Birthday Weekend

Tomorrow is my birthday and I'm hoping to have a lovely day. Josh asked me what I wanted to do and I replied that I'd like to go to my favorite museum, the Amon Carter, and have a game night with my family. So, that's what is on our agenda. There are two photography exhibits at the Amon Carter I want to see- one focusing on landscapes and the other on work. I've picked up all my favorite snack foods for game night and Mom is going to make some German chocolate cupcakes for me. I don't know if I'll do it on my actual birthday, but I'm also hoping to use some gift cards to pick up a few items I've been eyeing. There are some nude flats at Payless that I want, and a scarf at Old Navy that's piqued my interest. I'm also planning on getting a new necklace, to replace a duplicate Christmas gift that was returned. And Josh's mom got me one of the necklaces I asked for at Christmas, but didn't receive. It's shaping up to be a stylish birthday this year!


















Skeet McAuley (b. 1951)
Navajo Housing Project, Chinle, Arizona, 1984 , 1984
Dye destruction print
Courtesy of the artist and Barry Whistler Gallery, Dallas
Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, Texas, Gift of M. Lee Hutchins
P2009.7.22

Goodies

While Josh is in the UK until the 19th, I've got a lot of free time on my hands. Surprisingly school work has been slow to pick up. Holly came over yesterday and we went to lunch and then to check out the new J. Crew store over by my office. Luckily there weren't any sale items out yet to catch my fancy. Somehow that didn't stop me from spending too much though, as we also went to Anthropologie and Old Navy. I got two of the striped sweaters, the other one in black and cream. Everything but the last top is from Old Navy. The roll-necked tee is from Anthro. I also picked up a 40's style teal sweater there, but can't find a pic of it.

New Year

Well, it's a new year now, isn't it? Josh and I spent NYE day celebrating the 1st birthday of our best friends' twins, and then spent a quiet evening at home watching Simpsons, snacking, and doing laundry. Exciting I know, but there's nothing else I would rather have been doing.

New Year's Day was a marathon shopping day. Holly picked me up and we grabbed some breakfast before heading to Stephanie's. I got to play with the twins a little more while she finished getting ready. Then we headed to Home Goods, Ikea, and lunch at Chili's. Steph went home, and Holly and I moved on to Anthropologie and Target. I got several cute things at Anthro, including the Hop, Skip, Jump skirt that I wore to work today. At Target I got some great basic sweaters on sale, a second pair of jeggings, and a new belt, all of which were paid for with gift cards. Then we went back to my house and I forced Holly to help me make some new outfits with my purchases so I knew I didn't waste my money. Holly left, I tidied up and went to bed.

Josh had been in Houston for a show and driven back w/ a bandmate, arriving home early in the morning. We both slept in Sunday, however I got up before him and worked on framing up some photos for our bedroom over coffee and some Bob Newhart Show. Once he was up I had moved on to watching some Simpsons and started putting together the new drawers I'd bought for my closet at Ikea. I went to work installing them, which led to a reorganization, which led to some closet purging. I worked on Josh's side a little bit too. It took me quite a while, but I finally got things just the way I wanted, including a new pull out peg rack that stores my necklaces. I showered and we made a late run for groceries. So, all in all, the first weekend of the New Year was pretty darn productive.


Oooh, aaaah, organized.

Whoa

Wow, I haven't updated at all this week. I've been busy with field trips, voting, keeping Josh and I fed, belated grocery shopping, and the past weekend was full of Halloween parties. I got an A on my second English paper, a 95 on my Math test, and I'm impatiently awaiting the grade for my second History Essay, so all is going smoothly with school. Tonight I'm going out for tacos with the girls, and most of this weekend will be spent cleaning house. Conan returns to TV Monday night, and we'll be hosting a dozen or so friends to watch the premier. So excited to be able to see my favorite funny fella on my television again!

In other news, in a short two weeks they are opening an Anthropologie store across the street from my office. Look for my declaration of bankruptcy about two weeks after that, ha. They are also bringing an H&M to the area, but it will be in Dallas so it's not as much of a threat to my financial stability. Such pretty things will soon be so closely within my reach. Well, of my hands. Not so much of my pocketbook. ;)

Cowl-necked Confession

It's barely out of the 90's here, but I am yearning for lots of comfy fall fashions. Loving this sweater from Old Navy, as well as about half of their other new sweaters. Alas, I can only window shop for now. My pocketbook will thank me. It better!

Bad Blogger

Oof, I've been a bad blogger lately. I guess I've just been preoccupied with other things. I did end up going shopping this past weekend, but did not end up walking out with those shoes or the plaid top. I did get the chambray shirt though, along with a corduroy vest and a $19 pair of jeans. Not too bad, I guess.

Tonight I get to leave work a bit early so Josh and I can get to Dallas for the Telegraph Canyon/Built To Spill show. It's the Granada Theater's 6th anniversary and they invited a bunch of local bands/music scene people for free. And I mean FREE- free entry, open bar for the hour before the show, free food, and a couple of drink tickets for during the show. Very excited!

Friday I've got an all-day orientation at school. Feeling a little awkward about it. I still feel a bit like a character from 21 Jump Street, as if my youthful looks are merely a tool for my nearly 30 year old self to get the inside scoop. Except I don't want the inside scoop. I just don't want the cool kids to make fun of me, and I think I'll be fine from there. (Are there cool kids at a community college? Besides the ones in that TV show, I mean.)

And Saturday me and my bestie Steph get to go to an event at a Carraba's in Plano, thanks to Foodbuzz. We'll get the inside scoop on their kitchen, recipes, stuff like that I guess. And some yummy food, for free.

Actually, now that I think about it, I get a free lunch at orientation too. Free food seems to be the theme of this week! And insides scoops, since I've used that phrase twice in this post, ha.

Back To School Shopping

I technically don't need much more than my textbooks and a big notepad. Lord knows I've got plenty of pens, notecards, highlighters, and such around my house. But that doesn't stop the intense urge to do some back to school CLOTHES shopping. Realitiscally is doesn't stop the urge to buy a bunch of pretty highlighters either, but I can manage to deny those urges. I'm really liking these items at Old Navy. I might have to stop in and pick up the chambray shirt. I've been dying for a J. Crew one, which would probably be a bit nicer than the ON version, but at a quarter the cost I think I can live with a little less quality. :)

New Dress

I was finally able to order this dress I'd been pining for from Anthropologie. I showed it here once before. I ordered it Monday night and it arrived yesterday! Wrapped in adorable tissue paper and my invoice had it's own little linen bag. This was, sadly, the first item I've purchased from Anthropologie and they have wooed me well, as you can tell. Not to mention the dress itself is fabulous; just what I was hoping it would be. It is the perfect shade of green and fits wonderfully. Think this is what I'm going to wear when we go to MEET CONAN O'BRIEN. Sorry, I really am still that excited about it. I gotta get some shoes, maybe a belt and, maybemaybe a necklace. But I love the dress as is and can't wait to wear it.

Momma wants a Brand New Bag

I am trying to think up some ways to get some spending money. Between taxes, car repairs, being out sick, and a firm desire to take a vacation or two this year I am very low on spending money. Josh makes extra money by playing gigs with Back In Black and his other bands. If only I had such a skill that I could easily monetize! I replied to an ad on Craigslist today from an event coordinator looking for an assistant for the occasional weekend wedding/party/corporate function. We'll see if anything comes of that. Looking for someone to clean your house? Maybe you'd be interested in discussing the stocking of your freezer with some meals? I enjoy pulling weeds. Perhaps I should put up my own Craigslist ad: "Girl desperate to shop willing to trade domestic skills for cash." Because I wants:

Christmas Plans

The past week or so I've been trying to decide what decorations I would like to buy for Christmas this year. I cleaned out a lot of our old, discolored hand-me-down ornaments after last Christmas. It made sense to me to have a bit of a fresh start for our first Christmas in our new house. I didn't realize just how stressful I would find narrowing down my choices for our new decorations would be. Don't get me wrong, it's the fun kind of stressful! But so many ornament options! But here's the general idea I've put together. I've already gotten 4 wreaths and a roll of red velvet ribbon. I plan on hanging them in the front windows by a loop of ribbon with a bow on the bottom. I will hang our same old wreath on the front door, with the addition of an small wooden "H" that I plan to paint with gold glitter paint. I have a couple lengths of garland that I will trim the front porch in and a few faux white and red poinsettias added to it for some color. I hope to be able to put some classic white house lights up, but was waiting until we get our gutters installed and I'm waiting on the color samples to get that under way. That pretty much covers the outside decor for this year. And for the tree I think I've settled on a similarly classic selection of ornaments in red, green, silver and gold along with pine cones, snowflakes and the several boxes of icicles that we kept last year. Then our smattering of personal ornaments that always hang on our tree. I know we'll put white lights on our tree, and in the past we've also put colored lights on- not sure if I'll do that again or not. And there's definitely some bargain hunting involved here because I'm doing it all with the gift cards and money that my dad and sister's were super kind enough to give us for our housewarming. I got the wreaths and garland for 50% off and ribbon 30% off, so I'm off to a good start I think. :)





















House photo found via Between Naps On The Porch