Look For Less: Zig Zag Dress

I was at Target last night (where else would I be?) and just about died when I saw a black and white zig zag long sleeved dress that was a total knockoff of the DVF dress I have been coveting for at least a year.

Here is the DVF dress that I believe was around $300:

And here is the Target version for $30:

Unfortunately, they didn't have my size, but best believe I am going to be on the lookout for it every time I go!

Hope you all have a wonderful and safe New Year's!

Interior Infatuation: Elizabeth Bauer Design

Just found this fab Interior Designer who has a store front in New York. I couldn't find many examples of her actual work, as most of the pics on her site are images from her store. But I love little vignettes from inside such stores just as much as I love actual rooms.

The above is her desk and inspiration board. Loving that fun wallpaper.

Quite possibly the perfect shade of blue.

I will never tire of black and white stripes.

Or zebra, a variation on the theme. And btw, I am officially back on good graces with pink in all areas of the home. If you were a blog reader back in the day you may remember after having Natalie I was so sick of the color pink I never wanted to see it again.

Drooling over that stack of the book "I Married Adventure" by Osa Johnson. Mark my words, one day I am getting my hands on a copy! The single book with the giraffe print cover is the sequel "Four Years In Paradise" which I heard is even harder to find.

Digging the brights and the mixed floral framed prints...hmmm, possible inspiration for the girls' future play room?

That crystal vase is to die. It can be yours for a mere $795.00

I have found myself strangely drawn to malachite as of late. Not sure I would do a whole dresser, but I wouldn't mind a little knick knack paddy whack to sit on a shelf.


Love her selection of home accessories.

Images via Elizabeth Bauer Design website and her flickr account

NYE Party Decor & Fashion

If I were going all out and throwing a New Year's Eve party, I would like it to look a bit like this:

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Nice, no?

On a related note, I recently found out you can mix my two favorite alcoholic beverages, champagne and vodka to create, hold on to your hats-a CHAMPAGNE MARTINI. How I went 28 years not knowing this I have no idea. All you do is pour about one shot worth of vodka (I like to blame it on the goose) in the bottom of a champagne flute, then fill the rest with the champy of your choice. My fave is the ever so classy Ballatore Gran Spumate you can get at the grocery store for around $10 a bottle. You know, this one:

Mmmmm.

On another semi-related note, my hubby bought me those blue heels for Christmas that I blogged about here.

I am definitely going to wear them on New Years Eve, it's just too bad we don't have anywhere snazzy to go. It's probably going to be another year at home, barely staying up until midnight to watch the ball drop on TV. Here is how I will probably wear them:

NYE Reality by Sweetie Pie Pumpkin Noodle featuring Calvin Klein

And this is how I would wear them if we were going out:

NYE Fantasy by Sweetie Pie Pumpkin Noodle featuring Forever21 shoes

Do you all have any fun plans for NYE? If so, let me know so I can live vicariously through your exciting life.

Still Recovering from the Holi-daze

I'm not getting back in gear as quickly as I should be around here. For some reason this Christmas turned my brain to mush. Let me throw some pretty pictures your way until I get it together, K?

All images via styleathome.com, my new favorite interior design website. It's actually a Canadian magazine that I would love to subscribe to, but am too cheap. I'll have to settle for whatever makes it on their website. Thank goodness for the internets!

Simplify: Tip #52

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"Simplicity is the essence of happiness."
-Cedric Bledsoe

And thus ends a year of simplify quotes. I hope you have enjoyed them as much as I have enjoyed putting them together. You can always click the "Simplify Tips" logo on the left hand side to view them all.

Or, for a quicker jaunt check out crowd favorites here, here, here and here. And my faves here and here.
With the new year comes a new theme, and this final quote is a clue of what is to come...

From Our House To Yours

Card design by Less Ordinary Designs.

Creating Christmas Traditions

Heading to the snow and getting out to make a snowman even though it was pouring rain...

Getting in our jammies, piling in the car with hot chocolate & cookies and hunting for awesome Christmas light displays...

Visiting Grandma & Grandpa in Santa Rosa and going to the local ice skating rink...

On the way home stopping in Sausalito for a few very scenic pics...

Baking cookies, packaging them up and having my two little Christmas fairies deliver them to family and friends...

I just love creating traditions for my little family. Hope you are enjoying the season too! xoxo

637 Posts Later....

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It's this here blog's 2nd birthday today! "Go, go, go, go, go bloggy, it's your birthday! We gonna party like it's your birthday! We gonna sip Bacardi like it's your birthday! And you know, we don't give a f cuz it's your birthday!" This is my 637th post-hot diggity dog, that's a whole lot of creative avoidance! A big shout out to all my readers who stop by to see what is going on over here. It would be sooooo boring if it weren't for all of you.

I'm going to jump on the "20 Questions" style bandwagon and open up the comments section to any burning questions you might have for me. You know, like "How in the world do you find the time to create such an awesome blog?" or "What kind of deodorant do you use?". I'll answer them all in a post next week. Or, just take this opportunity to come out of lurkedom and say hello. I know you're out there, google reader, my stat counter and friend connect tell me so. That's right, I'm stalking you too!

So thanks again for making this my favorite place to come when I don't want to be washing dishes or changing diapers.

Monday Miscellany (Aka-Crap, It's Almost Christmas!)

Ho, ho, ho peeps. You guys feeling the "Oh crap, it's almost Christmas" vibe like I am? Yikes, it's coming WAY too soon. Still having fun hanging out with my mom, but she didn't want me to leave my readers hanging. Last night we were talking and out of the blue she said "So, you have a blog post ready for tomorrow?". So here I am, per my mother's wishes. (Ok, I wanted to post too, just didn't think it would be nice to ignore my mom while blogging, but since I got the green light...)

A few randoms for you on this Monday morning:

These shoes from Forever 21 are awfully cute, and are only $20!

I get a real "Kate Spade Holiday 2009" vibe from them, don't you?

And we all know how gaga everyone went over this stuff this season!

Lulu's has a ton of cute holiday dresses on the cheap:

I had to have this amazing little clutch from Independent Reign, so I bought it as a little Christmas pressie to myself:

Lastly, for my fellow gLeeks, I love this pic:

via gleeky

Love her dress and that curtain in the background. Cory Monteith isn't too shabby either. I bought the Vol 2 Soundtrack last week, and have listened to this song a ridiculous amount of times. Natalie already knows all the words.

Hope you all have a great day!

Simplify: Tip #51

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"Outward simplicity is a sign of complex perfection."
-Unknown
(Pretty sure I wrote this down from a fortune cookie fortune a few years ago!)

Teacher Christmas Gifts

This year the holiday season has been extra special for Natalie because she has been doing lots of fun stuff at preschool. Today was their Christmas party, and I had fun coming up with a little something for her three teachers.

I always like a little group of things packaged together in a cute container that can be used again. In this case, I had Natalie pick out her favorite coffee mug from Starbucks to hold their goodies in. Thanks to my bro's 40% employee discount, they were only $4 each.

To go inside I bought anti-bacterial hand gel and hand lotion in the scent "Winter Candy Apple" from Bath & Body Works. I thought that it was a cute nod to the whole teacher-apple thing. Plus, dealing with all those kids and germs, I figure they can use all the anti-bacterial products they can get! (Can you tell I'm a germ-o-phobe?). The lotion was a splurge at $4 each-they are so small for the price- but the hand gel was more reasonable at 4 for $5.

Lastly, tucked in the back, I had Natalie color each teacher a wooden angel ornament I bought at Joann's Fabric store for around .30 cents each. On the back I wrote "Merry Christmas Teacher ____. Love, Natalie"

Natalie was so proud of her gifts, and was very excited to hand them out to her teachers.

For around $10 each, I really liked the way they turned out. Any teachers out there care to put you two cents in as to what you like to get from students? This being my first year, I wasn't quite sure what to get. I was originally going to get them Starbucks gift cards to go with their mugs, but then decided against it. I noticed a lot of the other students gave home-made candy and cookies. What about you other mommies out there who are experienced teacher-gift-givers? Any tips? I'd love to tuck away a few ideas for future years.