Terrain how I love you...

I showed you what Colin bought me for my birthday in late July, which included some super cute recipe cards and kitchen items. Well today we visited the store and cafe where he had picked up a few gifts. Terrain at Styers is a magical place. It's a garden and home extension of the urban outfitters and anthropologie brand located at a garden center in Glen Mills, PA. It's right on route 1 on the way that we drove back to Colin's mom's house in the Philly suburbs from Baltimore, so we went to it often on school breaks and weekend trips while we were at MICA.

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If you are anywhere near Philadelphia, you should visit if you haven't all ready. The store decor is drool worthy, and the cafe has tasty local offerings. If you don't happen to be near Pennsylvania, like me most of the time, they have recently opened an online shop with all of their home and garden offerings. 

These are somethings I spotted today that I loved...

Small Hardwood Ladle 

Large Hardwood Ladle 

Ash Cutting Board

Reclaimed Fir Platter

Birch Pastry Board

I didn't see these recipe cards at the store, but I'll be buying some soon!

I still need to find the perfect wooden box for 4x6 recipe cards...

Letterpress Recipe Cards

Canning Recipe Cards

I'm just like you, only prettier...

I keep telling myself this lately. My ego is really taking a beating in trying to find a job.
Also, there's nothing like a good country song to cheer me up.

ShoeCracy

There used to be this store near Towson in a strip mall called ShoeCracy. I went there once as a sophomore at MICA, when I was supposed to be going to Home Depot across the parking lot for school materials. 

The one and only time I went I got a cute pair of pink peep toe wedges for something cheap like $8. The store was closed every other time I went back to the home depot, which was miserable because I very obviously have a shoe addiction.

Here are some of my favorites that are currently on my footwear wish-list. I wear a size 7.5-8... you know, in case you want to purchase any of these for me.

Also, I have lately had a thing for wedges, which I used to loathe. I love them and I love Jeffery Cambell for making them chic again.

Lahaie Flats from Aldo

Practically Famous Heels from ModCloth

Fornili Heels from Aldo

Dorado Riding Boots from Frye

She Bows What She Wants Heels from Mod Cloth

Latson Flats from Aldo

Jeffery Campbell Two-Tone Oxford Wedges

Kegerrie Flats from Aldo

Seychelles Hawk Wedges

Frye Corrina Campus Wedge

In other news, I leave for the Netherlands with Colin in 4 1/2 days. I would not be surprised if I brought shoes back. That's assuming that I have time to shop for myself when we're not figuring out bank accounts and where the IKEA is at in the Hague. Holla if you want a postcard, I'd be glad to send.

mint green felt flower!

I made a HUGE felt flower brooch tonight!

I attached a pin back, but I wore it here threaded on a ribbon like a headband. I used this tutorial because I loved the dimensional zinna shape. Although I altered the directions. I used WAY more petals than it called for and stitched everything by hand because I was too impatient to wait for glue to dry... I simply used little tack stitches and embroidery floss. And I changed the center just a little.

In total it took about 40 minutes to finish. 

I love mint green, but I don't if this is too loud to wear in my hair everyday...

Sophie Madeleine and her ukelele

Have you heard of Sophie Madeleine?

She had me at The Knitting Song... not to mention I have some major hair envy! Those bangs are amazing!

Here is a taste, knitting, a goody goody cover and a song about beards...

Colin's birthday is at the beginning of September, so I've been slowly stockpiling gifts, some ordered online.

This one item, I won't say what in case he reads this, was ordered on the 9th! The 9th of August! FedEx is projecting it to be delivered on the 19th...

FedEx has to be the slowest shipping company ever. I always ship my etsy orders via the USPS flat rate or cheapest possible shipping, and it almost always gets there within the same week... so I have no idea why FedEx is taking 10 days to ship something from New York to Missouri!

I've sewn a new dress...

One of the things I was really looking forward to being able to do this summer was more sewing.

In school, especially during my senior year, I really had little time for anything that wasn't relevant to printmaking.

This afternoon, I sewed up a new dress. I have stacks of vintage fabric, ready to be used, but I found this silky purple and navy print at JoAnn fabrics of all places yesterday. Usually I end up pretty unimpressed with JoAnn's selection, but this watercolor-y yardage called out to me. 

I drafted a basic pattern, similar to a green dress that I own. Basically just two wrap top portions with ruching at the shoulders, a back piece and a skirt. I even added french seams to make it more finished inside.

This fabric has a really nice drape for a synthetic knit. It also doesn't fray much, making it easy to work with. I think JoAnn's actually classified it as a "silky print". Yeah. 

Here is a really awkward angle for a detail of the fabric pattern. It has lilac, purple, yellowish green, teal and taupe-y gray confetti spots on a navy ground.

Better After feature!

I was featured over on the Better After blog today! 

Go check out my chevron dresser project and lots of other furniture re-dos!

braids...

Cute hair is hard to obtain when the daily temperatures range between 98 and 99 degrees.

My hair doesn't frizz in this heat and humidity, but it does get very very hot to keep down. 

I just put my hair in this cute little double braid side pony (I'm loving the side pony recently!) and thought I would share.

country roots

I am a midwesterner... but I pride myself in being quite metropolitan. Unlike many of my high school and college peers, I grew up in an urban core. I had a french grand-mere, went to private school, own a ring designed by Cartier and went to cotillion dance classes. And by far my cousins considered me the fancy one...

This did not, however, stop my childhood fantasies of becoming a big haired country music vocalist.

My dad's family is all incredibly rural. So rural that I'm showing you where we're from on this map. 

A is for Alton,  Kansas and that is where the Hale family has been from for the last 150 years. Before that we were in Virginia for 230 plus years... yeah, we're a colonial family... Don't even get me started on my wanting to get my DAR.

My dad's family is incredibly tight knit, and has family reunions twice a year, every year. In fact, I've missed the last 10 for being at college "back east". On top of reunions, growing up I had a lot of cousins around my age, so we spent many summers and spring breaks out at the farm too. This equals a LOT of time for a city girl to be exposed to a country lifestyle.

It is because of this that I know how to be country. I have more than a few cousins with hyphenated names. Holla if you have a Billy-Don or a Melva-Dean! All in all I probably have about 65 first and second cousins.

Being country (and having rural country cousins) has taught me to ride a horse, a motorcycle, a dirty bike, four wheeler, go kart, tractor and a thresher. I've learned how to spin a car all the way around, dukes of hazzard style on a gravel road at 70mph. I know how to weld a BBQ smoker out of a 40 gallon drum to smoke a whole hog. I also know how to find a dear or a pheasant in a field (and shoot it so you can mount it) and how to spear a fish in a stream. Mmmhm, pretty darn Country...

Anyways, my fantasies live out now through entire afternoons playing old country ballads and gospel hits on youtube. I get a little hooked, put on a prairie skirt and my cowboy boots and wonder if I can force my accent into a twang.

These are some of my country idols:

I love dance movies...

I saw Step Up in 3-D today. I'll just come out and admit it. 

I like dance movies okay?
And it wasn't that bad. I mean, the acting was a little shaky at best, but the dance sequences were pretty amazing. And since the series took place up till now in Balmer, and I, up till now lived in Balmer, I've felt a connection.

That and a scene from the 2nd Step Up movie was filmed in the main building at MICA while I was working in admissions a few summers ago...

The third installment of the series takes place in NYC, but does have some Baltimore/DC shout outs with some Wale and RyeRye songs in the final dance scenes...

these two songs in particular, Chillin by Wale and Bang by Rye Rye:

New Project

I have a new project in the works. It involves pink and green glitter paper.

Stay tuned...