can't-afford-it-friday

sigh.

true confessions: i'm obsessed with kate spade. you're probably thinking...wasn't she a thing when we were in, like, high school? maybe. i was too busy trying to tame my traffic cone hair back then to focus on my clothes. but i am making up for lost time and love. her.

i mean, it's pretty easy to tell why. the prints! the styles! THE COLORS. it's like someone looked inside my brain and found all the things i love and put them in a designer. everything is so BRIGHT. she makes it look like summer all year 'round. but, of course, it's completely out of my reach. one day, a long time ago, i found a pair of lace-up-the-leg red canvas kate spade flats for $20. it was the best fashion day of my life. but, since that was the peak, it's all been downhill from there and i'm left to only lust at the things i'll never someday when i'm rich and famous be able to afford.

didi heels

anemone josie dress (anemone!)

cobble hill leslie handbag

piper stud earrings

crystal kaleidoscope necklace

happy friday!!

your best friends' clothes

sorry for the absence! i decided to take four days off from grad life and head back to portland. my "happy birthday, oregon" entry made me nostalgic, i think.

but today, i would like to talk about your best friends' clothes. and how to make them your own.

over the summer, my friend zoe (with umlauts) was thinning out her closet in preparation for a trip abroad. when i was at her house one day, she had put out a collection of dresses that she was giving away. i managed to get away with an excellent checker print belted dress from england, and a lovely teal h&m party dress. i don't have pictures of these things right now, so i drew you a picture (but not of the checker dress, because that was too hard):

isn't it pretty? it also sparkles which makes it perfect for the evening times. 

a few weeks later, my friend colleen was also cleaning out her closet. i ended up taking away a blue cashmere sweater, and a lovely pink spring skirt, both from j.crew. here is my artistic interpretation of those pieces:

in other news, drawing things on paint is hard. i don't know how hyperbole and a half does it. 

i really like swapping clothes with my friends because i really hate thrift stores. i really hate thrift stores because i am a germaphobe, especially when it comes to other peoples' germs, especially when they're people i don't know. the benefit of swapping clothes with my friends is that i know zoe and colleen are clean, hygiene-observing people, so my germ-alarms do not go off.

organizing clothing swaps with friends can be as all-out as organizing a whole event with food and wine, or as simple as just putting things in bags and letting someone sift through them while you do other things. give it a try! and let us know what treasures you come away with....

comfort tuesday

hullo loves. like everyone else in the country, i have succumbed. i'm sick. i know it's been a while since you've heard from us, so i thought i'd quickly throw together my four favorite things for sick, rainy tuesdays. 

1. capri blue volcano candle, currently burning next to me. the description cracks me up: tropical fruits, sugared oranges, lemons, and limes, redolent with lightly exotic mountain greens. hilarious. 
2. yogi tea; egyptian licorice blend. totally sweet. totally delicious. it probably also has a hilariously overwrought description but i'm too lazy to get the box. maybe later. 
3. stranger than fiction. my favorite film in the history of ever. really. wonderful for everyone, but especially delightful for literary-types. 
4. warm and fuzzy blankets. i've got my eye on these pretties from mexchic.
5. (bonus) my cat, creature, on my lap.


what comforts you when you're sick? feel better, america. 


cheers, loves.

i can't afford it friday

hey loves. remember those slick glasses from a couple weeks ago? well, here's what i'd wear them with.

*top and bag from ruche 

*jeans, heels, and hat from anthropologie (hence the appropriateness of this post for "i can't afford it friday"

*and of course, my beloved fleet foxes

print palooza

apparently, an entire week has gone by since i've posted. yowza. i'll try to work on that, shall i? anyway, here are two lovely print shops for a pretty thursday morning.

the brilliant magpie

the brilliant magpie is a huge etsy shop with tons of watercolor prints by amy abshier reyes. and although i think these postcard-sized prints are lovely and interesting on their own, the price tag certainly helps: $5 for a gen-u-ine art print. these would make great gifts, don't you think?

the animal print shop

i am absolutely obsessed (really) with sharon montrose's animal prints. i want all of them (although maybe especially the camel... or the fox... or the geese... or the kangaroo... and holy crap, when did she add the baby porcupine?). just as a note: i gave a friend of mine the baby giraffe print at her baby shower for the nursery, and it was a huge hit.

cheers, loves, and happy thursday (it's the new friday).    

postscript: if you check out anything from that embarrassingly gushy list, it should be the baby porcupine. trust me.  

happy birthday, oregon!

so, here's something about me: i really despise valentine's day. this is saying something, considering how much i like the color pink. but being single on valentine's day is like being muslim on christmas (which i also have experience with): you can choose to celebrate it in your own way, but in the end, the holiday's not really meant for you.

which is why i am thrilled to let you know that oregon and arizona's birthdays both fall on february 14th. this is great because it gives me something to celebrate. so in honor of oregon's birthday, here are some fun and lovely things that come from the beaver state:

1. great music.

picture from pitchfork

oregon is home to literally thousands of bands. i'm choosing to feature the decemberists because even though they've hit mainstream, they're quintessential portland/oregon. other notable bands from oregon (or with band members from oregon) include blind pilot, blitzen trapper, elliott smith, yacht, sleater-kinney, pink martini, the dandy warhols, menomena, starfucker, the thermals, and yes, courtney love. she grew up in portland!

2. amazing food and drink.

pretty much anywhere in oregon has great food and drink. the coast has awesome seafood. eastern oregon is home to the deschutes brewery. and portland has tons of brewhouses, distilleries, the mcmenamin's brothers pubs (highly recommend the kennedy school and the cornelius pass roadhouse), amazing desserts (especially at the rimsky-korsakoffee house, the pied cow, pix patisserie and papa haydns), great dinner (old spaghetti factory was born there, also montage and a good selection of ethnic foods), and great happy hours (portland city grill suddenly becomes classy AND affordable, and bartini is a favorite).

the cornelius pass roadhouse, one of my favorite spots

3. wonderful arts and crafts

you don't have to go far in oregon to find beautiful things. saturday market is full of fun crafts of all kinds, for all kinds of prices. two of my favorite oregonian artisans are beggar's tomb silver (i am obsessed with those brushed silver ginkgo biloba earrings) and yed omi (she makes the jewelry i wish i could make). 

ginkgo earrings from beggar's tomb silver, image courtesy of that site

4. a million other things, like...

- tillamook cheese

- pendleton blankets

- marionberry everything

- the oregon country fair

- bicycle culture/rancher culture/cowgirl culture/outdoorsy culture/hipster culture

- farmers markets and farms galore

- everything roses

- moonstruck chocolates

- burgerville sustainable fast food

- oregon wines and vineyards

- and a dozen other things that i'm sure i'm forgetting.

so happy 152nd birthday, oregon! thanks for everything, we love you!

can't-afford-it-friday

okay. get ready for a can't-afford-it-friday double feature.

so i've never really been a tiffany kind of girl...i like their things just fine (i'm a sucker for silver), but i can't get behind how much they charge for their pretty things. i just finished reading (don't make fun of me) lock and key by sarah dessen...nothing like a little teen lit for a grad student. anyway the main object of significance in this book was a key-shaped necklace and as i read, i started thinking about how i really liked the sound of it. if i had the dough, i would drop it on this (tiffany & co fleur de lis pendant):

Picture courtesy of silverjewelryblog.net

and secondly, i LOVE pretty prints, and i REALLY LOVE this one:

Picture courtesy of the Keep Calm Prints Gallery

i am constantly longing to be at the beach and this would be perfect in my future dream beach house that doesn't exist yet. or on my wall. bring on the beach!

happy friday! bisoux!

it's funny 'cause it's true

Print by Casey Ohngren. Want. 

yellow owl workshop stamps

valentine's day cards did not happen this year, to my sadness and embarrassment (i looove making cards). i had the greatest idea, too... maybe i'll throw together a digital version and post it here. however, lest you think i've lost my crafting mojo, i wanted to share these delightful (and relatively inexpensive, especially if you use them a lot) stamp sets from yellow owl workshop, a store which, p.s., also sells amazing cards and pendant necklaces.

there are about a gazillion more of these, each of which is delightful. just sayin'.  

cheers, loves.  

fun with food

my cherry amour for this week is my new waffle maker:

Image from the Googs.

i bought this waffle maker in an after-christmas sale for really cheap. i'd never made waffles before, but there were elephants involved in this adventure, so i decided to give it a try. let's look at a picture i took of the wafflely part:

as you can see, you can make elephant, lion, and clown-shaped waffles. the clown ones are a bit weird so i usually just end up with a lot of cats and pachyderms. it heats up quickly, and the non-stick iron works like a charm - clean up is extremely minimal. i don't have any pictures of the waffles i made because i ate them all, but rest assured that they were the cutest waffles of my life. making waffles is now a critical part of my sunday morning routine. highly recommend.

if you want more information, click.

and if you have any waffle recipes you'd like to send my way, i would much appreciate.

bisoux!

sunday supplement

a little something to tide you over until our next post...

from the stylings of jason polan, as seen on design crush.

don't you love it?

i can't afford it friday

hullo amours. i'm thrilled to introduce our first ever regular feature. we're calling it "i can't afford it friday." kathayoon and i are dedicated to featuring design and style that is actually accessible for those in our income brackets on this blog, but that doesn't mean we can't dream. so every friday kat or i (or both of us) will feature something we love, something we can't live without... only, we have to. 'cause it's too expensive.

first up are these wood frame glasses (with clear lenses!) from la garconne ($208). i don't actually need glasses, but have always wished that i did (don't think i don't hear you groaning, glasses wearers). i would have absolutely no problem donning a pair of poser glasses, especially if they were as pretty as these. in fact, i think they would make me more believable as a phd candidate. can i consider them an investment in my intellectual future?  

glasses from la garconne via i am a greedy girl. le sigh.

cheers, loves. 

airbnb

i think our blog's motto (style, fashion, and design for the overambitious and under-funded) is particularly appropriate, in my case at least, when it comes to travel. my travel plans are invariably overambitious (a week's stay at a cottage in the woods! yoga class every morning! in-house massage!) and deeply under-funded (helloooo two nights max at the hyatt). so i think my absolute obsession with airbnb.com, a website in which real-life people list real-life properties, including full apartments/houses and room to rent, is understandable. many of the apartments/rooms are shockingly affordable (although there are some fantasy apartments, too), and you can list your own place (note: if i had discovered this sooner, i would absolutely have listed our apartment in portland anytime I knew we were going to be out of town). anyway, see for yourself (note: these are all full apartments/homes for rent. there are many, many rooms for much cheaper):

"apple a day" schoolhouse in andes, ny: $105/night

101 central apartment in reykjavik, iceland: $123/night

pacific view cottage in occidental, ca: $110/night

and one fantasy: 

oliko suite on santorini, greece: $534/night (but it accommodates 4!)

cheers, loves.