Cleaning up.

I love these keys. I found them in my husband's grandpa's basement after he passed away. I wonder what he was doing in Wheeling Illinois. What the Clayton House Motel looks like. Why he had two keys to different rooms at the same hotel. Plus this bright blue is one my new favorite colors!
I've been feeling like some Spring cleaning is in order. In between Crafty Wonderland in May and various fun projects, a lot of random arts and crafts stuff has accumulated in our little second bedroom. It just feels wrong to dump it off at Goodwill so I was thinking maybe I'll put together craft packs and give them to crafty friends. Wouldn't you love to receive a bag of cute fabrics, ribbons, and other goodies?

Happy Friday.

Even though it hailed today, I'm still optimistically looking forward to Spring. Here are a couple things I love lately.
The top one is from All Buttoned Up and I'm afraid I can't remember where I snagged the bike one. Anyone recognize it?

Weekend Time.

Our weekends are starting to be busier than our weekdays. I thought Saturday and Sunday were time for relaxing! We've got a pretty packed schedule over here so I'll leave you with this blurry photo of The Secret Society bar, where we went for the first time last weekend. They put cayenne pepper in their hot toddies and it is delicious!

shoes.

My Tom's shoes finally arrived and just in time. The weather is amazing today! I'm off to spend quality time with the Mac Store Genius Bar and finally get my laptop fixed.

Liberty of London for Target

Lately I've been so busy that I haven't had time to do my usual running around during the day. I have a few friends that work from home, are unemployed or in school and usually we get together during the day and run errands or grab coffee but unfortunately I've had no time. Which means, I also didn't have time to go to Target and check out the new (beautiful!) Liberty of London for Target line. I love Liberty's prints and I couldn't help myself so I purchased a few things online. I bought a bag, sandals and a dress (which may get returned if it fits funny, which a lot of Target stuff does).
I wanted to get one of their bedding sets too but they were either too pink (which the boy doesn't care for) or too black and white (which I don't care for). It's tough buying stuff for our home sometimes because I really could just live with bright pink everything and that's not really my husband's style. I try to stick with orange, brown, dark blue and yellow and see if I can throw just a bit of pink and purple around without him noticing. Maybe I'll try to get to a Target next week and see if I feel differently about the bedding colors in person because the flowers are really cute!

Rainy Afternoon

Today was one of those typical pacific northwest days, where the sun never comes out and the rain never lets up! I've had this mushroom barley soup recipe from Real Simple printed out for a while (maybe a year?!) and decided that if any day called for warm, delicious soup, it was today.

I sliced over a pound of button mushrooms which was time consuming, but other than that it was an easy recipe that I highly recommend. It says it feeds four, but we have a ton left over! yum.
Rainy days also make me want to shop online for some reason. I bought a much needed pair of black Tom's shoes. Black flats are such a basic for me and I wear through them so quickly. I have needed a replacement pair for over a year!
I've also been eyeing the fujifilm instax mini camera. I love instant photos!

March is in Like a Lion

We headed to Seattle last weekend on the train. We got to see some family and I had a work meeting for part of Saturday. On our way to the train station on Sunday we stopped by Uwajimaya and experienced the awesomeness of Beard Papa's. Look at that cute logo! We ate their huge cream puffs on our journey back to Portland.

Also, something I've been a bit shy about sharing here is my new tattoo. I got the words "love & squalor" on my inner arm, just below my elbow. I love it so much! It's from one of my favorite stories (and authors) J.D. Salinger's "For Esme with Love and Squalor". I love the placement and the ampersand is my favorite part.

And finally, the boy was part of a tribute album "The Dark Side of Hall and Oates" which was released today. I highly recommend you purchase a copy on Amazon now. It looks like Amazon already ran out of their initial number of CDS, but a little birdy told me more are on their way so order away and you'll receive your copy very soon!

Mexico

Mexico was:
relaxing
warm
colorful
delicious
romantic
made me want to go back every year
We had such a wonderful trip full of sunshine, good meals and plenty of surprises. I loved Puerto Vallarta so much. Although most of it is touristy there are little glimpses of authentic Mexico in the late night taquerias, friendly people and fresh squeezed juice being sold around the corner from our hotel.

Simple Jersey Necklace

Since we returned from Mexico, I just can't get back into sweater mode. Luckily we're slowly inching towards Spring now. Anyway, I've been wearing a lot of t-shirts and I wanted to put a cute necklace together to "dress" them up a bit. I made this simple necklace from left-over red jersey fabric I had, although you could totally use an old tshirt. I cut the fabric into 3/4 inch wide strips and then tied together three lengths, making the total length about 2 yards. Then I just wrapped it around and around and tied the ends together. The fabric will naturally roll up on itself but you can help it along by rolling it in between your fingers. I love the look of this necklace and have received a ton of compliments on it already!