Sharing Sundays... an etsy favorite from beaucoup vintage.

because a peter pan collar is even better on a 1960s sailor dress.

i'd wear this all the time, even to the grocery store (with red lips of course).

happy things to end the week with.

♥ my friend sarah got me these magnetic book marks after i had mentioned how i dog ear so many pages while i'm reading a book. It was such a thoughtful surprise and she couldn't have picked a better set for me. Proof :  i have the best friends.

♥ thanks to your suggestions on my Wanting to Know you Wens. post, i went in search for better shampoo & conditioner. While grocery shopping last night, i was amazed at the buy one, get one free sale they were having on Organix. Into my grocery tote these went and i can't wait to try them out (they smell like bliss!). Thank-you for all your helpful suggestions lovies! i knew i could count on you xoxo

♥ i had a customer who had the prettiest nails. i asked her where she went and she let me in on a secret. She said they were the Kiss Everlasting glue-on nails. For $6.99, i had to try it out! i got a lot of compliments but my verdict is, i would only do them if i had an event i was going to and didn't want to spend the money {or commitment} to salon nails. i'm so rough with my hands (gym, house stuff, work) that natural nails just work better for me. 

♥ finally seeing this movie, after loving the book. i went wondering how it could compare to its written form but was incredibly touched with the film version. powerful acting for such a powerful story. i was glad i had extra tissues. 

♥ since i've had three days off in a row this week, i've been enjoying little naps during the day with my pups (maverick and me). Puppy cuddles are my favorite and much needed rest. 

♥ Hart of Dixie is back on! i didn't like being without my guilty pleasure (and girl crush) for so long. i love this show!

♥ not pictured, girl date with my other close friend Sarah. Sushi followed by thrifting and great girl talk? how i want to spend a free afternoon for sure!

♥ and of course this date with my husband was probably the best part of my week. 

Happy Friday Lovies! what happy things are you ending the week with?

+please leave a link below if you do post-- i'd love to share in your happiness xo

today was just one of those perfect days.

where you really thank God for blessing your life. For your husband who you get to keep falling in love with over and over again.

Because he likes to take you on little dates, like exploring the charming downtown of the next city over in New Mexico. 

They have a Farmers and Crafts Market on Wens. and Saturdays from sunup to 1 p.m.  I can't resist locally made anything, and my two "weaknesses" are coffee beans and hand made soap-- both smell delicious! I can't wait to go on a Saturday when the market doubles in size.

i had the best hummus sandwich and house salad ever at la iguana with my favorite company.

with an Aztec Hot Chocolate to go, we enjoyed endless stacks at Coas Book Store where i stayed true to my new years resolution but scored when it came to records. Like Eric Clapton's Slowhand on vinyl {instantly took me back to childhood when my pappa would play it and introduced us to his music}.

i squeezed in a run at the gym and afterwards, cooked dinner to "wonderful tonight." Is there any song more romantic? it's one of the best for sure.

also bought : billy joel's The Stranger and his Turnstiles -- truth, just to hear "New York State of Mind." It was absolutely worth it. Everything just sounds better on a turntable. My husband shared the story that the first record he ever bought was one of Billy Joel's. Another musician that reminds me of my father & childhood ("Piano Man" especially). 

today was perfect. a little adventure with my husband. i want to bottle it up and remember how this day felt and keep it always.

Wanting to Know you Wens.

okay lovies, i need some hair care suggestions! 

i have to admit that on my last store run, i went for the cheap bottle of salon selectives. It was a jumbo size bottle with a pump for $3. $3! 

Maybe it would work for "normal healthy" hair but my thick hair tends to be like my skin-- a combination of oily & dry. ugh. i think in this case, i got what i paid for. *please know that if you use this as your hair routine, i'm incredibly jealous that i can't cos my hair is so brittle :) i'm in no way insulting you or the product!* 

i'm usually a herbal essence kind of gal, but before i purchase another set i thought i'd ask what you used. 

So tell me, what's the best brand of shampoo/conditioner at the drug store? or if you splurge a little more, what brand do you swear by?

and just because i love me some Elvis, a shower pic for you that i first fell in love with over at April's.

this is why i work out.

on pinterest, i have a folder called "inspired to sweat" (photos to get me to the gym).

these photos of Michelle Williams went into said folder.

i treated myself to a coffee at barnes and noble before work and saw this GQ cover. i instantly texted M and asked her if she had seen her girl crush. wowza, i wanna look like her after a baby. hell, i wanna look like her before a baby!

strong and toned. that's my idea of beauty.

(more of her sexy photos here. also, did anyone see her portrayal of marilyn? what did you think? i can't wait to see it)

Sharing Sundays... an etsy favorite from Purple Shmurple Shoppe.

i love this cute handmade bracelet for catching our dreams.

happy things to end the week with.

♥ i'm pretty late to the game, but i've finally joined Pinterest (above are a few of my pins). Find me cos i would love to add more things to my boards and you lovies are my muses. 

♥ i am in LOVE with my Free People crochet shorts and had to show off the price tag! i wish i was holding it steadier but the retail price is $128 and the Marshalls clearance ticket? ONLY $10. and they're flattering... which is priceless. ha

♥ my friend Sarah (and new pilates partner-- yay! i finally convinced her to join with me) posted this on my fb wall this morning and it made me laugh out loud. i told her, but hummus is so good! 

♥ wearing red lips while grocery shopping last night instantly made me feel fancy.

♥ and amid the reports he's single, let's end this week with my favorite picture of Johnny Depp. ooh la la.


Happy Friday Lovies! what happy things are you ending the week with?

+please leave a link below if you do post-- i'd love to share in your happiness xo

a place to write my thoughts.

"Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open."

-Natalie Goldberg

(quote source)

i have been on the hunt for a desk. i didn't really have in mind what it would look like but i was sure that i would feel it when i saw it.

My husband surprised me with one he said was "me."

He knows me well. Of course he does.

Wanting to Know you Wens.

Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, i thought we could share "Date Night" ideas. 

Here are some i shared with Jasmine, during our life in lists swap that are tried and true : 

your turn, love bird!  i can't wait to hear (and do) some of your ideas. 

my kind of love note.

i've been pining for one of Shanna Murray's Illustrated Decals, especially her we are so good together dotted garland.

But this new design might take the cake.

“I hated myself for going, why couldn't I be the kind of person who stays?”

i finished this book in two days. it took my breath away. 

the movie coming out gave me courage to finally read it and i am so glad i did. 

page to page, most amazing thing i have ever read. ever.

there are so many sentences i want to keep and remember but my favorite one, the one that plays over and over is this one :

"it's a tragedy that we get to live only one life, because if I'd had two lives, I would have spent one of them with her." 

-page 133

Sharing Sundays... an etsy favorite from The Joy of Ex Foundation.

because it is.  and don't you just love their catchy etsy name?


(thanks april!)

happy things to end the week with.

♥ my brother marco and his beautiful girlfriend Christina found out their baby is a girl! we got the exciting news Monday and i sent the above Tuesday. :) i am beyond thrilled for them!!! her name is Marisol Luz (which means "light" in spanish) Lechuga and i'm in love with her already. 

i had to show you two gifts that made its way to Arizona. Christina is a huge Gwen Stefani fan so of course i had to get her baby something from target's Harajuku Mini line. How adorable is this sailor romper? & already proud aunties, me and marianne couldn't resist getting Marisol the bff onsie. We can't wait to meet her in June! 

♥ scored thrifting find (currently listening to Sounds of Silence on my record player)

via

♥ there's no place like home... and thanks to my sweet brother-in-law, twinkie's husband Philip surprised us with the best birthday gift! he bought me a plane ticket to come home so we can spend our 28th birthday together!!! it was all his planning and yesterday i got my flight confirmation for feb. 29th - march 10th. I can't wait!!! isn't her husband the greatest?!

♥ Grey's Anatomy is back on (it's the little things in life)

Happy Friday Lovies! what happy things are you ending the week with?

+please leave a link below if you do post-- i'd love to share in your happiness xo

"the darkness is going to swallow us if we don't do something drastic."

Anna: People like us, half of them think it will never work out. The other half believe in magic.


how i spent wednesday night and how i think you should spend thursday night.  

Wanting to Know you Wens.

i love a good celebrity crush. there's the obvious ones that we can all agree to {johnny depp, ryan gosling, forever brad pitt, maybe even zac effron these days... i mean have you seen this trailer? thx twinkie!}.

But today i wanted to talk about the not so obvious celebs on anyone's crush radar except perhaps yours. Wanna know who i have big crushes on? 

Steve Carrell. He touched my heart in Little Miss Sunshine, stole it in Dan in Real Life, but cinched it in Crazy Stupid Love.

Tom Hanks. Can you think of one movie of his that you didn't like? he's amazing. He seems that way off-screen too. One of the reasons i find him attractive is he seems like such a good husband.

these guys make me swoon. i find them incredibly sexy even if they don't look like your "obvious" idea of sexy.


your turn! tell me who's your not-so-obvious crush, crush?


(my twin sister shared her not-so-obvious girl crush here) 

Three Girls, Nine Stories.

after my post about finally reading The Catcher in the Rye, Jo over at Thank U and Good Nite (one of my girl crushes) decided to do the same. I think we both agreed on how we felt about it, and after a suggestion from my girl Claire, we decided to read J.D. Salinger's Nine Stories together. Courtney over at kitten roar picked up a copy and a spontaneous book club was formed.

it may sound weird (though i think it magical), but every time i pulled out my dog eared copy in el paso-- i couldn't help but think of Jo in L.A. or Courtney in Chicago doing the same thing.

where to start, to put into words a collection of stories that left a pit in my stomach after each one ended because each one was an experience. Characters became real people who's loneliness, growing pains, and heart-ache become your own.

It would be difficult to review the entire compilation that i thought i would share my thoughts on the short story that touched me most. As you read Nine Stories, you'll start to recognize themes that weave through the core of each story. My favorite of these is love, which should be no surprise that For Esmé – with Love and Squalor stayed with me long after i closed the book.

"Isn't it a pity that we didn't meet under less extenuating circumstances?" I said it was, I said it certainly was. (page 103)

Borrowed here, i couldn't have summarized it better than this: "he writes not of love at first sight, but of human connection, posting two lonely souls who, during the course of a few brief minutes in an English tearoom on a rainy Saturday afternoon, share a moment that neither will forget." 

It's not romantic love but you feel that chemistry as if you were the girl wearing white socks exchanging addresses. Human connection gives us hope. Reminds us that it's all worth it even when we feel broken.

 The Catcher in the Rye did not make me want to run out and grab another work of Salinger's immediately like Nine Stories did (i already have Franny and Zooey on my bedside table). I am so glad Claire suggested it, and that i had the pleasure to read it with Jo & Courtney.

If you've read it, which one was your favorite? {this one was a close second}

*read Jo's  thoughts // Courtney's thoughts


P.S. and now i absolutely need this ode to JD Salinger tote from i miss you already:

Sharing Sundays... an etsy favorite from Three Red Apples.

whimsical textile art, yes please.


i think sharing sundays will become sharing one of my etsy favorites. Of course once in awhile i'll feature a blog crush because it can't be helped, i fall in love easily. ;)

happy things to end the week with.

♥ a sweet surprise from a co-worker. i had mentioned loving religious art/jewelry and wanted a wooden one with the Saints but didn't know where to get one. Lucy came into work a few days after that and placed these two beauties on my wrist. i was incredibly surprised, incredibly touched. 

♥ loving my sequined sweater, bought on clearance! 

♥ and wearing it out while celebrating my co-worker Nicholas' last day in EP before heading home to L.A. (first pic with me though i wish you could see his dreads... very cool). I got everyone to VOGUE though when i told Nicholas that, he interpreted that as going GQ. love it! everyone was blown away by my digital polaroid. takes pretty good quality pics, no? 

♥ i HAD to get this shirt from Coon-Smith Sutlery. As a big Woody Allen fan, how could i pass it up?

♥ this pic text from my pappa (who was on his way with our church to distribute gifts to an orphanage in New Mexico for Three Kings Day) : "reminded me of you." He knows my momma and i love the King and when i got this cute text during my lunch at work yesterday, it made me smile.

♥ and not pictured (unfortunately!) was date night with my husband. we had dinner followed by a night out dancing with his co-workers. Us Maxhams owned the dance floor ;) i can't remember the last time i had so much fun dancing! my husband? the cutest dancer. 


Happy Weekend Lovies! what happy things are you ending the week with?

+please leave a link below if you do post-- i'd love to share in your happiness xo

for your reading pleasure.

i'm really excited my bestie has updated her blog. please tell her how happy i am about that! also, when you read her posts, you'll understand just why Marisa's my soul mate. 

also, remember when i asked you about your wishes for 2012? 

visit me at april, maybe to find out a pretty saucy one i hope to keep this new year. and after you've read my little guest post, please come back and let me know if you've ever done that?