Missed Connections Paintings by Sophie Blackall

Happened upon these great paintings by Sophie Blackall on Etsy this week!

Are you familiar with Missed Connections on Craigslist? Maybe you've spent some time staying up late to read them? Perhaps you've written a couple yourself? I'm not ashamed to admit, I have gotten caught up in both activities. :-o

I LOVE these! I wonder if any of these people ever ended up getting together after their craigslist post. Can you imagine finding a missed connection YOU wrote turned into a painting?

About the artist and her project, via Etsy: "Her Missed Connections project is an ongoing series of paintings based on real, anonymous messages posted online by lovelorn strangers."

Find her here:
www.sophieblackall.com
www.sophieblackall.blogspot.com
http://missedconnectionsny.blogspot.com 

She Wore a Raspberry Beret, Yeah That Kind

I haven't worn pants for a about a week straight and it feels wonderful! ;)

I made a promise to myself that for a week I would try to go pantless and just layer stuff with my dresses to keep warm. This is one of those outfits. Do you ever get tired of wearing pants and jeans? I thought it was a good time to pull out some dresses that I never, ever wear. Took this pic while out and about running errands. Honest to betsey, I was SO comfy in this outfit. I felt like I could wear it or something like it for the rest of the week. The first layer is a long bias cut rayon black dress that's actually kinda fancy, until I covered it with a cashmere gray sweater (WARM), and my favorite zip up sweater that for the life of me, no matter how pilly it gets, I can never get rid of-- do you have one like this? The colorful felted wool purse has received many compliments when I'm out, with one man recently saying it looks like "something out of a Dr. Suess book".  And finally, the red glass heart necklace is from a craft show earlier this year, by a darling of a lady named Carey Gustafson of Glass Action who just happens to be on etsy as well!

As much love as I have for my mitten state, when the cold starts coming in, I start wishing I was a bear, and could hibernate and sleep it all away until summer comes back around again. So in my yearly effort to stay positive about the season changing from warm to cold again, I'm trying to get my layering down pat, putting together cute warm and cozy outfits (sans pants? even better!).  S.A.D. you will not beat me this year this year!  My friends tell me to stay busy, stay busy, stay busy. So there are also books galore beside my bed, over 100 movies in my netflix que, a gym bag ready at all times, and oh, plenty and plenty of housework that's pretty much never-ending! Dishes, death, and taxes -- the three certainties in life. :-P

Mitten Love!


Headed out into the cold rainy and gray day. I need to change this attitude! Happens every year, it does.

My Brother's Etsy Shop!

I started selling on Etsy in February of 2009. At the time I was raving to my family and friends about how much I loved the site. I had been selling on Ebay for quite a few years before finding Etsy, but knew the change was inevitable once I started seeing the benefits of switching.

Around that time, my brother Mark started taking an interest in what I was doing. Keep in mind my brother has always been amazing at decorating his apartment in some of the cutest vintage housewares -- so much so that for a few years now we've called him "Marky Stewart". He started becoming very curious about having an online business for himself because he'd been working for a company that he disliked, and believe me, I ALWAYS got to hear about it. It was around 4 months after one of these conversations that my brother finally decided to start his own lil' Etsy shop with his partner Jeff. The name of their shop came from two adorable new marmalade kittens they had just adopted at the time named Boots and Gus.

BootsnGus now has over 16,000 admirers on Etsy, have been in the Etsy finds more times than I can count, and have also been featured in 2 magazines; Natural Home and Garden and more recently Better Homes & Gardens online. Congrats, my boys! I really love how these two work together as a team on their shop, it's very inspiring to me! Kinda makes me wish I had a business partner at times...

While my brother still maintains the stocking up / interest in the vintage housewares and now vintage books and records (he has so many great ones in his possession not yet listed!) it is JEFF who is responsible for the popular light fixture creations. One thing I greatly admire about Jeff is that he never ever puts a limit on his imagination. He's really made me appreciate the idea of upcycling so much more than I ever have in the past.

Consistenly inspired by their 4 adorable cats, Bootsngus has certainly made a permanent home on Etsy. I'm really proud of these two for taking a risk and starting their own business! As busy as they've been with so much online exposure and many sales, they haven't regretted one day of working for themselves! Cheers, guys!

Find my brother & Jeff's shop here. 

quite possibly the cutest muses I ever did see!!

Pretty Leaves

Just thinking yesterday about gathering some pretty fall leaves with my son soon, especially now that they are covering our backyard. Then I stumbled upon these pretty leaves this morning and had to share. Aren't they neat?

By Spanish artist Lorenzo Duran. I wonder how long they take to create.

Overdue Hello & Newly-Listed Pretties

Hello again blogger friends. First let me apologize for my little spell of being absent from here within the last couple of weeks or so. You know those moments in life when it is absolutely necessary to take some time for yourself? I was essentially having one of those moments between mid September and about last weekend. Instead of going into detail, (I'll save that for a later post this week) I wanted to share some of the pretties I've been hoarding for the last few weeks.

I missed my shop, I really did...and I'm so happy to "feel" like I'm back, if that makes any sense. More about all of this later. Happy October to you!
♥, 
- Jessica
Click any of the pics below to find these items in the shop.
 

This Beat is TECHNOTRONIC

I know it's not Monday, and that it's been months since I've even done a music Monday post, but just wanted to show you who is responsible for my clean apartment these last couple of weeks.

I start cleaning and dancing all around the house and suddenly my place goes from messy to clean in no time at all, it's kinda magical. :-P  
Ya Kid K Rules! This girl knows how to get me movin! Remember these songs?

Any songs you listen to that guarantee a clean space afterward?

Creatures and Comforts

hello there friends. I'm still alive. If I haven't blogged for almost a week I always feel terrible about it and that lasts for about another week. oh the guilt! I've been a little out of sorts lately because I had a wisdom tooth extracted on Monday and I've been on pain relievers non-stop since then. My brain's starting to feel a little fuzzy. But that particular tooth had been giving me trouble all last week, so I'm glad I got it taken care of when I did.
 * * * * *
Just wanted to share a few recent photos since I haven't in a while. I'm also dedicating this post to Ms. AnDee Barrett, creator of what came to be my weekly inspiration, Fit to Be Seen. I'm saddened that she recently closed her blog but just wanted to mention that I *always* loved the beautiful images and honesty of her posts. There's something about the realness of her writing that makes me feel connected and reminds me to be grateful. Thank you Andrea. And just to let you know. . . I'll follow you wherever your next space happens to be. :)

Treating myself to a cardamom cinnamon tea at my favorite coffee shop. I like all of the light going on in this picture.

Fell in love with these flowers from my neighbor's yard this summer. I think they're called Moon Flowers. Every time I'd really stop to look at one I couldn't help but to think of the word, "perfect".

Mr. Green. Walked outside of my apartment to find this little guy just, you know, chilling out on my plant. He stayed still the entire time I photographed him!

Hearts in nature.♥ Found while out on an evening walk with my son.

8 times out of 10 this fuzzy creature of love is what I see when I pull up into my driveway. Every single time it brings a smile to my face.