Butterfly patio chairs.

I have this really hopeful dream of turning our fenced in backyard area into a barbecue/s'mores roasting area complete with comfortable patio furniture and fire pit, where I invite friends over for red meat and cocktails, and these Urban Outfitters butterfly chairs are perfect. $35 is a lot when you're buying four of them, but I'm seriously debating pulling out my credit card, because that's an awesome deal. I can't find anything half as reasonable even in the classifieds.

My personal rule is that I can't buy things like this unless I pay for them outright, but they're such a good deal!

This is going to eat at me for days.

Brought to you by ear muffs.

In an attempt to convince myself that I would not only NOT look completely crazy in ear muffs, but actually rock the hell out of them, I went on a Google search bender titled "Stylish Ladies In Furry Ear Muffs."

This is what I got:

Um, yeah... It did nothing for my ear muff self esteem.

So I went overseas.

Where skinny Asian girls with perfect hair rock ear muffs like they're not even wearing any. Apparently, my life aspiration of being a well-dressed American has turned into a burning desire to be a Japanese teenager.

Good mitten/ Bad mitten

Whilst shopping last weekend, I had my heart set on buying a new pair of large, fluffy mittens to keep me going through these last few months of frosty school mornings. My old pair, in their heyday were unreal. Soft, white, fluffy and warm. This was three years ago, and despite a couple of dry cleaning trips, they were looking discolored and shaggy. The lining had been torn as well, which I had never bothered to fix and created an extra special sensation when half my fingers would end up between the knit and the lining while the rest fit snuggly where they were supposed to.

I ended up finding a really great charcoal-colored knitted pair at Urban Outfitters, but $24 was completely outrageous. Seriously. There was no way in my mind that I could justify it. I love you UO, but you guys need to check yourselves. I've never bought anything from there that made me say "Yeah... they're SO expensive, but the clothes held up for YEARS." Yeahhh, no.

So I left.

Mitten-less, but with a new determination.

That night, my nerdy boyfriend left for a boys night of D&D, leaving me to my episodes of Radio Lab and a great idea.

I pulled out a pair of sewing scissors, a thread and needle, and got to work.

I trimmed the hell out of these guys. I managed to get every last bit of grey scragglies snipped off, including a secured lining, leaving in their wake an almost new pair of three year-old mittens.

The matted, grey mess suddenly became something I could wear outside again.

It really was an amazing difference. And I'm sure a lot of people are rolling their eyes at me going "Duh." But honestly, it really hadn't occurred to me to patch these big guys up instead of replacing them. So, for all of you similarly clueless gals out there, keep in mind that sometimes all it takes is a pair of sewing scissors, a bit of thread, and a few episodes of Radio Lab.

Look at that difference! (And just in case I'm a really terrible photographer, the mitten on the left is the bad mitten.) I feel so green and Earth-friendly about my otherwise condemned ex-mittens. So thank you, Urban, for being so damn expensive that I considered ALL my options before I made another purchase.

Hanna Terese- Illustrations

http://hannaterese.com

Anthro.

For Christmas, my brother and his wife, obviously knowing me well, bought me a $50 gift card to Anthropologie where I unapologetically spent it on just two items.

I've never owned earrings this nice before. I mean, of course I own earrings, but they're the earrings everyone has that they bought in high school from the mall or Target and are missing pairs at the bottom of a jewelry box with safety pins and buttons. I can assure you, these are the type that you keep on display. They're spectacularly glittery in person. I own one other pair of earrings I wear often, which are pretty great and deserve their own post. Trent's mom bought them as a stocking stuffer for me amid millions of Dillard's samples like perfume, lipstick, night creams, and mascaras. She's got fantastic taste. To say the least.

Secondly, I've been pining for some cute stationary, and always wanted to get something from Rifle Paper Co, but I could never justify the steep price. As soon as I saw that Anthro had a set, I snatched it up.

Now my only problem is deciding what's worthy of one of the eight lovely note cards and matching envelopes.

Fiona Dunphy - Illustrator

On being more organized.

I didn't show you my closet or shelf space in my bedroom tour because to be honest, I'm embarrassed. My shoes are spilling out of the square foot wide closet, I have twice as many hangers as I do clothes, and all seasonal clothes stand side by side because I have NO WHERE ELSE to put them. I had a vertical shoe hanger for a while, but it took up too much space, leaving zero room for my coats. My hats and scarves are stuffed into a couple of vintage suitcases under the bed, which means that I hardly ever wear them, and when I do, I smell like the back room of a musty vintage store.

Go vertical:

As always, Ikea has some really fantastic space-saving solutions for small apartment dwellers like myself. Rather than clutter up wall space with hooks, I'm opting for something subtle that I can hide away. I love the woven look, so it's not an eye-sore.

As far as shoes go, my BIGGEST problem is where to keep my shoes. Lately they've made a permanent spot next to the door where they will leak as little snow and salt as possible, but this is mainly because we don't have a mat to wipe our feet on when we come in the door. Big mistake. I've resolved to fix this. Also, I found these amazing boot shaping hangers from The Container store, which promise space saving magic as well as structure so you don't get creased boots. Up until now I've been using rolled up poster board. Ugh, the shame.

Take advantage of the space under your bed:

There's seriously nothing under mine, save for the vintage suitcases which act as smelly space savers for me. I won't need bins like the one above after I take the plunge and buy the Brimnes, which has built-in drawers, but seriously-- Take Advantage Of The Space Beneath Your Bed. My mom taught me this one, and I never had the space problems that I do now to put it into practice, but fold up your out-of-season clothes, put them under the bed in your protective bin, and bask in the glory of your roomier closet.

Free People Slipper Socks.

Free People over the knee slipper socks. For keeping toes warm in these sub-zero temperatures. Not to mention that these can be worn inside AND outside.

Adventures in buying a knockoff bag.

The minute I laid eyes on the Marc Jacobs Petal to the Metal bag, I knew I wanted it. It was everything I needed in a bag-- real leather, sturdy, and sparrow hardware. Like my perfect boots, this too was out of my range. I gnawed on the idea of saving up the ridiculous amount of $500 and dropping it on the bag that would carry my sad, empty wallet afterwards. Not deterred, I searched for an alternative. I scoured the Internet in search of a deal into the furthest reaches of the inter-web and then came upon this.

Oh God.

Is that even legal?

Marc Jacobs, Petal to the Metal Natasha: $428

The Knockoff: $175

I shifted uncomfortably in my seat as a scene from Sex and the City popped into my head with Carrie saying "Even if everyone else thought it was real, I'd always know my bag came from a cardboard box in a trunk deep in the valley."

"You know what? I don't think so."

I couldn't do it. Even though I was dying to. What really creeped me out was that these people in China selling these bags were ACTUALLY selling them as genuine, Marc Jacob bags. I can't fund a liar. It might have been different if they'd been honest about it, you know? Like, "Pssst... they're not real." And I would have given them a giant exaggerated wink and been like, "Dude, I know, it's $175 and it's being shipped from Asia".

So I went the honest route. At $180, originally, I logged onto Aldo.com and took advantage of a killer sale, along with a 10% off coupon I had and bought this piece of work.

They advertised preppie meets prairie, handcrafted, premium milled black leather for $100. A great, honest deal!

My gem arrived by UPS and I tore into the package, waiting for the scent of freshly tanned leather to waft into my nostrils and take me away on my cloud of great decision making.

The scent eluded me. I sniffed again, closer this time. I smelled plasticy chemicals. I turned the beautiful bag over in my hands, completely won over by the shape and weight, yet, something wasn't right. Upon further inspection, I hit the soft, leathery spot.

Those bastards.

I'd been duped.

Completely.

They'd sewn on a small strip of hide beneath the bag and then DARED to call it leather. Some sad, poor, unsuspecting soul like myself who had gone to the LEATHER BAG section of Aldo and purchased a "MADE WITH CARE luxurious premium milled leather" bag at a leather bag price.

Was this cosmic karma sent by the mere thought of betraying a millionaire designer?

I took the honest route and got fauxed by the Man.

Aldo, I expected more from you. Seriously.

How to get through 12 hour days.

Where did our break go? I vaguely remember late mornings and homework-free evenings, but our time can't possibly be up. It's probably the New Year talking, but I've worked out a plan to be a little more organized with my time, sleeping, and eating habits to have maximum energy for Spring semester. We're night owls, Trent and I, and it's not unusual for us to go to bed at 3 or 4 AM on a weekend. That's probably been the most difficult vice to manage, and I'm really cracking down on myself so that I'm ready and in bed by 12:30. As far as eating, we did a major grocery run yesterday where I stocked up on a lot of meats, green veggies, and bread flour so that we're running at full speed. It's really difficult for me personally to eat well when there's so little time, so I've done a whole bunch of researching easy crock pot recipes and such that will take care of themselves and warmly greet us after work each night.

Rules to live by for staying healthy and well-rested:

Do it the night before: So much can be taken care of before bedtime that eliminates the whole morning rush. I like to bring snacks to school with me because I often don't have time to eat in the morning. Throw that banana and Clif bar in your bag the night before. Put your home-made lunch together, and make sure all assignments are printed out and tucked away in folders. It's so easy if you just take that extra 5 minutes at night.

Go to bed early: Practice some self-restraint and turn off the computer and t.v. at a designated time. Take a shower and wash your face early in the night if you're feeling tired so that you can fall asleep on the couch to a movie if you feel so inclined (this one is my favorite). Also, this one is personal, but remember that the extra 10 minutes that you sleep in rarely make you feel any less tired. Just get up. It'll get easier.

Eat right/ REMEMBER to eat: If you're not the super early breakfast type, do what I do and bring it with you. Bananas are portable and unfussy, and a protein or Clif bar is great for energy. I've resolved to start cooking more so that I'm eating less late night take-out burritos. Try to throw in fruit, veggies, and green leafs wherever you can. I literally spent days researching recipes that inspired me so that I have the will to cook for us more often.

We'll see how the semester goes, but I think being more aware and conscience of routines will really benefit me personally.

Bedroom Tour.

Behold the new bed linens! I went cheap and bought them off of Overstock. I think it was like, $30 for the duvet cover and $40 for the sheets. As I mentioned, I bought the four Egyptian cotton pillows as well, but they haven't arrived yet. This has probably been one of the best investments I've ever made. As soon as they arrived and I'd washed and dressed them, I was inspired to clean the rest of the room. I even vacuumed 6 months worth of dust bunnies that had formed under our bed. Ew, I know.

The prints above the bed are Zoe de las Cases and were extremely well-priced, considering I bought them off of a French website (mes habits cheris). Thank God for Google translator.

The bench at the foot of the bed was a second-hand store purchase that I paid a little too much for, considering most of the buttons are missing, it's dirty from age, and the moss-colored velvet is frayed and falling off. The plan is to recover it myself as soon as I have the time to enroll myself into an upholstery class. So-- to be continued?

Lastly, it's still in the plans to buy the Ikea Brimnes bed with built in drawers. It's going to save my life with storage. Currently Trent and I share drawers, and needless to say, I'm ready for us to have our own space.

Overall, it's really coming along. I can't believe how much progress we've made in just two years. It will be so fun to compare these photos again in two years time.

Solanacee

http://www.solanacee.com/

Ma + Chr

http://www.ma-chr.com/