chloe + mr. hubble!

Yesterday was 11 years since Chloe joined the family! I don't have words to express how much she means to me. I love my human family members to pieces but (shhh! don't tell them..) Chloe is the main reason I come back to hang out at home almost every single day ;) She's such a happy camper now that she's the only cat in the house. It makes me happy to see her so happy! She was abused before we adopted her so she's never been very comfortable with being picked up or smothered in kisses but oh how I wish I could just cuddle her for days and days. She's such a lovable, adorable fluffball! I'm so lucky that she sauntered into our life one chilly Valentine's Day 11 years ago.











Yesterday was also Mr. Hubble's anniversary! He joined the kitty brood exactly two years ago. He is SUCH a character. He's ornery as heck -- if I come home to find chewed up toilet paper strewn about, I know instantly who the culprit was. But he's so ridiculously sweet and affectionate I end up forgiving him in a heartbeat. Can you blame me? Look at this face! He cuddles with me when I go to sleep, and when I wake up I usually find that Arrietty joined him sometime overnight. It's so cute my heart almost explodes from the adorableness each morning!







Happy Anniversary, kitties!!

the elusive chloe

This cat hardly ever lets me take her photo. As soon as she hears me fumbling with my camera she immediately runs away or stops doing whatever cute thing she was doing that made me want to take her photo to begin with. So when she seemingly agreed to a little photo shoot on my bed the other day I was beside myself with joy. Cute pictures of Chloe! Where she is standing still! And actually looking at the camera in some of them!!!! I just had to share :D





My tiny little ham had to get in on the photo action, of course. Chloe is there side-eyeing Arrietty as usual. They get along well but Chloe is constantly suspicious of everything and everyone.

two very special anniversaries!

Today is a very special day in our household, because two of my kitties are celebrating their adoption anniversaries! First up is Chloe, who's been a member of my family for 10 years now. 10 years! It's surreal!! I feel like it was just yesterday that we brought her home, but at the same time I literally can't remember what life was like without her. I feel like she's always been sitting in the front window observing our neighbors or running down the hallway chasing imaginary mice.

When we met Chloe she was a tiny 1 year old kitten, and had just had surgery for frostbite. She had been found outside in the cold, curled up in a ball... she hadn't eaten in a while and had apparently given up on life. She still has neurological damage and part of her tail is missing. We spoil her like crazy to make up for all the suffering she must have endured during her first year.

She is a real tough broad now, though! She lets us pet her when she's in the right mood, and as soon as she's had enough she gives us a swift punch in the jaw. She's even knocked my brother's glasses right off of his face! But Chloe is also a sweetie pie and one of the cutest creatures on the planet. She is the reason that I became a cat person.





Today is also one year since I brought home Hubble! He is SUCH a character (I think you can really tell from his photos!) and a little ball of energy. Seriously, this cat moves so fast sometimes that my eyes can't detect his movement.. he is just in one place one moment and across the room the next. He's a complete sweetheart, and loves to cuddle. And he has the cutest little throaty meow!

I met Mr. Hubble after Hypatia had received a very bleak prognosis from the vet. (She ended up pulling through, miraculously! She's a little fighter!) My mom thought it would cheer me up to look at the cats that they had up for adoption, and this little guy was hiding UNDER his cat bed! How cute is that? He seemed so meek and scared, we just had to bring him home! We were actually supposed to pick him up on the 13th, since I didn't want him stealing Chloe's birthday thunder (yeah, I put the crazy in crazy cat lady) but the vet's office rescheduled and we ended up picking him up on Valentine's Day after all!

this actually happened.

No, I didn't take a picture of myself holding Hubble and photoshop in Chloe. This is an actual, authentic photograph of her in my arms. Why is this so earth-shattering that it requires a blog post, you may ask? Well first of all, I needed to document the cuteness. Secondly, this cat didn't earn her nickname "The Assassin" because of her sweet demeanor. She is a bruiser.

Chloe is incredibly stand-offish, but my mom always holds her when we get storms because, despite her gruff exterior, she's a little baby when it comes to thunder and lightning. This year I summoned the courage to start scooping her up myself when she turns into a whimpering kitten at the first sign of rain. She's just gotten so chubby that it's made the urge to pick her up get stronger and stronger, despite the very real possibility that doing so could result in serious injury or death.

And once I picked her up the first time it was impossible to not do it again. I can't even make out any bones in there because they're so densely encased in muscle and fat. She's just a big soft furry blob. I feel so bad for her when it's storming, because I know she's terrified-- and honestly, I'd give up this window of cuddle-opportunity in a heartbeat if she could overcome her fear-- but it's kind of nice to finally be able to hug this un-hug-able cat that I love so so much.

stormy weather

dress - charlotte russe
cardigan - forever 21
shoes & belt - modcloth
necklace - gift from amber

Taking daily outfit photos can be challenging when it's storming so badly that 3pm looks like midnight! You can probably tell from the graininess of the photos that these went through some pretty intense lightening in photoshop... sorry about that!

Despite the fact that it prohibits fantastic photos, I really love stormy weather! It's so cliche, but I absolutely adore getting cozy and watching scary movies whenever it's thundering outside. The one thing that makes storms a little less fantastic in our house, though, is that they scare the living daylights out of Chloe. She's usually a tough broad but the slightest gust of wind or drop of rain sends her darting under my bed, her fat little arms barely 1" off the ground.

while my blog was sleeping...

I hope everyone had a nice holiday weekend! I thought I'd do a little recap of some of the things I did during my week off from blogging and email (speaking of email, I'm getting caught up today and tomorrow :) I had a really relaxing and productive break but I'm so happy to be back! I can't believe how much I missed blogging, even for such a short time.



I tried enacting a little spending freeze, but that was immediately thrown out the window when I saw Rachael from The Paraders launched her new website. Look at this dress!! The mint color and pretty pleating?! I had to have it. Of course it doesn't hurt that she's offering 20% off right now (coupon code NEWSITEB) My willpower is being seriously tempted by this number, too. Please somebody snatch it up before I whip out my wallet again! ;)



Saturday night me and my brother played card games and then dyed eggs! We usually do patterns or try to write on them with crayons (which always fails) but this year we thought it would be pretty to do simple one-color eggs. I think they came out gorgeous!



I whipped up a little DIY I'll be posting later this week! I don't do them often enough, but this is by far my favorite one I've ever come up with. And that includes the cat skirt! ;D



One evening I spent the entire night playing with and photographing my cats. I wish I could do that every night! I love this one of Chloe that I took from below. She's such a manic kitty and this picture totally captured her personality!



I painted my nails for Easter, and drew a little bunny on my thumb! I tried doing a matching bunny on my right hand, but the black dots for the eyes were coming out so huge that it looked like a demon rabbit, so I stuck with one single bunny lol...





Some supplies that came in the mail for a new project I am SO excited about! I'm working on it this week and hopefully I can share it by Friday!!



I got a lot of new Flapper Doodle goodies into the shop, too! This is a set of sweater clips where the chain serves as the string link between the flappers playing telephone! This was a little collaboration with my mom, since she's a lot more skilled with jewelry making than I am :)



Also in the shop, a set of cat lady note cards! There are 6 cards in all, featuring my various drawings with cats and flappers :) I had a lot of fun doing the photos for this one.. obviously!



For the first time since (I think) December I finally did some new drawings, too! The one on the right was inspired by the beautiful lady ties by Flapper Girl! (I wore one in an outfit post here.)



And, finally, I dyed my hair. I'm sure I'll do pink again someday but it just wasn't feeling me-ish anymore. I'm not sure if the picture captured it right, but in person it looks exactly like Hayley Mills' hair color in The Trouble with Angels! I used bright red hair dye, but my tresses are a little over-processed and color just isn't sticking the way it should, so this is what I came out with. I love it though! I'm actually a little sad that I probably won't be able to recreate it since it was a hair dye goof! ♥

Happy Birthday, Chloe!

A very happy birthday to my little Chloe! I can't believe it's been nine whole years since we adopted her! I can remember going to meet her on a chilly, rainy night. She still had bandages on her paws from being frostbitten, and the hospital staff had nicknamed her "Frosty." She was so teeny tiny and undernourished, and just so helpless. So it warms my heart to see what an incredibly content (and incredibly chubby!) cat she's become! She's definitely the queen of the house, and I can't help but smile whenever I'm around her!

ps. you can read her adoption story here.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from me and Hypatia!

...and Chloe, who refuses to be held, but was, much to my astonishment, okay with letting me prop a hat on her head for twenty minutes.

oh hello there

dress - modcloth

tights - we love colors

belt - from another dress

shoes - from my grandmom

bow - hive & honey

Look who decided to show up in one of my photos! Miss Chloe! Hypatia practically lives in my bedroom, so when she photo-bombs one of my pictures it's old news... but CHLOE! She's the elusive cat in our household. She hides under beds and tables or in boxes... even behind the toilet (Pleasant, right?) She's very aloof and doesn't really like attention, so when she decides to grace us with her presence, it's like Christmas!

ps. That belt is from a vintage dress I just got in the mail... I'm so in love with it (the dress, not the belt.. although that's lovely too!) I'm going to wear it tomorrow, and just do Posh Frock Thursday before I leave for Disney, lol! :D

room tour part 1

I'm breaking this up into a few posts so I don't have too many photos, and also because I'm not entirely finished with the other side of my room yet, haha :)

So... this is my bed! I bought the four-poster frame from IKEA a few years ago during the Moroccan bedroom phase, and I love it too much to part with it even though it doesn't match my room anymore. I know it's probably the opposite of good taste, but I'm thinking about painting it a grapefruit pink color! :D All of the bedding is from IKEA (old) and I got the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers poster on ebay a couple years ago.

At IKEA this weekend I bought a couple heavy-duty hooks to attach to the wall next to my bed. I'm using them to store some extra dresses that don't fit on my clothes rack. I picked out dresses that match my bedroom, and I'm using them as artwork! It's decor and storage for the price of one! :D

Hypatia has her own little pink bed that sits on mine, and every night she curls up in it right next to me! The blue pillows behind her cat bed are there to keep her bed from sinking into the small gap between my bed and the wall :)

Tomorrow I'll post the rest of my room!