random guy... we salute you!

We went to Oktoberfest in Addison last night. This guy is the ramdom merrymaker that we ran into with... yes... a cowboy boot shaped glass. (only in Texas)

But besides all the beer, brats, legendary skillet potatoes, and lederhosen, there were rides... yes my friends rides! Because nothing says intelligent choice like putting drunk people on an upside down ship ride. Don't get me wrong... I got on the swings because they are my favorite. these were some of the best, i must admit.

So get outside this weekend! If you are in Dallas, check out the Oktoberfest. Or maybe the Plano Balloon festival is more your speed or I do believe it is opening weekend for the fair.

barcelona anyone?

I saw Vicky Cristina Barcelona on sunday.... besides renewing my want (need) to go to Barcelona it was a truly fascinating, thought-provoking, lovely movie.

The cinematography was incredible, "very golden" as my friend Lindsy described it. The thing is, i could begin to describe the plot of the movie but the truth is it sounds sleazy until you go and see it for yourself. A story of adventure and Love... go see it this weekend, seriously. and Javier Bardem is hot... need I say more (and the actresses too... if you are into that.)

lovely color palettes

I read Style Me Pretty almost everyday (thanks to Kelley) . And although I am VERY far from getting married myself I love to read it because it is a style blog after all.

One of my favorite features is the inspiration boards/color palettes and Abby happens to have a contest going on right now for reader inspiration boards. The idea is to take a photo and make an inspiration board for your wedding (event) from it. This one is by far my favorite. Inspiration photo above/ style board below. We'll see if it changes as more entries pop up.

spf45

I was walking this morning and the perfect breeze blew on me. I dreamed for a moment that I was on a beach vacation. Then I was abruptly brought back to reality when a DART bus zoomed by.

Since I won't be taking a beach retreat anytime soon, maybe the Urban Oasis at Za Za is a place to hang out... or if I wanna take it a lil more low profile, an inner tube, mojito, and my apt pool could work nicely as well. Don't forget the sunscreen this weekend!

laser cut felt

Well, while we are on the subject of Laser Cut felt.... I think this is the perfect time to mention my lovely laser cut felt placemats I picked up in Aarhus, Denmark. Now these were about $10 a piece once converted to US$ but they were one of the few things that I bought while I was over there. I am terrible, because not only do I not remember the designer (although I distinctly remember the cashier assuring me that they were a danish designer), I don't remember the shop name either.

So... if anyone can enlighten me please! They came in several other colors, Kelley this might be a good alternative... if we can get the source.

I have found myself leaving them out on the table all the time and throwing random dinner parties because I love them sooooo much.

lovely outdoor living

In the summer I will use any excuse to be outside. I found this image and idea from A Merry Mishap. She threw a party with her sister and recreated an outdoor living room. I think I will need to come up with a party idea to utilize this idea in my rarely used side yard.... or maybe I will just drag my chairs out there for some reading.

othello

Last night Ben and I went to Shakespeare in the park. His friend Jacob did the costume designs, and hung out with us and gave us some little insites (like "that wallet he just threw on the floor, it is an $800 Fendi I got as a gift"). what girl doesn't like tidbits like that?! We took a picnic and a rug (no blankets to be had) and sat out on the lawn for a little cultural enrichment.

I recommend this for anyone in the Dallas area for a couple reasons: 1: even if you arn't a Shakespeare buff or understand it for that matter, it is still fun to go out and have a picnic... and the custumes rock! 2: it takes you out of the city for a moment so you feel like there is nothing else going on (except for the occasional ambulance you hear in the distance).

laundry chick!

Last night was an interesting experience. Probably the one of the most interesting you can have on a laundry night. I had several loads and decided it would be best to go to a laundry mat so that I could do several loads in a short amount of time. Ben with his clever google feature on his phone found a nearby laundry mat that also served beer (bar of soap... clever huh?) well this clever concept, which we found out after 7 loads of laundry had been put in machines and started, is also the host for 3 punk rock bands that night.

Going with the flow we decided this was going to be awesome. Now let me describe the set-up of this place, there are basically 2 rooms. The front room in which there is the bar and the back room with the machines. The back room is also where the stage is. So we hung out in the front room and I went back to switch my laundry and the first band was playing. At this point there weren't many people there so the lead singer is like, "welcome all three people that have shown up tonight, one of which is trying to do her laundry and get the F*** out of here." (That is me.) He later refered to me as the "laundry chick."Well my laundry is done so I go back to get it out of the dryer and low and behold 5 of the 7 machines that has my stuff in it is blocked by band equipment. I go on the search for the owners of said band equipment. I find them they are the *** insert obscene name here that is embarrassing to say by any one but the band members. They ended up being super nice guys and helped me right away. I even got pictures of their rad, gravity defying mohawks.

Lesson: #1 Find out if punk rock band is playing at your laundry mat before carrying copious amounts of laundry in and trying to get through crowds. #2 Do go and see punk rock band at local laundry mat. :)

in need of a laugh

Flight of the Conchords is BY FAR one of my favorite Tv shows. What makes it so great are the songs! duh. so on my Daily Candy today it had the suggestion for their cd to listen to this weekend. I am allll over it. And check out the rockin cover art. who could ask for anything more?

high school musical

On friday night I accompanied my friend Shannon to the annual musical at Woodrow Wilson here in Dallas. My friend Sean (Shannon's fiance) is the music director there so it was a real treat to see him at work. They performed Sound of Music. It was an incredible show. The caliber of detail they put out for the show was pretty spectacular. The costumes were phenomonal and the talent of the kids was awesome!! I was really impressed. I recommend to anyone to go and see their show next year no matter what it may be because this school puts forth its all to make it a great show.

Now the architecture of the school is a whole other category. They were put on the historical registry and the gothic detail in parts of the school were really impressive. read more about it here.

party this weekend?

Pingg.com is my new fave site for invitations. much better than evite. you can load your own images onto the site to use as your invite and the best part is you can use their surroundsend feature. this feature sends an evite, a webpage for your event and they even have a postcard (snail mail), and text message feature for your event.

I used surround send recently for my friends wedding shower to send out a postcard invite and it gave me a webpage. I was able to use my own art and customize the page. I will put up the image after the event happens because i don't want the bride to see it... ;)

Have a great weekend!!!

urchin vases

These vases by wrapables are so fun. They would go perfect with the anthro teaset that I adoringly covet!! I found it via hostess with the mostess she suggested them as a centerpiece. I think they would be delightful against a brightly colored wall like the photo or in the bathroom.

Bon Voyage... and thanks for coming!

no photos allowed in gallery so here are a couple in the lobby.

As it was Brandon's last night in town we wanted to do something fun. Aside from the all day shooting bonanza him and Ben had at the range yesterday (we are in Texas!). Conveniently Thursday nights are free at the Dallas Museum of Art!! It was my first trip there and it was very cool... much larger than I expected too. My two favorite exhibits were the Stanley Marcus (founder of Neimans) photography exhibit and the study on decorative accessories (naturally).

The Photos from the Stanley Marcus exhibit were really groovy in every sense off the word, there were some very nostalgic pictures and although they were mostly of family and friends they captured time. His use of color was really great and there was one in particular i loved of ladies at a cocktail party in the 60's. You can buy the book here.

The study on the decorative accessories was mostly pottery and dinner ware but it was neat the way they laid it out in a timeline fashion. unfortunately it had no info up because they were still installing the exhibition.

There was also live jazz, cocktails and food in the lobby. The sun was setting and the lighting was really beautiful... hopefully a perfect way for Brandon to end his trip.

strike!!

Saturday was Ben's birthday and we had a lil bowling get together at the new[ish] 300 Dallas. It was quite the posh place, especially for a bowling alley. They say it's suppossed to be like club, meets bowling with a nice bar and cafe. I think there is nothing wrong with a regular bowling alley but it was very fun, none the less!

My favorite part of bowling is the shoes. Yea, some people say they are gross and unsanitary, blah blah, but look at how cool they photograph! Especially under a black light. I just think they are the one thing that never really changes. They are always a little uncomfortable and seemingly ugly, but part of the ritual and I love it.

Dallas Design Guide

yay! Design Sponge did the Dallas Design Guide today. And I must say it is the most thorough one yet. Paige Phelps from the Dallas Morning News did it and her catagories ROCK! Makes you wanna come back y'all doesn't it?

Cupcake wrappers

wow! check out these cupcake wrappers from Paper Orchid... there are tons of different styles but this one popped out the most. For a party with no budget these would be so lovely! one can dream huh?

the perfect afternoon tea [i mean Coffee]

Today is my friend Lindsy's birthday [happy birthday Linds!] Over the weekend my friend Shannon and I planned a afternoon tea for Lindsy. It was at this local latin bakery La Duni [they also have awesome brunch]. But we were there for tea.

When it came time to order our drinks however, they only had one type of tea... confusing? yes. but they did have an extensive coffee list, so we all got a variation of that. It was actually quite the perfect accompaniment.

They had a delightful tiered tray full of goodies, sweet and salty. On the bottom tray there was finger sandwiches [with a Latin flair of course] of ham and gruyere, and one of goat cheese, pickled asparagus and roasted red peppers. On the second tray were these delicious cinnamon bun type things with caramel and nuts and also a apple tart type thing. On the top tier we had chocolate cake [mmm] and lemon cake.

one groovy holiday

This set was on Home & Haven's site. I thought it was a very cool 50's throwback items. The set is perfect for the holidays in red. so fun! check it out here... the website has some pretty cool items.

Dishfuls of Doodles

Dishfuls of Doodles on etsy has some very cool patterns for dishes and serving pieces. All of the color combinations are very fun too. The orange and brown I thought was a very appropriate combo for fall and the shade of orange looks so fresh next to the white. On the platter above I just love this grey. I am starting to see it pop up everywhere! so fun.

Hostess

Not sure how you stumbled upon this site... but I LOVE IT!! Hostess with the Mostess guide to fabulous finds and more for contemporary entertaining. So cute... I love her fun, playful aesthetic. Yesterday she posted the cups above Daydream Cappuccino Set from bud™ by designroom. So fun you would just want to put it out on your counter all the time!

This brings me to another book on my wishlist... Amy Sedaris I Like You: Hospitality under the Influence I have watched interviews... read excerpts and reveiws and I really want it soo bad. Everytime i go to buy it I am flat broke though. I keep looking for it at the Half Price Books. I think I need to just bite the bullet and buy it.