this is how I'm getting through today

Coffee #1

babies everywhere!

One of my friends from college, David, showed me this video; it might be one of my favorite things ever placed on the internet.  (Side note.  The lead actor in this commercial used to work at Trudy's with me!  Crazy, right?)



You're welcome.

Now, the real story of the day.  A few girls from work wanted to have a joint baby shower last week.  I told them I'd love to help, and then discovered I had a midterm right in the middle of the shower.  I figured if I couldn't come, then I could at least make everything look like a party.  (Best way to make something into more of a celebration.. Decorations!)

Since the party was outside, I knew I couldn't do anything for the tables that might get blown away, so I decided on a bunch of bunting, balloons and a few signs.   I went with a couple of shades of blue and a light kelly green and only spent about $10 on a bunch of tissue paper, string and balloons.  (Seriously, cheapest decorations ever.)  You've seen me make bunting like I'll show you below for Katrina's 30th birthday party and I pull it out for every occasion that needs a little festivity.

First, cut out whatever shape you want your bunting to be.  For this party I made square ones, circular ones and these triangle ones.  Place the template on the already folded edge of the tissue paper.  Seriously, make it easy on yourself.  Your tissue paper will already have all of these folds in it; you might be wasting a bit of paper (because it's bigger than what you need) but you save so much work.

Cut out your shapes; if you did what I told you to and used the paper already folded up, each cut should get you ten pieces or so.

Open the tissue paper up, place your string on the fold and glue one half, plus a third of the way up the other half (I use a glue stick).  If you don't glue on the second half, your string will be a little loose and your paper will slide up and down the string.

That's it.  So easy, right?  Now, depending on how much you need and where it's going, you can put the tissue paper closer or father apart on your string.  If you are decorating a big space and don't have much time, put them farther apart.  It'll be more sparse, but you'll have more space covered.  If you don't need very much, or are just decorating one wall, put them closer together.  I've seen it done where the circles/triangles/whatever are almost touching and it looks super cute.

I saw these balloons in the exact colors I was already using and I had to use them. I took some inspiration from one of my favorite blogs, Little Green Notebook, and made some strings of balloons.  I love her ombre ones, but they didn't have the right colors.  This is what they were supposed to look like; I pictured them hanging from a tree or something. 

I didn't really account for the wind, so they clumped up and ended up looking more like this...  Still cute, though.

I knew there would be trees at the site, but they were more spread out than I thought.  Instead of stringing multiple streamers of bunting between a few trees, I improvised and wrapped the streamers around the big trees and only strung a few from tree to tree.

The party was at Emma Long park in Austin and was gorgeous.  It had been raining all weekend, but it turned out to be a gorgeous day for a baby shower.  

The other side of the tree said, "It's a"

Every time I talk about decorating I always end up at this point.  Why spend lots of money on cheaply made, cheesy decorations when you can do it yourself?  It's not that hard.

Note to self:  next time, don't rush out so early.  Get some better pictures of your cute decorations.  You aced the midterm; you didn't need to hurry.

In other news only important to me...

I found my favorite necklace!

old skeleton keys on a leather cord and a eyeglass holder from the 50's

A room can be designed in an hour on the internet.

Really.  It can.

I used my new favorite program, Olioboard, to make a room of stuff you could buy off the internet from national chains.  Olioboard has items from West Elm, Urban Outfitters, and Anthropologie (among 50 other stores) already on their site and you can upload your own photo if you want.  I've been in love with this yellow couch for forever, so that's where I started...



1. Atelier Chesterfield - totally costs a bajillion dollars.

2. Gloria's Garden Rug - love the colorful florals.


3. Chevron Crewel Pillow, Dot Pillow Cover, and the Magical Thinking Travels Pillow - these three pillows are a great mix of color and pattern


4. Tali Printed Window Panel - pattern mixing works here because we've got a low-contrast, small, simple geometric to go with our crazy rug.

5. Heritage Bookshelf - gorgeous bookshelf and although the styling is a little sparse and says "Urban Outfitters Catalogue", I still love the beaker set, vintage globe and old camera.

6. Wicker Patio Table - not from UO, Anthro or West Elm, but I love the pop of color and how it goes with the rug.

7. Rabbit Profile Framed Art  - love the giant rabbit print.

8. Hammerpress No Whining Print - I think every room needs something graphic.  Typographic prints usually do a great job.

right now I'm loving...

the Last Kiss soundtrack.
a few of my favorite songs:


"Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk" - Rufus Wainwright


"Arms of a Woman" - Amos Lee


"Hold You in My Arms" - Ray Lamontagne


"Paperweight" - Joshua Radin and Schuyler Fisk

hanging out with these crazyfaces.

this book I stole from Amby.

storing the chalk for my new chalkboard on my coffee table.

late night books and coffee.

This is what my late night coffee shop study sessions look like.
(As seen by Larisa - she's good at instagramming.  Follow her.)

Larisa doodles.

I study (and drink coffee.)

Coral roses in a Crown Royal bottle.

Sock bun and tattoos.

Unwitting photobomb.

THE BEST PIZZA EVER!

(Loryn and Amby, this is the Epoch, the one I was telling you about from Eastside Pies.)