Micellaneous factoid about me: In college, I started collecting quotes. They were funny, quirky, profound, absurd, inspiring- from world leaders and authors and friends and professors and strangers on the street. I wrote them down and kept them in a little planner, which I still have.

I’ve always enjoyed bite-sized bits of wisdom, or sarcasm, or some random truth that I find particular meaning in. I recently stumbled upon Jack Pidgeon’s commencement address at Kiski High School and wanted to share. I particularly dug this nugget of wisdom:

“You don’t have to have been born with talent or brains or special
abilities or a capacity for leadership.  You don’t even have to have
been born tough.  The happiest fact of life is that the one ingredient
we need the most is ours for the taking.  All you have to do to acquire
it is this: beginning today, stop doing something you shouldn’t do and
start doing each day something you know you should do.”

To read the whole thing, go here. 

My dear friend Kitty sent me a pair of earrings out of the blue a few months ago, and I fell head over heels in love with them. It turns out she got them on Etsy from the shop ShySiren. I love, love, love the vintage inspired jewelry from ShySiren. It’s totally my style, and hard for me not to buy every piece of jewelry she makes.

If you don’t already shop at Etsy, you should definitely head over to take a look. You can find everything from jewelry, clothing, pottery, and stationery, to art, furniture, and wedding accessories, and your purchases support talented artisans who are passionate about their craft.

You can even shop locally by searching for vendors in your city. Check it out!

-mac cosmetics’ limited edition holiday line- royal assets. great colors and love the packaging. i’m a sucker for anything vintage-y.

-purses made out of books. thanks to johanna for the link. i think these are a fabulous idea and just adorable.

-lookpink.com–a search engine that contributes its revenue to Breast Cancer Research. If over 1,000,000 people search with LookPink on any day before the New Year arrives, then over $100,000 will be generated by LookPink Search to help prevent breast cancer. so next time you do a search, use lookpink.com instead of google.

-my new custom blog is coming! i got a sneak peek of it recently and it made me do cartwheels- it’s pretty awesome.

-i have puny little girl lashes. my solution: badgal lash mascara by benefit. hands down, the best mascara i’ve ever used.

-freerice.com donates 20 grains of rice to help end world hunger for every vocabulary word you get correct. I’ve donated 3180 grains of rice so far, and my highest vocabulary level is 40. thanks to david for the link.

-jennifer jewelry designs now has an online store! i love her altered elements and natural collections. very chic.

-wear pittsburgh. genius.

I’ve come across this quote several times now over the last few months, and I just love it. I finally copied and pasted it onto my desktop.
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” ~ Marianne Williamson

ok, so i finally got a gps system for my car, and just in time to travel out of state for a wedding this weekend. i’ve had my eye on one for a while, and just never got around to actually making the purchase. well, i finally got tired of having to print out four pages of directions every weekend, and i caved. the delivery man just dropped it off at my door, and i have it charging as i write this.

i got one of the garmin streetpilot units, because they seem pretty user-friendly, and i’m not a huge fan of reading instruction manuals (seriously, who has the time?).

i love it already, because it can alert me to construction and traffic delays and redirect my route. hooray for convenience! and hooray for my delayed, albeit inevitable, introduction to this technological marvel…

now, who’s up for a road trip?

ray snapped this picture of me and our dogs on the porch the other day. aren’t they sweet? they hang out and keep me company while i’m editing photos.

i spent some time sunday morning with my sister and brother-in-law for some family photos. here are a few i got of my niece and nephew…aren’t they adorable?

postsecret has been a favorite place to stop by for a while now. i recently came across the wedding version of it, true bride confessions. some of it’s funny, some of it’s catty, some of it is poignant. check it out if you’ve got some time to kill. (there’s also one for moms, and dads.)

i kind of want a vespa. Don’t you?