house of harlow 1960

why, yes. I am jumping on the cat eye glasses trend bandwagon. I own two pairs and I need more. The big daddy of them all in my brain has to be the House of Harlow 1960 Chelsea sunnies in black! Want.

okay, so over the past month I've been debating whether or not to open another etsy shop. I've been hungry to get back into etsy and start a little business since the beginning of the summer but I wasn't positive where to go exactly. But tiny things started falling into place and it became more and more apparent that I needed to pull the trigger. So after searching & handpicking little treasures that I fell in love with, The Lovely Universe baby vintage shop was born.

The shop officially launched on Saturday and I've had a sale every day since then which I'm taking as a good sign. I'm very very excited for this new little project and can't wait to share it.

So go check it out here!

And for you blog readers, enter "BLOGCUTE11" as the coupon code at checkout to receive free shipping!

this past week

this past week was nice & busy. i spent last weekend in nyc & went to the ny gift fair (which was SO cool), i officially decided to launch a new etsy shop & have an already growing inventory, my second article for small kitchen college was published, my boyfriend left for chicago (which means goodbye til october. bleh.), my best friend came back into town for the weekend (and i got to get a lil tipsy~*) and i helped my mom today with a wedding she was creating flowers for!

so yeah, life is just life. there's a lot to look forward to for fall. tons of things. all of that helps me feel positive about being back in a LDR. there's so much to be excited about in so many ways and i'm just trying to focus on that. my new little shop is something that is really keeping me happy and i cannot wait to share it!

bye y'all

all of us together

i was watching secrets of a stylist the other day and became obsessed with this crazy wallpaper. it would be perfect for a small bathroom that needs some interest.

head over to Pottok Prints to find this & more.

Terrain

On Monday, my Mom and I took a trip to Terrain in Glenn Mills, PA. For those of you who don't know, Terrain is a branch of Anthropologie/Urban Outfitters/BHLDN/Free People and it's dedicated to gardening, landscaping and home & kitchen items. Just outside of Philadelphia, Terrain was an absolutely beautiful experience.

It was a dreamy wonderland that was totally worth the 2 hour drive and not to mention their greenhouse cafe was outstanding. I ordered the most delicious mac & cheese served in a tiny heated cast iron pan and a Moroccan mint iced tea (served in a mason jar, duh.) and obsessed over the fresh bread baked in a terra-cotta pot with house made lavender butter (omg). My Mom got a beautifully prepared chicken tartine with mixed greens & we split fingerling potatoes. Grabbing an iced coconut coffee for the ride home was a good choice but was gone almost before I sat down in the car.

Everywhere I looked served as tremendous home & garden eye candy. Hello, stylists there? Can I have your brain? I just love the way every little section of the entire place was extremely detailed and interesting. Let's all agree that it's very hard for such a large brand to be so personal and URBN absolutely accomplishes this.

I was excited to see that there was candy on display from small businesses like Mast Brothers and Whimsy & Spice. I should have bought some of their items but I was too stuffed from lunch to even think about buying candy. The entire kitchen area was gorgeous and rustic (as expected).

Every item is perfectly placed and styled in the most lovely way. From every flower all the way down to the locally purchased body lotions, candles and delicate handmade jewelry.

Please just go. It's wonderful.

crushin'

I'm so addicted to checking out The Glitter Guide for daily doses of girly-ness. If you haven't been over to the site to check it out, please do. With new content every day, you'll be lost in how adorable, feminine and bright it is.

Their home tours/interviews are my favorite. They are totally swoon-worthy and make me want to re-decorate everything in my entire life. Today's post was about Alaina of Live Creating Yourself and her Chicago abode. PLEASE LOOK. I dare you to not to be inspired by the copious amounts of pretty.

Thanks Glitter Guide for posting this because now I have some motivation to switch things up in my apartment (and dream of the day when I have an entirely new space to decorate. Soon.) AND I have a new blog to love.

Things I Love 8/6/11:

-anthropologie's cute eyeglasses display
-pretty flowers in milk bottles
- a mini floral arrangement
-new wall decor at the shop.

Summer is almost over and I don't like it. Sure, I love the fall and I am pretty anxious to get back into the routine of school and I miss my apartment/Savannah. But really, I love being home and what it represents. The fall will be nice but I'm going to be homesick for so much. It's okay though. I'm thankful for all of it.

You know what else is something (superficial) to be thankful for? Anthropologie. Would I even be a breathing, human girl if I didn't love Anthro? Come on. Breeze on through the front, soaking in all the pretty on the way to the sale rack. That's my deal. I could shop there 100% of the time if I had the chance. My entire closet is slowly but surely becoming all Anthro (98% of it sale items, thankyew.) Saying "Goodbye" to all my thrift store clothes/Target/Forever 21 (KIND OF. I still love you. Just not as much!) Quality over quantity because I'm growing up! Hey I even bought fancy shampoo & two tubes of lipstick yesterday!

My new way of picking out things is to ask myself "Would Kate Middleton want this?" and "Would a cute Mormon design blogger want this?" I hate that Mormon has to be attached to that but there's no way around it, guys.

I'm an Agnostic liberal girl who is a 22 year old Mormon housewife blogger deep down inside. I've come to that conclusion. They're so cute with their colorful wardrobes and beautiful dinner parties and homes. I dare you to not become addicted to reading their blogs. I dare you.

But the day that my boyfriend even considers wearing a colorful suit/goofy tie and poses with me in a cupcake/vintage prop filled photoshoot is the day I know shit has gotten weird.

-outdoor home-cooked dinner (by me!)

-new sunglasses

-beautiful back to school notebooks

-my homemade chicken tortilla soup.

also i'm in love with these new products that I've picked up this week

physician's formula happy booster blush

john frieda luxurious volume refresher (aka: the affordable best dry shampoo i've ever found)

I could spend hours drooling over La Garconne. If only the world just handed me thousands upon thousands of dollars and told me "Here, Sarah. Just take this. Spend it on pretty things". As we all know, the world doesn't do that, huh?! Oh well, more initiative to work hard to land a good job one day.

In other news, i've been doing a ton of cooking & posting over at Love You In The Kitchen AND my boyfriend is coming home from his week long vacation in two days. I may reek of garlic right now but I feel content.

Mark Ronson, I will have a crush on you & all of your musical magic until the day that I die.

weekend.

This weekend was filled with lots of cooking, family time, beach time and relaxation time. While things aren't always perfect and decisions always have to be made and different roads are taken, it's interesting to see all of life's changes that occur even just over a short period of time. My family has dealt with a lot this year but seeing the little lights in my nieces/little cousin's eyes and the joyous addition of my cousin's baby Elena is very exciting.

For whatever reason, I feel stress in a lot of ways right now but I'm also looking forward to so much. At this age, just as you think you figure something out, something else sneaks up on you that scares you. It's all about fear, happiness, worry, anxiety, stress, and hope.

I need to keep reminding myself that throughout everything that can ever happen in life (and a lot of my issue is fearing the unknown), good will always find it's way in. And when I start thinking too much or worrying about 'the big picture', I need to focus on the tiny moments that are now. If there's a problem right now, fix it right now. If there's something great going on right now, appreciate it right now.

That's what I'm learning to do because that's all I can do. It's all any of us can do