First-Ever Blog Giveaway

I've partnered with Lauren Nicole Gifts to host a giveaway! Three prizes—enter today!

Here's the deal. Skip on over to the site, check out their products, and then leave a comment telling me your favorite item. Contest ends next Tuesday night/Wednesday morning at midnight CST. If you leave a comment then your name will be entered to win a monogrammed checkbook cover, a monogrammed pill box, or a small monogrammed mirror. One prize per winner. (If I draw your name, you will get to choose your pattern, color, and font. There are lots of options.)

Um, Maybe I'm Hormonal or Something

But this made me cry.

Dang it. I have a heart of mush. It's almost like a fairy tale. Minus the whole almost-died thing.

DRAPERIES!!

Could I BE any more excited? No. No, I could not.



Super huge thanks to Amy and Charles for this and for fixing my cattywampus bed that I (tried) to put together. Sleeping on the daybed is no longer at your own risk.

Everything is just finally so pulled together. (Except Bed Bath & Beyond only had three packs of rings and I needed four. That's why the right panel on the left window is all saggy, like old lady wrinkles.)

I love my place. I need to go fetch a Kleenex now.

Sad Old People Make Me Cry

But go see Gran Torino. Virgin ears might be shocked at the language, but it is a great movie. Take your tissues. Omg, how I love Clint Eastwood.

Fabulous Finds

All from Hanna Antiques this month, the month of the big, fat, annual sale. That sound you hear is me saving money.

Cool Christmas plate that will go in the dining room. 1978 is the year I was born. Now, do you feel old? Or do you feel like I'm old?!



This tray is just absolute perfection with the chair. Toot, toot. Yeah, I totally just patted myself on the back.



My mom spied these birds. Love them on the end table. Even better? She bought them.

Living Room/Desk Area

Self-explanatory, no?

Need to hang this new tray still and hide that ugly cord.




Remember the coffee table before?



Today I'll finish painting the doors and door trim. And Amy & Co. are coming to hang the living room draperies. They are gorgeous!

My Bathrooms

Yeah, never thought I'd have a post titled that.




The color on the green bathroom's walls (Dill Pickle, Benjamin Moore) was just perfect with the shower curtain I chose from Pottery Barn. No painting. Excellent. And the painting I bought a year ago was made for the blue bathroom. See? I was meant to live here.

Before and After

Time for condo updates. My pictures don't look nearly as professional as Laurey's will when she comes to shoot on Tuesday, but that's okay. I'm more about the words. Ha.

before


after

Not Impressed

I helped with a surprise party for Katie C. last night, and after dinner at Bottega Cafe, a dozen or so folks came by my condo for cupcakes. I made the Heath Bar Cake into cupcakes. Instead of buying a container of Cool-Whip, I went with the new spray can. So. not. impressed. It's not very firm, like regular Cool-Whip, and it was super runny, which made a mess. Albeit a delicious mess, it was a mess nonetheless. So, my suggestion is to stick with the tub.

PS: Happy Birthday, Katie!

Crushin'

Well, well, well. Last post January 16? Where have I been?

So my love for The Killers is obviously—and probably obnoxiously—well-known. But it just needs to be stated, in case there is any doubt, that I have a huge crush on Brandon Flowers. Dudes. He's so, so cute. I'm robbing a little, but only by about three years. That's okay, right? Cool. I'm dangerously close to becoming a groupie.

Know what surprised me though? He's a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And an avid golf fan. And he fronts a rock band.

And he's married. With a son. Weird.

Those crazy, crazy Mormons.

Baby-Name Stealers

This needs to stop! I've read about two people recently who have rudely lifted my baby name. I'm gonna go ahead and post it right now, on this here blog, available for all the Internet world to see, and just keep my fingers crossed that I'm not encouraging anyone else to use MY name.

Harper.

I love it.

Now stay away.

And don't touch Poppy either. I ain't playing. I will name my kid Poppy if given the chance. And I don't care how hard you laugh.

PS: I've come a long way from my third-grade girl-name choice: Elizabeth Bernice. Nothing wrong with that first name, no not at all. But…Bernice?

My Resolutions

You thought I forgot, didn't ya? Really, what I've done is cut myself short by 16 days. I have two weeks less time than everyone else to get my resolutions done. Planned it like that. I don't do anything the easy way.

Here's what I came up with.

1a. Read more. I love to read, but the last couple of years I haven't read nearly as much as I wanted to. Ideally, I'd like to go to bed an hour earlier each night so I can read. This will most definitely be challenging for me. Maybe I'll choose one night a week to be a reading-only night.

1b. Read the books I have before buying new ones. I am a compulsive book-buyer.

2. Work on time-management. This just spills over into every area of my life. And this may or may not be attainable. But I can try.

3. Go to the market at Pepper Place. I know. It's absurd that I've never been. But making it a resolution ensures that I will in 2009.

4. Stick to a budget. Take my lunch to work more. Plan better grocery trips. These all work together.

5. Declutter. Declutter my house. Declutter my car. Declutter my life. I have lofty goals.

6a. Eat alone at a restaurant bar. This will be hard for me, but I'm determined to do it.

6b. Go to the movies by myself. See above.

7. Try new restaurants in Birmingham. I love eating out, love good food. I won't get too crazy (see #4), I just need to try some great places that I've been dying to experience.

Wish me luck!

My Biggest Dream

I think, if I could choose anything in the world to do, I would own an independent bookstore. A small, You've Got Mail-style Shop Around the Corner. And, actually, I'm watching that movie now. Every time I do, I'm reminded of how much I love books. Love bookstores. Love the quiet. Love the smell. Love the order.


I especially love children's books. I've already started a collection for my not-yet-born bebes. (That makes me sound a little creepy.) Wait, let's be for real. That's what I say. What I mean is that I love to read children's books myself. I especially, especially love the Newbery and Caldecott winners. Who doesn't?

Anyway, the dream is kind of dumb, especially in this economy, but it's what I want. I would totally have kid's story time too. I'd have to host a book club. And I'd sell coffee, cause coffee goes in a bookstore. But I would serve it in real mugs on saucers, no paper cups. Oh, and I'd wear my glasses all the time too. Probably the red ones, just so I don't look too bookish. Girl's gotta protect her style, you know.

Ahhh, learning to embrace my inner nerd.

NO WAY

This better not happen or I'll…I'll…well, I don't know what I'll do, but it won't be pretty.

Tuning OUT

I was at the post office the other day and, after turning down a sketchy [homeless?] man's request to fill out a form for him, I saw an older man coming in the door. He was probably in his late-seventies or eighties, and I noticed his hearing aids as he approached the mail slots.

But when he turned around to drop off his mail and I got a better look, I saw that grandpa didn't have any hearing aids. He was totally plugged in…to his iPod. His earbuds were tucked safely in his ears, and he had his iPod zipped up in his jacket pocket.

Rock. On.

Do you think my bags of ice will stay frozen?

I'm thinking they're safe in the car, where I forgot them and where I am not going to retrieve them.




Go ahead, all you beloved Yankee readers, and laugh at me. But look! The coldest it's been in six years! I can't even remember back that far. That means tomorrow and Friday are going to be colder than any day I can remember in my eight-and-a-half years in this city. And I don't even own a pair of gloves! BRRRRR.

Another Decorating Post

But not about me. US Weekly has this tremendously interesting *insert total dripping sarcasm here* article about the Obamas and their new interior decorator and his ideas. They end with this very useful tidbit. I think we can all take away a tip or two, right?

Although the family hasn't released many details about how they'll personalize their new home, the Post reports the Obamas' Chicago residence featured Asian and African art, glass-fronted bookcases and framed family photos.

Really? Really? Framed family photos? Oh, what a fantastically new and innovative idea. It must've been a slow news day. Because, seriously, that is not a "feature" of someone's home.

Why don't you just hold this story, US, till they are actually done redecorating, and then show us some photos. Now that I will be curious about. I love seeing interior shots of the White House! Anyone else hoping for a TV tour a la Jackie? I'm totally keeping my fingers crossed!

Amen, Sister

See? Everyone thought 2008 sucked. Though, admittedly, her year was pretty darn crappy.

Get Your Facts Straight

In the February issue of Marie Claire, the cover story is about Renee Zellweger. (Who, incidentally, I find I don’t care for personally, but I do really like her in movies. I guess this makes her a good actress.) Anyway, the interviewer, of course, refers to her short-lived marriage to my boyfriend, Kenny Chesney. (And, side note, said marriage was in 2005. The speculation about the “fraud” annulment is getting tiresome, and so is the constant questioning in Every. Single. Interview. Okay? It's 2009.)

So, my point.

The article refers to Kenny as a “fellow Texan.”

Hello, copy editors.

Everyone knows KC is from East Tennessee. I mean, he totally has a song devoted to ET and everything. He talks about growing up in ET all the time. He’s a huge UT fan.

I just couldn’t believe it. Whatever happened to good ol’ gettin' your facts straight? Huh?

This Ain't Right

And I don't like it.