This weekend and always, I was/am thankful for many things:

-- My wonderful husband, who makes me happier than I ever thought possible.
-- My lovely family and family-in-law, which is not even the least little bit disharmonious at holiday gatherings.
-- Our happy little blue house, whose walls are thin and poorly-insulated, but which still manages to keep us warm when it's cold out.
-- The smell of smoke drifting out of chimneys and floating around the neighborhood (thanks to those lucky people with fireplaces).
-- Our favorite TV show back-seasons, which Netflix makes it possible for us to enjoy when we're two years behind.
-- Sufjan Stevens, Bing Crosby, and Elvis at Christmas.
-- A stable job in which I get to interact with a fantastic group of academically-motivated students on a daily basis.
-- Homemade breakfasts on sleepy weekend mornings.
-- Impulsive "order in pizza for supper" nights.
-- Festive holiday spirit, and warm apple cider.
-- Every new day I'm given.

DIY Thursday: Embellished Headbands

Livy of A Field Journal is yet again the author of today's DIY Thursday craft project. Check out these amazing and beautiful handmade embellished headbands she made for the Project Wedding tutorial. These would be perfect not only for bridesmaid gifts, but for stocking stuffers and little sister presents. I don't have a little sister, so I'll have to make mine for me.

Get the full materials list and set of instructions here.

(Images by Livy, pulled from here.)

I, like you, I assume, will be spending my day with family tomorrow, eating lots of lovely things and also celebrating Nate's birthday again with my family and his. We will get to have Thanksgiving at my parents' new house at their vineyard for the first time this year, and I expect my dad will have a cozy fire burning, and my mom's beautiful kitchen will be bustling with people working to prepare all of the lovely things we're going to eat. I hope your holiday is as warm and cozy, whatever your traditions may be. I do have a DIY Thursday post planned for you here, but will probablytake Friday off, as I think my mom and I are going to start on some Christmas crafting and decorating at her house. Yay for holidays!

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

Etsy Treasure Tuesday: Parsimony

I've been a fan of Parsimony's lovely tunic-style dresses for quite a long time, even before I got to see some of them in person last April at the Funky Finds Spring Fling in Fort Worth. They had some gorgeous dresses in lustrous silks and soft cottons there -- original designs, hand-sewn -- that I really wanted to take home with me. But instead, I content myself with occasionally drooling over the charming offerings in the Parsimony Etsy shop. And the bonus: they're from Austin; hooray for Texas artists!

I think my favorite of all is the Team Spirit dress in that beautiful sea green. And with a cute belt, oh dear.

(All images by Parsimony, culled from the Etsy shop.)

Weekend Crafting

I was so excited to get home Friday afternoon and find that I'd received these from Pretty Tape:

(you can't quite tell it in the photo, but there's a lace pattern on the left one, and a cute little repeating bow pattern on the right.)

I was so excited that naturally, I spent the entire evening playing with my new pretties, and I came up with these, which I'll send out (starting today) with every pink street order, both in my shop and given to Art Trail customers. Aren't they the most fantastic little discount coupons you've ever seen! (I don't mean that in a braggy type of way, just in a "I'm really pleased overall with how they turned out" type of way.)

I found those terrific wood veneer business cards at Lee Valley Tool Supply Co., and purchased enough to last for a while. I rounded the corners on mine for more of a custom look, then added the tape strips and stamps in white, gold, and brown, plus a handwritten discount line and drawn-in stitch marks with my trusty pink pen.

I can think of so many other really cute things you could do with them; like make darling place cards like the ones below. (See the tuturial at scissor variations for complete instructions.)

So what wonderful things would you do with them?

And the Winner Is .....

Jessica! Congratulations, my friend! Fiona is yours!

Thanks so much to everyone who commented -- I loved reading them all, and I hope that you'll come back to see some lovely things I'll be posting next week. And for more giveaways in the future, as well!

(Image by Andrea Singarella of Everyday Beauty, found here.)

Last Chance

Today's the last day to enter the giveaway! Post your comment here before 10:00pm tonight, and your name will be entered to win Fiona, a brand new pink street creation.

Winner will be announced Sunday morning!

Great Day

Today was a wonderful day! I took the day off to spend it with my lovely husband. We went to breakfast at Starbucks, had the best pizza I've ever had (seriously) for lunch at West Crust Pizza -- with spinach, prosciutto, and dates, oh my --, and saw the best new movie I've seen in a long time: Pirate Radio.

It was so much fun. There were serious bits, of course, but I smiled/laughed/exulted along with the main characters during almost the entire movie. I can't tell you how much both Nate and I loved it; not only are the cast of characters spunky, likable, hilarious, and heartwarming, but the story centers on, and is set against a background of some of the best of 60's rock, the stuff Nate and I both grew up listening to. {Incidentally, it was an obscure Simon and Garfunkel song, to which I knew the lyrics, which first induced my husband to look at me, and it was the Beatles and Badly Drawn Boy which, a few days later, had him convinced that I was the coolest girl he'd ever met.} We both really love music, and generally not much of the same music everyone else goes nuts over. So this movie made both of us very happy. And it will make you happy too. Promise. Here are some fantastic stills. Just try not to smile.

DIY Thursday: Fabric Pumpkins

After seeing this photo on flickr (taken by indierocket) of the absolutely gorgeous fabric pumpkins for sale at ink + peat in Portland, Danielle Thompson of Thompson Family Life decided to make her own. And the photos she took of her own fabric pumpkin creations blew me away. Just in time for Thanksgiving, everyone! Grab your scraps and craft away! I certainly intend to.

A full and wonderfully detailed tutorial can be found here, on Danielle Thompson's blog, which is full of colorful, retro, kitch and kind-hearted loveliness. Those of you who are hard-core scrapbookers know Danielle's name already, I'm sure, but this shall serve as an introduction to her for those of you who aren't. I hope you spend some time browsing her blog, and then hop over to her charming Etsy shop, Tiny Bazaar, to see more of her photography and creative design genius.

Celebration and Giveaway

We've been celebrating lots of things in our little house this week: my husband finished and turned in his last really big research paper of the semster; his birthday is Thursday; I won a minor victory against the worst case of food-burned-to-the-bottom-of-the-pan in the history of the world last night; and lastly, I'm celebrating this week because this is my 200th blog post!

So, to thank all of you for being my readers, I'm giving away a Pink Street necklace which is brand new to the world -- it's never been seen by anyone but me in its short life yet. Her name is Fiona, and she features an ivory rose, a vintage and beautifully-etched brass paisley, and a vintage round raw brass locket, on a very delicate gold-plated chain. And one of you will win her next Monday!

Here's how you enter: just leave a comment on this post telling me what your favorite holiday decorating tradition is, or something crafty and handmade you plan to make for a gift this year. I intend to make many of my Christmas presents, and also to "spruce" up my house a little more than usual for the holidays, and would love to hear some of your ideas. Post your comment by 10:00pm on Saturday night!

Etsy Treasure Tuesday: Lola's Room

I'm completely in love with the soft pastels, vintage composition, and charmingly quiet settings featured in the beautiful photography of Lola's Room. I've long been a fan of shop-owner Cassia Beck on flickr, and was thrilled to find out that copies of my favorite prints are offered in her two Etsy shops, Lola's Room and Cassia Beck Photography.

Today, though, I'm focusing on some of my favorite prints by Lola's Room.

As a literature major, vintage-lover, and fan of anything pink, aqua, and cream, I'm sure there can be no doubt about how much I love these photos, and the style and lovely simplicity with which they've been captured. Please stop by Lola's Room and have a look around for yourself, and visit Cassia's flickr photostream for more loveliness.

(All images by Cassia Beck.)

Weekend Recap & Reflections (in random order)

1. Although I put it off (sometimes, for an entire year), I realized last night that polishing my silver actually makes me happy. It looks so beautiful when you wipe away the dark tarnish and reveal the shiny, suprising beauty underneath. I think antique silver can teach us a lot about aging gracefully (and also about wearing sunscreen?).

2. You know you are out of shape when squatting for five minutes to look at the scrapbook papers on the bottom row makes your legs sore. Sheesh. I'm getting old, but I'm not that old.

3. I do not like going to the grocery store on Sunday afternoons. People are crazy. Everyone but me is crazy.

4. I am so excited about a birthday surprise I'm concocting for my husband. Will share details next week, after the surprise has been revealed to the birthday boy.

5. I am now an expert at painting shutters. And I hope to show you photos soon of our charming little blue house with its new shutters up!

6. The new 2-story Barnes & Noble is a zoo. And an amusement park. And apparently, the newly-designated hangout place for all teenagers within a 50-mile radius. Sheesh, what happened to selling books?

7. I watched two Rogers and Astaire movies Friday night, back to back. I am now seriously considering taking up tap, and have decided that I want to be Ginger Rogers. My husband stubbornly asserts that he's glad I'm me and not Ginger Rogers, but he didn't watch those movies with me -- how can he know the extent of the wonderfulness I'm talking about here?

8. Made some lovely enchiladas with homemade red sauce for dinner last night. Yummmm.

9. My sweet husband took me to Krispy Kreme yesterday for breakfast. I love Sunday mornings.

10. Put together some plans for handmade Christmas gifts, which are my favorite anyway. I do always have trouble coming up with things for the men in my family, so if any of you have seen any great guy-appropriate DIY or gift ideas, please let me know!