What I want to wear on Saturday.

23 years old by bangledarm featuring Burberry Prorsum shoes

Items in this set:
Isabel Marant Etoile One Shoulder Silk Dress - Women - Diverse
Signature tailored trouser, 110 GBP
Knotted leather sandals, $795
Loss sterling silver clutch, $1,925
Swarovski crystal rose ring, $495

I know that those prices are completely ridiculous, but look how pretty the items are! I wish I could sew well. I want sewing to be another extension of my body like painting and drawing is. (And to a degree, crocheting is too). But I would totally make that pink silk tunic/dress in a hearbeat. And I would make all of my pants actually fit me.

OK OK, i know that there are things called "Tailors" but...again, lack of money restricts visits to those :) Maybe soon :)

This is what I want to wear on Saturday at our birthday dinner at Kowloon :)

23

I'm turning 23 in 6 days. 23.Twenty Three. And in 11 days, my Joel is turning 31. Wow! That means we've been dating/married for over 5.5 years now! Crazy! Time flies when you're in love I guess. I know that some people are put off by our age difference, but others have just found it to be just as normal as any other marriage or relationship. I guess I never thought much about it earlier on because my parents are 9 years apart and they've only got a couple more to have been married for 30 years. Talk about awesome! I can't wait to be able to say that I've been with my husband Joel for 30 years. Such an honor!

Besides that. I'm turning 23 y'all! I have a fulltime real job. With benefits. And insurance. And taxes. And, waking up at 6am-ness. A whole new world for me.

So I've decided that birthdays are still okay as an adult and with that, I'm going to publish my extremely practical and frivolous birthday wish list. Here goes...

1. T.J. Maxx Gift Cards.
    a. This is so I can have monies to go toward the buying of All-Clad cookware. If one could lust after stainless steal pots and pans, then it would be over All-Clad. oh yeah.
2. These Shoes .

3. A new haircut.
4. My Own Kettle Bell
5. A food processor
6. A kitchenaid mixer
7. An oster blender
8. An artisan dessert made by my husband.
(I haven't started telling you guys about how he is so great at making desserts!)
9. Dinner at Kow-Loon
10. And also these shoes.

Moleskine Passions

I have been a proud molekine snob for the past 5 years or so now and any other journal can't do the justice to journal-keeping like Molekine journals do. They lay flat when you open them, they come with a pocket in the back, and most importantly, they are acid free. I deviated from the classic portrait moleskine with blank pages (no lines) to a landscape (short side bound) moleskine journal with blank pages. I hated it. Now, of course I did because I don't like change once I get into a routine.

I am about halfway through my 7th journal and upon buying my 8th, I really want to buy one of these.

The New Moleksine Passions Journals : The Recipe Journal.

It looks too good to pass up!

Elegance in simplicity.

I am an artist. I have a degree in painting and specifically in watercolor. I am going to paint today with someone who does not have a degree, but a love for painting. I am unsure wether or not I have this love for painting at all? Oh, I definitely care, but I don't LOVE the act of painting. I enjoy it, just as much as I enjoy crocheting or hanging out with my friends and watching a movie. I do not understand the one who finds one niche in their art that they want to do repetitively and unending. I want to do everything. I want to solder jewelry while crocheting blankets and sewing quilts and tilling my garden and cooking my dinner. I draw.

I think drawing might be *my* thing. I'm pretty sure all of my other arts are secondary to drawing, but yet, drawing is not my *only* thing. It's just what gets me through it all. It's my expression from my heart. Most of my paintings are just colored versions of my drawings, and often, i have a hard time painting them because i love them so much in their raw form of just pencil or pen on paper. There is something very elegant about simplicity.

Soon enough I'll post some pics with my new stuff in it. I'll post pictures about the foods that joel & I have been cookin' up. And I'll post about our future.

Until then, it's nap time for The Moffin. A beautiful, rainy, sunday nap.

-+{ Encyclopedia of Crafts }+-

Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts is awesome.

Don't be deterred by the hokey picture on the cover of her posing to glue a seashell to an already seashell studded lamp shade, (1990's anyone?).
In the book she has quite a grand variety (in alphabetic order) of crafts with a how-to and a supply checklist. Almost every page spread has a fullsize picture on one side with the other page being the supply list, and the various instructions.

(Image credit: www.marthastewart.com)

For example:
Under beading, she covers how to make beaded wire insects, flower brooches, hairpins, and necklaces.

She also kindly includes the templates for all the projects in her books, free to download and use on her website! {link here}

Library Cardage!

So, I am so freaking excited....because I just got my first library card since I was 12 years old!!!! I raided the craft section for my first visit to get a good whif of what they had to offer. Unfortunately, the branch which is closest to my house does not have a large selection, however, it does give me an excuse to go to the North Branch of the libraries here whenever I go visit my sweet friend Heather!

The books I did check out, turned out to be AWESOME though!

Amazon.com: Martha Stewart's Encyclopedia of Crafts: An A-to-Z Guide with Detailed Instructions and Endless Inspiration (9780307450579): Martha Stewart Living Magazine: Books

Amazon.com: ReadyMade: How to Make [Almost] Everything: A Do-It-Yourself Primer (9781400081073): Shoshana Berger, Grace Hawthorne: Books

and my personal favoritest



Amazon.com: Printing by Hand: A Modern Guide to Printing with Handmade Stamps, Stencils, and Silk Screens (9781584796725): Lena Corwin, Thayer Allyson Gowdy: Books

I will write a little more about them when I get a chance. (I promise!)

• Now in the comments, please tell me what books I should check out, any genre counts! 

Crate & Barrel's best ornaments.

In my generic humble opinion, I have found what I believe to be THE CUTEST ORNAMENTS I HAVE EVER SEEN (for this year).

and

who doesn't love owls and elephants that are felted and ornamented with sequins and threads?

Luh, so cute!

Moffin