Thursday's Randoms

I'm definitely a big fan of these mint porcelain bowls by artist Kim Westad.  She has amazing stuff in her shop, seriously.

I'm head-over-heels in love with these doors and the rug, especially paired together.  Why can't Gus let us own a rug? Why does he have to run to it whenever he gets a hairball?  Le sigh...

Seeing tops like this has me totally ready for fall (at least fashion-wise).  Such beautiful fall colors!

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Tonight I am going to the Kentucky State Fair! I haven't been to a fair in ages, probably since high school.  I'm pretty excited to eat some fried stuff, barf it all up on some rides and listen to this band.  

The other night, we bought a firepit for our yard (yay for sales!) and it is going to be awesome.  Aside from a fence and a dog (and flowers and a gnome), our yard is really only missing one other thing - a hammock.  Wouldn't this netted cocoon hammock be pretty awesome? Especially out here, in mosquito heaven.  I want one, that's for sure.

Lastly, I couldn't resist leaving you with this incredible set of Mr. Fox espresso cups.  They would make my mornings pretty wonderful (at least at first, right?!)

***UPDATE***  I found MISS BADGER cups! Woo!

Happy Thursday!

Weekend Recap

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Even though we're supposed to be unpacking boxes today, I am unpacking the truck and doing laundry all day to rid our apartment of the post-camp smell.  I am okay with this, because we had tons of fun.  Instead of sitting at home and dwelling over what should have been, we opted for an adventurous weekend out of the city and into the wild.  Some highlights include ::

• Dinner + drinks with lovely friends on Friday night
• A beautiful Saturday morning drive up Lake Michigan on the Michigan side
• Drinks + lunch at New Holland Brewery, getting a growler for camping
• Finding one last camp site by a National Park on the Saturday before the 4th (even if it was at a Jellystone, hey, it was only for one night!)
• Easy, easy camping surrounded by funny children 
• Meeting the sweetest ranger on Sunday who directed us to our own private campsite in Manistee National Forest that was free and only a handful of campers knew about it!
• Sleeping Bear Dunes - we hiked the giant dune, which was super difficult and tiring.  Then we watched kids who were at summer camp hike the dune 10 times while we laid on the sand and took the view in
• Hiking, hiking, hiking! 
• We drove to Traverse City after our hikes just to check it out per a friend's recommendation.  There happened to be a big festival/carnival going on so we walked around briefly (it was confusing switching from the forest to a small town like that)
• The most peaceful night camping ever.  Barely any peeps from the neighboring campers (except a few barks out of the pooches) and delicious Traverse City beers by the fire.  Does it get any better than that?
• Canoeing down the White river - we worked our butts off but it was fun.  We canoed 16 miles in 2 1/2 hours!  
• The best ending to a weekend ever - we climbed up on the roof of our apartment building and looked in awe at the panoramic view of fireworks throughout the city.  It was pure magic.  

Definitely some silver linings in there, eh?  How were your holiday weekends? Wonderful I hope!

Thursday Randoms

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Well.  Today is supposed to be the day we pack up our moving truck.  But notice...I'm still here.  Yesterday we received some bad news from the bank.  We weren't going to be able to close on Friday because some forms needed to be rerun.  So now it's looking like next week for the move/closing and both of us are completely heartbroken.  Neither one of us were mentally prepared for this giant hiccup (especially myself, I am not happy with the way I've handled it so far).  Our apartment is seriously all packed up with the exception of some stray things we've been using.  It sucks.  Because this weekend is a holiday weekend and our original plans were postponed, we've decided to make the most of it.  We're already packed...so why not take a trip!?  With the help of our lovely friend Anna-Maria, we've decided to journey east to Michigan to visit the Sleeping Bear Dunes!  We realize this is totally last minute and it's a holiday weekend so we run the risk of every camp site being taken or there just being an insane amount of people trying to get out into nature.  But we don't care.  We need to get out of here and spend some time outdoors.  Hoorah!

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As an example of how we're trying to make the most of the situation, when life gave us lemons, I insisted we drink vodka lemonade.  So we did.  It was good.

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This eco-friendly handprinted clutch from Etsy shop seaoats has my heart all aflutter.  It's my favorite hue, I'm a lover of design with birds (put a bird on it!) and it's totally affordable.  Be sure to check this shop out as she has a lot of other cool things in there!

Have you seen this split-screen love story?  The video won the Nokia Shorts Competition of 2011 and it was shot entirely on a Nokia N8 phone.  The screen is split between Paris and New York, meeting up in London at the end.  It's worth the few minutes of your time :)  Via Refinery 29

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This Midnight Coral shirt by Rachel Rose is too beautiful not to share.  The colors, the design...brilliant!

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Last, how awesome is this twinkly entryway?  It would put me in a cheery mood every time I came home.  The rest of the flat is pretty neat too.

As I mentioned before, all of our plans are all kinds of messed up now.  Our closing date/move in date is still up in the air, but hopefully there won't be any more set backs.  The bank is completely at fault for this one but it really sucks to know we have no control over anything at this point.  I imagine truck rentals will get expensive and I have to forget about the fact that we reserved it weeks ago with the best rate possible.  But I digress.  

I am bidding you all adieu for the long weekend but please check in tomorrow as I have a very special guest stopping by!  You won't want to miss it.

Welcome, Summer

Today is officially the first day of summer and I couldn't be happier.  I love summer, and summer's in Chicago feel like something I can't quite pinpoint.  It kind of feels like if you blink it will be gone.  You can't take these summers for granted because they don't seem to last.  They're like pure gold.  Anyway, I'm glad summer is officially here because I love so many things about it.  Camping (especially with dogs who drink whiskey), watermelon, ice cream, the lake, long walks and summer drinks - just to name a few.

I'm so ready to go camping, too!  As soon as we get settled in, I'm begging people to go camping with us.  We got a new-to-us tent (thanks, brother), a lantern and other camping accessories while I was home last time (Wichita is home to Coleman so prices are dirt cheap) so we're ready to go.  Just seeing the tent and fire below has me giddy!

Camping by Meaganpie featuring floral denim shorts

Vintage top, $17
Old Navy long sleeve top, $6.97
Old Navy floral denim shorts, $23
Keds wedge sneaker, $30
Progressive Microwave Smores Maker, $9.99
Festival chairs - music festival seats - chairs for festivals -..., £9.99
Cabela's: The North Face® Base Camp Duffle Bag, $100
Camping Equipment Sticker - Embellishments, $4.59

Summer, I'm so glad you're here!

* Top photos first row l to r = 1, 2, 3
second row = 1, 2, 3

Point Reyes

Hiking the trails and then camping in a cloud equaled to quite the experience at Point Reyes National Seashore.  Not only was it cold, but it was an incredible hike that proved to be quite the challenge for all of us.  I mean, take a group of city kids and throw them into nature (the epitome of nature) and you get quite the funny scenario.  We hiked with pounds upon pounds of food and water in our packs for 3 hours, up and down rocky paths.  It was hard but it was so much fun.

The day started off hot but that quickly changed for good.

Right after the hike ended, we discovered the beauty and seclusion of our campsite as we all just kind of collapsed for a brief moment (the sun was setting at a rapid speed and the temp was dropping just as quick).

We had so much space!  And right as we started to cook, a fox came half way out of the grass to inspect what we were making and to make sure that Jake wasn't actually on fire. 

As soon as the sun went away, we quickly made a meal and then all huddled around the picnic table in the pitch black, drank some wine and whiskey and then went to bed.  It was so cold and so dark...it just made sense.

The following morning we all woke up and took a stroll along the beach. 

And then because we were you know, getting married in two days, Badger and I took off and left the others to survive the elements for another day.  So we had to turn around and make the trek back up the brutal mountain, over the river and through the woods so we could get up to wine country and meet up with everyone who had flown in for the wedding.

It was exhausting.  Utterly exhausting.  But soooooo worth it.  Our closest friends, gathered together in nature in California of all places, working together to survive life in a cloud.

Have you ever been?

Going West

My friends are so awesome.  For so many reasons.  But one of those reasons (and the reason that this post is all about) is because a few days prior to this wedding-of-the-century (he he) of mine, we're going camping at a really awesome location in a really rad place.  And it's all thanks to my friends who took it on and planned one hell of an adventure for us all.  Thanks guys!

About 10 of us are going camping at Point Reyes National Seashore off the Pacific coast for an unforgettable experience  with nature.  I can hardly believe it!  It's going to serve as our last hoorah as Badge and Mo, the unmarried couple, and it's going to be fun.  I mean, just look at it:

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There will be lighthouses! And whales! And...sharks (apparently the most infested shark waters around).  Our campsite is a 2-3 hour hike, which means beauty will abound like mad!  I seriously can't wait.

I can envision it now.  We'll cruise on up there in our rental convertible (we're spoiling ourselves, it's our wedding for crying out loud).  Listen to great music with the top down and shades on.  Meet up with our friends and pack up our rented REI camping equipment and set out for the hike.  There will be friends.  There will be booze.  There will be food.  There will be (no) blood. 

And today's Refinery 29 email left me more than excited for the Western part of this all. 

Have you ever been camping out west?  And what is your favorite camping experience*?  Are you even a camper? 

*B and I went last summer before 4th of July at Bong Recreational Park, snicker snicker.  It was the worst experience ever, thanks to the close proximity of the most obnoxious a-hole teenagers in existence.  They were seriously teh worst people.  Just the worst.