bow-ed over.

 

over the past few months, i've been happier with the decor of my home than i have since i moved into my apartment almost three years ago. i feel like there's a unified design theme, and while there are certainly spots that need work -- the awkward wall space by the front door, for example, or the sliding closet doors onto which the previous tenant inexplicably painted odd pictures of kittens -- i'm generally quite comfortable hanging out at home these days. 

but that being said, i've already started putting together a wish list for the next place i move to. a water heater that gives me more than 10 measly minutes in the shower without turning the water ice cold is at the top of the list; a dishwasher is a close second. wood floors would be nice, too. so would my own washer and dryer. and i think i'd like my next home to feel a little more grown up and androgynous -- i want plenty of quirky details, of course, but i think a more streamlined approach is something i'm slowly coming around to. 

this wallpaper by emily isabella for hygge and west, for me, hits that quirky/grown-up mark almost perfectly. i love the gold bows against the dark gray background, and i think this paper would be perfect and special in a powder room or a closet, even if just on one wall. 

how do you feel about wallpaper? do you use it in your home? (i sometimes frame samples, but have never actually used it...yet!) how would you describe your design style?

p.s. please excuse the terrible pun in the title of this post. i couldn't help myself.

file under: pretty.

rifle paper co. fabric (!) for villa nova. perfection. (i want that chair badly.)

view the full collection here.

photo: rifle paper co.

scenes from the weekend + committing to...

a quick note: this photograph is actually a scene from a weekend in january, i think, because if i were to show you a scene from this weekend it likely would be of (a) the garbage bag of old makeup products i tossed or (b) my spray bottle of mrs. meyers geranium-scented all-purpose countertop spray (my favorite scent in all the world, which is weird to say of a cleaning product, but there you have it). i definitely got the house cleaned just like i'd planned, but aside from that and a lovely candlelit outside dinner on the water on friday, the weekend was as low-key and laid-back as i'd hoped.

and since i finally am feeling much more back in the swing of things health-wise, here are five commitments for the week as we jump feet-first into a new one:

+ continue to focus on staying healthy (fruit, fruit, fruit, veggies, veggies, veggies).
+ get back into my exercise routine -- i missed it last week.
+ spend time outside. the weather is supposed to be in the 80s over the next few days -- you can't beat that.
+ embrace color in my wardrobe. i so often stick to dark jeans and neutral palettes when it comes to clothes, but i'm really drawn to bright candy colors right now. i think i need to go with that feeling. and actually, i'm off to a good start: i'm wearing coral-colored pants today and loving them.
+ be positive. really, there's so much good in life that it's really not worth dwelling on the negative.

how about you -- what are your goals for the week?

photo by me, snapped in a pretty garden near st. armands circle here in sarasota. love those red flowers.

what are you doing this weekend?

happy friday!

well, it's been quite a week, hasn't it -- even with a day off on monday? what is it about the short weeks always being the craziest?

and if i'm being honest, it was a bit of a difficult week, too. i caught a random cold on monday that i'm still not quite over (although, thankfully, the sore throat is finally gone), and several things happened that caused me to take a step back and start thinking big thoughts about honesty and authenticity and how the inclination for many of us in the blogosphere to be perpetually sunny is not necessarily either of those things (and by the way, i'm totally guilty of that propensity, too). maybe i'll write more about those thoughts someday soon. i'd be interested to hear yours on the topic, as well.

anyway, this weekend is dedicated to health, both physical and mental. i have a feeling there will be lots of sleep, lots of cat-cuddle time, and lots of tea. i also need to clean my house, and actually, since i've been sick, i should probably really give it a thorough scrub-down. so there's that. blissfully low-key. i couldn't be happier.

tell me your plans for the next few days, and i'll see you back here on monday. 

photo by sarah rhyanen of saipua

loving: gold ceramics from up in the air somewhere.

i discovered the wonderful shop up in the air somewhere sometime last year, and i'm so glad i did. i don't own any of susan's lovely pieces -- yet -- but i routinely check her shop to see (and drool over) the pretty new things she's added.

here are some of my recent, gold-themed favorites (featuring polka dots and stripes -- are you surprised?); most of them have since sold, but no worries: there's still plenty in the shop to tide you over.

p.s.: some other new and awesome gold goodies: rifle paper co.'s gold notecards. so pretty; always a favorite.

photos via up in the air somewhere; layout by me.

girls.

hbo's new series, girls, starring lena dunham and produced by judd apatow, looks so funny, doesn't it? i can't wait to watch it.



p.s. -- a quick housekeeping note: since i redirected my original blogspot url to http://blog.megan-ink.com, i've noticed there's been a delay in my posts showing up in google reader (and, i'm assuming, other feed readers, too). updating the subscription url fixed the problem for me, so if you're noticing a delay, as well, i would definitely recommend doing that. again, the site is now http://blog.megan-ink.com.

xoxo

scenes from the (long) weekend + committing to...

i love the neighborhood where my office is located; there's a plethora of adorable shops and restaurants (with even more opened recently) that make walking around a joy.  sometimes you'll see something sweet, like the display in the first photo with the big "delight" sign and the lace window treatments.

and then sometimes you'll see something truly weird. like an eight-foot lego-man staring out at you from the second-floor window of a restaurant building.

for those of you who don't know, sarasota made national headlines last year when said giant lego-man washed up on siesta key beach. there was quite a kerfuffle over where he came from, who would claim him, and where he would live after he was adopted. turns out, that somewhere was right above bond restaurant. of course, we had to take a picture when we saw him up there on friday morning.

seriously: only in sarasota.

anyway, the weekend was mostly good: there was a movie night at home on friday night; a fantastic dinner party on saturday; and my first performance of circus sarasota on sunday.* unfortunately, sunday after the circus, i got hit with a pretty bad cold, and with the exception of some time spent outdoors with friends on monday afternoon, i spent most of the day at home, chugging tea and laying around.

my biggest commitment for the week is, of course, to feel better. but then there's also this -- a thought that i like to come back to every so often because i think it's so important, and one that i sometimes forget  in the shadow of other things:

*i should note that i normally don't enjoy the circus at all because of the way the animals are treated, but this show was happily almost entirely free of animal acts with the exception of one horse act and another bit that basically served as a showcase for rescue dogs.

top photos by me; quote by paper owls

what are you doing this weekend? + little letters.

 dear florida,
if your idea of winter is one or two seriously cold days followed by a week of 75-degree sunshine, i'll take it.

dear valentine's day,
you were delightful this year.

dear extra "dessert delights" mint-chocolate-chip gum,
you actually kind of taste like mint chocolate chip ice cream. it's sort of amazing.

dear friends,
please continue migrating to sarasota and the surrounding areas. i approve of this wholeheartedly.

dear polka dots and stripes,
i will always love you.

dear mixer and baking ingredients,
we've been apart for too long. let's make something this weekend. and speaking of...

dear weekend,
you are upon us, and i am so happy you are not two, but three, days this time around.

dear readers,
what are your plans for the next few days? tell me, and i'll see you back here on monday.

photo: a t-shirt i love with a message i totally agree with from kate spade.

a little pretty for your wednesday.

just a pretty photo of a butterfly i snapped two weekends ago. remind me to tell you about my love of butterflies sometime. and how it's intensified lately.

more words to come soon.

happy wednesday, friends. xo

what are you doing this weekend?

happy friday, friends! it's the weekend! yay!

how were your weeks? mine was busy but good, and it ended with some of my best and oldest friends coming into town for a visit last night. we had a great time catching up and eating dinner at owen's fish camp, one of my favorite sarasota restaurants (and the scene of my birthday last year!), and i find its always good for the mental health to hang out with people who've known you for years -- and in jenn and bryce's case, more than half my life. even better, they're thinking of moving to sarasota, which would just be awesome. i would like to shepherd all the awesome people in my life down here, and these two are an excellent start.

what are your plans for the weekend? i need to do some baking -- molly's heart-shaped sugar cookies with cherry-scented cream cheese frosting always make an appearance around this time of year (the cherry is so subtle that it makes the cookies taste pink), plus i'm planning another pastry project that i'll share with you next week if it turns out well. and in non-food-related news, my favorite jeans bit the dust yesterday, so i need to find a new pair.

shopping and baking -- not a bad way to spend a weekend, huh?

tell me what you're up to, and i'll see you back here on monday. i hope you have a wonderful, relaxing few days.

oh,  p.s.: i created a facebook page for this blog earlier this week. it's not very active yet, but if you'd like to hang out with me on facebook, as well, you can click here to "like" the page.

photo by astrid

keep on trucking.

i've been wishing for food trucks in sarasota for ages -- ever since i discovered the amazingness that is orlando's yum yum cupcake truck, in fact. for a city that is full of great, local, non-chain restaurants, with a population that really appreciates them, it's a surprise -- to me -- that there weren't trucks parked downtown all the time. then i heard from several reliable sources that the lack of food trucks was due to issues with zoning, so i figured it was kind of a lost cause.

then, a few weeks ago, a friend pointed me to ringling picnic's facebook page, and i nearly squealed out loud at my desk. (ok, i may actually have squealed.) ringling picnic is a collection of food trucks (!) that will form a sort of "food truck court" in sarasota every monday through friday from 7 a.m.- 3 p.m.  i'm ridiculously excited and can't wait to try the food and see how sarasota responds. so far the lineup includes a coffee truck, a mac-and-cheese truck (uh, yum), a mexican-food truck and a truck that serves sliders -- and the facebook page promises that more are to come (here's hoping for some sort of fantastic dessert truck).

so yes: here's to one more thing to love about sarasota.

do you have food trucks in your town? do you love them, too?

photos of food trucks in orlando at an event near my parents' house by me. in fact, that's my mom in the second photo waiting for her food from the amazingly delicious korean bbq truck -- she loves a good stripe and some sperrys, as she should.

scenes from life lately.

these were supposed to be part of my usual monday "scenes from the weekend" post, but -- as you can probably guess from the radio silence around these parts so far this week -- life intervened. so here they are on wednesday instead: gorgeous afternoon light; a view of a pretty lake (can you see the bird sunning himself on the tree?); fuchsia azaleas; and a knot of clover -- all taken at kraft azalea gardens in my hometown on a perfect saturday afternoon.

happy wednesday, friends.

all photos by me

what are you doing this weekend?

it was a week of small victories.

i executed (that sounds so formal) a work project that's been on my mind for a long time, and got a lot of other work stuff done, too. i (finally, finally) got my broken windshield wiper fixed. i exercised. i did laundry. i gave myself an at-home pedicure (the color? essie's "bachelorette bash," a hot pink). and most importantly, i did pretty well with my commitment to not complain and even learned some other lessons while doing so.

so yes. it was a good week.

this weekend i'm heading to orlando again and am looking forward to one of those weekends that feels long. movies, long walks (the weather's supposed to be a balmy 80 degrees for the next few days) and relaxation are on the agenda, and i'm so looking forward to all of them.

what are your plans? tell me, and i'll see you back here on monday. have a wonderful few days!

photo of sarasota bay by me

a little update.

remember my goal to not complain this week?

that was a really good bullet point to add to the weekly list. while i know i haven't managed to stop entirely (a few complaints have definitely slipped out), i have really been thinking about what i'm going to say before i actually say it, and that in and of itself is kind of amazing.

case in point: yesterday i was driving home from work and an elderly man with a thatch of white hair in a huge buick was trying to make a left-hand turn from the middle lane of the road (not the designated left-hand-turn lane). i'll be the first to admit that i tend to have a wee bit of road rage, and normally i would have been sighing up a storm and making faces and and wondering why i had to get stuck behind this other driver. but instead i just kind of cocked my head and thought, "you're not supposed to be complaining!"

so i didn't.

and i arrived home in such a sunny mood. removing the option to complain totally kept closed the window of negativity that could easily have opened had i done it. i realize that it sounds cheesy and new age-y and silly (and my friend kate, who might be reading this, is probably saying something about how i live on a marshmallow -- hi, kate!), but i think it kind of set the tone for the rest of the evening. i didn't vary my routine -- i worked out, i cooked dinner, i watched this week's episode of new girl, i talked on the phone -- but again, i think i removed some potential negativity. and i feel good about that, especially in the wake of what's been a really busy week.

how about you? how have your weeks been so far? tell me, i'd love to hear.

p.s. happy february!

photo by weloveunicorns