pumpcast news

There is something so inspiring about watching people do what they love—completely uninhibited.

Jack Rafferty surprises this musical couple at the gas pump!

...so much so, that I just choked up a little watching these people interviewed on the Today Show.

Gah, I've gotta get a grip. But just watch for yourself....

we need a pep talk.

"Create something that will make the world awesome."

If you haven't seen this yet, you really should. 

thinking about this today:

[from pinterest]

pretty things

I don't know about you, but I'm going to need a lot of pretty things to get me through another February! Much like these pretty pink boxes:

[thanks, Everything That Doesn't Fit Elsewhere]

so festive.

If this doesn't get you in the Christmas spirit, I don't know that anything will.

[found in the online Anthropologie catalog]

eye candy

After all the craziness this past weekend from Irene and the endless rain over the last two weeks, I could use some serious inspiration. Thank goodness for the Pinterest app for iphone! I've been using it frequently for my daily dose of beauty and creativity.

oh happy day

This will make even the gloomiest of days happy. I love this picture. Thanks LA for sending it, many moons ago.

[found here at 20x200]

short sentence(s), big meaning

Thanks to Lauren Chandler's twitter feed.

and people say

that I don't exercise! I would beg to differ.

[thanks for the proof Empire Health]

oldie but goodie

Last night I was looking through some old New York City pics, and came across this beautiful Anthropologie window display from July 2007. It amazes me how they are always equally beautiful. every.single.time.

my proverbial christmas list

I saw the Christmas wishlists on this blog and thought it was so cute...so I decided to make my own. I also thought these were some great gift ideas if you're anything like me and haven't started your Christmas shopping yet. Here's to happy hunting on Christmas Eve...because nothing spreads the Christmas cheer quite like last-minute shopping!

(a) tortoise shell watch from Fossil (b) peace flag necklace from Anthro (c) complete Southern cookbook, with down-home recipes! (d) big apple owl earmuffs, cause let's be honest, I can't go a holiday without looking for something owl-ish (e) artist palette tie-dye egg caddy (f) fresh smelling Lamshop candle (g) because who doesn't love Taylor Swift?! (h) glitter AND for a good cause! when you buy a pair, someone, somewhere gets a pair too! (i) nikon digital SLR. maybe more than a stocking stuffer, but for someone really special & great for keeping memories (j) old timey iphone cover (k) cam newton's no. 2 auburn jersey. because clearly every auburn friend or fan needs this! (l) cute nautical striped reusable grocery bag (m) 2011 vintage peacock calendar (n) pharmacy desk lamp

the best chocolate cake in the world

Been there, done that and eaten a slice. Brendan and I went to a much anticipated restaurant on Saturday night (more anticipation by him than me) to see if we had finally found what the rest of the world has long been searching for: the best chocolate cake in the world. The name of the restaurant actually is The Best Chocolate Cake in the World. I was skeptical, but the cake was good. Sadly, though, it was far overshadowed by the incredible design of this tiny little hole in the wall. It was tee-niny space in SoHo where only about 10 people, max, would fit. Brendan spent the whole time eating the cake while I spent the whole time swooning over this beautiful, fabulous sofa. It was like nothing I had ever seen before, but I'm pretty sure it is now on my list to own something like this someday...

The sofa was covered in a cork fabric! I had seen fabrics like this before for commercial use when I worked at Perkins Eastman, but I had never seen any application of it. You can find different variations of the fabric, here, at Stratford Hall Textiles.

Then, as you can see in the photo below, it had a deep chocolate brown rope piping that offset the color of the "cork" so perfectly... the two neutrals especially set the stage for the main effect: the buttons in the tufting.

Every button in every tuft was different! They had one American flag button, solid color, multicolor, buttons with rhinestones...every button imaginable! It added such a nice pop of color but not so much that you were confused about the main design idea. I've been thinking about this couch all week and can't get over how amazing it was!

Then, for proof that we really did try out the cake, I took a pic of our clean plate!

This place gets two thumbs up from me: one for the pretty good dessert and another for the superb atmosphere and design.

if you love auburn & football

you will love this ESPN clip. I generally don't watch Gameday on Saturday mornings (unless, of course, they're in Tuscaloosa or on the Plains) but I tuned in to see Erin Andrews' Halloween costume and turned it on seconds before they started this video. Not expecting such an emotional and moving piece, I was caught completely off guard and found myself sobbing in front of the television when hearing these two players recount their story. Check it out, you'll be inspired.

paste art

If you like art, you will love this lady! I met Denise from Paste today at my office. She came over to bring the bulldog print and I fell in love with her stuff. She takes vintage book pages and collages them together to make these images. How brilliant! Coincidentally, I had seen an ad for her in House Beautiful this month, earmarked the page, and then totally forgot to check out her website. And who would have thought that I would get the chance to meet her? She was a lovely lady with especially lovely art!

[I chose a few of my favorites...which you can tell, are quite a few!]

my new morning routine:

To get my day started right. I like this inspiration.