French Bun

(photo found on A CUP OF JO)

After a disastrous haircut back in April I am growing my hair out and can't wait till it's long enough to do a messy French bun.

Shopping in ATL

(photo via bebe)

Yesterday, my girlfriends and I drove down to Atlanta to do some shopping. It's only a 3.5 hour drive from Charlotte and we've been itching for a day trip for a while. The drive to and from was miserable, it rained the whole way, but the company in the car made it wonderful.

We did our best with a very aggressive plan and only 7 shopping hours. Our first stop was Zara at Perimeter Mall. When I visited the Zara store in NYC this past September I was not inspired, at all. This time around I wanted to buy half the store. We spent over two hours trying on arm fulls of clothing and ended up getting lots of staples and necessary classics. We continued to shop around the mall and stopped by Bebe. I do not shop at Bebe for multiple reasons, one of them being fit. Everything is too tight and too short for me so I usually pass the store without giving it a thought. My friend Liz loves the store so we spent over an hour looking around. Sash and I stood around waiting and she saw the coat pictured above hanging on display and tried it on. Next thing you know I'm asking for it in my size. It fit great, even the arms were long enough! The coat runs around $260, which is a lot more than I would pay for a coat at Bebe but surprisingly, I was in their loyal shopper database so I got $50 off of my purchase which made it that much more desirable. Now I'm just waiting for it to get really cold outside!

After the mall we made it over to the Container Store where I had to, well, contain myself from buying everything there as well. I behaved and walked away with a handful of Christmas gifts and half a dozen ideas for other people. With time running out, Sash refused to leave Atlanta without boots so we spent the last hour at DSW where she walked out with three pairs of boots.

Overall it was a successful trip. Next time we have to make it to Loehman's and H&M and some local boutiques as well.

crayon people

(photo by Diem Chau, found via ...and i like you)

More at Diem Chau.

post-it love

How sweet is this video?! I'm so happy I was able to find it again.

Does anyone know where I can find some cool Post-It notes?

hunting for color

(photo taken by me)

(image via color hunter)

In the process of designing a look/theme for this blog I am finding some really neat tools such as color generators. I've discovered Color Hunter and Color Palette Generator via Our Designed Life and haven't been able to stop uploading new photos for color palette ideas.

I have taken all of next week off and look forward to taking lots and lots of pictures, playing with Photoshop, designing this blog, reading, relaxing, and anything else that tickles my fancy.

Oh, and can't forget eating crazy amounts of food!

Etsy love: artLAB's Oversized Wool Wrap No.4 Charcoal Gray

(pictures via artLAB)

I am absolutely in love with artLAB's wool wrap! You can wear it as a scarf or as a wrap and because it's made out of wool it's bound to keep you warm on a cold winter night.

diamond in the rough

(image via onestonenewyork)

I love love loooove this ring from One Stone New York. It's simple, it's rough, it's beautiful! This ring is definitely making it on my Holiday Wish List. And the earrings too...

under the weather

(found via we heart it)

I don't know if it was something I ate or an allergic reaction to aspirin but I've been hugging Mr. Toilet all day. Not exactly my idea of fun. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to eat more than just saltine crackers. One can only hope.

back to life

I've brought in the Queen City back to life but keeping the Pavot Bleu content. New content, graphics, etc coming soon (if I can ever get a day off).

Google Wave + Analytics

(found on twistimage via @rthurmond)

Above is a video of Google Wave explained. Now I kind of want an invite. It's a crazy thought that e-mail has been around for 40 years!

In other news, I have added Google Analytics to my blog. :)

(photo by me)

And we're off!

the fifth sense

(found on scene360)

This video was created by BYU design students & faculty for the 5th Typophile Film Festival. It's inspiring me to cut my veggies and sausage into letter shapes and fry them up in oil, yum!

NYC: T-4 days

(photo by me)

Nothing excites me more than a trip to NYC, a city that feels like home (even though I've only visited less than half a dozen times). The attitude, the museums, the overall beauty and romance of a big city. B will be joining me on this trip and we will be staying with my best friend who I am more than excited to see!

Packing for this trip is already proving to be difficult, especially when I'm restricting myself to a carry on and there's shopping to be done!

Unless I take the advise on packing light or packing for a weekend using only a purse and bring an empty carry on... it's only four days. I can do it!

My first fall in NYC, cannot wait!

tie the knot

(photo by me, using RoundPic)

This past weekend B and I went to a wedding at The Point on Lake Norman. It was beautiful and classy and made me mushy inside.

Open Forum

(image via OpenForum)

How cool is this?! AMEX offers an "idea hub" on their small business site. Articles like "How to Go on the Offensive on Facebook" teaches you how to use your Facebook profile to your advantage, it's convincing me to create a separate business minded profile. Another article, "Just Blogging Isn't Enough - You Have to Blog with Purpose," provides great advice that I can apply to my personal blog and carry into it into my professional blogging as well.

A few more standouts:

• Twitter Scammers Lure Wannabe Entreprenuers Into "Evil"
• A Beginner’s Guide to Landing Page Optimization
• No Guts, No Glory - Three Hard Things to Do to Succeed in Business
• I Don’t Blog, I Don’t Twitter
• Managing Your Online Reputation is Critical in this Day and Age
• Make Mine a Million $ Business™ Winner Directory
• Use This Niche Creator Process to Identify New Opportunities in a Tight Economy
• How to Spot Trends You Can Capitalize On

Apologies for the information overload. :)

There's an endless supply of advise and articles on the Open Forum page.

email =

(found via paper tissue)

Are you there fall? It's me, Mo!

(photo via redbubble)

The past couple of days and (especially) nights have been absolutely wonderful! The temperature has cooled down to a comfortable range of 75-85 degrees during the day and 55-65 nights. It is supposed to warm up to high 80's again this weekend.

Fall is knocking and I'm ready to welcome it back!

petals

Speaking of shoes...

(picture via A Girl's Guide to Shoes)

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past, I walked by Bob Ellis' window display at least once a week drooling over the CL's pictured above. And then the semi-annual sale came around and they were marked down to $260ish, what a steal! And they had my size! And then I tried them on... they were disappointingly uncomfortable.

Still, I find them absolutely beautiful!

Citisoles

(pictures via Citisoles)

There have been many nights when my girlfriends and I would have to call it an early night because none of us could survive our shoes. We'd all but crawl out of the club and pray we can make it to the taxi several feet away. But a fellow victim of uncomfortable shoes has come up with a brilliant solution! These ballet flats fold up to fit inside your evening bag in a neat little pouch. When the time comes, you can take the flats out of the pouch that then unfolds into a tote to carry your heels in. Unfortunately, these do not accommodate a size 10+ shoe size.

(via Charlotte Shop Talk and A Girl's Guide to Shoes)

tour

Dear world, I got my first cool phone. It's not an iPhone but it's still pretty nifty and it allows me to blog and tweet and a million of other cool things!


I will be returning to a normal blogging schedule shorty, stay tuned...

cheer up, love

(picture via Ginger Anyhow)

It's a wonderful feeling knowing that no matter how much life can suck outside of our relationship, my love is always there for me, even before I realize that I need him...

stretch!

(picture via Ginger Anyhow)

While everyone is trying to keep their heads low and their mouths shut, I'm stretching my neck out to see what's going on...

the true cost of discount airlines...

the PEN story

Veggie love!

What a beautiful story!

TP on the plane!

This is all kinds of amusing.

I <3 TJ's

King Street Market

King Street Market

photo by me

emera

This is one of those products that I wished for but didn't know existed until now. Emera bags are perfect for someone like myself who hates the clunky camera bags and throws her nice expensive DSLR and accessories into a regular purse (and they end up getting scratched up and damaged). This may be a $150 well spent.

(pics via Emera)

H2izzle

How adorable are these water bottles? For $20 a pop from fredflare.com, looking cool while being green is my kind of thing!

a hat and a sweater set

(via Sartorialist)

I've got the hat but have yet to find the sweater and a silk scarf (instead of the button down shirt).

Re-create this... Coach Miranda Pearl Cluster Earrings

(picture via Coach)

I'm not the biggest fan of Coach but I'll admit to owning and liking a couple of their things. Tonight my friend and I stopped by the local Coach store and she fell in love with these dangly pearl earrings. I promised to re-create them for her using some pearls I have left from my trip to China. I will post pictures once I'm done.

Jimmy!

(picture via The Shoe Guru)

I purchased my first pair of Jimmy Choo's today (Clue in black satin). Not sure if this purchase should be blamed on work related stress or the fact that Bob Ellis has a good semi-annual sale. Never-the-less, I'm a happy camper and so is my shoe guru, Michael.

Looking for... DAY Birger et Mikkelsen dress

(photos via the Outnet)

I missed a Pop-Up Sale at the Outnet today.

So, dear friends, I need your help in finding this DAY Birger et Mikkelsen dress.

the sweet taste of summer

King Street Market - August 1, 2009

photo by me.

Can you believe it's August already?! I'm trying to figure out where the summer went.

Today is National Watermelon Day, time to celebrate and enjoy an ice cold slice of sweetness!