Baby I Like You Just the Way You Are

So I was going to post some pretty before and after shots today and show you some of the hard work we have been doing to the house, my new hair do, and my birthday present, but apparently, my memory card is broken.  Boo.  You'll have to wait to see what a hipster I have turned into lately.  Anyways here is a run down of the past few days with some Etsy art I've had my eye on just to spruce this lame post up a little bit.

Stella Stars and Stripes... 

I wish I could have one of these made of me and Doodle.

My birthday was on Saturday and it was very very good.  Nick got me a diana mini and I love her.  Then our Ikea furniture arrived and we spent the day building furniture.  We went out to a restaurant in Sheffield that was actually decent, (these are hard to find here) and saw the new Harry Potter movie.  Nick didn't get it so he has ordered all the previous ones on Love Film (similar to netflix) so we can have a movie marathon.  I hate movie marathons because my butt gets numb, but I kinda want to rewatch all the movies too.  Anyways the best part of Saturday was NOTHING bad happened.  This is unusual for my birthday.  I was soooo pleased.

Heart and Key Print

I want this for our bedroom super bad.

On Monday we went to London and I took my diana for her first real spin.  I hope the pictures turned out!  We had a fabulous time.  We went out to lunch on Charlotte Street, and shopped till we dropped on Oxford and Regent Street.  I was SO happy to find Anthropologie has opened on Regent Street, and I got a little overwhelmed at Top Shop.  I think I've been living in the country too long because the crowds were getting on my nerves.  But we still had fun.  I must say though I was disappointed the Christmas lights were exactly the same as last year, Nick says they usually change them each year, so it must be a recession thing.  Also, Selfridges is my favorite place to shop in London, but they TOTALLY let me down.  We were planning on picking up decorations in their Christmas shop, but they were all effed up and picked over.  I bought a pair of boots there too, but they have a tear I didn't notice and now I need to figure out how to return them without going to London.  Luckily, Anthropologie made up for Selfridges' suckage.

Humpback Whale Painting

This would be perfect for Nick's study, too bad it's out of our price range.

In other news, I had my hair highlighted blonde, but you can barely tell.  We picked out a new fireplace, I ordered flooring for the downstairs, I got a job interview (eeek!), it's snowing again and I'm almost finished painting the living room.  Once I get a new memory card I'll have so much to show you!!


ps. I found out what my mom got me for Christmas today, and I knew what Nick got me for my birthday a few days before hand.  Online shops should be more careful not to ruin surprises.  Do you guys know what you're getting?

90. Have Portraits of Everyone in My Family : Heidi

I painting this the other night while watching Big Brother.  Have you guys heard of that?  I think it ran for a few years in the US but it's a pretty big deal here.  It's just a bunch of people living in a house with no TV, no internet, no phones, etc.  They get really bored and then there's a bunch of drama/romance/etc - kind of reminds me of summer camp actually.  I'm embarrassed to say I'm addicted.  But at least I multi task!

Do we see the resemblance?

Speaking of my bucket list, I'm planning a chicago cupcake crawl for when I go over next week!  I'm so excited!  Any Chicagoans who need a sugar high are welcome to join!
It will probably occur on Wednesday July 4th.

Regretsy...

Dear Friends,

I have a story to share with you regarding the worst $12 I have ever spent.  A few weeks ago before our one year wedding anniversary (the paper anniversary I might add), I had plans to get the wedding vows we wrote together framed as a gift to the husband.  Well on the only day I could look for them without him asking what the hell I was doing, I could not find them anywhere.  I went into panic mode.  I couldn't find our vows and time was a ticking if I wanted to get him a gift before the big day....

In desperation I went online and searched "first anniversary gifts".  One recommendation was a piece of artwork,  totally nails that "paper" thing, but what piece of artwork would he want that we can actually afford?  I remembered when we were in a shop a few months ago he was ooing and ahhhing over this £300 painting of a meerkat family.  He likes small furry animals, especially meerkats, don't ask.

I thought maybe I could find something cheap and affordable on etsy.com.  (kind of like ebay for handmade goods for those of you who haven't heard of it and must be living under a rock or something).  And just my luck, there were meerkat photos and meerkat paintings!  I settled on an "art print" of a single meerkat head - for only $12 including shipping from Canada!  Score, right?

It arrived the day before our anniversary and I didn't have time to wrap it.  The next morning Nick brought me  up my gift and I opened up this beautiful wooden jewelry box.  (I left mine in America and have been on the hunt for a new one).  Excitedly, I gave him his gift....

WTF was I thinking?!?

Not only is it absolutely ridiculous, the seller also had an interesting interpretation of "artist print" because this was clearly printed on someones home printer and basically just looks like a big meerkat postcard. 

I think I'm going to get it framed. 

For more Etsy Regrets, check out this hilarious website... Regretsy.com

Heads Up!

I keep seeing these fake taxidermy wall mounts all over the place and I feel like they'd be perfect for decorating our super duper boring insane asylum white walls.

Via Ruby's Lounge, on Etsy

Nick thinks they are pretty much hideous.  But I think they are so much fun!  Can you imagine what a good conversation starter one of these would be?  "Hey, where'd you get that alien head on your wall?"

Via Mornin Glori, on Etsy

Or how bout a white rabbit feltidermy?  It looks so happy just hanging out there.  

Via Girl Savage, on Etsy

Look even Anthropologie is selling them, meaning I must not be completely out of my mind, because anything Anthropologie sells is inherently cool, right? RIGHT?! 

Via Anthropologie

Ever since working with them, I've had a little obsession for rhinos so I am totally loving that rhino head.  But, for some reason on their website I can only find the giraffe and zebra for sale.  Not that it matters, as the husband has firmly put his foot down on heads in the house.  

Question - When will he learn that women do the decorating?  Maybe our relationship hasn't quite caught up to modern day equal man/woman relationships, but lets get real - he goes to work, I do the cooking, the ironing, and various other womanly tasks. (Apparently my husband has never heard of the women's lib movement, sorry Susan B. Anthony looks like you did all that work for nothin).  Anyways, I don't get why decorating needs to be a collaborative effort.  We don't have style, I have style.  And as long as he asks me if his ties match his shirts every morning then I should have free reign to decorate right?  I think so.

So what do YOU think?  To hang heads or not to hang heads?  That is the question!

*Note: my husband isn't actually as chauvinistic as I am making him out to be.  Our current separation of duties is a result of my FUNemployment, not him being an A-hole.