Office Peek + InstaThis

This tiny peek of my office is brought to you by a nice little company called InstaThis––a site which allows Instagram users to print their photos on assorted sizes of wood and acrylic. Being the Instagram lover that I am, I happily accepted InstaThis' offer to review one of its products; the most difficult part of the process was selecting which photo to print––something cute and family related (e.g., my dog & cat snuggling) or something a little more artsy? In the end I went with the latter, printing a photo of some antlers and a vintage blouse that I took after a trip to my favorite antique mall. I am beyond pleased with the results and have already began talking to my boyfriend about which photo we should print next.

At the end of this post I snuck in a photo of my mom in her wedding gown, mostly because it had already found its way into the photos anyway. I've always loved how well the author describes her dress, veil, and bouquet in the newspaper clipping: "She wore a formal gown of Chantilly lace over peau taffeta featuring sequin and pearl trim. Her bouffant tiered skirt extended into a full cour train. The bride's veil was attached to a frontal headpiece of organza loops, lace leaves, and peral trim and she carried a bouquet of glamelias centered with an orchid." What a babe.

• Get your own print from InstaThis here.
• See more of my Instagram feed here.

Journal Accesories

The days are getting a little easier now with school assignments winding down. I've still got a few more papers to write and tests to take, but at least I can see the light now! I wanted to share this tiny stamp set I bought on etsy months ago. I didn't expect the blocks to be as small as they were, but I can't really say that I mind much. They work perfectly well in my tiny journal!

Stamp set from Zakka Lover (they sell lots of washi tape too!)

Around the house

(photos taken with instagram; @starrcrow)

I'm sorry my blogging has been so sparse lately. Until I can produce another outfit post, hopefully a peek into my home will suffice. Some things I'm still searching for: a large Edwardian era rug, a mid century credenza, a no-nonsense floor to ceiling shelf for all of my shoes, more miniature trinkets to display in my printers tray, and as many wooden crates as I can find.

Cat Eye

Dress & Tote: Estate Sale
Espadrilles: Salvation Army
Scarf: Goowill
Sunglasses: Studded Cat Eye Sunglasses from Urban Outfitters (on sale!)

It's been a long time since I last wore this dress. It was an estate sale find that I used to rotate into my wears each week, but after putting on a couple pounds, it was relinquished to the closet for a while. I didn't try it on again for a least a year, until the other day I thought, hmm, let's just humor myself and see if this little girl will zip. It wasn't nearly as small as I remember, but I know I couldn't have lost too much weight since then, as I've been eating just as much as I was before! If anything, I think the confusion was just augmented by time and a lack of memory, because it zipped just fine. It was a little tight in the bodice though. . .

I tossed around the idea of listing it on etsy, so that some other girl might give it a better life than me, but again, I get stuck on the fact that I think it's so cute and perfectly 60s lady-like. It probably didn't look bad at all, but to avoid any insecurities about the bodice being too tight, I tied a scarf around my waste for discretion.

I don't usually wear sunglasses inside, but for the sake of staying in the cool air and showing off my new cat eye frames from UO, I made some sacrifices for the camera. ;)

Housewarming BBQ

The housewarming BBQ we had on Sunday was such a great way to kick off the summer. It was the first time Jake and I had hosted a party in ages and maybe the first time we'd ever hosted a party with food. I guess we've never really had a good house for parties until now. Because I'm so oblivious when it comes to the kitchen and because I'd never cooked for so many people before, I relied on Brittney to help me plan the menu. In the end, it was pretty basic Southern things: burgers, mashed potatoes, macaroni, salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans. I can't take all the credit though. So many friends were calling to see if they could bring something to help me out, so I recommended that they bring either an appetizer or a dessert. Needless to say, we ended up with more food than we could handle.

Jake built a horseshoe pit in the backyard, and I bought some vinyl car wash bunting to stream across the fence and the carport. Lots of people brought their dogs (which probably ended up being the highlight of the party). Monkey wasn't a fan of all the activity, so she greeted people on the front porch as they arrived. The weather was cool when we woke up, but by the time friends started showing up, it was sitting at 70º; the perfect grillin' weather. You never know about that sort of thing. Rain can make or break an outdoor party, so I was happy to see it turn out so well.

It was also nice to see so many of my favorite faces in one place. Everyone was so sweet and told me that they loved the new place, and Marisa even told me that it looked like it should be on Design Sponge; that made me smile. And now that all of the friend festivities are behind me, I should be able to go around and get photos for the blog soon too. Look for a house tour to come!

Photos by me and Corey!

Instagr.am House Tour

We've been in the new place for less than a week, and I'm already almost done unpacking. I can't rest when there's boxes everywhere, not knowing where anything is. And besides i. love. decorating. I couldn't wait to get everything into place! We're now in a much bigger spot, and it's nice not feeling so stuffed. We went from having one room, a tiny office, a giant living room, and no storage to having two rooms, an office, a living room, a den, an attic, AND a garage. We're so happy!

I'm reading a book about everyday living in the 1860s and 70s, and the chapter I'm on now is talking about the houses and how almost everyone had a parlor in the front. The author describes it as a pretentious sitting room that hardly got used unless they had company. Since we have a big den in the back with wooden walls and heavenly lighting, I decided to keep the front room pretty simple (since we don't really need it), mostly for sitting and listening to vinyl. And (as pretentious as it might be) I insist on calling it a parlor. :)

Everything is still in the works right now. I've still got more things to hang and more curiosities to scatter, but I couldn't help but go nuts with the instagr.am yesterday. I promise real pictures once it's all put together!

the office.

the office.

the den. (i'm a national geographic collector.)

the sew room.

the den. americana. (starting a collection for my printer's tray.)

the parlor and the sew room.

Christmas 2010

This Christmas was one of the best I can remember in recent years. I'm coming to terms with the fact that it will never be as magical as it was when I was a kid – Santa and elves, Barbie's and bikes – but that doesn't mean that it can't be any good. I plan to show you some of my favorite gifts later, but for now, here are some of the people that made my Christmas extra special.

Meet Rylee! She was born on Christmas Eve Eve (two days before the big day!) to my little sister Jessica and her husband, Sean. It's their first baby, my first niece (I've already got a handful of nephews!), and she couldn't have arrived at a better time. It was so special to have her out of Jessica's tummy for Christmas! Look at those chubby cheeks.

My dad made a pretty convincing Santa, too! He was in his costume for a while, and when he finally changed and came back as 'Pop', my nephew Ethan said "Pop, you just missed Santa!". It was so adorable.

Christmas parties! There's nothing like being around a ton of friends during the holidays. We sat around trying to remember all the lyrics to our favorite Christmas songs as Phillip strummed along on his guitar – we only had to use google once!

Jake doesn't care much about Christmas, but he knows how much I love it and how much it reminds me of my childhood. A week before Christmas he surprised me by taking me to Home Depot to pick out a Christmas tree! It was incomparable to picking out and cutting down your own tree, but it was convenient and sooo last minute. I'm just glad we got one before it was too late!

 I had to work Christmas Eve, but a bunch of friends came over when I got off. We watched Home Alone (my favorite) and baked sugar cookies! My sister and I exchanged all of our gifts, and we all rung in the holiday together. It was special, especially since Jake had already left for his parents house in Hot Springs.

How was your Christmas? Tell me all about it!

Preparing For A Shoot

No time for a real post today since I have two shoots scheduled and lots of dresses to be putting on, but I figured I'd use this time to give you guys a peek of what I did to prepare for the shoot instead.

I started with a nice bright color palette to spice things up this time around...

found hats for styling,

purses for sale,

and an ocean of shoes that need to find homes too.

I created a very organized mess,

hemmed dresses,

and styled outfits.

I stopped to doll up my dress form,

and then again to take a blurry outfit photo for the day.


And as your reading this, I'm probably out taking the photos I prepared for. Hopefully I'll be able to have some those up by the end of the week!

Ann Taylor Shirt: Thrift $6
Jeans: F21 $12.90
Shoes: Salvation Army $6
Gap Cardigan: Hand me down from a friend
Heart Necklace: Yard Sale $2.50