Succulent should be a dirty word

Pinterest strikes again. This time in the vision of a succulent garden. I've been eyeing these adorable little glass spheres of unneedy greenery for over a year now... Never could find a reason to pull the trigger... But now in the bleak, bleakity bleakness of the Cincinnati winter I want some green in my life. And those fiddle leaf fern trees are just way the hell too expensive. Trendy trees are definitely something is never thought I'd be craving...

Mmmm figgy fern goodness

So yesterday I was running errands and headed to Home Depot. While waiting for my Cherry Cola paint selection for an accent wall I'm painting without permission in my apt, I wandered over to the plant section. The plant section in Ohio is approximately the size of a guest bathroom. Why? Because only garden assholes like me think they should be gardening when it's below zero outside. On that note I recently had a patch of grass delivered in more or less a pizza box for my puppy to poo in peace in. She wants nothing of it, and as such I now have a box o' turf on my porch, collecting snow...

Pre-porch... that would be a glass full of a random dog's yella snow.
Things get weird in Cincy.

I digress. I found some cute succulents. (What is a succubis? I know it's from some kiddy thing and I can't remember... But I want to say it every time I write succulent...) I then went to Michael's and found a mediocre glass bowl and some even more mediocre artsy fartsy pebbles and stones. I carried around a miniature dwarf in my basket for a hot minute until I remembered that I'm supposed to be hiding my Lord of the Rings affection from the public until my Frodo costume arrives for Comicon. Realizing the pebbles may not be enough, I bought some Spanish moss too. Which is absurd to have to pay for since I grew up with the stuff being a nuisance full of chiggers... Makes for great costume pubes though.

I got my goodies home and realized I'd made a whoopsie. Uh oh. They need dirt?! I've seen these things chilling in nothing but air! Clearly my green thumb and I are at a crossroads...

I know what you're thinking - they're going to let you procreate and care for a human at some point in the very distant future? But how human are babies, really? Much like a succulent they just need small amounts of food and daylight and someone to change their soil. See? I'm prepared.

After some prodding and digging and breaking of small plant arms, here's what I've got.

Pretty lame. I should've gotten a fish. And the gnome.

For added charm, I have been using a nettipot to water.  Straight from my nose to my little cacti friends.

2013 Henri Bendel Holiday

My 2013 Holiday Catalog came in the mail from HB!!!  *drool*

 



 

 

One of the reasons Hubs is lucky I had to stop going to NYC for work...

I hadn't seen the Henri Bendel flagship in the daylight yet!

Valentine's Wishes & Wants and a Timeline of Awkwardly Forced Romance

The season of Cupid and all things dopey and dripping with desires for affection and attention and overstimulated sweet-tooths.  It's funny how this season evolves over your lifetime.  A synopsis:

Kindergarten

Mom strings a red paper heart around your neck and sends you on your mini festive little way.

Probably with heart patterned skivvies.

Elementary

You're forced to make the difficult decision of which trendy super hero/cartoon character wrapped up with a lollipop and a clever, if not inappropriate  quip to your classmates, many of whom you never talk to on the playground.  One (or three in my case) you hope will translate into fairy tale romance under the swingset.  Extra points if you make your own receiving box.

Middle

This is just awkward.  No two ways around it.  Boys, girls, adults.

This is just a terrible time in romance land.

High

Now you're just showing off, a la Mean Girls.  My school on Hilton Head actually did do the heart-shaped lollipop candygram business.  They were fabulous - swirly white and blue/red/purple life-save style goodness.  

I bought in bulk and kept for myself.

College

Half-priced red shots all night!  Single?  Mingle here and don't go home alone!

And there's a run on the VS lingerie, so now you're stuck wearing an orange nightie.

Real World

Crap.  Presents?  Does a night on the couch with different patterned PJs count as romantic??

At least you can now afford to sub an expensive bottle of wine/champagne for the shots...

(Except last year, where P got confused on my pink champagne request and brought home a raspberry flavored Andre-imposter... That's right, knock-off Andre.  He tries so hard.)

P and I actually have done a good job of staying away from the V-Day hype.  We usually just cook a nice, romantic meal and give some good cheesy presents and enjoy each other's company sans TV.  This year we each have a trick up our sleeve apparently, as Friday is surprise date-night a la Patrick, and I took it upon myself to make some secret plans for Saturday!  

Here are some fabulous things I'd love to have in time for this season of silly pinks and reds:

J. Crew Blazer | Parisian Chic | Pretty Note Cards

Kiss & Tell Compact | Tory Studs

Bath Salts | Glittery Bobbies | Pretty Silky Shirt

Wishes & Wants: J. Crew Jewelry

Loving all the fun jewelry at J. Crew right now! Especially the fun enameled froggy pieces! So cute!

And with 40% off final sale (code "get40") I may just scoop up the little lobster for myself... for Valentine's Day... obvi.

Kate Spade-iversary

Happy 20th Birthday to Kate Spade!

She who has taught us to #livecolorfully and #dreambig!

My obsession with Kate Spade started a long, too long time ago in 10th grade, which would've been 2001.    A girl who rode the bus had a new purse that greatly out-did my Le Sac.  Remember those?  Nasty little crochet cross-body items in a perfectly lame square?  Well, I had a knock-off from Claire's.  It was bad.

Luckily, Anna also knew about consignment shops and showed me a little place near the only movie theater on Hilton Head where I found my very first Sam bag.  Black.  Nylon.  The signature classic.  

Stolen at boarding school.  There were significant tears.

Anna introduced me to the kind of jealous wonder that has brought me to my current collection of 10+ purses, jewelry-a-plenty, business card holder, wallet, agenda, toasting flutes for my wedding... name it.  

Yellow, green, navy, pink - stripes, polka dots, bedazzles - patent, wool, nylon, quilted, leather

Pops of color you just can't compete with in the stodgy world of black and brown attaches.

So here, from her new collection of lovely pops of jealous craving, are my favorites this season.

Especially that blue bag and the bridal idom bangle!  Love them!

Wishes & Wants: Salted Caramel

Ever since I made these individual salted caramel cheesecake hunks of heaven, I have been craving the flavor. Something about the sweet almost nutty flavor of the caramel and then it zings you with the salt. So wow.

Talenti Gelato e Sorbetto - Sea Salt Caramel
We were introduced to this by the fiance's parents who, usually ultra conservative, explained it simply as "an orgasm in a jar."  True story.

It even has it's own video, it's so good!

Keurig Cafe Caramel K-Cups
If you like your cream and sugar with a dash of caffeinated coffee, this is it.  I very rarely drink 2 cups of coffee, but one of these first thing in the morning to warm up is simply not enough.  So fabulous and richly flavorful.  [The Chai Latte ones are very legit too, FYI!]

Cafe Escapes

Stoli Salted Karamel
For the adult side of dessert - put some of this in your coffee, or make one of the fun and very winter/holiday drinks they suggest like the Karamel Banana!

Andddd just because it also looks delicious and caramel-ish:
Henri Bendel Brown & White Barrel

Henri Bendel Classic Barrel

Wishes & Wants: Turquoise

Halfway through Winter and I'm already craving Spring - the warmth, the colors... the mimosas and Hoegaardens in the sunshine....  Especially those.

Growing up on Hilton Head Island, SC spoiled me to the core with constant proximity to the beach, and all things country club chic.  I love nautical textures, patterns and especially colors!  Even my wedding is predominantly navy with lots of navy/white striped linens and burlap textures!

The color turquoise has been my biggest obsession since I can remember - down to the first car I bought for myself: a neon turquoise (think Fast & the Furious) '93 BMW 325i, not-so-fondly nicknamed the Blue Bomber.  It died slowly but magnificently.  It was once towed and impounded for 2 weeks without my knowledge and I found it with 3 flat tires, a dead battery and 2 boots.  TWO boots.  In case I was going to take off on the only inflated tire...  In another epic moment, the car alarm wouldn't stop wailing as a poor valet (at Aiko in Altanta) desperately tried to get the thing started.  My 3rd party alarm had kicked the bucket - so in a moment of panic I pleaded with him to physically rip the horn out of the hood to end my embarrassment.  With the most incredulous look I've ever seen and a not so subtle "crazy woman," he obliged.  The bomber never honked again.

Back to the point.  My Spring inspired wishlist of the day:

Bracelet | Jars | White Croc Tieks | James Nares Print | Clutch | Chaise

Holiday Party Fashion

This morning I woke up, one eye open to the impending Birmingham chill and daily work out debate.  I diligently checked my Pinterest crew's faux-creative discoveries, the daily whining world of Facebook and the comedic musings of my Tweeter peeps.  And then!  My baby blog!  Aladdin pops in my head - a whole new worlddddd!  Still up, still shiny and new!  

Email is up next.  Immediate drama.  AdSense has denied me.  2 days old and already getting bullied on the playground.  Shameful.  As it turns out, Google is unimpressed that my traffic consists of 3 hits from spam sites... And 14 by me.  Fiancé is in trouble.

By now I have successfully occupied myself beyond my allotted workout window (a never-ending struggle - to jumping jack, or not to jumping jack...)  Then it's off to work, but not before drooling over some new holiday wishlist items, in time for the company Xmas party at the Fox??

BCBG Daphine

BCBG Prish

Henri Bendel Bangle - 25% with Free Shipping!