Le Sigh - Kate Spade Night Owl Bag

I'm not a huge purse gal but I am a sucker for whimsy and when I spied the Kate Spade Night Owl I was instantly smitten.

Yes, it's a bit silly.  Yes, I have no practical need for it.  Yes, it's a splurge. 

But just look at it!  I'm totally anthropomorphizing it.   Love the googly eyes, the plump "body", the glossy mesh. 

Must. Have. Owly.

Such a sweet polka dot interior too.

And look!  I can wear it fancy or with casual outfits too.  It's versatile, I tell ya!

I don't care what anyone (cough *my husband* cough) says... I need this!!!

Right?  Right?

Kate Spade Night Owl bag - $225 at Kate Spade

Crafty Crafterson

I would not call myself a "crafting" type of person.  I like to make stuff for myself sometimes but not all the time.  Generally, I just don't have the time, the space or the patience.  But every once in a while I get in the mood and spend the whole day churning out a bunch of project.

And I have to admit this is a Pinterest-fueled post.   I saw a bunch of cute ideas on there, ran to Michael's and bought a whole ton of stuff to make.

I started off easy with a fun centerpiece.  I love that I can switch out the contents each month - chestnuts in November, cranberries in December, etc.

That took just a few minutes, but then it got out of hand as I dug though all my supplies and pulled stuff out.  I have now determined I have waaaayyy too much stuff.  Dang!

Shakers for my glitter = more glitter manicures to follow

Storage for my nail plates - a simple project.

I've had this piece of black coral since I was a kid.  It became a necklace for my neighbor.

And this necklace went to the little girl across the street.

1 embroidery hoop and 40 yards of black tulle later and I have my new favorite wreath for Halloween.

The Fall wreath was simple - a wreath hoop and two strings of the faux fall leaves.  Wired on and I added a ribbon too. Done!

A gaggle of ghostie pins for me and my friends...

I actually did 3 other projects too (11 in all!) if you can believe it but those are going to have to come in a separate post. I was exhausted by Sunday night!

Stay tuned!

Instant Access - 9/12 - 9/25

These past few weeks have been challenging.  But we are all together.  We drove to Illinois again, this time for the memorial for my Father-in-Law.  It was a beautiful event.  Hudreds of people attended and it took almost 3 hours for everyone to come through.  It was a great testimony to how beloved he was. These flowesrs were the centerpiece of the event and were so joyful and stunning and perfect.

We went through woods, over rivers and under mountains....

The dogs are great car companions...

What are you reading now???

My nails have been trashed lately, but I'm keeping them somewhat polished.  This is Deborah Lippmann's Naked with Essie's Midnight Cami and China Glaze's Midnight Kiss dots using my new dotting tool (which I LOVE).

I have a problem.  More new polish...

And my new bracelet from Rahya Designs via Miss Malprop was a sunny spot to my day.

I hope you had a good week!

Featured Shoe: Manolo Blahnik Nesti Slingbacks

I admit it, there are a lot of shoes that were on Sex and the City that I loved.  Sure, it's a bit cliche but for someone outside of the City, it introduced me to designers I had not know before.

One of my favorite style moments from the series came in Season 4, Episode 65 - "A Vogue Idea".

The episode was famous for the Vogue closet and the urban shoe myth, the Manolo Blahnik "Campari" black patent mary janes.

Yep, I had to have them and I love them, but there was another pair I had to track down as well.


I totally pined for this Vivienne Westwood suit that Carrie wore to her meeting at Vogue as well as the perfect taupe patent slingbacks she paired with it.  Check them out in action here.

I tried many other shoe hopefuls but I never found a good candidate.  Then one day I saw the following on the Saks website.  The are the Manolo Blahnik "Nesti" slingbacks.  Not quite the same shape and a bit pointier but perfect color, slingback and heel.  I was so excited!

But then I found out they were exclusive to Saks and they had not purchased my size... Oh Noes!!!

I called the buyer, the Manolo Blahnik rep, was going to special order a pair through the store... a real Shoe Search.  The Saks folks were great and helpful and even offered me a deal on another pair of Blahniks.  As I was mulling this over several weeks, my luck changed.  They did end up getting my size and the coveted shoes were mine!

These are the perfect neutral classy shoe.  I don't often suggest getting a "classic" heel when you are investing in a designer shoe but the exact shoe I wanted seemed so elusive that I had to grab it.  I'm so happy I did. 

The heel shape is stunning.

This Saks exclusive is still available.  If you need a shoe that will go with everything, check them out.

Manolo Blahnik Nesti slingback - $725 at Saks.

Le Sigh - Christian Louboutin Bianca Sequined Pumps

I'm not smitten... I'm in lust for these sequined Bianca pumps from Louboutin.

Sultry, dusky red with a Jessica Rabbit vibe - they are sex-ay!

Lots of sequins = $$$, but they're awful tempting.

Christian Louboutin "Bianca" pumps - $1695 from Neiman Marcus

Seasons and Silence

Last week I did a lot of driving... 32 hours to be exact.  I drive about 30 minutes to work each way and have found that time to be one of the few moment's of peace I get all day. 

I work in an open plan office in an industry where I'm interacting with creatives and clients and vendors all day long.  The computer is on, the phone is ringing, there is music playing and other people having meetings and phone conversations.

At home, I walk into the house with animals barking and running, the TV is often on and I need to share time with my husband.

While most of these are good, or at least interesting, things, for a "Highly Sensitive" person they can be overwhelming and exhausting.  I tolerate the stimulus as much as I can, but eventually I need to recharge and, frankly, hide out!

As a child, I had a walk in closet.  My bookshelf was in there and I would sit in there with my back to the door and relax and read.  Even now you will sometimes find me in my closet sitting on the floor and just organizing stuff.  And if I'm away from home, after a time I will need to go away from people and sit in a quiet room.  There is only so much I can take.

Moments of peace are hard to find in the over-sharing, over-stimulated, over-bright world.

On my drive home, I will frequently leave the radio off.  The wind and tires are enough background noise, akin to white noise, and they help me to transition from work and prepare for home.

Lately I have been using the TED app on my iPhone to listen to TED talks.  There are so many great ones to choose from  with topics ranging from activism to inspiration.  I just love them!

These are particularly appropriate:

Five Ways to Listen Better

Four Ways Sound Effect Us

Music, can muffle and soothe (my favorite is classical or African singers such as Habib Koite) but my favorite thing to listen to is....

The tumble dryer!  It could be the association with warm, clean towels or afternoons at home, but I love it.  I listen to that or the "cat purring" environment on iSerenity.com all the time!

The darker days of Fall and Winter, with early dusk, rain and cool weather, are my time to recharge.  What do you do to relax, pamper and protect yourself?

Spooktacular Nails

I love Fall. And now that I'm having a total love affair with nails and manicures and polish, I can't wait to try all my darker colors and fun effects. 

But October is going to be even more spooktacular because the polish folks really get into the season!

I've already shared that I nabbed the OPI Pair'em Scare'em polishes - glow-in-the-dark "Zom-Body-To-Love" with the black shatter. 

But today when I was in CVS, I found that Sally Hansen's Salon Effects are out in awesomely cute Halloween designs.  I. LOVE. Them.

They are (from left to right):
 - Numbskull
 - Hot Wired
 - Ghoulie Girl
 - Wish Nets
 - Spun for You

I had to get Numbskull and Spun for You. 

Squee!!!  I can't wait to wear them!!!

I found mine at CVS, but you can order them at Ulta too.

Thank You For Your Patience

Thank you all for your patience. 

We had a great service for my Father-in-Law with hours of people coming to visit and share the memorial with our family.  These flowers were from an amazing arrangement that was a part of the room.

I'll be back at work Tuesday. I hope you all had a lovely week and weekend.

Shattered - Kate Spade iPhone Hard Case Sadness

So I'm sad and kind of annoyed. 

For ages I wanted this Kate Spade iPhone case - the black with white dots, specifically.

My sweetie got it for me for my birthday and I was very excited.  I loved the colors and the graphic design.  I overlooked that, because it is hard plastic all around, it was a bit slippery and prone to fingerprints.  But there have been two major issues that put me off these hard cases in general and, sadly, the Kate Spade ones in particular.

First - I wanted to be able to change the slick, pretty case out for a more grippy case when I went to a street fair, but once it was snapped together it was impossible to remove.  I tried to pry it apart but nearly damaged it, so I then felt I was trapped and had to live with it.

Not a good thing.  I don't want to break a brand new $40 case.  It could be easy to remove.

The second issue is a HUGE issue - I was able to get it off eventually.  Namely when I dropped my phone.  Not a hard drop and not onto a very hard surface.  The phone was fine but the case shattered into 3 pieces and expelled my phone. No protection there!  Oh yeah, and now I'm out of the case... for good.

This is really bad. I've barely had the phone for a month and it is broken. Bummer.

I did get a second Kate Spade iPhone case, but changed to the silicone case below.  It's easier to grip, easy to remove and hopefully more protective too.

I hate to criticize Kate Spade and the super cute case but this is an expensive item.  And it's designed to protect another expensive item. I'm also not the first to have this problem.  We did a quick search and found loads of similar complaints.

Sure, I love how cute is but not at the expense of breaking my phone.   Sadly, I won't be buying another Kate iPhone hard case again, no matter how temptingly cute they are.