Tag Archives: inspiration

10.05.12

They say as soon as one vacation is over you start planning the next.

Oh wait…”they” don’t say that?
Well, I do.

We love to travel, we love to learn and see pretty places and meet the most interesting people.
Daydreaming of far off places gives us something to look forward to….more adventure I say.

We revealed in this post that we finally accepted that our priorities may not be the same as everyone else’s.  Now that we are ok with that, we have given ourselves permission to dream bigger and take more risks.  We aren’t going to eat raw bacon or anything, that is still too risky.  But traveling has pushed its way to the top of our list.

Before you call Suze Orman, know that our first priority is to get out of debt and save like crazy to be able to run away like gypsies.

But saving is hard….especially when Pier 1 has a sale.

So we put together a list of places we want to go.
Our “Dream Bigger” List

Obviously we can’t do it all unless we win the lottery or have some rich uncle we didn’t know about, but you can bet your tooshie we are buying our lotto tickets and checking family trees.

The point is to make the list so you have a reason not to buy the adorable ceramic owl that is half off.
I mean you know how I feel about lists.

Can I get an amen….and maybe a couple plane tickets.

We are now accepting donations.

Where do you want to go?  India?  Costa Rica?  Brazil or Russia?

Written by Christina and Tim
09.10.12

Ahead of their time....

Posted by Christina // 8 Replies

Lately, while waiting for my melatonin to kick in, I have been watching old Friends re-runs.

Go ahead and sing with me….”I’ll be there for you” clap, clap, clap, clap.

Every night I think…man I love that kitchen.

Image found here.

This kitchen has taken a lot of heat for being “too busy” and “too cluttered” and “not functional at all”.

But the heart wants what the heart wants, and my heart wants teal base cabinets.

Not to mention the cute ceramic Pickles tub that they filled with utensils…..and the pink mixer.  Oh and the would-be-cute-with-different-fabric sink ruffle.

I just love this kitchen, and all the color and chaos.

Isn’t it kind of amazing that this show…and kitchen…were filmed in the nineties.  Especially considering some of the trends of today you can find, like the open shelving.

While looking at photos of the apartment and reading debates on whether they could really afford it or not….I stumbled on this at Bien Living.

Interesting to see the layouts of our Friends homes, eh?

I love that Monica’s messy closet has a question mark on it.  Not sure if they are being funny since it’s a mass of junk, or if they aren’t true Friends fans.

Speaking of true fans….Tim says this post won’t be complete unless I say the following word.  PIVOT.

Holler to my “friends”.

Written by Christina and Tim
09.05.12

Recently, I was asked to join the United Way committee for my employer.

Of course, I took on the flyers.  Which were due at month end (accountants know whats up with it) the day before we left for our two-week vacation.  It’s fine, I work best under pressure.

Wanna know what I realized whilest working on said flyers?

I like fonts.

And I like them….a lot.  Here are some of my favorites.

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The best part is you can search every single one of those fonts at DaFont.com and get them for yourself.

Amendment:  When I posted this I thought I downloaded them all from Dafont.com…it appears some aren’t there anymore.  Click the links below for the missing fonts.  Lainie Day, Sail, Rosewood, Modern No. 20, American Typewriter, and Simply Glamorous.  Please let me know if anymore go missing….love you, mean it!  No seriously, I mean it.

So you wanna see what I did with these spicy fonts?  I took our normal clip art posters and made these….

     

I am by no means a graphic designer.  But I will say I think these flyers are an upgrade and I am excited about it!

If you didn’t notice, most of the flyers are very text heavy.  Choosing the right fonts made the poster more artistic than informational, and hopefully more people will take a look and get involved.  Fingers crossed.

What about you all, got a favorite font I should know about?

Written by Christina and Tim
08.28.12

While I was visiting my sister last weekend I decided that I “needed” a new toy.

I rationalized this purchase with the fact that TODAY is Homemade Ocean’s one month anniversary.

We will be celebrating tomorrow….be there or be square sad that you missed it.

I have named my new toy Sven the hot Sweed and recently discussed his nakedness with him.

Me:  Look Sven…I know you are all hot and everything, but you really need to show some modesty.  Cover it up for the kids…because they could get you sticky with their Cheeto fingers.  Mama don’t need all that mess.
Sven:  Ohhkay….vut cahn I vee sooper sexie?
Me:  Who are you trying to impress….I mean c’mon Sven live in my pj’s.
Sven:  I joost veel like veing hawt you veel me.
Me:  Can I be your stylist?
Sven:  Vut ov course.
Me:  Settled.

Okay, so Sven the Sweed may have grown up in France or Russia or some far-away-accent place.  But there was only one thing to do.

Window shop.

These are all of the cases Sven and I are considering.  What…you didn’t realize Sven was a hot Swedish lady?

–  We have to stick to our roots here and throw in a nautical case.  I just adore this sweet tribute to the vintage Sailor style.

–  This is strange, but the snap top case reminds me of my gramma’s cigarette case.  Nostalgia gets me every time.  Plus, Kelly green and Navy blue are basically my favorite.

–  I’m feeling the whole watercolor trend, and I have never gotten over my love of dandelions.  So the blue and green case is like a prettier version of my childhood.

–  Another nautical theme, but this one you can customize with your monogram or name.  A high contender for our Stylish Sven shopping trip.  We also found backgrounds that looked like corals, chevron, ikat, and stripes….basically if you can dream it then you can find it here.

–  A sweet and feminine fabric with an unexpected design.  You had me at feminine, I also love that it’s an old fashioned typewriter image on brand spanking new technology.  Oh the irony.

–  Hello funky lady.  I wish I was bold enough to pull of this bright yellow, big bow number.  A girl can dream.

–  Lace and leather, is there anything hotter?  Didn’t think so.  I would feel like a dainty dollop of awesome carrying that case around.  Is that an oxymoron?  Well I don’t care, that is how I would feel.

–  My little piece of sunshine.  How could you not be happy when you are holding bright orange polkas and fun teal ruffles.  Sven likey.

Sven needs your help…..Which is your favorite?

Written by Christina and Tim
08.20.12

Come one, come all...

Posted by Christina // 2 Replies

Welcome to our playroom.

Well, our non-existent chittlins playroom.  You may remember them from this post.

I have been loving the Carnival theme these days, and what better theme for a playroom really.

The room is gender neutral with a girly blue and a boyish red, or some kind of fancy smancy designer talk.

It would be a lot of work to paint teal stripes, but oh so worth it in the end.  Gives it the “big top” feel without being too literal.

My favorite thing in the room is the carnival art prints.  I love the magic she captures in these vintage, airy photos.  You could do a whole collage or just one or two.

The mason jar light you could easily DIY if you are into that sort of thing.  They mirror the colors in the art prints so perfectly and kind of remind me of the milk bottles you pay a quarter to knock over.  Oh who am I kidding, it’s probably ten dollars a pop now-a-days.

It wouldn’t be a carnival without some lit-letters.  I really actually would love to get a couple of these for around the house.  Kind of in love with the nostalgia of it.

I would love to make a bunch of pillows and big cushy pads to jump and play on out of this fabric.

The vintage circus toy box is easy, just go to auctions and garage sales.  You are sure to run across one of them.  And I don’t have any kids, but I feel like you can never have enough toy storage.

Finish it off with rich, red, velvet show curtains to really make the kiddos feel like the ringmaster.

Maybe we need this room for just us, it looks like fun.  We could throw a trapeze and a lion in there and just have a ball.

Written by Christina and Tim
08.13.12

It's "fin"ally here.....

Posted by Christina // 4 Replies

 Oh you betcha, Shark Week is huge in this house.

We have been counting down the days since….well yesterday when we saw the ad.  We don’t watch much television mmkay.

But it is here, and we must celebrate.

I looked all over the internet for Shark inspiration to help everyone get excited….this is what I found.

The best shark party I have ever seen….seriously how cute are those shark fins.  Chris over at Celebrations at Home is a party planning genius.  I’m just in love with all of her little details.

Speaking of party details, I am going to try really hard to make this.

It will probably just turn into watermelon mush though, and I’ll tell Tim I was trying to make a “shark attack” melon.  Smart girlfriend award right here.  Thanks.

And really what is a Shark Week party without ice cube fins?  Of course they are in my Amazon cart.

And yes, I will sing “Dun dun, dun dun. dun dun”  When I take a drank.  Mom, I meant to type “drank”….it’s a gangster thang.  “Thang” is too.  Ok, I promise I’ll use proper grammar from here on out.

I really want to eat one of these shark cupcakes, like right this second.

Freaking adorable cupcakes.  Once again, mine would just look like a tidal wave.

Okay, enough food or I might have to get up and gain five pounds!  How about these koozies?  Do I have any friends that crochet?

If I do…then I want one of these for Labor Day.  That’s the next holiday right?  I mean after Shark Week, because that is a holiday in my book.

If you are having a Shark Week party, you should really invite me.  Make cute invites, put “Beware of Sharks” signs in your yard, and then make these bad boys.

I will rock those shark hats.  Fo’ sho.  Opps, sorry mom.  Gone gangster again.

Timbo wants to rock this shirt while I rock my shark hat.

I think I will buy it for him, with my fin cubes.  He’d look like a rockstar.

Speaking of rockstar, check out this girls nails then check out her pants.  Holy awesome.

I will not even attempt that.  I do not have the patience.

I will attempt…after my watermelon shark….this plate.

 There are a lot of tutorials for making plates and glasses and such.  I think you draw on it and then bake it or something.  If it doesn’t work out, then I will just die of ink poisoning.  Then I’ll suck it up and buy that one.

How adorable is this necklace?  Who knew sharks were so sexy.

And last but certainly not least….my kids are so doomed.

Till then…..my dog is so doomed.

Can I just dress everything that is defenseless up in shark costumes?

To top off all of our excitement for Shark Week, the boys from Tanked just finished a shark tank for Tracy Morgan.  Soooo now we need our own shark tank, so that every day can be shark day.

Hope everyone is as excited as we are.  If you aren’t then reread this post.

Written by Christina and Tim