Friday, November 22, 2013

What time is it?

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I wore a Winnie the Pooh watch for years. Pretty much all of high school, possibly before and maybe even Freshman year of college. It had a leather band with embossed bees on it. And I vaguely remember that the second hand had a bee on it as well. This thing was resilient. I lost count of the number of times it went through the wash and a full cycle in the wash. It finally kicked the bucket after one too many runs through the dryer. I'm sure all my friend were thanking God at the time. Man, I sure loved that thing. 

I was pretty sad to see it go, but I needed to grow up. I also needed a new watch. I'm one of those people that is lost without a watch (my cell phone has since replaced that dependency). Luckily, I had received one for high school graduation from my God parents. I wore it daily for the rest of my college career and until it's death in 2008. Technically, it could still work, but I didn't want to glue a cracked and scratched [plastic] cover back on it. Plus it gave me a good excuse to upgrade to fancier watch. 

Sorry for the crappy photo! Guess Watch from 1999?

The first watch I ever bought myself was a Citizen Eco-Drive watch. Eco-drive so that I would NEVER have to deal with replacing batteries for the rest of my life. It never crossed my mind that a) it wouldn't last forever or b) that I would tire of it. Turns out that having a real job and a disposable income can change a person. 

EW8140-54E
(Source)

Fast forward to 2012. I became bored with my watch, not to mention I hated the holes left behind by stones that had fallen out, and casually began looking for a replacement. Jake secretly purchased a watch that I had pinned on Pinterest for my birthday. Good job husband!

Georgia Three Hand Leather in Smoke and Rose
Fossil

3 months later, I just couldn't pass up a great deal on Ideeli and picked up a La Mer wrap-around watch just as the style was trending. 

Mine looks very similar but has fewer chains and a single strand of turquoise crystals.
(La Mer)

It was only 2 months later that I broke down and purchased my beloved Michael Kors watch. I had tried my damnedest to not be sucked into the big-name-oversized-face-ceramic trend. But the force was too strong (especially when you don't have to pay full retail). You can just call me a lemming.

MK5469
(Source)

Now that I have a pretty good collection going, I realize there is a gap. I don't have a [yellow] gold watch. I've looked high and low for something different. The standard Michael Kors watch is nice, but it would look just like the one I have. I fell in love with a unique band. Surprisingly, the GIANT face worked very well on my petite wrist. However, the face is very thick. The weight from the face was too much and I was constantly adjusting it, so back to the store it went =(

Chain Bracelet, Chronograph
(Nordstrom)

Fast forward to earlier this week. I came across this photo by Kelly over at Alterations Needed and became smitten. I've spent the week obsessed with trying to find it. And I did, but who wants to pay full price for something that was released 2 years ago? Then yesterday, I saw a coworker wearing the watch! She found it a Nordstrom Rack just recently.

Metro
(Kate Spade)

After work, I was on a mission. Sadly, I struck out at 2 of the local places. Instead of trekking out of my way, I called up the remaining three in the state. No dice. On a whim, I called Nordy's Rack by my parents (yeup, all the way in Oregon), the same one that I had purchased my lovely MK watch from. Well, wouldn't you know it. They had not one, but two of them. And the nice sales rep knew exactly what I was looking for when I described it to her. SCORE! The gold leather band looks funky to me, but I'm going to copy Kelly and just replace it. 

Now I just have to wait...patiently.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Just finish it already

The count downs to Christmas have started in my Instagram feed. But I'm not thinking about Christmas. Can you believe that it's mid-November already? Do you know what that means? Holy shit, 2013 is almost over! I have so many things on my to-do list that I wanted to finish this year. It's not looking very promising. Let's take a look shall we?
  • 5 months ago, I started a quilt project for a very special little girl. It hasn't been touched in 3 months! I had hoped to finish it by the end of the month. Finishing it by the end of the year is going to be a stretch...




  • 2 months ago, I attended the Riley Blake FabricFest and learned how to make the Janey Jumper Dress by The Cottage Mama. I'm this close -->||<-- to finishing it up. All I need to do is top stitch and add a button. Miss M's bday is next week so it's on the list for this weekend.


That's just my sewing projects. My list of blogging, crafting, house decor/design, and other projects seems to be growing exponentially.

  • Finish blogging about my European adventures. I still have one more post to do about Giverny and Paris, oops. 
  • It's almost been a year since my trip to India, and I have yet to share my photos.
  • We've been married for 2+ years and we still haven't picked photos for our photo albumb. Hopefully, our photographer will still let us.
  • Fix the kitchen backsplash.
  • Sew curtains.
  • Purchase/install faux wooden blinds.
  • Set up craft/guest room.
  • Seal marble table tops (we purchased these but they come untreated).
  • Shelving for basement.
  • Organize basement.
  • Find a full length mirror for the hallway.
  • Make a trip to Ikea for picture ledges (and a whole ton of crap we don't need).
  • Decorate the house.
  • Look into custom closet solutions (aka California Closets or The Container Store's Elfa systems).
  • Refinish/paint guest room night stand.
48 days. Wish me luck.

Source