Too freaking funny. A blog dedicated to the assholes who think uppercase I's are the same thing as a lowercase l. Well, friends--they aren't. I know I'll be spotting these everywhere now.
VISIT: http://lowercasel.blogspot.com
COUNTRY LIFE.
An unlikely source, the Country Living for KMART Collection is pretty good. I haven't seen these in person but if I had a gift card to spend there, this is what I'd acquire.
FRAMES 18 DOLLARS // JAR 3 DOLLARS // BED UNDER 500 DOLLARS MAYBE // BENCH 126 DOLLARS // PLATES 24 DOLLARS // CARAFE 7 DOLLARS // TEA TOWEL 3 DOLLARS // BASKET 19 DOLLARS
George Ranch Historical Park
You wanna see where?
GEORGE RANCH, it's a place my friend Mandy suggested--we took field trips there in elementary; the last time I was there was in high school as an Interact volunteer, when another friend (also named Mandy) and I volunteered at the candle-making booth. We made the front page of our local newspaper. Mandy doesn't recall this so I'm gonna dig up that paper, it's around here somewhere...
the Chapel and the Unity Tree
Whitey Herzog
"I know who you are".
Before touring the grounds, my mom went into this building and found Tiffani--a friend of mine from college/former Saks coworker--who works at the park. That kind of set the stage as a magical coincidence so I already had a good feeling about the place at this point. I'll let you in on some 411 in case you don't know my mother. She talks to people everywhere she goes. Everywhere. Like, once she was on a plane with Whitey Hertzog and said to him "I know who you are".
That's how the story goes, right, Mom? ...anyway.
The buildings are from the early 1900s and were moved to the Ranch from adjacent land. Here are some more pictures my Dad took. Who touched the lens?!
walkway to motor court
the Dance Hall
the 2nd courtyard in front of the Chapel
Jeff Lewis Love.
You guys have to love Jeff Lewis. It's not an option for you not to, just like it's not an option for you to not love Rufus Wainwright. 'Cause it ain't. I'm not forcing you into anything--maybe you just don't know what's good for you?
JEFF LEWIS FLIPS THE SHIT OUTTA HOUSES.
Have you seen his line for QVC? During the last season of Flipping Out I was really anxious for the line to drop and then I kindof forgot about it, but now that the new season's about to premiere it got me thinking about it all over again. Look at some of the awesome shit available--it's even inexpensive! So I kindof delayed on this post and now a bunch of the JLQVC stuff is gone! There's not much left, but I do like both of these inexpensive sets below:
Jeff Lewis Set of Three Decorative Clear Glass Vases $30
Set of Four Multi-Sized Striped Ceramic Vases $21
Dang, now you know what happens when you procrastinate.
More Light to Love.
Round Two. How about some of these gems?
Over Kitchen Table?
Old Bronze Warehouse Shade Pendant $36
Over Kitchen Sink?
American Nail Plate Warehouse Pendant, Navy $74
3-in-a-row on Front Porch Ceiling?
Sea Gull Outdoor Ceiling Light $86
...or this one, 3-in-a-row on Front Porch Ceiling?
Vapor Tight Outdoor Ceiling Light $28
One or multiples in Carport?
Vapor Tight 2-Jar Boat Dock Outdoor Ceiling Light, Black Leather $225
In my bathroom's corner so my hair always looks great when I blow-dry it?
Matthews Fan Co. Directional Ceiling Fan $490-630 (yikes!)
Lover of Light.
The move is over! We had lots of help--16 helpers, thank you guys so much, we couldn't have done it without you!! We're not yet unpacked and there's still two bathrooms and two bedrooms to paint, as well as curtains to hang up in every single room.
The move was over in less than 3 hours on Saturday, so Sunday we took a road trip with friends to the Outlets and I got hooked up at Restoration Hardware--I bought a full suite of replacement hardware for both of our bathrooms for under $60!! I can't wait to paint the bathrooms, get the new brass hardware in and post the results. It's going to be baller.
So now I need new lighting. There's currently a ceiling fan in the kitchen--and I'm not a fan of fans in the kitchen--so we need a light for over the table, I want something special in there, maybe a little large? Our front porch has a broken light, and fumbling in the dark with your keys is never fun, so I'm on the hunt for a new outdoor light to go with our 1950s ranch. Modern? Industrial? Schoolhouse? Barn? WTF do I choose? Since I've got lights on the brain, here's some great candidates for other industrial/schoolhouse lovers via LampGoods on etsy.
Minimalist Pendants with Filament $139
Clear Halophane Pendant Pair $119
Large Vintage Schoolhouse Pendant $219
Minimalist Pendants with Filament $139
I love this army green military pendant for over the sink via Kam Lamp Co.. It's my favorite, I wish there were a bigger version for over the table!
Vintage Minimalist Porcelain Pendant w/ 1945 Military Shade $135
Vintage Minimalist 3-Light Pendant $345
Tears.
The new iPhone 4 commercial just debuted, and it brought tears to my eyes. I have held on to my iPhone (1st generation) since it first came out, and am really excited to be due for the major upgrade of the 4g... but this commercial is too sweet, so I wanted to post it along with another of my other favorite commercials. What are yours?
Moving Day.
We're moving tomorrow! We've been packed all week, and have exhausted ourselves in preparation for the move--we've painted, pulled up carpet, cleaned and had take-out every night this week. We'll finally get out of our walk-up apartment and get into a house with a giant backyard. Sayōnara and konnichiwa.
Heliotrope Home + DISCOUNT!
Heliotrope is a Decatur, Georgia-based shop that carries a ton of awesome home decor and accessories including Jonathan Adler pottery, Thomas Paul, Pantone and Kikkerland to name a few.
They're celebrating their 4th year in business with a special 20% discount off all items through June 23. Visit heliotropehome.com and enter code thanks for 20% off storewide!
Here's what I want--including a good Father's day gift for anyone else who, like me, has an Engineer-Dad, the Pop Quiz clock! I'm sure my Dad could come up with some reason this is mathematically incorrect, but it would be funny anyway.
Clockwise, from top left:
POP QUIZ CLOCK was $32 with discount $25.60
TRIPLE DROP VASES was $35 with discount $28
DASH + ALBERT 6 x 9’ STAFFORDSHIRE RUG was $176 with discount $140.80
THOMAS PAUL LUDITE PENCIL CASE was $12 with discount $9.60
CARDINAL SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS was $10.95 with discount $8.76
ONE SKETCH A DAY was $15.95 with discount $12.76
KIKKERLAND PAPER BIODEGRADABLE STRAWS was $1.99 with discount $1.59
UMBRA FISH CONDO was $24.95 with discount $19.96
PATCH NYC FEDORA CANDLE was $32 with discount $25.60
WOODEN CARPENTER’S FOLDING RULER was $3.99 with discount $3.20
CHARLEY HARPER: AN ILLUSTRATED LIFE was $49.95 with discount $39.96
Tell me what you got in the comments, I'm nosy like that!
St. Louis; HELLO DEFINES
We just got back (a week ago!) from St. Louis for the first annual Define family reunion. My plan was to walk around and say "Hello, Define!" and snap all the Define's pictures to do a really awesome blog post celebrating its' namesake--but I was having too much fun and forgot! ..I took photos, just didn't represent the whole family... I'm sorry Defines!!
Saturday was Steven's 26th birthday and I wanted to surprise him, so my aunt Nancer and uncle Kevin picked us up from the airport--unbeknownst to Steven who was looking for my Dad--and we headed down to the Forest Park/Washington University/Loop area for Cheddar Burgers and Shiner beers (YES IN MO.!) at the infamous Blueberry Hill--where Chuck Berry still plays!
Blueberry Hill//Steven's apropos DEFINE "GIRLFRIEND" t-shirt
Then we went to the rooftop deck of our hotel, the Moonrise and had great drinks and awesome views of Delmar in the Loop.
the Moonrise Hotel
Moonrise
Moonrise's Eclipse cafe/bar
Saturday we walked up and down Delmar and had waffles and cafe du monde at Meshugga Cafe, found a sofa I really wanted to ship to Houston, then walked to Forest Park and took a paddle-boat through the park to Art Hill and got a little sun.
We checked off the must-have foods: Lion's Choice, Imo's and Steak 'n Shake--and had dinner at Louis & Clark's in St. Charles for Steven's birthday.
uncle Rob's taking sneaky photos at Louis & Clark's
No explanation.
Giggering Steven.*
Aunt Sue in my 1950s Ray Bans
Sunday was the reunion at Rabbit Run Park--it was really awesome to see all the Define's again in better circumstances, but we all missed my Granddad. I talked to my great aunt Yolande Define the most, she told me stories about the early Define days and we talked about my upcoming wedding plans.
This is the only attempt I made at a group shot. I missed like 30 Defines.
Throw it, girl.
My cousins Eric + Lindsay in background v. my cousin Nick and his girlfriend Marissa playing Polish Horseshoes.
Steve and Dad wearing their Houston T's in the Lion's den of Cards fans... and Mom up close.
Mom and Dino
Al, Mom, me and Mike -- I took this one from my mom's cousin Barb from facebook
Monday our flight departed at 5 so we wanted to pack in a trip to the Arch--my most treasured place in this damn city. It is impossibly giant, soars so far into the sky that its' pinnacle disappears into the clouds. I never tire of the Arch. It always amazes--Steven and I took a photo in the same spot as we did the first time I brought him to St. Louis in 2006, so that's awesome to see how we've changed.
the General American Building - from "Up in the Air"
Bless America and PERSEVERE
GATEWAY ARCH
Our nation's tallest monument at 630ft.
Me, Mom, Al, Nancer and Steven
Original Busch Stadium Seats in the special exhibition Baseball: America's Past time
Just cheering. Reraxing all cool.
Mom and Nancer
Same spot as in oh-six.
Driving to Steak 'n Shake... bye-bye Arch!