Tuesday, February 28, 2012

On Your Toes



I am IN LOVE with these little colored-toe flats! The nude with the pop of color is so cute and classy. I tried looking around for an inexpensive pair of these babies but I am afraid they might not exist. 

 But then I thought to myself, "Hey self, you have some nude pumps and a little bit of fabric paint left, why not make them yourself?"and that's exactly what I did.

I've seen a lot of shoe painting tutorials floating around on the internet so this all came about very easily.



I used Tulip Fabric Spray Paint on my suede pumps from Urban Outfitters and it worked like a charm. Also, Dexter approves which is a huge plus. Have a great tuesday!


Monday, February 27, 2012

Busy Bee



Say hello to my favorite clock in our home. Mostly we are friends, but it seems he is speeding up as of late which is not cool. Slow down clock, I need to be able to get more stuff done! It's that time in school where I have so many big projects I'm working on that it seems like my brain can barely keep up. Work and blog are also very busy which is good (SO GOOD), I just wish I had more time to spend with them. Just a couple more weeks Candace, just a couple more weeks. 


Saturday, February 25, 2012

A little DIY



As you may remember, I'm working on finding pieces for our new home to make it feel like our own, in particular our bedroom. I've been making some new art pieces to go in there (don't you get sick of looking at the same stuff on your walls for years too?) and I've been exploring online for new fun ideas. I stumbled across these beautiful giant cross stitches by Jessica Decker. SO AMAZING right? I'm feeling very motivated to take a stab at making one of my own, wish me luck!

A piece I just made that I'm excited to share with you is this little guy

I found some really pretty paper the other day with a bunch of vintage steel pens on it and bought it on a whim because I figured I could do something with it. A piece of wood, some puzzle skills, and a little modge podge later here we are. It's really simple but I think it has a subtle romance to it which I really enjoy.

Hope you all are having a fantastic weekend!

Thursday, February 23, 2012

The best surprise

Today I got this amazing email from my mom!


How stinkin' cute is she? I'm so excited! How did she know I was just drooling over the Anthropologie display windows today after class? Girl's got some physic powers if you ask me! Thanks again mom!

Hope everyone's day is equally awesome. My cold status is that I'm still sick, but I told my body this is it, by the end of the day today I'm going to feel better. I was very firm, so I think it'll listen :)

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Spreading the love

original photo by Dee Adams
Hey guys! With all this talk on other blogs about March sponsorships I just wanted to take a second to let you know that Woodgrain & Gold does sponsor swapping! Your button on my blog, mine on yours, how awesome is that? It was introduced to me by the lovely Alyssa over at Ten Feet Off Beale (who I currently sponsor swap with) and I think it's a great way for us smaller blogs to grow. If you have any questions or are interested go ahead and email me at woodgrainandgold@gmail.com!

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Ooo La La

I always feel SO CUTE when I'm sick, don't you? This cold has really hit me hard. All out of nowhere too. It was like one minute everything was fine and then the next it was full on awfulness. I posted on Facebook for people to tell me their weird cold remedies, and an hour later I've taken a stab at nearly all of the responses I got because I am that desperate to get back into the healthy groove. 

Something that is "sick" in the, "that's so sick brah" way, and not the "can you hand me something to blow my nose with" way, is this super amazing living room.


SWOON. Ahhhh yet another space that I wish I could call my own.

Let's hope by tomorrow I'll be making my way to getting over this nonsense. Stay healthy everyone!

{saved this photo a while back, if you know where it's from let me know so I can source it!}

Monday, February 20, 2012

Have a Heart


click on the images above for more info, and to see the gallery they are in
I was poking around on wordpress the other day while I was working on A Girl In Sunset, and I found these amazing maps on Streets of Salem. She breaks them down and makes some interesting observations. She also shares other various heart maps. It's worth heading on over there and taking a look at! I think they are absolutely beautiful, not necessarily accurate (well, maybe for the 1830's, which is when they were made), but beautiful. They also very much remind me of these from It's Kind of a Funny Story, which I also love.

In other breaking news I've caught the dreaded cold I've been hearing so much about, so send me some good healthy vibes, wontchya? Thanks!

Sunday, February 19, 2012

This little piggy..


..bought us brunch. 

Here's a little photostrip of our morning. We woke up and really wanted breakfast but had nothing at home to cook breakfast-wise. We are both low on money so we decided to dip into our piggy bank and grab just enough cash to get us some grub. The Night Light on Clinton just started serving a reasonably priced brunch so we decided to check it out. It was SO GOOD. We were both so hungry that I completely forgot to take pictures of our plates before, but I think our aftermath shots give you a good idea of the tastiness level. See you tomorrow!

Saturday, February 18, 2012

where art thou

I've spent my day so far eating some artichoke ravioli, working from home, and searching for my glasses. In searching I went through all of my purses and found a couple of my favorite things that I've lived without the last few weeks. 


Sadly, as you can see, my glasses are still MIA, and when work and school require me to stare at books and computers for hours on end not having them poses quite the problem. I just don't know where they could be. I really hope they turn up somewhere, they're my favorite! Beautiful little navy blue, square frames. Makes me sad just thinking they're all alone somewhere. I'm not trying to replace them but I need to start thinking about getting another pair for my eyeballs' sake.


trying on glasses is some serious business

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Through blog world I've stumbled upon Bonlook and I really love their frames. I tried almost all of them on virtually just to see, and I think these ones are the best. Although I don't know if I can pull off round glasses. I love them on other girls and always wanted to try them though so I did! Let me know what you think so I can actually attempt to pick one!

Happy weekend everyone!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Thursday, February 16, 2012

How?

How is it that my last post was Monday? I must have dreamt about doing a blog post because I could have sworn I've posted since then. I guess that's what happens when you write two blogs? I should get a twitter so I can say "#blogginggirlproblems" ehhh ehhh??

So you want to know what I've been up to? Let's start with the hair. I'm officially no longer a purple-head. Tragic, I know. After 3 weeks and a lot of trial and error I have landed in magenta-maroon land and I am here to stay. My high school self would be so proud, she always wanted us to have hair like Hayley Williams of Paramore. If only she knew we would end up here. Present self is also very proud. And in love. SO IN LOVE.


What else? Oh, I've completely fallen off the wagon with working out. I've still been eating healthier but with my more than overbooked schedule taking the time to get my sweat on has officially moved to the back burner. On the more successful side of my overbooked schedule, I am also officially expanding my design ventures. As you know I'm doing that fashion/interior design collaboration for our school's spring fashion show. My partner and I have been working hard. I really lucked out getting paired with her by the way. Her name is Christie and she is really great and has awesome ideas. This project definitely deserves it's own post once we've finished but here's a sneak peak at some of our process pictures for our final design. (note that we are completely changing each piece, we are not using anything as is).




 I'm also starting to really dabble in graphic design. Crazy right? I mean it makes sense, there is a lot of overlapping in the design field. Could a real graphic designer do a better job than me? Of course. But am I going to let that discourage me? NAH! It's mostly just blog design but it's really exciting to me. More work blogging? SO COOL. Right now I'm working on redesigning A Girl in Sunset, a wonderful blog by the wonderful Lisa Maurine. You should check it out! I'll be sure to post the finished product once it's complete.

Anything else? I think that's about it, I'll be sure to stop by tomorrow to make up for my absence the last couple of days.

Oh, I saw Chronicle and The Vow. Chronicle was INTENSE and The Vow made me cry like a little baby. Ok that's it!



Monday, February 13, 2012

BEST PRESENT EVER.


For our anniversary Nick and I decided to buy our Sasquatch tickets. This, of course, was no spur of the moment decision, we've been saving up since before Christmas. As a couple of native Washingtonians, living here in good ol' PDX, I don't think we'll ever escape the desire to go back for Sasquatch. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it's a huge 4 day music festival held here...



..one of the most beautiful places in the world in my opinion. Just looking at that picture makes me so happy. I've gone to Sasquatch for quite a few years now, but Nick went for the first time with me in 2010, and we've gone together every year since. It's sounds silly but it's a really magical experience. Four days of amazing music, friends, camping, and a view like that...magical is really the only word that I feel is appropriate.


It's hard to say who I'm excited for, there are so many great bands going this year. If anything, I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to see everyone I want to. Which I know is going to happen, I just hate having to choose. Some bands that I for sure will not miss:

Bon Iver
Group Love
Fun.

It wasn't easy only listing 3, but sometimes you have to make tough choices. Anyway it's time for this girl to get to bed. School and work are getting so busy, I will be one happy girl in 5 weeks when I get a little break (gah 5 weeks?!). Hope you all have a great Valentine's tomorrow. Even those of you who pretend to hate it. Knock it off ya scrooges! Be happy to have an excuse to make something a celebration!

Sunday, February 12, 2012

2


Guess what, it's our anniversary today! I've been lucky enough to spend 2 years with this guy and I couldn't be happier. I love you Nick! We're going on a fancy date tonight, so I need to start getting ready, see you guys tomorrow!

Friday, February 10, 2012

Dear Socks,


I love you. Also, let's work on keeping you guys as pairs. I would be eternally grateful.

Love,
Candace

Thursday, February 9, 2012

liar liar

pants on fire. So much for me making it back on here by Tuesday. As much as I would love blogging to come first in my schedule, sadly school reigns that top spot. I'm not sure what I was thinking taking 5 classes this term, but I can assure you, it is not happening again. It was midterms this week and I spent a majority of my time studying for things like my ridiculously hard Earth Science test. Earth Science, really? I love our planet, but give me a break. I appreciate all you folks that are good at that stuff but I am not nor will I ever be. And I am A-OK with that. Moving right along..




Here it is, my last Valentine's Day craft. I am so excited about these little guys! There's a romance associated with glass Coca-Cola bottles that I am in love with. Plus they're just so pretty. I thought they would make a great grown up valentine, and a nice alternative to candy.


All you have to do is cut out a bunch of little hearts, tie a bow around the top of the bottle, and thread the hearts though the bow's ends. Really simple! I am going to write the names of who they're for on the hearts (I just didn't want to spoil it incase they are reading now)!

I hope you guys have a great Friday tomorrow to kick off the weekend! And I hope you enjoyed my Valentine's ideas!


Monday, February 6, 2012

I promise.

This is not just a fashion blog. I promise. I was just playing around on polyvore and I thought I'd share.

At this point you're probably thinking I'm Valentine's Day obsessed. The truth is since I've been young I've liked it. I think I have my mom to thank for that, she always makes all the little holidays really special. I also think it's because I really enjoy making/giving valentines to people. There's something really great about taking a day to show people you care about them (V-day is not just for you and your boo dudes, it's about spreading the love in genreal). These days though, it's also really exciting because our anniversary is on the 12th. So I really get in the romantic spirit. This Sunday is going to mark two years for us. Needless to say, once I realized these events were so close I started dreaming of what to wear. All these outfits are right up my alley. I've wanted a dress like that blue one for a while now. I'm going to cross my fingers that it lands in my lap before the weekend. Haha, we'll see about that.

My pictures are loading super slow and I have lots of homework so I'm going to post my last Valentine's Day craft tomorrow. The anticipation is killing you. I KNOW. Me too.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

shopping dreams


Let's face it, I would have to win the lottery to be able to shop at Anthropologie. There is one I walk by everyday when I'm at school and I always say to myself that I am going to save more money and buy one nice thing from there every once in a while. The only problem with that is, girls gotta eat. So for now I just go in there and drool. Some people say window shopping is a waste of time but I like to frequent my dream shopping spots so that when I'm in Buffalo Exchange or any other second hand store, I know what I'm looking for. Does that make sense? I feel like even when you go to somewhere like Target you can get overwhelmed by a lot of affordable clothing and then you end up leaving with a lot of things you'll never wear. But if you have in mind what is out right now that you like, inexpensive clothing ends up having less of a hold on your irrational decisions. Moving on, these are some of my favorite pieces currently at Anthropologie. I say who cares if it's winter! Put some color in your life with bright pieces. And, as always, I will never tire of stripes or floral prints.

Hope you guys have a great Super Bowl Sunday tomorrow! We're laying low and having a couple friends over which is exciting. I'm not really big on football (shocker, right) but really any excuse to have friends over is good with me and I'm actually a pretty competitive person, so I always end up getting into it. See you Monday! I have one more Valentine's Day craft so get excited.

Friday, February 3, 2012

TGIF

 This week has been crazy, it feels so good that it is finally Friday. A break from school, a whole weekend to spend time with my dude and the little dudes, and a whole day worth of the best job in the word. All these things are much needed. I've been a little MIA on my blog this week because I got a brand new position at work doing a lot web wizardry. I now also write this blog for Icon! Getting a blog started takes a lot of work so I'm sure you can understand why I haven't been able to make it over here everyday. I'm really excited about the pictures in the last post I did over there so I want to share them with you in case you don't want to click that nifty little link up there.



I shoot all my photos with a Nikon D60, with the standard lens you buy it with. Yesterday though, I had Nick rent a Nikon 24 mm macro lens from school and (as you can see) the pictures turned out so much better! It's perfect for the kind of pictures I take. Being the girl who constantly has her camera on her shoulder these days this is kind of ground breaking for me. I need this lens! Is it my birthday yet? Nope, 4 more months! Christmas? That just happened doofus! Ahhhhhhh. I found a used one on Amazon for $255, so I guess it's time to save up. All my pennies. Just in case you're reading Santa, I've been really good and you can find my new friend if you click on the picture of him below.




Wishing you all a fantastic Friday, and I'll be seeing you very soon!

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Bittersweet Symphony.

Yep, one day you're "KING OF THE WORLD", and the next you're freezing your toosh off in the Atlantic Ocean. Yesterday was suppose to be an awesome day, I had made a great project proposal that I was really excited about. Maybe a little too excited. I couldn't shut up about it, I was like a giddy little kid. I got to class and the anticipation was growing as I was sitting there listening to other presentations, and then in an instant it was all gone. My heart sunk into my stomach as I listened to a presentation that was nearly identical to mine. We're talking about word for word kind of identical. How does that happen? Ever since I've felt awful, the whole thing just wont sit right with me.

There is a silver lining. Thankfully I have an amazing partner for the project (which I will go more into detail about soon because it's really exciting!) and we're already cooking up more great ideas. I also have a pretty awesome guy that will sit there with an arm around me while I cry it out, along with the cutest dog ever that somehow got trained to rest his head on my lap whenever I'm upset. It's these things that make the bad stuff seem silly. 

Today I took a couple extra steps to pull myself out of my funk, and they are things I highly recommend if you're in need of a boost too.


With eating healthier I miss out on some of my favorite snacking. I decided I definitely deserved a cookie. This little guy is macadamia chocolate chip and VEGAN which I think everyone assumes means it's gross but I love them. Also do you see that those goldfish are space shapes? Talk about instant happiness. I love flowers too, I don't know what it is about them but they really do the trick when it comes to making me feel better. Besides these two things I've been listening to a lot of really loud music. All these things help. What do you do when you're upset? 

My day today ended up being infinitely better than yesterday. So much so that it deserves it's own post! So I'll be back tomorrow to give you the good news. Goodnight friends! Oh and I hope you all caught that Titanic reference up there. If not, it's ok, we can still be buddies.