With a Chair(y) on Top

Chairs are definitely favorite. I love to doodle them in my spare time and thoroughly enjoy sitting on chairs. These are a few of the pieces I'm hearting right now. Crate&Barrel, Target and Restoration Hardware have some alarmingly cute options this season.

Where do you like to park it?

Headboard Friday

What kind of headboard do you have or would like to have? Something that is soft to lean against at night or maybe a substantial antique iron piece? I personally like the upholstered, tufted headboards. Yum.

Out of the Closet

Whether they're big or small nothing can beat a beautifully organized and outfitted closet. A place for everything and everything in its place. What could be better?

I have a philosophy that when your surroundings are organized you can lead a calmer life. No time is wasted in the morning looking for that favorite, yet elusive, sweater. Categorizing clothing by color and style will also help get you out the door faster.

My own closet will get out of hand every now and again but I do my best to wrangle it in every month. Keeping a sack of clothes to be sold at a consignment shop is key to controlling the clutter. For each new article of clothing that comes into my closet an older piece must leave. I only keep a set number of hangers (I am in love with these!) in my closet and will not buy more. It really keeps me in check when shopping. No empty hanger= no new top.

If you're still not convinced take a sec to admire the following closets and tell me that you wouldn't be a happy camper seeing your clothes laid out in such style.

You can find boot hangers like these at The Container Store. Brilliant. Keeps them off the floor and from starting to slouch.

Big Brother

My big brother has turned out to be a very good daddy. When did we get so grown up?

-- Post From My iPhone

Location:Ridgehaven Dr,Dallas,United States

Band Spotting

Reporting from the streets of McKinney, TX, my mama saw this on her way home...

Animal bands?!? Surely the 1980s phenom, Rock-Afire Explosion isn't touring around local Show Biz Pizza parlors nationwide?


Thank goodness. The world is right again as young ones everywhere will have visions of animal-shaped pieces of plastic and not terrifying animatronic animals playing homemade banjos. I was worried after this sign from last week.

I'm Sailing, I Sail Now

Makes my lips numb just thinking about it...but that didn't stop BF and I from going sailing yesterday with our friends. Below is a reenactment of my day yesterday:

It was our last weekend in Trinidad before we go back to the States and our sweet pals took us out on their sail boat. I'm a motor boat kind of gal but we had a blast. Allow me to introduce the crew...

Co-Captains - Shannon & Jason

First Mate - Dalton


The "Crew"

BF the "Swashbuckler"


BF was super handy around the boat and was working hard, while I...

Did this.

Feet, BF above and me below.


In addition to sailing out to where we could see Venezuela in the distance we also saw pirates. Don't worry, we had plenty of rum and Chavez stayed on his side of the Dragon's Mouth.



Thanks to our friends for taking us sailing and for making our time in Trinidad fun and wonderful. We will miss you and can't wait to see you again for another adventure!

Cook 'em if You Got 'em

These kitchens are gorgeous. They make me want to be a better cook.

Blast from the Past - Rubber Bracelets

Saturday morning, time for cartoons. Only all the cartoons worth waking up during our youth are gone. This realization led me to this post. You know that you are a child of the 80s if you remember the following items:

Saturday morning spent with Red and the gang of Fraggle Rock. The hard-working Doozers were my fav. I'm pretty sure that the Fraggles had them working for less than minimum wage and were not given proper breaks but that was their world, not mine. They never complained either.

Slap bracelets. Did you ever beg and plead for just one more bracelet to complete your collection? I did. And it was glorious...until they were banned from school for being "to distracting and violent."

Oh, the stirrup pant. Let us not repeat that fashion faux pas, shall we? Yikes. I am loving the Cosby sweater and feathered mullet. Maybe I will bring those back.

Yet another 80s fashion disaster would have to be parachute pants or fondly remembered as "Hammer Pants." This is one atrocity that celebrities had the audacity to attempt at reviving. Thank goodness it failed and landed them on the "Worst Dressed" list of InStyle.

Long gone are the days of Hypercolor T-shirts, trading Garbage Pail Kids, Popples and the Snorks. The kids that our generation will produce will sadly have no idea what good Saturday morning cartoons used to be made of; it's all Anime and Bratz now. But at least we can rest assured in the fact that one near and dear to my heart 80s trend is back with a vengeance. Rubber bracelets are on like Donkey Kong, kids.

The new generation of rubber bracelet enthusiasts only confirm my fear for this new league of consumers. Obsession, bombardment advertising, unending disposable income (10 year olds with credit cards? Really?!) and the need to conform that has always plagued human pre-teen kind has made this new craze 10 times crazier than anything that we saw in my day as an elementary school student. Kids of my time were clearly not as clever as the kids (or marketing firms) of today. What we called, "rubber bracelets" kids today call everything from Silly Bandz to Zandybandz. What on earth does Zandybandz even mean? It is all jibberish and ball bearings these days. BF showed me an article about the insanity of this remade craze by Lindsey Bever from www.neighborsgo.com.

"Sorry we are all out of animal rubber bands until Monday or Tuesday." They are also out of all the cool technologically stunted trends that plagued the 80s. I do love seeing a nine year old texting away on her iPhone while listening to music and wearing cheap rubber bands that she could have found in her mama's treasure chest back in 1988.

What about you, what was your favorite trend from your childhood? Any decade can apply.

Photos courtesy of www.ilovethe80s.com, www.ilovefragglerock.com, www.capestreasures.com

Brains and Bronze

We all know that too much sun is no good for our skin but most of us like a little tan. Some more than others: George Hamilton and Brooke Hogan, the Umpa Lumpa look is so 30 years ago.

Living in the Caribbean I'm very conscious of my sun exposure. When my parents visited they were surprised that I wasn't more tan. As a child I turned brown every summer, but I'm no longer a child (though I may act like one at times) and it is now the age of high SPF. Down here you can almost always find me in a hat with SPF 70 underneath.

The big reason that I don't mind if my face doesn't match my slightly tanner body is because of this great bronzing powder from Bare Escentuals. The color is Faux Tan and it is the perfect bronzer. No orange hue here, just subtle natural color. It is very natural looking and even has SPF in it.

For the bod I like Jergens line of buildable bronzing lotions. Just watch your feet, things can get to looking weird around your toes. Also, don't forget to wash your hands or face the consequences of orange palms. Jergens Glow Bronze Express is the best by far.

Happy safe sunless-tanning!

Romper Room

I am loving the romper look for summer. They look comfy and stylish and they make a perfect beach cover-up or easy go to ensemble any day of the week. Maybe not Sunday, don't wear this to church, ladies.

After seeing Seinna and Jessica wearing them in People I searched the Internet for some options and found the following at Urban Outfitters:

Staring at Stars Cutout Romper - $58

Grey Antics by Grey Ant Perfect Romper - $58
Pins and Needles Eyelet Romper - $58

Pins and Needles Silky Ruffle Jumper - $58