the first night

On Saturday night I brought over the cats and we spent our first night in our new home! It went so smoothly. Arrietty and Hubble did their fair share of investigating every nook and cranny before cuddling up in bed with me. It was so perfect and sweet!  My room is still a work in progress (basically the only room that's completely finished right now is the kitchen, which I'll share soon!) but it's finished *enough* that it feels cozy and home-like. I get the best light in the morning, my room was practically glowing when I woke up. It was gorgeous!



Tomorrow is my birthday (it really snuck up on me this year!) so I'll have my annual birthday giveaway posted here in the morning! I included lots of fun stuff so make sure to check back tomorrow and enter :D 

posh frock friday

dress - peacock plume

shoes - modcloth

necklace - c/o branchbound

earrings - forever 21

How beautiful is this necklace from Branchbound?! I decided to style it like a collar for this outfit, but I also wore it the other day as a necklace with a v-neck, and it looked so adorable! I love versatile pieces like this that can either act as a simple accessory, or completely transform an outfit.

I'll be on a little blogging hiatus now through July 24th. See you later! :)

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Would you rather be able to fly, or be invisible?

un, deux, trois

remixed item: sprinkled with sweetness dress from modcloth
outfit 1: sweater - f21 // shoes - marshalls

outfit 2: sweater - f21 // belt - old navy // shoes - blowfish // locket - handmade

outfit 3: sweater - old navy // shoes - modcloth // belt - h&m

Can you tell how much I love these dresses? Ugh, I think I could easily wear this and my navy one every single day. It'd be super monotonous, but I don't care! I'm taking this one along with me to Canada next week when I go apartment hunting. I'll be north of the border next Wednesday through Saturday, but I'll have blog posts scheduled for while I'm gone. And I have to bring my laptop to do flapper doodle work anyway, so I'll probably still check my e-mail and comments while I'm there :) I'm thinking of doing a little house-hunters style post when I get back where you guys can guess which apartment I picked?! Fun? Yes? No?


Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

If you had to spend the rest of your life wearing one outfit you own, what would you pick?

white collar

dress - forever 21

collar - asos

belt - forever 21

shoes - blowfish

I think collars are my #1 favorite accessory. They totally transform the clothing you're wearing into something completely different! This dress is cute on its own, but it's more like a tank on top, so the collar makes it a bit more interesting! :)

This weekend I discovered a big problem I'm going to have when I move. I got really, really sick on Saturday night, and my mom kept me company until 2am. When I'm feeling ill, I desperately need someone there with me. In my family we all wake someone up when we get sick in the middle of the night. If one person comes down with the flu, another family member sleeps in the living room with them and gets soup and tea whenever it's needed. We take really good care of each other, so I've grown accustomed to having help when I'm sick. The thought of getting the flu or some terrible stomach virus when I'm all alone in Toronto is TERRIFYING. So I was just wondering, anyone who lives alone, or has in the past, how do you handle sickness when you're all by yourself?

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

What is your favorite accessory?

take me away

dress - h&m

collar - luminia

shoes - modcloth

belt - h&m

I can't BELIEVE that I'm moving in less than two months now! eek! It feels like everything is completely normal, but not... I'm still doing my daily routines as if nothing is different, sometimes I totally forget that I'm moving and then it just hits me! I'm doing a pitiful job of preparing so far... as far as getting things for my apartment I have:

-utensils

-corn on the cob holders

-1 kitchen towel

-a cupcake maker

-a garlic roaster

Great start right?! lol! At least the cupcake maker can also double as a mini quiche maker? haha! I guess I'll figure all this out once it's actually a little closer to when I'm moving. I did come up with one idea that I'm really excited about... I want to get a lamp, radio, toaster and blanket that all look like the characters from The Brave Little Toaster. (I'd get the vacuum too, but I like using sweepers instead [less noisy!]) Anyway, I'm going to get them and put googly eyes on them, and I'm going to call the lamp "Lampy".

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

(If you've seen it) Who was your favorite character in The Brave Little Toaster? Mine was the radio :)

jumping hurdles

dress - swap with Amber Rose

belt - old navy

cardigan - forever 21

shoes - blowfish

There's been a little hitch in the proceedings with my move to Toronto... it turns out that to get a student visa you need to prove you have one year of living expenses in your bank account prior to your move -- which, by their estimates, should be a minimum of $10,000! :-O I think it's safe to say, as a 24 year old freelance artist who scrambles just to pay her netflix bill each month, I don't even have anywhere close to that amount.

Normally I would have been incredibly discouraged and probably spent the weekend in bed sobbing, but with my new positive attitude, I decided to take matters into my own hands and make this happen. I'm doing 200 paintings and selling them at $50 each, to try to raise the funds to get my student visa. So far this weekend I managed to get 16 done (it's tiny but it's a start!) and I hope to finish at least 100 this week. My only problem will be actually selling them lol ;-D

Once I have them up, if anyone would help me spread the word I'd appreciate it so much!! Someone would need to invent a virtual hug delivery service to properly express my gratitude. My whole entire future depends on me getting this visa.. so if you can help you'll be like my fairy godmothers!


Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

What is the secret to getting away with a bank robbery? lol j/k ;-D

scathingly brilliant moms

I know a lot of people think they have the best mom on the planet, but I really do. People who think their moms are the best meet my mom and change their mind. There's a picture of her in the dictionary next to "mother." There's also a picture of her next to "chocoholic" but that's beside the point.. She's just plain amazing, and I'm so so lucky to have ended up with her. When life is incredibly rotten and I think I have the worst luck ever, I remember that she and my dad are my parents and I realize I've got it pretty good after all.

Since I'm moving in a couple months, I couldn't give her anything sentimental today or there'd be a weep-fest for sure. (I'm having a hard enough time just writing this post.) I couldn't say it to her in person today, not wanting to turn us both into waterfalls for the next 24 hours, but she's seriously my absolute best friend on the planet. I'm going to miss her like mad and I can't wait for her and my dad to join me in Canada next year.

Three generations: my grandmom, me and my mom

my mom's mom, me and my dad's mom

Grandmom Dawn with my mom when she was a baby

Grandmom Eve with my dad when he was a baby

I know I probably love my cats TOO much, and a lot of people wouldn't think cats belong in a mother's day post... but I am so thankful for Chloe's mom and Hypatia's mom. They gave me the best cats anyone could hope for (albeit one of them tries to kill me on a regular basis, but still..) and I almost wish they were humans so I could send them some kind of thank you card..

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Who is your favorite movie or tv mom? I think mine is Glynis Johns in Mary Poppins..

come with me, where dreams are born, and time is never planned

dress - modcloth

collar - luminia

faux kneehigh tights - UO

shoes - H&M

Lately I've been missing being a kid. I had a really great childhood, incredibly carefree and fun. As I got older and things started to change, I was never happy about it. Mother nature practically had to drag me into adulthood; screaming and wailing and holding on for dear life to my precious childhood. I can remember having regular conversations with my mom all throughout middle school, discussing how amazing it would be if Neverland was real.

I'm 24 now, and about to live on my own for the first time... and I still feel a lot like a kid. I don't know if it's just that right-brained people tend to live more creative lives, and keep reaching back into the crayons-and-coloring-books resources of our childhoods, but I still can't see myself as an adult. It constantly amazes me when I see people my age - or younger - who are engaged, married or giving birth to their second or third children already, when I still feel a sense of grown-up pride over doing my own laundry. Then again, I have a feeling that I'll be 80 and still looking out my window waiting for Peter Pan to come whisk me away in the night.

Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!!! *clap clap clap*

home sweet home

With my teeny tiny itty bitty almost invisible budget, I'm probably going to end up with an apartment that's smaller than my current bedroom. But, that hasn't stopped me from dreaming anyway, pouring over design blogs and pinning everything I love on pinterest. Honestly, I've managed to do a lot with my little 11' square room, turning it from my childhood bedroom into a bedroom/studio/office/living room, with walking space to boot! I'm used to living in cramped quarters, so I think I'll manage, even if my whole apartment could practically fit in my palm ;)

Here are some of my favorites that have made it onto my "apartment ideas" board. Most of them are from sweet home style on tumblr, but you can get all of the source links here. (ps. how amazing is the giant pink cat poster a couple photos down? ahh!)




Do you want to comment, but have no idea what to say? Trust me, I've been there! So to make things a little easier, here is a question you can answer if you can't think of anything else to say! :)

Would you rather live in a giant mansion or a cozy cottage?

exciting news!!

(image via LolasRoom on etsy)

It's official -- I'm moving to Toronto! ahh! I just found out yesterday that I was accepted to the University of Toronto to study art history in the fall. We're planning on making a trip to scout out apartments in late July, and then I'll make the move in early August! It's happening!!!

I am going to miss my family SO much though. I was so excited when I saw the acceptance message, and hurried down stairs to tell my parents, my brother and my grandmother. As soon as I said it, my brother gave me a hug and while I was hugging him I saw my mom crying, so I started crying and before I knew it, me and my mom were both having a sob-fest. My dad just sat in the kitchen with this look on his face like "I'm so happy for you but I'm going to miss you so much." He's really stoic and I know he was just as upset as my mom but couldn't show it.

As you can probably tell from what I've written in the past, I'm really, really close to my parents so this is going to be hard as heck. I'm teaching them skype so we can chat face to face, and my mom is changing our verizon plan to cover all of North America, so I can talk to them on my phone all the time too. My grandmom is going to stay with me for a month to help me get settled in (she gets my grandfather's pension, and social security so she can manage to leave work for a little while) and then my mom is taking all of her vacation days in November to spend my birthday month with me. Also, my parents are letting me take BOTH of the cats -- Hypatia and Chloe! Hypatia is technically my cat, so she'd naturally go wherever I go, but Chloe is actually the family cat, so it's really nice of them to let me have her, too!

My dad is applying to U of T next year for his Masters degree, and my mom might apply to finish her Bachelor's degree, so hopefully I'll only be this far away from them for a year. They wanted to stay here until Kyle turns 18. He doesn't want to move to Canada, so this way once he's 18 he can live wherever he wants to, and they can follow me up north. People have always kind of made fun of me for being so close to my parents, saying I should grow up and move on... but I think you can do both. I'm going to have my own apartment now, but I still want to be able to see them all the time. It doesn't matter that we're related -- they are my closest friends, and I don't think you should have to part ways with your friends just because you get older. Hopefully next year we'll all be together in Toronto, and this experience will have lost the "bitter" and only be "sweet" :)

So... I'll definitely be sharing more with you as I get more information. Oh, and in case you're wondering, Flapper Doodle will not be affected at all. I'll probably need to close the shop the week I move, but I will be running it out of my apartment in Toronto once I get there. Same goes for this blog... there might be some filler posts in July & August (and I would love some guest posts, too!) but I'm planning on continuing to blog daily even after I move :) As long as I have my laptop I'm set ;)

a canopy of frocks

This week I finally converted my dressing room back into a functioning bathroom. Unfortunately, I was a little ahead of myself and forgot to find a new place to house all of my clothes! My parents are going to clean out their walk-in closet and give me a rung in there, but until they do, my dresses are all hanging around my canopy bed! If I wasn't afraid of having too much weight on my bed frame, I'd totally consider this as a permanent storage solution. It actually looks really lovely, especially when I wake up and the sun is shining through the dresses, giving them a beautiful halo.

Oh, Canada!

That's me during our trip to Canada in 2005, in a Toronto H&M pretending I was Stacy from What Not to Wear... I don't know why, but I never seem to take real vacation photos that prove where I was, they always look like I could have taken them in New Jersey :-p

Anyway, I do have a reason for posting a photo from Toronto... we have news on the moving front! As much as I had my heart set on moving to Cardiff, it's looking to be just too complicated. The super difficult visa process, the fact that our cats would have to be microchipped & wait 6 months before being able to go, as well as the idea of getting rid of all of our furniture & most of our belongings, were just too overwhelming. So, we've re-focused our house hunt to Toronto. We've been there and we LOVE it! It also doesn't hurt that the exchange rate is MUCH better than the pound/dollar.

I still plan on moving to Europe when I'm a bit older, preferably when I'm married or committed to a guy who would be willing to make the move with me. I'm terribly dependent, and don't think I could live without someone around to kill my bugs, zip my zippers and watch scary movies with me! ;-D

So, that's my little bit of news! Since it's a lot closer (and easier) than moving to Cardiff, we'll hopefully be moving sooner than we planned, provided our house sells in this so-so market. I'm really looking forward to making Toronto my home!

ps. TOTALLY off subject, but this was bothering me so much I made a gif about it .. anyone else have this pet peeve or is it just me?

how well maintained was my valley

(image via flickr)

It happened again this morning -- I was rudely awakened from my restful slumber by the sound of a lawn mower which sounded so close I could have sworn it was mowing my bedroom carpet. All summer I put up with lawn mowers, patiently awaiting the day that fall rolls around, when the grass doesn't grow enough to warrant cutting it.

But either my neighbors forget that they've hired lawn crews, and just keep paying these guys to mow non-existent grass, or they're so obsessed with keeping up appearances that they need even the slightest, most minute bit of growth -- 1/16th of an inch, tops -- to be eradicated.

I don't have too many pet peeves -- women wearing coats on their shoulders without using the armholes is my strangest, yet most irritable one -- but suburban lawn obsessions rank pretty high on my small list. To me it's a symbol of all that's wrong with suburbia. I wouldn't be surprised if some of my neighbors have spent more time and effort on cutting their lawns than on raising their children. At some point, some humans decided that lawn maintenance was a powerfully important task, and ever since then middle aged suburban men have spent their weekends fertilizing, weeding, de-grubbing, trimming, weed-wacking, watering and measuring (yes, measuring. Home Depot has an exact recommendation for optimal blade-of-grass height.) while lawn crews come in to take care of things during the work week.

I'm originally from Princeton, which is only a few minutes away from my suburban nightmare. There, they let their lawns grow freely -- some are totally covered in ivy and weeds, and it's absolutely beautiful. The overgrowth reflects a sense of peace and tranquility. The people who live in these homes don't have an obsessive compulsive disorder about their grass. They realize that there are hundreds of things more important than a well maintained lawn. And they aren't jarred from their sleep by the sound of lawn mowers because nobody cares to mow.

Give me a Princeton, or a city where no grass needs to be maintained, and I'll be a happy camper for the rest of my life.

my dressing room.

Since I use my closet as a workspace, I had to find a place for my clothes and stuff.... so I converted our extra powder room into a dressing room by covering up the bath tub with a sheet of plywood and making it into a raised closet. I use my mannequin for hats, glasses and scarves and hung up some curtains on the walls in the tub to conceal the tile.... I probably took a big chunk of money off our selling price by messing around with the sink counter top. It was an ugly builder's fake marble laminate (blech) and I wanted it to look modern but worn (well, it made sense to me..) so I painted the whole thing a bright orange color with oil paint, then painted over it with light blue latex after it had dried. Then I peeled away some of the latex so it would look distressed. I think it's totally awesome, but I doubt an average suburban family will feel the same :-\

Anyway... it's been pretty awesome having a separate room for getting dressed, and it's one of the things I'll probably miss the most when we move...

please excuse the messy slept-on bun...

my room

It's been one year since I redecorated my room (before/after picture here) and I still love it just as much as I did last July. Ever since I was like six, I've always been changing things around on an annual basis -- moving furniture or repainting the walls or getting new bedding -- but this year I really didn't need to change anything because I love it the way it is. I did add a couch for a few months, but then I realized it was blocking my A/C vent. It's now camping out in the basement until autumn rolls around.

Our new goal is to be out of the house by Christmas, but with the way the housing market looks I have my doubts that we can unload our house by then :-\ Anyway, I have my paint chips saved, because when we do move I'm going to paint it exactly the same colors. We're going to be getting rid of most of our furniture (including my beloved bed) but I'm hoping I can re-create the look accurately if I refer to the million pictures I've been taking :)

ps. expect me to be posting a lot of pictures of my house, and things from when I was little soon. I want to be able to come to this blog after I've moved and look at the rooms I'm sure I'll miss, and the toys from my childhood that we couldn't bring with us...