Happy Fathers Day

Wishing all of you and your Dads a great weekend! This is my Dad, as a young man. Such a good looking fellow! 

These F*ing Shoes

Super excited this morning to see the arrival of a package from Gilt Group! I ordered these super cute sandals for summer. Yay! They go with my outfit today - so I'll wear them. 

Now I want to kill them. They wont stay on. When I walk I have to shuffle or they will just slide right off. Look man, I don't have weird feet - I wear sandals, flip flops, whatever, name it.... no problems. These f*ckers will not stay on. I've only had to walk from the condo to the car, from the parking lot to my office, my office to the coffee machine and back and I am about to throw them out the window.

Thinking about hacking them somehow. Should I add something sticky under the top part? Should I get some ribbon to tie around the back. Should I NOT buy items on sale without wondering why they are on sale. I'm imagining a giant warehouse somewhere in New Jersey (sorry New Jersey) floor to ceiling with these shoes in every color - NOT SELLING! Has anyone else had this problem?

Here they are. Sorry Kelsi Dagger, no offense, I still like your other shoes!
(PS. this is not my home carpet, it's the office carpet - don't judge)

Anyway, see ya later super cute sandals. Wish we could have hung out longer, but 2 hours is as far as this relationship is going. Time for you to "step-off"!

Nike - Me Likey!

You know what Nike is doing that is totally awesome? Letting you be a shoe designer!!!

You can jump on Nike’s website and look for sneakers (I was looking at Nike Free 3.0) and there on the left side of the page I found the “Customize it with Nike ID” link –you can totally turn your sneaks into whatever color combination you like. Of course I picked the most neon-y bright color combo’s I could find (because I’m from the 80’s) and I have to say I LOVE THEM!  Super comfy and all that, but I’m mostly excited to wear them for the bright and shiny factor. I kind of like them best without socks though – so I might regret that when they start to stink, but right now I LOVE THEM. Did I mention that I LOVE THEM. I LOVE THEM!

And one more thing. You can customize the front of the tongue with your name or whatever you want, so I chose GO on one foot and FAST on the other – for a little extra motivation to get after it.

And one more other thing. I’m not a huge Nike person, I have a few things here and there but not more than other sportswear company items – so I’m not trying to force you into a Northwest brand.  This is just such a great marketing and sales tool – you need to know about it. And sorry, it’s not cheap, but for a custom item, I didn’t feel like it broke the bank either.

And lastly – I’ll be so upset if I get them dirty. Wah. Mine are below - the swoosh is actually the neon orange color too - but the flash is making it looks white - but it's not. That would be way too normal.

Chandelier-ious!

I am on the lookout for some hanging chandeliers for the condo. I have a couple of places for hanging lighting down the center of the kitchen/living area – and another one above the liquor cabinet in the living room. I don’t have photos yet of the condo and its “look” so far, but stand by, I’ll document the progress soon. We moved in last August, and it really does take a while to adjust to a new place and sort out what our traffic patterns are and how we like the furniture arranged, lighting hung, etc.

In the meantime, I’ve been trying to find lights with some wood features–I want a modern style but still a somewhat “pacific northwest” feel.

What do you think of these? Most of the ones I like are enormously expensive – story of my life![Groan!] But, so far I’m really having a good time looking!

This one is super 60's mod - kind of like it - but it's $2,267 - that's a lot, especially if I wanted two of them.

This one is from West Elm - I like the "city" quality of it - and it's affordable at $399.00

I love this one too - but at $1,072.00 - yoikes!

This one could be great at $398.00 - modern, industrial, yet still Northwest-y

And this one is kind of interesting too at $279.99

Hey Craig – Nice List!

I have a ton of patience for scouring Craigslist for treasures. Most people do not. But, if you take the time, you can find some great stuff and great prices. Most of it will need a little bit of love from you when you get it home, but look at the things I found this week. Excellent!

 Chair - $60

 Sofa - $FREE - note the awesome faux bamboo detail - 

this could be beautiful with new upholstery!

 Old Stereo cabinet - pull out the guts and make it into a bar - $50

 Mid-century chair - $60

 Tiny table - refinish and paint - has cute pull out shelf - $25

 Pair of chairs - reupholster in mohair - beautiful - $180 for the pair - great deal

 Walnut table - $80

Desk - $80 - This would be gorgeous in a solid color like white or grey

Here are a couple tips when searching. Go straight to the Furniture section, and then do a search for “vintage”, “antique” or “mid-century”. You can also reduce your search based on budget parameters too, but I don’t because I like to see it all – cheap and expensive! I’ve noticed in the past few years that more and more dealers and mattress sellers are listing on craigslist – so you have to navigate through them to get to the good stuff but that’s ok too. Craigslist will now let you browse in grid-style with photos, so that can speed up the process. Also, you’ll find a lot of things for sale that have clearly been “fixed-up” already. If you are ok with that, great.  I don’t usually go for those – I want the thing in its original condition – good or bad.

Don’t forget to check the Free section. I have found great stuff there. There are a lot of people who just want to get rid of stuff and they don’t care to try to sell it – they’ll just give it away. Especially if it’s a piano. Lots of piano’s in the free section. You should get one.

If people don’t post a photo, don’t waste your time. Move on. I still don’t understand how anyone could sell anything these days without some photos, but you will still see listing with no photo, don’t get sucked in. It’s not going to be good.

Most sellers on Craigslist are very nice people and willing to make a deal – but ALL of them will want cash, and soon. And most of them aren’t going to deliver you a sofa or carry it down 3 flights of stairs. That’s on you! If you want it bad enough, you’ll figure out how to get it.

Also, just because you’ve seen news stories about bad people using Craigslist to lure people to their house to do bad things, trust me that most of the Craigslisters just want to clean out their basement or garage and have no evil intentions. If you feel unsure about any transaction you should bring someone with you when you pick up your purchase. You can also exchange enough email or texts with them to get a pretty good idea of their character. If someone is emailing you with a legit work email, or is willing to give you their phone number or let you google their address, you’re pretty safe. But, having said that, use your gut instincts, if it feels weird, don’t go.

Now, get on Craigslist and start shopping. By the end of this weekend you could have new end tables or a summer re-upholstery project! As Macklemore would say, “F*-ing Awesome”!

Charm Bracelets are So Charming

A couple days ago a friend was asking for my advice on charm bracelets for girls. He has a daughter who is 8 years old and I think he’s looking for gift ideas.

I have all kinds of opinions about charm bracelets, so I'll share my thoughts about them and you can then make your own decisions about whether you think they are a good gift idea for your little girl or girls. My first thought is that they are really special and such a great record of a life well lived, so I’m in complete support of anyone who decides to start one for a daughter, granddaughter, niece, sister – or any girl.

You should consider this an heirloom piece of jewelry from the outset. Start with a good quality gold bracelet - make sure the links are sturdy enough to hold a lot of charms and that there are enough links for an adult wrist - if you want it to be useful while the girl is still small, you could have links taken out and just save them so they can be added back as she grows up. Also make sure the clasp is sturdy and has a good safety chain as well. My parents didn’t really allow us to wear our bracelets until we were responsible (old) enough not to lose them. I think maybe we were allowed to wear them on special occasions only. You could opt down on bracelet value to start and upgrade it later, but the cost of attaching individual charms is $20-$40 bucks each, so you don’t want to have to attach charms twice. Go for the real deal from the beginning. It's going to be expensive because gold is expensive right now, but remember, this is an heirloom jewelry item, so suck it up.

Right now you’re probably thinking – what the hell – can’t I just get a silver or silver plated one for lots lets? Yes, you can, but…… my big rule – If you’re going to do it right, get GOLD (14 or 18 carat), not silver. Silver bracelets aren’t worth much and don’t seem to retain special value over generations and that is why you end up seeing them all over the place at garage and estate sales. No one considers them special or valuable enough to keep over time. Gold bracelets and gold charms get better from a sentimental standpoint and become more valuable over time, and are something a girl could pass down to her daughter or granddaughter at some point later in life.

My parents started ours with charms from family trips or from special occasions like holidays or graduations or special life events. Most fine jewelry stores stock only a few charms related to whatever City or State they are in – for example in Seattle the charms available will be the Space Needle charm, or a ferry, but not much else. If you want something special you will have to order it in advance, especially if you want to have it engraved with names or dates. In other countries, you'll find fine jewelry stores with better charm selection but that's because they are more sophisticated that we "rubes" in America. I have also found charms on Ebay and at estate jewelry stores too - and sometimes the antique charms are really really nice and worth looking for. You can expect to pay $100-$500 or more for a good charm, the more 3 dimensional the charm the more pricy (and better) it is - obviously because of weight and feel. Some charms have gems in/on them too, so those are clearly for super special occasions.

While your girl is still little you could start her with charms that commemorate her birthday or holidays with dates, etc. Often those are the flat one dimensional charms, but they are good to have too - there are shapes of a girls head, or a heart, or lockets that are pretty affordable to start out with. I bought one for my niece last Christmas that was a candy cane - and it was only $40. She was only 6 at the time, so I felt like that was a reasonable starter charm - and wouldn't be a disaster if she lost it.

I didn’t get really expensive charms until I was in high school or even later - and those I typically bought myself to mark occasions, travel or events. So, consequently, my charm bracelet has gotten better and better over time. I think right now it is probably quite valuable - I have about 40 charms now and while it’s getting pretty crowded, I really like that it’s “mature”!

Overall thoughts - greatest gift EVER for a girl - and you'll always know what to get her for events - graduation, wedding, baby, etc... you can’t go wrong. Also, it's a super fun club to belong to. I’ve met women all over the world through the charm bracelet connection. You absolutely cannot see a charm bracelet on someone without asking to see it and to admire their charms. Everyone’s is completely different and special. Even my sister, who I obviously grew up with and shared a lot of the same life events, has a bracelet that is completely different than mine and equally OUTSTANDING and UNIQUE!

So, while we are smack dab in the middle of graduation season, start one now for your lovely girls!

Do Over?

Our weekend trip to Boston was a blistering success. Trip summary below:

1. It's possible that we've gotten too old to bounce back from flying the red-eye. Even though we got a seat between us which is pretty much unheard of these days, and we were on a nice new modern plane - it still sucked. Arriving in Boston feeling like a tired ball of crap isn't the best way to start a whirlwind weekend. 

2. Drive up to Hanover, NH was great. We were so tired that we had to pull over for a nap about half way there (again, like old people). Turns out it was the busiest rest-stop ever - kind of hard to take a nap in a parking lot full of rev rev revving Harley's and Semi's and all sorts of other stuff going on. 

3. Hanover, New Hampshire - LOVE! Dartmouth - LOVE! I wanted to hit the reset button on college and apply immediately to Dartmouth - and redo the whole college experience on the cutest campus and in the cutest town ever. So charming! We spent the night at the Hanover Inn, which was recently remodeled and completely LOVELY. And those nice nice people had a room ready for us around 11 am, so we could plop our tired asses into a soft bed in an air conditioned room and finally get some sleep.

We got up in time to get ice cream, wander the shops, check out the town, and meet friends for dinner around 6. Great time there in Hanover, and I really hope I get accepted to Dartmouth for my "imaginary" new college career.

 4. Concord, New Hampshire and St. Paul's School - Sorry, but Concord is no Hanover. It's more like...well... a sort of depressed looking old used up kind of town. The hotel we were "meant" to stay in was sold out a long time ago, so we were forced to make other arrangements - in a town where other arrangements can jump down the "awesome" scale pretty fast. Our hotel - I'll just call it the Vays Dinn - was pretty much what you'd expect for a 40-50 year old motel. Chain link fenced pool in the parking lot - that should give you the idea. Anyway, doesn't matter, we were barely at the hotel at all - so only mentioned it to give you the flavor - and that it made me really miss the Hanover Inn.

St. Paul's School on the other hand is unbelievably beautiful and an amazing boarding school on the outskirts of town. Graduation and anniversary events took place on Friday and Saturday and into Sunday. I met some really really nice classmates of my husband, along with other old friends, toured the campus, walked in the parade and watched crew races at the pond. The entire weekend was hot and in the 90's - arghhh.

5. Back to Boston - there is only so much meet and greet a person can take before one is OVER IT. So we blasted back to Boston and spent Saturday and Sunday with good friends there, and flew home Sunday pm. Great trip - love New England - can't wait to go back.