Red is Dead...

just some of my awesome new office supplies.  

Crisp Little Apple Clips!  Even though they are red...

I am finally working on my bedroom suite. I call it a suite because I have the entire upper floor of the house... my own bathroom, bedroom, office, and walk in closet. It's not HUGE, but it is a healthy sized space. When the ex still lived here the suite was done up in red, black, brown, and cream/white. It was good. I liked it. It suited us as a couple. Not too girly, not too masculine, and playful, fun. When the space became my own, I left it pretty much as is. Sure there were changes, I got new bedroom furniture. But overall I kept the same color palette.
I DO like red... and I like black. I also like brown. And cream & white are ok as an accent. My original plan a year ago was to keep the red and black (the strongest presence with artwork, and accessories already in the room) and to add a mossy lime green. I slowly added some green here and there... but with all that red, it just wasn't floating my boat... and slowly started feeling a little like Xmas. Last month I went to IKEA and bought a gorgeous leafy printed green duvet cover. I brought it home but left it in the package for over a week... I wasn't sure if I was going to go for it. But every time i looked at that cover I got so happy. THOSE were my colors. that was my sanctuary. So I decided to ditch the red, pitch the black, and go green!

Last year i bought some raw wood shelves to use as... well shelves. I also got a couple of 5ft long ones to use on top of two filing cabinets as a desk. My intention was to stain them, make them look nice, etc. Over the past month, and a year after their original purchase, my awesome roommate stained all of the shelves and the desktop a gorgeous espresso. He also spray painted my filing cabinet. They were the UGLIEST fleshy tan color. And now the are gorgeous mossy green. And i have been shopping at work for super awesome green desk accessories. Like a little green magnetic hedgehog that holds my paperclips for me, his name is Dozi.  And then there is Winni, the green dinosaur guy that has a mohawk and mane of bristles for cleaning my computer keyboard. Archibald is the green turtle that floats upon my desk with a pad of post-it-notes atop his tummy.  Or what about Johnny, the little green guy with open arms just waiting to hold my cell phone. Though I am pondering introducing some orange. Dozi might get swapped out for a little orange ghost type guy.  I will also be adding Sebastiano in green.  What do you guys think?  Dozi or Curly?  Curly was named curly before he had spiral paperclips.  Dozi looks good in the spiral clips as well.  btw...  all of the above mentioned names did not come from my creative mind.  they were given those names by their creators, and all can be found at the fabulous shop where i work in downtown Oakland.  

So I then I Took My Top Off....

Wednesday was a fairly crappy day. I would even go so far to say the Wednesday was one of the crappier days in the life of Miss PuNk rAwK pUrL. Let's just say that I actually had to leave work for a couple of hours to come home and cry. I know... super pathetic. BTW- the crappiness had absolutely nothing to do with work. Soooo, then I made some rad last minute plans to cheer myself up Wednesday night... that didn't go so well either. It was a heaping load of totally unrelated salt in my already aching wounds.

So by the time Thursday came around I was chomping at the bit the to make things better for myself. But alas... crying in the shower didn't get "it" all out... I would need some help... Lucky for me my good buddy Kate and I had made plans to go shopping!! Yes, I broke down and took an entire day off from my 6 day work week.

We began with breakfast at La Note in Berkeley. Cinnamon Brioche Pain Perdu soaked in orange blossom water, and sprinkled with lavender honey ... of course that alone made me feel worlds better! The service was SLOOOOOOOW! But the food was tres tres delicious!

We then climbed into the car and took off for Petaluma! Woo hoo! WAIT... Petaluma = woo hoo?? wtf? Don't get me wrong... Petaluma is a lovely town... but why would two hot single gals be so excited to take a day off of work and drive their happy asses up there?? Well... I will tell you why. Y-A-R-N We were going to visit Knitterly, a delightful yarn shop in Petaluma. The drive up was nice. And the shop was gorgeous! We found skeins a plenty to tempt ourselves! And I finally found the perfect dark grey heathered boucle to make my vintage styled capelet... and it is an alpaca blend!! In case anyone was not aware... I *heart* alpaca. It is my fave fiber. I also got some Rowan Felted Tweed in a dreamy shade of blue! And of course I acquired some adorable buttons too. WHAT?! A girl always needs more buttons! Kate picked up some items as well, including some yarn for the super cute Carrie.
Next we headed to the outlet mall... yes, this was a serious shopping expedition. And we did LOTS of shopping at the mall. My fave purchases were at the Vans shop. I bought a pair of old skool blues (just like the ones I wore 20 something years ago... ugh) & a jaunty pair of slip ons. (wish i had a photo of Kates new Vans... white w/ pink flamingos... adorable, just like Kate.)
Ok... now we were about to get wild and crazy! It was hot up there in Petaluma... and we had been shopping for hours by now. And what is the point in driving a two seater convertiable if you don't take the top off now and then?! After changing clothes and shoes in the parking lot and hand feeding one another left over breakfast we pulled out the drivers manual and read up on removing the top from my car. (This would be the first time that I have taken the top off) It was a sight to behold. All buckled in, fueled up on cold pain perdu and homefries... after Kate secured my hair into an updo with the new hair accessories that we purchased at Claires Boutique we took off, waving our hands in the air and yes, we actually were hooting and hollering. It was like some bizarre lesbian spring break... though it wasn't spring and we are not lesbians.
We drove down to San Rafael... to go to another yarn shop natch. We drove with the top down, strands of hair carelessly whipping around, radio blaring, and smiles a plenty. We arrived at Dharma Trading Co. More a craftastic wonder than a yarn shop. I found some Mission Falls 1840 in a luscious green and blue, as well as some more Rowan Felted Tweed, this time in a sultry rusty orange that would set off the sexy blue I had picked up earlier in the day. Kate shopped for some Noro Kureyon and Cascade 220 to start a super sweater out of. So the woman at Dharma recognized me all celebrity style from working at Article Pract. She recommended that we head up the street to yet another yarn shop that shall remain nameless... It is owned by a dude, which is cool... yeah? Hell yeah it is. But it wasn't. Nope, it sure wasn't. Although the shop was cool enough, he was pretty lame. He did greet us when we first walked in, but after that he never got up out of his seat, never asked us if we needed any help or if we had any questions. It was pretty lame.
From there we drove back home, starving and exhausted. But did we go relax & eat? NO. We went to H & M and yes.... we shopped some more. I bought a new purse... it's a sinful shade of plum... which is going to be my color for the fall. It was a good day.