Kitty Genius

Strange Thrift Store Finds

I took just a little time out to be by myself amid a hectic week. And where did I find myself? A thrift store, of course! Where I found some delightful, although admittedly strange, finds.

I have wanted one these vintage ship-in-a-bottle type boats for some time. This one is about 8 inches by 8 inches. I love that someone took the time to put it together. None of the paper sails are ruined and I like to think this is what my bearded guys would travel on. That's the 6 year old in me. But truly I find it very inspiring to look at.

Next up is this hand-carved owl from a tree branch.

It has amazing detail and is one of those things that could be quite country if it weren't so odd and intricately pretty to look at.

And then there were shoes.

Old, sooooft leather in about a half or whole size too big. That's fine by me. Because I have every intention of wearing them with thick socks in the fall. And everything was $1.99 or under. Score.

Lastly, Drew surprised with me with this Jordan Crane postcard set, which I am quite happy with :)

You can see more of his work here. And there are prints for sale!

We have a busy long weekend, as I'm sure most of you do too. Tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Saturday we are having an early birthday celebration for Drew with his family since his sister is in town, and Sunday we have a family wedding of his to go to.

Happy Holiday weekend to you all if I don't talk to you before then!!

My Mind Might Be Blown

So I was beginning to look through my growing stack of September magazines (the best magazine month of course) and I came across an ad, and as the title of this post implies, my mind might be blown.

Blister Block Stick!?! Why have I not known? The reviews I came across seemed pretty positive. Here is another review.

I have mentioned how I try as hard as possible to not wear uncomfortable shoes. But we all know there are many a shoe out there disguising themselves. Has anyone tried this? I am tempted to run to Walgreens right now.

And thank you so much for all the very kind hair feedback and putting up with the rather self indulgent 5 or 6 hair photos I had. I'm still loving that I can wake up and go, which is pretty much a first for me. And yes, "get up and go" is a slight exaggeration ;)

Also, check out the cuteness I just nabbed from Lisa's new etsy shop!

All the fall craving made me buy what will be my carry all fall purse. I have been wearing it for a bit and I remain undeterred despite the fact that everyone who has laid eyes on it has said something snarky like "could you move your luggage?" when it's on a chair. Or a whole lot of "Wow, that's a giant purse. Is that a purse? "

I am absolutely in the "love a ginormous purse club" but I swear it's not that big. Or maybe it is. Either way I love you new giant purse. I love you.

Happy Sunday!

New Haircut!?!

BEFORE


AFTER

Now, most before and after pictures leave me screaming "NO! NO! The before! The before." And I am suspicious that if I were not me and saw these I might say the same. But I promise the salon cut is really great. I haven't had a chance to fiddle with it with my own products and I just don't like the photo of me with the new haircut but I am soooo excited. And really, just to do this:

That all the layers around it were short enough that just pulling back the bottom still gives a "style". It's the biggest thing I envy with all my straight hair friends. Their little ponytail "nub" and all the little pieces that still frame their faces so cutely and coolly.

Oh and I had like 8 inches cut off the bottom. Cuz it was almost to my butt. That's what happens when you don't cut your hair for over 2 years?

More fiddling has commenced. High ponytail?

I'm Going to Close My Eyes, and When I Open Them, It Will Be Fall

This morning I was awoken pre-dawn with some family stuff to take care of. Which leaves one with the strange decision: Try to go back to sleep? (Never going to happen.) Take a nap later? (Probably not.) Or just be groggy and anxious for the day? I guess I chose "c".

So it's been a day of strange late starts. I worked out. And since it's so overcast and gloomy (which is my favorite weather if the gloominess is accompanied by chillyness and not mugginess) I decided to stay in the cool indoors and pretend it was fall. Curling up with The Golden Compass (which Drew has been trying to get me to read since the day I met him). Sooooo good. And I know another lady that also is partial to the book.

And of course there must be coffee for Drew and me in my most favorite thrift store twosome.

Even our steps look a little gloomy today :)

And my favorite tree that our sunroom gives a perfect view of.

Onward to Autumn!!

I Have No Delusions Of Grandeur

It's Saturday night. Drew is at a pre-season football game. I am dying clothes (2 pairs of jeans, a skirt, and a nightie that will soon be a dress!) with my trusty black Dylon dye. Again folks, it's not just for cottons! It can handle polyester blends! YES. I really need to do a tutorial. But the directions are clear and accurate. My ONLY suggestion is to buy a medium sized cheap-o trashcan and a large long dowel from a craft store (for stirring) and put a trash bag under everything before your dying commences.

While I have the clothes in the washing machine (in the sort of scary/lounge basement we have) I decided to clean the bathroom. Since I had to rinse the dye out in the bathtub anyway. Oh, and I finally scoured that mildew in the grout with a toothbrush. Yup. That's my Saturday night this week :)

Last night we hung out with friends and then everyone petered out and it was just my friend Scot and me with gas station coffee sitting on the the front steps on my apartment building until almost 5 am while a very funny cop drove around looking for some guy breaking into cars. I jokingly asked him to "extra" check on my car in back and he really did! So maybe I need an easy night after last night's "festivities" :)

Hope wherever your night has taken you it's going good!

Presents in the mail

Hi, folks. Drew here.

A few weeks ago, Kelly Sue sent around a link to these hilarious Getting Things Done buttons from Moxie's Etsy shop, since she knows I keep a clean inbox, and attempt to follow The David's Way. That prompted me to buy a cheap domain name and create this silliness (thank you for your patience, Shepard Fairey's lawyers). Moxie saw that and wrote me about it, then I had to explain that her buttons were the root of it all. Wheels within wheels, people.

Well, today our mailbox held these wonders:

I am totally making Ashley wear a Merlin Mann button whenever she leaves the house.

ALSO, my Incredible Change-Bots fan club packet arrived! It's beyond my wildest hopes:

If you're a fan of Mr. Brown, you really need to send him $20 for your own set. And that colored Soupy pinup? It's an original. Go! Do! Now!

Please Tell Me You Do This Too

I swear I am working on stuff. There just seems to be a lot of top secret projects people are working on out there in blog land and it just so happens I have a few of my own! And a HUGE congratulations to Lisa's big announcement!

Okay, so here is what I hope you do on some small level too. Today I finally threw out my mirror. You know the small hand held mirror that you use to look through to look in the big mirror to see what is going on with the back of your hair? And THIS is the state it had to get to before I could actually put it in the trash. (FYI: it's not technically in the trash yet.)

This is just pathetic. The handle broke off years ago. It is covered in 12 layers of hair spray that can't seem to be removed and IT'S BROKEN! And has been for quite some time. Although I will say that up until about a week ago all the pieces were still sort of staying in the mirror. And I use this. A few times a day I would say.

About two years ago Drew finally convinced me (why did I need convincing?) to purchase a new, very similar mirror. I did purchase the new mirror and then promptly shoved it away somewhere.

Tons of stuff I don't even think twice about replacing. I am excited to replace them. But then there are those few random things that for some reason I let get to this condition. And I think this would all be forgivable if there was an once of sentimental value to this mirror. But it really is just a mirror and sometimes I'm really just that strange :)

Once More, With Feeling

Oh yes, I am excited for this! I was so sad when I thought St. Louis wasn't on the official tour.

And if you don't think the soundtrack from that episode is on my iPod… well, my friend, you are sadly mistaken. Our tickets are purchased. We're going!

Loren, if you're reading this, stop shaking your head in confusion and disapproval. You just don't know.

And, really, every song is not great, but when it's Giles I really legitimately like it. Hee hee.

Oh, and I was so excited to get my hands on two sets of these from somethingshidinginhere before they sold out.

Their shop still has amazing things such as these acorns.

I was really excited to see their mention on Design*Sponge today. I had been waiting for those wishbones to appear in their shop :)

Sunday Evening Browsing

I know I have mentioned my newfound enjoyment of Alloy. Yes, I thoroughly enjoy Forever 21 and H&M, but I also really like mentioning stores that take the time to carry extended sizes. Just my own little appreciation from a girl whose pants size will NEVER reach the single digits. It would be defying physics.

I am thinking of purchasing this dress in one or both colors. It doesn't look too exciting in this photo but in the catalog on a model I thought CUTE!!

In the cute dress category that will not work for me. I can take one look at those sleeves and know is this:

In the shoe department I really like these Vans but I may have to head over to Zappo's to see the comfort rating. I don't play around with uncomfortable shoes. It's pointless.

I like when canvas shoes have a bit of a point to them. Just more flattering, in my opinion. So just a little stripey poking out of jeans? And yes, I would have socks on. These shoes just might happen.

In the slightly-less-realistic-for-me category are these Keds.

I'm a sucker for plaid and those bottoms look sturdy, like you could take a hike in them. That's important. And by hike, I mean "hiking up" to my coffee shop and around the neighborhood.

But yeah, I will let you know how any of this turns out if I purchase it. 'Tis a fun time for internet window shopping :)

Happy Sunday!

It's a Thursday Indeed

My view most of the time. I have more pens/markers/pencils than should be allowed by law. It's just comforting to know I can reach into any pocket/purse/drawer and find some sort of drawing implement. This isn't even the tip of the iceberg.

I wanted to say a thanks to Michael and Teriko for pointing out that our (Michael's and my) show got a mention on the main page of Juxtapoz.com

You can read the little bit here. Isn't Michael's interactive installation great?

Also Teriko started this thread on Etsy which I happened upon today and was just amazed again at the kindness that that community can have :) So thank you, Teriko.

Off to work, but I hope everyone has a great day!