Love Letters

I have a love for typography...especially in a home! Letters (or words, or numbers, or symbols) in a room personalizes the space, and doesn't everyone think it's fun to see your initials everywhere?! I have an 'M' and an 'R' sitting on my bookcase and I'm still on the hunt for a cool looking 'N' for the hubbs.

Anthropologie and Urban Outfitters have the coolest letters to display in your home. You can use them to show off your initials or spell out words on a wall or on your furniture.

Here are some of UO's best:

And my favorite letter masterpiece....MARQUEE! Your name in lights!

Anthro's letter mania:

And now, while doing some typography research, I came across this! It's from Pottery Barn Teen and only $15.50 each! I WANT!

Solution for a Clumsy

OUCH! I fell on my stairs again yesterday and my bruises are turning a healthy purple right about now. I've never had stairs in my life and this is taking a lot of getting used to in my old age. On our house hunt, I never wanted stairs but we didn't really have a choice when this was the only house we were able to get. I fell for the first time about a month after we moved in, and my ass hit 4 steps before the big landing. This time I fell going UP the stairs, if you can even imagine that. I'm just clumsy. So in order to soften up my landings, I really need to do something about this. My dad gave me the idea to install a carpet runner, and I actually kinda like it! The carpet makes the home feel homier. I need to do some research about how to install it, but here are some ideas below to get me inspired.

I'm thinking of going the neutral way so that it can last forever with my ever-changing style.

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Here are some edgier options that I would never have the guts to do....but it looks so nice!

Source: houzz.com via Marija on Pinterest

Source: flickr.com via Kathryn on Pinterest

Source: 4.bp.blogspot.com via Carine on Pinterest

Source: houzz.com via Norman on Pinterest

Source: remodelista.com via Megan on Pinterest

Source: None via Atelier on Pinterest

Source: rogeroates.com via VV on Pinterest

Mark Diaz in the Making

So, {spoiler alert for those who haven't caught up on their DVR} Mark Diaz didn't win Design Star last week. I really thought he was the best face for HGTV, and I also support whoever reps the 3-0-5! But Meg won the competition fair and square and I'm sure she's going to be fun to watch in her upcoming show.

There was another contest for Mark to get a chance to host an online show. He lost again :( but if you're from Miami, you'll appreciate this. Mark is a man with a vision, trying to make something out of the old, abandoned Miami Marine Stadium that thrived here in the 60s and 70s, and was shut down after Hurricane Andrew damaged it. You can listen to him describe it all on the video below. He's got an interesting way of looking at the structure and finds cool treasures inside!

One Last Lucky Find

On Saturday, I ran some errands and stopped at Target. I had to pick up some paper plates and what did I see hidden behind the birthday gift wrap and plastic cups??? A men's Missoni silk tie! I snatched it up reeeal fast for my hubby! I can't believe someone actually hid it there. It's so cool, and would look great with his work suit. Show them city officials who's boss, babe!

Massive Missoni Madness

I was anticipating the 'Missoni for Target' debut like a 6 year old at 11:59pm on Christmas Eve. Bad! I didn't even want to blog about it because I didn't want to add to all the hype already going on in the blogosphere. If you don't have a clue about what I'm talking about, you must be living under a rock. {sorry but it's true} Target announced their designer collaboration with Missoni a couple of months ago. Missoni one of my favorite designers--a super-awesome Italian luxury designer line of women's and men's fashion, home accessories, and lots of other amazing things with their world renowned zigzag print. It's famous and expensive and I thought I would never be able to own a Missoni garment in a million years...enter chic-cheap Target line.

I did my homework. I studied the lookbook, made a priority list of the items I wanted to hit first, and I thought I was prepared for the September 13th launch. Little did I know, the whole entire United States of America did their homework too. I took an early lunch break and headed to Midtown and what did I find?!? NOTHING. NADA. ZILCH. Everything was already gone. So depressing.

The Target website had crashed early in the morning due to high traffic, and it's still down! There were at least 50 women there harassing the Target employees for more merchandise, 'items in the back', specific times and dates of when new items are to arrive. It was nuts.

Image from unknown source

I was able to make it out alive with ONE Missoni item! It's a little damaged but I didn't care. WINNING!

30's the new 20!

Today my Mr. enters into a whole new decade! The big 3-0!

We celebrated on Saturday with a Jay-Z themed party! {Trust me, it's very "him"} For some really weird reason, I woke up one morning singing Jay-Z's "30 Something" song and once I looked into the lyrics, I realized it would be a PERFECT theme! Unfortunately, I only had 2 days to plan so I didn't really go all out, but it was fun coming up with the few little details. My buddy created the e-vite, and everything stemmed from there.

We pulled together a few pictures of him from the honeymoon and my buddy photoshopped them to look like album covers. Then we came up with little food signs based on Jay-Z:  "Hova Hummus", "30/30 Club sandwiches", "Jay Chee-Z crackers", "Big Chips & dip". The cake was also themed--we used the same e-vite image to create a photo cake!

He loved it and we had a great time! Cheers to Nel-Z and here's to many many more birthdays to come! I love you!

The September Issue

How convenient! Finally got around to watching The September Issue on the first day of September {although all you magazine fanatics know that September is really all about August}. Being a big fan of The Devil Wears Prada and Vogue, I already knew I'd be appreciative of this documentary. But...it was weird. I didn't sense too much of the crazy urgency that I'm used to working for a magazine publisher myself. I want to see the drama! I get that Anna Wintour is a difficult, complicated genius and it's really all about the Creatives that make the magazine happen, but where were the cat fights?! Nonetheless, it was fun to watch and I always get a kick from seeing celebrity photogs and fashion house designers convert a photoshoot into a true masterpiece.

I had my hubby rummage through the store to find this year's Vogue September issue for me. He found the last one at the store! It makes me happy to see that the modern day population still believes in SOME magazines. If you're interested, watch The September Issue to see why. It affects all of us, one way or another, I swear. Just read Meryl Streep's famous "Blue Sweater Scene" below:

"This... 'stuff'? Oh... ok. I see, you think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet and you select out, oh I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater, for instance, because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care about what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue, it's not turquoise, it's not lapis, it's actually cerulean. You're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar De La Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves St Laurent, wasn't it, who showed cerulean military jackets? I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of 8 different designers. Then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic casual corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and so it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact, you're wearing the sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room. From a pile of stuff"

So good.