mood board #3

1//2//3//4//5//6

i am really loving maps and globes right now, i think they are so fun.
and how about that storage in the first photo? amazing.
i am always drawn to all things with a chevron pattern, a black and white chevron patterned rug really makes a statement doesn't it?
i need about 300 rooms for all of the couches that i have found and loved but that striped one takes the cake if you ask me.
the same thing goes for lighting. i don't know what it is about unique lights but i can't resist them. i'm running out of wall space for all of them. the unique style of the one in the third photo is purely rad.
happy decorating!

the shins

    

(the shins :: a little video taken by my iphone)

when my dear friend tori invited me to the shins a while back, i was so delighted to be able to go. i had originally tried to get tickets for camden's birthday (one of those for you but for me gifts) but they sold out so quickly, i seriously thought i was going to have to miss out. tori has long been one of my closest, dearest friends and i was so glad to be able to go with her.

i have loved the shins for years. camden first introduced me when we first started dating. he showed me his signed guitar by them that he of course won (camden wins everything, if there is a contest don't let him enter because he will win) and played me some of their music. i have loved them ever since. 

did i ever tell you camden could play the guitar? well he can but, we'll save that story for another day. 

something about the shins makes me feel like i have known their music forever. it reminds me of my childhood, running through the sprinklers, chasing fairies, not a care in the world. tori and i used to spend hours researching fairies with our most official fairy searching books, outside on a blanket with tang and lemonade. i was at one point convinced that i must be a fairy trapped in a large body waiting to break free. it never did happen, but one can always dream. 

this past weekend it rained and rained and rained some more, really dreary weather we'd been having, but as soon as monday rolled around the sun came out to play and the weather couldn't have been more perfect. it was like magical shin weather power. 

the concert was probably one of my all time favorites. blind pilot and the head and the heart opened for the shins, let me just tell you they were both amazing. it was like three concerts in one. you can listen to them here and here. the shins were incredible live, and it was so fun seeing them in such a lovely outdoor venue. it was fun to be able to get out with such fun girls, (tori, piper, & tessa) i hope i get to do it again real soon!

thanks again tori, we had so much fun. 

{tori}

t.o.t

jacket: j.crew, shirt: target, pants: thrifted, shoes: paisley pomegranate, watch: dkny

about two weeks ago, camden made the brave decision to give up his most beloved diet coke. i'm not going to lie, his addiction was becoming a problem. he would drink 32oz in the morning, a medium sized one with his lunch plus a refill, and one more with dinner to end the day. after reflecting on exactly how much he was actually drinking in just one day, he decided he would quit and quit he did, cold turkey.

at first diet coke was all i heard about, how tired he was because he wasn't drinking it, how good it was and how it would go perfect with his meal, etc... but as the week went on he talked about it less and less until he was barely mentioning it at all. 

saturday night we went to jimmy johns before heading over to some friends house to hang out for a bit. i said we should just get a diet coke because he had been so good and had not given in even once, as sort of a reward for all his hard work. camden was actually skeptical asking me if i was sure it was ok. i felt sort of guilty i was telling him to drink one not wanting him to feel like all his dedication had gone to waste. i watched him as he drank his first gulp to see his reaction. i'm sure the expression on my face looked a bit like curious george waiting to see something wild happen. as the first sip of bubbly brown soda went down his throat, he set the drink down and started to smile. "what" i said. he replied "it doesn't even taste as good as i remembered." "i think i am finally cured." you would have thought a doctor just let him know he would survive his illness that would have almost promised a terrible and most certain death. after a few silly moments of celebration, i knew he felt relief that he could kiss his diet coke addiction goodbye, and that my friends, is exactly what he did. 

welcome to my ballet class consisting of me and me

in an otherwise empty house, with four dogs eyes all on me, just waiting to see how long it would be until i would move, i sat like a bump on a log starring at my computer. my eyes were preoccupied searching google for an adult ballet class that would work for, your looking at her, me. i have been looking for a ballet class lately that would work with my schedule and felt like a good fit, something not too serious but not unserious at the same time, if you know what i mean. something made me slightly nervous about this however, and i'm still not exactly sure what it was. i was just doing it for fun, and i could use a bit of exercise now and again but something was holding me back, something deep inside.

frustrated with my lack of self confidence, i went to my luggage digging for something that remotely said ballet.

i have spent this weekend dog sitting for my dad and family while they are out of town. camden was working longer and later than usual because of a sale going on which left me with a grand total of four dogs and three cats to keep me company.

all dressed in my ballet attire, i ventured upstairs for some peace from the dogs and a nice slick floor. i began to have my own dance class just as i would have had six years ago (i can't believe it has been that long). at first it was very structured and calm until i had a sudden burst of energy that had me whirling and twirling through the room like a tornado gone mad. it felt good to move again with what little technique and flexibility i had left.

this lasted a whole thirty minutes until a loud roar of barking dogs began downstairs as they ran towards the front door with two side windows on either side allowing them to see the outside world. by the rage and pure anger of the barks coming out of those dogs mouths you would have thought there was something actually out there for them to bark at, something bad or another dog that happened to walk by. i peeked my head outside the room to look down to see what all the ruckus was about. two dogs, one extremely large, like a horse kind of large, were staring at the barking dogs on the other side of the window. no amount of screaming, yelling, or madness could stop this rage, so i waited patiently until the barking finally stopped - and that, ladies and gentleman, is how i ended my ballet class of one. 

hello dolly

yesterday evening camden came home from work complaining that his fat cells were hungry ('cause he has so many. . . not) and we needed to make something sweet pronto! i wasn't much in the mood for baking so i suggested something store bought although my suggestion sounded more like a whine out of lucy ricardo "but ricky!{whine}". camden however informed me this just would not do because he needed a home made delicious treat because i never cook delicious treats anymore, at least not for a really long time. to be fair he was right that it had been some time since i had done anything that involved the kitchen, besides heating up some leftover chinese. i agreed on making something but what exactly did mr. charlesworth want, something easy i hoped. he suggested hello dollies and i was sold. but of course hello dollies, the five layer bar, thou who art most delicious, we will make you. so at 9:00 at night we turned on america's next top model, camden did his pushups and i made hello dollies and included the recipe below. 

a hello dolly recipe in un exact terms

:: preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  

:: start with about two cups of graham cracker crumbs and add about 1/3 - 1/2 stick of butter, melt in microwave until butter is melted. 

:: mix the crumbs and butter together then dump into an 8x11 glass pan. (you may need to make more if the bottom of pan is not completely covered with the graham butter mixture. 

:: spread the mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan and press firmly until it forms a crust. 

:: take a 14oz can of sweetened condensed milk and pour it until the entire crust is covered. 

:: sprinkle on top: chopped walnuts, semi sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and shredded coconut.

:: bake for about twenty minutes (i would check after 10-15 minutes to be safe). take them out when the coconut has turned slightly golden.

:: let cool and serve!  

-have a beautiful weekend everyone!

about decisions

this morning i sat on our couch, in front of the t.v. (of course), watching whatever seemed to be on which was nothing, at least worth mentioning. kramer was curled up next to me with his head rested on my lap and camden had just left for another day of work. a commercial came on and honestly i can't remember what it was advertising for (that's my memory skills for ya) but it showed a pregnant soon to be mom. i caught myself thinking that would be nice. this thought caught me off guard, 'that would be nice?'. i will admit from time to time i have thought it would be nice to sometime have children, i just have never put a meaning to what sometime actually meant. i started to think, when exactly was sometime? could it be soon? honestly, i don't know.

i don't know how one knows they are ready to become a mom, i mean truly ready. when i think baby, i think: cute and fun and precious and of course a lot of hard work/dedication, but i don't think you can truly know exactly what it entails until you can really experience it for yourself. how could i know if i could handle it, if my body would cope well with it, if we would be happy, all of us?

i don't have all the answers to these questions and i don't think i am supposed to. all i know is that i am ready to at least think about a baby and start making decisions that would eventually get our family to that point. the point where we could soon welcome one more member into our little family of three (camden, kramer, and me). the time has come where i  we need to start making decisions. 

this little app called instagram

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click here to see if you are the winner of last weeks giveaway.
also, if anyone is looking for a new headboard or dresser we are selling ours here.

GOING SOMEWHERE & GETTING NOWHERE ::THOUGHT ON TUESDAY::

shirt: anthropologie, skirt: target, shoes: chinese laundry, belt: target, bracelet: j.crew

the other day, we decided we wanted to take a ride up the canyon for some brunch. before we started to get ready i looked over at kramer laying there with us on the bed and realized i had forgotten to make a grooming appointment for the little guy. this was the longest, fluffiest kramer we had ever seen and with the weather warming up so much i knew he would be happier without so much hair, even though the process of getting him to that point would probably be his definition of hell. we made a quick phone call and found out they were all booked up for the day but they would call us if they had any cancelations. fifteen minutes later the phone rang and they said if we brought him in right away then they would be able to cut his hair after all. so camden took the fluffy krames down to the groomers while i stayed home to get dressed for brunch. 

when camden got back, it was getting close to 11:30 and my stomach was telling me we better get going. before we set off on the the motorcycle, camden realized he should check the air pressure in the tires (for about the 30th time this week). i waited for him to get back and when he did i thought we would finally be off to our brunch destination. once on the bike, camden notified me that we better stop for gas and promised it would be really quick. i started to think 'oh man! we are never going to get there' (f.y.i. the more times you think this, the more likely it becomes true i have decided). after we filled up and were back on the road i felt this was it, we would finally make it to brunch to settle our rumbling tummies. on the on-ramp to the freeway, while waiting at a light, camden turned to me and said "does the bike feel weird to you?" i said no, though i hadn't really been paying much attention to "how the bike felt". as the light turned green and we started to go i realized ok, yeah the bike feels weird, kind of like we are about to crash! camden pulled off to the side of the freeway to have a look at it and see if anything seemed strange or off with the structure. as far as he could tell everything looked fine so we decided to give it one more go. the moment we started to move i got this sudden flow of panic crash through my body like a wave breaks at the shore. it suddenly felt as if the back wheel was somehow going to roll off. camden pulled off to the side of the road once again as i grabbed his waist with my eyes clenched tight (it would have made more sense to keep them open now that i think about it). we hurried and got off the bike to have another look. sure enough, all the bolts holding the back wheel on were so loose you could tighten them with your fingers. camden grabbed his handy dandy tools out of the back of the bike and got to work fixing the bolts all tight. we decided we better head home and take a car just to be safe. by the time we were home it was almost one o'clock and we were both overwhelmed with hunger and tiredness. it felt like we had put so much effort trying to get to one place only to end up back at home hours later. 

at 1:45 p.m. we finally got to what was more like lunch instead of brunch and i have to say it's amazing what a little food can do for one's attitude. we started to talk about how lucky we were that the wheel hadn't actually come off and that our lunch was able to happen outside, underneath a little umbrella instead of in a hospital bed. the rest of our day went quite well and we were both happy as we both felt a bit grateful our day had taken the path it did instead of a much more dreadful and painful one.

108 MILES

saturday, camden rode in his 5th century (a hundred miles). we had to wake up really early to drive to the starting line. i kept joking with him before hand saying "what's another 30 miles, you could just bike there couldn't you?", obviously i was kidding but we were all tired, even krames.

it seriously always boggles my mind that someone could go 100 miles on their bike without falling over dead at some point. i can barely go ten miles on my cruiser before my legs start to feel like jell-o and i seriously can't even walk up the stairs. camden does it with such ease and even enjoys it, he is crazy amazing i think. 

it has been a tradition every year a century roles around, kramer and i will drive down with him to see him off, then about five hours later come back and watch for him to cross the finish line. when it starts to get close to the time camden should be arriving back, i always tell kramer "camden is coming kramer. do you see him?" kramer always starts to look around trying to see camden riding down the road. it's always kind of fun watching all the bikers crossing the finish line having just finished that treacherous 100 miles. oh excuse me, camden just reminded me it was 108 miles, not 100.

5 hours and 23 minutes after he began, camden came into view finishing his 108th mile. we were so excited to see him, so proud of what he once again accomplished. he was so happy he finished, relieved and proud he had done it start to finish with no problems. kramer was so excited to see him pulling as hard as he could to try and get to him quicker (the leash concept has never made much sense to him). i am always slightly relieved to see that camden has made it back safe and alive and no emergency calls had to be made. 

good job camden, we love you!