love.

just some weekend eye candy for you: carolyn quartermaine's gorgeous french living room from the may/june 08 issue of vogue living. sigh. looking at pictures of carolyn's home makes me so happy; i hope you enjoy this image, too! (you can drool over her whole house via pdf on carolyn's web site.)

see you tuesday! xx

{ photograph by martin morrell for vogue living }

bon (long) weekend.

happy friday, my lovelies – and happy three-day weekend, too! as i mentioned, i’m heading to my parents’ house for the weekend and i’m looking forward to some r & r and some time with friends who i don’t get to see nearly as often as i’d like.

since monday is labor day, i’ll see you all on tuesday with a new post (and hopefully pictures of the new stuff i plan to pick up at ikea!), but for now i’ll leave you with these funny prints from british illustrator linzie hunter’s spam one-liners series. the title is pretty self-explanatory; if you want to purchase, here’s a link to linzie’s prints on thumbtack press’ web site. bright colors and funny text – what more can you ask for? i approve!

and i also hope that you have all have a delightful, restful weekend. xx.

{ all images above by linzie hunter. }

magazine love.

marie claire has, somewhat suddenly, become one of my favorite magazines; i really look forward to getting it in the mail every month. the stories are well-packaged, the writing is snappy and the whole book is much smarter than its coverlines might lead readers to believe. plus, i really enjoy reading the stories and departments that cater to young professional women and that aren’t necessarily featured on the cover – they’re like little surprises as i flip through the pages.

of course, the fat september issues of any of the national (fashion) magazines are guaranteed to be even more chock-full of good reads, and marie claire is no exception. i was particularly drawn to a spread that featured neon-bright accessories; i love a saturated jewel tone, so this article was a hit with me. i picked some of my favorite groupings below – just looking at them puts me in a good mood (click to enlarge).

and speaking of the september mc, there was a great article called “nine days to glowing skin” – i think i just might follow the (very doable) steps and see what happens. of course, the story is packaged as a beauty thing; in reality, it’s more of a lifestyle thing. i’ll be sure to report back!

{ images above via marieclaire.com; photoshopped by yours truly. }

happy hump day!

happy wednesday, my loves! yes, it’s the middle of the week already – and do you know what that means? that means we’re all this much closer to a three-day weekend. oh, labor day, i love thee.

i hope you guys will tell me what your plans for the long weekend are; as of right now, mine potentially include trips to ikea and anthropologie, although the latter always proves dangerous. (i’m allowing myself to go to ikea because i have a gift card; that busig tray is calling my name!)

and speaking of anthropologie, i was clicking through its web site yesterday and found these prettily styled images. full disclosure: i’m a sucker for buttons – the kind you push and the kind you wear. when i was little, i was always asking if i could “press the button,” and i remember going to the grocery store and wanting nothing more than to play with the buttons on the cash register. (i got my fill of that when i worked as a cashier at an office supply store years later.) and clothingwise, as i got older i always found myself drawn to pretty detailing – i love a good button, whether it’s the placket of a cardigan or a detail on a shoe, so i hope you enjoy these images, too! xx.

{ all images via anthropologie. }

just a quick list of nice things (and some pretty pictures).

+ my mixer is making me so unbelievably happy, in spite of the fact that a batch of chocolate chip cookies i made on sunday turned out totally flat. weird; that’s never happened before (perhaps i overmixed?). anyway, i’m going to try orangette’s version of the famous david leite/jacques torres cookies that were featured in the new york times a couple of weeks ago, and i’ll report back. also, if you’ve never read orangette before, it’s lovely.

+ i picked up this great gray dress at target on saturday and it makes me feel wonderful when i wear it. it’s got a sort of 1960s mad men vibe about it, and it’s incredibly comfortable, fits perfectly and will transition really well into the “colder” months when i decide i want to wear tights underneath. (i wore it yesterday with yellow shoes.) don’t you love when you feel good in your clothes? p.s. i should note that i originally went to target solely for cat litter and cat food. oops.

+ oscar is being especially cute lately. i mean, just look at him. adorable!

+ you might roll your eyes at me for this, but i finally put all the blogs i read every day into google reader and can i just tell you how much i’m enjoying having everything in one place? it’s the little things, really. maybe i should take a cue from my online organizing and put all of my strewn-about clothes in one place…like the closet.

+ it feels like 100 degrees outside today (no, seriously), but i am so excited about the prospect of september and fall. though i love them all, i think fall is my favorite season – and i’m even more excited this year, for some reason. remember when, in you’ve got mail, tom hanks’ character tells meg ryan that he wishes he could send her a bouquet of freshly sharpened pencils? fall always makes me feel like that.

what are you looking forward to?

{ images one and three via {this is glamorous}; second image, of oscar, by me. }

renovations of the mental kind.

thanks to one of my fave reads, making it lovely, i discovered the wonderful blog at home at home, authored by laure of apartment therapy. reading laure's blog is sort of the internet equivalent to having a glass of iced tea outside on a may afternoon -- it's just an all-around pleasant experience.

i was especially drawn to a post she wrote last week about happiness. click here if you want to read it; it really got me thinking about how i need to slow down and not obsess so much about the little things. like laure, my moods fluctuate -- easily -- depending on what's going on around me, and while i don't think that's uncommon at all, i do often wish that i had a more even temper, because it's something that would erase a lot of stress from my life. the funny thing is, if you met me and i was upset about something, you probably wouldn't know; one of my coworkers actually said, "you get upset about stuff like that?" to me the other day after i complained about something. but just because i don't show my stress doesn't mean that i'm happy-go-lucky all the time; nor does it make whatever i'm obsessing about feel better. so in my perpetual attempt to gain some perspective and focus on the positive (and in homage to laure's lovely post), i'm making a list of things i know help me eradicate stress and generally feel better. and i hope you'll do the same -- whether in a comment here or in your own blog (to which i hope you'll link me!).

+ it's been said time and time again, but when i make a concerted effort to get some exercise -- whether it's 45 minutes on the elliptical at the gym, meandering down the beach or taking a brisk walk around my neighborhood -- i feel exponentially better. it's hard for me to get motivated to do it, though -- something i know i need to work on and decide to do.

+ cooking is a huge stress-reliever for me, especially if i'm making a dish i already know and love. i think it's the act of creation that really does it for me. at any rate, it's super therapeutic.

+ sleep -- in the right amounts, at the right times. mel can attest that i used to be a major sleeper; i'd stay up until 2 or 3 a.m. and then sleep till noon or later the next day. in my old age, though (ha!), i just can't do that anymore -- and on the rare occasion that i do, i wake up with a sleep hangover and feel yucky all day. these days, i'm up at 7:30 on weekdays and no later than 10:30 on weekends, and i've realized that i function best in the morning, as opposed to late at night, which is a total reversal of what i always thought. plus, mornings are so full of possibility -- and it's much nicer to sit on the sofa with a cup of coffee and a magazine at 10 a.m. than at 1 p.m., truly. one thing i do need to work on is getting to bed earlier on weeknights -- generally, i don't go to bed until midnight, and it really should be more like 11. that hour makes a big difference. (another helpful trick i've learned: i used to wake up 30 minutes before i had to be at work and try to cram, breakfast, a shower, hair and makeup and gathering whatever daily supplies i needed into those 30 minutes. waking up earlier and relaxing, instead of rushing, has really helped my mental state. i feel less anxious and much less crabby.)

+ if i start to feel overwhelmed, tired, distracted or irritated during the day, i'll get up and move around. a walk around the office, or even around my little apartment, gets the creative juices flowing again and, according to one of my co-workers, does something good for the blood sugar. it really, really works; so many of us stare at computer screens all day long and need a little break like this.

+ spending time at home. i like my apartment and i like spending time in it, even if i'm just watching a clean house marathon or drooling over giada's italian confections on the food network. my job often requires me to be out and about, and i really like to have dinner and drinks with friends on weekend nights. but quiet time here allows me to recharge, and sometimes, no matter how fun an evening out might be, there's nothing better than reading a book with oscar curled up next to me, purring like a little lawn mower.

this list is ongoing, and i'm sure i'll revisit it every few months, but these are the tried-and-true things that can really improve my mental well-being. what do you guys do to feel balanced? please, please, please share! xx.

{ images above via krisatomic's flickr photostream, which i discovered via the always delightful cup of jo. just some prettiness on this monday morning for you. }

last night + the perfect present.

so, last night i went to the american idol concert in tampa – oh yes, i did. and to be perfectly honest, it was pretty awesome. i’m a fan of the show, so getting to see all the different performers live was super exciting, especially because i’d already forgotten some of them (chikezie, ramiele). also exciting was getting to see how much they’d improved since the show; granted, each sang songs that catered to their particular niche, but they still sounded awesome. plus, no horrible opening act to sit through (just a random emcee). anyway, here’s a brief rundown of the concert:

10 chikezie – three pretty forgettable performances, but he’s just so cute.
9 ramiele – the people i was with kept calling her “ram-a-lee,” which was funny; she also sang three pretty forgettable songs. also? the girl is tiny. maybe we should have been calling her “ramekin.”
8 michael johns – i loved him on the show and he was really good in person (also? hot). he sang a queen song, a bluesy dolly parton song and…something else. i sadly got distracted because the people in our row kept getting up during the song i can’t remember.

7 kristy lee cook – not my favorite. she sang two country numbers and “god bless the u.s.a.,” which was a real crowd-pleaser and totally sincere (oh wait, no). one of the people that i went with said that the only other thing she needed while singing that song was a puppy. (don't get me wrong; i'm not unpatriotic by any means. in fact, my grandfather was a general in the army during world war II. but kristy lee cook hits a sour chord with me in general.)

6 carly – she was really good and looked great. she sang a song by evanescence, complete with some wind-machine action; “crazy on you” by heart; and “i drove all night” (which was surprisingly good, i thought).
5 brooke – sang “let it be,” “1234” (by feist) and “yellow,” by coldplay. she was good, and i really like all of those songs, but – as one of the people that went with me said – i think her future may be in recording songs for children, and i don’t mean that as an insult in any way. she looked really pretty, too.

(insert break for group number promoting idol gives back here – chikezie, ramiele, michael, kristy lee and brooke sang a u2 song. it was pretty good.)

4 jason – forgot the words to “somewhere over the rainbow.” yes, i’m serious. he was a little more “with it” than he was on the show (i guess 37 tour dates kind of forces that), but still the same goofy guy. also, he has perfect teeth.
3 syesha – the reason i was so into idol this season was because syesha is actually from sarasota – in fact, i met her when she was doing her whirlwind trip home during the competition. she sounded great last night; hers was by far the stongest female voice of the evening. she sang “umbrella” (rihanna), “if i ain’t got you” (alicia keys) and “listen,” which was sung by beyonce in the movie dreamgirls. “listen” was awesome – a total show-stealer.
2 david archuleta – ok, i was not a david a. fan, but can i just tell you that he sounded awesome last night? his voice really, really soared. he sang four songs instead of three, like the others, presumably because he was the runner-up. he does need to work on his stage banter, but overall he sounded great.
1 david cook – after some really intense lighting stuff, david c. came out. he sang “hello,” the idol fan-written song, “don’t wanna miss a thing” and “billie jean,” which was awesome. i like david cook and i’m glad he won, but he is a leetle too self-aware. also, he was wearing a touch too much eye makeup. still, he looked good and sounded good and again, i was rooting for him to win the whole thing so it was pretty cool to see him live. (if he had substituted his version of “always be my baby” for the fan song, it would have been a perfect set.)

then they all performed one big group number – “please don’t stop the music” – and off we went. the concert was exactly three hours long; the idol people really have that thing perfectly planned.

in other news, yesterday was even more awesome because the present i bought myself for my birthday – a kitchenaid stand mixer in ice! – was delivered! YAY! words can’t even describe how excited i am about this thing – above is a picture. isn’t it beautiful? i love the color; i was going to get pistachio, but a lot of people have that one and there’s something so retro about this shade of blue. you better believe i will be baking up a storm this weekend; i’ll show you the fruits of my labor on monday.

i hope you all have a wonderful weekend. xx.

{ snatched the photo of syesha from a google image search; kitchenaid mixer picture taken by me! you can see my little owl from anthropologie peeking out from behind. }

busy girl.

yoohoo! i'm busy at work today and tonight i'll be off doing the very random thing i cryptically alluded to in my last post. i'll be back with a full post tomorrow, but until then, want to read an embarrassing story about me? yes? click here! (i posted it awhile back, but just in case you missed it, i'll subject myself to humiliation twice -- only for you guys!)

oh, and here's a link to and a picture from a really great shop that's already made the blog rounds but from which i'm dying to order something: lama (latin america in the modern age). the kitchen stuff is the greatest, seriously. enjoy and see you tomorrow, my loves!


{ image via the lovely lama. }

tropic thunder (or lack thereof).

hi, guys! after all my worrying about the tropical storm, sarasota – at least my section of it – didn’t get so much as a drop of rain. sure, the sky was gray and overcast all day and there was a brisk breeze, but it was one of those days where i normally would have been like, “whoa, it’s cool [read: less than 90 degrees] outside – what a nice day!” work gave us the day off (hurricane days are our snow days), so i spent almost all day curled up inside my apartment, watching movies, cuddling with oscar, reading, drinking coffee, cleaning a little and even taking a really long bath (yay). today i’m back at work, catching up on stuff and trying to get my head wrapped around the idea that it’s wednesday, not tuesday.

anyway, i thought i’d leave you with these cute little “poladoodles” from jinnie lee and lilac moon studio. aren’t they cute? to see more of jinnie’s work, including her great stationery, click right here. (doesn't that bottom right poladoodle remind you of eric carle's the very hungry caterpillar? such a great book!)

see you tomorrow! xx.

p.s. my very exciting package is arriving mañana – cross your fingers that fedex is able to deliver it to my notoriously hard-to-get-into apartment building! pictures to (hopefully) come on friday, along with a very random recap of the very random thing i’m doing tomorrow night…stay tuned!

{ images above via jinnie lee/lilac moon studio; photoshopped by me. }

rainy-day style.

as i type this on monday afternoon, tropical storm/hurricane/what-have-you fay is churning off the coast of florida, preparing to make landfall. here in sarasota, we’re already seeing the first of the storm bands – the sky became personality-free and gray around 11 a.m.; by 3 p.m., we’d already gotten a little rain and wind.

it was right around that first burst of rain that i realized i’d left my umbrella in my car – of course, right? i spend the weekend panicking about a hurricane and then i forget my rain gear. anyway, that got me thinking about rainy-day style and how i am not one of those girls who looks effortlessly chic in rain, wind, heat or cold. i sweat; i splash through puddles; i get my clothes wet. it’s ok; i’m used to it. but i thought i’d put together a little rainy-day round-up – some cute things that i found that i’d certainly throw on if i were that effortlessly chic girl and if i was sure i wasn’t going to totally ruin them by tromping through puddles. (please note that i wouldn't put all of these things together in one outfit!)

{ image above, from top: clear umbrella from urban outfitters; floral rain boot from urban outfitters; nylon (yes, nylon!) tessuto tote by prada at neiman marcus; “rain check” body spray from gap (a throwback to my childhood – “rain” was my favorite gap scent); green-and-white rain coat from juicy couture at shopbop. click to enlarge! }

any rainy-day style tips of your own to share?

p.s. this rainy day outfit, over at in(side) the loop, is pretty genius, too!

fay, go away! go away, fay!

if you've been watching the news or the weather channel, or reading the newspaper, you've probably heard about tropical storm fay, a.k.a. the bane of my (and every other floridian's) existence right now. it's pretty much all i can think about, and the national hurricane center's "cone of uncertainty" isn't easing my anxiety -- it's huge and has fay making landfall anywhere from naples to north tampa (see below). the good news is, i've been through hurricanes before and fay isn't projected to become super-strong; still, a couple of days without power in mid-august aren't exactly at the top of my wish list.

{ this is today's 11 a.m. update. }

i guess the other good thing is that i did a little bit of prep over the weekend and have plenty of water, batteries, a flashlight (which apparently i didn't bother to buy before this point), non-perishables and -- yay! -- a battery-operated fan. plus, my parents live just outside orlando, so if it gets bad oscar and i will head up there.

in other news, my weekend was really low-key. i had dinner with some friends and then went to my work event on friday night; did a bunch of errand-running on saturday; and then cleaned up the apartment and hung out with my friend k. yesterday. i also watched an insane amount of hills-related stuff on mtv. the hills is definitely a guilty pleasure of mine and i'm secretly really excited about the season four premiere tonight. feel free to judge me.

oh, and i took a spill on my apartment steps (my flip-flops don't have great traction and the stairs were slippery-slimey thanks to some rain), and my left butt cheek is KILLING me. maybe i have some sort of balance problem; i seem to fall a lot!

anyway, posting may be sporadic this week depending on what the storm does (or doesn't) do, but i'll probably post or schedule a post tonight, and i'll update my twitter, too.

for now, though, tell me: how were your weekends? i hope they were fantabulous. xx.

{ image above via the national hurricane center with text added by moi. }

have a splendid weekend.

i’m feeling a little quiet this morning, for some reason, although i’m sure that will change as the day goes on and the cup of coffee that i downed this morning kicks in. i have to go to an event for work at like 10 p.m. tonight, which is kind of a random time, but it should be fun, and weekend-wise, i have no concrete plans – except for hopefully hitting the farmer’s market tomorrow morning and making a trip to target at some point.

i’m also feeling a touch impatient because i’m anxiously waiting for amazon to send me a confirmation order that the VERY EXCITING thing i ordered for myself has shipped (even though i chose the free super-saver shipping option and they’re telling me it won’t go out until tuesday). and believe me, i’ll be sharing what it is when it arrives. yay!

and in a total 180 from the above paragraph, little miss pink o’clock here has suddenly realized that she’s 25 now and needs to get her finances under control (although as i type this i’m thinking about how i want to get my eyebrows waxed and that i need to pick up more face cleanser). that means more diy projects/thrifting and even more cooking at home, both of which excite me. so hopefully i’ll be upping the ante and sharing more in regards to both of those things here on the blog – especially as the holidays draw nearer. (and as an aside, can i tell you how weird it was to walk into my local drugstore the other day and see halloween items already displayed? it’s mid-august, people!)

anyway, before i head out, here are a couple of links if you’re looking for something good to read over the weekend.

+ joanna has posted a round-up of great etsy shops stocking fun vintage finds

+ anna blogged about a fantastic chinatown loft early in the week – click here to see pics. so inspiring (i’m loving the paper stars and the spool of twine).

+ this isn’t from this week, but holly posted a great “how to” on avoiding jet lag on her personal blog, haus maus, and is sharing the progress she’s making on her new german apartment right here.

+ this is just funny. oh, boys…at least hers has good taste!

+ courtney over at in(side) the loop echoes my sentiments about summer clothes in the south – take a peek at the gorgeous karen walker (remember the sunglasses i blogged about?) dresses she posted.

that’s it – have a fantastic august weekend! xx.

{ image above from door sixteen by way of at:ny. }

beautiful artwork for a good cause.

as i was surfing the internet today, i checked in on the black apple, emily martin's etsy shop, and noticed that she's having a benefit sale for her kitty cat, miette. after clicking over to emily's blog, i discovered that miette had to have (very expensive) emergency surgery and that the etsy sale is to help emily pay for the vet bills.

{ sugar girl }

emily's work, as i've mentioned before, is really cool and quirky, and a black apple print is, in my opinion, the perfect addition to any home. if you read this before the day is over and want to order a print, for today only they're all $12 (instead of the usual $18), and shipping is only $3. for $15, you're contributing to a great cause. i've been through this with my own kitty, so i understand how hard it is. oh, and if you can't buy a print, maybe you can send some good juju to emily and miette. i'm sure they'd appreciate it.

see you tomorrow -- it's almost friday, yay!

{ image above via emily martin/the black apple. }

easy, breezy, beautiful...

i know, i know -- these looks are from loeffler randall's spring 2008 lookbook. spring has sprung and gone; we're now creeping toward the end of summer. but i couldn't help but post these outfits because they're still applicable here in florida, and will be for quite awhile (i bet they're still applicable to you, too, until at least september, right?). we don't even think about starting to wear fall/"winter" clothes until november, and even then, we only wear them for a month or two. as a matter of fact, i'm still looking for a bathing suit (and i think i've found the perfect one, below). plus, i think all of these pieces have such an ease about them -- they look great, but they also look comfortable. well played, jessie randall; if i had to choose a line on which to max out my credit card, yours would be at the top of my list.

{ pretty much my dream bathing suit. }

{ i love everything about this dress. }

{ i think one of my coworkers was wearing this top the other day. it looked great on her; i covet it now, too. }

{ i'd pair this with yellow shoes. }

{ the perfect weekend outfit. }

p.s. thoughts on last night's project runway? i preferred stella and jerrell's dress to kenley and keith's, honestly, but i thought both teams did a great job. am starting to feel like terri is just a touch one-note (i'd like to see something other than a flowy top with black pants next week), and am not a big fan of joe. and you, my dears? did the right person go home?

{ images via loefflerrandall.com }

my bed, bath and beyond.

i’ve been kind of obsessed with the idea of new bedding – and a new bed – lately. ever since i saw this gorgeous photo by carolyn quartermaine on joy’s blog, i knew i would be investing in a new bed set sometime soon. i love dwellstudio’s stuff (who doesn’t, right?), and the sarasota outpost of yves delorme has some really beautiful pieces, too.

the problem is, before i buy new bedding i have to buy a new bed. yes, i’m 25 years old and i currently sleep in a twin bed. it’s not especially comfortable, it’s not spacious, and while it has a sort of bohemian aspect about it, it’s not really my style at all anymore. as we all know, i don’t have tons of money to throw around, so i scouted some bed and mattress options at ikea and have decided that i like the vinstra model ($199) or the aneboda model ($129 – i’m into platform beds, can you tell?). i know i should probably invest in a better-quality piece, but i’ve never had any problems with my ikea stuff and these two models are pretty much exactly what i’m looking for. oh, and, most importantly, they're not budget-crushing or humongus space-eater-uppers – i live in a tiny apartment, remember, so a gigantic sleigh-style bed really isn’t going to work for me.

{ left, the aneboda bed; right, the vinstra bed. both from ikea. }

anyway, when i saw grace’s post on jill sanford burrows this morning, i fell head over heels in love – my “ideal bedroom” immediately came together in my head. jill’s stuff is gorgeous; i love the saffron-colored, pebble-like shapes on the “riverbed” collection, and the “field day” pieces are calling my name like you wouldn’t believe. i really like white bedding – there’s something so luxurious, so sumptuous about it – so it’s no wonder i’m having the reaction i am to jill’s pieces. if you want to see or shop the new sanford burrows collection, click here; for grace’s commentary on design*sponge, click here.

{ left, "riverbed"; right, "field day," both by sanford burrows. sorry about my shoddy photoshopping! }

p.s. after all that talk of white bedding, i saw this bedding set in the outlet section of the yves delorme web site – it’s kind of reminiscent of that carolyn quartermaine photo, isn’t it? i think it would look great with pops of yellow.

{ images from ikea, sanford burrows and yves delorme. }

look what i found...

...when i searched for "pink o'clock" on flickr!

so pretty, no? just a little eye candy for you on this hump day! i'll probably be back this afternoon with a longer post -- until then, my loves.

{ image via flickr user dphock. }

loving: owl-y things

look what i just bought!
tell me this isn’t the cutest little tea set ever. well, actually, it’s a sake pot, but i’m going to use it for tea – especially since it comes with a removable metal strainer. thank you, anthropologie, for always having the cutest stuff ever.

i’d actually been looking at the owl stuff on the anthropologie web site for awhile, ever since i fell in love with jinnie lee’s owl tea set after reading her fantastic interview with victoria over at sfgirlbybay. interestingly – and tell me if i’ve got this wrong – jinnie lee’s white set has to be bought in separate pieces; the teapot is $28 and the cups are $24 for two. but i ordered the gray set because the mugs supposedly come with – unless they’re sold out, but usually anthropologie is pretty clear about that. anyway, the description says “owling sake pot and cups,” so we’ll see what i get in the mail this week. i’m excited either way. and now i want the matching salt and pepper shakers.

anthropologie’s sister store, urban outfitters, also has some pretty cute owl stuff, like this lamp (left – i’d pair it with this shade, in the light blue color). and i found this umbrella stand from tonic home after holly posted about it months ago. i don’t want to pay 120 bones for it, but it’s pretty cute, no?

owls are so trendy, i know, but i can't help but love them and i’m so excited for my little tea/sake set. what items are you loving lately? share!

{ photos via anthropologie, urban outfitters and tonic home }

one last thing today...

{ oscar, the best cat ever. }

you all know how i feel about my cat, oscar. i love him – he brings me such joy. he was also a rescue kitty – he wandered into my friend k.’s apartment, stick-thin and scared, almost two years ago, and she let him stay and gave him tons of love before i adopted him (she already had two kitties, the maximum allowed in her her apartment complex). after several health complications, including a bout with feline leprosy (yes, seriously) that we’ve almost completely kicked (one more round of medication – whew!), oscar is fat, fluffy and happy. i can’t believe that anyone would give him up, and i am a firm believer in animal adoption. a lot of my friends are, too.

{my family's dog, lola, who lives with my parents because i'm not allowed to have dogs in my apartment (and because she's very happy there, too). she was a rescue, too; she was a puppy mill dog. i adore her. }

that’s why i was so happy to see bee’s post about save a sato, an animal-rescue organization that places stray puerto rican cats and dogs in loving homes. there are thousands of abandoned animals roaming the streets in p.r., and bee’s doing her part to get the word out about how we can all help (she adopted a stray puerto rican puppy, in fact). but get this: if you leave a comment on this post on her blog, she’ll donate $10. that goes for every comment she receives, guys. it’s so easy and painless – you should definitely do it. i know i am. there’s more, so click here to read, and, like i said, leave a comment.

p.s. while you’re reading bee’s blog, a fave of mine, check out this post. hilarious.

{ photos of lola and oscar above by me. }

the weekend + my new obsession.

before i get into this post, i just want to point you to this one. my blog encountered some, um, issues this weekend -- basically, the above-linked post got sent back into draft mode (what?!) and i wasn't able to edit anything -- but they seem to be fixed now, knock on wood. anyway, if you missed it, go forth and read! and sorry if you saw anything weird pop up in this space; it was probably me trying to fix my own blog issues. obsessive? yes.

anyway, onward and upward, right?

so, let's discuss the past four days. thursday was my birthday and it was perfect, thanks to all the calls, texts, facebook wall postings and blog comments. i was taken out to lunch by my bosses, sang to by my colleagues at an after-work party, and treated to dinner by my wonderful sarasota friends. then, on friday, my mom came to visit and we spent the weekend shopping, eating and cruising around sarasota -- which is where the title of this post comes into play.

on saturday afternoon, mom and i wandered into simply spoiled, a great little cosmetics boutique in the shopping center that houses whole foods, juno & jove, jane boutique, a great little pet accessories store and starbucks, among other things. mom, who hordes tons of skin creams, is always game to look at anti-aging stuff, and i'm a big makeup fan, as we all know. anyway, i ended up walking out with a whole bag of new products -- thanks to mom -- and i think i'm in love with them.

before i share what i got, let me tell you a little bit about my skin. not only is it the whitest white ever, thanks to my irish heritage, it's also incredibly sensitive, thanks to genetics. it burns after 10 minutes in the sun, it itches when i wear certain fabrics, and it freaks out when i use new facial products. however, i've gone merrily through life not paying a whole heck of a lot of attention to the above (well, with the exception of using tons of sunscreen), which is probably why i've seen such immediate results with these new products.bare minerals makeup is not new; i've heard about it pretty consistently for the past two years and i have friends who swear by it. still, in spite of my penchant for semi-big ticket items on an admittedly small-ticket budget and my obsession with cosmetics, i've never tried it. but when the salesgirl at simply spoiled gave my mom a fantastic bare minerals makeover, and then asked if i wanted one, i couldn't say no -- and i think i'm in love with the products. mom got the bare minerals starter kit in medium, but because i'm so fair, the salesgirl threw together a custom kit for me, complete with mineral foundation in fair, mineral blush in thistle, and mineral veil, which sets everything in place. the color is perfect -- it's literally the only one i've found that doesn't create that yucky makeup line around my jaw -- and i feel like i'm wearing no makeup on my face, which is quite a feat, especially during florida's scorching summers.

i also got some sample products, notably mario badescu's enzyme cleansing gel and chamomile cleansing lotion (actually a toner), which the salesgirl used to remove my pre-bare minerals makeup/sunscreen. as usual, i was slightly worried about the reaction my face might have to all this new stuff, but seriously, my skin is so amazingly soft after using it that it's not even funny. i'm heading back to simply spoiled this week to pick up full-sized bottles, for sure.

anyway, why am i posting about this, you ask? well, for the simple reason that it may help someone out there who has skin like mine and who is looking for some relief (and some good makeup). and if you're in sarasota, definitely check out simply spoiled; it's a cosmetics lover's dream.

p.s. as i was writing this post, i noticed that the simply spoiled web site is looking kind of, um, sparse -- but i'm leaving it linked just in case the shop decides to do a little revamp and puts up some pictures or a list of products carried. always thinking of the future, i am! xx.

i'm a lush.

yep, you read that right – i’m a lush. or, more specifically, i’m a lush addict. and when i say “lush,” i’m referring to the british line of handmade soaps, bath goodies, skincare products and fragrances.

i credit my dear friend hayley for my discovery of lush; she was into it way before i was, but it didn’t take much to get me hooked, too. the products smell intoxicatingly good – you can literally smell a lush shop before you see it – and they’re cruelty-free, eco-friendly and organic-product-laden. the bath products (specifically soaps, bath bombs and bubble bars) and dusting powders (silky underwear!) are my favorite, but i’ve used their skincare products, fragrances and body lotions, too. dream cream, in particular, is incredibly soothing, and the angels on bare skin cleanser doesn’t irritate my finicky sensitive skin. i’ve used a lot of cosmetic products, you guys – i love soap, makeup and lotions and potions – but i always come back to lush for one reason or another. i think it’s because i’m such an olfactory person and their scents always make me feel good.

{ clockwise from top left: angels on bare skin facial cleasner; blue skies and fluffy white clouds bubble bar; dream cream body lotion; silky underwear dusting powder; rock star soap; bathos bubble bar; and avobath bath bomb. }

anyway, for more information on lush, click here. i’m hoping the company builds a store in sarasota soon – there are two in orlando, one in tampa and one in fort myers. sarasota is smack-dab in the middle of all that – come on, people, it’s a necessity!

{ images via lush.com's u.s.a. site; photoshopped by me. }

just because i can...

here's a little eye candy for you on this friday morning.

i? think i love him.

{ image via the sartorialist, of course. }

happy birthday to...me!

today is my 25th birthday (!), so i'm taking the day off from blogging to relax and celebrate. see you tomorrow, my loves! xx

{ image above: letter in a bottle by candace meyer, via {this is glamorous}. }

an awesome present from an awesome shop.

yesterday at lunch i hauled my cookies to the ups store to pick up a package from my dear friend/ex-college roommate/fellow blogger mel. i ripped open the box as soon as i got to my car and was thrilled to find a fantastic apron from sommer designs waiting for me inside!

for those of you who are unfamiliar, sommer designs is run by carrie sommers, a california-based accessories designer and blogger. carrie’s shop is full of wonderful things (drawer liners, handbags, pouches, key fobs and baby burpy cloths), but it’s her aprons that are really fabulous. as you can see from the photo above, mel sent me a hostess-style one in the “melrose” print, and i seriously can’t wait to put it on and whip up some kind of delicious confection. (here’s a little factoid about me: i love to bake, why is why the idea of wearing something so pretty while doing so is such a fun one.)

thank you, thank you, thank you, mel, for such an awesome birthday present!

p.s. you guys know what i need to go with this apron, right? one of these beauties – preferably in this exact pistachio color. my apron and its mixer would be so happy together.

{ photos of apron by moi; photo of grace's mixer snatched from d*s; it's so much prettier than the pictures on the kitchenaid site. }

a new font, a new page title.

good morning, my loves!

if you look up, you'll see that mel's beautiful header has been replaced with a different one*. why, you ask? well, hopefully i'll be getting another mel header (should that phrase be trademarked? haha!) sometime soon, but here's the lowdown in the meantime: since everything else related to this blog -- the page url, my flickr account, even my contact e-mail -- is under the name "pink o'clock," i thought the page title should be the same, too. i got kind of sick of the name { plant me in the garden } and i really like { pink o'clock }, so i figured i'd make the switch; it's something i've been thinking about for a couple of weeks now. i hope you don't mind.

thanks so much for reading! and a real post is coming up at 11:15 -- see you then.

*the font i used can be downloaded, for free, right here! does it look familiar? i think anna at d16 used it for awhile, but i discovered it via making it lovely's "font crush" sidebar.

blog crush + etsy love.

{ the little bandits }

here’s a confession for you: over the past week, i’ve spent hours poring over nicole balch’s blog, making it lovely, and flickr photos, and i’ve decided that she’s pretty much my interior design idol. her style is, well, lovely, and i would kill to live in a house as pretty as hers (or even an apartment as pretty as her former one – why, oh why, can i not paint my walls?!). in a nutshell: nicole, who owns the stationery company pink loves brown and does web design, too, is awesome; this is a fact. and if you haven’t made your way over to making it lovely, i highly recommend that you do so. just a little gift from me to you, people.

ahem. anyway.

the point of this post is that i credit nicole for my discovery of the fabulous etsy shop the black apple. run by emily martin, the black apple features emily’s original artwork, which is the perfect mix of pretty and quirky. nicole posted a photograph of her little dunces prints awhile back, and when i browsed the items emily’s sold in her etsy shop, i found many, many more to love. i’m hoping to get my hands on some prints very soon; in fact, emily’s shop, which was closed, reopens today (aug. 5), so maybe that will actually happen. my unpainted walls, i’m sure, would thank me.

{ she moves among the sparrows }

p.s. emily also writes a blog called inside a black apple; click here to check it out.

{ all photos via the black apple }

and speaking of new things…

yep, two posts for you today! joy and jo (yay for j’s) posted about this fantastic find already, but i wanted to, too – so i am.

the fabulously talented jen gotch, who pens the oh-so lovely my polaroid blog, has, with her friend jaime, launched a new shop called ban.do. what are they selling, you ask? only the most gorgeous headbands ever. seriously: want. check out some of jen and jamie’s creations above, and click here to shop ban.do. i’m filing this post under the “loving” category, too, because, well, i am.

see you tomorrow! xx.

{ images via ban.do; photoshopped by moi. }

some new things + the weekend!

see the photo above? i knew the weekend was going to be good when i purchased all of that stuff from the woman's exchange of sarasota's* annual sale. the grand total? eight dollars and eighty-six cents. the gravy boat thing, two yellow pieces, white sugar bowl and plates were $3.86; the darker turquoise urn thing was $5 (i'm using it for cotton balls and q-tips in the bathroom; it fits right in). yay! i love thrifting and stuff for my apartment.

(ooh, and lena corwin's printing by hand { above } arrived on friday, too, and it's beautiful. i can't wait to get to work on some projects.)

i also love the farmer's market. yes, i made it there this weekend -- finally! my friend t. came with me and we picked up yummy fruits and vegetables, then walked to c'est la vie, the authentic french cafe downtown, for lunch and met up with our college friends (t. and i went to school together) k., c. and s. yay! after hitting the woman's exchange sale, we all went our separate ways, but reunited for a yummy dinner at the blase cafe on siesta key, followed by drinks at skob (my fave bar) and the beach club (where a great '80s cover band was playing).

yesterday, i slept in -- way in -- and met up with the girls at starbucks on st. amarnds circle, then hit whole foods for the weekly grocery order. it was a good weekend, indeed -- full of laughter and girly catch-up time.

what did you all do?

p.s. tonight i'm whipping up that herb salad that heidi posted last week; will report back on it tomorrow!

*i really, really think the shop should be called the women's exchange, since more than one woman is exchanging, but...whatever.

(both images in this post taken by moi.)

{ best of the blogs } : july 28-aug. 1

here’s a quick wrap-up of the best of the blogs this week – a little weekend reading for you if you have some down time, perhaps? chances are, you’ve already seen these posts, but just in case you haven’t, i definitely think they’re worth repeating.

+ holy site redesigns, batman. holly and erin have completely redesigned their blogs, and they’re gorgeous. get thee to decor8blog.com and designformankind.com immediately, if you haven’t already.

+ nicole has started a series of posts about how she started her business, pink loves brown. informative and inspiring.

+ the lil bee’s tale of her adventures in miami are a must-read. seriously hilarious. i laughed out loud.

+ joy’s “feeling jute and black” post is lovely. see those sam edelman “ilsa” flats? WANT.

+ this herb salad that heidi posted looks divine, doesn’t it? and the photographs that accompany her recipes are always so beautiful. (side note: i miss my immersion blender. i must get a new one, stat.)

+ jan posted a great peek into a floating home that i would just love to live in one day. it’s a toss-up between that and a treehouse for me, really. one day…

+ and finally, i leave you with this image from the sartorialist: the perfect yellow dress.

happy weekend, my loves! some college gal pals are coming into town – we’re going to celebrate birthdays (t.’s was yesterday; mine’s next thursday), drink wine, eat yummy food and catch up on everything. hooray for girls’ weekends.

see you monday! xx.