ELE, Everybody Love Everybody

Saw this video floating around on Facebook. Wow. Made the mistake of watching it at my desk at work and definitely shed some tears/did the silent cry. It's long, but inspirational for sure. This 18 year old is wise beyond his years.

Because everyone needs a good laugh on Monday . . .

In case you aren't one of the 1,941, 645 people that have viewed Marcel online, I thought I'd share this video with you. I was introduced to this video by Peppermint Bliss and it has been life changing. I saw it right before I went on vacation in October and Marcel and Charlie pretty much became the theme for the week. My sister and little bro both found it as funny as me. I literally can't stop laughing when I watch these and now every time I talk with my sister on the phone we throw in lines from Marcel. Enjoy!



And this follow up is equally hilarious, if not more so! Please, someone make a sequel to these!

One more reason to love Nordstrom . . .

 

I like the fact that Nordstrom celebrates one holiday at a time. I do kind of hate how the holiday season gets so commercialized and trees go up at stores right after Halloween is done. One thing at a time! Thank you, Nordstrom.  

Good reads

I will be the first to admit I have been addicted to reading this summer. In the worst way. I have been devouring books in only a few days each and staying up late to finish them. Kind of reminds me of when I was little and would stay awake way past my bedtime reading with the light of my flashlight. I guess somethings never change.

My blog friend Kendall recently shared a few of her favorite summer reads and I thought I would do the same. I always love to get reading recommendations.

Oh my. I still have the dialect in this book running through my head. I LOVED reading this. It makes you think about how things were in the South in the 60s and it is just such a great story. "You is kind, you is important, you is smart." I could just cry thinking about one of my favorite lines of the book.

Next up, I've been on a major Kristin Hannah kick. She's definitely become a new favorite. I've read a ton of hers this summer, but these two are hands down my favorites. I laughed and cried with both. Do you ever have that where you finish the book and it feels like the characters where somehow a part of your life? Like you can't get them out of your head? I felt that way with "True Colors" and would love a sequel!

Another book I just couldn't put down. This is a fictional view of Frank Lloyd Wright's love affair and it is such a great story. A lot of the actual events in the story are real. Thanks to my sister I have always been somewhat interested in Frank Lloyd Wright's (well, OK, maybe not always. I was a little young to be super pumped about seeing Falling Water!) and this book makes me want to visit Oak Park again and go to Wisconsin to see his home there.

And this, something I have been reading on the side for over a year! I finally finished it this Summer. What an incredible American. It is a collection of his letters and journal entries, all the way from when he was in World War II until he was out of office in the late 90s. I'm kind of a Bush Family buff, I know this isn't for everyone, but I really enjoyed it.

One last good read, the newest from Jodi Piccoult. I got into her books quite sometime ago. I think maybe by randomly stumbling upon them at the library. Her latest is really good. Not my all time favorite from her, but definitely a good beach read.

Well, that pretty much sums up my Summer! Nothing I like more than reading a good book on the beach or curling up on a sun porch (preferably sister's) and getting lost in a book. If you are looking for more books to check out, head over to Sogni e Sorrisi. Connie always does book reviews and has a lot of great suggestions! And coincidentally she has a book giveaway going on right now!

I + Hunter Boots

I've got a thing for Hunter Boots. I honestly think they are the best made rain boot around. And I should know, I once bought a cute little pair made by Sperry (of deck shoe fame) and on one wet walk into work, they split and my feet and socks were soaked. Luckily Nordstrom's return policy saved me. But after that I bought my first pair of Hunters and haven't looked back since.

It was raining like crazy this morning in Chicago. I woke up to the sound of pouring rain at 5:30 this morning and it didn't let up until around 10. In light of that, I thought I'd share a few Hunters I'm lusting after right now...

If you're just getting into Hunters, may I suggest the Classic tall boot? :) I have these in black and they haven't let me down yet. For city living, it's not just for rainy days, these get me through the winter. Instead of thick snow we tend to get all the wet slush and messy, messy sidewalks. Uggs or something like that just won't cut it. Wellies are perfect in my opinion!

I think a short pair would be cute and they come in all sorts of colors. I'm liking the green.

Sometimes the finish on the classic gets a waxy look to it. This is normal and they sell a spray to help with that, but I like the newer Gloss boots they sell, very nice and shiny! I really want the graphite color. But the bright orange or green are really fun too. And, the green are on sale. That never happens!

And now, for the grand finale. The Regent collection. I love the higher angled side. Looks like a real riding boot to me. I wish they offered the plain regent in more colors, but I've only seen black and brown for now.

And the quilted. Be still my heart. If I have one splurge coming up this fall -- these may be it.

OK, I've gone on long enough with my boot ramblings. I'll settle down now -- and maybe head to just take a peek at the rain boot section in Nordstrom.... :)

laughing out loud

If you're experiencing anything like the week I've been having, you might need a good laugh. This should do the trick. I first heard of this site from Young House Love and literally was laughing out loud at my desk. Much, much better than that silent crying in your cube thing, not that I have ever done that.... :)

Take a peek at the site...Catalog Living

This Q-tip one gets me every time!! Oh dear....

Cosi does summer

A few weeks ago Cosi was offering free drinks, featuring their new summer line up. I was pretty impressed. There's a sangria (sans alcohol) and a sort of spicy lemonade number.

They even came with real fruit skewers! Kind of felt like a little escape in the middle of my work day. Mid-afternoon work-safe happy hour, if you will. Although, I'm thinking about keeping a little flask in my desk drawer to really spice these up...  Just kidding boss! :)

PW Goes Hollywood!!

Reese Witherspoon is The Pioneer Woman -- New Movie!

This is crazy! How awesome for Pioneer Woman, Ree! I love reading her blog and find her to be so many things -- a source of good laughs over her confessions posts, an inspiration for beyond delicious cooking and a teacher in the ways of photography. Shoot, sometimes her posts even bring a tear to my eye! I will definitely be seeing the movie if this is in fact true!

The olympics!

Alright, I am sucked into the Olympics! It may not have quite the excitement of watching Phelps a few summers ago, but it's still pretty good. Home from watching my boys in green win -- And now onto the men's figure skating.

OK, have you seen Evan Lysacek? Heard about him on the local news last night, he was born in Chicago! And good Lord, you need to get a look at him, he is one fine looking skater if you know what I mean. When my Mom saw him getting ready to skate last night, and I quote, she said, "Now He's a MAN." Haha, I think we had got done watching a little bit of a more frou-frou skater compete and then Evan showed up! He skated awesome tonight in the short program, I was almost getting teared up watching him wait for his scores, he was actually starting to cry. He is in second place going into the full/long(?) program. I'm rooting for him!

What is it about the Olympics that brings on the tears?? I pretty much lost it last night when the married Chinese couple got the gold in pairs skating, what an awesome story.










And the most pathetic of my tears? This commercial. Pretty much gets me every time. I really like the Go World spots, but this was a whole new level.



I'm anticipating more tears in the next few weeks...happy Olympics watching :)


Picture of Evan by Matthew Stockman - Getty Images

Customer service & planting

Alright, let me give you the background on this story, bear with me. Last year, after looking through their catalogs for quite some time I finally placed my first order with Ballard Designs.

I was pleased with everything I got, including this cute boot tray, which is quite functional during the Chicago Winters and frankly Fall and Spring too! It's a perfect place for my worn-almost-daily Hunter wellies to reside as well as snowy Uggs.

Anyway, by the end of the season last year, my "rust resistant" tray was in fact, quite rusty. So much so that I didn't even want to set it out again this year, it looked awful. I finally took the time to call Ballard about it. They took my information down and said a product specialist would call me back. I just got the call from a specialist this morning and with hardly any questions asked she said they would be shipping me a new one!  Now, that's customer service. I am so happy and I have a newfound love for Ballard Designs!

One of the many things I have my eye on in the catalog are these outdoor planters. I have done comparison shopping and these seem to be priced very reasonably. I think they work well with the look of our building too, very classic.

These would be a replacement for the two identical planters we used to have in front of my greystone building. One cracked and all last season we were a little off symmetry. I don't think they had been planted in for quite some time either (no green thumbs in the building I guess) so last year I planted in our one pot and it looked great, but to have two matching ones again would be awesome! OK, now that I look at this picture I am kind of embarrassed by how dinky the flowers look! This was in June, but you should have seen that pot by August, it was flourishing! Honestly, the geraniums were huge and that sweet potato vine was trailing the ground.

                                                                Little bro and me, June 2009

I'll have to take some pictures again this summer when we once again have two and they are in full bloom. Sigh, summer. Let's take a moment and reflect on how awesome it will be when it's that time of year again. :) All this talk of planting is getting me so pumped up to map out what I can do this year on my back deck and out front, the backyard, everywhere!

It's all good . . .

Good game. My boys pulled out a win over our rival (although unranked) Michigan Wolverines last night. The boys in green looked pretty good (Hellooooo Raymar). Just in case you're not keeping track, we're now 8-0, undefeated in the big ten!! Oh and ranked 5 in the country, no big deal. :) I love college basketball season.

Lucas celebrating the win, he made a shot with 3.5 seconds left to give us the lead.

Raymar Morgan, my favorite and the other star of the night. He had 20 points, only missing one of his shots all night!  








Images from www.msuspartans.com.









Good weekend. Enjoyed some bubbly with friends this weekend before heading out on the town. This is my favorite sparkling wine and it hails from Suttons Bay, MI. I visited the vineyard a few summers ago and I've been hooked ever since. The only wines they create at L. Mawby are sparkling! Bring on the bubbles. Pleasantly surprised to find they sell a variety of this at the Whole Foods in Chicago. Visit the vineyards website here.

Good food. Tried my first Pioneer Women recipe on Monday. Turned out pretty good, although I should have halfed it, I have enough enchiladas for a small army! I made this after work and then after grocery shopping for the ingredients, so I apparently lost my energy to take a nice shot of the enchiladas all served up with a dallop of sour cream and a sprinkle of cilantro. Sigh. But, here they are a bakin' in the oven.

damask

I will admit I have a crazy obsession with anything done in a damask pattern. I don't own much in the pattern besides a table runner, but I'm looking to add to my collection. Apparently I am not alone. I went to Esty, typed in "damask" and got over 12,000 items back. Here are a few I really liked!

Love these, my favorite black and pink!

What a cute idea. This lady has a really cute shop on etsy too, I saw some awesome reusable lunch bags I really wanted.

Alright, this is beyond adorable.

And last, this little gem. Would love a couple of these for my living room. That's the great thing about damask, you can use it everywhere! In your home, on your kids, on your invitations, at your wedding...it just doesn't stop. Shoot, I can use those gloves in my garden!

A little bit goes a long way

I have heard about this on a few different blogs and think its a great way to support relief efforts in Haiti. As a crafter, you can donate items to be sold on etsy, as a shopper (me!), you can support their efforts by purchasing something from the store! All proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. I have my eye on a little something, but I think I will use it as a gift, so I can't tell :)

You can visit the etsy store here.










One more place to donate that you may not have initially thought of, Catholic Relief Services. They are already on the ground in Haiti distributing food and supplies. I felt very comfortable giving to CRS, 93% of the money they spend goes directly to help the poor overseas. They also meet all 20 of the strict Charity Standards set by the Better Business Burea's charity rating arm, the Wise Giving Alliance. You can visit them here. 

Helping the bravest men and women I know

For quite some time now I have wanted to send a care package to someone serving overseas. I finally made it happen this past week - I used AnySoldier.com. It's an awesome site and has tons of addresses and requests from the soldiers for supplies, things to keep them entertained, snacks, etc.

I saw a request from a female soldier asking for make-up, not a necessity obviously, but just for fun. I have so many unused, brand new samples from gifts, that I thought it would be great to send a "girly" care package to the women soldiers. With my sister's help we got quite a collection of eye shadows and lipsticks. I also bought some lip glosses and a few color kits, with all sorts of eye shadows and blushes. We also heard they liked travel kleenex packs and wet ones, so we added those too.

I realize make-up is not a necessity, but thought it might be fun for them to get something out of the ordinary, a pure luxury item in Iraq or Afghanistan.

The other great part, the USPS recently announced a flat rate for any weight priority mail box when shipped to a military address. We had the box packed to capacity and it weighed a ton! But it only cost $10.35 to ship it.
                                                   All packed up!

 

It felt so good to, in some small way, help out the Military! They are so brave and fighting for our freedom every day, this was the least I could do.

Must have . . .

...one of these.

I don't know where it came from, but a few months back I began this obsession with English Bulldogs! And I won't stop 'till I get one of my own. Seriously. My sister and I are going to visit a breeder over Christmas in Michigan and I hope to have my hands on one come Spring. Just need to save some dough or ahem, get that promotion! I have been devouring bulldog books and frequently stalk for this cute little bully who lives on my street. I literally started taking walks up and down my street just so I could see this little guy. Anyway, wanted to share a few irresistible pictures of them.

         Look at this hunk of love....

           And one more, he fell asleep with his tongue out!! Am I the only one who finds this ridiculously cute and lovable?!

Looking forward to Thanksgiving . . .

www.wordle.net

A Salute

We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.  [Cynthia Ozick]

Thanks to all the brave men and women who have fought and are still fighting for our freedom. Today, and every day, we salute you. 

The gardener is back

That's what I'm talking about. Just when I thought my Sunday was coming to a boring close, this showed up on my television screen. Thank you ABC for adding a little spice to my Sunday night. I've always had a thing for tall, dark and handsome. Enjoy! P.S. Looks like he'll be back for a steamy episode next week too!

Images from http://www.theinsider.com/photos/621551_Shirtless_Celeb_Of_The_Day_Jesse_Metcalfe