this is called procrastination

Yes, this is another post about online shelter magazines. Rue, to be specific.

I should be packing...but I'm easily distracted. My *plan* is to pack up my entire bedroom and the majority of my knick knacks to take down to my parent's house when I leave Sunday. I'll be back at the end of April to pack up the rest of the apartment, but I'm subletting my bedroom while I travel to Paraguay in a few weeks so that room needs to be completely emptied minus the furniture. We'll see how the *plan* goes....

Just writing the prior paragraph reminded me about the tremendous amount of work that needs to get done and how I am seriously procrastinating so onto less stressful things...

I like the way Rue styles the interiors they shoot, I also like the way they lay them out in the magazine. There's something about them that just feels really nice. I think it's the simplicity of the pages that really helps showcase the photography. To me, Rue is full of eye candy. And I like eye candy...

rue

design can be fun....

I always love it when I can finally put a name to a room that I've seen all over blogland...

Case in point, Summer Thornton. I posted the picture below ages ago, but I didn't actually know who the designer was (probably the biggest problem in the blogging community) until today! How sad!

Anyways, I was browsing her portfolio and really like her approach to design....in her own words "Summer Thornton Design was established to make the design process unpretentious, fun, and fresh. Mixing high and low, rough and polished, classic and irreverent, her designs utilize contrast to engage the senses"

....How can you not like that mission statement?? I love designers that take the more untraditional "interior design" route and make design accessible and most importantly, fun!

I think it's great that good design is becoming more obtainable these days. Whether it's through blogs, designers, stylists, magazines, etc, people are sharing resources and ideas and the design world is becoming less mysterious. Besides, was it ever fair that only the wealthy could have designer homes?

I think not!

Anyways, on to more images of Summer Thornton's fun and original take on design (except for Kelly Wearstler's Imperial Trellis.....I kid, I kid, there was a time when it wasn't overused!)

Summer Thornton Design

missing the pest....

I know I've mentioned it before on my blog, but I lived in Budapest, Hungary for 6 months in 2008. I lived on the Pest side (the "s" in Hungarian is pronounced "sh", unless it's followed by a "z", in that case it sounds like "s"). Budapest should actually be pronounced as "Budapesht"....and that is probably the only Hungarian lesson I can give you because it's a VERY difficult language to learn. I only know basic phrases, and most importantly, how to ask for a beer, using my thumbs-up signal to mean 1. 

Anyways, to get to the point, I miss Budapest! I had an amazing semester there and was able to travel all over central Europe, and I really just miss traveling! I've been having some serious Budapest withdrawals so I cannot wait to go back in May with my sister who is in Barcelona right now. I also seriously need to re-take a TON of pictures that I lost from my semester abroad when my computer crashed--that was a very sad day.

I was reading Made by Girl's post today which featured the beautiful home of Hungarian blogger Noémi. After clicking through to her blog I found a few cool Hungarian design sites, I only wish I could actually read them! I did, however, find some beautiful Hungarian interiors that I thought I would share....

Otthon.hu

And now for a treat {mostly for me}, my only remaining photos of my Budapest apartment via Facebook....

Please excuse the mess, these were taken when we fist moved in (January 2008). We rented this apartment through a vacation rental agency so all the furniture was already there...

Our living room, you can see one of my roommates on the couch!

I miss those high ceilings and tall doors...

View into one of the bedrooms

This was my room for the first couple of months, we switched around a lot...

Our tiny kitchen, it actually doesn't look that tiny in this picture but it was really narrow.

Our apartment building.

Our beautiful courtyard!

i'm alive!

Sooooo, after almost a three month hiatus from blogging, I'M BACK! 

For any of my readers who are still around, I swear a won't completely abandon this blog again!

Like most people, I just got really busy around the holidays, and since then I just got too used to not blogging. I was also feeling a bit uninspired with lots of things recently.....I'm still trying to figure out what I want to do exactly, but I think I finally have an idea....

In other news, I'm planning a month long trip to Europe! My younger sister is studying abroad in Barcelona right now, and since I am super jealous of her {even though I already studied abroad in Budapest, yes I want to go again!} I am going to visit her and travel with her for a month in May! I. Cannot. Wait. So far, were planning to go to Paris, Budapest--of course!, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Berlin, and possibly Milan to visit our Italian exchange student my family hosted last year. I've already been to all of these cities, except Paris, but since my computer crashed and I lost ALL of my pictures I want to go back and replace them....plus, those were my favorite cities!

Anyways, on to the pretty stuff.....I thought I would give you a design overdose to make up {or try to....} for my extra long blogging break....

all of the above...Jessica Helgerson Interior Design

skona hem

little birthday present for myself...

Yesterday I bought myself a little pre-birthday present! Notice what it is? Yes, that is the 3rd lamp to sit on this table in a matter of 2 months....

$30 at TJ Maxx......yes please! It's the perfect cream color for my living room. The lamp with the black shade will eventually go into my bedroom when it's painted....yes, I still haven't painted it. I still have that gray blotch on my wall that reminds me every day that "maybe I should paint my room sometime".
Another glamour shot...okay not really, I took these very quickly this morning before work.

Anyways, I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I will be "celebrating" my 23rd birthday at work by setting up for Dining by Design, after all, what says a little birthday fun other than a little manual labor?

designer love...

Again with the designer love....

Today I'm loving SF/Seattle/LA based Massucco Warner Miller Interior Design. Love their bold use of graphic patterns, their mixing of classic and contemporary pieces seamlessly, and color!

Way too tired from painting to add in my own commentary, so I'm making you do all the work.....

But before the pictures, remember the boots I ordered? Well there was actually a different pair that I was obsessed with, but they cost too much. The day after I ordered the ones that I showed you guys I found the boots I REALLY wanted on Endless Shoes for $109! (originally $169, and I think they were the last pair in black, not on website anymore)...still with free overnight shipping. Long story short, I quickly snatched them up and this morning they arrived, and they're amazing! Soooo, now I have 2 pairs of boots, need to return the other ones or I might give them to my sister for a hefty discount.

Okay, okay, okay....somehow I had energy to tell you about the boots, and no energy to give some commentary on the pictures. Believe it or not, I'm not really a shoe person, but on the occasion that I am it's because I've found a pair of shoes that for some reason I feel I cannot live without and would be a great addition to my life, and that's the way I rationalize it. I do this with other things too, like lamps, tables, pillows, miscellaneous deco items etc.....

Massuco Warner Miller