Penny Loafers say What!?

Image via J Crew via Katie

Image via J.Crew

Holy Toledo kids! J Crew is making me long to wear Penny loafers, a la Nancy Drew.
I'm not even gonna pretend that this is the first time I've wanted a pair. I tried some on last fall and my friend said they were old man shoes. Well, Hello, old man shoes have never looked so good. I'm hot on the case of where to get some cute ones for less!

P.S. I really did like the Nancy Drew movie. I have no shame about it. I thought it was a charming addition to Nancy Drew history and not just because her clothes were so cute.

A Little Winter

I'm not gonna say who, but I know a girl who would love,love, love a trip to Portland in November to go the the Little Winter Market! Handmade goods? The Ace Hotel? Cute bloggers? Okay, I'll check my bank balance!

Music To Your Ears

Because sometimes you need to jam with the cool cats. Let me tell ya, no one is cooler than Stevie for not busting a gut at those sweet moves in the last video. Actually, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna use those at the next party I'm invited to. Look out Family! I'll use those for the Fourth of July! Talk about fireworks. Woah.

Sweet Little Instax

Busy day for Quindome. Off and about at 5:00 a.m.! Bleh. I thought I'd start the day with a few random Instax pictures I've taken over the past few weeks. My camera is pure delight, but I'm so cheap that each time I take a picture I think, "Oh, I hope that turned out! $1.30 can't go to waste". I know, I know. I need to just enjoy them. I don't lead a crazy extravagant lifestyle, right? I mean, you know, all those splurges on things like paper towels (Ooooh!), shampoo (Ahhh!), and lightbulbs (Wowweee!)... I hope you enjoy them.

Willard's- Delicious local BBQ joint.

Wine- So good for these hot summery days.

Say hello to my beloved Cabbage Patch, Claudette (Pronounced Claudetteeeeeee). She might be the coolest kid I know.

This piggy bank has a wicked super glue job but you can't see it. Isn't she cute?

Weekend Plans

Two naps in two days, sweaty visit to local farmers market, revisiting my love of vinyl, trip to new ice cream parlor, reading two books at once, and watching The Godfather 2. It will be a busy week at work, with an especially long day on Tuesday which begins at 6:30 a.m., so I'll try to remind myself next weekend isn't that far away. How was yours? Did you eat some popsicles and drink lemonade like I suggested?

Let the Whistle Blow

It's nine million degrees here, so whatever I do this weekend will most likely be indoors fun. A pressing paper publication means I'll be waking up bright and early on Saturday morning for some library action. Hopefully I can make it to a little farmers market and I'd really like to try out a new baking recipe, maybe even a pie. I hope your weekend is sunny, filled with lemonade and popsicles, and fully air conditioned!

P.S. This video is dedicated to my brother Raven. When we were little and we would see the first Country Time Lemonade commercial, we knew summer was coming. This would make us really happy and I never see those commercials without thinking of him. Even though this commercial was way beyond our time, I love when they ride off in the side car!

Sundays are for Lovers

Images via Lines & Shapes

Sundays are for Lovers is first off a fantastic name for a book and, secondly, an even better concept. Curated by Maria A. Vettese, who we all know from A Year of Mornings, it's a book about the things people and featured couples do with their Sundays. Maybe it's lame of me, but as I get older, Sundays really might be my favorite day. I know Fridays are for fightin', but I love the lazy way the world seems to work on Sundays. I mean what other day of the week serve breakfast until 4 in the afternoon? Naturally a high strung person, sometimes I'm glad there is a day when the whole universe seems to exist only for mellowing the heck out. I'll be adding this to my cart for a future Sunday morning.

Ladylike Charm

Images courtesy of Louis Vuitton via InStyle


I love a nice, clean ladylike look. While I'm more often than not, rocking my chucks and some jeans, this new ad campaign from Louis Vuitton really caught my eye. Not only does it have Christy Turlington in it, who looks like she hasn't aged a day, but it also has Karen Elson who is so cool and beautiful, she married Jack White. Aside from the fact that the clothes are so lovely, isn't the styling great? The ponytail hasn't looked that cute, since I stopped wearing mine on top of the very top of my head like a little radish from Mario brothers in third grade. In conclusion, even though I couldn't afford any of this in a buhjillion years, that's some pretty great stuff right there.

Lucky Rifle

Image via Rifle Paper Co.

Guess who just scored herself a sweet set of the cards from Rifle!? Okay, if you guessed Quindome, you were right. Good on ya's! Thinking of framing four and mailing out the rest. Aren't I such a paper junkie? Darn you paper lust! Fist Shakes aimed at you, wanton paper desire! And I wouldn't be a proper pusher unless I told you all to get some too.

Hot as the Dickens

Image via kunderwood on Flickr

Dear Northern Virginia/Washington D.C.,

You know I love you, right? You know that I thought you were hip even before Mr. and Mrs. Obama landed here, right? So then why are you punishing us with this brutal heat? How do you expect a girl to desire to do anything, especially go out for a mini jog, if you are going to be so sweltering? Please cool it with this. No pun intended.

Love,

Quindome

P.S. Is it hot as bollocks where you are too?

Etsy Love

It's been a while since my broke a$$ did a post about my Etsy Love, but today is the day, so let's get to it!

Image via Smackle
I have been dying for one of the vintage flip clocks for so, so,long! Isn't this fantastic?

Image via Primele
Yeah, these have been all over the blogosphere. I promise you if I wasn't a sad little graduate student, who moves every two years, I'd have one of these in a stamped up second.

Image via Darling Clementine

See? I would use my new stamper to mail out these. I love, love, love nice paper/cards and love, love, love, to send little notes in the mail.

Image via DrikaB
Mustard yellow, my color obsession, burlap handles, and a cute bird print? Divine.

Music to Your Ears

I think Roy Orbison is the bees knees. And from these videos, you can see that I'm not alone. Yeah, that is Bruce rocking out with Roy and Tom Waits wailing on the piano. Remember the weird scene from Blue Velvet with this Roy Orbison song? As a total side note, I think that when I'm in the car, all by myself, Roy and I make a fantastic harmonizing team. That's a secret though, so please don't go spreading it around!

Well Designed Mantle

Lately I've been itching to do some reorganizing and redesigning in my home, but I'd like to do it with things I already have. One of my priority areas is my mantle place. All I can stare at when I come in the door is my naked mantle, screaming and yelling for me to put some decoration on it, gosh dang it!This might have to be a project for next weekend. Suggestions? I've been browsing a few for inspiration, so here goes:

Image via Design*Sponge

Image via Design*Sponge

Image via Design*Sponge

Don Draper Yo!

Image via Entertainment Weekly

Umm, okay, so I was going to wait until Friday, which would be officially one month until the Mad Men season four premiere, but I can't wait. Just seeing this new poster, makes me want to throw on Season 3, pour myself an Old Fashioned (Okay, not really, because I've had one and they taste bad), and get lost in 1963. As a psychology degree holding nerd, I love the way the internet is buzzing with examination of what this poster means and am even more pumped that Matthew Weiner says the theme of this season will be an examination of who these people are without all the things that previously defined them. Oh, how I adore this show. Calgon, take me away!

Weekend Plans

RL's parents came to town this weekend on their way to the Outer Banks. We took in a baseball game, ate some BBQ, did some outdoor adventuring at Great Falls Park, made friends with some lazy bunnies near my house, and tried to do some relaxing. It's so nice to have visitors because it allows you to take in your city or town all over again, but I think we need to come up with some new fun things to do with guests. This means scouting out new locations and trying them out. I'm dying to try Pizzeria Orso (isn't that bear funny?) and need to take in some new farmer's markets. I know, I love Eastern Market too, but let's find one a wee bit closer, shall we? I hope your weekend was perfectly pleasant and I'm sorry this was late. I really do like to be on schedule with these.

She's My Joey Ramone

Images found via Google Image Search

Have you ever seen Rio Bravo? To wrap up our long weekend with RL's parents, we all sat down to watch what is, honestly, a really good Western. Not only does it have Dean Martin in it, but it also has Angie Dickinson looking cuter than ever. See? I like that Angie would only let the studio's dye her hair to honey blonde to avoid the Marilyn Monroe comparison because that color is pretty fantastic. Even if you think you don't like Westerns, I'd fully recommend this one. It's really well made and you can't go wrong with a movie in which Dean Martin, inexplicably, breaks out into song with Ricky Nelson.

P.S. Weekend Plans will be coming, but we had visitors and I thought plopping down at my computer might be a little rude. I hope you don't mind. Please say you don't!

Let the Whistle Blow

Image via BlueisCoool's photostream on Flickr

We'll be enjoying a visit from RL's parents this weekend for Father's day. I'm out of the office today in order to (eeep!) see the optometrist and then take in a baseball game. I already know the Dr. will tell me that my eyes are worse because the morning hunt, pre-contacts, for my glasses is taking longer and longer. Lately, I've been searching for a new pair of frames, so we may have to talk about that soon. Have a sunny, chipper, and all things delightful type of weekend! And have a lovely Father's Day!

P.S. Happy B-Day Pops! David, you are rad.

Are you Madewell?

Imagea via Madewell

I've shopped at Madewell and did get a very lovely top on super cheap discount. I'm not so sure I'm 100% loving J.Crew's little sister store, but this morning a few things did catch my eye. Bizarre? I never look at blue things, but here are two. I've now tricked you into thinking I like blue, when indeed it is one of my least favorite colors. Do you like their things?

Ms. O. Gosh

Oprah gave the staff of her magazine $10,000 and a new IPAD to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her magazine. I'm officially over not working for Oprah. Can some one hook a girl up?

A Confused List

Do you have things in life that you perpetually wonder about? I'm sure you do because:
A. When I was little and would complain how bored I was, my mum would say " Only two kinds of people in the world are bored, geniuses and dummies. Geniuses know everything and have nothing left to learn and dummies because they don't want to learn anything. Which one are you?"- Of course I said neither and proceeded to then try to amuse myself. I was no fool and knew there was no right answer.
B. There are just some issues that even Google can't answer.

Here are two of mine (from movies):
1. Have you ever noticed that people in movies always have baguettes in their shopping bags? I think this is an unfair representation of bread eating in America. Do you really buy that many baguettes in a year?
2. What makes Europe, but specifically Paris, always be the place that women go to in movies to "find themselves"? (Ex. Winnie Cooper in Wonder Years, Audrey Hepburn in Sabrina) Does no one ever discover who they really are in Amarillo, Texas or Spokane, Washington? Just sayin'.

What are you thinking on this Thursday morning? Tell me, friend.

You've Got Green on You

Image via Styleist

Lately, I've been enjoying wearing some cheapo green nail polish by Sally Hanson. Little did I know... I was so trendy! As I browsed InStyle last night, I came across this list of hot summer nail trends. I'm now on the hunt for this Essie color, Pretty Edgy. Nail polish is one of life's little pleasures, don't you think? When I was younger, my mum used to take me on errands with her after school and some of my fondest memories are of her letting me buy a Tiger Beat and, always, a new nail polish from Rite Aid. Ahh, those were the days.

Music To Your Ears

Because you know if this comes on the radio, you don't turn it down. You turn it way up!

Because they are rad, I'm going to see them soon, and that dinosaur makes me laugh.

Level and Tap

When I was in high school, I took a little photography class. I'm sure you already knew this from all my *cough, cough* stellar pictures. While I enjoyed the class, it always bothered me that photography seemed like such an expensive hobby. It's been nice seeing how digital cameras have democratized photography and I feel lucky to be able to enjoy so many wonderful photographers online every day. As a personal preference, I don't have many personal snapshots displayed in my home, but I would like to start purchasing some of the wonderful pictures I see online. I found this website called, Level and Tap, which does a great job of curating. It's based in a Flickr group, but then the pictures are narrowed down by an editing team and then you contact the actual photographer to purchase their work. See, so then we can all have our own awesome little art collections! Thanks internet! I have already talked about my desire to work on a mini art collection, and these are the ones that really caught my eye:

Images via Level and Tap

Weekend Plans

I ate too many Rainier Cherries after reading about them in this post, watched The Third Man, thought of deflating this balloon, but didn't have the heart, ate bad Mexican food, and tried to feel better from last week's allergy bout. It was an extraordinarily ordinary weekend, aside from seeing The Room at AFI. I needed to catch up on some rest and am still not sure I'm there. What did you do? Please tell me you ate some of those cherries too because they are the best I've ever had in my whole life!