Jewel Box

Mainly obsessing over jewels and lamps these days.
Finally caved and took home this deco-inspired coctail ring last week:


Have been lusting over this necklace from J.Crew, and think I may finally have a reason to add it to the mix:


And then today I fell head over heels for these two:






I die.

Hello Sunshine

Red lipstick and super high heels are the cure to most of life's little problems, including a gorgeously warm and sunshiny day forcibly spent in an office with no windows.

I most prefer this Dior, and these Jimmy Choos, paired with a sundress and pinned back hair.

Jimmy Choo to the Rescue

My only "Black Friday" purchase arrived in the mail. As a public transport comuter, my handbag is like a little sidekick, taking care of me the whole day; this one is like my new best friend. I'll take a quick moment to remember the amazing Marni bag that it's replacing, and look forward to the future with you on my shoulder. I sure love a good hobo.

I think this about sums up my feelings:

HAH! Thanks to the good folks at Wikipedia, you are too much.

shoe closet heaven

Moving makes me wish I owned nothing. I hate it with almost every fiber of my being. It does, however, serve as an excellent period of refocusing my wardrobe into what I love, need, and find myself actually wearing. The looming beginning of sharing a closet that in no way resembles the closet heaven pictured above, in an apartment that is probably similar to the size of the closet above is driving me to re-think every attachment to every single item I own.

"Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

--William Morris

Thanks Will, don't you just know.

Runnin' on Empty [and coffee].

Rarely does a [rather large] glass of wine feel as deserved as when I've worked 26 of the last 30 hours.

Only more so if you've done almost that, and your Aunt died last night. I'm so sorry Friend. (I wish I could have given you a bigger hug and a pint glass of wine.)

Nap in the sun, on the beach, with three gals?

I'd like to make this happen. Right. Now.

Never trust a long-time vegetarian to cook your meat for you. She will undoubtebly use a pan that is too small, drain the fat into your salad dressing jar, and either over or under cook the meat itself. Surely, it will not be seasoned right, because she will have no idea what to season it with, or what it tastes like. Do not trust your vegetarian to make the meaty meal of your dreams, surely, it will not taste as your tastebuds immagine.

Ghost Ride The Whip

Thank you Mista Fab for putting two and two together.

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him."
-John Piper (from his series Desiring God)

This is not becoming a wedding blog

But how amazing is this new Vera Wang [from her Spring 2010]:

So perfect. Huge sigh.

and for a bridal shower, this Dior dress [from Resort 2011]:


And far more realistically, this, for a honeymoon in Turkey:

hey:

Lucky.

I am a girl in love with a lot of things. Lucky for me, number one on that list is my fiance.

There are plants in the window and diamonds on my finger

Last night I got engaged to be married. This afternoon, inspired by all the gardening I'm reading about everywhere as we usher in Spring, we planted a little herb and tomato window garden.

Adventures in "gardening," take one: "Early Girl" tomatoes, basil, rosemary, and sage.

Your Heart is as Black as The Night

Forgot how much I like Melody Gardot, until I heard a song of hers at work today. Sultry and sexy, way to interrupt my day for the better, thank you very much.

Excellence: yes, please.

Take your pick. George Nelson, Edward Wormley, Eero Saarinen, Harry Bertoia, Charles Eames and Jens Risom Playboy Magazine, July 1961 (via The Selvedge Yard)

Happy Spring

It's a gorgeous day in the City, so put on a sundress, paint your nails the perfect shade of red, and listen to this playlist:

*California Stars -Billy Bragg & Wilco
*What Light - Wilco
*To Be Young -Ryan Adams
*Golden - My Morning Jacket
*Fake Palindromes -Andrew Byrd
*Gone for Good -The Shins
*O Valencia! -The Decemberists
*Wagon Wheel -Old Crow Medicine Show
*Chicago -Sufjan Stevens
*You Are The Best Thing -Ray LaMontagne
*Candy -Paolo Nutini
*I Turn My Camera On -Spoon
*Naked As We Came - Iron & Wine
*For Emma -Bon Iver
*Spanish Stroll -Mink De Ville
*White Winter Hymnal -Fleet Foxes
*In The Aeroplane Over The Sea -Neutral Milk Hotel
*The Littlest Birds -The Be Good Tanyas
*July, July! -The Decemberists
*Missed The Boat -Modest Mouse

Baby There's A Shark In The Water

Ryan Adams Makes Metal Record

via pitchfork.com:

Ryan Adams Makes Metal Record

Over on Ryan Adams' website, the alt-country vet has a fun little piece of news: "We're going to begin pressing ORION -- my most legit METAL record -- on vinyl next week. Have a listen to the song below and let us at PAXAM [Adams' label] know if you'd be interested in purchasing one."

The "legit" qualifier is in there presumably because Ryan has played around with joke metal before, primarily through his goofy web-only Werewolph side project. But the song streaming at Adams' site does indeed sound fairly serious, though it probably tilts more toward messy late-80s Pacific Northwest proto-grunge than toward actual metal. There's no soloing, no bottom-heavy riffage, and no lyrics about dragons, but Adams' scratchy growl/whine is pretty impressive. (The Soundcloud tag seems to indicate that the song is called "Electrosnake", which does push us a little further back into "joke" territory.)

Over on the site, there's also a poll where fans can vote on whether or not they'd buy the record. Whatever our intentions, we should all probably vote "yes," if only because the world's a slightly more interesting place when Adams is pulling unabashedly ridiculous moves like this one.

"The world's a slightly more interesting place when Adams is pulling unabashedly ridiculous moves like this one." --A-freaking-MEN.

The Art of Simple Food

I long for a life filled with good friends, good conversation, good food, and good music. Tonight, I had all four at one time, and it was lovely. A wonderful end to a wonderful day.
Switched it up a little and went to a different church this morning. It was a great chance for me to remember all the people that God has made and placed here, serving, living, sustaining; also a great chance to remember where God has placed me.