Don't forget your re-usable shopping bag!!

So, I came across these bags from Neela awhile ago, but couldn't post about them because I gave some to sister for her birthday. Bless her. First of all, the girl lives in Mobile, Alabama where they still do not have mandatory recycling and she has to bring hers to a station and divide it up into the bins. Like in the old days. Second, girl has to do her shopping at.... Wall-Mart. Now don't get me wrong, I am not bashing Wall-Mart users at all, but after growing to love the likes of Trader Jo's, Metropolitan Market, and Whole Foods, who can go to a Wall-Mart and feel inspired when the person in front of you in line is 5,000lbs and wearing their slippers? YA.

And when she finally gets to the check-out stand after dodging about 30 motorized carts, she, a true north westerner, waits for the blank stare to come across the checkers face when she answers their question "paper or plastic", with, "I brought my own, thanks". And then, GASP! here's a concept, she bags her groceries. She is "engaging the culture and changing the world", one Southern Wall-Mart at a time people.

So, for her birthday, I bought her these in each color. Neela bags hold more than a typical grocery shopping bag and are freaking adorable. And they are only $5.00 each. YAY! Here are facts taken from their website to further encourage everyone out there to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

• Oil Consumption: We're using 12 million barrels of oil for plastic bag production each year.


• Landfill Buildup: 96% of plastic bags end up in landfills, where they do not biodegrade.


• Wildlife Death: Annually over 100,000 birds and marine life are literally choked to death by plastic bags when they mistake the bags for food. Plastic bags photodegrade, breaking down into small, toxic bits that contaminate soil and waterways and are easily ingested by animals.
  
  
• Trees: For paper bags, we cut down over 14 million trees each year, wasting untold energy in production. Paper bags are more difficult and more costly to recycle and don't biodegrade in landfills.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SISTER

I love chair.

Sorry I've been lacking in the blog department lately. Truthfully, nothing worth writing about has happened in the last couple of weeks. BUT THEN, I went on a vacay, bought a car, discovered cute Eco-friendly shopping bags, and fell in love with 1stdibs.com. My blog bucket overfloweth again. I will try to keep it up people, but sometimes I am just not into it. So anyways, I will start with my beach weekend. Actually it was called Prep Weekend. Yeah, we do that. It was complete with lovely meals including crab, and as much seersucker, linen, and boat shoes that I could pack into one weekend. Here are the highlights of my weekend at the coast:

Yes that is the Goonies rock in the background. Photo taken by this guy.

• The drive. I drove down with someone who could talk as much, if not more than I could and it made the drive funny and therapeutic, and fast.
• Killing flies with Windex.
• Walking like forty miles a day, and then overeating at night.
• Saying pruuuuune while taking a pic. Try it, its hilarious.
• Reluctantly trying to see if we could get into the hot tub after hours. Being relieved that we couldn't. I don't like to break community laws such as going "after hours" or "jumping fences"... anywhere. And I hate the idea of TP-ing. I have never done it though.
• Fug the Dealer.
  

I was reviewing some photos taken by my preppy friend who took the photo above, from a previous trip and found this one.

I seriously might frame it I love it so much. At the same time as looking through this album I received an email from 1stdibs.com and spent the next hour looking through about a hundred chairs. 1stdibs is this brilliant website that pulls together the collections from antique dealers from all over the world and puts them up for auction. I have a serious affinity to antiques that started while roaming the halls of a castle in Denmark, and seriously wishing that I lived there, and that the dusty faded canopy bed was mine. And don't you love it, when a mirror is so old that you can barely see your reflection anymore it is so cloudy? Ahhh, sweetness.
Anyway, here are some chairs that I found in my search yesterday.

Napoleon the III Chairs - Hotel Mirande
France
Circa 1860
Napoleon The III Chairs as seen in the salons of the Hotel Mirande in Avignon, France

Single armchair attributed to Tommi Parzinger
USA
1950's
Classic armchair with rolled arms separated from the seatback on tall tapered Walnut legs - attributed to Tommi Parzinger.

Italian Mid Century Settee in the manner of Osvaldo Borsani
Italy
1950's
Dark gray fabric juxtaposed with light gray welting creates a fun and dynamic combination for this little settee. Light gray button detailing on the sides of the settee. Legs are are ebonized with brass sabot tips.

Handsome End of 18th Century Alcove Settee
Provence, France
End of 18th century
Handsome end of 18th century alcove settee with sculpted apron.

Single Frances Elkins Loop Armchair.
USA
Vintage
Gorgeous newly relacquered "Canary Yellow" armchair.

Pair of John Hutton Gesso Thebes Club Chairs
San Francisco
1976
Pair of Gesso over Wood Thebes Club Chairs designed by John Hutton for Randolph & Hein shortly after leaving design school. Hutton of course went on to a lengthy career at Donghia. Loose Cushions

"TUNA! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!?!"

This is a post dedicated to my favorite, and oh-so-preppy character, Mr. Andrew Bernard, on my favorite TV show, The Office. Some people hate him, some people love him, and some people love/hate him. I usually love him and can't help but notice how well the guy dresses (he has great taste in ties)! Here are some of his best outfits with a little quote (not neccessarily from that scene) to get you in the mood.

"I went to Cornell, ya ever heard of it? I graduated in 4 years, never studied once, I was drunk the whole time, and... I sang in the a cappella group Here Comes Treble."

"Sebring by Chrysler. Heck of a motor carriage."

"Thank you muchly."

"You, me, bars, beers, buzzed. Wings. Shots. Drunk. Waitresses, hot. Football - Cornell/Hofstra. Slaughter. Then a quick nap at my place and we'll hit the tiz-own."

"Steer clear Big Tuna, head for open waters."

This house....

IS DELICIOUS

It is this months Frontgate Home of the Month. It is 11,000 square feet of awesomeness located in Sag Harbor, NY. The following are pictures from the interior. I like it because it is simple. The owners don't use much color, which gives it a really clean and fresh feel. It is free of trendy patterns and colors and just screams classic Hampton's home.

Putting this in the dream pile and filing it away for later...check.

Did he just say that?

“You have great T-Shirt Potatoes”.

Has anyone ever stared at your chest and said that? Didn’t think so. It was horrible. It was humiliating. In hindsight, it was effing hilarious. I think I need to tell this story because it is the kind of thing that happens to me a lot and looking back at it now, I learned a lot once again.

A couple of weekends ago, the preppy friends and I gathered together on a super hot day for dinner. Where do you go for dinner when it gets even remotely sunny in Seattle? Anywhere with outside seating. It is like an automatic response. So, we headed to lake union and ended up at BluWater Bistro. I look down at the bar and this very cute, very preppy guy is STARING straight at me. He grabs his beer and walks right over and before you know it, I have effectively ditched my friends and am SHAMELESSLY flirting with this guy and CANNOT even stop myself. How could I? He was adorable. He even threw out the Christian card. (Actually this is also a very funny story in hindsight. The guy noticed I was wearing a cross necklace and proceeded to tell me that he was a born again virgin. WTF! WHO SAYS THAT! A guy who would stop at nothing to take a gullible girl like me home that’s who…) Moving on. At the time, I was starry eyed. I had not felt an instant connection in a long time and I was practically jumping out of my shoes.

Then his friend walks up. He takes one look at my face, next look is at my chest, and, without even diverting his eyes tells me I have “great t-shirt potatoes”. I had an instantly sick feeling in my stomach. Every red flag that I had been ignoring for the last 20 minutes flew up in front of my face. My eyes were probably the size of the MOON when I shot a look at my preppy crush that said “are you going to let your friend say that to me?” Do you know what my preppy crush did? He laughed. I felt like I was slapped in the face. I think I made some “stand-up for myself comment” that got pushed aside and soon after I made my exit to go sit with my friends finally.

When I made it back to the table I felt gross. You would think that I would be done with this guy, but I wasn’t. I held on to whatever glimmer of hope that there was an ounce of quality inside that good-looking fellow. He waved me over to where he was sitting a little while later. He bought a great bottle of red wine and flirted like he meant it. He made plans with me to eat lunch, to cook dinner, and to date me right. Because he said he wanted to. No, I’m not kidding. He said, “I am going to date you right. And we are going to have the best time ever.” I fully believed him. He walked me back to my car and as hard as I tried to dodge his face coming at mine I eventually gave in and kissed him. Not a long kiss, just a kiss. He called me as I was driving away and said he was so glad to have met me.

I never heard from him again…

That night, before I knew that he wasn’t going to call I wrote this in my journal. “Dear Lord, I met a great guy tonight. Or is he great? Lord he makes me feel uneasy. I pray if he is not someone you want me to be with, that he does not call. Protect my heart…”

Notes to self:

1. Dear self, you tend to be too trusting and give my heart away too easily on the wrong people. What gives?

2. Dear self, a guy is sometimes only as good as the friends he keeps. Your really cute, really preppy new crush, had low quality friends (seriously, who says t-shirt potatoes?) and true to form, he turned out to be a really low quality guy.

Next.

Preppy Snapshot Monday

I had a fantastic weekend. Complete with good friends (except for I was missing my marrieds who are currently gallivanting through Italy), good food, and great fireworks. The 4th of July, was not a disappointment this year.

Prayers are being answered people, in a big way.

Brooks Brothers

I'll leave you with my favorite new preppy picture.

ENJOY!

Independence Day Style

Is it seriously already almost the 4th of July? Ugh. This holiday, while being one of my favorites is always a mixed bag of high expectations, lots of food, too much beer, usually rain (being a Seattle girl and all), and wading through a million people to get a good spot for the South Lake Union Fireworks show. Yeah, I know you know what I mean. This year, the preppy friends and I are heading to West Seattle for a preppy BBQ and a stroll to the beach to watch the fireworks at Elliott Bay across the water. Should be fun, I am already planning A) what I am bringing for a side/dessert (Bow Tie Greek pasta salad and possibly an apple pie?) B) what I am going to wear. Not sure yet, and this preppy girl is on what is known as a "budget", so no holiday shopping trips. But here is inspiration for those of you who do plan a shopping trip for this blessed event.

God Bless This LAND!

J.Crew Featherweight Cotton Striped Tee

J.Crew

J.Crew Polished-Cotton Camp Dress

J.Crew Jamie Jacket

Vineyard Vines Rudder Wrap Dress

J.Crew Mutts Whale Critter Polo....