I wish I could figure out how to work a full-on tree into my living room decor; Studded nude heels go with everything; Can there ever really be enough cute kitties on the internets?; I can’t believe this magical wonderland exists in real life; Love this wax seal-inspired bracelet charm by Jessica de Lotz; a strawberry and cream covered waffle is officially the new Breakfast of Champions.

Find more inspiration at stylesample.tumblr.com!

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Count me in for a crocheted bike cozy; I love when rainbow-colored paper fish swim through the air; Lifesaver lipstick and cherry candy are enough to send me on a sugar high; Colorful nebulae bring out my Trekkie tendencies; Rainbow cupcakes are God’s sweet promise of peace; I NEED to flit around on the beach wearing a colorful headwrap thanks to this spread in Vogue Russia.

Find more inspiration at stylesample.tumblr.com!

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I swear I didn’t mean to order/eat/enjoy the heck out of that glazed donut, but it was just too good to resist.

Even the lagering rooms located 30 feet underground some of Cincinnati’s historic breweries have been tagged with graffiti. How did people even get down there?

The Southwestern strata at Iris Bookcafe is seriously yummy. If I wasn’t so lazy, I’d try to make it at home…but it’s probably best to just let them do it.

Loving the colorful mural being created at Park + Vine. It looks so summery!

Speaking of color, I picked up pretty painted earrings and a bright printed scarf at 4th Street Boutique. I’m really feeling colorful prints right now!

Either someone needs to check the water supply, or Tower Place is clearly ready for St.Paddy’s Day…

Those little marshmallow-and-sugar chicks don’t stand a chance around me–I’ve been eating them NONSTOP since they first appeared at Walgreens.  Off with their heads!

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H&M blazer & jeans, Leigh & Luca scarf, vintage boots, bag, belt, and beret.

I spent the weekend working, pretending to be a Parisian cowgirl, making individual barbecue chicken & mushroom pizzas, working, reading two very interesting yet very different books, feenin’ for Easter candy (when can I get some Peeps, peeps?), and working.

How was your weekend?

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Near the end of January, FriendBoy and I took a trip to the Philippines for a friend’s wedding and a much-needed respite from the cold weather.

Snacks On a Plane. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

After a looong trip from Cincinnati (including a “hidden” re-fueling stop in Japan), we landed in Manila a full day and a half after we left. Thanks, International Date Line.

We met up with the two other couples on the trip and spent the day in Manila eating and shopping for wedding barongs for the guys at a  western-style shopping center (where I reluctantly avoided both Topshop and Zara).

Me and the groom asleep on the balcony

The next day, we hopped on a plane to Marinduque and got settled into the Beach House at Chateau du Mer (shout-out to Uncle Dave!). The ocean was maybe 30 yards from the house, which made for heavenly sleeping conditions on the balcony.

I geeked out over the colored stones on the beach (purple! red! green!), vowed  to reestablish the rock collection I started in 4th grade, and couldn’t resist taking pictures of the spectacular sunset.

One day we visited Poctoy Beach, where we feasted on the biggest grilled fish I’ve ever seen and were promptly joined by the local group of chickens and dogs. Chickens and dogs hang out everywhere on Marinduque, but this pup had a severely injured paw and I wanted to help him so badly.

We watched the fisherman head out on their boats in the evening, visited churches and volcanoes, attracted the attention of a group of school children (white people and black people? They had to check us out), admired some typography, tried to figure out how rice is harvested, ate some more, and contemplated the public transportation options.

I may or may not have eaten too many turon, sliced plantains wrapped in lumpia wrappers, then deep fried. These had a slice of jackfruit inside, too–YUM.

It was my first time in Asia, and thanks to the hospitality of our hosts, we had a fantastic time.

It was 22 degrees when we got back to Cincinnati. ‘Nuff said.

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Happy 2011! Can we all please say “twenty-eleven” instead of “two thousand eleven” now? kthanks.

Fueled up with an egg and cheese croissant and hot tea at Enzo’s, got my learn on at the library, headed to Fountain Square for ice skating and fireworks (what’s up with not counting down to the new year?), recuperated with too many mugs of chocolate tea (tea + hot chocolate + milk + whipped cream), and finally got around to drawing my first Random Body Part with the charcoal set I got for Christmas.

How was your New Year?

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Hung out with Mrs. Claus and friends at the 4th Street Boutique Open House. It took all kinds of restraint not to take advantage of the 60% off sale, but that’s not to say I won’t be back soon for the stuff in the window display…

Went on a tour of the Wise Temple and marveled at how well the interior is maintained. The entire place feels like a Moroccan-inspired holiday card!

Enjoyed the first real snow of the season and tried to take a few photos before my fingers froze. It didn’t take long before I was all “Screw pictures, I need to go back inside and get cozy with a mug of hot chocolate, stat!”

Beau wasn’t interested in photography or hot chocolate, just sleep.  I really think he had the right idea…

On Sunday, I froze my butt off at the Bengals game, courtesy of FriendBoy. There were a few good plays–so close!–but the team couldn’t quite pull off a win.

I won’t front, I went to the game for the same reason I go to Kings Island: sugary fried foods! That cotton candy lasted all of four minutes.

As if the cotton candy weren’t enough to satiate my overactive sweet tooth (it wasn’t), I baked what had to be at least 107 chocolate chip cookies when I got home. I fully expect this mountain o’ sweets to tide me over for three days, tops.

How was your weekend?

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So, I returned from New York earrrrrly yesterday morning after a pretty fabulous trip. Here’s how it went down:

Getting there

I have a very complex packing method, which is to say that my technique involves throwing a bunch of stuff I think I might want to wear on the bed and trying to create outfits out of the jumble. This is a very slow, complicated operation that usually lasts for about 45 minutes before I say “Aw, screw it!” and throw everything haphazardly in the suitcase.

I made it to the airport with one goal in mind. Well, two goals–obviously, I didn’t want to miss my plane, but the most important, most pressing objective?

Truly the best thing about the airport.

I’ve never tried to take pictures from the plane before, but the idea of capturing the city from a superior point-of-view was just too appealing to pass up.

Concrete jungle where dreams are made offff…

IFBCon

I made it to all four sessions of the IFB Evolving Influence Conference, but not before getting lost trying to find the venue. Even though it was only 10 blocks from my hotel. Apparently, the Hudson is too hip for outside signage because that makes it too easy for people to, you know, find it. You just have to be in the know.

All of the conference’s speakers, from the creators of Bloglovin’ and Lookbook.nu to well-known bloggers like Susie and Rumi, had a lot of insight to offer, and it was very interesting getting a peek into what goes into creating a popular site. The biggest takeaway for me was that there is no big-time blogger formula. Some people plan, some people are spontaneous, everybody works hard, and no one seems to know why or how their readership grows. Go figure.

Bryanboy

I didn’t recognize as many people as I thought I would (it didn’t help that it was very dark inside the hotel, which also made it difficult to take pictures), but I did meet lots of funny, lovely, fashionable bloggers whose sites I can now obsessively visit.

June and Fajr

By the time the after party started, I was exhausted–but not too exhausted to hit Spot dessert bar with one of my dearest friends (hi, Neesha!). Yes, a dessert bar. Best. idea. EVER.

Between the dessert tapas, sorbets, cookies, and cupcakes, we indulged with a capital I. If I knew anything about dessert other than how to eat it, I’d totally copy this concept in Cincinnati. *hint hint* Anyone? Bueller?

#FNO

I tend to overplan on trips, so on Fashion’s Night Out, I narrowed it down to one concrete must-see: Robin Thicke.

After dinner at Chelsea Market, we headed to the Meatpacking District and arrived at the crowded Hugo Boss store just in time to see the back of Mr. Thicke’s head serenade a gaggle of women pressed against the stage before launching into “Lost Without U.” The crowd inside and outside sang along and tried to snap pictures in the dark, and I must say, Robin looked and sounded good.

We hit Moschino, Diane Von Furstenburg (where I saw DVF surrounded by an absolute mob of fans, but missed Anna Wintour’s later appearance), and Jeffrey, where I found a leather blazer that looked like the lovechild of Morpheus’ Matrix coat and Prince’s Purple Rain jacket. In other words, pure awesome.

Take the purple pill.

We made our way over to Tracy Reese’s dance party–Tracy Reese herself was dancing her arse off with the rest of the crowd in the front of the store–before heading to Soho and the LES and deciding it was time for more food.

Surprisingly enough, I didn’t buy any clothing/shoes/accessories while in NYC, though, trust me, I looked. I’m pretty sure that’s a first!

How was your weekend? Did you enjoy any shopping-related activities?

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Last weekend, I:

Indulged my cupcake craving

I’d been feenin’ for a mini-cake all week, and when we stopped at ForkHeartKnife for dinner, there was a plate of vanilla cupcakes right there at the front counter.  I picked the one with the most icing and started eating it before I even ordered dinner.

Rode my bike 4.5 miles

Saturday morning, I set out with the goal of making it to Northside and back. I got a little lost along the way (because I always get lost), but I made it!

Bought a new desk chair

After weeks of sore shoulders and an aching back, I bit the bullet and headed to IKEA for a new desk chair. I had to walk through a 2.2 mile maze of room displays, household items, screaming kids to get it (there’s gotta be a shortcut), but I think it was worth the trouble. It’s amazing what a little lower lumbar support can do for a girl.

Remembered how much I love my hair

I was watching Esperanza Spalding and admiring her cloud of fuzzy coils when I remembered, “Wait–my hair does that.” YESSS!

What did you do last weekend?

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Since last week, I:

Wore the new AllSaints top I bought in the sale.

I love wacky asymmetrical draping, but FriendBoy immediately said “You’re wearing Theo’s shirt!”

It is now officially known as my Gordon Gartrell.

Hit the Jodi Arnold event at The Limited.

Due to underestimating traffic (I don’t know how I did the rush hour thing every day), I missed the fashion show, but did manage to snag the tunic I wanted as well as one or ten of the little cake hors d’oeuvres that were being passed around. Win-win as far as I’m concerned.

Found another (?) gray hair.

I’ve had two gray hairs since I was about 8 years old, and I used to be able to pinpoint their location with GPS-like precision. Since I stopped straightening my hair, it’s not easy to find anything in there, so I’m not sure if it’s a new gray or one of the old ones. Hmm…

Tried the new butter tart at The Bistro.

Doesn’t the name just sound like a good idea? Butter. Tart. How can you go wrong? The tarte tatin used to be my fave, but the gooey caramely-ness of this new concoction has just earned its own place in my dessert-lovin’ heart.

Hemmed a pair of my own pants!

I got motivated and learned how to do a basic catch stitch from this YouTube video:

Now that I think about it, I can’t remember the last skill I learned that didn’t involve a YouTube tutorial–god forbid I pick up a book and get some learnin’ the old fashioned way.

I got out my tape measure, needle, thread, scissors, even a seam ripper ’cause I was serious about getting the job done! One leg at a time, I carefully measured, cut, ripped, and stitched by hand. This was the result:

Oops.

Seriously, one leg was a full inch  shorter than the other. Ha! There goes my career as a tailor…

Bought a hot glue gun.

Who knew they were so inexpensive? I’m feverishly searching for random items to glue together at this very moment. As soon as I can think of a good reason to add feathers to my plastic plants, it’s on.

What have you been up to?

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