new favorite pinterest board

If I had a mini-me it would so be along these lines:

Because imaginary Quinoa and friends are both patriotic and pretentious.

Created by Aussie blogger Tiffany Beveridge, Quinoa  is more aware about fashion does & don'ts than I was at 5... months ago.

Who honestly doesn't want a divinely dressed munchkin named Quinoa who had friends such as Chevon, Ridley and Booker?  I know I wouldn't.

Not following My Imaginary Well-Dressed Toddler Daughter yet? Time to update your Pinterest "follow" board and cease being bored out your mind during work breaks. I think Buzzfeed sums it up all quite nicely.

PS- happy 4th of July +1

my house is officially a hot mess

Just when I was feeling accomplished by hanging pictures, finally buying a new rug, and not having a house of boxes (for the second time in 13 months, mind you), I made the fateful decision to click on a Pinterest pin with the caption "great decorating ideas." Bad. Move. Curiosity didn't just kill the cat, it ran over it and then backed up and ran it over again.

inspiration for decoration

No room in my house looks anything close to the ones in this blog (thanks expensive architecture degree).  Instead it looks like a mix of Anthro-layout wannabe/ leftovers from being a poor grad student - single person / Ikea showroom with mismatching clutter. There is no design philosophy; nada, nothing, zilch.  My grad professors would be ashamed.

I was totally ready to post a few pictures from my newly-deboxed kitchen, but now I just.dont.know.  My competitive nature feels energized and then deflated due to the fact that I can't buy all of One Kings Lane for my new temporary abode.  Stupid budget.

Do you think the rooms on the inspiration for decoration blog really are attainable by real people with dogs, kids, cats and spouses. Or is it just propaganda by the "your house will never be good enough!" design mag people?

holy gatsby

Have you seen this trailer yet!?

Fitzgerald, Art Deco, Carey Mulligan, the Roaring 20s, Tobey McGuire, HOVA, Yeezy, Jack White and Baz Luhrmann?  How can this NOT be epic? Hopefully it will all offset Leonardo DiCaprio being cast as Gatsby, which I am totally not feeling.  I think it will be like Boardwalk Empire, but on steroids. And I'm okay with that.

Come on Christmas!

what a vacation sounds like

While watching Portlandia for the first time this weekend (and drinking hot toddies, all in the name of cold care) I couldn't help but wonder who is behind the awesomely awesome song for the opening credits. Well I did a little research and I came up with Ernest Greene

image via thesoundmedium

He's more than a guy who looks like a frat boy from an SEC school.  He's the mastermind behind Washed Out, a chill wave project that's been featured in Adult Swim, and of course, Portlandia.  Interestingly enough, he's kind of a success story for the recent economic situation - He's my age and when he found himself with a college degree, unemployed and living at home with his parents, he decided to pursue his true passion for music.  He set up a studio in his bedroom and posted his recordings on his Myspace page (didn't think anyone still had one of those...).  Fast forward to 2012, when he's signed to a record label and released an album this past July.  And I thank you, Wikipedia, for all of that information.

Listen to the full version of the Portlandia opening theme ("Feel It All Around") here 

To listen to more of Washed Out's music, go here

In my opinion, if Washed Out's music were an image, this would be it:

view of Maspalomas from our Balinese sunbed in the Canary Islands.  Bliss

Could be why his stuff has been on a constant loop round this house as of late... it's grey and cold out and his music makes me think of blue skies, a warm breeze, sand, sun and my hubs not being 3,000 miles away.

Awesome + Awesome = Awesomer

If you haven't seen this blog then you really should.

These are some of my faves:

one bakes a cake, the other is often baked.

Salvidor Dali and Coco Chanel

Chick Norris and Bruce Lee... how can a picture
contain this much awesomeness!

MJ and Paul McCartney.  Washing dishes of course

and last but not least... but perhaps the most beautiful

Audrey Hepburn and Grace Kelly.  The two most beautiful
women in the world at the time

all pics are courtesy of awesomepeoplehangingouttogether

(many thanks to Misa for exposing me to this link... as always, you rock)

Never gonna give up Teen Spirit

A friend sent me a link to this today and it made me laugh....  If you can remember back to the late 80s cheesiness that was Rick Astley and also everyone's fave early 90s grunge band Nirvana then you might just get a chuckle out of this.  I'm also ashamed to say that its kinda catchy and yes, I do love me some old school Dave Grohl.  Happy Friday everyone!

New Ventures

Big News -

Things are so crazy with the economy right now - especially in the specific industry I just happened to get a Master's degree in. I've decided that I am NOT happy not having a job, even though the flexibility associated with unemployment is quiet a perk. I've never ever seen myself as a registered architect or as a CAD monkey for years and I will never enjoy carrying out someone else's designs. So recently I have really been analyzing how I could use my talents and skills I learned during school and throughout my wedding design/planning process. I love creating - taking a basic canvas, whether a building or a simple piece of paper, and making it bright, lovely and something someone looks at and say "this is refreshing, simple and perfect!".

After a lot of prayer, thought, and urging by people I love & who know me very well, I'm taking a baby-step toward actually making a career out of creation. As you know, I designed all of the paper goods for my wedding, and I also have always enjoyed doing the presentation layout designs for my architecture projects. I designed Mr. Bama and my Christmas Cards, wedding thank you cards as well as a few for my friends for Christmas. I've received such great feedback as well as great pleasure in designing these small and simple pieces of paper. Also, as a granddaughter and niece of master printers, I kind of find this as an homage to my relatives as well!

So as of the New Year (and after the craziness of moving and the holidays are over) I will be launching a VERY small selection of stationary on an Etsy store. I've created a logo that reflects myself as well as a little pun on paper & printing terminology (hint - paper thickness is calculated by "pounds"). There will be 5 different designs that pull from nature, my home state (VA) and my husband's state (AL) as well as the spectacular city where we live now.

So in January 2010, keep your eye out on Etsy for the premiere of One Pound Design

(yes, a silly way to tie stationary terminology and my initials, L.B., together)

Bridesmaid Props

I thought I'd start the week off with this adorable video I found that gives a little history to the tradition of bridesmaids. Happy Monday!!

(Video courtesy of the Dessy group)

Rethinking video....

Up until I saw this video I was TOTALLY anti-videographer for our wedding (thoughts of in-your-face sappy video of awkward moments and embarassing relatives danced throughout my mind). HOWEVER, watch this clip from videographers ROCKMELON & a choreographed 1st dance --you'll totally understand why I'm rethinking my prior stance (ps- I LOVE the MJ reference... I can't imagine my wedding w/out some insane dance moments). Enjoy!



I still don't think we'll have a videographer for the wedding, but some other things were solidified on my frigid day trip to the outer banks today. Now we just have to set a date (a WHOLE other issue alone). But other than that, no wedding posts til spring break in March! Til then its architecture and architecture alone (well, plus or minus a few fun things thrown in the mix for my sanity's sake). Happy weekend to all!!