HACKED!

Sorry about that last post, it looks like someone got my blogger password. I changed it and hopefully that won't happen again. Weird stuff though. I deleted the post, but if it is still visible in your reader please don't click the link, I have no idea where it goes, but I can't imagine that it's somewhere worth going.

Today I....

Waited anxiously for the plumber to FINALLY fix our water heater.  NO HOT WATER SINCE WEDNESDAY! That is a lot of stock pots of stove heated water into the bath tub. On the upside, we did drag our bodies and ten pounds of stuff over to my Parent's for showers. Their shower, it's like a luxurious hotel shower.  Like the Ritz. No, better. It wasn't just that they had hot water, it was the normal, non-circa.1860 water pressure. And the shower is big and has a cool glass enclosure. I felt like I was in a natatorium. 

I also took a walk around town. This coming weekend is Noah's friend's birthday party, and I wanted to get him a special chess game. We have a fantastic toy store in town called Adventures in Toys. You can always tell an Adventure in Toys gift by their polka dot wrapping paper. My Dad and I were talking today about what makes a fairly small, independent toy store like Adventures in Toys Stay in business for twenty years, when others have failed. I have to say that a big part of it is this kind of personal service that's hard to find anywhere else. Especially in the big-box stores. The Adventures in Toys employees are always so happy and eager to help you find just the right gift. They ask if you are shopping for a boy or a girl and what age. I've always loved their suggestions, and the store is perfectly curated with quality play things. One special touch though, is the gift wrapping. It's really nice that they offer this free service. I rarely find a business that still offers this!

It was so upsetting.  After the toy store, I was pulled in against my will, by Anthropologie's insurmountable force .

To the sale rack of course.

Most of the time.

Look at these cute paper clips.  8 paper clips for $10. omg.

The good news is that the Wisteria vine that covers our pergola, finally started to bloom. I was so worried, an early frost had killed all of the flowers that began to sprout on the vine a couple weeks ago.

The bad news is, is that the mini-pool looks more like a cesspool right now. The pool company is coming to start a complete re-surface hopefully tomorrow. Fingers crossed!!!

And well, that's my day........

Going Ons

Sometimes, when quite a bit of time has passed, with a lot of things going on, it's just easier to talk about it in pictures.......

Two Saturday nights ago, we had the most totally bizarre and completely amazing night ever. We went out with our good friends and their three children to listen to some live soul/rock music, in the old and dank basement of The Ann Arbor Elks Lodge. 

A big, dark house, perched on top of a hill. Down some decrepit stairs, past an antiquated bar surrounded by the Elk regulars. A tiny dance floor and long, dimly lit corridors of booths. At first I was like, we brought the kids where?

UNTIL. The music started. Omg, the MUSIC!

It was FANTASTIC live music. The band's name is F.U.B.A.R. They were great. Made up of really cool, middle-aged university professors and doctors. Something like that. Smart music. Good music. It was fun to dance to. A lot of funky 60's, songs with messages, songs that make you move. The lead singer Sophia's voice is wonderful, and the musicians were happy to chat and field questions from the kids.

But THEN, to make it all the more nonsensical of a night..........

Ok, so there's this little pop-up restaurant in the Elk's kitchen, right above the basement club. It's called the "Elks Neighborhood Kitchen" and Oh.My.God. It is, DELICIOUS. It's all fresh, homemade SOUL FOOD! Amazing! Amazing! Soul food and soulful live music.

Between Jon and Noah and I, and our friends, we managed to order up heaping plates of the best juicy juicy ribs and crispy fried chicken Jon has ever tasted. I'm a vegetarian, so I had to pass, but I could see this stuff was great because all the meat lovin' adults and kids oohed and ahhhed over the stuff. There is also fried catfish. Glub glub.

One of the two cooks/waiters also brought us mounds of the best seasoned fries you will ever taste. Fresh and crinkled cut. There was my fav. collard greens. Soft and flavorful. The red beans and rice and the Mac N' Cheese...yum! And finally, we all loved the cornbread muffins with extra maple butter. Truly incredible.  :)

We even went back the following weekend, this past weekend. Our friend's band The Van Allen Belt was playing with Charlie Slick and preciseHero.
*blink. blink. blink*  What just happened? Musical genius. That's what. More later.

Hello. I am a kitchen from the 1870's.

The kid is ready to mulch.

Keeping with the theme of being old-tyme-y and precious, we just had to buy a little red push mower.

I am re-thinking what dinner means. I asked myself, does it have to be a traditional meal? Or could it be the most simple of simple ingredients? Because Noah never ever ever ever eats anything I make for dinner in normal recipe form. Almost never. I can't just feed him a casserole or a sandwich or pasta with sauce. He gags when something has more than one texture, or lots of things are mixed in. Who knows. It makes me nuts, but all we can do is try to offer him food to try, over and over. 

Noah went in for a height and weight check. He was slowing down on his growth curve, but then luckily, he grew a 1/4" in the last 3 months, so that's good! Now he's 48lbs. and 42 &1/4". I was hoping to get an OT script, but the PA that we saw at his weight and height check said that she doesn't care what he eats, as long as he's getting in protein and healthy foods, she's ok with the eating habits. Noah lives off of  eggs and yogurt, pasta, chicken, cheese, broccoli, apple-carrot sauce and many fruits. I think he's fine. Maybe he'll out grow all of this. I hope so. I bet so.

I tried this simple dinner. He ate......Yogurt drink yes, pasta yes. The rest- not really. We must not be related.

I'll stick with this simple stuff, but the kid doesn't know what he's missing.

Hector doing the splits, or some kind of oddly gymnastic-ish move on our new duvet cover. That he loves. I don't know why. I mean, he's blind, he can't even see the print, but somehow, he loves the new duvet. Thank you Ikea, for some more cheap but awesome.

xoxo *meow xoxo

mid-19th century wallpaper gets me excited!

He's all: "How the hell did I convince them to fork out the cash for the Model T ride this time?"

Because Noah, you finally posed for me with the sheep, and let me put that precious old tyme-y bandanna on you.

Mulch. A lot of it.

They say that dogs are man's best friend, but I think cats are boy's best friend.

I made this  old-tyme-y floral thing.

I made these cake pops that nobody ate.

Waiting for his morning brew.

I ended up posting these earlier, but just so you know, I made these old tyme-y clothing pieces.

Y'all come back now, you hear!

It Has Come to My Attention.....

That I would like to start a new series called "It Has Come to My Attention".

*It is with sound mind and great discretion that I suggest dear friends, that upon being moved to do so, you should feel utter confidence to direct your inquiries  and/or grievances in Letters to Mr. Knightley. Sweet, dear, compassionate Mr. Knightley. He shall correspond in a timely manor, with nothing but the wisest of wise remarks. A man of true guild. Where would I be without Mr. Knightley's guidance? Perhaps partially clothed under an apple tree, in a most un-respectable man's orchard.

*O.M.G!

Simple Ideas That Are Borderline Genius

*I know that many of you might have seen the following video by now, but it's so wonderful and amazing that I just had to pass it along. Please, please, please, it's totally worth the six minutes in your life. 

 

Old Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era

*And just look at this gorgeous color chart made from water colors or guache from I Love Charts.

And now for something awesome:

*A real time WIND MAP !!!!!!

SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

COOL!

so windy!

The Not So Golden Olden Days

Dear Internet,

I am about to tell you something strange. Something that happened tonight.

Did you know about our water heater not working? Some of you on Facebook might have, but for the rest of you, well, our water heater.... it's not working.

Yesterday, some time in the early evening, I was hand washing a plastic cup that belongs to Noah. I was multi-tasking, washing the cup and asking him to brush his teeth and get into bed. So, when the water flowing out of the faucet was cold, instead of it's usual burning hot, I barely gave the fact much notice.
I remember thinking: "Oh! I must have turned the wrong knob, that's funny.", and rushed off to read to Noah.

Later that night, Jon came home around 10:30. He'd been out with his co-workers for a "team-building" dinner and a company bowling party. The "team-building" dinner was a mound of steaks that Jon was in charge of grilling behind the office. So when he came home, he said he was sweaty and grilly and was going to take a shower.
And that's when he was like........... "LAUREN............. do.you.know.there.is.no.hot.water?"
And then, BING! I had an Aha! moment. Oh yeah, come to think of it now, Yeah Jon, I guess there is no hot water!

Turns out that our pilot is blown. The pilot light unit, it all needs to be replaced. Kind of a big pain, annoyingly expensive, but it could be worse.
The only thing is, when we finally had a service call from the plumber today at 5:00, it was too late in the day to find the special unit part. Or, whatever it was.
Supposedly, (PLEASE UNIVERSE) they'll be able to get the part tomorrow, and then come over to install it.

At first, I was looking at this no hot water thing as an awesome chance to explore my love of all things olden days.  You know I'm obsessed with this old house and the history and Greenfield Village, and the way people lived back in the day.

I even made this old-fashioned skirt last week, complete with fabric "yo-yos" on the pockets.

And this old-fashioned granny shawl.........

AND, this simple floral arrangement in a quaint jam jar.

See,  if that isn't olden days stalking, then what is?

And I was all full throttle about this living history adventure of life sans hot water until this morning, when Jon started hollering from the bathroom.
He was taking a shower. A very, very, very cold shower. So cold that it was PAINFUL.
And after flying out of his ice shower, I just heard the hairdryer going and going. I think he was trying to de-ice.

Through  a 6:00am blurry fog, I just remember his intense message for me: DO NOT ATTEMPT  WHAT I JUST DID. IT IS DANGEROUS.

Luckily for me, I neither stink, nor sweat. Ever.
So I will admit to you now Internet, that I bathed today by brushing my teeth.
And besides, the hot water was going to come back on at some point today. Right?

Well, Nate the plumber came and went, and still no hot water. Maybe tomorrow, at the latest, Saturday.
In the meantime, I was kind of thinking that since it was 92 degrees out today. Yes, really, it was 92 degrees today. The adult thing to do was to bathe.

So here's the strange thing that I wanted to tell you about. I didn't have a lot of options. I could risk hypothermia and certain pain if I were to take an ice cold shower, and Jon thought it would look odd to the neighbors if I donned a bathing suit and washed my hair and sudsed up in the backyard hose.

What would Laura do? What would Laura do? So I thought about Ma and Pa and Mary and Laura and baby Carrie. You know what they would do? This:

They would have heated water up over the fire, and then poured it into a big tub!
So I filled the bath up half-way with the FREEZING cold tap water and then waited.........
After ten minutes, the water in the pots were hot, and Jon was nice enough to carry and dump them into the bathtub for me.
I even made myself a cup of coffee, because I thought it would help to stave off the hypothermia. You know, heat the core.
Well, I can just tell you this, it was still God-awful FREEZING! Like Lake Superior in February cold.
When I got in, I let such a loud unintentional scream, that I woke poor Noah up! It was crazy. So much for the whole "I pine for the good old days" crap.

Seriously, this was the most hard-core bath I've ever taken. It was rough.  I don't recommend such a thing.

On the bright side, WOW is my hair ever soft! I don't know if it's the cold water or what, but it's nice.
An while this was not a pleasant experience, I'm glad that it happened because now I'm sure thankful for modern indoor plumbing!

Let's just hope the water heater is fixed soon. Otherwise, you might walk in and find me lathering up in your bathroom one of these mornings.

Oh The Birds We Have Seen - In Our Backyard.

I can't believe that me, ME! The girl who doesn't know how to relax or to sit still, can love BIRD WATCHING so much. Feeding the wildlife in our backyard, watching the little birds and small animals come for a snack, it's been so wonderful and rewarding. They've taught me a valuable lesson. One about slowing down and embracing stillness.

I've also really enjoyed spying new birds and figuring out who they are. Here is a list of some of the feathered friends who have visited us over the past winter and spring.

Thank you birds. I love you!

Brown-headed Cowbird

Tufted Titmouse

Cardinal

Bluejay

hawk

mourning dove

Red-bellied Woopecker

Downy Woodpecker

Black Capped Chickadee

Dark-eye Junco

Red-winged Black Bird

House Sparrow

American Crow

Rusty Blackbird

Common Grackle

American Robin

The Most Awesome Cat Poster in the World. EVER.

Sadly, I don't know who made this, but whoever you are, I know you are gifted.

Karma

So, we have an old knife block with a set of knives. Ten years old to be exact. They've been good to us, but are now very dull, and a tiny bit rusty around some of the handles. It's just time. I bought Jon a nice chef's knife for Chanukah. He liked it, but decided he would return the knife and choose us a whole new set. Good idea I thought!

Fast forward to today. The Chanukah knife has yet to be returned by Jon, and he still hasn't chosen a new set. (This is his area expertise and interest, and I gladly agree to let it be Jon's thing).

Buuuuuuuuut It's been three months! I'm cooking more than ever, to save money by eating in. We've been using The Six O'Clock Scramble to plan meals, which I keep meaning to post about. All of this cooking entails A LOT of fruit and veggie prep. I need a sharp knife or two around this place!

(Two Roma tomatoes, fresh basil, garlic,salt, pepper, mozzarella.)

Today at lunch, I was struggling to cut through a Butternut squash with one of our old knives.

It was treacherous, really, and I finally decided to just go ahead and open and use the Chanukah knife. But I felt kind of bad about it. Or, like I was BEING bad. It was Jon's knife and I was taking away his option of returning it and putting it towards something he wanted. AND, I have to admit, in my head, I was all frustrated and huffy and puffy and thinking...."WHY is it taking him SO. LONG. to return one stupid knife!?" I was annoyed.

(Baked squash fries: Squash + salt.)

So I start using the knife and I call Jon at work to say:

"Hey, sorry, but I had to use your knife." " I mean, you don't want me to HURT myself on a dull knife do you!?"

I was a little dramatic, it kind of felt good. I was implying something like, you snooze with returns, you lose. (You have to understand where all this pent up, passive-aggressive kitchen utensil usage comes from. Procrastination is a looooong standing topic in our marriage.)

Ok, here's the karma part:

Not more than TWO MINUTES after that phone call, what do I do? What do I do!? Accidentally cut part of my FINGERNAIL and finger skin off with the new knife OF COURSE!

Then, THEN I burn my other finger on a pan, not ten minutes after that!

Oooooooooooooh. And karma, you're not done. Not yet. So that nasty episode was at lunch today. Tonight at dinner, uh huh, yep. I accidentally slice my finger, AGAIN.

Jon tells me that the only reason people accidentally cut themselves when using knives, is because they're thinking about something else and not paying attention.

Um. Bingo? Ok, I'm sorry! I just re-installed the Instagram App to my phone and I was imagining the composition of an artsy-fartsy picture of the strawberry salad I was making.

And would you believe it, all for nothing I tell you. I ate the salad before I even remembered to snap a picture of it. Damn.

Karma's a b...... Wait, I mean, Karma! I love you! Karma's a b-best....thing eva! ....yeah....

(So Instagram-y. Me, watching a cat, watching a bird.)

Functionality + Aesthetics = Ultimate Design

Do you talk to yourself too, when nobody is around?

I'll tell you a little secret, so do I.

As a matter if fact, just Friday, I recorded a half-hour "seminar" on function and design in residential settings.

Yeah.....a seminar....for all my......er......students..... (That are imaginary....) Omg.

When you're cleaning the house and you have a phone with a digital recorder and it just feels too quite, why not lead a three credit course in your head? Or in my case, out loud to NOBODY.

Strange, I know.

What kicked this off though, was watching the following video earlier in the day. I was moved! I was inspired! I was totally taken in by this example of great design.

Artist Jihyun Ryou created a most gorgeous system for storing fruits and vegetables without the use of a refrigerator. You'll have the watch the short, beautifully shot film for all of the details, but Jihyun tapped old-rooted storage techniques (no pun intended) to improve and beautify what we have today!

Don't you want one of her systems now? I know I do!

Ironically...... a couple hours after leading my "Seminar", I received an email from the editor-in-chief at a yet to be divulged , large, glossy Detroit magazine. They'd like to come in an take some photographs and do a piece on our home and its story. She said that she "liked my style". Eh hem hem.

Perhaps someday, maybe, real live people will come listen to my "seminar". LOL. ;)

Until then, I can only dream.......

Serendipity

Serendipity is a magic, fun word, with several descriptive meanings:

(From Wikipedia:)

Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company.^[1] However, due to its sociological use, the word has been exported into many other languages.^[2] Julius H. Comroe once described serendipity as : to look for a needle in a haystack and get out of it with the farmer's daughter ^[3].

My favorite is "a happy accident". Have you had any serendipidous moments of late? Have you ever encountered serendipity and recorded it in pictures of film?

As I was going through old photos, I found some photos that perfectly illustrate serendipity from last spring This is a great memory that I'll always have, but the pictures help me remember it even more.

"Uncle Ilya" and "Uncle Robb". It's sad how once you graduate high school and then college, everybody moves away and spreads out. The strong ties of friendship bind us all together, but everybody is busy, off in their own world.

At this time, Robb was living in San Francisco, and Ilya in New York. Since these pictures were taken, Ilya has moved to San Francisco also, but last week, he moved back to New York!

It had been a long long long winter, and a drizzly spring. I remember this Sunday well. Jon and Noah and I were just feeling "Meh". Kind of blue, a little uninspired. Disenchanted with the Michigan gray. We knew that Ilya was in town, on a whirlwind trip. It was a friend's wedding in Ann Arbor. We also knew ahead of time, because of geography and schedules, that we weren't going to be able to meet up like we usually do. But then, we got a call early in the morning. Ilya's flight was changed and he had a free hour before heading to the airport! Hooray, it was a surprise Ilya visit! (You have to understand, Jon and I have known ils since we were freshman in college. We go back. He's special to both of us. In fact, ilya was my 26th birthday present. Flown out to San Francisco for a visit by Jon.) :)

To make things even more bizarrely serendipitous, Robb! Robb! Was actually coming through Detroit for just a couple of hours. It was very very odd to 1.) see Robb. (We usually only see him once a year.), and 2.) that Robb and Ilya interesected on the same day in Detroit!

Long story short, we all met up at a coffee shop. And that my friends is serendipity! :)

Springtime Dreaming.......

Poor me. I've always struggled in the clothing department. While my parents claim that the Esprit banana shirt and yellow culottes with knee socks were fashionable at the time, I'm starting to doubt. It's kind of funny that I still dress like such a weirdo, given my sartorialistically rough childhood, AND the fact that I hold a degree in apparel and textile design. (Don't do it. I should have stuck with Psych.)

I've just never out grown my love for prints and colors. It must have started with the plaid frame glasses. They pre-date the banana shirt. Or maybe it was the moon boots or watching all that Punky Brewster.

At any rate, it all translated into Laura Ashley floral print "Adult Rompers" in middle school, (WTH?) and some horrid tie-dye tee shirts in high school, with tiny rainbow bears dancing in the foreground. Omg.

And did you know that once, I MADE my own "Gone Phishing" shirt!?

I was so special. So, so special. Don't tell anyone.

Sadly, adulthood has not been any kinder. I have this problem, I call it clown-girl syndrome. I'm just so drawn to the big, bursting patterns of Oilily. All the colors of the rainbow mixed together! Boden does a great job with color and print too. If I could wear Hannah Andersson kids, I would.

So I go into a store, or look online, and I'm drawn to colors and prints. Then, I buy something like these:

And wear them, the PURPLE neoprene and rubber boots, EVERY SINGLE DAY, from October through March. Because we all know how much purple boots go with everything. Granted, part of the daily purple boot wearing is because 1.) after funding a total interior and exterior house renovation/move, I was being thrifty, and not about to buy a second pair of boots, and 2.) well, I might have..."lost" my older, more normal colored pair of boots during the move. They're still out there somewhere, hidden in one of the 62,000 boxes. I have yet to find them, it's not for lack of trying. Actually, I think they might have been accidentally given to charity. At least they went to a good cause. Right!?

So I buy all this crazy-town stuff. And because I'm a little slow sometimes, it takes me a week or so of wearing it together, to realize that darn! None of it goes together. Jon never has a negative word to say about my outfits. He's pretty nice about everything. Sometimes I ask him for the truth, but he's always polite about it. This winter was the first time he's ever made an unsolicited comment. An order arrived from Land's End. Their clothes last a long time, I think they're quality made basics, and their petites are cut well. So this order arrives and I put on the outfit that I saw online. A screaming red sweater with giant lapels, a cool-aide purple a-line skirt, grape colored tights, and my lavender boots. And Jon was all "What are you thinking"!? That was startling, a comment from Jon, and it did get me thinking. "Hmm....I might not match"!

Heh. Oops.

Ok, so now I've vowed to never again get into this predicament. I've refused to spend more money on my winter wardrobe, I just have to make do for now with what I have..... a bunch of oddly colored dresses, some dorky Nordic sweater, a bright teal jacket, and a peach and pink quilted mini-backpack. OH.MY.GOD. NO. But YES. It is the ugly truth.

Fear not Lauren, for spring is redemption time! I have a plan!

Oddly enough, non-sensically in fact, I have ALWAYS also loved simple, understated pieces in grays, whites, blacks and neutrals, in tiny prints. I have just never thought I could pull it off. It seemed too mature and sophisticated. I have recently in my old age learned though, that I am now old enough to trade in the hot pink dress with the orange cardigan, for something a little more monochromatic. The plan, my clothes will be a blank canvass, my accessories or my mouth will do the talking.

First, I did some in-depth googling on how French women dress. Then, I took a book out from the library and found my "color season". I am a winter. Lolo is a wintery mix! Therefore, it all falls in place, I supposedly look good in whites, blacks, grays and taupes.

Hey, just today I told my Mom that my favorite color is taupe. I'm changing! I'm becoming a woman!

The plan is, is to find some well made, affordable, NEUTRAL basics that I can mix and match. Then any fun bags or shoes or accessories will be the icing on the Lauren cake.

I'd like to buy clothes from HERE (Madewell Clothing) and HERE (Old Town). Aren't these artisan made frocks dreamy!? They're just a little too pricey. I spill on my clothes and get caught in branches and on rusty nails all the time. I fall down too. In muddy puddles.

Ok, so without further rambling. I present to you my springtime very much hopeful, dream come true wish list:

Step one, some basics:

I've already purchased these three dresses, but they haven't arrived yet. I wish we had a Land's End Store near us that also carried all of their petites line.

Original print V-neck dress. (In Navy/white polka-dot!) This picture doesn't say much. It's not the same print that I bought. If you would like to see the dress, you can click on it. I ordered in navy blue with tiny white polka-dots.

Here is a nice basic, cotton dress. I purchased one in black and one in "Mushroom".

Honestly, before I had the black and mushroom in my online cart, I had selected the wild cherry red and regent blue. I think they would both look pretty, and they're in my "color season"! Omg. But...then I would be going all color crazy again. I really need to be able to mix and match.

This striped jersey knit skirt looked so so so much better in the paper catalogue. You can see the stripes in print. It's in a Chevron pattern, really neat! I would go with the pink marble or the urban khaki.

I think it would be easy enough to find an interesting white tee to go with the skirt. I'm not one for collared white shirts at the moment. Peasant tops are so adorable, but they're too poofy for me.

I do kind of dig this sweet, little peter-pan collared shirt from Land's end though.

I also need to find a white and black or gray short-sleeved cardigan. It should be easy enough at somewhere like Target. I do love this Cath Kidston Lace Stitch Cardigan in white. So pretty.

Here is a Land's End Modern Rain Swing Coat. I know it's a little boring, but it is timeless and will go with any bag, and scarf, and outfit.

I thought about buying my first trench coat, but they were just too masculine for my taste.

All of the above seem boring and mundane, (And seeing it all laid out is actually making me second guess myself) but now for some fun stuff, accessories.......

Only when your Dad is a woman's footwear designer, would you have the following email exchange.......with your Dad.

Hi Dad. I LOVE these Lotta of Stockholm sandals, they are so cute! What do you think!?

Love ya!

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.co.uk/viewitem?itemId=120757023778

Sent from my iPhone

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On Feb 21, 2012, at 10:11 AM, "Scott" <scott@*****design.com> wrote:

> Lauren
>
> These are SWEDISH HASBEENS. Check on Nordstrom.com
>

- Show quoted text -

> Sent from my iPhone=

l******@gmail.com to Scott

show details Feb 21

Dad!

That's so rude ! NOT a has been, a classic! I don't like trendy. Trendy just means you let other people think for you, and tell you what's cool. Think for yourself! Be an individual!

Sent from my iPhone

Ok, now I will show you some Swedish Hasbeens:

Ooooooooh- kaaay. Ooops. I got preeeety mad in that email. It turns out that the name of the shoes is Swedish Hasbeens! LOL. They make some cute shoes. I really like the red, but will probably go for the natural because they'll work with anything.

I also found these Marais flats very pretty:

love this simple, Cath Kidston cross body in "spot". It's understated in a durable oilcloth!

And, how about this GORGEOUS Fossil Key-Per Tote in yellow-multi. Just look at those yellow beetles! :) Click on the Fossil link. It's so worth seeing!

When I saw this retro inspired necklace by Lenora Dame, I almost lost my marbles.

Come to Mama, you little thing.

ANd these puppies:

ANd these kitties:

How about this interesting broach from Clay-pot.com?

Phew! I think that's all I've got for now. Oh! except here is a Coolibar women's SPF hat. I'd like one in mushroom.

So that's that! Do you think I'm getting too boring? All of the neautral colors?