white [christmas]

hello and happy whatever you celebrate! i haven't posted in a few days, and i'll tell you why: i am effing exhausted. i don't know that i would be able to describe myself as a "night person," since i usually fall asleep watching a movie at about 12 pm, but i can safely say i am not now nor have ever been a morning person, and waking up at 6 am most days (or 4 am this morning, to be there at 5 am) is really taking its toll on my desire to get dressed up after coming home in the afternoon covered in cake batter. don't get me wrong, i love the job and i'll totally get used to the early rising, but at the moment i am absolutely wiped out.

however, a couple reasons for posting today, before the holidays come and i head out of town; one, of course, to wish you all a lovely couple of days, hopefully a nice break from work and a good fews meals. i baked pashka to bring to sam's house and am very excited at the prospect of sleeping in for a couple of days. secondly, though, i wanted to do a post dedicated to the lovelymiss kennedy holmes, who has not only a lovely blog but also a fantastic etsy shop. i recently was lucky enough to win a contest on the equally beautiful and charming erin of calivintage's blog, and the prize was a surprise vintage package from kennedy. i received it a couple of days ago and was completely taken with it: a vintage hatbox tied with yarn, topped of with a lula and filled to the brim with vintage goodies, including a slip, a beautiful beaded cardigan, pillbox fur hat, and two gorgeous purses, one containing two hairpieces and a necklace. i wear the necklace and cardigan here, and hold one of the purses; the rest is soon to come, as i looove it all. thanks erin and kennedy!


slip: vintage
skirt: gift from a friend, i shortened it (and now i can see the thread i left hanging, oops)
shoes: steve madden
belt: thrifted
necklace: kennedy holmes
cardigan: kennedy holmes

all right, i feel like an old lady but it's 10:27 and i can barely keep my eyes open. i'm going to close them, and my computer. until after the holiday - have a lovely weekend, safe travels to all!

xo audrey

golden girl

what is happening with my hair here, i can't say. the ever-ongoing attempt to grow it long continues, and gets pretty awkward in the winter months as the humidity isn't around to curl it as much and it kind of gets dry and floofy instead. anyhow.

sam and i are brewing beer and yesterday, after 2 weeks or so of fermenting in our hall closet, it was bottling day. we started off the day by heading to a goodwill near our place, where i went into the dressing room with my arms full of sweaters and came out with three choice picks at $4.99 a piece - only to realize, as sam pointed out to me this morning, that one of them has "SAMPLE" written across the back in sharpie. fail. from there we headed to a fabric store in south brooklyn that was completely jam-packed with stuff i wanted. the second we walked in i stopped in my tracks and murmured, "oh no, this is trouble." i kept myself from going too crazy, though, and just bought a couple of embellishments that i'll find a way to incorporate, and some thread so i could finally get some hemming done and repair some shoes.










from there, a record store in park slope where we scored two velvet underground reissues and i winked my way into picking up a used copy of abbey road for three dollars. we stopped at the grocery store and then sam ran into the homebrew shop; by this time we were both ravenous, so we headed home and i made some rigatoni with soysage, onion, garlic, and shiitakes in a cream sauce. we bottled the beer after supper and stowed the bottles back away for a couple more weeks of fermentation.


i'm determined to take on making cheese next. the process actually seems pretty simple, and how cool would that be?

my outfit for the day's to-and-fro:



shirt: a little boutique in red hook
jacket: snagged on super-sale in a shop in portland, OR
pants: OTTE online's outlet store
shoes: you can't see 'em, but they're devotte
necklace: ebay
belt: thrifted

it's snowing outside, nat king cole is on the record player and i have soup to make; i'm thinking beet-carrot with some goat cheese. winter is definitely here, and i am totally out.

have a lovely weekend, everyone!

xo audrey

ok, but just one

quick wedding-related post. when i was back in chicago i had a custom invitation side business that kept me pretty busy; i made mostly bar and bat mitzvah invitations, but dabbled in some wedding work. i love doing calligraphy and even then i could appreciate how special it is to be a part of someone's wedding. so i've been thinking i'd love to do the invitations myself, especially since i have plenty of time to do so, but then i found these, thanks to selena (she has a great blog too, check it out!)






they are from RIFLE design, whom, from the looks of things, is actually launching a wedding line on their shop any day now, so i may be in luck! what do you guys think - i'd love to design my own, but these seem pretty perfect. . .

xo audrey

mmm clothes

found these charming photos that manage to combine two of my greatest loves by katrin schacke via my friend margot's blog, pitch design union - i've mentioned her blog before but it's a must-read, her taste is spot-on and she is always digging up beautiful and charming design from all over.

so this is love

growing up, my family didn't have television, but what we did have was every disney movie ever made. to be honest, that stopped right around hunchback of notre dame (my siblings and i were getting older and losing interest,) but it's the older ones that i like the best anyway; the time before computer animation made everything so polished, when the songs were just great songs (well, sometimes.) the "sing sweet nightingale"s and just about anything from dumbo. i've had this one stuck in my head for the last couple of days; maybe posting it here will release me from its clutches (even if it does mean revealing my disney dorkiness to the world.)



anyway. a couple of quick outfits to catch me up to date. i got a job at a bakery a couple weeks ago which means early mornings donning jeans, a t-shirt and some onitsuka tigers; comfy indeed, but rather anti-climactic for posting purposes. so, instead, here's what i was wearing friday night (right before he proposed) and the night after, when we went out to a friend's for dinner, then to a benefit, and i drank a lot of champagne in celebration.



top: h&m
sweater jacket: thrifted
jeans: cheap monday
boots: 80%20
pearls: thrifted



top: anthropologie dress
pants: anthropologie
shoes: devotte
purse: etsy, vintage

not sure if there's anything new here clothing-wise but i'm trying to mix it up a bit with location.

one more disney song before i'm out - found this behind-the-scenes of one of my favorite disney songs of all time, he's a tramp. has there ever been a sexier song in a kids' movie? and i had no idea that peggy lee had written/performed it! and i love the line, "it painted our hero as quite a gay dog with the ladies." enjoy.



the wedding isn't going to be until sometime in 2011 (we're thinking spring or summer. . . or fall. . . sometime warm) so i'm trying not to be too crazy about posting stuff, but i already have a few things i've been eyeballing that i'll post soon.

until then,

xo audrey

ps - to the couple of inquiries about the stevej & yonip dress - after a few days of no one inquiring, i decided to take matters into my own hands, and i started to alter it so i can more easily wear it every day. sorry! i will post photos once i'm done with it.

he liked it; therefore he put a ring on it

i'll keep this short and sweet for now - my face hurts from smiling so much and my to-do list seems to have grown exponentially over the weekend. friday night the man of my dreams asked me to marry him, and i said yes. for now, a quick shot of the ring he proposed with (his mom's, i absolutely LOVE it) - we're picking out a new one this weekend.



i apologize in advance for the abundance of wedding dresses and other maritally related posts in the future. i cannot contain my excitement; i have never been happier in my life!

so please, dear readers, be patient with me - the posts will come, but i have to go happy dance around my apartment for awhile first.

xo audrey

coveted

i'm trying something new for a few days - attempting to look at the camera. i have to use the photos for something else as well - something very exciting that i'll talk about more later - and i think they want to see my face, which i hate, but am trying to oblige.

this is a collection of pieces that i saw and wanted. badly. but couldn't justify the cost of, so i kept stalking them (in the case of the shirt and the skirt, i actually kept returning to the stores to try them on and see if they had decreased at all in price, in the case of the boots by googling them repeatedly) until i finally managed to convince myself that they were "affordable." and here they are, all in one coincidental outfit. the skirt i absolutely loved in the store but never really found a good shirt to pair it with, so it's hung basically unworn in my closet for the last few months - until miss emma pillsbury has been wearing it (in two different colors!) on glee lately and i decided i had to pull it back out.



shirt: interlud
skirt: j crew
boots: irregular choice
socks: american apparel
necklace: my mom
purse: vintage

the blouse is so lovely, with the multi-layered color and the little silk details on the sleeves; and the boots i drooled over on urban outfitter's website, only to have them go on sale when i was dead broke; they disappeared in my size and my tiny-footed friend erika got a pair and started wearing them, making me want them that much more. months later, they reappeared, and i snatched them up. so here they are.

sunday night post-falafel movie time. catch you later -

xo audrey

glee

i've been finding lots of inspiration these days in the form of emma pillsbury, aka jayma mays' character on glee. she wears lots of bright colors and very cute vintage-inspired modern pieces, and lots and lots of cute little details like bows. there is even a site dedicated to shopping the looks she wears in every episode.



early meeting at a bakery this morning, so i wanted to be a bit more polished than usual; i thought this look was very emma pillsbury.



blouse: church & state
pants: rodebjer
shoes: devotte
hat: vintage, from dublin (my parents got it on their honeymoon)
purse: vintage, a gift from sam


tonight - making dinner for some friends. i haven't decided what the main course will be but dessert is cooling in the fridge - nutella creme bruleés, yum!

circus circus

hi everyone! my gosh, how is it december already?! it doesn't really feel like it - 64 degrees outside according to my weather widget, but that's neither here nor there.

some happenings in the recent days: i've watched about a dozen movies. some epic (the warriors,) some unwatchable (in the loop.) made coconut/blueberry/pecan granola. assisted sam with mushroom paté. got halfway through 'lolita.' made a second attempt at fishing. went thrift store shopping in a small town in northern jersey.



sweater: thrifted in Jersey
skirt: my dress from guy baxter (i'm in loooove)
belt: thrifted in Chicago
tights: anthropologie
boots: alice and olivia for payless, ebayed

my friend kt just arrived so i must away for now, more soon!

xo audrey