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!  

It'sa me, Mario!

Last friday was my older brother's birthday (he turned the age of officially old!) and I decided I wanted to go all out when making his birthday cake.  It didn't take long to settle on a Mario cake, as much of our childhood was spent with his hands on a Nintendo controller and me looking on as he fought Bowser.  (when he DID let me play, I ALWAYS had to be Luigi...but that's a story for another day.  I'm not bitter, I swear.  Not.  At.  All.)  I've worked with fondant a bit, as I worked at a cupcake bakery for awhile in college, but this was my first big girl attempt at fondant cake.  It only took all of Friday, until the wee hours of 2am, but I was able to make something pretty cool I think!

I'm not gonna lie, watching the cake getting cut into was a BIT painful.  But he really liked it, so the 2am delirium was definitely worth it! 

Music Monday-Cold War Kids

For the first time in far too long I've been able to pull out my cardigans and the adjective "chilly" when interacting with the weather as of late.  While I'm certain it will return to scorching just as soon as I settle into chilly, the change in temperature has firmly planted ideas of fall in my mind.  Fall has always been my jam, my favorite season for sure.  Cooler temperatures, school supplies, changing colors, cardigans, my birthday month.  And I always find myself changing my music wardrobe at the same time I pull out the hooded sweatshirts.  I'm not 100% ready to retire my summer tunes (I've still got a few more windows-open-sunglasses-on car jam sessions in me!) but I've already started listening to the more mellow fall material.  The stuff that makes you turn inside and think think think.  Cold War Kids fits that bill perfectly, and has been on repeat in my Itunes for the last week or so!