Crayon Box Mondays - ...but not really.

Dear Wonderful Reader,

I'd love to do a post today... but I can NOT focus on anything but my upcoming trip this Saturday! And I'm doing a post about that for Travel Wednesday. So if you would be so kind as to be patient and wait for an extra special, extra long post then I would be most grateful.

Also, I don't know if I'll get to a post for Friday either... sorry, it's a crazy week... because I'm FINALLY MOVING!!! Remember this post? the one that started it all? Well it's hopefully about to be realized. Two-bedroom bliss here I come!

Thank you,

~A

Zeitgeist Freitag - sleuths, detetctives, and investigators... oh my!

I've recently been watching a lot of Veronica Mars on Netflix. I don't know how I missed this show when it was on TV, but I'm finally catching up on all of the awesomeness. And this got me to thinking about private investigators and woman sleuths and how generally cool they are. I remember spending one whole summer reading all of the Nancy Drew books (in order, which drove my local librarian crazy since she had to get the missing ones from other libraries). I loved watching Scooby-Doo and my favorite was always Velma. And who could forget Miss Marple?

If you want to read some more on this topic, here's an interesting article I found. It's an overview of a critical survey of women in mystery and detective fiction.

But if you're an aspiring detective who wants to get out there and do some real sleuthing, some ideas...

Fingerprint clue pendant, ursulaandolive
Hamster noir print, happymooo
Junior detective necklace, paulaskitclub
Hollow book safe, SecretSafeBooks
Vintage trench, 11eggs
Invisible ink kit, criminalcrafts
Girl detective jam jar labels, starbee
Binoculars necklace, mamaslittlebabies
Femme fatale pill box, sweetheartsinner
357 Magnum earrings, OutOfTheAshes
Chanel lipstick print, emmakisstina
Vintage aviators, whatthefunk
Police tape wallet, urbanhazard

Travel Wednesdays - Travel

I hate when you type a word so many times that it starts to lose meaning. I was working on my travel post for next week... because I was having some inspiration issues for this week... and finally I decided to just talk about Travel in general. But I've used the word too much and now it just looks and sounds weird.

Oh well.

I'd say travel is fairly important to me... I've been doing it pretty much constantly since I was born in Germany on an American military base. At about three-weeks old, my mom took me to Paris to visit the Louvre. And since then we've traveled pretty much every weekend/holiday/school break exploring different corners of the world. We've also moved a lot because of her job, so I've lived in Germany, Turkey, Virginia (four different times), California, Florida and France. I also took a year off and traveled around the world. I'm up to 66 countries at this point and my goal is to get to 100 someday so I can join the Traveler's Century Club.

So here are some fun travel-y things for your consideration.

Compass ring, YOUgNeek
Train travel collage, apfelstrudel
Seatbelt passport wallet, interrobang
Jet necklace, geelizzie
Travel stationary cards, nicolealesi
Sample size travel pack, LilacAve
Mountain Dew luggage tag, squigglechick
Mornings Road, impulseART
Journey pendant, phoebemax
Journey journal, crackeddesigns
Weekend bag, StudioOneDesigns

Crayon Box Mondays - Sweet Brown

So it's just one of those Mondays where there aren't quite enough cups of coffee in existence. You don't want to know what number I'm on. But on the plus side, I made it out of the house (which was doubtful earlier), ran some errands, and made it all the way to... a coffee shop. Northside is tied for first place in my heart, but it's definitely first in the DC area. (What's the other you ask? Stardust in Orlando.)

Anywho. So coffee is the color/taste/smell of the day. Sadly, Crayola failed to ever have a crayon named that... so I'm going with "Sweet Brown," which is actually a fairly apt description at any rate.

Here is my lovely beverage I'm currently enjoying. Gorgeous, no?

Sooo... onto the coffee festivities. Which, apologies, are bound to me more coffee related than coffee-color related. That's what seven a lot of cups of coffee will do to you. At least I can still type.

Coffee marshmallows, calabasascandyco
Hello Darkness My Old Friend Print, standard
Emoticon coffee cozy, MouthyMitts
Coffee love necklace, PenelopesPorch
Under Pressure print, artbear
Felted stones, Fairyfolk 
Bold t-shirt, laughinghyena  <--when you get this, it comes in a coffee bag... how hilarious/awesome is that?!
Java sack pillow, georgiamarbles
DIY felt cafe drinks, umecrafts
Caffeine molecule tattoo, ElectrikPinkPirate
Gift card notebook, AlmondWorks
Espresso brown vase, corporanglass

Zeitgeist Freitag - faux bois

Faux bois is the artistic imitation of wood or wood grains in various media.

I kind of really hate the term "faux bois" though. It's just French for "fake wood," but somehow this makes it more fancy. And this annoys me.

However, there a lot of really cool things out there under this obnoxious appellation.

Woodgrain ring, ballandchain
Tree pillow cover, cozyblue
Out on a limb necklace, blockpartypress
Knock on wood plate, raedunn
Woody bow tie, toybreaker
Birch tree bolster, chicsindesigndotcom
Wood you keep my heart print, blockpartyprints
Pumpkin carving, apartment therapy 
Stump stool, Tanya Aguiniga
Papercut Art, tinatarnoff
Leaves pencil case, papavier
Little yellow tree suitcase, anotherjamiedavis

Sorry for the shorter post... but I'm off to CANADA!!! See you kids next week. I'm not even going to attempt to post something on this upcoming Crayon Box Monday... because I know I won't do it. =)

Hope everyone has a super fun Labor Day!  

Travel Wednesdays - Alberta

My passport is entirely too dusty, not having been used since like March. Ugh! But luckily the Mom, my friend J, and I are getting away for Labor Day weekend. Woo-hoo! And we're headed up to Canada! We'll be staying in Calgary for a night and then staying over in Banff and Jasper National Parks the next two nights.

So far the plans include a rodeo, some hot springs, hiking, gorgeous scenery on the Icefields Parkway, dinner at the Lake Louise Fairmont... and whatever other amazing things we find to do. Oh my gosh I CAN'T WAIT!!! IS IT FRIDAY YET?!?

                                                           Banff Realtors

I was going to do this post next week, but I've worked myself into such an excited tizzy about the trip that I need to do more than just scour travel websites and my Lonely Planet books. Or make packing lists. Or pack and unpack my old camera bag. (btw... How cool is this new camera bag I just ordered? I really really hope it gets here in time.) So instead I thought I'd spend some alternate scouring time on Etsy instead.  =)

One of the reasons I'm kind of excited for this weekend is actually, surprise of all surprises, for the cooler weather. I know I complain about hating the cold... but I kind of miss wearing scarves and my favorite long sleeve shirts. So first off, here is my vision of a perfect (slightly themed) ensemble for the weekend.

Organic cotton hoodie, Salts
Banff Scarflette, fadedblues
Glacier Earrings, NooniJewelry
Skinny jeans, modernbazaar
Lost leather cuff, Michelle Verbeeck
Eagle wing boots, blacksheepVL
Hoser tee, jamjamtees

And here are some pretty cool glacial (see what I did there? =P ) and Canadian Rockies inspired things...

Snow forest terrarium, wendiland
Soap/shampoo bar, swanmountainsoaps
Baby beanie hat, GroovyPumpkin
Glacier springs clip, Cultivar
Knit poncho, sassygraceboutique
Northern lights, haywardART
Card case, colorsbyliza
Bears planter, dustylorraine
Rhinestone brooch, Timeraveler
Labradorite ring, ThirtySixTen
Jasper pennant, birchandbird

And finally, because I really should do something else this week besides day dream about a trip that's like 3 days away, here's some local awesomeness from Alberta using Etsy's shop local tool.

Blue snakeskin ring, ImagineBetty
Sweet elephant pillow, BlueElephantStitch
Gathered bag, HandmadeTherapy
Plush polaroid camera, onelatenight
Freshwater pearl earrings, WildRoseJewels
Dad and son sock monkey, wearethemonkeez
Verdigris octopus necklace, lunetmuse 
Icy chill clover ring, Spiderella Studio
Fabric rosette clip, DollfaceDeVille
Tiki head, dancesippydance
Felted pom pom flowers, berryisland
Cupcake bath bomb, SimplyTempted

Okay, I'm done. I swear. 

How much do you want to go to Alberta now?!