bite the billet

Yeah, okay, I'll take one of, oh, everything sold on Billet...even if I can't understand the writing on the pages.

bagged

I saw this amazing bag from on Simple Song yesterday and might have choked on my afternoon iced coffee. Isn't it just the most deliciously simple and elegant with that mix of hippie laid back bag ever to be in the world?!

sweet sweet lulu

What's pink and happy and polka dotted and sweet and did I mention happy all over?? I'm glad you asked. Check out Sweet Lulu and see for yourself. I want everything. Preferably, um, now?

laurel denise discount

Just a little gift from me to you. That's all.

what to wear no. 062311

Friends. I am pleased to announce a weekend where Cute Husband and I are staying home. In Charlottesville. Sleeping in our bed. Not putting on any sort of high heeled wedding contraption. I love my friends and have loved their beautiful weddings, but I do believe I am hungering for a weekend at home. It's been a bit too long. So we will stay in and delight in a simple weekend. A little fridays after five, a little farmer's market walk around, a little house cleaning (much, much needed), a little afternoon walk with my sister, a little sitting down with Hunger Games book 2 (yup), and a little date afternoon to Gordonsville to check out this little delicious place.

button tee | pants | sparkly top-sider shoes | bag | laurel denise xoxo ctag necklace

photoshop tricks and cheats

Goodness gracious almighty, fuzzimo.com and their amazing texture and brush downloads might have solved most (slash all) of my how-do-I-get-this-email-to-look-like-I-want-it-to design type problems. Amazing.

one | two | three | four

shanna murray decal happiness

You guys, there are some moments in this whole business-owning-jewelry-making thing that just make me feel like the most special of all specials. Getting a sweet little handwritten thank you note from Shanna Murray upon opening her adorable wall decal and hearing her comment about my office reorganization that I'm guessing she read about on this here bloggy blog left me sort of (slash completely one hundred percent) squealing to Cute Husband "She knows me! She actually knows who I am!" It's the little moments, friends, ain't it? They leave me all kinds of filled up and I'm oh so very thankful for them. I'm also thankful for creative and sweet people who make such wonderful little decals that absolutely light up my office and bring me such happiness. Readers, you sweet things, go buy these decals. They are worth every penny.

believe it: the hunger games

You guys...believe the hype. The Hunger Games is good, addictive reading. Not Twilight-seriously-I-can't-even-eat-until-I-finish-this-book-and-find-out-what's-going-on-good (you know you all are with me there, just admit it), but it was close to that good. Just go on and read it and love it so we can discuss before I read the next two and then maybe ruin the rest in our chats. Plus it's going to be a movie. And you should all read it before going to see the movie...because those are just the rules, right?

things that made me laugh

Just a few funny things I've found on the Pinterest lately that I thought maybe you'd enjoy on this fine Thursday morning. (Why, yes, I am avoiding doing actual design work by looking on Pinterest. You caught me. Fine. It's fine.)

introducing the wrapped collection

Sent out this little email today announcing the new wrapped collection. They are cute little guys, especially all lined up and presented in their tiny glass bottles. Are you on the laurel denise mailing list? Go here and sign up if you'd like to be included!

what to wear no. 061011

I'm heading to the beach again (blessed) to celebrate the marriage-to-be of one of my most treasured JMU memory-creating friends, Brooke. Is there a better weekend plan than sitting on the beach, catching up with old friends, reading a new good book (any suggestions? I'm fresh out and I'm going to be at the mercy of the NY Times best seller list on Ms. Kindle), and sipping on fruity cocktails? I think probably no, there's no better plan. Happy summer Friday to all - catch ya next week! Wait...is it officially summer yet? These 90-high-something days sure feel like it's official so I'm going to decide that it's so.

bathing suit | cover up | flip flops | laurel denise laugh rtag necklace

shots from the sky

I went to the Paramount with Marcy last night to see George Steinmetz talk about some of his amazing (seriously, I mean that in every single sense of that word) aerial photography. I can't believe some of these shots were real. It was, literally, unbelievable. The fact that this man para glides out there all over the world in a rigged device (that, to me, was sort of a glorified industrial motorized fan strapped to his back) in order to get these shots is, once again, unbelievable.

All images totally and completely property of George Steinmetz. Um, duh.

will leather goods

Found this bag on Pinterest and I think it's lovely. Quite lovely. Walking around carrying this I might feel modern meets hippy meets vintage gal. And isn't that pretty much the point?

i think i like gray and white and metallics

So, a few things...number one, I figured out how to use Pinterest and, well, I'm sort of obsessed. Like super sort of completely and totally obsessed. It's kind of the best thing ever and I think each and every one of you should take 30 minutes (or less if you're way smarter than me, which I'm betting you are) and figure that system out. Because it rocks...in case that point hasn't been driven home by me yet. Number two, I'm changing my office around. Drastically. Again. Only this time we're selling furniture and buying new stuff and I'm taking the plunge to make this little section of The Room where I spend 95% of my time (no joke) a happier and more organized and functional (and matching!) space. Inspired pretty aggressively by the studio and office of the lovely Sarah Cramer and Marcy May, my plan for this space is in with the clean, organized, and functional and out with the items pieced together found from flea markets and Ikea. I know what you're thinking - that's kind of a lot of gray and white, right? I guess it's my extreme backlash to the mess that is currently surrounding me. Listen, I love a good flea market find just like the next design obsessed blogger gal, but when you're talking functional production space meets office of one creative gal and one corporate guy, well, then, clean and crisp and modern works just a tad better, don't ya think?

If you want to see the sources for all of that good stuff above, check out this "office inspiration board" I made on Pinterest.

what to wear no. 060311

Team wedding warriors is headed to another wedding this weekend! (So many w's in that sentence, that kind of made me dizzy.) This one is for a sweet, dear, wonderful, fills the room with light kind of gal and I'm so excited to see her walk down the aisle to such a great guy. Wedding (cake?) season is in full effect, friends! Here we go!

dress | clutch | heels | laurel denise "dream" cuff

(Once again, friends, I wear Target dresses to weddings if I'm not borrowing one from a friend. This is my little fashion dream world where I can, ya know, purchase $325 dresses and actually walk in heels like that.)

i love to read: unbroken

Oh my word, my word, my word was this book (Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand) amazing. I mean, amazing. Hard and sad and haunting and just absolutely heart-breaking and then also uplifting. All of those things, things that, generally speaking, I try to avoid and protect myself from (minus the uplifting part, but, I guess, if you aren't really allowing yourself to feel and experience those other things how on earth can you really feel "uplifted", but that's probably a post for another day or for my journal or something), but anyway this was so worth all of those emotions. Such a life-changer and thought-provoking book. Highly, very highly, recommend this one, friends. Highly.

we heart you, too, c-ville mag

Well, well, well, as if vacation weren't sweet enough! Coming home to this lovely article on yours truly and my little jewelry creations is just icing on the cupcake of a life, I tell you. Thanks, C-ville Mag and your wonderful peeps (like this one) for including me in your publication. Consider me blushing. Like, a lot.

ps: Marcy took that picture. She's the best. Duh. Styled it, propped it, and somehow managed to make my hair flip just so despite my lack of a blow dry that particular day (or any particular day...oops).