Decor Inspiration + Cruise countdown

I have talked about it before but it's time again! Have you ever walked through an Anthropologie store? To me, the most fun part about it are the displays. Our Tampa Anthropologie store is my favorite and my mother's. We love the set up of that one. The bedding, oh the bedding! And just how they set up the store overall. I have never bought clothes there because it's either too pricey or it doesn't fit. I know they have clearance too, which is where I always head to! I have gotten mugs, home decor, housewares, etc there for low prices. Maybe one day I will snag a piece of clothing on clearance.

The store inspires me!

1. Anthropologie, 2. Anthropologie, 3. Anthropologie,
4. anthropologie craft room window display 2, 5. anthropologie, 6. Anthropologie

Oh and it's one month until we go on our cruise! I am so excited! I found a picture of the ship we will be on "Carnival Inspiration", docked at Cozumel which is where we are going! Woohoo!

From flickr.

Tips for making bunting/flag banners

I have a guest post up over at Oh, My darling today with tips for making bunting out of fabric or paper. Some of you may remember the flag banner/bunting I made for my mom that I shared here. I have tips for making that over there!

Exercise bike, take 2

Over a week ago I mentioned us getting a new exercise bike. Well, within 2 days we were unhappy with it. The seat was really hard, the easiest tension setting felt too hard, it started making a squeaking noise, and something was weird with the frame. We were disappointed after being excited about this new bike, and we decided to return it.

We finally had a chance to go to Sears on Wednesday night and sit on bikes that were on display. We found one that we both really liked but it was more $ than the one we returned. But it had a very cushy seat, nice tension settings, a heart rate reader, plus pre-programmed workout settings. We went home to ponder.

We decided by Thursday that we wanted to buy it! So my husband went and got it and brought it home, we set it up, and tested it out. And we love it! I think the increase in price(about $90 more) was well worth all the pluses of this bike. I look forward to using it and not having a sore bum afterward. :P

It looks like this:

Vintage Thursday: Room Inspiration

First of all, I love the look of this living space:

It was part of an Etsy Finds email about someone's home decor(the Sunday emails), months ago.

I'd love to make something similar, color-wise, in my son's room. He is now 2 1/2, not a baby anymore! :( His room still has some baby things mixed with more "big boy" things. But it needs to be a little more big boy now. Awww. That feels weird!

His walls need paint. They are boring white right now. I want to paint them a blue probably, not sure how dark. But I love all the colors against the blue wall above.

So here are my Etsy picks of what I would add to my son's room to give it a cute, vintage look:

Recent activities

I thought that I would post a summary of what I have been up to recently.

Making fun picture effects on picnik.com. This one was first "1960's" followed by "HDR-ish".

This one was the best! We went to Downtown Disney on Saturday! It's in Orlando right in the same area as Disneyworld. But Downtown Disney is free. Free parking, free to walk around. It was a rainy day but we went anyway. We walked through the rain to go eat at the Rainforest Cafe, which is located there. We hadn't been to one in almost 6 years. It's a treat!

It was Kavi's first time and he was unsure at first. It IS a lot of take in, it's so fun and decked out with fake rainforest-like trees and animals. Lots of rainforest sounds, moving animals, and fake thunder and lighting storms every so often. We had a blast! When we were done eating, most of the rain was gone.

Then we walked around for awhile outside. There are lots of Disney shops, toy shops, snack and treat shops, and fun! We took Kavi on a little kiddie train ride they had. We watched an audience dance along to dances shown by a guy on a stage. It was a wonderful time, despite the soggy weather.
Then...
Sunday I set up that cool frog tent for my son to play in. We got it on clearance at Target in Feb 2009 for like $8! Can you believe it? Then yesterday I made eggplant parmesan for dinner. It was so good! I have eaten eggplant parm many times, how could I not since I am part Italian! But I had never made it myself. I gave a recipe a go and loved it! Check out the recipe.

I've also been making lots of new jewelry! And then taking lots of pictures, then editing all those pictures, then listing them on Etsy. Whew! It takes awhile! I don't have everything listed yet that is in the picture above, just some. And I have more things that still need pictures taken.

Sometimes life can get boring and repetitive, so I am happy that we have done some things lately that aren't the usual. I am glad I have motivation for making new Etsy stuff too.

HGTV Design Star

I'm not sure if anyone else watched this summer's HGTV Design Star. The finale was last night! The woman above is Emily Henderson, the winner! I think she is a cute gal. I have liked a lot of her clothing choices while on the show. She wore a lot of blue. There was a blouse she was wearing on yesterday's episode that I love but I couldn't find pictures of her wearing it online. She has a blog: The brass petal.

Below are some of her designs. You can also click here to see more of her design portfolio.

And I wanted to say hi to new followers of the blog! I appreciate it! I hope you enjoy and stick around!

Flashback Friday: Disney

Walt Disney World Orlando, Magic Kingdom Oct 26th, 2009

I can't believe it's been almost 10 months since we went to Disney! We went on my birthday since I got in for free(bday promo they held last year), and Kavi was free for being under 3 years old, so we only had to pay for my husband to get in. It was my husband's first time and Kavi's first time. I hadn't been in 10 years myself. I couldn't wait for my husband and son to experience some of the things I had when younger.

I remember telling my husband before the day of going that it's going to be magical. He said, "don't get my hopes up too high! What if it felt so magical to you because you were younger, or because it had been so long since you went. What if it doesn't feel the same anymore?"

Well, after we were at Disney for a couple hours I asked him, "So, does this feel magical to you?" And he said, "Yes!!! It really does." :)

It was such a fun day. We took Kavi on tons of rides and not just the toddler rides. We even went on Pirates of the Caribbean with him. I think he was still too young to know that skeletons are supposed to be creepy because they didn't phase him on that ride. I think now, he wouldn't like it at all and we wouldn't be able to take him on that. If you weren't a reader during that time, you could read up on our adventure that day here.

Vintage Thursday: Glass jars

Glass jars and bottles are so simple yet add such a clean, classic
and sometimes fun touch to a room. I love the look of the brightly colored thread in the glass jar. I need to do that!! I have been admiring that idea for awhile now.

items from
a: kibster b: dignifiedrubbish c: ponyjigger d: yoursmineourvintage

More jars filled with thread to look at, from flickr.

Couch to 5K progress

So it's week 4 for me doing the Couch to 5K program. This week is tough so far and is pushing me, which I know I need. (This is technically my 5th week, because I repeated week 2). It's a 9 week program. I am almost half way done! Wow. I still can't believe I'm doing this. I am not athletic and do not enjoy jogging. I just wanted this challenge and I wanted to see if I can do it. I want to see how it might change my body and lung capacity.

We also received our new exercise bike yesterday! I already used it. Definitely harder than the last bike that had the broken tension belt (it was always easy to pedal!). It looks like this:


By the way, I have a giveaway going on at Oh, My Darling! If you'd like a chance to win this set of earrings and necklace, visit her blog to enter!

There is No One Alive Who is Youer than You

I wanted to share some Etsy items sprinkled in with Dr. Seuss quotes. Recently my sister has been on a kick of his quotes and I have loved them! Many remind you that while things may seem hard at times in life, there are always people who have it worse. We should then be thankful! Yet we shuld also pray for those who do have it worse.

I hope you enjoy these quotes.

"When you think things are bad, when you feel sour and blue, when you start to get mad…you should do what I do! Just tell yourself, Duckie, you’re really quite lucky! Some people are much more…oh, ever so much more…oh, muchly much-much more unluckly than you!"“It's a troublesome world. All the people who're in it are troubled with troubles almost every minute. You ought to be thankful, a whole heaping lot, for the places and people you're lucky you're not.”

"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You."

"They say I'm old-fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes
I think progress progresses too fast!"

"You're off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting,
So... get on your way!"

Fashion Inspiration: Elvis and Audrey

Because of an article I saw online, I read that today is 33 years since Elvis died. So I thought to share some pictures of him and his iconic style. I like some of his oldest songs. As he got towards the late 60's-early 70's not sure I like those songs much. So I imagine die hard fans are in lines at Graceland to pay their respects. I do think some fans act is a bit over the top, treating him like a god. Anyway, his fashion is recognizable even in the year 2010! I love the jailhouse rock scene.

Thinking of Elvis and old fashion made me think of Audrey Hepburn too, another iconic figure. These images are from both the 50's and 60's. I think the picture of her sitting by the water, looks like a current fashion picture. And much of her style could be/is recreated today without clashing too much with modern fashion.

1. Audrey Hepburn, 2. #8- Audrey Hepburn, 3. audrey hepburn, 4. Audrey Hepburn, 5. 30, 6. 16, 7. 60-Hepburn And Poodle, 8. Audrey Hepburn, 9. Funny Face

First time at the movie theater!

We had been thinking about bringing our son to his first movie theater movie, but weren't sure if it was the right time yet. After seeing TV commercials and toys in the stores, he became familiar with Toy Story 3! He would say "story!"(or stoy-ee) every time he saw something related to it. We knew if we were going to take him to a movie, it'd be that one! He had gotten some Toy Story t-shirts from my grandmother. So he of course wore one of them!

So we finally did it! We took him yesterday to the discount theater which was $3 each to get in, except Kavi was free since he is still just 2. We thought that if he hated sitting in the movie and we had to take turns walking out, we wouldn't feel like we wasted as much money as we would at the full price, nicer theater.

Everything went smooth! I should have realized he would do well. He has had to sit for long amounts of time on our trips to India and car rides to Alabama. He wanted to be in one of our laps most of the movie because it was dark and a huge unfamiliar screen. I bought popcorn and he was almost hugging the bag at one point scarfing down on popcorn. We all shared one "small" bag, which was pretty big.

We all enjoyed the movie. I even got teary eyed at the end of the movie (those Disney cartoon movies always get me!), but felt better about that once I noticed two other adult women in the theater dabbing their eyes. ;) Then I heard from friends that they also cried.

So our son has officially had his first visit to the movie theater!

New items to share

Just thought I'd share the new items I finished this week. All are listed now on Etsy, except for the first one which is a peach rose inside a tea/coffee cup(still need to list that today).

Vintage Thursday: Dresses

I just wanted to feature a lot of fun and pretty vintage dresses today.
Here's the best part: they range in price from $18 to $35! That's right, nothing over $35.
Click the pictures to visit their Etsy listings.

$27.50

$35

$35

$18

$27.20

$25