No Shirt Required

Does your carpenter look like this?

Carter Oosterhaus

Jared Walker Dostie

Ty Pennington

Yeah, that's what I thought. Stupid HGTV hiring model/actors as carpenters. I think I am going to hold an open casting call to find a hunky carpenter. And yes, he will be required to work shirtless. I have a bunch of lawyers in my family so I am thinking they could get me out of all the sexual harassment lawsuits that would be sure to come my way.

From years of reading Teen Beat, I learned that many hunky model/actors use carpentry to pay the bills until they make it big in Hollywood. I hear this guy honed his skills as a carpenter...

Luke Perry

As did this guy.

Harrison Ford

I imagine his carpentry skills come in handy on the island.

Matthew Fox

And I hear this guy went from carpenter to actor and back to carpenter.

(I bet he hates it when people call him Jake.)

Michael Shoeffling

Geez, do my celebrity references date me or what?!?

Can you tell I am excited to go tour the American College of the Building Arts this morning? I do love a man who is "handy." And for the record, I have a wonderfully talented (and handsome) carpenter who is married to a good friend of mine! And if you happen to be reading this, I am not looking to replace you. But can you please look at hiring someone like this as your apprentice? I am happy to help you with the interviewing process. In fact, while I am at the college today, I will get some phone numbers of guys that would be good candidates...just for you.

Cherry Blossom Capital of the World!

via frenchieandflea

via decorpad

via isuwanne

via isuwanne

House Beautiful

via apartment therapy

via theknot

Did you know the answer was Macon, Georgia? Have you ever heard of Macon, Georgia? It is a fairly small Southern town that is home of The Allman Brothers (my uncle sold them their first instruments!), birthplace of Kenneth from "30 Rock," it once sported a hockey team called the Macon Whoppees (I'm not kidding) and (as you now know) it holds the acclaimed title of being "Cheery Blossom Capital of the World!" Holla. Every March the city becomes "a pink cotton-spun paradise of delight as over 300,000 Yoshino cherry trees bloom in all their glory." The annual Cherry Blossom Festival has become a 10 day celebration even earning billing as one of the Top 20 Events in the South, Top 50 Events in the U.S. and Top 100 Events in North America! That ain't small potatoes people. Since my mom is from Macon, I spent many o' holidays there growing up while visiting my wonderful family. And I wanted to give them a shout out as the festival starts this Friday. Shout.

*quote is from www.cherryblossom.com

J. Crew, Celerie Kemble and My Funny Father

Celerie Kemble for J. Crew

So this might be the first issue of J. Crew where I didn't want to purchase one thing! Maybe it is because we are in-between seasons and I am pasty white so the thought of wearing anythings other than leggins, a cardigan and some Uggs (i.e. full coverage) makes me cringe but I didn't LOVE anything in the catalog.

"Thank you."

[That was from my wallet.]

However, I was excited to see one of my design idols featured in this issue (She looks great!). I wonder if people like Celerie Kemble know that they are living my fantasy life? Probably. I at least hope they are enjoying their ride!

And on an unrelated note...while I was spending time at my parents, I was telling them about the oyster stick accessories that I spoke about in this post. My dad didn't get it. I said "Well if you read my blog then you would." [Sidebar: My dad hates computers and reading. So he has never seen my blog.] His response: "Well if I had a blogging machine then I would! I mean, we just got a fax machine like two years ago!" LOL! Yes, he was kidding but it is still damn funny.

Hope you have a great weekend!

And please take a second and vote for me in the Blog Award contest...I get a cash prize! Which would make all the hours I spend writing this blog seem a little more worth it. Voting ends at midnight on March 15th. Many thanks!!!

You Can Believe I Was There!

I wouldn't miss this for anything in the world, so Mark and I went to see "This Is It" over the weekend. I can say that it was amazing! Perhaps, it help bring a little bit of closure too, I mean it was an incredible tribute. I loved being able to see that despite the craziness that surrounded Michael Jackson in his last years, he never stopped being the INCREDIBLE performer. Even Mark, who has never been a MJ fan; loved seeing the behind-the-scenes angle and how in control of every detail MJ was. True genius! If you are as much of a fan as I am, I recommend seeing this. It was great to be in a theater full of other fans, too! People would clap and cheer after every song, wave their hands in the air during the ballads, and gave a standing ovation at the end of the film. It was great:)

Happy, Happy Birthday!

(lamps via: Decor 8 and chandelier via 1st dibs)

To me!! Yay!
I am one of those obnoxious persons who likes to tell everyone about my birthday! You know I want to wear a big button on my shirt that talks about it, or a birthday tiara. When I was a kid I never understood why I didn't get an automatic day off from school on my special day!
So, I am going to tell all of you about it today. Ha, ha! I am turning the big 34! It freaks me out a bit, because I've always imagined the threshold for being a "mature adult" as turning 35. Now I only have one year to really get my act together. Aahhh, I don't know if I'm ready!
To celebrate, I put together a wish list of gifts, for myself. I thought some of you might enjoy it also:)

(Top left: Billy Reid Bottom left: Nivaldo de Lima Right:Shrimpton Couture )

Terry Graziano

I would take anything and everything from this shop. It was a struggle to keep it down to only three!
Funny enough, this month also marks the second anniversary of my blog. I am reminded how much I have loved getting to know so many wonderful people via this site. I appreciate all of you who stop in to check on me everyday:) I hope to keep writing this for a long time and I hope to get to know all of you more and more.
So thanks everyone!

If Anything Can Go Wrong...

It probably will, and at the most inopportune moment. You know that saying, right? Uh, well that describes my week, quite well. I feel bad about not posting anything for an entire week, sorry everyone:(
Where to begin, about my week? First it started with no cable or internet for a couple of days. That alone is traumatic, let me tell you!! My lovely husband decided to move the cable connections around and told me the cable would be down for "a few minutes". Well, 3 or 4 hours later, we figured out that it was not coming back! Of course, at that point it was already evening, so when we tried to call for help we could only reach people with accents that are very difficult to understand, and who didn't really help in any way. So the three of us came to the harsh realization that there would be no vegging to our favorite shows and no internet surfing either. Aahhh! No reruns of The Office, no Dora the Explorer, no Twittering, emailing, blogging, NADA! Have you tried doing that lately? Its very hard, let me tell you.
Well, the next morning Mark calls me and says I need to expect a call from the repair man and I need to be at home. He is set to call at 9:00 in the morning. So I have just enough time to get Liam to school and rush back home. Around 10:30, I'm still waiting for the call and start worrying about the things I'm not getting done. At lunch time, I decide not to wait anymore, and gather all my things and start to walk out the door. Guess what happens at that moment? Yeah, my phone rings! The "9:00" call comes in at 11:45. So, I answer and you know what sage advice the technician has for me? "Why don't you unplug the box for a few minutes and then plug it back in". Like we hadn't already tried that about 30 times!!!! Since his technical help went nowhere, he now wanted to send a repairman. As I'm listening to this, I'm thinking "I've already wasted half of the day, now they're asking me to waste the other half. On the other hand, if I don't wait for them today; I will get to go through this process again tomorrow". I really didn't have a choice. Finally, by about 4:00 everything was up and running again and I was quick to remind Mark to let the experts move the connections around, for all of our sakes:)
After those two days, I spent a couple of days trying to catch up on work that couldn't get done sans an internet connection. I didn't realize how few people I actually speak to, or see in person. I do everything via my computer. Its kind of sad actually. I have also been trying to find flu shots for Liam, (everyone is running out), planning family affairs, blah, blah, blah. Sigh...what I really hate is that I never posted my Round Top photos. I am very happy with them, but they seem a little irrelevant now:( Here is a small peek. I will go ahead and post them on my Flickr site tomorrow...but again, I gotta run!
Happy Friday!

Our Favorite Sing-Along

Lately, Liam and I love singing to this song as we drive around town.