2010 Year in Review: July – December

Posted on December 31, 2010 by Diana

Part I of my 2010 Year in Review posted yesterday. Here’s Part II.

July

July was really hot, and I was really broke, but I still had a great time enjoying my summer break. I rode my bike a lot, practiced yoga and keep writing more posts about being green. I also started working on my blog redesign around this time, which came out fantastically.

August

Some Fun Things Are Hard

Ahh, back to school. Back to work and money but little free time. I love my job, so it’s great when I get to go back every August. But it definitely takes some readjusting in my time and priorities. I also rediscovered my love of antiquing and with it my love of baking. That was also the first day that vintage Pyrex caught my eye, although I didn’t buy it right away.

September

A New Experience for Her

September found me continuing to adjust to my work schedule, and a little summer weight gain as well. I spent some time reflecting on my summer, and created my favorite DIY post ever – making a layered chain necklace.

October

I will concentrate on my positive and not my negative

October wasn’t particularly eventful. I started having some skin problems around this time (adult acne, which still hasn’t completely cleared up) so I didn’t take a lot of photos.

November

She made her home in between the pages of books

November was also relatively uneventful. I wrote about brand loyalty and shoes and rejoiced in the fact that fall weather was coming to Florida.

December

Scuffed his boot in the leaves

December was really cold. I didn’t take that many pictures because A) there were a whole lot of repeat outfits, B) it was really cold, and C) I was really busy. I’ve been having some trouble getting back into my blogging groove, but I’ve got some ideas for the New Year that will hopefully help me get out of my blogging funk. I’ll go into more details later, but basically what I’m picturing are more posts with high quality pictures and minimal text, and then one post every week or so is more text heavy. We’ll see – I’ll keep you posted.

Happy New Year!

2010 Year in Review: January – June

Posted on December 30, 2010 by Diana

This is a first of two year in review posts, where I look back over the past year.

January

Back in January, I started my Great Shopping Plan of 2010 and wrote up a Wardrobe Gaps list (I’ll be reviewing that separately next week – stay tuned!)

There was a lot of crazy cold weather in January (there was, in fact, ice, but no snow). I bought some items that I still consider essentials, like my goldenrod J Crew cardigan and the beautiful drapey magenta Fossil cardigan seen below:

The Effect Was Charming

Oh, I wish I hadn’t turned those skinnies into capris. They were really cute as skinnies.

February

February brought with it more winter layering, and my birthday (yay!). I was still working part-time at this point, and I had a lot of free time at my job. This meant lots and lots of posting. I took outfit pictures almost every day, and read and commented on tons of blogs. This free time also meant that I had hardly any money, so I was constantly on a tight budget.

I wrote my Ten Tips for Shopping on eBay post this month, which continues to be one of my most popular posts. I also made the shift to a self-hosted wordpress.org blog, which allows me so many more customization options.

I would make you a birthday cake out of bananas

March

March was a big and eventful month for me. I finally got a full-time job as a school librarian, which meant more money, but less time for blogging. I met up with Kate from a Tale of Two Closets and had an awesome time thrifting in Sarasota with her. I wrote a post on How to Search Effectively on Etsy, which remains another popular post.

People Only Need People

April

April was a month of adjusting to my new job, figuring out how to make my wardrobe work in a school environment, and dealing with the rising temps as Summer loomed.

I Love Being Fancy

May

May was pretty eventful. I chopped off my hair into a pixie cut, I started posting my bento box lunches, and I cut back a bit on my posting, to adjust to my new schedule.

Bouquet is Fancy for a Bunch of Flowers

June

June was the beginning of summer break for me. It was hot, I was broke, but I kept on blogging. I started adding sustainability posts around this time, including pictures of my retractable clothesline (which I’m still using!). I also went on vacation to Siesta Key

Past the Chimney Tops Soared the Kite

Stay tuned for Part 2 tomorrow!

Etsy Love: Tick Tock

Posted on December 29, 2010 by Diana

*Every Wednesday, I take a look at some of the beautiful items found at one of the best places for buying and selling hand-made and vintage: Etsy. Buying hand-made and vintage lets you own beautiful, unique objects with character. It keeps things out of the landfills and supports artists and small businesses who are trying to make a living doing what they love. If you have a particular theme you’d love to see, drop me a line and let me know. *

I’m still in the midst of re-doing my kitchen, and it now seems that part of that entails getting a new clock. I’ve had a reproduction kit-kat clock for years, but they just aren’t as good as the originals, which are way out of my price range (I saw one on eBay for $225). My Kit Kat is starting to bite the dust, which doesn’t surprise me since it’s made out of cheap plastic. So now I need a replacement. Here’s my criteria:

It needs to be battery operated. I think corded clocks look tacky and are potentially a fire hazard.
It needs to be readable/ have numbers. There’s all sorts of crazy, artsy clocks out there. I need something that actually tells me the time.
It needs to have a retro/mod feel (though not necessarily be vintage)

Here’s what I found:

Large Retro Modern Clock with Numbers, $62

Uncommon

Vintage Bulova Yellow Wall Clock, $38

Drowsy Swords

70s Modern Wall Clock in Faux Bois, $25

Zelda 110

Vintage School Wall Clock, $65

AM Radio

“Figuring out what book you want”

Posted on December 28, 2010 by Diana

This outfit was one of the few I got to wear recently where I didn’t need a bazillion layers to stay warm. This freakishly cold weather is starting to wear me down, so I was ecstatic to have a few days of tanks and cardigans. This lovely drapey number is my newest one – I got it from Boden’s 50% winter sale (which is still going on!). I had coveted it since I saw it in the catalog months ago, but I wasn’t ready to plunk down the cash. It was only $38 on sale, so I quickly snatched it up. I’m so glad I did.

Since it’s the end of the year, tomorrow will be my usual Etsy post, then Thursday and Friday I’ll take a look back at the past year in Smiles Go With Everything. I’ll wrap up the Great Shopping Plan on 2010 on Sunday. Then there will probably be more reflecting and thinking about next year, etc.

I hope everyone had absolutely wonderful holidays! I know that mine were fantastic, even though they were crazy busy.

Tank: Target
Cardigan: Boden
Jeans: Levis
Shoes: Keen
Necklace: Wendy Brandes

Quote: Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe), by Kimberly Pauley

Etsy Vintage Love: West Bend

Posted on December 22, 2010 by Diana

Folks, I think an obsession is brewing. It started with a small and growing collection of vintage Pyrex as well as a few Hazel Atlas mugs. Now my love (cough, obsession) with vintage kitchenwares is expanding to a new realm: West Bend.

I first took notice of West Bend when I was putting together an Etsy Vintage Kitchen set awhile back. I fell in love with the iconic mid-century look of the fork and spoons bean pot. Then I did more research and realized that the penguin ice bucket I grew up with came from the same brand. Now I’ve ordered a set of canisters for my newly painted kitchen. It’s obsession I tell you. Obsession.

West Bend Serving Oven, $9.99

The Treasured Past

West Bend Mustard 9 Cup Percolator, $17

Forrestina Vintage

West Bend Penguin Ice Bucket, $17

Marriane Clare

Mid-century Fork and Spoons Bean Pot, $10

School of Vintage

West Bend Mustard Striped Tin Canisters, $8.50 (sale)

Boots N Gus

Lazy Sunday

Posted on December 21, 2010 by Diana

Can everyone agree with me that lazy Sundays are pretty much the best days in the world? The one day every week where I can get up late, feeling well rested, and do whatever I feel like for the whole day. No deadlines, no huge responsibilities, just lazily doing the things I like to do. I realize that every Sunday isn’t like this for everyone, but on those days when they happen, they’re just blissful.

This past Sunday it was overcast and chilly all day. I didn’t want to go out, and I didn’t have any reason to, so I wore cozy, comfy clothes and had a fantastic day. This isn’t really an outfit I would wear out (layering shirts like this isn’t super flattering on me, and I only wear my Ugg moccasins indoors) but it was perfect for lounging around the house.

Here’s what I did:

Snuggled up with a warm blanket and read (Sucks to Be Me: The All-True Confessions of Mina Hamilton, Teen Vampire (maybe) and Travels with Charley in Search of America: )

Started a new crochet project (my own adaptation of Fluffy Bunny Slippers

Made some butterscotch and chocolate chip cookies (Yum!)

Long sleeve: Target (thrifted)
Tee: Spoon concert tee (American Apparel)
Jeans: Gap Curvy
Scarf: Target
Moccasins: Ugg Dakota

Bento Box Saturday: Decemeber 15, 2010

Posted on December 18, 2010 by Diana

*Welcome to Bento Box Saturday! Every week, I post a photo of one of my bento lunches. I use a Laptop Lunches bento box and I love it because it helps me to reduce the amount waste I create, since I don’t produce a lot of extra garbage from throw away packaging. I also love how it creates perfect portion sizes. To learn more about how I pack and carry my bento, check out this post*

I’ve really got to get back in the habit of photographing my lunches again. Lately, I’ve been all out of sorts, and it feels like I keep neglecting a lot just trying to stay on top of things.

Here’s what I packed my bento with last week:

Tomato Soup (adapted from Soup: Superb Ways with a Classic Dish)
Greens with cucumber slices
Clementine
Red Pepper Slices with mozzarella

Photo Friday: Vintage Pyrex

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Diana

*Photo Friday is an occasional feature where I simply post a few photos I’ve taken recently. Sometimes there will be text involved, sometimes I will let the photos speak for themselves. Enjoy.*Welcome to my latest obsession: vintage Pyrex. It all started with my discovery of a lovely little blog called The Pyrex Collective. Around the same time I started reading and drooling over everyone else’s beautiful pyrex, I bought the larger yellow mixing bowl you see in these photos (a yellow primary 404, I later learned). From there, the obsession has grown.

For now, I’m focusing on collecting yellow pyrex. I’ve currently got a small collection including three mixing bowls (yellow 401, 402 and 404), a sunflower yellow casserole with a lid, a cinderlla Shenandoah mixing bowl, and a square large yellow bowl. Not sure what any of that means? Check out Pyrex Love, where they have a fantastic pattern reference section.

Next week, I’m painting my kitchen, and I’ll be adding a few IKEA shelves in the process. That will be my new display space for my quickly growing Pyrex collection. I’ll be sure to post some photos

Etsy Love: Men’s Edition

Posted on December 15, 2010 by Diana

While shopping for my man, I found a pretty good selection of awesome stuff on Etsy. I’ve always found shopping for guys kind of tricky, so I put together a set of guy-friendly awesomeness I found on Etsy.

Note: I know that creating a gendered list can create some issues. Please note that I’m not saying all guys will like these items, nor am I saying that women should not like them.

Alien Invasion Men’s Glow-in-the-dark Tee, $18

Northwest Shirts

Wooden iPhone Dock, $25

WouldWorks

Sandalwood with Aloe Vera and Rhassoul Clay, $5

Beautiful Soaps

Mid-century Modern Clock, $16

Look Back Vintage

50′s Navy Striped Silk Tie, $22

Hold The Wire

Vintage Grey Fedora, $29

Bright Wall

“May the odds be ever in your favor”

Posted on December 13, 2010 by Diana

I’m still here! I swear I didn’t plan to be such a slacker blog-wise these past few weeks. It’s been a combination of factors: holiday busy-ness, work busy-ness, general overall busy-ness. I’ve had a lot of stuff I had to get done that had deadlines attached, so everything else just got kind of pushed aside. My winter break starts after this week, so hopefully things will calm down soon.

These boots really have been a lifesaver. We’ve had unusually cold weather in Florida the past two weeks, so I’ve worn these boots almost every single day. They’re so super comfy, and the keep my toes nice and warm. I’ve also discovered that they go with pretty much everything. Definitely my favorite boots ever.