the loot

So here they are... The Santee Alley purchases! There were so many other wonderful things that I passed up, but these all just had to come home with me.

This hat is so fun, and it fits my ginormous head. Lauren snagged a brown one. 

The color offering made it really hard to choose!

Straw fedora - $8.50 (2 for $17 split with Lauren)

...

 I bought this for the hubs, but I may be borrowing it...

Scarf - $5

 

Sweater flower headband - 50 cents

Umm... yeah. 50 cents.

 Skinny jeans - $10

The back pocket detailing is really cute. A little hard to see... 

Just try not to stare at my ass too long. 

That would be weird.

 

 My favorite find... One day I will have to tell you of my zebra obsession.

I LOVE this wallet. PLUS it matches my debit card--which I have gotten comments on that fact pretty much daily since I got it.

It's almost a little embarrassing.

Almost.

Wallet - $5

Excuse the dorky face... but these glasses basically blow my mind. I love them.

Another shopper told me "You have to get those. Those glasses are pimp!"

Who says "pimp"?

I didn't need her convincing, but I bought them. :]

Pimp glasses - $5

Did you notice my Give a Shirt? I'm actually wearing the husband's. I liked how baggy and cute it was with leggings!

 $34 well spent... Wouldn't you say?

Representing Corvallis ...and good music

I have loved OK Go since their first album came out in 2002 [Umm... I was borderline obsessed. No lie.] Frankly, I am a true music snob when it comes to these guys, and prefer their old stuff to the new... but I digress. 

My husband just showed me this video a few days ago and I loved that they did yet another ridiculously choreographed video all in one take. However, I learned today that it was filmed in Corvallis, Oregon!! which make me like it 100x more.

I love my Beavs.

I love OK Go.

You should watch the vid.

{For those of you who didn't know, I went to Oregon State University, which is in lil ol' Corvallis. Love that place. Not enough to live there longer than I did to go to college... But I love it nonetheless}

Shopping Santee Alley

FINALLY ventured out to the LA Fashion District when my lovely friend Lauren came to visit a few weeks ago. 

It was life changing.

First of all, did everyone but me realize that said district is over 90 square blocks? Umm...what?! 

I know my friend, and I know she can get overwhelmed with too much stuff. I told her we should just check out Santee Alley and call it good. Wouldn't you know it, that I was the one feeling overwhelmed after an hour or two in this place! So much good-deal-goodness crammed into one little street.

AND I had an opportunity to barter, which was fun, because if you remember from a couple posts ago, I didn't barter at the Rose Bowl Flea Market.

 

So as not to overwhelm with photo overload, these are just the shopping photos. My next post will show off my [freaking awesome] finds.

Santee Alley reminded me of all the things I love about Canal St. in New York City. Oh how I love creepy alleys with sketchy foreigners selling me illegal goods. Hmm... is that PC to say?

I am already excited to go back!

my (far in the future) baby will listen to this...

Rockabye Baby! has made lullabyes for baby of the parent's favorite music. 

Brills.

I am a Gwen Stefani freak, so our baby will be listening to this:

{ Find it on Amazon here to listen to clips or buy it for $16.68 }

Some other Rockabye renditions include The Beatles, Nirvana, Metallica, The Eagles, Journey, AC/DC, Kanye West, Elvis, Nine Inch Nails... the list is crazy.

Which Rockabye will your baby listen to?

Rose Bowl Flea Market

Incredibly delayed... But better late than never?

Checked out the Rose Bowl Flea Market in Pasadena. It was beyond fabulous. 

Definitely a full day's worth of stuff to look at, and not for the faint at heart [note to self: never bring my mother--she can't stand cluttery knick knacks or any other shopping experience that doesn't involve a limited number of orderly color-coded racks]. 

Best $10 I ever spent... This amazing vintage leather and brass Dooney & Bourke bag. When I asked the lady the price and she told me $10, I practically choked. I gave her the money and ran away before she could change her mind--and that says a lot, because I LOVE TO BARTER. I was very much looking forward to bartering, actually. But I felt like I was robbing this woman with her asking price, so I couldn't bring myself do it.

  

Long story short, go to the Rosebowl Flea Market. Bring coffee, patience, an open mind, and discerning eye.

Redecorating on the cheap

We are moving next month--five blocks away and $325 less per month. Holla. So while I hate the act of moving, I am excited about decorating a new space. And by decorating, I mostly mean re-arranging and re-purposing what we already have.

My immediate list for our new apartment is:

1) Paint our dinette table (if you could call it that?) black

2) Use it's table cloth elsewhere, to cover up some clear storage bins

2) Recover our couch pillows in black and gray, to better coordinate with the coffee table, tv table, and wall art that we already have

3) Ditch our cool-but-have-served-their-purpose 1960's mosaic end tables that don't match much, and won't fit in our new living room

4) Keep our walnut colored furniture and other decor in close vicinity of each other, and do the same for our black furniture and knick-knacks, to look more intentional with our decorating

My "eventually" list for our new apartment is:

5) Possibly sew a long curtain to cover the exposed shelving in the hallway (we'll have to see how it looks with all our stuff unpacked)

6) Make one of these book page wreaths. So Anthropologie. Love it.

{ Living with Lindsay book page wreath tutorial }

Today, I started on #1 by painting our dinette table that you may remember from DIY dining chair revamp. Look forward to a post about that soon :]

Uber Tiny, Uber cool

This makes me feel better about our little one bedroom apartment.

This Seattle apartment is 182 square feet.

Read the whole article here.
**Thank you, thank you to Bill and Meadow for the tip on this article! Intelligent and interesting people who exude intelligent and interesting things!**

This also makes me feel like I have been horribly un-creative in coming up with ways to maximize space.

I could never live like this... but I am definitely inspired to think a little harder about my uses of space. What do you think?

designer highlight :: Give A Shirt

 

{ Give a Shirt }

Who :: Give a Shirt, founded by Whitney Ferrin [When she was a high school senior! Yeah. Seriously.]

From :: Salem, OR

Why I love :: The cause is unbelievable. When Whitney learned that there were 900 homeless students in the Salem-Keizer school district, she wanted to help. There were already programs that assisted with meals and transportation. She thought a lot harder than that. She thought like a fellow high school kid.

Clothes can be a big deal. Most homeless students don't have more than the clothes on their back--they wear the same thing and don't have the privilege of laundry days. Whitney found out that a lot of these homeless students would skip school to avoid the teasing around these issues. With a business plan similar to that of TOMS, Whitney came up with Give a Shirt. Buy a cool shirt for $15, and $10 goes toward providing clothing to the homeless students of her community.

What is NOT to love about that?!

Favorite piece of the moment :: They don't have a ton of choices yet, but I plan on collecting them all. My favorite in my closet right now is the American Apparel deep v-neck--I have to restrain myself from wearing it almost every day. I love it when people ask me what my shirt means, and I just love how comfy it is :] **update: the blue and pink shirts in the photo above, plus a bright blue men's shirt will be available THIS Sunday 9/19/10 at 2pm**

Where to go [clickable] :: website and online store

One more thing... Fridays are wear your Give A Shirt days! If you have one or buy one, I'd love to see your Give a Shirt photos :]