sunny day here and I am just itching to get outside. It never gets terribly cold or icy here but I look forward to Spring like I have been in Alaska for months. The new bungalow has a small but lovely back yard with lots of room to garden and play. The current bungalow has what I like to refer to as a parking lot. We share a driveway so we have to park in the back. I am over the moon to have some grass and flowers and I can't wait to get my hands in the dirt.

Old Yard:

New Yard:

 

We also have a plethora of rose bushes which I know nothing about so that will be one of my summer projects. Until then - Here are some gorgeous gardens and yards that I have found around the web that are dreamy and a jumping off point for ideas. 

 

If you need the links for these you can find them on my Pinterest Outdoors/Flowers board.

You know I love my music so I though I'd share a song/video that always makes me think of Spring/Summer. The colors and landscapes make me think of warmer days. Plus, I love my girl Sara B (or Say-ruh as we call her in the bungalow).

Gone but not forgotten and HAPPY

I am about to gear the blog up again. We are moving from "life in a bungalow" to life in a slightly larger bungalow next week. I am also closing one chapter and starting another.

It just makes me "HAPPY".