For Serious Partisans

I mean, how is this real? 

For when you really want to politicize your infant.

John Johns by Remember Nguyen

Everlane

This is without a doubt the most comfortable T Shirt you will ever put on. I first heard about Everlane through Joanna Goddard's blog, and then my friend Morgan backed up the awesome review from Cup of Jo. So, I finally ordered two of the v-necks. Oh my word. I wanted to wait until I actually put them on and tried them before I pretended I knew what was cool. But, oh my, they are the best things ever. 

And they are only $15.

They also make some amazing silk blouses, french terry sweatshirts and bags.

Christmas Wish List

...and you know what that means. it's that time of year...time to start thinking about gifts for the fam. this year, i actually plan on making a lot of things. and while i was at it, i thought of a few things that i have had my eye on. some of them are ridiculous and just pretty and some are more realistic. also, i actually love that i'm getting to the age where it's harder and harder to think of things i want and i'm learning it is so much more fun to give than receive. i just can't advertise what i'm getting others...

1 - capri blue candle in volcano: my favorite candle and the jars are so pretty you can use them for all sorts of things after the candle is gone.
2 - penguin classics clothbound series: i've been collecting these for a couple of years now, but they are so pretty who can stop?
3 - coatt "love me do" morse code necklace: the perfect wear-everyday-necklace
4 - mint boden mocs: too bad they're sold out
5 - terrarium: i have decided to start incorporating more green, living things in my house and i really want to start with a terrarium
6 - anthropologie long jane loungers: for this future stay-at-home mom
7 - rebecca wilson perfume bottles: these are so ridiculous...and i don't even have the energy to do the conversion rate on £375
8 - reminder bow ring: perfect everyday ring
9 - alex monroe peacock ring: an unattainable
10 - josh ritter vinyl: the mp3's just aren't enough...and while we're at it, a new record needle would be great
11 - a painting by courtney j. garrett: courtney is a friend of mine from college who is an amazingly talented artist. i have been dying to get my hands on one of her new pieces.

Fall Clothes

today, as we all coped with the fall-out of tropical storm lee (most of birmingham was out of power = no work), my friend joanna and i donned our favorite comfy sweaters and headed to the nearest starbucks with power to recharge our electronics. "SWEATERS?!?!" you ask, because it is only september. that's right. today was 58 degrees. hallelujah! this got me thinking of the things i would love to have for fall. it really all starts with one thing...red jeans. don't ask me why. i just really want a pair. so here is a little outfit based off that...

1. BDG red cigarette jeans, $58 2. scale necklace, $50 3. turning season pullover, $88 4. mossimo crossbody satchel, $25 (i actually have this in brown) 5. shehane boots, $160

Summer Cold Cure

it happens every now and then...the summer cold. it's miserable because it's hot outside and you shouldn't have a cold unless it's actually cold outside. drinking hot tea is next to miserable. so here's a great, southern, tried and true cure (sort of...it won't really cure you immediately, but it will help you sleep through the teeth-grinding, sore-throated night.)

- about a finger of bourbon
- half a lemon
- a few gobs of honey

mmmmmmm.

Steve McQueen

as, you may recall i have a serious love of all things steve mcqueen. that most certainly includes these unpublished photos of steve at a suit fitting in 1963. wowzers.

Satchels are Back!

now would be a great time to head over to your parents' house, scavenge through your old closet and break out that purse from middle school. you'll be in style and save a lot of money. if, however, those purses have long been donated, there is this pretty one over at madewell.

Christoph

christoph waltz...so debonaire

Irony

a while back (maybe this time last year?) john mayer started a twitter feed of #leaveitinthe00s - or something like that. which was basically a list of things that we are just better off leaving behind us as we embark on a new decade.

i propose a new addition to that list: irony.

(1) urban's new so awful it's supposed to be awesome website. woof. (2) who doesn't like a good LOL cat? (3) no that's not a poster for a brat pack movie. that is a current american apparel ad. (4) mullet. and he's serious. you just don't get it. because you're an idiot.

i'm over it. urban outfitters has somehow figured out how to mass market a noun. and ever since, the rest of us have been forced to watch people parade around looking like fools and if you dare say something about it, you "just don't get it." well, newsflash: i do get it. and i still think you look like an idiot. it's the personification of the entitlement and arrogance of our generation. and i know that may seem a bit harsh, but dude in the huge glasses and knit grandma sweater vest, you look like a d-bag. not some enlightened it's-so-not-cool-that-i-made-it-cool genious.

don't get me wrong. we all had our fun. we've all embraced irony at some point or another. but adopting it as a lifestyle is absurd. it was a good few years. we'll all look back in episodes of "best decade ever" (does vh1 still exist?) and have a good laugh and something else even more preposterous will have taken it's place. but can we just agree to end the madness sooner rather than later? please? pleeeeeaaaaaasssseeeee?

Fall Clothes

yesterday was officially the first day of fall. i'm so ready to not feel like i'm going to melt when i walk outside. really, i would settle for being able to make it from the shower to the bedroom without sweating. but with fall, comes the fall wardrobe (which strongly resembles my summer wardrobe, just with more layers thrown on). but the one thing that hasn't made much of an appearance this summer (on me anyway): jeans. it's been so miserably hot putting jeans on just seemed like a mild form of torture. but now i'm breaking 'em back out. i love jeans. these are my favorites right now:

my black gap legging jeans (or jeggings, if you will).

my skinny dark wash gap jeans.

i got each pair for $20 bucks. steal. boom.

and right now, i really am trying to justify buying these oxfords. they are only $50 which is cheaper than some crappier pairs at urban. but i just don't know. i looooove them, though.

TOMS Wishlist

my sweet friend courtney (i mean, really, you should feel like you are her best friend right now) works for a company that gets toms shoes into retailers. (if you aren't familiar with toms' movement, you should check it out.) that is, by no means, all they do. it's just a small part of it. but it is a part of it. and with that, comes knowledge of toms. so we spent some time looking at shoes, including some of the new fall stuff that is going blow your freakin' mind. (i don't know if i can talk about it, but it includes metallic thread! swoon...)

i haven't bought a new pair in, oh, about three years. so while we were there, i mentally compiled a wishlist. here are some toms i would love to adorn my feet.

J. Crew Wedding Line

i had one of those weedings where everything went wrong (all before the big day...the day itself was wonderful and perfect). one of those disasters was my wedding dress, that i had made, didn't fit and two weeks before our wedding i wound up borrowing my wonderful friend morgan's dress. it was beautiful, but i think i would do things a little differently if i were to get married today and one of those would be picking a physical dress instead of trying to get someone to recreate what's in my brain. and i really think that if i were to get married today, i might just buy a dress from j.crew. so, in honor of "what i would have done" here are some of my favorites (the online pictures are not as good as the catalogue):

the one-shouldered dupioni lumiere gown:

the chiffon and organza dune gown:

the silk tricotine goddess gown:

this dress makes me think of a friend who is going to get married on the beach, or maybe for a city hall wedding, i don't know.

the silk chiffon whitney gown:

this picture does not do this dress justice. and it's only $395.

the genevieve silk radzimir gown:

this is the most expensive one, but who could pass on a dress with pockets?

the silk taffeta sascha gown:

Sunny Austin Wedding

on november 1, i had the privilege to fly to austin and be in one of my best friend's weddings - court miller (better known as fat bottom hurst). how do i describe court? she is one of the most genuine and selfless people i've ever met. and we share a brain. and our future as of yet to be adopted children are already betrothed. she is one of the few (maybe the only) girls that david will call his friend. i'm so happy she found steve. he is equally amazing. so, to let you all share in one of the greatest, most fun weddings i've ever been to, here is my homage.

yes, that is my husband doing the worm on the left.

and they had this awesome photobooth (which is apparently all the rage these days, but i swear they started it in austin). don't you like the way i made it look like a real photobooth strip? yeah? yeah?

all wedding photos © two pair photography and all photobooth pictures © trevor ray thompson photography

What I'm Reading

not really. but i do love to read. i might say i have an almost unnatural love for reading. i think it's somewhere between the fact that i love history and factual knowledge and that, as a child, i would live in my own imaginary world. therefore, i get excited about reading historical/non-fiction books while still taking time to read novels (where i still usually pick out a character and read the book as if i am that person). i have my dad to thank for my love of books and reading.

this year, i decided to take on a challenge that i have long thought about and that is to read all the books on modern library's best novels list. mostly because there are a lot of older books that i have been wanting to read. and i thought this would help me get started. now, there isn't any tolstoy, kerouac, dostoyevsky, or a ton of other authors i want to read. but it is a jumping off point. 

but before i can even crack that list i have to finish the current book i'm

 working on king leopold's ghost by adam hochschild. it is the amazing historical account of the attrocities that took place in the congo during colonization by belgium. a colony that was held as personal property by a king obsessed with an empire for his tiny country. you should really just read it yourself. 

then i have to read my friend jarrett stevens' book the deity formerly known as God. i'm really excited

 about this one. getting to explore 6 misconceptions of God - 3 positive and 3 negative - and how they affect the way we view God. super stoked. and its always cool 

to read something by someone you see everyday. 

and lasty, the book on everyone's must read list this year, same kind of different as me. from what everyone (and i do mean everyone) has told me this book is uh-mazing. so i'm pretty excited to get going on that one as well. 

well, this having been posted, i'm am going to forego my normal friday morning routine of catching up on tv shows on hulu.com and instead try to finish up lepold's ghost. this book really gets my veins burning with compassion and the desire for justice. ahhhhh!

Top 5 Places I Want to Go

so, something i have always loved is traveling. i blame my parents because we always went on adventures. we used to spend 3 weeks out of the summer driving to montana and camping our way home. it was amazing. and then we would take random trips in between. when i was in high school, i used the opportunity of a student ambassador program to go to europe for a month. since then, i have only been to honduras and swaziland, but those places have also stolen a part of my heart.

david and i want to travel. we have ideas WAY bigger than our bank account. we are working on our first trip right now, but we can't seem to narrow down where we want to go. but anyone who would like to donate to these trips is more than welcome to - ha! anyway, i figured i would make a list. if i got to choose anywhere in the world - where would i want to go? so here's the top 5...

5. sweden

i know its silly, but its a HUGE part of david's heritage. i have been proudly adopted into a swedish family and i love it...the horses, the smörgåsbord, uff da!, the motherland of ikea...what's not to love?

4. moscow, russia

here's the deal with russia - it is vast (duh). there are so many places to see...the sight of the imperial murders in ekatrinburg, the transsiberian railroad, the crimea, etc. but moscow has more in one place. its not europe but not asia. its all its own. 

3. the united kingdom

now, seeing as how i am narrowing these down to just 5, i hope that you excuse me combining 3 countries into one. but oh, how i would love to visit the UK, especially scotland. ah, real scotch in scotland...seriously? followed by guiness in an irish pub. could it get any better? plus the fact that the whole place is freakin' gorgeous (as long as your goal is not a killer tan).

2. japan

ah - home of the amazing cherry blosom! this one has way more meaning for david, but i would love to go here also. we would of course have to visit yokahama - david's childhood home for a while. but also go to the countryside and coast. not to mention i like japanese food way better than chinese...

1. prague, czech republic

one word: bohemia. not to mention it is one of the oldest cities in europe. what history major could turn this place down? 

My Thighs

i wore corduroy pants to work today...and i am now going to go home and run.

Do You Lay Out Your Clothes?

every now and then i am reminded just how "particular" i am about a lot of things. i am borderline o.c.d. very organized to say the least. this makes me very good at some things. and very annoying in a lot of others (God bless david for putting up with me).

the other day,  i was having a conversation with my favorite girls from the baby room and we were talking about all our little weird things that we do and i was telling them how i'm even really weird about the way i lay my clothes out. i have to lay them out before i start getting ready and i lay them out as if my body were in them. (and let me just say that i am glad that david goes to work before me because when i used to get up before him, he would kick them off the bed and it would drive me crazy!) but a few weeks ago, before an auburn game, i was laying out my clothes - per us - and i laughed at myself because i actually wrapped the scarf as if it were around my neck. for some reason i decided to take a picture because i realized how ridiculous i am. but i still can't change it. it makes me me. and i like it. and i'm really embarrassed the bed wasn't made in this picture...