So Cute It's Sick

Fashion Friday

I went shopping with my cousins, Christi and Trish, and their friend/neighbor, Alicia Wednesday night.

Alicia, Trish, and Christi

Nordstrom is having their half-yearly sale and I had $150 in Nordstrom Notes to spend! Hell yeah! Check out my new purty purse!

Elliott Lucca 'Casares' 

Yum-O! I LURVE IT! I have been wanting a white purse for years and I never found one that just screamed "BUY ME AND LUUUUURRRRVE ME!". Well, this one does. I never pay full price for a purse and the Nordstrom sales are usually good for a phenomenal deal. Utilizing my saved up Notes got me this purse for $10 + tax - Hells Yeah!

I really wanted this ridiculously awesome Kate Spade, but it was still $229.00 so it would have cost me, what?, $90?

Kate Spade 'Watch Hill - Darcy'

This picture doesn't really do this purse justice, as it is fluorescent, screaming NEON pink. Alas, the girls said the white one was more "practical". Really? All three under the age of 21 and they are telling me to buy something because it is practical? What is wrong with todays youth? lol

They also took me to a brand new(to our mall) store called 'Charming Charlie'. Have you heard of it? It's like a Forever21, but for jewelery. Everything is arranged by color and style and is crazy cheap. I bought this lovely faux-silver-and-pearl pretty for $10!

I also bought a very similar necklace with hematite instead of pearls:

And a ribbon tie choker with large, purple plastic "gems":

Mr. HATES the purple one, so I may take it back. But then he also hates platform shoes and that doesn't stop me from buying them!

Have you purchased anything to get you ready for the summer season?

I want a couch!

Currently we have two chairs in our living room.

We watch a lot of movies and sharing a chair with a dog is not always ideal.

I would really like a small couch/loveseat/settee to put against the window. The chairs can move opposite the fireplace.

If you haven't already heard about Custom Sofa Design, you should check out their website. They have quite a few yummy options for a good bit less than their competitors! They give you fabric options, some designs have custom size options, and they have a link that says "Make it Eco-friendly".

I think this one has potential.

Custom Sofa Design Bay Loveseat

64" long - $649.00.

This one is funky.

Custom Sofa Design Glamour Loveseat

Custom length - $749


I really like this one, but I am afraid it's too modern for us.

Custom Sofa Design Paramaunt Loveseat
Custom length - $549(!)


I thought this was beautiful, but maybe a little too "bordello"? Or is that just the red velvet talking?

 Custom Sofa Design Provencal Loveseat
Custom length - $749


This one is my favorite.

 Custom Sofa Design Bianca Loveseat 
79" W - $849


I think this one may be the best option for the big picture.

Custom Sofa Design Harlem Loveseat
72" W - $649

I also really like this beauty from Crate and Barrel:

 Crate and Barrel Azure Sofa

60" W - $1,599(ouch!)

And this loverly beaut from Macy's, although the loveseat looks a bit stumpy:

Macy's Corona Loveseat

60" W - $649

Check out this bad boy - Looks like something from Alice in Wonderland (This is totally what I would have chosen if you had asked me from the ages of 14 to around 22. Righteous, dude!):

Custom Sofa Design Bellagio Loveseat

Custom Width - $849

So, ladies, what do we think? Which one of these is the best match for our space? I would have whatever we chose covered in a medium-to-dark grey fabric. (Microfiber? Ultrasuede? Linen?) It would be nice if it would not totally clash with the leather sofa that currently resides in our basement:

This is our old house, since I can't find a photo of our basement. The sofa is chocolate brown leather, slightly overstuffed, with bun feet and nailhead trim. Hmmm... Maybe we should just see if it fits. What do you think? (Man, I miss my old house)

P.S.: Nobody paid me to plug any brands here, nor do I claim good quality on any of these options.

Update: Living Room

I thought I'd give you an update on our living room: Nothing has changed!

Except the lamp on the table. I showed you guys my rockin' awesome Crate and Barrel knock-off way back in February.

I did buy some drapes from Target, after seeing them here, but I just was not happy with the way they looked in our space. Obviously they are too short, but that could be remedied with some curtain clips.

The coffee table has got to go. I bought these legs from Ikea back in November with the intention of buying a slab of glass or acrylic to place on top. I thought it would lighten things up and get away from all the dark wood furniture we've got. Plus, neither of us are partial to that coffee table. And it's wobbly, so when the dogs bump it or you put you feet up it moves all over the place! Argh. I started pricing glass and acrylic last week (finally!). That sh!t is expensive! I think I need to just go to Rothman outlet, find a hideous glass 42"-48" coffee table for $100, and toss the bottom. Hmmm.

Does anybody have any experience with glass or acrylic table tops? We had a glass dining room table and it held up well, but I am not sure about coffee table height. Any horror stories, beyond smudgies?

I also haven't found another rug that I am willing to splash out for. I am thinking sisal or seagrass, but I don't know how they will hold up to the dogs rat-claws. Any advice or experiences on that?

Parental Kitchen Remodel: Moving Along

Slowly, but surely, it's all coming together...

Bookcase and Pantry. Can you spot the "manhandles"?

My father fought to keep the old ceiling fan, not sure why, but it is ORB so at least it coordinates. 

They did add a pretty new ceiling medallion, though.

This is probably the tidiest this desk will ever be.

IRL, the climbers look darker, more coordinate-ey, but isn't he funny?

Stove wall with tile in place. Aren't the countertops fab?

The pendants lights are in place, LOVE the spikey-height-adjuster-thingie (that's a technical term, BTW).

And lit. So fun.

She wanted the wall color to "look like a blueberry". You know how sometimes blueberries look almost dusty and sometimes they look rich? Yeah. I don't know the paint color, but it has a weird glaze on it so that it looks 100% different in different lighting. You can tell from the above photos. They were all taken with my camera at the same time on the same day, but it looks navy, gray, royal, etc... 

The electrician ordered the wrong sockets and switch covers, so those are still not in. Obviously the little wire curlie-cues on the pendants will be removed. The glass is still not in some of the upper cabinets. The living room and basement still look like this:

Living Room

This is the finished half of the basement.

There is a pool table under this pile of crap. 

 This is the unfinished, or storage, part of the basement. 

Actually, this is clean(-er than normal).

The guy who installed the floor did not lay it out first, just opened one box at a time and started going to town. So the floor is striped. Grr, right? The rep. from Qu-Cork is supposed to be coming out this afternoon, so we'll see what they say. (They're just going to say it was the installers fault, which it totally was.)

I have no clear idea on when everything is going to be back together with the furniture in place. Someday.

So cute it's sick

If any of you watched Ugly Betty, you may have heard mention of a website she loved called SoCuteItsSick.com. While this website doesn't really exist, there are plenty of ridiculous cute pics and videos all over the web.

Monkey Love

The ice in the big red cup was melting and Gidge could not figure out why the cup was squealing.

Fashion Friday

Have you been to the Gap recently? I hadn't been - until Wednesday. The Gap is not usually in my regular shopping rotation, but I do have some items from there. However, as it is THE ONLY clothing store that has not gone out of business in our neighborhood struggling mall, I stopped in. And was blown away! They have so much cute stuff this season! I was so bad. Check out some of the stuff I got:

This is so freaking cute I want to go back and get it in navy.

These look like jeans, but they are linen! So summery.

So yummy I bought them in khaki too! I feel like I should be on a yacht in these.

This shirt...

...paired with these jeans, make me feel like my name should be Ellie May Clampett. (In the best possible way, of course.)

I have a Banana Republic Visa card that I use for random stuff and they, in turn, send me Rewards. So on top of the $25 off a pair of jeans that the kid at the door handed me, I also used $70 in Rewards. Yay me! Plus, they then gave me a 20% off coupon for completing a survey about my purchases. Not too shabby... 




FYI: I didn't get any free crap for writing this post. {*pssst... "Hey Gap, send me cool shit!"}

Edit: I went back yesterday to get this skirt, which was haunting me:

This skirt is SO CUTE in person!

I intended to utilize my "20% off one full price item" from Wednesday. Well, as it turns out, as of yesterday all skirts and dresses are 40% off and all shirts are BOGO FREE! Including sale shirts. So I bought Mister a shirt:

Got myself the above mentioned stripey shirt in navy AND bought two T's for me (dark grey and white)! I now officially love the Gap.

Have you seen this?

FYI:

http://www.walletpop.com/blog/2010/05/20/target-trunk-recall/?icid=main|main|dl6|link4|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.walletpop.com%2Fblog%2F2010%2F05%2F20%2Ftarget-trunk-recall%2F

Parental Kitchen Remodel: In Progress

I thought I'd share some construction, or "During" shots. They may not be in perfect chronological order, so bear with me.

In order to have this wall removed, they had to re-position this HVAC vent. 

 Here's a view from the opposite side after they moved the vent, but before they tore down the wall structure.

After the studs came down. 

 Look Ma, no kitchen!

 Isn't this an appetizing shot of the dining room? 
Makes you want to eat dinner doesn't it? lol

Contractor replacing the drywall.

View of the beginning work on the island, shot from the dining room.

Further island progress and the pantry/bookcase. 

 View of the island from the laundry room.

The desk area. 

 The sink wall, shot from the laundry room.

Total gut kitchen remodels are looooooonnng process... I cannot imagine DIY-ing something this labor intensive.