Friday . Favorites

Top Row (from left): {1} Antique Bird Cage "borrowed" from my parents + now filled w/green moss; {2} Vintage polka dot dress that I was unable to part with; {3} Vintage wagon filled w/sand and pretty plants
Middle Row (from left): {4} My new Electra Amsterdam, which arrived this week!; {5} Mexican grilled sweet corn that we made last night - so delicious!; {6} this little bird wall hanging that's kind of cheesy, but that I kind of love anyway
Bottom Row (from left): {7} A few of this week's antique store finds; {8} These people have daisies instead of weeds in the cracks of their driveway!; {9} Summer nail colors from Chanel - Morning Rose and Beige Petale

My Friday today is ridiculously busy - it's 11am now, and I'm already behind! I have store trips, bank trips, dry cleaning trips, calls to make, a house to clean, + evening guests!

How's your Friday looking??

Yes

I am a ridiculously.super.crazy impatient person in many ways. As soon as I've decided I want something, I want it right. then. No waiting. Of course, that's not real life. Real life is where things happen in their own time which = an unhappy me.

I'm currently in unhappy mode with our house. I honestly do love our house. At least once a week. The other days I want someone to come in and magically redo both our bathrooms, our back room, our counter-tops, the music room, our front stairs, and our back yard. And then I'll gift it with my love.

We've already redone quite a lot, but it doesn't feel like enough. It's very tough to appreciate the house for what it is and what it will be when you can only do a little at time. Watching a lot of design program/reading many design blogs does not help this attitude - they certainly perpetuate the idea that in no time at all your home can be House Beautiful ready.

I keep threatening to just sell everything and move to a shack on a tropical island, but so far that hasn't happened. Yet...

Photo (of the insanely gorgeous dining room): Under the Table and Dreaming

Shabd . Is . My . Name

Tie-Dye can be, well, difficult. It is very, very hard to find pieces that don't make you look like you're a heartbeat away from becoming a Deadhead and wandering off to see Woodstock 25 or something.

Shabd Is My Name is kind of amazing in that their tie-dye prints (on silk and jersey) are bold enough to be noticed, but they look modern and not too hippie-dippy. With a slew of dresses + separates + swim + accessories + even some menswear, their online shop is brimming with sleek, prettily printed goodies.

Bonus: They gravitate toward gorgeous models who don't make me feel like I need to diet for a month to be able to look good in their clothes.

Friday . Favorites

Today's less favorite moments:

-- really.really.realizing that Borders is going out of business
-- walking through the Ann Arbor Art Festival in 90 degree heat
-- traffic. because there's always traffic when you're tired and just want to get home

Today's favorite moments:

-- scoring a slew of the current international fashion mags for 40% off! (ss Borders!)
-- walking through the Ann Arbor Art Festival
-- f r a p p u c c i n o
-- black bean and butternut squash quesadillas for lunch
-- bringing home a slice of heavenly chocolate layer cake from Zingermann's
-- finding this crazy.cool embroided denim vest + a pile of embroidered gauzy dresses + some for serious rare records at the antique mall
-- getting home to find my new business cards had arrived!

Lucky . Lucky

Certainly magazines can be hit or miss depending on the issue, though Lucky has no need to worry with their August issue. Not only do they have gorgeous Christina Hendricks - crush of pretty much all men and women alike - on their cover, but their style features are crazy.nusto.amazing.

The feature above - "Break Time" - has me coveting every.single.piece. Mismatched dark teal suit with mauve swiss dot tights for fall? Yes please!! Pastel skirt and sweater set with preppy check shirt? I'll take that as well.

In celebration of such a crazy.cool issue, Pretty Little World is having a giveaway!! One lucky winner will receive a one year subscription to Lucky Magazine!!

Want it?! Here's how it could be yours:

-- Leave a comment on this post saying why you'd love to get Lucky!
-- For a second chance, follow Pretty Little World and leave a separate comment that says "Following!"
-- For yet a third chance, tweet the following and then leave a comment that says, "Tweeted!"

★ Win a subscription to @LuckyMagazine from @PrettyLilWorld ★ http://prettylittleworldfashion.blogspot.com/2011/07/certainly-magazines-can-be-hit-or-miss.html

The giveaway runs through Thursday, July 28th and a winner will be chosen randomly from the comments! Good luck!

Editorial Photos: Tierney Gearon for Lucky

Congratulations to Andi who will receive a year subscription to Lucky!! Thank you all for entering!!

Messy.Pretty.Stripe

Photos: tFS, Desire to Inspire, Ruth Hawkins on Pinterest, and FeeFeeRN

Sponsor . Pretty . Little . World

Advertising on Pretty Little World is a great way to draw additional traffic to your blog or shop. With emphases on fashion, design, and photography, PLW gets readers with a variety of interests.

There are two options for advertisers, with prices in mind for small businesses. The first (larger) option is for a 200 x 150 advertisement and the second (smaller) option is for a 100 x 100 advertisement. Ads run from the first of the month through the last (30th or 31st) of the month.

Send me a lovely little note at NikitaJade[at]aol.com for more information, including pricing!

Gone . Missing

This past Friday morning we headed up to Petoskey for the weekend. My aunt & uncle have a positively lovely condo that overlooks the waterfront. We planned on going to Art in the Park, and then just hanging about. We did all of this, except I was also hit by the absolute worst allergy attack ever. Big frowny face.

In between sneezing fits and congestion that felt as though someone had wrapped a wet towel around my head, we did manage to sneak in a handful of super fun things: a yummy dinner of homemade Florentine Lasagna, traipsing through some of the local art galleries, one of which yielded this 30" x 38" framed watercolor for only $25!!, and lots of wandering down by the breakwater, beach, and marina.

While I certainly could have done without the allergies, it was overall a very lovely weekend!

Friday . Favorites

It doesn't seem to matter that I'm not five years old anymore, pink is still absolutely my favorite color. The skin that covers my MacBook keyboard is pink -- I still squeal a little with joy every time I see Hello Kitty -- even though it really goes with nothing I own, I desperately covet a Chanel Patent Pink Jumbo -- and I'm tempted to buy all new kitchen things when I see the pink collection at Williams Sonoma -- etc. etc.

Girl sigh...

Photos: Strikes Our Fancy, Sun Surfer, ffffound, Silvia Camporesi, and Misguided Ghost

Sci-Fi . to . Runway

Mugler Resort Collection: Style.com
Vintage Sci-fi Covers: Cover Browser

Kimono . Time

Today when the mail came, it was a bit like Christmas - a brightly colored vintage Christmas!! These vintage kimonos came all of the way from Japan - I'm particularly enamored with the one that has little clouds on it - and will soon make their way into the shop.

At least, most of them will. Probably.

Speaking of Japan, we just watched Takashi Miike's remake of 13 Assassins. It was incredible. Miike would always have a place in my heart, simply because of Audition - easily one of the best horror films ever made - but he won me over again with the beauty of this film.

P.S. - If you're not into samurai films, you should be!!

Bicycle

I've been wanting a new bicycle for a little while now. My own vintage Schwinn (above) is lovely and wonderful, though a little cumbersome to ride due to it's age. Yet I found it an auction about five years ago, and for only $5.00, it came home with me. So I was a little hesitant to part with her.

However, not two weeks ago, the bicycle gave up the ghost, and one of the pedals fell off. So I started searching for a replacement.

The cruiser style is not only aesthetically my favorite, but I ride a lot in a skirt, so that kind of frame is really a necessity.





And so after some consideration, and testing out a few different things, the winner is...



An Electra Amsterdam! She had to be specially ordered from California, so won't arrive until next week, but despite the wait, I'm terribly excited to be able to start riding on my shiny new bicycle!

Photos: The Sartorialist, The Snapshot Century, The Purse Forum, Garance Dore, and Electra

Friday . Favorites

My friend Gina from A Sad Day for Sad Birds just sent a link to an article published in The Times Magazine: The New York Times just published a list of their writing staffs' Five Favorite Novels. A task indeed. To choose just five of all of the books that I've ever read is daunting, as there are so many novels that I love for all of a million different reasons. Yet if the very well-read folks at The Times can do it, so can I.

1. Catch 22, by Joseph Heller -- Such complexity; I've read this over and over again.
2. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy -- The most beautiful and haunting language ever. Ever.
3. The Bell Jar, by Sylvia Plath -- Perhaps the most honest and beautiful book. Slim, but far from simplistic.
4. The Comfort of Strangers, by Ian McEwan - Never have I been so emotionally impacted by the ending of a book.
5. The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler -- I could never praise Chandler enough for writing Philip Marlowe.
6. The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis -- Bret Easton Ellis as a person? Meh. As an author? ♡

... except for that I cheated and chose six. And I'm apparently especially drawn to books that start with "the". I'd love to know what your five - or even six! - favorites are!

Photo: Valitova, on Flickr

Peony

Couldn't we just have these always? I see nothing wrong with an entire year filled with flowers that are like little pink clouds.