Etsy Love: artLAB

I love Etsy because every day you can make a new discovery that makes you feel all nice and warm inside!  I recently discovered artLAB (a little late in the game) and bought my mother-in-law this amazing scarf for her birthday.

 

Which can also be worn like this...

and a few other awesome ways.  Patricia is doing some amazing things in her shop and I definitely recommend checking artLAB out!  

I always love learning about new etsy shops...

What is your latest etsy discovery??

This Got Me Thinking...

While perusing Made By Girl, I saw a post she featured that Tam had written at Get It Girl Style.  It talks about some of the not so positive things going on in the blogging world and it really hit a nerve with me.  It got me thinking about when I first started blogging almost a year ago and how fortunate I was that I didn't really run into too much of that negativity.  I was actually extremely lucky to get great advice and willingness to be in my features by some big bloggers (my blog "celebrities) and cannot thank them enough for that. 

Another thing Tam talked about was how if blogging becomes a chore and it's not genuine, take some time away.  This of course resonated with me because this is exactly what I've done the past few months.  As you know, it's been really hard for me to find the time to blog since starting my new job and I took a longer hiatus from it than I had planned.  I've started to really miss it though and have decided that it's something that I love and I'm going to commit to making more time for.

It also got me thinking about why I blog which is actually something that's been on my mind a lot lately.  I love reading your comments and hearing from you but I really do blog because I love it and love sharing my finds and thoughts with my fellow bloggers.  It's cathartic in a way sharing your thoughts with complete strangers--I'd say the majority of my closest friends don't even know I have a blog!!!  I guess you could say blogging is my "secret single behavior" (see post below).

Anyways, I'll get to my point, just wanted to say thanks to all of you that have stuck with me during my hiatus and hello to any new readers.  Also, thanks to all of the bloggers that participated in my "Blog Du Jour" series during my early blogging days--that definitely meant a lot to me and it was so much fun getting to know you all!  If any bloggers ever need advice or a new blog friend, I'm definitely here for you!

xoxo,
SARAH

Secret Single Behavior

I am one of those people that can watch Sex and the City over, and over, and over, and over again.  I've seen every episode and still laugh and cry at the ones I've seen a thousand times.  One of my favorite episodes though is "The Good Fight" where Aidan and Carrie move in together and it ends up being a bit disastrous at first (btw my favorite parts are when Carrie finds Aidan's rogaine and explains her second bathroom door as her "rape escape door").  Anways, the point of this story is that in this episode, Carrie discuss her "Secret Single Behavior" to the girls and how she needs some time alone.  Her SSB was eating saltines with jelly while standing at her kitchen counter reading magazines.  LOVE IT!  Again, anyways, I thought about this last night as I engaged in one of my guilty pleasures...






I admit, one of my guilty pleasures is watching the Bad Girls Club (or some other form of bad reality tv) and eating Dean's French Onion dip with Ruffles chips.  Wow.  I said it.  I'm unhealthy mentally and physically!  I mean I just can't help but love watching all of these dysfunctional girls fight, contradict themselves and just be plain crazy 24/7!!!

What is your guilty pleasure???

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You Owe Me $285

Yep that's right!  I am giving you a major steal to start your week off with... You owe me $285 to be exact. 

I've been coveting Stuart Weitzman's Alex Espadrille for the past year or so but am more of a budget shopping girl and admired from afar.  Then, last week I noticed Steve Madden has graciously given us "Fantastik" for a much more modest price of $80.  Although I'm not a fan of names spelled incorrectly like when you add a "z" at the end of a word instead of an "s," I'll still be Fantastik's (Fantastik'z) #1 fan.

 

                                                         Alex                                          Fantastik

                                                         $365                                              $80

Your welcome. :)

Some lovely things for your Saturday morning...

Just taking a look through Anthropologie... a few things caught my eye... I recently bought those quartz coasters... LOVE

Hats Off To..

Those that can pull off hats!  Lately I've been seeing a lot of headwear that I wish I could pull off.  First of all, I'm pretty sure I have a weird, huge head so the majority of times hats just don't look good on me.  I don't know what it is!  Oh how I wish these would look good on me...

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Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm a Bad Blogger.

I know!  I'm just awful!  A month and a half ago I promised to start blogging regularly again and then I feel through on my promise.  As you can probably already tell, I'm horrible with resolutions, much less goals... I still read blogs though and am constantly so inspired and it made me miss my blog and the lovelies that comment and make my day!  Things have been so crazy lately with travel, work and just everyday life but I really think I'm going to be able to do this!

So let me catch you up ...

I visited one of my best friends (and someone that is actually shorter than me!) in Kansas City!  It was my first time in the Midwest and I was surprised by how "not Midwest" it turned out to be!  KC is amazing with lots of great shopping and things to do.  I ate myself silly and has some crazy, crazy times with my bestie, Cindy (who always blogs here occasionally).

I celebrated my Golden Birthday (27 on January 27th) with some friends at an awesome place in Atlanta called Ormsby's.  It's a bar with indoor bocce ball, darts, pool, and tasty brews.  Good times with good friends!

We also went to Jacksonville for my husband's Grandfather's 90th birthday party--let me just say those senior citizens can party!!

After that, we went to Chicago for a weekend (a Christmas present to my husband) and has such an amazing time!  We both had never been to Chi-town and did all of the touristy things.  First we went to the Magnificent Mile for some shopping and I also found my way a blocks down to my mecca..

As huge top chef fans, we decide we had to try Rick Bayless' restaurant, Frontera Grill.  You can't make reservations but found out you have to get there by 4:30 to get in line for a pager.  We got there and there was already a line!  We were able to get a pager for the 6:00 seating.  We both has mojitos while waiting and ended up having the most delicious dinner of our lives.  It's hard to even describe the flavors that man has come up with.  Everything is so fresh and he's uses sustainable products. 

Of course, we had to try traditional Chicago deep-dish stuffed pizza and hot dogs!  We ate pizza at Giordano's and hot dogs at Portillos.  Yummm!!!

We did the touristy stuff like the John Hancock Observatory and Millenium Park..

And we ended our weekend at the House of Blues for a Slash concert (the real gift to my husband)

Lastly, this past weekend one of my close friends got engaged and we went to their engagement party... I also decided to channel my inner Rumi (fashiontoast) and get some highlights!  I tried what's called "color melting" and I love it!  They're kind of hard to see in this picture...

So, that's what I've been up to!  Plus a lot of additions to the house which I'll be sharing over the next few weeks.  Hope you all have had a fun month as well! :)