MY LOVE FOR TOMS

Did you know TOMS now sells sunglasses and flats??? Oh how I wish I had money. If I did, these babies would be on my list:

I pretty much love all of them. You can find more here. Enjoy!

WATER BOTTLE LOVE

Just wanted to share my two favorite water bottles in the world:

and

I first bought the Sigg bottle (with a different design) years back when they were first becoming popular. Although mine is dented and scratched, it still does me well!

A while ago, my mom bought me one of the glass bottles below and I fell in love! It has a wide top so it feels like you are just drinking from a cup. Ah-mazing! And I love that it doesn't feel like you are drinking from a metal bottle. PLUS, you can just throw it in the dishwasher (which I love because I am all about low-maintenance).

Now that I'm not sitting a desk anymore, I'm back to my Sigg bottle because it's lighter to carry into the District with me, but when I have a desk again, that glass baby is going to be my go-to!

Bottles can be found here and here.

FRED FLARE

Okay, I was recently reminded about one of my favorite random shopping sites so I wanted to share it.

www.fredflare.com

This website is a mecca of random 80s items, vintage items, clothing, gifts, trinkets...you name it! You can seriously spend hours looking through some of their items. Here are a few of the things that I am loving right now:

Kate Spade 2012 Desk Calendar $24.99

Dollhouse Brush & Dustpan Set $15

Tulle Lace Laura Dress With Exposed Zipper $68

Art Deco Trudy Earrings $10

Kiel Mead Forget Me Knot Ring $58

Holly GoNightly Sleep Mask $15

Talking Mustache Keychain - literally says "Well, hello there." $6.50

There are soooooo many other cool things on this website but I didn't want to lose your interest by posting too many. I love when I rediscover things like this.

IKEA FREAK

So, since my back is having issues and I have been spending the week on my bed, I've had some extra time on my hands. I'm at the point where I'm caught up on my email, Google reader, facebook, and if I post one more thing on Pinterest, my friends might kill me. So...I decided to check out the Ikea website and see if they had any new and interesting items. Look at these great things I would buy if I had money (and was mobile)! Come to think of it, it might be a good thing that I'm not mobile right now.

The famous (and cheap) Lack table now in glossy grey - loving it! And only $12!

This cozy looking throw blanket. 

This Benzy Land pillow. Loving the new fabric as well. I'm on an old-style nautical kick right now (read: NOT beachy with shells, definitely not my style).

This Storsele chair. Seriously! I've been obsessed with chairs lately since we, well, don't have any in our apartment. And since they aren't the cheapest things in the world, it's pretty much going to stay that way.

Anyway, my love for all things Ikea is once again affirmed.

Super Shoes

I saw these amazing shoe add-ons on Design Mom and had to share. I could definitely use all of my Superhero capabilities with a pair of these babies:

What could you do with a pair of shoe wings? If I ran races, I would definitely buy a pair to add to my shoes and thus intimidate all those around me.

Observations on a Theme

Okay, so I am going to come right out and say it at the beginning so no one wastes their time: this blog entry is about Ikea. I know, I know. This topic has definitely been blogged to death by now, right? Maybe. I do feel, though, that I had some Ikea insights/questions over the weekend and I feel the need to unburden myself of them into the blogosphere. If they entertain or amuse you for a minute, that makes me feel even better. If not - well, I'm not sure.

Anyway, I feel that I must start by explaining that I have a relationship with Ikea that most people have with a shopping mall. You know how most people plan a Saturday trip to the mall and spend 3-4 hours there going from store to store and checking things out? I do this. I do this, though, at Ikea (which I privately refer to as heaven on a budget). This is why I can never invite anyone along with me on my Ikea trips. They must be solitary so that I can scour the store with my eyes without an impatient companion sighing next to me every time I stop, or run across the aisle to look at what's on the other side.

Ikea was never that big of a deal to me growing up - it's not really rare here at home - but as I seek for wonderful treasures on a budget, I am drawn there on a semi-regular basis (usually the Saturday after a wonderful little present from a place of employment has been deposited in my banking account). Anyway, here are a few things that I have noticed/wondered about on my visits.

1. How can a store that is so large and that has so much extra space still make me so frustrated because there is never enough room to get around people? Do you know what I mean? I have a theory that part of the problem are those great shopping carts that they have that can turn easily in almost any direction. This allows people to make erratic turns on a whim when they spot something attractive, almost always causing a pile-up behind them as others try to avoid the situation by turning their carts in one of oh-so-many possible directions to avoid them.

2. Shortcuts? Due to the size of the store, there are various shortcuts from one area to the next for those who do not want to browse through all of the collections and are on a mission for a certain item. Why is it, that when I am on a mission for a certain item, I can never cross the threshold of those shortcuts to skip the areas I really don't need to see? I became very determined one time to cut past the living room and office set-ups to move directly on to the bedroom displays, when I found myself fighting the tide of traffic and going backwards as I just knew there was something that I had to see in those two previous sections that would change my life. Seriously. The shortcuts are so final. I have never made the commitment of walking through one of those doorways since (which probably explains a little bit about the 3 hours visits).

3. I have never, ever been to a store where I have seen more groups of young men shopping together. I have theories about this, but I really have no idea who they all are and why any of the male species would be shopping there together as they tend to be a solitary bunch, particularly where shopping is concerned. My best theory? This comes mostly from my amazing sleuthing skills (ahem, eavesdropping) - roomates. Most of them seem to be roomates either in college or recently out of college trying to decorate their new places on a budget. Next time you go, you should try to listen to these conversations as 3 or 4 20-somethings debate the merits of this dining room table and chairs over that one. Fascinating!

Anyway - just some observations. I won't apologize for boring you if you hated this post, as I will have to point out that I warned you at the beginning!

Flare Dedications

So, you know when you totally forget about a website that you absolutely love and then something brings it to your memory and you go back to visit it and it is so exciting because everything has been changed because so much time has passed? (whew!). That's how I feel about fredflare.com right now. I was even more excited to see that they have finally opened up their first store in Brooklyn! Just one more incentive for me to go visit Tricia sometime this year!

Anyway, I was so excited about rekindling my love for this website, that not only did I make a few purchases, but I thought that I would send a few Flare Dedications out into the internet universe (mostly for those friends I think may visit this site every once in a while).

Here goes:

FOR JEN:

Could there be anything better than an Edgar Allan Poe action figure? I really don't think so...unless it was an Edgar Allan Poe talking doll! Sigh. Maybe someday...

FOR ELYSE:

So, I thought you would appreciate the Holly Golightly sleep mask. Mostly because I could totally see you wearing it and loving it, but also because a part of me feels like you would be an Audrey lover like I am!

FOR SARAH:

Sarah! Maybe because when I think of you I always think of music, but these massive ear buds totally reminded me of you. I think you need to buy these!

FOR ERIN:

I immediately thought of you when I saw this "cat"apult. I don't know one other person who would have more fun shooting cats at people. I only wish I could see you use it. Miss you!

FOR NICOLE:

Finally! The ultimate food fight - Bacon vs. Tofu! Just made me think of you - especially after our LA experience and laughing a lot at bacon!

FOR TRICIA:

Can you believe this? We better get those llamas soon! Haha. I thought you would think this was hilarious.

FOR MACGREGOR:

Oh MacGregor, how I would love to have $50 to buy this for you so that I could record your daily activities through a series of timed pictures. Maybe I would catch you during your daily dip in the spa, sneaking food out of impossible drawers, or just sleeping all day (as I really suspect). But wouldn't it be so great to know?

FOR KATE AND PAUL:

A game for foodies? Was this made for you? All I know is that I could never try to play this game with you as I would be disgustingly defeated after about 2 seconds!

FOR WHITNEY:

I don't really know why I picked this for you, Whitney, except that I thought you would think that a $500 gold retainer necklace is as funny as I did!

Shop Therapy

I don't know how this happened, particularly with former roomates that are so thrifty, but I am definitely all about the shop therapy lately. A couple of weeks before Heart Walk, after a particularly stressful week, I bought myself a pair of shoes. Not so bad, you think? Well, I won't even post how much these shoes cost as I don't want those thrifty friends to find out (j/k!), but they were more than I have EVER spend on a pair of shoes. My favorite moment was as I was trying to justify them to my brother in the car. As you have probably guessed, most of his responses were basically, "Cool." "Oh." "Grunt." Not a very productive conversation.

Well, this week (beginning on Saturday with Shop for a Cause at Macy's - shout out to the AHA's Go Red for Women program!), I have been on a rampage. I have a new bag for work coming in the mail today. I definitely have some new make-up and jewelry items as well. The problem? I have a new philosophy to save up and then buy quality to start to replace all of the I'm-in-college-so-who-cares-how-long-this-lasts-because-it's-cheap that clutter up my life.

As a disclaimer, I would also like to insert here that all of these items were on sale when I purchased them - which is why I can't find any more good pics of them - darn it! Lol.

Domino highlights

So, I got my Domino magazine in the mail yesterday (always a highlight). I usually save it to read at lunch at work if I don't go out. I only got through a couple of pages today before some coworkers came in and I got distracted, but here are a few items of interest already:

I really like this mirror. You can find it here.



And for something that caught my attention in a strange kind of way:





Hmmmm... and selling for $250. I just can't help thinking that besides the fact that it is not really to my taste, you could never have this and children at the same time. You can find it here.

And hallelujah! Domino online now has a search option. Do you know how much time I have wasted on that website trying to find something in particular? I usually give up in frustration, but now I can search to my heart's content!

Keeping up

So, after work today I stopped by the Spectrum to do some shopping (outdoor mall in Irvine). I was walking by the Apple store and I saw a huge line. What was that line for, you say? It was for this:



Yup, that's right, the new iphone. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not so out of it that I didn't know that the iphone just came out, but wasn't that last week? Why is there STILL a line? If I was one of those people, I think I would just give it up. Really. I mean, it is VERY nice, but I have a problem with that touch screen anyway...

Favorite Things

This is my new SIGG bottle. They aren't taking any orders currently on their website, so I bought it from REI. It definitely beats taking my old Dasani bottles to work every day and refilling them until they get gross or die!

I am in love with this body wash. I found it at Target and have fallen in love. The almond oil and cherry blossom scent is wonderful. I only wish they had a lotion as well...

Okay, so I know they are being marketed toward kids, but these are really good, especially the strawberry ones! It was like a sweet party in my mouth that woke me up (I usually eat one in the car on the way to work as I am not a big breakfast eater). Plus, they are a whole serving of fruit! I found them at Whole Foods.

Target Surprise

So, I was at Target today with my mom and while looking the through the stationary, I came across this really cool collection of letterpressed wedding invitations and thank you cards that are sold in a box of 50. They were beautiful! I am totally in love with the letterpress style for wedding invites, but they can be extremely expensive. Not only that, though, but the thank you cards come in a box of 50 and are generic enough (though beautiful) that they don't have to be just for weddings! I was very tempted, maybe if they are still there after the first paycheck comes, I'll snatch 'em up. The problem is that I can't find pictures online. So, really, you must go to the wedding section of your local Target and get those babies! I mean, 50 thank you cards for like $13 - not bad!

And although I couldn't find those online, I came across these:


Say what? Am I the last person to know that Target has a line of wedding dresses designed by Isaac Mizrahi? For $129 each? I mean, not to say that I would buy my wedding dress at Target, but those prices are pretty stinkin' amazing!!! You can see all of the dresses here.

I Want You, I Need You

Have you ever wanted something so much, but felt so guilty about wanting it because of it's price that you never tell anyone so they don't think you are so shallow? I really want one of these. Maybe after a year of paychecks? (sigh)

Labokoff

I love these combination photography + painting prints from Labokoff's etsy shop. I really want the Paris one. I could put it on my wall and sit on my bed staring at it for hours (or at least a long time) remembering rainy days running through Cemetaire Pere LaChaise and climbing up to greet the gorgoyles at the top of Notre Dame. Ah...

{via Bluelines}

Juicer Mania

So, lately I have been juicing a whole lot of lemons for various (mostly cake) recipes. More about that later. My mom, though, does not have a good juicer. I'm just talking about a simple hand juicer. She has the top, but the bottom container has been long lost. Due to this, juicing lemons is quite the production. Because the actual juicer doesn't fit on a container, I have to improvise by holding the juicer on the edge of a container so that it doesn't slide off while trying to juice lemons at the same time. Needless to say, there was one accident where I lost almost one cup of hard-earned lemon juice all over the kitchen counter.

This one from Anthropologie (which also comes in 2 other designs). I love the design, as well as the fact that it is designed to pour straight from the container. Sorry the picture is so small, but I always have a hard time with Anthropologie's website.

I also love this vintage juicer that I found in the June22 etsy shop for only $12. I really like the handles on the sides as well as the 70s flower motif on the sides. If you can't tell, I am really liking the ceramic juicers.

I also like this vintage cobalt blue glass juicer that I found on ebay (for only $8.90).

And then I found this awesome clown juicer on ebay. Who couldn't use this bad boy in their kitchen? You can snap it up for only $45! (ah!)

See Jane Work

For all of my working, studying, and non-working, non-studying friends, if you haven't checked out See Jane Work, you should definitely give it a try.

DwellStudio

Here are just a few of the new items from DwellStudio for Target that I really like. You should definitely check it out as they are also very affordable.