Style bargains: Autumn edition

I love summer time. I love being warm and not needing a jacket and long sunshiny days and ice cream. I also love Autumn, but it is bittersweet as the days get shorter and the rain waterlogs us.

I spent a week in the woods, camping in a surround of beautiful autumnal color...

and when I came back I felt a little more prepared for the transition.

and we know I've finally accepted the fact that the season has changed when I make changes to my look. And thanks to some super thrifty tendencies I didn't spend a lot to accomplish it.

 A visit to Goodwill and I was able to score a cashmere blend sweater that just happens to match the new accent colors at work.

Tags still on it.

My cost? $3.99.

Half price color of the week!


I've been on the hunt for a corduroy jacket for about 2 years and I keep hemming and hawing on the ones I've seen; until this one.

I really like all the detailing on the pockets and the back.

My cost? $3.99

Again, the half price color of the week!


I also discovered quite the selection of Essie nail polish at my favorite random store: Grocery Outlet. I picked up 4 colors for $2.99 each.



Normally $8.00 each.


These few cozy additions to my wardrobe at such great prices and now I'm really feeling good about Autumn.

 

The last rose of summer

Have you ever suddenly noticed that you've been surrounding yourself with a collection of something? I tend to do this most often with colors (I've been obsessed with aqua for several years now) but sometimes flavors or scents as well (I absolutely love anything citrus scented).

 Recently I noticed I've surrounded myself with a rose garden.

My favorite moisturizer has rosewater in it - it's a lightweight moisturizer that really absorbs quickly leaving no greasy feeling. I thought I was getting some kind of joke when I opened the huge box and out came this relatively tiny bottle but I've been using it daily since I bought it in April and I still have quite a bit left. I bought it directly from their website.

 I also love the Boots Botanics Rosewater toner (Target) and the Mario Badescu facial spray with aloe, herbs and rosewater (Ulta).



My divinely scented Passionfruit Rose lip balm is like a treat to wear. I found it on Etsy.


I even drink roses now that my set from Tea Chai Te has arrived.



The Vanilla Rose Chai is definitely my favorite - so fragrant and delicious!



Visit their website here.

I can't be the only one with these sudden onset obsessions. Tell me about your latest...although maybe you shouldn't - it might give me ideas...ha. :)

Book lovers unite

I somehow missed a post for July. I will blame it on the camping I did which you can see photos of here and here.

I've found out that today just has my name all over it. First of all we have National Book Lovers Day and then tonight is the August supermoon. If there are two things I love they are books and moon gazing.

So in honor of National Book Lovers Day I thought I would do some book chat.

I snapped that photo while camping last month. I don't normally take my kindle camping but in this case it was the best option because I couldn't decide what I wanted to read. I ended up reading was The Valley of Fear (aka Sherlock Holmes #7) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.
Some of the Sherlock Holmes stories I've slogged through but this one was quite good!

The past few years I've been in a terrible book funk and I can barely make it through most of the books I pick up to read. Once in a while I'll get one that really grabs me but for the most part I find them to be quite silly. I still can't decide if that is just the books I'm choosing or if I'm just being a book Grinch or what. Anyone else having trouble finding books they can't put down?

So for this year I did the "Goodreads challenge" for.....20 books in a year. For reference three years ago I read 54 books in a year.

This year I'm only 10 books into my challenge but there are a few that kept me reading into the night/morning.

Veronica Mars: The Thousand Dollar Tan Line - Rob Thomas & Jennifer Graham

I caught a cold in February and my coworkers told me I looked horrible and to go home. They were doing some kind of construction in the apartment above mine so I couldn't sleep and so I thought I'd watch something instead. That something ended up being Veronica Mars which I then proceeded to binge watch until I'd finished the entire series (don't worry this took at least a few weeks).
I may have gotten a little obsessed.


Get this mug here.

The movie was already out on video at this point so I watched it next and then I was able to get my hands on this book. Fresh on the heels of the show and movie like that was a great way to read this book. I felt like I hadn't missed a beat and I read through this one quickly. The story was interesting and I can't wait for the next one coming out this Autumn....I think?

Lost Lake - Sarah Addison Allen

I don't know what to say about Sarah Addison Allen's books except that they are like the coziest, softest blanket that you can wrap yourself in. When I try to explain what her books are like I lose the words to describe how homey and magical they are and how they make me think that anything will be fine and hope abounds. This one was no exception. I'm an admittedly slow reader but I devoured this story like I was starving and felt quite satisfied when I was finished.

Austenland & Midnight in Austenland - Shannon Hale

Okay. These books were silly. The first was silly and the second was more silly than the first ever thought of being. But I still had a hard time putting them down. I remember reading in bed one night and literally smacking my forehead at what the characters were doing yet....reading in bed until way past bedtime? Yep. I can't explain it. I really don't feel like I want to recommend these due to their immense silliness. Or that I can recommend these. And yet I did get a modicum of enjoyment so there you go.
I only read them because I was loaned the movie (which I watched five times before I returned it) and I thought after that that I just had to read the story that spawned that. The movie is hilariously funny (the more you watch it) and silly but also, in some ways, fantastic.

Credit

I am definitely up for some book recommendations! Have you read something that knocked your socks off or made you laugh or otherwise wowed you? I'd love to hear about it. Obviously I'm not doing very well choosing reading material for myself.

If you'd like to keep up with my reading and are on Goodreads feel free to friend me here.

Easy decor projects

Over the weekend I got the inspiration I needed (pinterest, of course!) to do a few projects around the place.

Most of my kitchen is visible from the door and I wanted something pretty for people walking in to see. I've had the idea to do a "coffee station" for quite a while but have been slowly gathering components to it together.

As I find more pieces (thrifting makes decorating go the long way home) and it really comes together I can let this space evolve. For now I'm loving it! I have an assortment of sugars, cinnamon, cocoa (for the poor man's mocha) and my matcha and melon syrup for my green tea frap. The little chalkboard I bought on jane.com and featured in some photos on my instagram. The chalkboard bunting is a free printable found here that I spent forever cut out and affixed over a jute string. Tiny, clear Command hooks hold it in place.

Also in the kitchen area I already hung my canvas art and had this idea about a clipboard for my grocery list. I buy a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables so my list is constant. I took a cheap clipboard and painted it with Plaid Crafts FolkArt Chalkboard Paint.

This was a brush on paint and the brushes I bought for this project were absolutely horrific. The paint is thick and needed something much smoother hence why I only painted part of this clipboard so far. My intention was to paint it in a pattern or design but with the brushes inability to keep within the lines....that didn't happen. But it still works great!

The canvas art I made by designing the words in picmonkey, printed it with my little home printer and Mod Podged it to a small canvas. This made it easy to hang and I didn't need to frame it.

The quote is from my favorite scene in Arrested Development. I looked high and low for a clip of this scene and couldn't find anything worth showing which is really sad because it was hilarious.

I also finally figured out how to hang this Eastside Distilling calendar that didn't have any holes in it. The idea of poking a hole in the lovely photography made me sad and then the other day I had an epiphany...

I've also taken to growing lavender indoors.

I read somewhere that lavender (and other aromatic herbs) purify the air and I'm obsessed with lavender so any old excuse will do.

See? Lavender obsessed.
Herbes de Provence goes into many of my dishes (it contains lavender) and I had a lavender lemonade the other day and all I can think about is going back to that cafe and getting another one and maybe a lemon lavender cookie to go with it.

And speaking of obsessed, a fruit salad with the combination of watermelon, strawberries and blueberries is what I eat at least twice a day.

I hope your life is as delicious as mine has been lately. And remember, if you miss me you can visit me on flickr or instagram where I post more regularly.

Mini gallery

I got a sudden inspiration the other day when Gina tweeted...or pinned...or...one of those about some free printable art. I had three art pieces sitting on the arm of my chair waiting for number four to complete the set and they had been that way for two weeks.

I already had an old photo in a frame so I did a color wash on the frame to match my new scheme (color wash being paint plus some water to change the opacity) and I had a painting I rescued from Goodwill, already framed. I also had a canvas I had made based on the glitter state pinterest project. To be honest I based my project off the image and caption alone, the actual directions (follow the pin) are different.

Then I saw this pin and knew I needed to have that. I printed it and Mod Podged it to a canvas to match my home state art project and then I had a nice little set!

(If you look closely you can see my cat staring out the window in the reflection)

The chevrons are some chipboard shapes that came in this pack of three for $1.00 at a local variety store. I painted them gold and strung them on jute. I already had a little banner thing going on with my leaf banner on this wall so I chose to hang them this way for some interest. $1.00! C'mon.

Now my whole wall is decorated! This is a momentous occasion let me tell you. This is truly the art of someone who scrounged for materials but I have to say I'm really enjoying it.

  Have you completed any pinterest projects lately?