paris

showing some pre-weekend love for all two of you who read this thing on fridays. it cut my heart deeply to have missed my new obsession at wakarusa last weekend (post on that coming next week) because, quite frankly, grace potter and the nocturnals have stolen my heart. and in all honesty, i'm jealous of her. her badass-ness. her raspy, rocker voice. her LEGS FOR DAYS. oh and her bangs are awesome. i tried fake bangs last night and in the wise words of andria, "uh...you look like a total hippie" - and not the good kind. it probably didn't help that my hair is on a 5 day, no wash binge and looks strikingly similar to a lion's mane.

i have to give solid ups to one, forrest j. underwood, for bringing grace into my life. i'm pretty sure he a) wishes grace's name were actually paris and b) truly means it when he sings, "i wish i were in paris" along with the ear snack below. PLEASE, if you do anything good for yourself this weekend or in your life in general, put GP on heavy, heavy rotation. your body, mind and spirit will thank you for it. she's currently making the rounds @ america's greatest music festivals but has a bangin' tour schedule going on right now as well.

if you're interested in hearing more of grace & the nocturnals you can do one or both of the following:

1. email me at kbarnes@spu.edu and i will dropbox you the entire album or,

2. turn on your favorite local country station and hear her sultry croon cover the multitude of sin's kenny chesney's voice creates on their duet, "you and tequila"

happy friday fellow music lovers. happy friday.

p.s. the aforementioned forrest j. underwood just happens to be an extremely eligible bachelor who also happens to bring the party wherever he goes and happens to be a C-130 pilot for the air force...interested?

picture this

I've been rather wordy lately on the old blawg and am offering a respite today in the form of some incredible images I've tracked down this week. Enjoy! Thanks to all three of you who took me up on my letter writing offer! I've got my materials prepped (below) and may include a surprise (:

images from: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here

summer come quickly

spring is fine. it's cool. whatever.

while spring may remind others of daffodils and the easter bunny, it quickens my heart at the thought that summer is just around the corner. because summer just makes everything better. it means more: sun, vacations, happiness and adventures while wearing less: clothes, worries and cares. it's pretty much everything i love the most all wrapped into four delicious months (since i let september weasel its way into the summer category). although it's three months early, i'm prepping for summer '11 like it's the second coming of Y2K. today i made some anticipatory purchases to get me all sorts of summa-fied and even got inspired to throw together some sunny weather digs on polyvore. here's to the next 3 months flying by!

i've been growing out my locks for the past 5+ years and they're finally the optimum everything to pull off a mean head of beach hair. with that in mind i bought some osis "dust it" to help perfect my mop. this mattifying powder creates texture, volume and separation to give your hair that effortless, faux dirty look (or real dirty in my case).

i also stuck some aquage sea salt texturizing spray in my shopping cart. i've swiped some of my brother's bumble & bumble sea salt spray but aquage came highly recommended and is less money for more product. as michael scott would say, it's a win-win-win.

thanks to both of these products i will be whipping my hair like willow all.summa.longgggg

i also treated myself (finally!) to a coveted bueno bueno texas key necklace from the loverly brandi & kelly at mucho bueno. the best year of my life was spent in the lone star state and now i can flash my allegiance loud and proud.

and finally, a little polyvore set i put together of an outfit that screams summer

people's republic of tuesday

i don't know what it is about tuesday but today i came across a disproportionate amount of gorgeous people and they're just too pretty to keep to myself. it was like a helmet fire of the most glorious kind! my inspiration folder for the week is FULL, which is good news for the both of us. enjoy the eye candy.

disclaimer: i have included a picture of myself at the end of this post, chiefly for the purpose of conveying my excitement that i got the new CB album "F.A.M.E." a whole day before its release. my aim is not just to affiliate myself with the aforementioned "gorgeous people" but, in my own small way, celebrate this day you could probably care less about momentous occasion.

via the ones 2 watch

stumbling across spell designs was like finding my long lost cosmic twin. their designs (and hair) are the stuff boho dreams are made of. i'm now their #1 stalker.

Elle France, October 2010

via samantha's avenue

this makes me anxious for summer and sun

going wild for wilde

heyoka leather's spring '09 and fall '10 lookbooks are to die for

Elle France, October 2010

the ever timeless, grace kelly

Liu Wen, the face of Elle China, September 2008

taylor swift + the big top = circus gypsy

not sure who the babe on the back is but when i happened across this pic on where is the cool i recognized my old SPU-mate chris cushingham, an industrial interior designer who always seemed to know what was hip before the rest of the world. he does it all too - models, designs, randomly appears on HGTV shows, you name it. keep an eye on him, the only place he's going is up, up and away.

another timeless babe - ali macgraw, star of my favorite movie "love story"

this little guy was solely responsible for turning monday into FUNDAY. and consequently made me happy as a clam.

this is how we do itttttttttt....

"it's friday night. and i feel alright. the party's here on the west side"

thanks to montell jordan and 1995 for this little gem of a song. always pumps me up for my 2 days of freedom ahead. this weekend: st. patty's day parade! and a special visitor straight from colorado springs. he's tall. cute. runs fast and far. and for some reason wants to marry me...so that means he's really smart (: here's a handful of inspiration worth sharing. enjoy the eye candy! oh and do you have any special plans this weekend?

this is bob. he works in the cube next to me and looks like a turtle when he eats chips.

(via me)

i think it's more than clear that i ADORE frenchies & boston terriers but this is high-larious. thug pug is right up there with the gangsta hampsters from the KIA commercials (via pinterest)

the wolfpack @ pioneer square's 1st thursday art walk last week. i LOVE them.(via bthomp, my super talented neighbor, 2nd from right)

i now am never without nail polish on my hobbit hands. i've accepted it's the only way to make them look remotely acceptable in public. matte. navy. swoooooon
(via pinterest)

diggin the hair bow (via pinterest)

gasp-worthy louboutins. they'll even custom color the underside!

(via pinterest)

after 5.5 years of trims my hair is well on it's way to being perfect for summer
(via pinterest)

the awe-inspiring toki no sumika resort in japan boasts a 3.2 million
LED light display in their tunnel of lights
(via yummyformyeyes)

little sweet nothing i sent to my mister this week
(via etsy)


just dying a slow death over how happy this picture makes me feel. LOVE LOVE LOVE it
(via fuckyeahgoodhair)