wishlist wednesday!

please don't hate me, i couldn't help myself - i knew yesterday that i was going to make the theme for today's wish list something along the lines of, "urban ballerina." so if i were an urban ballerina, i.e coming straight out of the dance studio and pretty much walking into a musical where i danced as i was walking through the park, to the grocery store, from the post office, etc., this is what i'd probably be wearing. or, if i wasn't a ballerina but still wanted to look pretty, i'd still wear these things!

from the top, you can find these beauties here: prance and swagger, golden ponies, allen company inc, larime loom, sparkles burton.

so, i have some exciting news. i went down to my mother-in-law's this evening to get four small boxes of things that have been down there since chris and i moved (okay, so we moved three and a half years ago, and yes, i am embarrassed that i still have things that aren't unpacked). i would be lying if i told you that i couldn't open up a small antique store with all the stuff i had in those boxes. apparently i had a thing for knick knacks, and was well on my way to being a legitimate hoarder. a few of the things, sadly, had to be thrown away as they'd gotten broken, a few of the things were wiped off and set out so i could enjoy them, and more than a few of the things are sitting on my dining room table with no home and no future with me. so i may send you something. or better yet, you could just come and take the stuff. it was definitely like antique christmas morning at my house this evening!

so tell me, what have you been wishing for lately?

beauty like this is almost haunting...

i saw this a few days ago and immediately knew i had to share it. i know you may not be as obsessed with ballet as i am, but this is beautiful nonetheless! the videography, the dancing, the outfits (Chloé), janie's long beautiful hair, the music, it kind of gives me chills. you may or may not know this already, but one of my biggest, and longest running dreams, is to dance professionally. ballet has always mesmerized me, and my love for the art hasn't faltered since i was 5. i have regretfully come to terms with the fact that the new york city ballet has no use for a 29-year-old amateur, so i'll just settle for dancing with my ballet videos in my den, and of course watching pure art and magic like this...

the card and the leprechauns.

i wanted to get this post done before i left to go to the soul food restaurant with pop and tricia because it's about two things that didn't just make me giggle, they made me laugh my butt off. several times. first, the card. one of my besties, maria, sent me the funniest card for my birthday, but the best part was inside. she's black from laying in the death tanning bed, cal (our other bestie) is surfing with her nose ring, and i'm jumping on my trampoline with flojo! i laughed and laughed and laughed about this, because it's us. SO very us!

the next funny thing is the leprechaun story. i know i've told you before, but my pop is seriously the funniest person i know. we'd been planning since last week to go to the soul food restaurant, but last night he called and said he had to tell me something. i immediately jumped to the conclusion that we couldn't go eat and i was devastated. he said, "i hate to be the barer of bad news, buuuuut, we're still going!" trickster. so then this morning he called me, and this is a piece of our conversation:

pop: "danielle, i've got some bad news."
me: "what? we can't go tonight?"
pop: "no, something came up at work and i can't leave in time."
me: "WHAT?!? are you serious? what in the world is going on?"
pop: (still very serious) "well, there's a leprechaun uprising at our company in ireland, and i have to fly out this afternoon to go get them under control."
me: "POP, YOU MORON! i thought you were serious! EEEEEEE, i can't believe you got me again!"
pop: "no, i don't have to go to ireland this time, we're still going to eat. yeah, those little lephrechauns, they get really out of hand sometimes, so we have to step in and take care of 'em."

my pop is insane. and the funniest part is, you never can tell he's joking. like, when i was a kid, we'd be watching a tv show, and he'd say about one of the stars, "i went to school with him back when i was young." the sad part is, i almost always believed him! so the lesson here is this: if you ever meet my pop, don't trust what he tells you because he's probably joking!

at least my dress was cute...

this morning started off great - i was well-rested from going to bed an hour earlier, the house was quiet, the sun was shining, and the birds were chirping. but because the universe just likes to make me the butt of a joke sometimes, the good morning didn't last. i guess the one good thing about my day though is that i wore a new dress! and, hey, who doesn't like a new dress?! first, i told my mother-in-law that i was giving random homicide some serious thought and she replied with, "well you look really cute, and i love the dress," and then a complete stranger with an impressive afro started singing, dancing, and pointing at me as i went by. i don't know, but again, i think it must have been the dress.

the deets: cardigan - target; dress - forever 21; belt - gift; shoes - vintage from ebay back before vintage was so expensive you needed to take out a bank loan to buy it.

now, you wanna know what has me so annoyed i could punch babies? i'll tell you. i'm in the process of getting a domain name transferred for a client's website, and without going into all the details, i'll summarize by saying IT'S A NIGHTMARE! it really has been such a headache, and yesterday i thought one hurdle had been cleared, but of course i thought wrong. the domain name that was supposed to be transferred is cedargate, but somehow the seemingly knowledgeable tech guy, who i later realized is a complete dumbass, initiated a transfer for petergate! SERIOUSLY?!? he couldn't understand cedargate, so it was spelled out C-E-D-A-R-G-A-T-E, but he had a difficult time with that, too. so then it was spelled out like the license plates of a stolen car: Charles - Edward - David - Adam - Robert - George - Adam - Tom - Edward, and i thought he had it, but he didn't. so now petergate is what i'm stuck with because apparently idiot tech guy can't cancel an incorrect domain transfer that HE initiated. oh hell.

so, yeah, there you have it. i mean, at least i can laugh about it though (a super-annoyed-on-the-verge-of-a-nervous-breakdown laugh still counts, right?). i hope you've had a good day so far!

wishlist wednesday!

wow, i didn't realize until last night that i hadn't blogged since last thursday. i have to say, it was a nice break. don't get me wrong, i really missed getting all of your comments, but sometimes it's kind of refreshing to just step away for a little while and spend that time focusing on something else; in my case, orb necklaces and planning a trip. speaking of trips, i've always kind of wished i could travel somewhere and not take any clothes, but buy my outfits to wear once i get there. i know, it sounds so frivolous, but since i'm a complete NON frivolous person, it would be fun to do just once! i went straight vintage with this wishlist, and i picked things i wouldn't mind having for my upcoming june trip (i'll tell you more about it later)...

you can find these babies here (from the top): first & second from the vintage ramble, wildfell hall vintage, marikaemerson, lciernia, raleigh vintage.

let's see... since i last posted, i celebrated my 29th birthday, and i have a feeling i'm going to celebrate quite a few more 29th birthdays because i really don't want to let go of my 20's. i also ate like a 12-year-old turned loose at a carnival, and that includes but is not limited to: three cheese pizza, cotton candy, jelly donuts, french fries, etc. and yes, i'm having serious consumption guilt. so, yeah, i guess aside from eating, i haven't done much of note since we last met! i hope you're having a good week!

stones, man (and a mini what i've been working on)

i feel like i've had a lot going on, and after i decided to do a "what i've been working on" post, i realized that i really hadn't made much of anything. if that doesn't tell me i need to get busy on jewelry for my shop, then i don't know what does. i have made a few raw gem stone rings though, and i was excited last thursday to go back to the gem shop and find a few new stones i somehow managed to overlook the other times i've been. here's what i've got...

i got some double terminated quartz, agate, peacock ore, tangerine quartz, and a few more pretty pieces. now it's time to make more orb necklaces and drill a few rocks.

i feel like a woman of few words today. i had planned to do an outfit post because i love the vintage dress i wore, and i'm always happy to wear my tan dr. scholl's exercise sandals, but of course i forgot until after i changed into my ratty clothes once i got home! oops. i hope you've had a good thursday!

noses rejoice!

i was about to start this post with, "you know one of my favorite things about spring" but seriously, i have about 853 favorite things about spring, so that could be a slippery slope. one of my favorite things about this spring day is lilac blossoms! we have a lilac bush in our front yard, and for the last few weeks i've watched the leaves fill in and the tiny purple buds start to sprout. a few days a go the flowers were finally blooming, and they're sweeter than any perfume i've ever smelled! since the bush gets covered in so many flowers, i never mind cutting some off to bring inside. i put my clippings in some of the old bottles i got the other week, and they look so pretty i wish they'd stay that way for the rest of the year!

my sweet little kona bear might be a little camera shy. well, that or he just doesn't see the point in sitting still if he isn't having his belly scratched or on my lap. what an attention hog. i tried to make the lilac look like a boutonniere so he'd be a little gentleman, but he wasn't having it (i think it looks like he's sighing and saying, with an annoyed tone to his voice, "are you almost done?!? get this thing off of me!"). either way, what a handsome guy!

what sorts of flowers do you have in your yard? are you planting more this spring or summer? what is your favorite thing about spring? i know i am, and as boring as this may sound, i told chris i wouldn't mind getting mulch for my birthday! i love landscaping, and i have my pop and high school job at the greenhouse to thank for that!

from film with love.

wow, this weekend has come and pretty much gone like a blur. i think i've been so pre-occupied with the thought of life and its fragility to really pay the last couple days any attention. on friday afternoon chris called me after he learned that his second cousin and her husband were killed when their apartment and about 10 others were destroyed in a fire. she was only 26 years old. i will never understand tragedy, and i can't understand death. it sort of puts things into perspective, and not that i didn't appreciate what, and more importantly, WHO i have in my life, but this really made me think about it all. their passing scares and saddens me, and that fear makes me want to take more risks, enjoy each minute, and stop worrying about things i can't change. i didn't mean to make this a preachy post, but life, and death, really scare me sometimes. as some of you know, chris is going through a battle of sorts for back pay. i've realized that having a fat bank account really isn't that big a deal; enjoying our time is. so once things are settled on that front, we're traveling, whether he likes it not! one place i want to take him is pebble beach, which still holds a piece of my heart...


on a lighter note, my pop is hilarious, and i used to always tell him that he should've been a comedian. i think i get my never serious and always making a joke attitude from him, and i'm grateful for that! anyway, yesterday was his birthday, HAPPY BIRTHDAY, POP!!!!!, so when i talked to him today and asked him what all he did, he told me that he and tricia, my stepmom, went to charlottesville to eat. here's the funny part, he said that he was hungry for mexican, pizza, a cheeseburger and fried chicken. so they went somewhere that had everything but the mexican and for dinner he devoured: three pieces of fried chicken, one cheeseburger, one piece of pizza and two servings of corn. seriously, you'd think he was as big as a house, but he isn't! he's nuts.

how was your weekend?

wishlist wednesday on a thursday!

i thought yesterday was tuesday, so i didn't have a wish list ready, but as usual, i'm behind! it wasn't difficult to decide on a theme for this week's wish list...what i want for my birthday! i celebrate the last year of my 20's starting in a week and a half, and husband, if you're reading this, you have an etsy account, so you may think about putting it to use. hint, hint.

you can find these beauties here, from the top: mrd74, greatest friend, reraeshop, mellow dayss, IKAHN, the blue balloon, greatest friend.

aaaahhhh, this wish list makes me want to go on a shopping spree! so, what are you wishing for?

your questions, answered.

i knew that chris would be gone this morning to a meeting, so it was the perfect time to record this vlog! sort of off topic, but have you seen the movie inception? with dreams within dreams? okay, so i woke up, i thought, from this terrible demon-filled nightmare knowing that i needed to record the vlog, but i remembered my hair was orange from where i tried to bleach it. i was so embarrassed, then i woke up for real and realized my hair was still dark brown. *air punch from happiness* i didn't intend for this to be so long, and if you don't watch 13 minutes of me talking, i understand! but here it is, snake story, screaming, and all...



and because i felt i need to break them up, here's the most consistently messy place in my house and the contents of my fridge...



aaaaand, i left out two things and i feel bad about that. one was kassi asking me to share the orangello story that she and the others liked during our california blogger meet up, and the other thing i forgot was to answer the questions my own husband left for me! first he wanted to know why i fell for him. well, it was partially the blue eyes and next the sweetness. also, he wanted to know if the magic 8 ball would be right again when he asked it if he would get lucky. my answer: you perv.

i don't know.

this post is one of those, "i need to blog but where do i start?" type deals. wow, i mean, where do i start? i didn't do much blogging last week because it was so busy, and i had something planned for friday and today, but i think my brain just got jumbled. i guess the biggest thing was my little car accident on friday. luckily it wasn't my fault, and luckily i was in my company car which didn't fare so well, and not my own, and luckily no one was injured aside from whiplash. so i've been complaining to chris like a little old lady, and my house is a mess because my back hurts and i don't feel like vacuuming. but what i did do was hunt for bottles! chris and i met up on friday before the accident and i found a few, then i had a delicious lunch with auntie amy (and the hummus was so good i'd sell chris for more). then on saturday pop and i went on the hunt for more bottles for me to crochet cover.

i'm so happy with the bottles i found! i have to admit though, my hoarder tendencies could take over if i let them and i could decide to just add more and more bottles to my collection, but i have to keep that beast under control. i also got two books (they're new, and they were only $2 each! hardbacks, people!) and this stereoview of a crystal garden. i love the soft colors, and of course i love crystals and all that natural stuff. there was a big basket with probably 200 stereoview cards of all different places and scenes. to be honest, i could have gone crazy with those, too, but i stopped at one!

oh, and chris and i also made mint oreo blizzards on saturday evening. i only like oreos for about 4 days a month if you catch my drift, and that blizzard was absolutely delicious. if chris hadn't eaten all of the loot, i'd make another one for dinner tonight!

i hope you guys had a good weekend! what did you do?