The most beautiful phrase...

...right now, as far as I'm concerned, is "three day weekend." It's Friday, the day that nearly screams potential and possibility. Friday is a straight-up free-for-all.

There's been a lot of talk of weekends in my house lately, as the time when my roommate leaves to become a brilliant architect looms nearer. She's been listing all the things she wants to do around town while she's still a resident of Charleston and I'm more than happy to accompany her. In the spirit of her "must-do" list  making, here are some things on my Memorial Day Weekend to do list:

• fall asleep and/or wake up to a thunderstorm
• take an early morning walk down to my favorite pier on the Ashley River (with a thermos of coffee)
• cook at least one extravagant breakfast (sweet? savory? so many decisions...)
• Go to Sugar for one of their delicious homemade peach popsicles 
• spend a shameful amount of time lounging: in bed, at the beach, on a blanket in a park--I have no preference
• enjoy drinks with friends on a rooftop, patio, or both
• no pants: skirts and dresses only, all weekend
• finally finish The Historian 

This only the tip of the iceberg as far as my to do list goes, but it'll do for now.


I'll leave you with Regina Spektor covering Radiohead's "No Surprises" to help you daydream your Friday away.

Happy Three-Day Weekend!

Living vicariously.

I think my life is pretty great--I might whine about little things here and there, but all in all, it's pretty fab. However, every time I read my favorite Swedish blogger Sandra's posts, I get a serious case of envy. 

Two of Sandra's friends got married, so photos are from the wedding reception and post-reception late night picnic. 

Just a typical Spring day in Stockholm...

I want to hang out with them and wear this dress:

with this headband (and that red lipstick):

Transformative

Ikea's recent ad campaign, styled by Lo Bjurulf, looks less minimalist Scandinavian and more like the latest Anthropologie catalog. See more here.

via Apartment Therapy

Sun, Sun

Today has been the day for anything sun-related in musicland. Maybe it's the fact that summer is right around the corner or maybe it's that I'm more than a little bit sappy, but after sun song number three or four popping up on shuffle, I decided to make a mix of all sorts of sun songs and share it here. Then I realized it was too cheesy for public consumption; perhaps cheesy to the point of causing lactose intolerance. So instead, I'll share two of my recent favorites instead of the whole bunch. You're welcome.

Steve must be really awesome.

I can't remember where I found this, but it makes me laugh every time I read it.

Blink.

Today I woke up from a nap to one of those amazing thunderstorms that Charleston does so well. Even after the rain passed the sky had that perfect bruised bluish-purple tint that gives you an excuse to listen to all sorts of melancholy music while doing weird things like pondering and contemplating. Weird, but good.

All in all, I need to have a discussion with whoever is in charge of weekends. This one was much, much too short.


Never gets old, never gets old.

Cute.

Is this the cutest song ever? Possibly.

And here's a cute dress to go with it:

High Seas Dress

Dear French Girls...

...you create an impossible standard.

 The Cherry Blossom Girl

Le Blog de Betty

Pandora 

Clémence Poésy shot by Garance Doré

This week's wants: white and silver.

I have a never-ending wish list that's always growing and changing. Here are a few of this week's more tangible wants on the paler edge of the spectrum:

I always need new stationary, so this "bon vivant" card by Charleston's own Sideshow Press is high on the list.

This double ring is the perfect combination of chic and badass.

The Camilla & Marc Zahra dress would be gorgeous with ta light summer tan.

White Ray-Bans: classic + cool.

Wyld Wyoming

While most of my trip was spent inside a conference rather than exploring the rugged Laramie landscape, I managed to steal a few shots of downtown Laramie and some overhead shots of the gorgeous state of Wyoming (I also took approximately 50 pictures of clouds).

 Unexpectedly in an Empire State of Mind.

Laramie had such cool signs.

Favorite door in town.

Oh deer.

Historic block.

 Hello 1967.

All the bars looked like this. It was awesome.

Shadowlands.

You can just leave on the same road that brought you here.

Circle takes the square.

Heavenly.

Westward.

I'm headed to Wyoming for a few days and may or may not be blarging while I'm away. If I don't get the chance, hold your horses. I'll be back soon.

Patchwork.

This is where Bjork lives.

This is just how I feel sometimes.

This is how I want to dress when I go to Wyoming tomorrow (but with different boots).

Gilbert & Lewis

I've always had a thing for boy's clothes. Back in high school, I thought I was making some sort of statement by wearing boys' oxford shirts and little blazers from the kids' section of Goodwill (I was obsessed with wearing the shirt from a Boy Scout uniform at one point). I still love menswear details: tweeds, pinstripes, and a crisp button-down. Even though I pretty much stick to lady clothes now, I was excited to see a new menswear line called Gilbert & Lewis (I love an ampersand in a title). They've got a great preppy-with-a-twist line, including gingham and madras (prints you can only get away with if you live in the American South).  The line was designed for their Japanese clientele, so sizes run a little slimmer.

Gilbert & Lewis by waitforthesignal on Polyvore.com

And maybe it's all the time I've spent in this town, but one of those red or blue gingham bow ties would charm the...er...socks off of me.

Good morning, midnight.

You know those weird insomniac moods where you feel like you're on a caffeine high despite being about twelve hours past your only cup of coffee? At one point last night I was focusing very hard on trying to be asleep, and then suddenly I'm sitting on the floor at 3am in one of my favorite dresses reading through my old journals. Life's a funny thing.

Nighttime has always been a favorite time of day. My mom always used to say, "Nothing good happens after midnight." I can safely verify that, as wise as she is, it's a total lie. During summers in the latter parts of my teens, friends would camp out at my house for nights in a row. None of us really drank or did drugs. We'd spend endless summer evenings going to shows, and with adrenaline buzzing and ears ringing afterward, we'd cruise around the city with the windows down playing all the songs that expressed exactly what we were too ill-equipped to say ourselves. I would never have admitted it then, but I felt like we were invincible. We'd all go back to my house and wander the neighborhood talking about everything.

Late-night conversations will always be the best kind because some sort of filter turns off. It probably has a good bit to do with sleep deprivation, but as a teenager, when you have feelings coming out of your fingertips and eyelids, it just feels like magic. We'd wander around predicting our futures--how we'd be friends forever and that in ten years we'd surely be doing something wild and incredible. We were all so different but those late-night ramblings tied us together. We were bound together by words.

Even now that we're woken daily by alarm clocks and dependence on a paycheck, those rare occasions when our brains keep us awake too late wondering and dreaming--those moments that tie us to our youthful aspirations--they're worth it. Even on a Sunday night when a week of obligations lurks beneath the shadows.

Whit Fall 2010

I'm a little late to the draw on this, but I had to mention Whit's Fall 2010 line. Stripes, short full skirts, black tights...was this line designed specifically for me? 

Read more about the line at Refinery29.

Date Night

Ladyfriend Carter and I had a date night! Wine and cheese at Bin 152, wandering around downtown, dinner and more drinks at FIG and a little rooftop action at the Market Pavilion Hotel.  Not bad. Not bad at all.