My friend Shannon just posted the most amazing thing on her shopping blog. I’ll give you a hint below.
Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and a Tauntaun...nuff said.
We seem to be in a state of chaos at my house these days. My roommate, Hannah, bought a house, which is great – for her. But for Cody and I, who have been in this position before, it meant spiraling into New Roommate Mode.
Lucky us, we found Autumn, a fantastic new roommate! The only problem: she needed to be in mid-month, and Hannah wouldn’t be out till December. So right now, my living room has all of Autumn’s possessions piled to the ceiling and poor Autumn is spending her nights on the couch.
But despite the chaos, I always get excited about an opportunity to change, refresh and update my living quarters. Especially around the holidays! Today Cody will pick up the couch he found abandoned on Lee Street from the upholsterist (vintage parlour frame, recovered in blue/grey chenille); next week, the dark wood, vintage coffee table from Clement, our favorite home decor store in Little Rock.
For once, we’re actually agreeing on the general direction we want the living room to take! So I thought I’d post a few photos that we’ve drawn inspiration from.
domino
domino
domino
I must admit, having a blog but no computer is not easy. I’ve lost my beloved laptop to the evil SecurityTool spyware and I don’t think there’s any rescuing it. But I’m trying to fix my situation, so please – bear with me!
Now, even though I’m three weeks late, I have to post about my Halloween costume before I can close the door on one holiday and open the door to another. So appropriate that I’ve been M.I.A. since Halloween, disappearing just after I cheerfully announced that I’d be blogging about my Halloween costume in a few hours, because this year, I went as Carmen Sandiego!
Photo so appropriately captured by Shannon Sturgis
Once I had the idea that I wanted to be Carmen Sandiego, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it might be difficult to pull off. A wide-brimmed red hat with yellow band? A yellow-gold turtleneck? A red trench coat?!
Lucky for me, I already owned one of the most essential ingredients. I purchased a red trench coat a number of years ago from Charlotte Russe for $20. It has been sitting in the back of my closet, rarely worn, since then.
Next up, a stop at Savers. I went with a few friends to find Halloween costumes. To my amazement, as soon as I walked through the door I found a gold turtleneck, a red pencil skirt and, believe it or not, a red wide-brimmed hat. At the time, the red velvet hat had a leopard band around it that was more zoot suit than Sandiego, but this was easily fixed by ripping off the band and replacing it with some scraps of yellow felt that I found in my handy-dandy craft box. Add black gloves and a yellow skinny belt that I already owned and BAM! I was channeling PBS’s most glamorous villain.
All total, I spent about $16 on my costume. Not much, considering how many people happily/drunkenly yelled at me, “HEY I JUST FIGURED OUT WHO YOU ARE!”
A mummy even drunkenly shouted, “I chased you all through TIME, man!”
Another successful Halloween, in my opinion.
I hope everyone had a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! I’ll be blogging about my costume in a bit! Check back!
My friend Shannon is one of the few people I know who shares my love of Halloween with equal fervor. So we’ve made a new tradition of carving pumpkins together every year, usually accompanied by Hocus Pocus or a scary movie playing in the background.
This year was no different, except that instead of CARVING pumpkins, we took a page from Martha Stewart’s book and etched them instead. I was pleased with the outcome of my skull.
My brother has finally started selling some of his fantastic photography prints. For $50, you can get your favorite Evan Hallmark original matted and framed and hung on your wall. Most of the prints he’s selling are photos he took on trips out west, but there are many more to come. Check out his blog for a sampling of all available prints. I thought I’d share some of my favorites!
Let’s get serious for a minute.
Nothing, and I mean nothing, makes me happier than the month of October. There are approximately one million reasons why – the weather, pumpkin spice lattes, dusting off my favorite jackets and boots – but the most important reason is Halloween.
I love Halloween. I love Halloween movies, Halloween decorations, carving pumpkins, making Halloween cupcakes, constructing fabulous Halloween costumes. And thus, we have the birth of a new Rosemary on the TV mini-series. “October, I love you. Just don’t tell the others.” consists of a series of posts about some of the things that make me love October.
Volume 1: Skulls.
I know it sounds weird, but skulls in cutesy, unexpected incarnations are so fabulous. Not just around Halloween, but all year round. Just be sure to steer clear of Ed Hardy territory. Now THAT’S scary.
Dark chocolate skulls from Dean & Deluca.
Dean & Deluca: takin' care of business. Mexican folk art sugar skulls to celebrate "El Dia de los Muertos" or "Day of the Dead."
A skull & crossbones never looked so good. Dinner plate available at foldedpigs's Etsy shop.
Martha Stewart's glittered skulls are gothic chic.
A dainty skull ring doesn't go overboard. From voodookingdesigns's Etsy shop.
Trick or Treat or Grocery Shop in style. From theboldbanana.etsy.com.
Among other things I haven’t posted in the last 3-4 months is mine and Aaron’s trip to Graceland last weekend. It was exactly what one might expect. We didn’t have much money to spend, so we spent the night in Memphis and saved all our energy for the King’s house Saturday morning. Aaron listened carefully to the guided tour on his headphones while I annoyingly snapped photos and waited impatiently ten steps ahead of him at all times. (Note: He’d never been, I had.)
I took a handful of pictures before my crappy camera battery died. Most aren’t worth posting, but I have to share this little bit of goodness:
If you just asked yourself, “Is that Aaron giving two thumbs up while standing in front of a teal Cadillac?” then I can tell you: Yes. Yes it is. I like to share the conversation that preceded this.
Me: “Aaron – stand in front of that car.”
Aaron: “Seriously?”
Me: “Yes.”
Aaron: “Fine.”
Me: “Now give me a thumbs up!”
Aaron: “SERIOUSLY?”
Me: “Yes….no, two thumbs up.”
Aaron: “Fine.”
I’ve been meaning to post this lovely little picture for a minute and keep forgetting. So here we are. Lula celebrated her 1st birthday on September 13th so we had a small get together in her honor. My mother commented on what a feat it was to get 15 people to a dog’s birthday party. I truly believe it was the promise of pupcakes that was the clencher for most.
- Photo courtesy of Shannon Sturgis
The only hangup was my grass frosting. Taking inspiration from Martha Stewart’s Ladybug Cupcakes, I made sure I had the right Ateco tip and everything, but my Swiss Meringue Buttercream was just too creamy! What should’ve looked like sprigs of grass ended up looking like gloopy, green…well, frosting. But the cupcakes were still adorable/delicious, and Lula will have another birthday next year. I’ll try a second attempt at grass frosting then, I guess.
Speaking of ladybug’s, guess what my co-workers Casie and Megan got Lula for her birthday?
- Action shot
Ahhhh, yes. The Canon EOS 5D.
Do you know how much more fun my blog would be, and how OFTEN I’d update it, if I had a cool camera to lug around with me everywhere? I’ve never owned a really nice camera, but I’ve always wanted one. And that feeling has grown stronger and stronger as of late.
I’m pretty sure there is nothing I wouldn’t do for this camera…which begs the question: why don’t I have one yet?
