First, I must say this – I hate pop music. No judgment upon those who listen to it, but the bright bouncy sound and repetitive vapid lyrics overwhelm me with a wash of sickly sweet. And I must escape it. That being said, I have to now admit … I cannot quit listening to Kate Nash.

Who Is She: Forget Katy Perry. Cast aside images of Natasha Beddingfield. This is Kate Nash. And she’s nothing like them. Irish born and London bred, Kate is a precocious 23 whose girlish grit is catchy and shockingly smart. She’s a bullet – centered gob stopper and her own brand of glittery kitsch. Her English accent bleeds through every song and I love it.

Favorite Song: From the clever beats of “Skeleton Song” to the cheeky “I’ve Got A Secret”, both her albums are a treat. And the shatteringly blunt and beautiful slam poem that opens “Mansion Song” never ceases to give me goosebumps. Her irreverance isn’t flakey and her feminine wit doesn’t feel like fluff. It’s a fine line, and she lights it on fire.

Makes Me Think Of/Feels Like: 1960s bee hives and knee socks, Topshop, and everything English.

Kate Nash made me a believer in pop music … and strangely enough, proud to put on some eyeliner and be a real girl. It’s pretty awesome.

– Jenna

1 Comment

Yippee! Violet’s nursery is on Ohdeedoh today! Check out the post here and be sure to leave a comment!

Sigh, the days of cribs….. I miss them so!

Stacie

3 Comments

Now that V is in her toddler bed, I need to make her a nice little duvet cover that compliments her bed skirt. I ordered this vintage striped sheet from Etsy, but now realize that the colors might not mesh as well as I had hoped.

I want to dye over the sheet to change the white to a more off white, and in doing so slightly darken the pinks in the sheet. But how do I do this? I know that I have read about dying over patterned fabric in the past, but cannot for the life of me find any tutorials online!

Should I use a tea to lightly change the color? I do have plenty of fabric to test this method out a bit.

I am also going to spray paint Violet’s toddler bed. It was given to us by my sweet sister-in-law, and she has given me her blessing to do with it what I want.

I am leaning towards a deeper blue or a green. But I am open to other colors…. oh my indecisive mind!

So what do you guys think? Can you recommend any great dying techniques or DIY’s? Which paint color for the bed?

Stacie

6 Comments

-Stacie

1 Comment

2 Comments

Violet has always loved hand puppets. Nathan and Violet often spend afternoons coloring their hands with Sharpie faces and talking in funny voices to one another. So it should come as no surprise that Violet has now taken to putting her socks on her hands and using them as puppets!

My little girl is definitely 2 years old now. She throws a mighty temper tantrum, yet still wants to be babied. I know that 2 is a rough age, but I think it is really hard for her because she is only just learning to communicate, and sometimes she cannot find the right words. So she gets a little bit mad. Regardless, I feel like I have more patience than I have ever had in my life!

Thank goodness I am 24. Otherwise I might not be able to keep up!

Stacie

1 Comment

Hi. My name is Stacie. And I like to pinch pennies. So much in fact, that I find it quite difficult to enjoy happy little purchases because I am ridden with financial guilt. Usually, if I see something that I want to buy online, my thought process goes a little something like this:

Stacie: Oh, yay! Look at this awesome pretty handmade object! I think that my life would be so much more happy if I bought it!

Guilty Money Grubbing Conscience: Don’t buy this, Stacie. Think of all of the diapers you could purchase for Violet with this money!

Stacie: But if I buy this fantabulous handmade item, I will be supporting another artist! Do unto other, right?

Guilty Money Grubbing Conscience: Eh, that artist will be fine. Think about your savings! Your bank account! 401k! You will need a new car someday. You want to have more kids, right? You want to be able to afford them! Just say no to Etsy today.

Stacie: Okay, well, it is better to not spend money on personal items. Depriving myself is a good thing.

ENDS SCENE

Alright, I have now revealed to you how slightly paranoid and strange I am. But tell me, do any of you also have these thoughts?

No Comments

Over the weekend I finally got up the courage to do some baking. I have not cooked anything in quite a while. But I love cooking, so it did not take long for me to get my apron out and get my cook on!

I had stumbled upon this recipe for Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies on Catherine Campbell’s blog, and knew that they would make great holiday gifts for my office friends. Added bonus, I had a bunch of mason jars just waiting to be used as fun gift containers.

Since I really could not venture out to go shopping for ribbon to decorate the mason jars, I kept it simple with a swatch of fabric on top and a dainty bow of yarn around the lid. Filled inside with 4 scrumptious cookies. I have to make more for the rest of my office (I ran out of mason jars!)

Do you ever find with your own family handmade is not seen as special? I am not saying that is the case with my own family, but I can see how difficult it could be for the handmade community during holidays to give lovingly handcrafted items and have them not hold up in the eyes of the recipient. You know, since there are people out there who still think that handmade = a popsicle ornament.

The value of time is underestimated. Lovingly baking Christmas cookies and sharing them with the one’s you cherish could be gift enough for me this year.

But I won’t look a gift horse in the mouth, say, if the gift horse is bringing me Season 1 of Glee on DVD….

1 Comment

If I had the money, I would purchase these from Anthropologie, but we will see what I can afford when push comes to shove!

In all (including clean up) it took me about 2 hours to remove the tile. I still have to remove the tile around the toilet area, but that will have to wait until after Christmas. I’ve started looking at paint colors, mirrors, etc. But in all honesty, I am not sure which direction to go. So far we have not spent a dime, which makes me happy! We will see how far we can stretch our money from here on out!

-Stacie

No Comments

 No matter how much I adore online magazines, I still miss flipping through a paper magazine while sipping coffee. So this year I am asking for magazines for Christmas! The 4 above are my personal wish list, and all are pretty affordable too!

On a different note, sorry that I have been so quiet this week. I’ve had a tough couple of days personally. Conflict is difficult, and sometimes I simply shut down in order to process. Rest assured, most everything has been resolved, but I feel uninspired now. I am going to try to refocus, because I definitely want to start out the new year feeling strong. I want to feel like I can be successful on my own terms.

Thanks so much for your support, friends.

Stacie

2 Comments