an ode to fishie the well-traveled fish

my small pet fish, aptly named fishie the well-traveled fish passed away today.

the husband called me at work to tell me:

"Hi honey, I'm sorry I have bad news." He pauses.

"Oh no! what!" My heart drops at this point, possibly it's thumping around my ankles.

"fishie died," he says.

"That's it?" I respond.

I felt kinda bad saying that... but honestly I was expecting something more drastic than the death of fishie the well-traveled fish. you see, fishie had a full and well-traveled life.

and fishie the well-traveled fish survived a lot.

When I first got fishie, he was a hand-me-down from my youngest brother. Apparently fishie kept attacking the other fishes. Quite astonishing considering that fishie was a Zebra Danio (ie tiny striped fish).

So fishie came to live with me in a vase because I thought that fish bowls were tacky. (am I terrible?)

I didn't name fishie because I had recently lost Petit Poisson (a small goldfish)** and didn't want to get too attached.

Silly me. Fishie lived to the ripe old age of...
well I don't know how old he was, but he lived a long time.

One time fishie survived being fed oreos by dumb college boys.

Fishie survived moving bedrooms in my college house (several times) and abandonment when I went home for long weekends, trips home to my parents home, a stint in a tiny one-bedroom apartment when the husband and I were first married and then finally to his rightful spot in the kitchen

in his vase. which now sits empty.

I'd like to think fishie had a full life of adventure...

and that he didn't mind living in a flower vase that much.




**quick story how Petit Poisson died. He was floating one morning so I mournfully took him to the toilet. But when I dropped him in he came back to life and started swimming up the pipes! In a panic I grabbed him (yes with my hand) and put him back in the bowl. I then scrubbed my hands for 10 minutes. Petit Poisson died for real the next day.

outfit my way: Ruche

I like fashion.

Sometimes I feel guilty about liking fashion... as if that makes me less serious, less of a good person, or someone who is too interested in their looks, and sucked into consumerism.

But I realized that my favorite part of fashion is putting together clothes, figuring out how to assemble a new outfit, getting creative with what I have.

However, yes, I'll admit it, I like the shopping part too.

The other day I struck by the fact that if I had a lot of money, and could buy any clothes I wanted, any outfit I wanted, there would be no more fun, no more challenge.

That brings me to a recent challenge I gave myself when I saw Ruche's new lookbook for fall. Have you seen it? I pretty much love it all.

But there is no way I can buy it all and so I decided to recreate one of the outfits my way.


Ruche's way:

My way:

 blouse: Forever21

belt: Old Navy
skirt: thrifted 

shoes: Macys

I picked up the skirt recently at my favorite Goodwill a few miles from my house in order to complete my outfit. $6 investment.

Do you ever try to recreate outfits on the cheap? What do you think about fashion?  A bad thing, a good thing?

p.s. If you ever recreate a look, I'd love to feature it here. Do you guys think that would be fun? Yay or nay?

happy monday!

xo- erika

where i was

it is incredible that every american remembers were they were 10 years ago.

and my story seems so trivial to the people who were on the east coast, who were in new york.

I was in high school and getting ready for school. I turned on the radio and was standing, applying makeup in front of my bedroom mirror.

the song stopped. abruptly.

the dj came on and started talking. rapid fire. I couldn't understand what he was saying "planes" and "twin towers"

and to be honest,  I didn't even know what the twin towers were. I was only in high school, living in Washington state, three hours time difference, thousands of miles away.

I ran down stairs and told my mom to turn on the TV. She switched it on and we watched in horror as the second plane hit the tower as we sat on the edge of the coffee table, holding each other.

we both started to cry.

What strikes me the most is that I saw it-- that I can close my eyes and see that television image. There have been so many other tragedies but few of them were televised.

For a long time I couldn't watch movies that had plane crashes in them. I remember that when Castaway came out I had to leave when the plane began to fail-- it was too real.

I've never been to New York city and I can not imagine the pain of the people who were there and saw it firsthand. But I can still remember.

linking up to blair @ wild & precious

wise words: enough sleep

Source: joyfolieblog.com via Erika on Pinterest

I don't get enough sleep.

Do you?

Does anyone outside my little puppy?

It's almost encouraged to not get enough sleep. People brag about how addicted they are to coffee or Diet Coke (myself included) and conversations at work or school are a competition of how tired we are.

Would it be odd to brag that you got enough sleep last night? It's something I think I should do- something I should aim for and not feel guilty about.

It's horrible that we're led to feel guilty about sleeping, about relaxing. Yet we all know the statistics that tell us that less than 7 or 8 hours of sleep is bad for us and I won't go through them. (But if you want to be scared, read here.)

Today I came across an article by Arianna Huffington who heads up Huffington Post and now the entire AOL media group (i.e. important busy lady) and she wrote an article entitled: Sleep Your Way to the Top.

And she wasn't talking about sleeping around... she was talking about getting enough sleep.

She wrote: "Women have, obviously, made great strides in all areas of society, especially the workplace. But our national delusion that the way to be ultra-productive is to cut back on sleep is particularly destructive for women."

She continued: "And even more important than doing what’s best for ourselves and our careers, the world is in desperate need of big ideas. And there are many, many of them locked inside of us. We just need to close our eyes to see them. So, ladies, shut down your engines and get some sleep. "


Amen.

and good night. :)

p.s. the whole article is here. I suggest you give it a read.

five things friday & endless summer

red lipstick: clinique, top: anthropologie, shorts: gap, sandals: target

Happy Friday! Can you tell I like Fridays? I get really excited when the weekend is coming up and I feel like every week I gush over the end of my work week.

the little things that made me smile this week:

1. my husband who I usually don't deserve. He puts up with a lot. Being married to a creative person is a challenge :)

2. Seattle doesn't know it's fall yet. It's been in the mid-80s and I love it! More summer please!

3. Two relaxing nights of TV + crafting. Project Runway and Design Star are my boob tube shows of choice currently.

4. I'm playing florist tomorrow as I prepare for a wedding Saturday. I am SUPER excited about it.

5.  A family issue that resolved itself through prayer. :) Basically when one door shut for a family member of mine, another opened. Pretty amazing.


the little things that made me smile on the Internet:

-  Elsie's 5 Tips for Staying Inspired.

- Erin's recipe for Spice Cake with Salted Carmel Drizzle. [drool]

- Melisa's grandma started a blog, which I think is the sweetest.

- is it too late in the season to have a lemonade stand? Yes Teacher! inspired me...

- I love Heather's home tours series-- and Jami's is beautiful. :)

p.s. I'm linking up

p.p.s. my husband and my brother are cracking me up right now. they're about 5 years old right now and I like it. (quick side note-- one of my bros is living w/ the husband and i while he has an internship in downtown seattle.)