Mushaboom

I've been thinking a lot about where one starts when decorating a home. Some people find one amazing piece and decorate around that. Some people choose a color palette and go from there. Another group of people begin by identifying a style (bohemian, classic, modern, vintage, etc.) and choose pieces accordingly. Then there is Joy Thigpen. Wedding extraordinaire and editor of Once Wed (my favorite place for wedspiration when I was planning my own wedding), she planned and decorated her home around a song: Mushaboom by Feist.

She wanted her home to be a lighthearted and playful place for her two young children (how awesome would it be to grow up in that rainbow room??!):

So, here's a question to get you thinking: If you were to choose a song to inspire your home, what would it be? I keep bouncing around between something very soothing and calm and something very positive and up beat.  

For more details, see Design*Sponge's home tour, here and Joy Thigpen's blog, found here.

Images: Amy Azzarito for Design*Sponge

Dear 94.7 FM...

Since my ankle injury, I've been driving to work (I was a metro girl before this). I'm only about five miles from the office, but with traffic it takes me about 45 minutes to an hour one way. This means, I have a lot of time with me and the radio during DC traffic. I took a break from NPR to listen to some top 40 station the other day (I think 94.7 FM), and heard them say that they give away $80,000 every Thursday. Well, now. My mind went wild. I haven't stopped daydreaming what I'd do with an extra $80,000 ever since. While money can't buy what matters most to me, money can be really nice and it can be really fun. Here is my short list:

1. Rent a new apartment. As much as I love my 400sq ft. Capitol Hill english basement (NOT), I'd love a first/second floor two bedroom row house apartment. That is numero uno.

2. Buy my new dream couch from Anthropologie.

3. Plan a romantic trip with Hunter to Portugal, my favorite place.

4. Get a personal trainer to whip me into shape.

5. Do something nice for Hunter, like buy all the really expensive LEGO sets or a nice bike or invest in the doughnut shop he dreams of owning.

6. Put the rest into KIVA (my favorite micro-lending charity).

Sadly, the $80,000 would go really fast. Faster than it should. And I know what you're thinking - aren't you guys racking up a ton of debt from Hunter's gig at law school? To this I would say, why be responsible with unexpected money? Also, to this I would say - I'm sick of being poor!!! Get off my back!

What would you do with an extra $80,000 lying around? (and don't say something responsible).

Images: My instagram (@lisamariaanderson) / Anthropologie / My photos from a trip to Porto / Pinterest / Sarah Lemoncelli for Travel and Leisure 

Pumped Up Kicks

So last week, I embarrassingly fell down our front stairs. And I tore a ligament in my ankle. Which is how I ended up like this:

So there are a lot of cons to this condition. Pain, swelling, not being able to carry things while on crutches, everything taking twice as long, going up and down stairs, etc. But... I have found one pro in all of this: high tops.

It turns out that my new boot has about a 1.5-2 inch platform and I'll need some platform sneaks with decent ankle support to level me out. And, well, I'm sick of wearing my running shoes everywhere. I've been finding some pinsperation in these awesome (but $680) Isabel Marant sneaks:

 

 

 

 Okay. So, it's mostly moms that have embraced the high tops trend... but I'm pretty excited to embark on this 6-weeks+ sporty phase. Thus starts the search for a reasonably looking/priced knock-off...

Image 1, 4 & 5: French Vixen; Image 2: Buse Terim; Image 3: Style Lab; Image 6: Pinterest