Lilac Saloon

Because We Deserve It

     The weekend has come and gone.  Time seems to move faster than I do during these two precious, precious, precious days off of work.  The work week last week was extremely, painfully, super duper grossly long and we still have Monday of insanity before we finally go into the meeting we've been preparing for - on Tuesday.  I think we'll be bringing in pillows, blankets, and coffee to make it through the day and night tomorrow.  We're showing our CEO a preview of our Summer Pattern for 2009.  I'm using my powers of "Magical Thinking" aka "The Law of Attraction" to say that the meeting is going to go really WELL!  :D

It's interesting to Google search the "Law of Attraction" to see what people think and feel about it.  There's many people that really believe in the theories and many who are so against it and call it "B.S.".  Personally, I believe that any THEORY is simply a way of thinking and no way of thinking can be considered true or false.  If a way of thinking allows people to live their lives in a positive and successful manner - THEN WHY BASH IT?  Same exact thing with any religion!  I wouldn't take the Bible literally (some do, and that's fine too), but it's theory and I won't bash it either.  But anywho... the Law of Attraction purely states that your thoughts become things.  And it works.  It's not really magic, it's just a way of thinking that makes sense.  Thinking negatively breeds more negativity - and thinking positively attracts more positivity into your life because it is what you're focusing on.  That's not BS, it's just common sense. 

I also used this great and powwwerrful law to create a great weekend that Peter and I like to call a "Because We Deserve It" weekend.  It's filled with things that we feel like doing because we deserve it!! 

We went to see "The Dark Night".  That was an INTENSE movie.  My hands were over my eyes or mouth the entire time and I was literally SORE from being so tense!  Really!  My muscles hurt afterward!  Then we got some pizza and had a good nights sleep.

Saturday, Evan and I went to a bunch of ring stores to try to find the place to get my ring custom made.

 

We are pretty sure we found our guy and he's drawing up some sketches for us to see next week!  That's the ONLY place that offered this for us!  I'm excited now.

Then it was time to continue on with the Because We Deserve It extravaganza.  Evan and I drove downtown to Peter's apartment and then we all went over to Black Market to check it out.  Black Market is a boutique owned by Kelli on this current season (five) of Project Runway!  The store was awesome and I'm definitely betting on her being in the top 3 to go to Bryant Park this year.  Represent Columbus, Kelli!!

After Black Market, we hit up Starbucks because we deserve it.  What came next was bad and torturous... we went into Urban Outfitters.  My wallet was screaming and shouting at me and begging me not to harm it.  I felt pity on the poor sad thing and only left the store with three items!  And none of them clothes.  Wallet thanked me for now but knows that I'll return and we'll have to go through that whole scene all over again.  Here's what wallet let me get:

A new coffee table book for Evan and I and our friends to release our piles of creativity onto at any random moment:

Two suuuper cute and fun journal/notebook thingies.  I'm obsessed with journals and can't pass up really cute ones.... especially during a 2 for $10 deal!

Then back to Peter's for a spaghetti dinner with Juno!  What a great movie and what a great dinner - thanks Peter!!!  We deserved it!  We also deserved to let loose a little.  So not before long we were heading out to have our "Because We Deserve It" Long Islands!  Two bars, only two long islands, and many songs belted out randomly in mid conversation later - we wake up to the sun shining bright and our heads told us "owww... yeah... you sure deserved it.."  So since our heads hurt and our bodies were dehydrated and tired, we headed around the block to THE ABSOLUTE BEST place to get breakfast in Columbus.  Wait, I take that back, best place to get breakfast ANYWHERE, EVER.  That would be... First Watch!  Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh we so deserved that!!

The rest of my Sunday was spent laying, coloring in the book, watching episodes from the 4th (and sadly final!) season of 4400, and reading my book for the book club.  Mentally preparing myself for the week ahead.  And I may have a glass of wine... because I deserve it.

It's Summertime and the Living's Easy

Yesterday at work they had a little Farmers Market for us with all sorts of fruits and veggies and even some flowers set up in wooden baskets.  When we approached the stall we saw that there were little brown bags sitting near the table.  I assumed the produce would all be pretty over-priced because everything in our cafeteria is more expensive than at a grocery store... for example, one apple is a dollar.  Ugh!  Before I tell you how much it cost me, I'll show you what I got!

That would be... 2 stalks of corn, one basket of strawberries, one green and one yellow pepper, one plum and one nectarene, one tomato and 5 cherry tomatoes, a bunch of asparagus, a zuchini, two green onions and a sprig of basil leaves....

"Take a bag and fill it with whatever you want... Five dollars please!" she says.  And I nearly flipped out!  FIVE dollars?!  At our local grocer, just that asparagus alone would have cost us $4 and some change.  All of this produce was locally grown in Ohio!  And it was so SO amazingly delicious!  For dinner last night we fried up some chicken with lemon pepper seasoning and then added the green and yellow pepper, the onions and the basil.  And we also made the corn on the cob.  It all tasted so fresh and so healthy I couldn't eat it fast enough.  For once in my life I actually finished my dinner before Evan finished his!  That, my friends, is unheard of!

Filling my bag with all of that made me feel like I was at a sample sale!  Here's what I got at our last sample sale at work:

It's hard for one picture to do it justice.  Picture filling three of those extra large trash bags (like... a bag big enough to line those actual trash cans you pull to the curb for the garbage man)...

Looks like it could have cost us thousands... (see all those jeans?! about 12 pairs between Evan and I!).. but between both of us we paid around... $280 for everything.  You have GOT to love that work perk.

On a wedding note, my friend Heidi and I are designing my dress.  So far we have just been brainstorming.  Here are some inspirational pictures that kind of show the direction (or directionS!... so hard to choose!!) that we want to go in:

 

So I like the idea of mixing casual details into the dress (ie. racerback, pockets..) with really glam and femenine details like embroidery and sheer layers!

My friend Peter and I are doing our own little book club together.  We both pick a book, read it, swap, and then discuss both!!  This is the book I picked... which happened to be FANTASTIC.  I recommend it to anyone!  It's called Magical Thinking by Augusten Burroughs (who also wrote Running With Scissors, which is also a movie now).

We just swapped books and he gave me one called "The Curious Incident of the Dog In the Night-Time".  So far it's really intriguing!  Peter started reading Magical Thinking and said it was SO GOOD.

I just made this...

Which... I can't decide whether I want it to be a needle book, a holder for my iPhone.. or something different.  It's the exact size of the phone.  What do you think it should be??

Evan and I are taking a trip up to Cleveland this weekend to see our friends Ashley & Fred - who recently just got married!  I was in their wedding - my first time in a wedding!  We're going to stay with them for the weekend, attend a tattoo party, go to an awesome science museum, maybe go to the beach too.  I'm excited!  We leave after work today (luckily it's only a two hour drive, yayyy so close!). 

She's beautiful!

And even in a church you can't hold me back from being myself...

Happy Friday!!!  Enjoy the weekend.  I know I will!

Happy Independence Day

There is nothing more glorious than a DAY OFF!!

With that said, I'd like to note that I fill my day off with many important things;  Including a successful trip to Jo-Anns.  What did I buy?

COLOR! 
Super saturated colorful felt, and some soft colored embroidery threads. 

They're going to turn into some beautiful, fanciful flowers!  Here is the first one:

So cute, right?!  I have a lot more ideas for some much crazier designs... this was just me experimenting with something on the simple side.  It's about the size of the palm of my hand.  I was thinking for the next flowers... they should be much bigger - for DRAMA's sake! 

Evan also picked something up.  He wants to "build" me a dress, as he says :)!  He picked out two!  I'm so excited to see how they end up turning out!

Dahlia had an eventful day as well...
She started out on the first floor (kitty condo!)...

And then moved on up to the 2nd floor...

Hahaha. 

In about an hour we're heading down to the fireworks!  It's super wet out from all the rain - but the sky is now blue so the fireworks are going to be great - even if we do have wet butts by the end!!

The First Impression!

It seems like the pressure is on during the first post...

Like when you first crack open a new journal.  On that very first page you want to use your coolest pen and write in your best handwriting.  By page 5 it's your regular chicken scratch with the black ball-point pen.

I'm starting this blog to share my thoughts and ideas because I'm pretty sure that there's someone else out there who really wants to hear them :).  No, really, I'm inspired by a lot of things and think that this is the best place to keep track of them all!  Even if only for myself.  If others find them inspiring as well - then that is even better.

I work in the fashion industry... I dream of working for myself.  I'm as crafty as time allows me to be and will share any and all new creations as they come.

I just got engaged on June 14th, 2008!  Evan and I have been together for six and a half years (since High School!) and he *finally* proposed :).

 

I knew we'd get married - some day - but still did NOT expect his proposal at all and it was a complete surprise!!  The most inspiring wedding I've come across so far is Princess Lasertron!  This girl is living my dream life!  I have a new idol ;).

Aside from Evan, I live with a little kitten (okay she's not little anymore), her name is Dahlia.  She's my baby and she's a pretty kick ass cat.

She looks like chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, she talks to birds, she loves boxes and bags, and she loves it (only my assumption) when I put stuff ON her when I get inspired by Stuff On My Cat.

Does anyone know anything about planning a wedding?!  This is gonna be hard...