Sometimes all you need...

is to split a bottle of wine and open fortune cookies with someone that shares your brain (and heart), on a chinese restaurant patio sometime before five o'clock. Hash out what's holding you down, dream up big plans, and consider, with enough seriousness to be dangerous, running home to pack bags and leave, drive until you see ocean.

Or sometimes, it's all I need I think.

❤love.

The Romantics

Forlorn! the very word is like a bell

To toll me back from thee to my sole self!

Adieu! the fancy cannot cheat so well

As she is fam'd to do, deceiving elf.

Adieu! adieu! thy plaintive anthem fades

Past the near meadows, over the still stream,

Up the hill-side; and now 'tis buried deep

In the next valley-glades:

Was it a vision, or a waking dream?

Fled is that music: - Do I wake or sleep?

❤love.

It's a vehicular miracle!

No really. You'll never guess. Are you ready?

I cleaned out my car.

Now, if you're not gasping in astonishment, you're having the wrong reaction. Since I started college, I have literally become Hoarders: The Car Edition. No exaggeration. I think it stems from living between too many places. The easiest thing to do was to have something in my car because, HEY! I'll have it no matter where I am! But here we are, last semester of college and I am so over having a messy car its not even funny. I was pulling out of the parking lot after class and just knew. I'm cleaning out my car. NOW. And I feel wonderful about it. I still need to either take it to get detailed or clean it myself, but that will have to be another day. I'm not even joking when I say, I'm pretty sure my car feels lighter when I drive. Maybe its just my imagination. But seriously. maybe not.

In the cleaning out process I found some things I'm super excited about.

1. Battle Studies
2. my favorite nail polish (OPI You Don't Know Jacques)
3. twenty bucks
4. vintage stamps I got while antiquing
5. some pajama pants I love
6. a set of beautiful mugs I totally forgot about

Life is messy enough and I'm ready for everything else to be organized and cleaned out. No extra clutter. After moving once a year in a hurried, spastic fashion, you just become concerned with the packing and the unpacking and stop paying attention to what you're even toting around. So. I'm reverting back to my OCD roots. It's been decided. And I'm excited.

❤love.

Wishful Thinking.

I have a to-do list miles long. But I feel so unmotivated because it seems like I just keep working to cross things off and nothing has fallen off the list so far. In fact, more just gets added! Can you picture with me for a moment a to-do list totally blacked out? Every. Single. Thing. DONE. Ahhh it just makes me feel wonderful. But then I snap back to reality and want to violently scribble all over mine with a sharpie.

Breathe.

If I didn't have a thing in the world to do... this is how the rest of my day would go.

I would take off my chipped polish and paint my nails OPI's No Room For the Blues because, A. I've been wanting to for some time now, and B. It's an appropriate thing to remind myself at the moment. Then I would go to Starbucks where a new cute barista boy would make me a dirty chai or a triple grande caramel macchiato, I can't quite decide, but either would include a smiley face lovingly sketched on the side. I think that may take me to meander through Borders where I'd pull out all the fashion and music magazines and camp out in a cushy chair because that suits my mood today and feels like it might be fulfilling. By the time I'd get ready to leave, the cold rain would have changed to snow, and walking into the parking lot would be magical and calming and serve as any further therapy I needed to put me back into a good mind set. I'd sing at the top of my lungs all the way home and implement my perfected art of car dancing while dreaming up plans to occupy the rest of the night. Music making? Snuggles? Snow angels? Oh, the possibilities.

But instead I'll be running errands and at the school printing and working on projects. I can feel my brain hurting already as I try to dig creativity out of its crevices. I'm pretty sure it packed up and went on some kind of vacation it forgot it was supposed to take me on. That or snuck out during the night while I slept in ignorance. Come back! I'll appreciate you this time. Things will be different, I swear!

Okay. But really. I have to get myself in a better place mentally. I need productivity. Motivation. I need to be so full of optimism, its spilling out my pores. (That sounds gross. Maybe not that full. But you know what I mean.) Let's get excited about design! Fake it 'til you make it. Cue montage of things to make me feel inspired.

❤love.

New Year... with the flu.

So unfortunately I was diagnosed with the flu on New Year's Eve. I was so bummed I could have cried, because NYE is seriously one of my favorite holidays. I still saw some friends and I LOVED that the new year came in with a thunderstorm, but I am just itching to feel better. Thankfully, I know some really great people who are going to throw me a re-new year's eve party. With the countdown and everythingggg. So I'm excited for that. But in the mean time... this is just miserable.

I'll leave you guys with something currently cheering me up. My friend Ckate got me a chocolate frog for Christmas! Ahhh my Harry Potter dorkdom is showing. I don't care. I find no shame in waving my Harry Potter freak flag. And I am stoked. It even came with a wizard card!

I hope you all had a happy and healthy New Year's! I'm really excited about this year. The last was really fantastic and some really amazing things happen despite some of the lows. 2011 is going to be full of big decisions and life changes and some scary but wonderful things. I'm ready to plan big changes and get myself organized! A cliche starting-a-new-year post is probably soon to follow. But I'm serious this time about my resolutions. No, like for real. They're happening. Even though I say that every year... this is different. (Even though I probably say that every year too? Oops.)

❤love.

Free Holiday Downloads!

So everybody loves a great download that doesn't cost you a penny! Especially if it's useful, and even better if it actually saves you money. So I decided to post a collection of some of my favorite Christmas downloads so that for you guys it's just one stop! Much easier than wading through the bad links and sketchy downloads. Well, here goes nothing!

For the first link, the blogger of How About Orange made this precious background. The image is so cute, but I love that it's small so if you have files on your desktop, they won't get lost in the picture. Click HERE to get this wallpaper!

Now, if you've read some previous posts or know me at all, you'll know I'm a type nerd. I understand that if you're not familiar with typography, that's a weird concept. That someone could be gaga over fonts? I know. Freak. Oh well. This is a Christmas font that I love for fun holiday flyers or even Christmas cards. Plus, the name just cracks me up. Click HERE to go to the download page for Christmas on Crack. That's right, folks. Christmas. On. Crack.

If you're a little more on the old fashioned side, or love the look of vintage Christmas cards, than this font, appropriately called Christmas Card, is just for you! Get to the download page HERE.

Next we have printable holiday tags up the heezy, because well, I just couldn't choose one. They're all great, but all so different!

These are from Paper Crave and are actually available in three different colors! For the red and teal shown above click HERE. There is also a deep fuchsia and green version, which you can get HERE. And lastly, dark and light blue, which is HERE.

The next holiday tags are from Domestifluff! These are so cute, I love love love the first one with the repeated 'snow' on it. Get them HERE.

Okay. These tags are to die for and my absolute favorite. They are from the brilliant illustrator behind Orange You Lucky! I mean. Does it get any better? Get the first set HERE, and the second HERE.

Now, West Elm is not only offering gift tags in four different themes, but also entertaining sets with place cards, name tags and menus. This is just the tiniest sneak peak of some of their gift tags, but if you go HERE, you can choose gifting or entertaining downloads and then between their four themes, botanical, graphic, animal, or snowflake. I mean, if you want, you could just choose them all!

This next download is a set of Merry Mixers from hi, friend design and comes with the labels and the recipes! This would be really great for a hostess gift or even just fun to give a friend who loves entertaining. For the Charming Cranberry Cocktail recipe and tag, click HERE. For the Apricot Ginger Fizz, click HERE. (I really want to try that one!) For the Pretty Please Pomegranate Cosmo, click HERE.

What's your favorite download of these freebies? I want to know!

❤love.

Winter + Fashion= ♥

I'm really finding a new found love for fashion, but I just have to admit that I get so much more excited about it in winter. I love layering and chunky scarves and grandma sweaters. Knee high socks and leggings and boots. Ahh I just get happy thinking about it. I also really have the desire to know more. Just about specific designers and being more aware of the industry. Not necessarily for any other reason but my own curiosity.

I've seen a lot of the southwestern and nordic looking prints this season. Some are just not doing it for me, but I'm really feeling this outfit.

Ahh. Big bags and big scarves. Double weakness.

This is fantastic. If anyone knows who makes this, please let me know! I mean, Darth Vader bling? What could be better.

Oversized sweater? Check.

Okay. A? Love me some circle scarves. B? Is her hair rockin, or what? I love it!

images source

What's your favorite thing about winter fashion?

Or are you anti winter all around?

❤love.

Ps. Stay tuned for links to some really awesome and free holiday downloads!