Simple Bracelet Solution

I recently decided to attempt to wear more bracelets, so I dug out my box of old assorted jewelry to find some.  I went through a huge bracelet phase in high school, but haven't really used them to accessorize in a long time.  (I think part of the reason for this is that I had the wonderful honor of having to wear wrist braces for a year or two due to carpal tunnel, and that period of time broke me of the habit of putting anything else on my wrists.  Gawd I'm cool.)  I've been seeing the trend of layering tons of bracelets on your arm, so I thought I'd give it a shot.  The result:

I kinda like the look, but halfway through the evening I realized that the majority of the bracelets on my wrist were purchased and worn during the golden age of 1999-2001, also known as junior high.  Thus, the following conclusions: a) I do indeed have slight hoarding tendencies, as these bracelets survived the mass cleansing of personal items that happened before my move a year ago and b) If you hold onto something long enough, it WILL become fashionable again.  Who knew power beads could be worn in the new millenium?

After rocking this look for a night and making 13 year old manda OH SO PROUD, I decided I needed a better way to store bracelets to encourage future bracelet wearing.  They currently were shoved away in a box, allowing my "out of sight, out of mind" tendencies to reign supreme--so I wanted something in plain sight.  Enter 40 cent IKEA solution!

I bought a pair of these vases for 40 cents each in the As-Is section of IKEA about a month ago, and they make for the perfect solution!  I can quickly throw bracelets on and off the vase,  and keep them in sight so I remember to add bracelets to my outfit in the morning.  And so, a simple solution to enable...err...encourage my accessory addiction!

Music Monday-Gold Motel

Lollapalooza 6.7.11

As ready as I am for fall and all of its hoodie-wearing opportunities, I will never turn down the sunshine summer feel that a Gold Motel show provides.  This Chicago local band is by far one of my favorites, and I've been to going their shows since they got their start in December of '09. They played a set at Middlewest Fest for the second year this past Saturday, so I took the opportunity to hike out to DeKalb, pick up my brother who goes to NIU, and head to see my favorite locals play.  (with the added bonus of getting to finally check out a Company of Thieves set, and a Tokyo Police Club set!)  Gold Motel's brand of pop is intelligent and so very catchy...best listened to with wayfarers on and the open road in front of you.  (But also effective as an injection of summer for those cold February days!) 

Check out their latest single here.

Flashback Friday-Birthday Edition

My birthday is in 10 days, and I am turning the incredibly-intimidating-and-grown-up-sounding age of 25.  I also have the wonderful honor of sharing my birthday (sorta) with one of my bffl's, Lindz.  She was born on the 18th, and I was born on the 19th, giving me a birthday twin to celebrate with!  (In super cool and coincidental news, we also share the fact that our dads share our birthdates, but in July.  As in, her dad's birthday is July 18th, and my dad's birthday is July 19th. AND her sister has the same birthday as my mom! Weird, huh?)  Our plans for celebrating this year are still in finalizing mode, but I know one thing for sure--it's going to be hard to top our epic celebration of last year.  Since we're birthday BAMF's, we decided to celebrate for two full days.  Some highlights of last year included:

Seeing a fav local band, The Noise FM

Eating crepes at an adorable place owned by a French man

Glow in the dark mini golf!

Going to the grand opening of Chick-Fil-A

Wandering an awesome used book store in Wicker Park

A truly epic celebration...I can only hope this year will be as much fun!  (and equally distracting from the cold hard truth of getting older.)

Throw some glitter, make it rain

File this under things that WILL happen in a future home of mine:

My favorite part is that the best technique to ensure even placement of the glitter is to throw it up in the air as you apply it.  An excuse to throw glitter, AND a sparkly floor as the reward for your efforts?  Sign. Me. Up.

Check out the directions here.

A Belated Weekend Recap

This past weekend was one of those weekends that was crazy busy and full.  Tons of fun, but also a little bit exhausting!  On Saturday I had the honor of attending one of my best friend from high school's brother's wedding.  The ceremony was at the Sheraton downtown, and was so incredibly beautiful and interesting, as it included a traditional Hindu ceremony.  I really appreciated that the priest performed the different sections of the rituals in the native language, but then paused frequently to explain what was happening and why it was significant.  The ceremony started off with the Baraat, in which the groom's side danced into the ceremony to meet the bride.  There were even fireworks and a white horse involved!

The reception was also gorgeous, and filled with dancing. So. Much. Dancing.  My friend's entire family knows how to bust a move, and aren't afraid to get out on the dance floor!  I've already requested that she send me a video of her dad dancing to Twist and Shout, to watch on those days when an anti-cranky serum is needed.  Overall, an incredibly beautiful way to spend my Saturday!

On Monday a few friends and I attempted some Labor Day deals shopping at the outlet mall. As one of my bffl's put it, it was like Disneyland at spring break.  So many people, in every direction you looked.  However, we did manage to score some deals!  We combined our items into one transaction at the Gap Outlet, as I had an coupon with a minimum spending of $75, and we managed to save over $100.  I purchased a gray cardigan, and promptly realized that I have a slight addiction to cardigans.  But I was so excited that we are finally reaching the type of weather that is conducive to cardigan-wearing that I had to celebrate with another purchase!  *cough cough *shifty eyes.  I swear I'm done with cardigan purchasing...mainly because I've pretty much purchased one in every possible color.

In between dancing my nights away and shoving my way through bargain hunting crowds, I did manage to finish up new necklace designs for my Etsy shop.  I'm really happy with how these necklaces turned out!  

Several of the photos I used were taken throughout the summer, so they have bright colors and a summer-y feel.  I also found a new 3-dimensional glue to apply to the backs of the pendants, that gives them a resin-like quality and a more durable finish.  Check them out here!  I'm finishing up a few more designs, so also be on the lookout in the next few days for more jewelry goodness!

Problem Solving, Accessorizing Edition.

Remember when I said I get sad because I can't wear my sunglasses at night? Hello, solution:

I'd like to thank Urban Outfitters for making all my dreams come true.

Glow in the dark sunglasses.  As in, MEANT TO BE WORN IN THE DARK.  As in, built in excuse for why it's pitch black and I have shades on.  Who has two thumbs and falls for silly gimmicks like things that are lime green and glowing?  This girl.  I am nothing, if not a problem solver.

If you're a huge nerd like me, you can buy them here.  

Music Monday-Beirut

A few days ago, this arrived at my doorstep...

...and it has made me happy ever since.  I discovered Beirut a few years ago thanks to the ever amazing Pandora, and have been in love since that day.  His music instantly transports you to Europe, but it never feels like a novelty or knock-off.  I'll be the first to admit I'm a sucker for a good melody, and the melodies of this and his past albums are the simple and clean yet rich and full.  The kind of melodies that stay with you long after you listen.  Zach Condon, the man behind Beirut, explained his love for melody in a recent article, saying: 

"I’ve always been searching for some sort of epic melancholy, I guess. It sounds silly saying it out loud, but it’s the truth. I can remember the first melody that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. It was this haunting Italian aria. My mom put it on. It had a haunting melodic twist at the top of the singer’s range, and I remember thinking, I wish this just repeated and didn’t go anywhere else."

Epic melancholy pretty much sums up his music, so the man has clearly accomplished his goal.  I'm seeing him live at the end of this month, and I couldn't be more excited!

Flashback Friday-Nickelodeon!

I think I speak for most 20-somethings when I say that the most exciting news of this summer was the return of 90's TV shows on Nickelodeon.  I think it's safe to say I watched virtually every show that Nickelodeon offered me in that decade, but my favorites by far were Clarissa Explains It All, All That, and Rugrats.  I remember spending one Thanksgiving, probably in 1991, sneakily trying to watch Nick in between bites of turkey.  Why, you ask?  Because there was a Rugrats marathon going on, and my brother and I had entered a contest where you send in a drawing of your favorite character.  All throughout the day they were showing the winning drawings, and we were convinced our drawings would be shown.  Unfortunately, my drawing of Phil and Lil and his drawing of Tommy never gained TV fame, but it was a fun day of sneaking away at every chance possible to turn on the TV and hope for my art to be shown.

Thanks to this joyous return of 90's TV, I've been able to fill up my DV-R with lots of childhood awesomeness.  The other night I watched an episode of All That, and all of my favorite sketches came flooding back--including Super Dude.  His lactose intolerance and epic battle with the Milk Man always made me feel a little less lame about my own lactose intolerance and allergy to milk.  Kenan's Pierre Escargot sketch always made me giggle too, and probably was a contributing factor in me eventually choosing to learn and fall in love with the French language.  Who knew All That could be so inspiring?

Any other 90's Nick fans out there?  What was your favorite show?

Rainbow Bookshelves

A few weeks ago I helped one of my biffles pick up some IKEA bookshelves she bought off the internet from a couple in the city.  As we met the couple selling them to her, the guy mentioned that he used to organize his books by color, until he got sick of all of his friends making fun of him.  As rainbow order is my organizational technique of choice, I immediately decided this dude was pretty cool.  (I also empathized with the made-fun-of part, as I've had coworkers make fun of me for color coding my apartment keys in the order you use them to open the doors...in my defense, it takes 5 keys to get into my apartment!)  But his comment got me thinking about how one day I'd love to have an entire wall of bookshelves, filled to the brim.  Because my apartment is fairly small, the majority of my books are currently being stored in a closet in boxes...not the most user friendly method.  But, I am resolved to eventually have something like this!

Source

Is that not the most beautiful thing you've ever seen?  I love the junction of form and function, as the books become a focal point in the room!

In related news, I've been working on slowly collecting the Penguin Classics books...I love their modern and graphic colors.  They'd fit nicely in being arranged by rainbow order!