Closet wish list

This is a short week for me. I have tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday off from work for New Year's. And I plan to make the most of it. Tomorrow I plan to spend a good chunck of the day in my closet, playing dress up, trying stuff on, listening to good music, and purging. I used to be afraid to get rid of anything in my closet because I worried that the minute I would get rid of something would be the minute I desperately wanted to wear it. And so far, that has never happened. Besides, by getting rid of things, I am making room. And that means I get to go shopping. I'm on a mission to create a working closet -- one that is filled with fewer, quality, coordinating basics. And a few special surprises too. That way I can jump in there every morning and easily pick out an outfit without spending too much time or stressing out over it. The closet revamp begins now. And here are some things that I will be filling my closet with in the near future:

I have been wishing for these boots forever. But I can cross them off my list now because guess what is headed to my house this very afternoon? Happy Birthday to me.

I am having a moment with Piperlime. And partly because of this shirt. Would be so cute with a pair of cropped black pants or skinny jeans (both of which I already own) and booties.



Is there ever a time when I'm not thinking about J.Crew? It is my absolute fave and I want these wool minnie pants and grey matchstick cords from them so badly. And they're both on sale. Yes please.

I have been lusting over these cute heels from Urban Outfitters for a while now. I can't decide if I want them in the tomato red or the mustard yellow. I think yellow.

And finally, I am in desperate need of new black pumps (I still haven't replaced the ones I complained about in this post). And new booties. I need new lace up booties. I think these will do nicely.

My love letter to Thriftbooks

Spend Less, Read More.

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I've mentioned Thriftbooks.com many times (here, here, here and here) but I just can't say enough good things about them. Started in a storage unit in 2003, they buy used books and sell them online for amazingly low prices. They are the nation's largest online seller of used book. And they are starting to grow internationally. The headquarters in Washington carries five million used books in stock at any given time and processes an additional 100,000 books each day. And they've teamed up with smaller used book stores around the country to offer an even larger inventory. So not only can you find almost any book you're looking for at a ridiculously low price, but they also provide free shipping to anywhere in the U.S. They even sent me a discount coupon for my birthday. And as if that wasn't enough, they are doing great things to help save the planet. By selling used, they recycled 52 million books in 2010. That's 52 million books worth of paper saved from landfills.

I love Thriftbooks. I only buy used books now and almost exclusively from them (we have one local bookstore but it has nowhere near the inventory or prices). If you haven't checked them out yet, you definitely should.

Just call me Vincent

Kristin came over for some crafting and catching up this afternoon. We watched Love Actually, ate baked potatoes, and video chatted with Lauren & Han Joo. She made earrings and I painted Van Gogh's "Sunflowers". If you squint hard enough, it almost looks like the real thing.

And now I am spending the evening baking Christmas goodies and listening to the (500)Days of Summer soundtrack that I got at the Order's Christmas party last night.

Happy Day before the day before Christmas!


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Suite Francaise

Even though I'm still working this week (just for a few hours more!) I decided to go ahead and commence with the reading of the new books I got a few weeks ago. I thought I was saving them to read during my time off but I was wrong. I was saving them for right now.

I am currently reading a book called Suite Francaise by Irene Nemirovsky. So far, it's fantastic. I had started reading it once before, a few years ago, but since I had borrowed it from the library, I had to return it before I could finish. But now I own it and can read it as slowly as I'd like and no one can stop me from finishing.

From Amazon.com:

Beginning in Paris on the eve of the Nazi occupation in 1940, Suite Française tells the remarkable story of men and women thrown together in circumstances beyond their control. As Parisians flee the city, human folly surfaces in every imaginable way: a wealthy mother searches for sweets in a town without food; a couple is terrified at the thought of losing their jobs, even as their world begins to fall apart. Moving on to a provincial village now occupied by German soldiers, the locals must learn to coexist with the enemy—in their town, their homes, even in their hearts.

I think it's no secret that I love books about Europe during WWII. And I think it is so incredibly interesting when books that have been undiscovered are suddenly found years later and published after the author has died. So it's only natural that I would love this book. The author, Irene Nemirovsky, was a Russian Jew living in France in the 1940s. She was captured and taken to Auschwitz where she died in 1942. But her children escaped with her manuscripts and kept them hidden until they were finally published in 2004. That's sixty two years, people. And that is amazing.

Almost Christmas

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The office is dead. No one is here. There's nothing to do. And time is passing so slowly. I've never been more ready to go home.

I've been trying to convince Andrew to let me open my Christmas presents early. Every day I come home and there's more. And they are huge. We're talking too big to fit under our tree huge. And I can't even remember what I asked for that could possibly be that big. And that's got me excited because presents that I didn't think to ask for are usually my fave.

I'm thinking I may have a half day tomorrow. Or maybe not go in at all. Still debating. I've still got cookies to bake. And blankets to snuggle up in.

Today is my dad's birthday! Happy Birthday Diddy! Before I head home for his bash, check out my favorite names of towns in Arkansas (found during during work this morning):

1. Bald Knob
2. Blue Ball
3. Delight
4. Friendship
5. Jerusalem
6. Locust Bayou
7. Macedonia
8. Pencil Sims Bluff
9. Smackover
10. Stamps
11. Sweet Home
12. Swan Lake

P.S. Kristin is back! 3/4 Order Christmas party tomorrow night!

More Elle Fanning

As mentioned in this post, we are big fans of Elle Fanning. And while eagerly awaiting Somewhere to appear at our local theater, I stumbled upon this interview with her in Interview Magazine. Not only is she insanely gorgeous, but she is incredibly cool. And she's only 12. I can guarantee that I was nowhere near her level when I was 12.

Here it is

As promised, pictures of the hair:

Big hair news

I am now a redhead. Went to Kat's salon after work yesterday and she transformed me into the redheaded beauty I am today. No picture yet. My iPhone's camera does not have the capability to capture the radiance of it. But there will be pictures soon so look for them.

Also, someone at work sent this video to me in an email. It's cute. And I like to imagine that this is what Tillie would be like on Christmas if she had her own Snoopy style doghouse outside.

I love Zac Posen. I do. His clothes are beautiful. And I really love his Z Spoke Fall 2010 collection. It's at a slightly lower price point so normal people can actually afford it. It's still slightly out of my reach since I don't exactly have an extra $500 laying around to spend on a jacket, but I can dream. And drool.

Shoes!

I wore my black pumps to work yesterday. Mistake. I came home and shook them off my feet and across the room, swearing to never subject myself to them again. They are awful. Uncomfortable. A disaster. I have tried everything to make them bareable but it's no use. So I'm ridding myself of them.

The good news is that since I no longer have a pair of basic black pumps, I get to go shopping for new ones. I spent some time looking around online (thank you shopstyle) and what I came up with is interesting. Yes, there is a pair of black heels (with insanely cute soles) but more importantly there are two beautiful pairs -- one deep turquoise, one dark plum. Not black, I know, but so pretty and comfortable looking.

Meteor showers & more

Tonight is the Geminids Meteor shower. The big show is supposed to kick off around midnight so grab your blankets and mugs of hot chocolate and go watch it. Or stay inside and watch the live streaming video on the NASA site.

Andrew has his last final tomorrow and then the Christmas partying can begin. For him anyway. I've got another week and a half before my celebrating can commence.

Also, how cute is this outfit from J.Crew:

Other things:
our laptop battery died.
the great Christmas cookie bakeoff of 2010 has officially begun.
David Sedaris has me laughing out loud with "When You Are Engulfed in Flames"
Thriftbooks brought me many great books today and that means a wonderful impending Christmas break

And here we go

Things have been a little nuts lately. We've been dealing with busy work days, studying for finals, sickness, and Christmas shopping and decorating. But we're back and we're ready to party. Here are a few of the things that you missed:

We have a new Christmas jam, "Electronic Santa" by Blazer Force. When Andrew listened to it, he said "I have never heard a song about Santa that made me want to dance before". And trust me, this song will make you want to dance. So don't listen to it in a public place unless you're meaning to show off your mad skills.



This commercial had us laughing last night. I haven't seen Andrew laugh that hard at anything on TV in a while.



This past weekend, we set up our tree. The candy garland is from when I was a kid. It used to hang on the trees of my childhood and I would try to taste it. So if you look closely, you can see where some of the candies have been unwrapped and there tiny teeth marks in the styrofoam underneath. And the little red shoe ornament is one of my favorites. Tyler gave it to me a few years ago and it says "all I want for Christmas is peace on earth and really cute shoes".

A few nights ago, Andrew and I finally perfected avocado sushi at home:

And finally, here are a few more of our lego creations:





Here are some things I can tell you about.

Not a lot has been happening lately in our world. At least not much to talk about.

Andrew and I got sick over our Thanksgiving break. I ate nothing but a plate of broccoli. Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday because I hate eating. Or at least "typical" holiday food.
I was finally feeling better by the beginning of this week.
But this morning Andrew woke up feeling awful. I think he has the flu.
And I got to hang out with one half of the dynamic Walker duo. Three weeks and counting until I get to see her again.
I have eaten Chick-fil-a fries for at least 4 meals over the past week. And it has been amazing.
I'm still addicted to Amazon.com cyber week.
And we made our own avocado sushi for dinner last night. Delicious.

I have some pretty cool things to share with you. Maybe I will do that at work tomorrow. So check back here soon.
But that's it for now. Sorry, I will work on being more interesting.