#280 and #93 Progress, people.

My box:)

I realize that my original list of Awesome Things To Do In Life didn't go as far as #280, but I have a little notebook that I carry around with me that I add to pretty frequently and it has a #280 which is: Find a line of grown-up skin care that I like.  In other words, stop just using whatever happens to be on sale at Target and do something really good for my skin!  And #93 involved pinning down a good shade of lipstick for myself.  I am happy to report that I am working on both of these things.  I recently purchased the anti-aging line of skin care from a good friend who is a representative for Rodan and Fields, and have also tried a few of their other products and am really liking them.  If you are in the market for any type of skin care, I would definitely recommend them and put you in touch with Tiffany.  She knows her stuff.  I can't wait to be able to purchase the machine that sucks the dead skin off your face.  (Really do talk to Tiff.  She doesn't say things like "suck the dead skin off your face."  She knows words like "exfoliate" and "peptides")

As for the lipstick situation, I've not actually found IT yet.  But, I have found a really super fun little service that sends samples of high end skin care/cosmetics/hair care/etc to your home every month for $10.  I'm in love with it and I've only gotten one!  Its called Birchbox and I think they should be paying me to say nice things about them, as I've managed to work them into 98% of my conversations since I received my first box.  If you're curious, my first box contained, I believe, 5 different items (a mineral foundation, organic sunscreen, self tanning towelettes, lip cream, and leave-in conditioner for sun damaged hair.)  All of these things were great!  I can't wait till I get a box with lipstick.  Or perfume.  Or really anything.  I just love getting stuff in the mail.  If you want to make my day, put all your old bread sack twisty ties in a tiny box and mail them to me.  That's how easy I am to please.  But in all seriousness, if you are in the market for anything for your skin or just to treat yourself to something fun, check out Rodan and Fields and Birchbox.  You won't be sorry:)

#217 Have an outdoor meditation area

Kind of a weird thing to choose as my first to complete, but I have an outdoor meditation area!! Brad (and of course Willa, with all her disposable income) gave me this hanging chair for Mother's Day.  Now, before you start thinking, "Whoa, Brad has amazing taste and really understands what his wife was looking for in #217 Outdoor Meditation Area", this chair was heavily hinted at.  As in, I handed him the cb2 catalogue and said "Buy this chair."  He does get some mad points for the gift he had in mind, which was a spa day, which is also on the list, but that just wasn't the thing I wanted to cross off the list yet.  That felt a little too self-indulgent for a lady who still owes some major 2012 taxes.  I think I would have sat there during my pedicure or massage and stressed myself out even more about that fact.  Apparently, I felt the money would be better applied to my new favorite chair, where I have gone about half of the mornings that I've had it, to sit and drink my warm lemon water and listen to bird sounds and think happy thoughts.  And then I let myself sit and think the stressful thoughts if I need to.  In addition to the chair, I also have some fun plants and my herb pot nearby and a really nice view.  I couldn't ask for a nicer outdoor meditation area.  And this wasn't on the list, but maybe should have been...when I tweeted the instagrammed picture of my chair and hash tagged it with the designers name, she favorited my tweet!  And, that may have been the most ridiculous sentence I have ever typed.

Gift ideas for anyone on your list who wears things, runs, eats vegetables, likes to laugh, or loves scarves:)

My last few posts have been kind of heavy.  My heart has been kind of heavy.  So, please allow me now to indulge myself in all of my night-time web browsing and make a post about beautiful things I would buy myself for Christmas if I had unlimited funds.  And time.  And space for things.

This shower curtain/hamper

Or kind of a different feel...

Such a pretty, pretty scarf

And how about this bracelet?!?  It might be my favorite thing ever.

A necklace for prosperity and good fortune.

A pretty calendar to tell me when to plant things.  Or just to look pretty in my kitchen.

A variation on the planting calendar.

A variety of succulants (which I hear are hard to kill)

A book by my favorite bloggers:)

A veggie lover's cookbook

I think I could have a lot of fun with this

And for my new running habit...you could pretty much open up the Lululemon website and throw a dart at the screen and I probably want whatever you hit.  And I would want to wear it ALL THE TIME.  And never take it off.  Ever.

There you have it.  My most superficial and greedy post of the year.  Every year.  I get a kick out of making a list of things I can't afford.  I think that might be kind of weird.  We are also in desperate need of new bedding but I haven't taken the time to look deeply into the bedding sections of my favorite websites yet.  Soon.

Men who can pull off tank tops. Few and far between.

I'm pretty sure I have mentioned him before, but I just so happen to have an imaginary, gay-man, best friend who has a blog and whose life I would like to live for a few weeks.  Maybe months.  I guess he isn't technically imaginary since he is a real life person but he seems imaginary since he lives in a magical sounding place called Hollywood and he has a magical job, which is being Emily Henderson's assistant.  Nonetheless, he is real.  I usually catch up on his blog every few weeks or so, and I just did and was especially impressed with what my best friend had been up to since the last time we "talked".  The most important post was the one on treehouses.  I read this, and it made complete sense to me that Orlando and I befriended one another.  Then I saw this picture that he snapped at the pool, with our other friends, where there is Red Stripe and pink H&M sunglasses and I got really sad that we live so far away from each other.

Don't be scared for me.  I have always had an over-active imagination.  And don't be scared for Orlando.  I can't afford to stalk him.  But for love of my eyes in the summer, someone go to H&M and buy me those sunglasses.  I'll get you my mailing address.

Pinterest didn't disappear from the www yet.

Here are a few more of my favorites from the depths of my Pinterest files.  This first picture was one of my very first pins.  Cupboards don't get any better than that.  You could never, ever, ever wake up in the morning, walk into your kitchen, and maintain any sort of grouchiness after you looked at your cupboards.  Fact.  And you wouldn't have even touched on your pretty wood floors, mismatched white chairs, and sexy white pendant lighting.

I'm not sure where I first saw this chair, I'm gonna guess Design Sponge awhile back.  It really puts me in the reupholstering mood.  I don't think my new/old chair would wear the heart pattern well, but this chair certainly does.  And it reminds me lots of the Alexander Girard print that I have always wanted.  Carry on with your pinning, peeps!

Recommended Shopping

Don't these puppies look good with a few of my other Christmas decorations??

I was finally able to shop a bit with my mom a few days back and we went to a store that she has been telling me about for a few weeks.  Its called Cool and Collected and it is located near 13th and Hwy 2.  If you have any interest in anything vintage, antique, retro, used, just plain awesome...you should really check it out.  I only took pictures of a few of the things that I loved.  I took the ornaments home with me, as well as the letter V.  Its not very often that a lady can find a bright yellow letter V!  I was really thinking that the yellow dresser would look absolutely perfect in a nursery, maybe painted a different color, its kind of a rough shade of yellow for such a big piece of furniture.  Painting/refinishing furniture makes me nervous as heck but its something I'd like to master someday.  And those chairs???  Recovered?  Ugh.  I think the owner of this store is gonna have to get used to my face.  Poor guy.

Because people want to buy me stuff

for inspiration



because I don't have a matching set of coffee mugs. 
and these will look so cheerful on my future open shelving.

time to face the facts.  i drink a lot of whiskey.



practical boots.



for living in nebraska.



its on sale




because its pretty cute.

All the really cool bloggers are making wish lists this time of year so I thought I'd make one too!  These are just a few things that popped into my head.  I am also in need of new kitchen spatulas, big rubbermaid bins, a new laptop, a print by Thomas Campbell,

Counter Envy



Image from YoungHouseLove


People are always wondering, and asking me, what my ideal coutertop looks like.  Oh wait, no...no one cares.  Its just that I think about my ideal countertops a lot.  There they are!  Big 'ole, thick, heavy Corian.  White.  Fabulous.  I do wonder why they didn't go all out and get the seamless Corian sink?  Those are a cleaning ladies' dream.

Someday, Allison.  Someday.

Ikea loot

I stinkin' love Ikea.  Maybe I wouldn't love it so much if I lived in a city that had an Ikea but I don't.  Or maybe I wouldn't be giddy about going there if I were rich and didn't need to take advantage of plastic bag organizers for $1.99 but I'm not rich.  The el-cheapo Swedish meals in the little cafeteria don't hurt either.  We spent the last day of our vacation at the new Ikea in Centennial (Denver).  We allotted for about 3 hours.  We stayed for about 6.  Oops.  We got back to Lincoln at 4am.  Totally worth it.  Here is what I can remember of our final shopping list: 
-Hopen bed for master bedroom
-Expedit bookshelf w/five openings for living room
-curtains and other gear for Willa's closet makeover
-15 or so white picture frames
-stuffed dog
-measuring spoons
-salad spinner
-tiny table and chairs for Willa's tea parties
-a few things for the Petermann bean
-aforementioned plastic bag organizer
-toilet bowl brush
-kitchen light fixtures (3) and bulbs

I think that was all.  I am anxious to get it all put together and start making Willa's room a toddler wonderland:)

Want, want, want

Etsy



Etsy

 This is what happens when I don't bring a book to work.  I window shop.  I have a strong feeling that I will end up making both of these purchases, after I do a little measuring.

I wish Instagram could build me a boat

I am finally getting into my Instagram app on the 'ole iphone.  Could you tell?!?  It really makes me look like some sort of photographer.  Or someone who owns a camera, at least.  Which I don't.  

Enjoy this picture, as I don't appear on the blog very often.  Check those horrific tan lines!  From tanking, which was a BLAST.  (No pictures though because Allison+river+beer=well, we didn't find out because I didn't take my phone but it wouldn't have been good.)

Willa and I were on the dock at Branched Oak.  We got to go for a nice boat ride in a little jet boat that was sitting in our garage but that wasn't ours.  Why does this always happen to me?  Fun stuff sits in the shop and it isn't mine!  I'm not even clear whose boat this was, or is, or will be.  All I understood from the story was something about an evil mohawk.  Communicating with Brad is always fun. 

This outing left me wanting a boat.