Crafty Bastards this weekend in DC!

I'm so excited to be participating in Crafty Bastards this weekend! It's sincerely a show I've wanted to be a part of for a couple years now, and it's also my first travel show. I made it easy on myself, since my parents live just outside of Washington DC - I knew I'd have a spot to crash. For FREE! (Thanks mom and dad!)

Anyway, if you're in the DC area, I hope you come out to see me. It's happening this Saturday, from 10-5 at the Marie Reed Learning Center in Adams Morgan. I'm at booth #89.

ALSO... if you are so inclined, take a second and vote for Pommes Frites for your favorite Craftiest Bastard. I'll love you forever!! Click here to vote. See you in DC!

Etsy Finds: Fabric Bangles

Remember how friendship bracelets were all the rage earlier this year? I never forget about them in the first place. I made them when I was 11 the same as I made them when I was 20, and I will always pick up one of those cheesy "cat eye" bracelets on vacation. For wish making purposes.

But I do like the upscale fabric bracelets that trend brought on. Here are a few of my favorites from etsy.

felted bangles with studs

"the sparkler" - sadly no longer available, but too pretty not to post

modern friendship bracelet with cute feather

Just imagine an arm full of big shiny, nubby friendship bracelets. Even better if they make noise when you move your wrist. Gotta love interactive jewelry.

On The Watch

You know, watches got a bum rap for a couple years there. Once cell phones started being more than just a phone, people forgot all about the poor and noble wristwatch and used their mobile as a time piece. I know I started wearing watches again when I flushed my cell phone down a toilet (YES!) and didn't have a phone for two weeks. Not only was there was a lot of pay phone usage (side note: New York pay phones are nasty, but you already knew that) but I wore a watch for the first time in years.



American Apparel has some awesome watches right now - in fact, pretty much every watch you ever owned or could possibly want. Here are some of my favorites.

Clockwise, from top left
Texas Face Watch: Words can't even tell you how much I want this watch. Oh wait, they just did.

Black N Yellow Watch: Really more black n gold, but black n yellow is catchier. I love the simple design of this classic watch.

Vintage Checkered Watch: I like that this one is vintage and has a cute leather strap.

Solid Gold Watch: As a Countess LuAnn says, Money Can't Buy You Class, but it can buy you this classy ass watch.

Gold Calculator Watch - I own this watch and get tons of compliments on it. My only complaint is the buttons are actually too small to use. At least for someone with chunky fingers like. Also, Tom bought me this watch on ebay a couple Christmases ago; I'm sure you could probably find a better deal there (added bonus that you aren't buying from a company whose CEO is a major misogynist! yay!)

Do you wear a watch? If so, do you place your watch so the face is on the inside or outside of your wrist? I'm an outside gal myself.

September Style Essentials

September is always one of my favorite months (right behind October). You've still got the weather of fading summer, mixed with back to school fashion (oxford shoes! cardigans! glasses!), reading books, drinking hot coffee, and breaking in the callus on your writing hand ring finger.

Here's my round up of September style essentials.



Clockwise, from top left.

1. An amazing satchel to hold all your gear from Cambridge Satchel Company. I have it in red and always get compliments on it.

2. Cardigans from Urban Outfitters - solid and striped, respectively. Or, you can grab a bunch of these from JC Penney. They always seems to be on sale and my mom always sends them for me in every color of the rainbow.

3. Moleskine Cahier Notebooks. Sold in packs of three, these are the only notebooks I ever use (well, in varying sizes)

4. "We Are Happy to Serve You" ceramic coffee cup. These remind me of back to school time in New York - except in a more sustainable way.

5. Cute oxfords never go out of style.

6. A Linus Roadster for cruising in the crisp weather (I have this bike in ivory - it's the best bike ever!)

7. And a cute bike basket to put your purse in.

8. I love this glasses case, screenprinted vintage glasses, from etsy seller Quiet Doing. Even if you don't have glasses, you could use it as a pencil pouch.

9. Nerdy Raybans - I really want to upgrade my glasses to these classics, because then I might actually not wear contacts during the day. (side note: not a proponent of non-prescription glasses.. they just irk me)

I have to live vicariously through these items to remind me of the beginning of fall on the East Coast; don't think for a second the California air has fooled me into missing seasons.

What are your September style essentials?

Lanterns in the Sky

Image from Green Wedding Shoes

Ever since seeing these Chinese wishing lanterns at this wedding on Green Wedding Shoes, I've been obsessed!





The tradition is to write a wish on a lantern as you send it up to the sky (they are released after the Chinese New Year). The flight is supposed to represent the release of doubt and worries. My thoughts? Would it release the worry of this lantern blowing into a nearby tree and catching it on fire?

PS - you can buy eco-friendly ones here.

Lo-Pro Southwest Sneaks

Ever since our road trip, I've been a little obsessed with all things SouthWest. I'm well aware it's been a huge trend for some time now, especially in the DIY community, but I'm just now jumping on the bandwagon.

Before, I was pretty much like "that's nice, but I'll stick with this lumberjack plaid, thank you". Present day: Southwest Blanket on the couch (from NM, natch), amazingly printed weekender bag ordered for birthday, and an overall plan to turn our apartment from "flea-market-meets-Mid-Century-modern" to "Mid-Century-Modern-meets-New-Mexico" (meets Ikea - what, we're poor!) Imagine if Don Draper had a adobe in Taos. YEAH.

This is all a big lead up to say I love these Aztec lace up sneakers from Urban Outfitters. I've been living in similar Lo-Pro sneaks from Vans and Target, and at $20 the price is right.

Although, somebody please remind me, right now, how fast UO shoes wear out - quickly, before I hit "checkout" with the shoes in my cart.

The Ideal Camping Trip

Lately all I've been thinking about is camping. We're planning a Yosemite trip for my birthday, and in the perfect world (if money were no object), these are the items I'd take so I could camp in style.*


Product information, clockwise from top left.

1. Cute lanterns.

2. REI Kingdom 4 Tent. This tent has a dividable interior, so you can create a cozy sleeping nook and have living space, or have privacy when you've got multiple people camping.

3. Solar Powered Star String Lights for hanging inside the tent. Easy to power during the day for romantic nighttime lighting.

4. A French Press. This gives the option of cold brewing over night - no need to heat water up in the morning!

5. Guide books and trail books for nature-filled goodness during the day.

6. A Rucksack (from etsy seller Infusion), in which to pack water bottles and guide books while hiking.

7. Wool Duffle Bag from Filson.

8. Instax Mini Camera for capturing the sights.

9. Yosemite Blanket from Pendleton - (ps - they have tons of National Park Blankets to choose from).

10. Flannel-Lined Sleeping Bag from LLBean. Gotta love the classic check!

11. An Ice Cream Ball - does double duty as entertainment and dessert maker.

12. Star and Moon Fire Pit from LL Bean.

13. Last but not least - a classic skillet and bacon!!

*Camping in Style is not to be confused with GLAMPING, which is not really camping at all.

What would you take on your ideal camping trip?

How to Smell Like a Candle

I just figured out they make my favorite candle scent, Tuscan Blood Orange from Pacifica, in a perfume spray! SWEET.




The perfume smells a lot more sharp than the fragrance, maybe not in a good way. It's probably due to the super concentrated oils but it still smells really good. Either way, it's awesome to smell like a candle, and not just because I've been making them all day long.

What candle would YOU like to smell like?

Jane Eyre Doppelganger

Jane Eyre - to see full photos click here

I wanted to share this piece I recently worked on for Composite magazine, an awesome online art mag (founded by one of my pals Zach Clark). Their fourth issue is called "Doppelganger", and I submitted a piece called Jane Eyre.

It's interesting for me to take the craft I work on every day and elevate it to art. The basics stay the same - I still created a hollow book - but put an certain intention behind it. I took an old copy of "Jane Eyre" and hollowed it out at a specified page. Then, I put the new version of a book (A Kindle) inside and flipped the kindle to the same top page that would have been missing.

I wanted to draw attention to the new media for books - and what will become of the old version, books themselves. On a crafty note, I like to think with Pommes Frites that I help alleviate some of the "book waste" that happens in the world, by never using new books but only old ones that are in the clearance bin or sometimes even the dumpster.

You can view the full magazine here - I'm on page five!