catalog living

I've been getting such a kick out of this hilarious new blog called Catalog Living. The blog is about the "exciting lives of people who live in your catalogs." Take a look:

I never really realized how ridiculous some of the stagings for catalogs are. I mean really, a plate of figs under a table??

This site is making it's way right up there with Shit My Dad Says for quick, funny breaks in my day.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

i candy

All I have seemed to have been hearing about this past week is the new iPhone 4G. I like technology & I love my iPhone 3GS, but I typically don't fall into the early adopter category when it comes to the latest techie toys.

Still, there's a part of me that feels a little behind on the times with my now-ancient iPhone 3GS. It needs some kind of update. Luckily, I stumbled upon these beautiful iPhone covers from Dannijo that might do just the trick:

I absolutely love the top two covers, but the $98 price tag doesn't sit well with me. I guess this will have to be added to my "when I win the lottery" list..

this little piggy...

I'm quite jealous of these two. It's a perfect day in Chicago & I really wish I was enjoying a relaxing day at the pool or sunbathing on the river. Bring on the 4-day weekend!

(top photo via The Burch Jerks. Bottom photo via me)

lights & music are on my mind

Happy Monday! It's not too awful of a day since I only have a 4-day work week. Kinda makes me want to grab some glow sticks and start dancing...

Well not really, but I will be seeing Deadmau5 at Soldier Field this coming Friday, so it only seemed fitting for my Music Monday pick this week.

I'm kind of new to the whole house music scene & to be honest, I only really like it on a few occasions. Deadmau5 is pretty sick though. I mean, did you see that stage???

I'm pretty excited to dance my pants off on Friday!

weekend warrior

Yay for Friday!

I really must apologize again for the lack of posts this week. It really makes me feel like I haven't accomplished much at all this week. That will all change next week. Pinky swear!

Over the weekend I will be slaving away at the most fabulous blog posts of all time (!!!) & hoping that I can look even remotely as stylish & sexy as this vixen that I found on From Me To You:

Well, I'm hoping I can pull off a stylish & sexy look tonight & tomorrow at the least while I get together with old friends. Sunday I'll be rocking cut-off jean shorts & a black wife-beater as I head down to U.S. Cellular Field to watch the White Sox demolish the little Cubbies. I'm pretty sure cut-off jean shorts & black wife-beaters are the official uniform for twenty-something-year-old girls at The Cell & I really think that is amazing. I can't wait for the game. I've never seen the cross-town rivalry up close & personal before!

I hope you all have equally as amazing plans this weekend! xoxo

P.S. Don't forget...

priorities

Priorities this week:

1. Sleep
2. Sleep
3. More Sleep
4. Blog Posts

Sorry for my lack of substance this week. I've been feeling rather under the weather & my priorities have shifted to get as much sleep as possible so this nasty bought of coughs & sniffles can disappear for good! There's really nothing worse than feeling sick in the Summer & I'm hoping this will all go away soon so I can continue on with my normal activities & wonderfully entertaining blog posts. In the meantime, I'll more or less be looking like the chick in the photo above (minus the fabulous fur blanket). 

(photo via Coco + Kelley)

i now pronounce you...

I didn't take nearly as many photos as I wanted to, but here are some of the highlights from my brother's wedding weekend:

In the limo after the ceremony. They're officially Mr + Mrs O'Connell! What a wholesome looking couple. Sarah looked gorgeous!

What a good looking family. So happy for my big brother!

Proud parents of the groom.

It was a long day, but luckily I had a super fun dance partner to keep me energized :)

The end of their long day. Poor babies are suffering in Greece for the next 12 days.

It was a wonderful weekend with beautiful weather on Saturday. I'm so happy for the two of them & I couldn't have asked for a better sister-in-law!

heart skipped a beat

"Heart skipped a beat & when I caught it you were out of reach." - the XX

I love this song so much. I'm really looking forward to seeing the XX at Lollapalooza in August.

(photo via Le Love)

happy father's day!

Happy Father's Day to all you wonderful dads out there!

I'm lucky enough to get to spend it with my super awesome Dad in Chicago. I feel so blessed that I got to grow up with someone like him to look up to. He is the smartest man I know & is always encouraging me to try my best. Whenever I'm really struggling with something, he's usually the one I go to for good, sound advice.

When I was a Freshman at DePaul & living in the dorms I had a really awful roommate who was just so nasty to be around. I hated arguing with her & she was honestly making me go nutty. While my mom's advice was something along the lines of, "You need to be a bitch back!" (not my style), I remember my dad telling me, "Christine, calm down. It's not worth it. You can't win an argument with an ignoramus." That piece of advice has stuck with me ever since.

My father is a dentist, so this poster definitely reminds me of another piece of advice he gave out often :)

Love you, Dad!

(poster via Hickoree's)

PS. The photo above is my absolute favorite photo of my Dad that was taken after he ran the Chicago marathon in 100+ degree heat (!!!) Yikes! He certainly deserved that beer. He's ran almost 10 marathons now. It's so inspiring. Maybe one day I'll join him.

wedding weekend

I couldn't be more excited! My big brother is getting married to his most perfect counterpart this weekend & I'm so happy for the two of them. I'm really excited for the weekend festivities & I can't wait to celebrate this happy occasion with family & friends. I'll be sure to share some of the highlights with you all next week.

In the meantime, I hope you have a perfectly wonderful weekend!

I want to send you off with these beautiful wedding photos from Style Me Pretty. The bride is absolutely gorgeous & I love the pale pink & grey color combo!

What's not perfect about a wedding on a winery?

Bride & Groom's table

This cup idea on top of work books is so cute! 

Cute banner to mark the occasion 

I love the table settings

The little barefoot ballerina flower girls are my favorite!

See more photos of this beautiful DIY wedding here!

my favorite quote

Earlier this week on of my favorite bloggers, SF Girl By Bay, posted one of the best giveaways ever. It's not even that the prize was that unique or exciting (although Moleskine journals do make my heart flutter a little bit). What I loved most about the giveaway was the conversation that Victoria started. She asked readers to post their favorite quote for a chance to win a lovely journal.

Coming up with your favorite quote is just like coming up with your favorite movie, song, food, etc. You either have one or you have a million.Luckily, my favorite quote came to mind immediately. So, without further ado -- my favorite quote:

"The best thing God has created is a new day." - Sigur Ros

This quote is extra great on particularly awful day. This quote paired with some of Max Wanger's beautiful photographs can't help but make you feel that the future holds wonderful things. Max Wanger is my all-time favorite photographer. If I had one wish from it genie it would be that he could photograph some momentous day of my life. He's that great.

So, with that, I hope you have a very non-awful & optimistic day!

All photos via Max Wanger

crazy for cranes

I'm not abandoning my tiger roots, but I'm totally loving paper cranes lately.

It started with this necklace from Max Steiner:

Sadly, it's another item that will go on my "in your dreams" list, but I think it's absolutely beautiful. I'm not even a big jewelry girl, but I would wear it everyday which makes me almost justify the price tag. Almost.


My love affair with paper cranes grew as I considered how lovely this mobile would be in a nursery:

The best part is that I think I could manage to pull off a really beautiful DIY version. I can be quite crafty when I try. I'll cross that bridge if & when I get there though.

The next thing I knew, this symbol of peace was catching my eye all the time & I didn't mind it!

I'm a second away from purchasing this print:

Cranes On A Line via Oh Joy:

How about this tattoo?

Even the real ones are cute!

(via Sharon Montrose)

I know you're itching to build your own origami crane. Here's how:

(how-to via Style Me Pretty)

pindemonium

If I'm ever MIA, you'll know why. I have become obsessed with this website called Pinterest. I first heard about it through one of my favorite bloggers, SF Girl By Bay, so I decided to check it out for myself. That first visit was the start of a beautiful love affair. I've finally found a way to organize all of the wonderful things I see on the web.

So what exactly is Pinterest?

It's a way to save & store images by "pinning" the item to a "board". You can then follow other users that create boards to your liking. The concept of pinning is super easy. You only need to download a pinterest bookmarklet & click it to add any image from a website. I may not be giving the best description, but trust me, it's easy!

Just to give you a better idea, here are some screenshots of my own personal Pinterest page:

You "pin" an image from the direct website you're looking at by clicking on the Pinterest bookmarklet located in your bookmarks bar.

These are all of the "pins" from the boards that I follow

Here are some of my own "boards". I like to give them fun names, but some of the themes of my "boards" include: flowers, photography, fashion, home decor, etc.

Once you "pin" an item, you can choose which "board" (general category) to add it to, give it a more detailed title & description, & add more specific tags. Each pin also records the original URL that the image came from. Very handy!

In the past I have relied on my Google Reader to save & store anything I found interesting on the web. I still do to an extent, but I've found that Pinterest is much easier to sort through & find specifically what I'm looking for.

So, in summary, Im obsessed! I've spent the last weekend converting starred  Google Reader items to Pinterest. If this sounds like something you might be interested in, leave a comment or shoot me an email & I can send you an invite to the website. It's so wonderful!

**The one downside to this site is that I wish it had privacy settings. I know, I know, the world is paranoid, but this site might take a little bit of the "wow" factor (if I have such a thing) out of my blog posts. Oh well, I'm still in love!