Wall Collage, Anyone?

I've become obsessed with wall collages. Of pretty much anything. It all started a couple years ago when I walked into my friend Jenny Lynne's apartment and she had this AWESOME collage of clocks above her couch. Little did I know how that would truly affect me.

The urge to create collages with anything I could get my hands on didn't come until this past August. I saw a picture collage in the new Ikea catalogue and in that moment I knew: I was destined to become hopelessly addicted to awesome, artsy collages.

Since August, I've been seeing new versions of awesome collages anywhere I look. Sometimes with empty frames, sometimes with mirrors, sometimes with the same picture in multiple colors. Really, the list goes on and on.

And honestly, I am deathly afraid that this desire will consume me and destroy any rationale I have when it comes to decorating. That one day you will walk into my house and all you will see are collages. And I do mean that they will be everywhere. Consider yourself warned.

Courtesy of my friend Kari's blog post. I secretly want to be her when it comes to decorating.

 

Someone actually did this for their wedding. They hired this brilliant decorator who transformed the bathroom of their venue into THIS amazingness! It will definitely be done in my house someday.

I couldn't find the frame collage from the Ikea magazine that inspired me, so this was the best I could find. Pretty cool, but not amazing. Check out the frame collage in the most recent Ikea catalogue. I promise - you won't be disappointed.

My Breif Blog Hiatus.

SOOOO, long story short: I took a break from blogging - not by choice - but because I was sorely disappointed in the 2010 Oscars Dresses. Typically every year there is at least one dress I would die to have. This year - not so much. SO I kept putting off blogging because I thought it was lame to have a fashion blog and not write about the Oscars. And NOW it's been 3 weeks and I decided to just suck it up and post a few dresses I thought were almost super-amazing & perfect. And then a few examples of what IS super-amazing and perfect from Oscar years gone past. As it turns out, the two dresses I chose to be the best of the bunch from 2010 are on two girls whose dresses I typically LOVE. Cameron Diaz in Oscar de la Renta (My favorite designer) & Penelope Cruz in Donna Karen Haute Couture.

They both come SO close to being SO great...but for some reason, they just don't do it for me. Now HERE are a few dresses that do:

Heidi Klum in Versace. WOW.The massive bun in her hair is a bit much - but that d-r-e-s-s!!! It is beyond words. Wow, wow, wow.

Marisa Tomei in Versace. I've decided that when it comes to evening gowns, Versace does AMAZING work. Look at all that detailing! The hundreds of pleats! It is just so beautiful.

Cameron Diaz in Valentino. I can't really explain why I love this dress - Maybe its the odd cut neckline/sleeves. Maybe it's the mini train. Maybe it's Cameron Diaz being a brunette. Maybe it's the Emerald earrings for an accent. But for some reason I love this dress.

Cameron Diaz - again. I couldn't help it!! This time she's in Dior and despite what other people have said about this dress I think it is so great. And you can't see it from this picture, but her clutch is crocodile or snake skin. Seriously, Cameron is amazing at finding the perfect accent pieces. LOVE it.

So Simple, So Speechless

Wow.

WOW. 


WOW. 

Jennifer Aniston's Rochas dress at the 2006 Oscars is just so simple and yet so amazing. I honestly considered re-designing my wedding dress to emulate this style. (Sorry, Mom...but I really sat there and thought about it). I never thought that something so seemingly plain could strike me in such a powerful way! But I LOVE this dress!! I love the loose top, the neckline, the teal trimmed vintage necklace, the train, the fabric....the everything!

Wow...I'm still sitting here trying to figure out an occasion that would give me an excuse to have this made and wear it somewhere....

The Hair That Almost Was

As I was searching around for wedding hairstyles, I came across this romantic, side swept hair do. I loved it immediately and have only grown to love it more with time.

Back in December I went to a pretty nice hair salon to have my hair colored. I showed my stylist the picture below and she replied that it would be "Easy!" and  "No problem!" I sat there in the chair - my excitement building.......

Girls, you all know what I'm talking about. When you go into the hair salon and want to try out a new color, cut or style that you've been obsessing over. You can hardly wait until they turn you back around in the chair so you can see the finished product!! This was exactly how I felt while she styled my hair. When she turned me around I almost laughed - it was NOTHING like the photo! Don't get me wrong, my hair looked better than it ever had. But it was just NOT what I wanted.

So I did what almost any girl would do in this situation. I pretended it was the best thing since spandex pants and left singing my stylist's praises with the firm resolve to have it done right someday.

Now let me explain why this is more than just a cute 'do. I don't proclaim to be anything close to an actual hair professional, but I've always been able to be a bit better than the average bear. Maybe not on a daily basis - but when I want a particular style I'll put some real time and effort into it. I can usually pick up the correct techniques by watching or feeling someone do my hair. However - this style completely eludes me as to how it is done. I feel that it is fairly simple - and yet I haven't even attempted it becasue I have no idea where to begin. If you have any suggestions, I would LOVE to hear them. Especially since I will be asking every hairstylist to do this until the day I successfully walk away looking like the model in the picture. Hair-wise at least. :)

Josh Groban - Un Giorno Per Noi (Romeo e Giulietta)

This song is so beautiful to me. It is by far my favorite song. Partially I think it is so amazing becuase whenever I hear it I am instantly calmed, instantly moved and many times instantly brought to tears, but I don't understand a single word. It is just that powerful.

Josh Groban does such an amazing job conveying the essence of the lyrics. The song is written and sung in Italian and below are both the Italian lyrics and what I found, via Google search, to be the English translation. I have no idea how accurate they are, but I think the idea behind what the song represents is intact.

You may want to turn your volume up a bit, as the song starts off very quiet. However, it will crescendo toward the ending, so be aware of that too. :)

Un Giorno Per Noi

Lyrics by Larry Kusik and Eddie Snyder;
New lyrics by Alfredo Rapetti aka Cheope

Un giorno sai, per noi verrá
la libertá di amarci qui senza limiti.
E fiorirá il sogno a noi negato
si svelerá l'amor ce l'ha t'ormai.

Un giorno sai, per vivere
la vita che ci sfugge qui,
Un giorno sai, per vivere
la vita che ci sfugge qui.

L'amore noi supererá
Io stacco lí e le maree dell'avversitá
E ci stará anche per noi nel mondo
Un tempo in cui l'amore vincerá
Un tempo in cui l'amore vincerá

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

A Time for Us

A time for us, some day there'll be
When chains are torn by courage born of a love that's free
A time when dreams so long denied can flourish
As we unveil the love we now must hide

A time for us, for the living
A life worthwhile for you and me
A time for us, for the living
A life worthwhile for you and me

And with our love, through tears and thorns
We will endure as we pass surely through every storm
A time for us, some day there'll be a new world
A time in which love will win
A time in which love will win

Pictures in Motion

Photography is one of my favorite things in this world. I constantly battle the urge to give up pursuing my Nursing degree and just go take pretty pictures. Now I must say: I've never taken a class, I don't take my little CoolPix camera out and take artsy shots and I don't know the first thing about lighting other than you need it. Nonetheless, I LOVE photography. I plan on taking some classes in college and making it a hobby. But for now, I've resigned to staring endlessly at any photos that seem to have power over me.

[Enter the five photos below.]

I was trying to create a header for this blog when I came across these little morsels of amazingness. I wish I could credit the photographer, but I found them in a Google image search and have no idea who took them. I can't even describe what I love about them - but for some reason I'm drawn to each one of them and literally stare at them for several minutes at a time.

 This makes me think of bittersweet happiness. For some reason, it seems to me that there is something overshadowing the blissful state depicted.

 

I love, repeat, LOVE this picture. I can't explain it. But it moves me somehow.

I first saw this photo on my dear friend Rachel's Facebook. She had it as her profile picture for a short while and I think it is so beautiful. But also a little haunting. I love the hands being spread apart, like she is trying not to drown. I am sure someone could do a far better job with the symbolism and what this picture truly means. I really have no idea, but I love it.

This picture simply makes me want to blow up GIANT, over sized balloons and go jump around in them. Or maybe big soft bouncy balls. I love that mid-jump she has perfect dance form. And I love her hair! I just feel happy when I see this. Someday I'm going to have a party inspired by this photo. I can't WAIT.

I will copy this picture someday. It is SO.....sooo.....is there even a word? Romantic? Precious? Sweet? Serene? None seem to adequately describe it. All I know is that I LOVE it. And it makes me want to go kiss my wonderful finance. By water. In a cute dress. With a red umbrella. Too bad I'm land-locked.

Keira Knightley Atonement Dress

Words cannot do it justice.

The pictures below cannot do it justice.

Even the movie screen, I imagine, cannot do it justice.

But nevertheless - when I saw it in the movie, Atonement, I was speechless. I'm pretty sure I sat there frozen, fixated on my TV for the few minutes it was shown on the screen. Then I rewound the movie to see it again. And again. And again. Then the next day, I promptly Googled it to see it again and save the image. Every time I see it, I have the same reaction - OH MY GOSH.

That rich, deep, emerald color, the draping of the skirt that flows into the train, the bare back, the loose front - I love it all. I don't remember the last time I've coveted something so much. And apparently I'm not the only one. It won the Best Film Costume award in 2008 and is now recognized with some of the most iconic dresses known throughout the history of Hollywood. Including Marilyn Monroe's famous white dress in The Seven Year Itch. Favina designed a copy-cat style of Keira's dress that sells for $238.00. Too bad it's a far cry from the original, but maybe someday I'll find an excuse to try and whip up a version myself.

The Tuxedo Swimsuit

I should start by saying that swimsuits for me are like what purses and shoes are for most women. Shoes come a close 2nd - but it is swimsuits that I have an almost impossible time resisting to buy. I am in LOVE with all 20 bikinis I own and when I go on vacation I rarely bring less than 5.....even if it is a 2 night stay.

For some time now, I have been wanting to find an exceptional one piece swimsuit. I have found many that come close, but none that I would choose to buy over the bikinis placed next to them in the store. Then I saw this little number and everything changed.

In my opinion, this is the BEST one piece swimsuit of ALL TIME. I saw it about a month ago in my Victoria's Secret catalog. It was $140 and so I resisted the urge to buy it immediately. I had somewhat forgotten about it until I was reading my friend Kari's blog about one piece swimsuits and decided to email her the link. And that is when my world crashed....it was SOLD OUT! In one single month it was gone! I quickly Googled it to find if there had been some sort of error or if it was only sold via the catalog. No such luck...it was gone.

So, now I will check Victoria's Secret every other day to see if it comes back. And I really hope it will.

What is the "It List" Anyway?

I'm not sure who else loves to study magazines. And I'm not just talking about reading the articles or beauty tips, although those are incredible. I mean really devour the entire magazine - every single page. Especially the advertisements. I find myself able to spend hours with one magazine going through it again and again. I memorize all the beauty/decorating/etc tips, study how a model poses in an ad, meticulously scrutinize the fashion and rip out all the pages I love and insert them into a organized binder.

The same has been true for when I see something online that I am wowed by. It can be as small as a new hairstyle, a different nail polish color or a cute outfit I would have never thought to put together. I can't help but save the picture to my computer and start looking for more ideas.

I have also been known to spend countless hours looking at random photographers websites. Especially wedding photography. For some reason I just LOVE looking at those photographer's amazing artistic shots.

Another obsession is music. As cheesy as it sounds, I think that music has an incredible power. It can set a mood, ease someone's physical pain, get you pumped, make you cry, or really evoke any feeling. Everyday I have music playing at work, in the car, at home - almost constantly.

So as I found myself daily inspired, from so many different things, I decided I needed to blog about it. This blog will simply be the things I see on a daily basis that blow my mind, inspire me and simply put - that I love.