Insomniac Television

There's nothing good on TV at 4AM, so I start watching LOTS of videos online. And y'all reap the benefits.

This one has been saved in my list for a few weeks, but I only just watched the whole thing this week.

Le Ballon Rouge (Albert Lamorisse 1965)

The whole short film (about 30 minutes long), check it out.



Cute, right?

More balloons in the Miss Dior Cherie ads by Sofia Coppola, which I'm sure everyone's seen, but are still adorable.




Annnnnd...since I'm posting ads, here are two more that are girly and sweet:

Neiman Marcus Spring 2009: On Cloud Nine




Oliver Peoples Presents: Catch A Tuesday (with Zooey Deschanel) - This one is extra awesome because a) I LOVE the Deschanel sisters and everything they do, and b) when I was little, I thought Wednesday Addams was the coolest person ever, and for a few months, my alias in my diary was "Tuesday."

Birthday Mourning Brunch

This weekend, as Sharon insists on describing it, is "the last day of her mid-twenties." In congruence with her sadness, we (me in spirit, because I have to go to work) are having a Birthday 'Mourning' Brunch for her tomorrow morning!

Delicious foods, mimosas and/or tea, and awesome friends...seriously, what else does the woman want? Her apartment is going to be filled with lovely aromas - I wish I could be there just for the smells. I mean, I wish I could be there for her.

I love this lady, so, do me a favor people, and leave her some birthday wishes!!!

Created by Train Horn

hehehehe...Typically only hear-able by people under the age of 25. Can you hear it, Sharon?

Really Random

I think, on my deathbed, it would be really amusing for my last words to be something like, "...he's on a unicorn!"

The people in the room would forever be left wondering who I was talking about: God or Neil Patrick Harris.

Tea Party!

One of the things that always makes me happy is a nice cup of tea. I have been a tea drinker since probably junior year of high school when my sister came back from London with a large assortment of Whitman's teas! We used to brew a pot together and read a book or watch tv, and now that I think of it, why, that's a grown up tea party right there and I didn't even know it. In a word, I love tea (I also love love coffee) and I drink a cup or two a day. Right now I am enjoying a chamomile mint tea which helps calm your body and preps you for sleep. Perfect.

I also adore tea sets. They really are one of life's treasures! I love that tea sets have such variety in them and hey, when else can you get away with using a really fragile, bone china set with gold rims and ornate decor, on a daily basis? I have a couple of sets that I absolutely love, but I am looking to expand my collection little by little. Like, look at Tonje Holand's collection of tea cups. She must have some awesome tea parties.
{Image from Design*Sponge}

To start, I am going to buy myself one set (1 cup and 1 saucer) of this tabletop decor for my birthday. Happy Birthday to me.

The Amelia Espresso Cup & Saucer for $18. It ain't cheap, but I figure that divided by the amount of times I'd use it, it'll amount to about .000000000001 cents per usage.

Comes in all sorts of colors, but I think I will start myself off with the turquoise. Perhaps someone special will also get me the celery green. Hint hint.

I also purchased these recently with my Anthropologie 15% off birthday coupon!

I got "S" for myself and "E" for the Boyfriend, because he likes to join me for a cup. This makes him feel especially dainty. Hehe jk.

Pineapple Express Oscars

My love for James Franco and the fact that this video is really funny are the reasons why I'm posting this.



Hiiii-laaaaaariousssss.

New Favorite Shirt

Floral short-sleeve button-down (is it button-down or up? They both sound right to me) by Trovata. Originally $160, I got it on sale at Barney's Co-op in Austin for $40. Heck yeahhhhh.

And yes, I am fully aware that in the Meet the Bloggers post I said that I only like patterned things in theory. People change, okay? Especially when they find a steal like this shirt.



Cheesin. The only way I like to take my pictures. 99% of all my pictures are of me making a face similar to this one.




Excited about looking cute! Sad about leaving home. The sadness is there, you just can't see it because the pictures is blurry. And I'm at a funny angle. Because I'm jumping.


Captain Obvious, signing off.

Don't Buy Stuff You Can't Afford

Thanks, SNL. I think I'm finally getting it...but window shopping is okay, right? Wait, go back. I think I'm confused again.



[via Consumerist]

My Dream Sleeping Bag

I don't like camping and I don't like sleeping in places that are not MY bed. I do, however, think that all this would change if someone would get me this amazing sleeping bag by Eiko Ishizawa.




Reasons I like this include: it's a bear, you can pretend you've been eaten, you can scare other people, you can go as a bearskin rug for halloween, you can be a life-sized teddy bear for your sig. other, and lastly and more importantly, it's a bear. Who WOULDN'T want to go camping with this thing?!

***

In other news: for my Valentine's day, I got a phone call from a military base in the Middle East and a potted orchid in a box...which I have yet to open because I've been in Texas, and not in NY, where it was delivered.

When Albert found out I wasn't going to be at my apartment for the 14th, he laughed and said, "well, when you get back, that dead brown plant in the box by your door was an orchid." It was quite funny to both of us; I'm not sure why, but we got a pretty good chuckle-fest going for that one.

photo: NYE 2008 - Jan. 1, 2009 

Valentine's Day Update...Really Really Late

Hello! It's 8am, I have been up since 6am, after having gone to bed at 3am. Sigh, I don't know what is going on with my sleep schedule, but today I have a packed day and maybe I'm feeling a bit anxious now that Spring Break is over and there are a million things on my mind? Who knows.

Anyhoo, I know it's super late and everyone else did their Valentine's Day update like....last Saturday, but hey, I'm working on vacation time. So for those of you who are still interested (please?) I'd like to give you a glimpse of my wonderful V-day, and the awesomest Boyfriend who planned it all.

The day started off with a garland of hearts made from magazine cut outs (I didn't have construction paper on hand,) a bit of thread, and a random pin (I didn't have a needle). I was inspired by Her who was inspired by Her. Mine was not nearly as elaborate and beautifully decorated as theirs.

See:

Definitely not up to beautiful and cool heart garland par. I know this.

After exchanging gifts, the Boyfriend said, "Hey! We have to get to Union Square by 2! Let's go!" I was shocked. He has yet to ever surprise me, EVER and I had no idea what he was up to. The only clue he gave me was, "It's either going to be really fun, or really weird." Uh....

We ended up at the Creative Pier where they had ever so adorably set up tables for two in a large studio, with a menu of creative things to do!


We decided to do some watercoloring, and after our first failed attempt at painting something....that looked like....something....we decided that our next collaboration was going to be frame-worthy. So we got started on painting an entire sheet of paper a mustard yellow for the backdrop, then some words. I can't show you the final product because I totally ripped it off of someone and it is now hanging on the Boyfriend's bedroom wall.


Next he whisked me off back to his place to cook me a home cooked meal. This, my friends, is surely a feat worth noting. I have always poked fun at my Boyfriend for having never cooked me a single meal (reheating does not count) in the 2.5 years we have been dating. Yes, he's unfrozen things and heated them on a pan. Yes, he is so good about serving me food and arranging it ever so nicely on the plate. And yes, there actually was one time he made a hodge podge of a pasta dish for me and his then roomate, however, this was pre-dating. Null and void.

So recently, I got him into making some Hamburger Helper. It was during finals and a classmate told me she was going to make some HH. I never had HH before and was completely unaware of the magnitude of its deliciousness, and asked the BF if he could take a stab at it. Well, he did and 'til this day, HH nights are the best nights EVER. I even invite friends over to celebrate in this joyous meal.

Needless to say, that was one of his courses. Along with salad and a PERFECTLY cooked filet mignon. When I say perfectly cooked, I mean it! I am a huge steak lover and critic, I have had many poorly cooked steaks at very fine restaurants. So I was impressed! I wish I had a picture to show you but none of them came out well.

THEN, the BF said..."Get in the car, babe. We are on to round 2!" I knew this one already but I was still VERY excited. He took me to a chocolate tasting at The Chocolate Room! It was all very romantic. They too had a menu set up with a 3 course tasting of various treats.



Sigh. All in all it was a wonderful day, and I will never again doubt the Boyfriend's romantic abilities. I love him so. Thank you!

News from Starbucks!

Hello All,
Sorry we have been SO MIA, T and I are currently on Spring Break ( I know, it's not Spring, our school sucks) and therefore are on veg out do nothing mode. I literally have not done anything remotely studious...just hanging out and OOH so many new additions to the Boyfriend's house, I have much to update!

Meanwhile, I was just alerted of some very important coffee news by our beloved fam and premiere blogger, Meme Engine and A T-Shirt Blog (2 blogs, one person). Starbucks is introducing their first ever instant coffee! I know...what???? Instant? It seems to go against the entire concept of "freshly brewed" and "aromatic" cups. Not for nothin' but I'm kinda excited. I am constantly on the go and prefer home brewed over store bought coffee for financially practical reasons. We'll see how this pans out. Click Here to sign up for your free sample, sans shipping.

Tee and S - Who?

Taking a cue from the now infamous facebook "25 things" meme, what better way to introduce ourselves than to make completely a completely random list?

Meet ~S~, aka "the face-cutter" Sharon:



1./ I am a wildly esctatic fan of cheese. Huge. I love walking towards the cheese section of the grocery store and just inhaling the scent. The stinkier the better.

2./ I was raised by all men (brother and father = wild) and my father was the bestest chef ever-- he would make the most random dishes (hungarian goulosh as a 6 year old is not exactly mac n' cheese) and really yummy dessert drinks.

3./ I was born on an army base for $13. My dad reminds me of this all the time—he thinks it's hilarious that he “beat the system". Right after I was born he quit the army, which makes him feel even MORE like he "beat the system".

4./ I used to want to be a war photographer and a novelist. I still do (want to be a writer) but those dreams seem very far away at this point. Eventually I hope to open up a small bookstore in a small neighborhood and recommend books to my customers who I will all know by first name. I also vow to have a fresh pot of coffee brewing always and a wide variety of teas. One day...

5./ My senior thesis, A Sartrean Psychoanalysis of Kate Chopin's The Awakening, sits on the shelf of my college's library, taken out only once by a good and sympathetic friend. I shamelessly admit, I forced her to do this and I stood over her until she did.

6./ I love to cook and I firmly believe that good food paves the way to great relationships.

7./ I love to look into people's windows as I'm passing by their houses. I love seeing how people have decorated their homes because I think it really says something about the person. Some may call this stalking, I call it inspiration.

8./ I have some serious road rage. I have gotten into several verbal arguments with people, and even one physical (on his part, not mine. oh and my poor car door, which had a huge indent the shape of a shoe).

9./ I love boats. I was a coxswain one summer and absolutely loved being out on the water with nothing else around you but you and your crew. I plan to one day purchase an ocean kayak, and then move on to a Boston Whaler.

10./ I collect recipes and plan to create a recipe book of all my favorites and pass it on to my children.

11./ I love my grandparents and we prank call each other. They always fall for it, I never do but play along.

12./ I am a HUGE nester...everywhere I live, even if temporarily, I must make it my "own" and homey and comfortable. When I lived out of a family friend's room in college (long story), I literally ripped out everything on their wall, plastered and painted it, and took the little money I had to decorate. I bought wood planks and stained them and made them into shelves and bought cheap fabric to make curtains and table cloths. I moved out 3 weeks later. This also explains why I am obsessed with interior decorating.

Meet Tee, aka Princess Banana Hammock. Okay, fine. Tina:

 

13./ I think it's funny and/or obnoxious when people write in a very smug, self-aware style, especially if it's obvious they're trying too hard to sound cool. I fully acknowledge that I do this sometimes, including, possibly, now.

14./ It's not uncommon for me to disappear from the world (read: the internet and human interaction) for a full weekend due to the fact that I've gotten some new books and I don't want to do anything but read them straight through. Also: I don't like admitting that I've read a lot of popular mainstream novels. Because I am a book snob.

15./ The most expensive thing I own is not an appliance, or my awesome tv, or my laptop; it is a bag. I think that says a lot about my priorities. Don't tell my dad. 

16./ Places I can spend hours in by myself and not even know that it's been hours: bookstores, Target or Wal-Mart, cool home furnishing and/or kitchenware stores, my bed.

17./ Some people have nice legs, others have great bodies, still others have a gorgeous face. I have fantastic hair. I stand by this statement even though my mom hates that about 30% of my head is covered in white hair, because I think it gives me character. 

18./ I think things with patterns are pretty in theory, meaning that it looks good and I like it, but I probably won't ever wear it or use it myself. 

19./ I'm a huge romantic. That used to not be true; I was a terrible cynic and realist for a long time. Then I met the love my life, and now, I'm a sap. It gets pretty bad sometimes, you might want to look away. 

20./ When I moved to New York, everyone I knew thought it would be the perfect fit for me - including my family, boyfriend, and even me. Turns out, once a Texan, always a Texan. 

21./ I can't help but dance when I hear good music - doesn't matter where I am - the grocery store, the mall, in the street...too bad I'm not any good. 

22./ Queen of random facts = me. Some friends call me "the doctor" because I have the answer to a lot of weird things, and if I don't, I know exactly where to look. If I find it interesting, I will research and read up on it and tell people about it. The opposite also applies: if I'm not interested, I shut off my brain. 

23./ I watch a lot of TV. It's kind of a problem. 

24./ One of my secret wishes is still to be a Disney Channel star. Is it too late for that? 

And last but not least, meet 25./a/ and 25./b/ - the boyfriends who put up with all our junk and who will probably be referred to a lot in the future with and without their permissions:

Sharon's EDDY



Tina's ALBERT

Love y'all. Enjoy stalking us.

Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man

Ava Gardner in Show Boat


(although, supposedly this wasn't Ava's actual singing...I don't know, go look it up. I just liked the song.)

and this song, now, by, at this stage in time, is my favorite American Idol contestant this season: Megan Corkrey.



Fish got to swim, birds got to fly,
I got to love one man till I die.
Can't help lovin' dat man of mine.

"Spring Break"

So our school is kind of strange: our spring break is...now. In the middle of the coldest month of the year. I'll probably complain about it more when March comes around, but as of this minute, I have no problem with being in the great lone star state for an entire week.

I wanted to post some fun pictures of what I've done so far, but due to the apparent rule of the universe that I must forget at least one item of importance whenever I travel, I left my memory card reader in NYC. (Not quite the same as Tony Bennett leaving his heart in San Francisco...)

In other news: there's a carnival by my house, and they have FUNNEL CAKE!

Also: that "Meet the Bloggers" post we've been talking about should be up soon!

DIY--Tote Bags!

This will be a quick post, as I have one ear on hold for Apple Care Tech Support to come and save my macbook. I despise calling tech support and then waiting forever. Probably why it's taken me 2 weeks to finally get around to doing this!

I have a lot of exciting things to report and will diligently follow up asap. But during my telephone wait and in between really static-y elevator/hold music, I was scrolling through some blog updates and voila! An answer to all my tote making woes....
a DIY kit, fabric and all from the creative geniuses at Ink & Spindle Shop! Surely this will make my hopes of making my own tote bag into a reality.




And for those of you who have your own fabric pieces in mind and want to take a stab at flying solo, J. Caroline Creative has posted a step by step tutorial. Click on the link and get started on your new tote! And I want pictures people!

A Good Reminder...

"For attractive lips, speak words of kindness, for lovely eyes, seek out the good in people, for a slim figure, share your food with the hungry, for poise, walk with the knowledge that you will never walk alone. People, even more than things, have to be restored, renewed, revived, reclaimed, redeemed. Never throw anyone out." -- Audrey Hepburn

My inspiration:

Valentines Day Ideas Part 2!

Did I tell you I am obsessed with cards? I love cards but they can be quite pricey. I've resorted to buying stacks of blank cards and thank you cards to keep in my "arts and crafts" box, just in case. And let me tell you, they've come in handy! Perfect for a last minute gift, or a "just thinking of you" gesture--these things go a long way. You can buy cheap boxes of beautiful, quality cards in most general stores. One day, I vow to have my own set of stationary custom designed. One day...

Here is a great slideshow of Valentine's Day cards, taken from Poppytalk:



Please click here to view.

Valentine's Day Gift Ideas~ For Her

It's February, my favorite month of the whole entire year!!! (I know, it's been a couple of days). Not just b/c it's my birthday month, I actually hate that, but because it's such a fun and girly one! I tried to think of ideas for Valentine's Day Gifts, but I could only think of the things I would want, and would be very pleasantly "surprised" if I received it as a gift. (hint hint)

Ceramic Tea Cup {Tea Forte} $20


Solstice Ensemble {Tea Forte} $49


If you can't tell how in love with these teas I am, here is one more
Sontu Teapot by {Tea Forte} $35


Heart Personalized Recipe Cards {The Petite Press} $18


Embroidered Card {Kingpopcorn} $8


Love and Hope Hairpins, Love Woodtags, and Dream Banner {Perchpapiers} (photo from Poppytalk)

There's so much more but it'll take me forever to post them! What are your ideas?? (I need some good ideas!)

A Day in Beautiful Brooklyn~!

Today the Boyfriend and I decided to take a stroll around his neighborhood and venture into the little boutiques I oh so love. More than a stroll, we ended up taking the car and going out even further past Brooklyn Heights and into Carroll Gardens and Park Slope. If you live in New York and have never been to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo, Park Slope, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill, or Carroll Gardens, you are surely missing out on a huge part of what makes NY the best city in the world!

First we walked along beautiful 5th Ave. in Park Slope and visited some shops:


Scaredy Kat Cards & Gifts is one of the many novelty shops in Brooklyn, selling cute/clever/charming/funny/innovative doodats. I took a lot of pictures of things I liked, but none of them came out well. Here is one that did: Rubber stamp collections.


I love their storefront, it captures my sentiments quite well!


After coming home and cooking up a storm for a friend's baby shower tomorrow, we decided to try to catch a showing of Slumdog Millionaire at the Cobble Hill Theater. This tiny movie house has been in business since the '60s and it definitely carries that old Hollywood glam feel.


With paintings along the hallways of timeless celebs who need no introduction



And across the street (and next to) this theater were cute (and delicious) shops! One being The Chocolate Room with a wide array of wonderful chocolates and yummy hot coco!

Then there was this adorable patisserie and cremerie


The cremerie even has a tall stand for its ice cream cones!


All in all it was a lovely day spent with the handsome Boyfriend.
If you haven't watched Slumdog Millionaire, please make the trip. It is well worth it, I promise. Have a wonderful weekend!

NYC Drive-Through

We tried going to ABC Carpet and Home today...but they were lowering the gates and kicking people out just as we were about to pay the muni-meter (which, by the way, are really stinky because not all of them take credit cards, and really, who has 12 quarters just sitting in their car?) 

~S~ managed to snap some shots while I was waiting in line at Duane Reade across the street in hopes of getting change.

Pretty things...


Elephants are my favorite...


Box of stuff...Obama-print chair...


So we went to Burger Joint on 57th, and it was really quite weird, as we had to walk through a bar/lounge set up in a hallway in the Hotel Parker Meridian...and then the hotel lobby...and down a smaller and darker hallway that felt like you were going to the restrooms...or at least a supply closet. Even though it was really crowded and kind of a random setup in the back corner of a fancy hotel, I have to admit the burgers were gooooood.

[Burger Joint: not pictured]

Then, upwards and onwards to Cafe Lalo! Also good, but really really sweet. And crowded. And cold...but that may have been because we were sitting by the door. We got the Mocha Espresso cake - yum. The green dot(s) on my marshmallows were the mint syrup that I had them add to my hot chocolate. It was alright. Tasted kind of...syrupy. When we left, ~S~ and MJ each got a postcard with the Cafe Lalo print for 25cents! I took 7 boxes of matches. The sign said, "Please only take one."





All in all, a successful night. We're going to go back to ABC Carpet and Home and REALLY explore. It looks like so much FUN inside!

P.S. I think we've developed a new-found love for our humble little blog this year. Aren't y'all liking all the pictures??? We sure are.