February Photo A Day

Today is the end of the February Photo A Day challenge started by Fat Mum Slim. I don't have an iPhone, so I couldn't participate through Instagram, but I decided to just take photos with my camera and turn them into little squares. You can click below to see them a bit larger.



Here are a few of my favorites from the month, in their regular form.

It was a pretty neat challenge; I think I might do the one for March as well. Did you participate? I'd love to see your photos!

Much Love for Fashion Illustration & Sweets

Today when I came home from work, I was greeted at my front door by a big yellow envelope. It was the Audrey Grace lookbook I had snatched up as soon as Caitlin mentioned they were up for sale, and I couldn't wait to open the envelope and see my beautiful new book! I've wanted to own a piece of art by Caitlin Shearer since the Live Journal days, but somehow I had never gotten around to it. I caught glimpses of the book on different blogs, and I thought it would be the perfect way to have a whole bunch of Caitlin's work collected in a neat little package. Since I love the artwork so much, it's perfect to share for Much Love Monday, along with the macarons I picked up at Bouchon in Las Vegas.


Audrey Grace Boutique is a shop that offers plenty of vintage and designer clothing and accessories. The book is packed with Caitlin's illustrations of original paintings of custom dresses and pieces from the boutique, as well as biographies of the designers, and portraits of many of the style icons who inspire the shop. I recognized many of the designers whose creations I would have in my dream closet, including Alexandra Grecco, Kelsey Genna, Loulou Loves You, and Wayward Daughter.


I might not be quite able to fill my closet with these beautiful creations, but it's nice to have them in this fancy book! Now to finish those macarons, starting with the sad little broken green one. Most of them didn't survive the trip home very well.

Return of the Pink

I don't know what it is about pink hair, but if you've had it and then changed it, you always want to go back! At least that's how it is for me. It makes me feel more like myself than any other color. It had been over a year since my last goodbye to pink (the end of 2010!) and I was seeing pretty pictures of pinkies all over the internet. Also, I was days away from a trip to Las Vegas where I'd have another chance to see Kat, one of my favorite pink ladies (more on that trip later!). So after a late night impulse purchase of a long brown wig from Vogue for work, I had made my decision; there was no going back! I took the plunge, made an appointment at HepKat, and was once again back in the land of pink. It seems like pink hair is sort of a "thing" now, especially in the world of girl bloggers. So many lovely ladies are turning rosy! Here are a few of my favorite females who have pink hair, or have had it sometime in the past, including my number one pinkspiration since high school, Gwen Stefani.


Kat - Mab - Kate - Jenny - Abi - Elycia - Gala - San - Gwen
Of course I love real-life pinkies, but it is always nice to see pink haired beauties represented in art as well. Many of my favorite artists have produced gorgeous work involving my favorite hair color. I'd love to have a whole wall dedicated to some of these wonderful pieces someday!


Fawn - Caitlin - Danny - Mab - Knee - Kris
For anyone interested, my stylist uses Special Effects brand hair dye. It's much longer lasting than other brands I've used. In the past, Atomic Pink was the color I used, and it has amazing staying power, so much so that there were still traces of it leftover from 2010 after the stylist bleached my hair out last week! The salon was out of Atomic Pink when I went to have it done, so she used Cupcake Pink on top and Virgin Rose underneath, which is exactly how my hair was done for our wedding. I wanted a cotton candy pink, but it will fade closer to that shade since these colors don't stick around forever like Atomic Pink does. Next time, I'll be diluting it with conditioner so it's lighter.

Goodbye Little Shasta

These photos are actually from December, but I decided to share them now because I took them knowing that it might be the last time I would photograph the famous teal Enjoy Cupcakes Shasta trailer, since it was going up for sale. Well, I was right! Amber and Kevin sold the trailer and they now have a gorgeous pink Shasta they call Coral. You can see some amazingly styled photos of Coral taken by Jose Villa over at this feature on Style Me Pretty.


Of course I have to show off the cupcakes we had back then too... Pomegranate Chardonnay (probably the best cupcake I've had yet!) & White Chocolate Blueberry Pistachio. It's been a while; looking at these photos makes me really want to go back again soon.


I'm looking forward to seeing Coral in person!

Vintage Valentine

A few months ago, I found this sweet old Valentine's Day card at an estate sale. I love the style of the Valentines from years ago; the sayings were always a bit cheesy, but the artwork was so darling. I especially like the little kittens, and the girl's cute shoes.


This is the first real vintage Valentine I've found so far, but a few years ago, I printed out some of my favorites from the internet and made them into a garland for our house. I'm definitely keeping my eyes peeled for more genuine cards though.

Lily One Year Later

Today marks exactly one year since the day Lily almost died and had to be rushed to the hospital. It was such a scary time because we didn't know for sure what would happen to him, and we felt so bad for our little kitty because he had to be alone in an unfamiliar place for so long. I cried a lot, that's for sure. Twenty days later, we brought him home, only to have to take him right back to the hospital again for another heart-wrenching week.

I was (and still am!) so blessed to have all of the support I found here during one of the worst months, and years, ever. So many of you bought things from my shop and closet sale, some donated money, and a ton of you offered plenty of much-needed cheering-up. I can't say thank you enough! Lily seems to be back to normal (other than requiring about $60 worth of special food a month), and I am so grateful to have him around every single day. He cuddles with me every night, purring loudly right into my ear, and I can't imagine life being any other way! Of course I took lots of pictures of him today, to document this one year anniversary.


Yep, he makes my heart melt every time! ( Scalloped border by Pugly Pixel )