easy homemade toner.

tired of hearing about my vinegar toner nougats of goodness? me too. check it on design mom instead.

have a great weekend, guys. 

how to move to nyc.

a few helpful tips that worked for us.

the story of moving to nyc.

ed and i got married on october 11, 2008 in nashville, tn. it was unseasonably warm and i wore a dress from jcrew. we said "i do" in an herb garden while swatting away mosquitoes. no plans for the future. wide-eyed and open to uncertainty.

guess where we went for our honeymoon? new york city. i know it's not turks and caicos but we were poor and we have always held the city in high regards. we wanted to explore it (again) together. we stayed in some random marriott in the financial district that overlooked ground zero. romantic.

our second day of honeymoon adventure involved walking around the west village. i had big plans to eat a cupcake at magnolia's bakery because i saw it on the sex and the city. as we strolled down bleecker we passed an apartment building (shown above) with the sign "open house- buzz 2C."

it should be known that i'm not the most adventurous person, but for whatever reason, i dragged ed inside to pretend as if we were there for the apartment showing. we asked the broker questions that most out-of-towners would have asked (where's the closet?), gave him a fake phone number, shook hands, and headed on our way.

back on bleecker, ed and i shared a look that needed no words. the apartment was tiny, closet-less, and included a measly half-size refrigerator. for whatever reason, looking at that apartment felt right.

here comes the insane everything-happens-for-a-reason ironic part......

ed's cousin lives on the upper west side. immediately after viewing the apartment, ed calls him up to say "hey man, we're moving to nyc." of course, ed was joking. to which his cousin replied, "awesome. my company is hiring. why don't you come by tomorrow for an interview?"

ed didn't pack interview attire. nor did he pack a tie. he showed up at the interview in casual khakis and a button-down. he made his best attempt at acting older than his age and averted questions that led him to explaining he was actually on his honeymoon.

a few weeks later, back in nashville, ed accepted the job. we packed our few belongings (plus a puppy-sized sam wiggins) in a budget moving truck and drove to new york city.

navigating the 15-hour trip. finding a place to sleep in the moving truck. 

lunch to go.

lunch bag / to go cups / thermos / bento box

it's much easier to brown bag it when you're not using an ugly brown bag. always the healthier choice. 

thinking about...

i very much love to vacuum
bored with winter fruit......
apple, orange, apple, orange, pear!, apple, orange
pssssst... this timex is half the price of jcrew's version
i appreciate tweeters who don't tweet their every waking thought
i say that as i'm about to post my random thoughts....
my once cute freckles are morphing into weird old lady looking spots
which reminds me, it's time to make my yearly moley mole appointment
you should do the same
try not to get sucked into the images gathered on modern hepburn
i met a 17 year-old cocker spaniel yesterday
17, i tell you
there is an evil-eyed pigeon sitting on the window stoop
i think he's watching me
perhaps i should make thinking about posts an every friday kind of thing
then you'd be all, "fridays suck at the daily muse"
but seriously, what do ya' think?
bowl of puffins........

february slump.

perhaps i should be posting about some sandals i can't live without since everyone has spring on the brain. despite a very mild winter, it doesn't get sandal weather in nyc until june.

instead, let's all get depressed that winter is still here and we might as well suck it up in some downtown cool ankle boots.

and now i've done a whole post where i talk about the weather. lame.

at home.

a few more on facebook.