Things that look like garbage, but aren't

I have a small obsession with things that look disposable but aren't. One of my earliest posts was about "Not A Paper Cup," which looks like a standard paper coffee cup with a plastic kid but is actually porcelain. I actually purchased it and I loved it for a long time until it got the tiniest chip on the rim, which prevented the silicone lid from sealing it and I would slop tea all over myself. But I'm getting slightly off track. I have a new thing that looks disposable but isn't: 

Brown bagged lunch! Oh, it looks like a brown paper lunch bag, but it's not! It is, in fact, an insulated lunchbox! I'm not sure why I love this concept so much. I'm all about reusing stuff (ask my husband how many Chinese take-out soup containers I had before he staged an intervention); I prefer my glass Pyrex containers with lids over gladware or any of that other BPA-filled plastic junk. But there's something so homey to me about the idea of lunch in a brown paper bag. If you, too, want to throw it back to third grade, back when pb&j was acceptable in public schools, get yours here!

http://www.modcloth.com/shop/kitchen-dining/pack-to-basics-lunch-bag

Paranoid and Prepared

So if you're anything like me, you're always sure at any moment something awful is going to happen. Maybe you're mentally prepped for what you would do if you came across a nasty car accident and had to spring into action and save the day. Or maybe you're convinced that someday you'll accidentally end up in the woods alone and you need to survive. I'm not gonna judge. I have generalized anxiety disorder, so I have a lot of weird thoughts like that. But in any case. If you've ever felt like you needed to be prepared for randomly getting lost in the wilderness maybe you'll appreciate this: 

Survival kit in an altoid tin. Alcohol pads, a howler whistle, safety pins, compass. It's got all kinds of good stuff. You can use the inside of the tin to signal your rescuers. I love it. If you're paranoid and like to be prepared like me, get yours here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/197089854/altoid-tin-mini-survival-kit-with-wire?source=aw&utm_source=affiliate_window&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=us_location_buyer&utm_content=141392

Capybaras and plants

I have this horrific inability to keep plants alive. I have killed orchids, which are finicky anyway, spider plants, cacti, air plants. Once I even managed to melt a plastic plant. But for some reason, I had the grand idea to germinate an avocado stone after I made guacamole and its almost 10 inches tall and a year old! It's giving me hope that maybe, just maybe, I can keep a plant alive long enough to bother with a cute planter. Succulents are easy, right?

Well this guy is the cutest succulent planter in the world. It's my favorite animal, the capybara. Since Jon and I have been married, we watch a lot of nature shows. We've learned about many animals. His favorite animal is the pangolin (it's like a real life Pokémon, they're so cool), and mine is an actual ROUS. They get to be about the size of a medium-large dog. It's the largest rodent in the world and since the part of New England I'm in has laws regarding exotic animal ownership, I might have to settle for getting this one and hope I can keep something alive in him. 

Get your own here!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/179565874/cute-concrete-capybara-planter-vase-for

A little bit of ukulele

Whaaaaaat? So I found this blog that I started like 6 years ago. It seems the last few posts I was making mention of my upcoming wedding. Well my sixth anniversary is in a couple of weeks! Weird how I had no memory of it until I was invited to post on Sew Sweet Shop's blog. But I guess that's neither here nor there. Wanna see what I got for an early anniversary present? 

Beautiful ain't she? A few months back I was binge-watching the last season of How I met your mother and the episode when Ted hears Tracy playing "La Vie En Rose" made me decide I needed a ukulele post haste. Not for "La Vie En Rose", mind you. But I needed one nonetheless. I researched, I youtubed, I asked a lot of questions. I wanted a pineapple body for aesthetic reasons, and I also heard that they tend to have a fuller sound. Wading through all the ukuleles I could find, I decided upon this beauty. The artwork actually had no bearing on my choice but it is a pretty sweet perk. I've been practicing almost every night, and hopefully I'll be pretty good soon. 

Where to get my little ukulele

Be sultry, not skanky.

So I'm not gonna lie today. In the past year I've pack on quite a few pounds. I may or may not have shared this information before. I went from 110 pounds to about 125, give or take depending on what I ate the day before. So this past beach season I was less than enthused about prancing around the beach in an itty bitty bikini. I'm not fat by any means, but I just picture myself being "that girl", you know, the one who's wearing a too-small bikini that makes you think, "What the hell was she thinking? Why do her friends let her out of the house that way?" So I went a different direction. Behold!

Pinup Girl's very own design vintage Marilyn swimsuit. A modest one-piece that's still a little sexy. This style comes in black, leopard, pink, and red. I myself rocked the black one. You can get it for about $72 before shipping at the link in the title. It's so worth it, trust me. And before I sign off, I'd like to take a second to mention this model, Violet Valentine who is lovely. The actual spokesperson for pinupgirlclothing.com is Masuimi Max. Check out the website!

And for the first time in my life, I don't want water rings on my coffee table.

Since when do I care whether or not someone puts their glass down on my coffee table? I never have. But now that I'm going to have a place of my own, I'm all, "Wipe your feet! Take off your shoes! AAAH USE A COASTER!!!!" But cork coasters? Boring. Boring boring boring. For our dining room I bought stone coasters. They're varnished granite technically. I found them on ebay for 10 bucks after I saw some just like them at Crate & Barrel for $30. But now, I need coasters for my living room. I found these!

Dare I drop $50 at the link available in the title on coasters? I sidestepped that trap once, but what if I can't find these on ebay!? Usually I don't like multicolored things of that nature. However I am rather affected by nostalgia these days. When I was little I remember my Gramma had split-open geodes in her parlor. One of them was purple, one of them was a funky yellow. They bring back some old memories. I want some geode samples in my living room too...

Be vegan!

Ok, I'm not really vegan. I don't eat much meat but it's not really a concious decision. Because when I do eat meat, I highly enjoy it. No offense to you veggie heads out there, you make your choices, I make mine. Respect and all that. But here is something that can appeal to us, veggie head and meatavores alike! Because though I do willingly eat dead animal, I would never kill one for sport and mount it's head on my wall. That's horrible, and quite disturbing frankly. And oddly enough I once took an aptitude test and it said my ideal profession would be a taxidermist. Um, ew. No. So for any of those who find taxidermy highly disturbing but would like some sort of animal on your wall:

A wall-mounted unicorn! For about $80 (click the title, you'll see) you can get a unicorn, a buck, or a bunny! If you don't wanna go that steep, for about $40 you can't get a wall-mounted mouse. Personally, I had a hard time deciding between the unicorn and the buck. I would have to decide beforehand which room I would put it in. I would put the unicorn in my dining room, while I would put the buck in my living room. Not that I'm really going to drop $80 on a wall-mounted plushie, but I WOULD if I had money to spare! Seriously, I would! After I got the homicidal knife set, inside out martini glasses, and some of the other crazy things I've posted earlier....