here's an idea: pet name book display

I thought it would be really cute to make a little display of books where the titles are my cats' names! It was like a scavenger hunt trying to find titles to represent each cat. I really lucked out with Hubble Bubble, since that's Mr. Hubble's nickname and the spine is so cute! I ordered three Chloe books on Amazon before finally finding this perfect one. I picked up the Arrietty book at the Japanese store in Epcot, and I've had the Hypatia book for a long time (my cat was named after her.)

Of course some names are definitely going to be easier than others -- "Chloe" turned up hundreds of results on amazon while my childhood cat "Jaspurr" is proving to be more of a challenge. This would be fun with kids names, too, or one book for each family member (pets included!)

While I'm on the subject of names, every once in a while I get asked where my cats' names came from so here's the backstory on each cat:

Chloe: I was 16 and just really liked the name Chloe. Her name at the shelter was Frosty because she had frostbite on her legs :(
Hypatia: Named after the mathematician, philosopher and last librarian at the Library of Alexandria. Her name at the shelter was Sara.
Hubble: Named after the astronomer and the namesake of the Hubble space telescope, Edwin Hubble. His name at the shelter was Max.
Arrietty: Named after the character from The Borrowers books, my favorite books when I was a kid. Her name at the shelter was Ghost.

sickly dedication

I kind of miss the good old days when I was so dedicated to blogging I even did an outfit post when I was sick. Right now I've been wearing the same sweater and pajama pants for two days and I wouldn't put on a dress and pose for pictures if you paid me a hundred dollars. I'm not sure what changed.. I still love blogging but I guess I've gotten so used to it and have a very blasé "eh, nobody will notice if I don't post for a week" sort of attitude that when I'm under the weather I just let it go. But I miss how every single day of my life was documented in 2011 (and most of 2012)... I think I might add "put more effort into my blog" to the long list of resolutions that are mounting for 2014. Although, honestly, as a very scatterbrained, disorganized person I'm pretty pleased with myself for having maintained my blog -- even if it's no longer updated on such a strict schedule -- for almost four years.

I'm definitely under the weather because I actually just wrote (and promptly deleted) this huge long post about diseases, the black death, funneling technology investments into curing all human ailments, and my general frustration with how many illnesses still have no cures or treatments in 2013. When I get sick I can be a little dramatic. I just hate not feeling good -- I know, who doesn't? I just don't handle it well. As much as I kind of hate my body right now (does anyone else ever feel that way, like as if it's totally separate from your brain? I think it's the sick talking again, sorry) I'm going to pamper the heck out of it and hope this goes away by Christmas. Fingers crossed!!

In the mean time I actually did take some pictures of my workspace for the first part of my apartment tour so I'll edit those tomorrow and post them :) The glamourous sick-day outfit posts, however, are probably a thing of the past lol ;)

oh my love, my darling

If you ever look at the outfit details on my outfit posts, you know that pretty much my entire shoe collection is from bait footwear. I just love their shoes SO much! They have the prettiest, most unique styles in the most beautiful array of colors! They just released my favorite style (Ida) in a bunch of new colors (look at those hot pink ones!!!!) and some new styles that are definitely going to become new favorites, like that coral one with the fan detail at the top. Swoon!

Last Thursday I went to New York and I think walking around in the freezing cold for way too long (I swear every single solitary cab was occupied the whole time we were there) did a number on my immune system, because boy am I sick. Right now the only thing I want for Christmas is to feel better. And maybe some new shoes, too.

DIY candy dot cardigan

Modcloth asked four bloggers (including me!) to do a DIY makeover on their charter school cardigan. I went with a really super ridiculously easy project that doesn't even have to be permanent. I used brads from the craft store to create a candy-dot border around the neckline and I love how it turned out! You can view the whole project on the modcloth blog here and watch my little tutorial video below :)