worldliness Wednesday

Once again, it is time for Miss Classy in Philly's Where in the World Wednesday! You know you love it :)




This week, I am in Krakow, Poland, where I seem to have left my heart a few years ago. If you are a new reader, I lived there for two years while studying and getting a Master's degree. It was all sorts of amazingness that I miss every day. Most of my photos are not scanned...yes, I had an old camera that used film! Gasp! There are a few that are online...

This photo was taken a few buildings over from where my school was. It was the summer of 2003 and it was the day that Poland had their referendum as to whether or not they wanted to join the EU (I think we all know they voted to join, right?) It was such an exciting day; there had been all sorts of campaigns and whatnot, for both sides, telling people why they should vote yes or no.

I got swept up into it, since I'd worked on a few campaigns prior to that, so it was exciting, even though I couldn't vote, obviously! As I said, one of the polling stations was right by my school, and one of the administrators knew how into it I was, so he took me over and explained to the pollers that I just wanted to see what was going on...so they let me come in, and walk around, just to see! They also gave me a pin that said "yes, I voted!" which is what I am pointing to in the photo :)

I realize the photo is a bit grainy...again, it is an anctual photo that was scanned, so not the best quality! Still though, it was an exciting day for Krakow, and all of Poland, for that matter!

Where are you this Wednesday???

PS. Be on the lookout for a giveaway coming up soon!

a new bag!

I was going to order the dress I posted about the other day to wear to a wedding in Iowa next month, but decided to postpone it...

For this!

How cute is she!?

From LL Bean, and I added a monogram. The large was only $29, and I got free shipping, so I was pleased. It's a great summer bag- I can use it for a carry-on when I fly, for work and other things. Bean bags are such good quality too, I just love them and have a few.

I still like the dress, and will maybe order it next month, for the summer weddings we have (May, June and July!). It might be a bit too dressy for Iowa...I've noticed that the weddings we've gone to there are usually a bit more casual, and I am among the most dressed up! This isn't a bad thing, I don't think, but I'd rather have this bag now to use for upcoming travels anyway!

What does your "summer 2010" bag look like?

and another dress

What do you think of this dress?

I think it is fun, and a little different from what I usually wear. I was thinking I could wear it to the Iowa wedding next month...maybe with silver strappy sandals? I'm not wild about the shoes in the picture, but silver would be fun!

It also comes in red, but I am liking the purple. It's from Target, and a total steal at $39.99!

PS. Why is the model's face cut off halfway?!

Wednesday in Scotland!

I missed Where in the World Wednesday last week, hosted by Miss CiP, so here I am this week, trying to get back on track!

This week, I'm in Inveraray, Argyll, Scotland!

In October 2007, Steve and I went to the UK for a week. My sister was spending the semester in London, so we spent a few days there with her and then rented a car and drove north! We stopped in Derbyshire to visit some friends there as well, and then kept going north to Scotland! We spent a night in Glasgow and then drove to Inveraray, as we wanted to see the Inveraray Castle, which was all sorts of amazingness and gorgeousness (I'll post more pictures of the trip later, if you'd like).

In the town of Inveraray, there is a shop called Loch Fyne Whiskies, where we went into sample some of their finest malts! I am not a huge whiskey person, but Steve liked it enough to buy a few bottles! Also, I ordered some for him one Valentines Day too, as they ship overseas!

Here's me, at the shop :)

Where are you this Wednesday?

words for Wednesday

I love this!

Via Proper Topper

Also worth noting- I won their "words we love" contest last week! Hurrah!

Here is my submission, which I love---

“Come in the evening, or come in the morning,

Come when you are looked for, or come without warning,

A thousand welcomes you will find here before you,

And the oftener you come here the more I’ll adore you.”

-Irish Blessing

Lovely, eh?

smile!

obsessive corgi disorder :)






I need a corgi...

jumping on the wedding train

In a few weeks, Wedding Season 2010 begins. As it stands, we have six weddings this year, April, May, June, July, August, October and November. If you're curious, they are in Iowa, Virginia, Virginia, New Hampshire, London (Ontario), Iowa and London (ON, again). Once again, I'm a bit dizzy, looking at them all :)

The two London weddings are siblings- the bride is the August wedding and the groom is November. I knew the groom first, as we worked on a few campaigns together, and I became good friends with his sister when I was in London a few years ago running a campaign with him during Canada's Federal Elections in 2004. I'm looking forward to them, as I haven't seen the groom since I left Canada, but I saw his sister two years ago when she was interning in Baltimore that summer.

Here's my problem- the weekend of the bride's wedding, in August, Steve is out of town for a convention. I obviously really want to go to her wedding, but I don't want to go alone, especially to an out-of-town (and country!) wedding where I won't know many people. Of course, I'll know their family, and maybe one or two friends, but for the most part, I won't know anyone. I don't think I am very good in situations like that, where I don't know many people. I get a little intimidated, and I think that a wedding might make it a little more stressful!

I am debating what I should do. Should I just say I can't go? Should I go alone?

Have you ever been in a similar situation? What would you do?

randomitis

Randoms of the day

• I hate the term hubby. Likewise, I despise preggers and preggo. It pained me to even type them. When I have babies, I will never, ever use those words and people better not refer to me that way either!


• You know when you buy a skirt with a slit in the back, or a new coat? You know how the two pieces are held together with a large X stitch? Once you bring the coat home, you are supposed to snip the X stitch. It drives me bananas when I see people walking with the X still there. It's one of my peeves. Yes, I am weird, I know this!


• Trader Joe's has these "powerberries," which are dark chocolate covered fruit pieces of acai, pomegranate, cranberry and blueberry. They are amazing. If you have a tj's near you, stop reading right now and go buy some. Then come back and finish reading. You'll thank me, trust me.
  
• I'm really bad at remembering to take my vitamins, even though I keep them in plain sight on my desk. This is to remind me to take them, so I always forget to. Do you take your vitamins?


• I have about a million things going on over the next several weeks and am feeling incredibly overwhelmed by all of them.


• I have two friends having babies (one anytime now and the other this summer) and I want to make baby quilts for them.


• I think my sister and her boyfriend are coming down Easter weekend. We have tickets for the Red Sox vs. Nationals game (last pre-season of the year!)


• I miss getting fun mail. I need to start sending more, so I get more. Anyone want a love letter from me?


• My crazy boyfriend signed up to run the Dublin marathon. Looks like I may be going to Ireland in October.


• That reminds me that I NEED to renew my passport ASAP, since you aren't supposed to fly on your passport within six months of its expiration date, and mine expires in October


• I have two international weddings this year too. Both in Canada, August and November. Oy.


• I am totally in love with the Albanian class that I am taking.


• I have a new obsession with lotus bowls lately.


• Last night I finished reading Jodi Picoult's new book, House Rules. I enjoyed it, but found the ending somewhat lackluster.


• I've never bought myself an expensive piece of jewelry. Maybe I should. Have you?

What are your random thoughts for the day?

Irishness

For the love o' the Irish....

(source)

Irish or not, hope you're wearing green today and having a Guinness or two tonight!

if I were something else

I saw this on another blog, and thought it was lovely...so, enjoy, and post the same on yours! I'd love to see your answers!

If I were a month, I’d be early November.
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Sunday afternoon.
If I were a time of day, I’d be dusk.
If I were a planet, I’d be Earth.
If I were a sea animal, I'd be a seahorse.
If I were a direction, I’d be North.
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a papasan chair with a cozy quilt.
If I were a liquid, I’d be water with a slice of lemon.
If I were a gemstone, I’d be amber from the Baltic Sea.
If I were a tree, I’d be a magnolia tree.
If I were a tool, I’d be a rotary cutter (for quilting!)
If I were a flower, I’d be a pale pink peony.
If I were a kind of weather, I’d be a winter snowstorm.
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be a saxophone.
If I were a color, I’d be deep red.
If I were an emotion, I’d be surprise.
If I were a fruit, I’d be a raspberry.
If I were an element, I’d be a cool breeze.
If I were a car, I'd be something vintage.
If I were a food, I’d be strawberry shortcake!
If I were a place, I’d be the Tatra Mountains of Zakopane, Poland.
If I were a material, I’d be vintage lace.
If I were a scent, I’d be honeysuckle.
If I were an animal, I'd be a corgi (obviously!)
If I were a facial expression, I’d be a blush.
If I were a song, I’d be "Saturday in the Park" by Chicago.
If I were a pair of shoes, I’d be red high high heels.

So...what would you be?

slow down for a minute

I saw this recently on Miss Classy in Philly's blog and thought it was such a good reminder of how things could be.


I try not to let it show, but I really do stress about things. I know that I shouldn't, but sometimes I just can't help it. I try to let things happen, but that is a lot easier said than done. I will admit that I obsess over things that I can't really control and I need to learn to let everything be.

How do you step back and let life happen as it should?

Friday photo love

I went home to NH the other weekend and had the chance to see my godson Jackson. He's going to be THREE in July! Insane.

Here we are!


You can't tell, I'm sure, but the band-aid has little sushi rolls all over it! I bought them for his mother, my best friend. (he was totally fine, by the way, just liked the band-aids!)

Is he not the cutest boy in the world? :)

more anthroloveologie

I promise, I won't be posting about my love of anthropologie all the time!

As I said, I was there a few weeks ago with some birthday money, so I picked up a few things, almost all on the clearance bin!

First, these cute bowls. They were a whopping $3.99 each. The plan is to keep necklaces in them, and they will go on my dresser, which really needs to be cleaned off. In my little apartment, I have a tiny room off to one corner that I call the nook, because it isn't big enough to do much with, but my dresser fits nicely in there. Other than that, it collects junk that seems to have nowhere else to go, but I need to do some serious purging (anyone want some stationary? seriously, I'll send you a bundle! I have so much more than I use!) Once I clean off the dresser, I have ideas, and these cute little bowls fit nicely with the ideas :)

With the necklaces inside-

Okay, these were not on the clearance bin, but I have been lusting after these babushka measuring cups forever. Really, what's not to love about these sweet faces?!

This is a candle snuffer! The photo quality isn't great, but at the end (bottom left corner) is a little owl! Too cute, and only $9.99!

These are fun measuring spoons (they kind of match the bowls!) that were a steal at $7.99!

Have you found any good deals at anthro lately???

library love

As you know, I am a lover of anthropologie, so it would make sense that I follow them on twitter. Recently, they tweeted about library love, in the form of card catalog pulls.

I'm pretty much in love with them.

When I was there the other week, I picked one up. Adorable, yes?

My plan is to find a dresser/nightstand, maybe on craigslist and use these as the drawer pulls. I'd like something with a shabby chic/antique look to it. I'm not a huge DIYer, but I think it would be cute!

I'd also LOVE to find an actual old library card catalog too. I see those from time to time on craigslist, but they are usually pretty pricy, around $800 or so. I saw one recently not far from here for only $200, but when I emailed the owner, I never got a reply. Oh well, I'll keep looking! I think it would be such a stunning piece for a living room.

I know just where I'd put it too...

would you eat these?

A few days ago, Steve and I were at the grocery store. As always, we went up and down every isle (yes, that's how I shop...) In the chip isle, I saw these---


conversation---

Lexi- "cheeseburger doritos! we have to try them!"
Steve- "you're disgusting."

Ha. He loves me, I swear.

He always makes fun of me, because I always feel the need to try the gross flavors of chips. We didn't buy them, as I didn't want a huge bag if they were indeed gross. Yesterday morning, my co-worker and I ran to the vending machine and I saw a snack-sized bag! Perfection!

They taste exactly like Burger King.

So friends, would you try them???

to dress or not to dress?

Last week, I had a sushi and movie date in Georgetown after work with one of my favorite girls. My office isn't too far from there, so I knew I had some time to run into Anthropologie first. I also had birthday money that I hadn't spent yet.

By the way, I want to live in the anthro store. It just smells so darn good in there.

I found some goodies, which I will post about later, but I also found this dress---


It's black velvet, and the back is just like the front, with the scoop neck. The sash is almost a lime green with white polka dots. It was in the clearance corner for $39.99, which if you shop at anthro, you know is a steal. It was my size, so I grabbed it without trying it on, since there wasn't time. I tried it on, and it fits, but I can't decide if I like it. I'm not sure if the black velvet is too much. On its own, I feel like it would be fine, but maybe the sash throws everything off?

What do you think? Keep? Return?

Wednesday wanderings

Guess what? It is Wednesday and time for Classy in Philly's Where in the World Wednesdays!

This week, I am in one of my favorite U.S. cities- Boston! It's close to home (NH, obviously), but this time, I was here for work. I had a week-long conference there a few years ago, and once it ended, I stayed for a few extra days, to see my sister (she lives there), and show Steve around, as he'd never been.

We were on Newbury Street, and at the time, there was a Whittard of Chelsea, a lovely English tea shop that had a few stores in the States, but from my understanding, the Boston locations are now closed. So, so sad. If anyone knows differently, please let me know! There was also one at Faneuil Hall. Anyway, I digress. I found the shop on a lunch break, as our hotel was nearby, and it was soon after Easter, so all the cute Easter teapots and such were on sale. Of course, I bought several. They also had a tea bar, where you could mix your own tea!

Me, blending my own tea! Love! You could follow recipes they had there, or just make your own. I don't totally remember what I made, but it did involve lavendar, one of my favorite things.

Still so sad that this shop is closed. If I'm wrong, make my day and let me know.

Where are you this Wednesday???

boys don't make passes on girls who wear glasses

Yesterday afternoon I was on my way home from work, and was on the escalator up from the metro. There was a man a few steps ahead of me who kept turning around and looking at me. Finally, he said "nice glasses!" I was so surprised, I didn't know what to say other than "thanks?" He continued to try to have a conversastion with me, but I was so perplexed that I didn't really respond and then walked away.

What was funny about it, was this past weekend, I was home in NH, and nearly had a heart attack because I thought I lost my glasses. I had left them on the kitchen table, and my mother picked them up and put them in her bag, thinking they were hers, as they are very similar looking. This led into a lengthy conversation about how old my glasses are (very) and how long it has been since I've been to the eye doctor (long). My deep fear of the eye doctor is a story for another day.

It was just such a random comment. "Nice glasses." Is this some sort of new pickup line that I am not aware of?!

Discuss.

making a statement

I'll admit; I'm not the biggest fashion queen out there. The wardrobe consists of a good deal of Gap, Ann Taylor Loft, Banana Republic, J Crew, Old Navy, etc. I love and adore Anthropologie, but most days, I can't afford to shop outside of their clearance rack, and some days, even that is out of my budget! Still though, I've been thinking a lot about this lately, because I feel like I don't have a style. Some are preppy, some are trendy, some are bohemian, etc. I'm not too sure which category I fall into, and this, of course, may be a good thing, but I'd still like to feel like I have some sort of style, because most days, I feel like I fail!

I've seen many people who plan out their outfits for the week, and I've tried that, but it just doesn't seem to work for me. Most days, I plan it in my head while in the shower, but inevitably, change my mind at least twice before leaving my closet!

I saw this article, which I found very interesting. In it, the interviewee, who works for Lilly Pulitzer, discusses how she is drawn to pieces that are bold and make a statement. In high school, I had a friend who had a pair of bright orange shoes that she wore often (this was especially daring, considering the uniform we wore- orange and black watch plaid is risky!). My father remembers her for these shoes, and still asks about her today, even though I haven't seen her in ten years! I wouldn't say that I am often drawn to pieces like that, but I like how she talks about pairing one eye-catching piece with toned-down others in order not to overwhelm others. Lately I've purchased a few chunky beaded necklaces (from etsy, of course!), so I think I am going to try this approach. I'd like to feel like I look put together, especially at work, and I rarely feel this way. I see others in the hallways or the cafeteria and think how great their outfit looks, and think how I could do that, yet somehow, I can't get it to work for me :)

How would you describe your wardrobe and style? How would you change it, if you could?