The Most {un}Happy Place Ever

Close your eyes, and think of a place you don't like to be.

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Did everyone think of the DMV??

Me too!

But that's where I got to spend quite a bit of my day on Tuesday afternoon.  An hour waiting in line outside of the building, 20 more minutes waiting inside, and 15 minutes going through the actual license renewal process.

Maybe I was salty.

Okay, I totally was.

Reason being, I had to give up the best license picture in the history of man.

Come on, you have to agree with me.  Right?!

Grocery store clerks, bartenders, even the TSA officials at the airport ... they all have paused mid-license check to let me know that I had a fabulous drivers license photo.

It was taken when I was 22, and it's now been eight years.  Time for a renewal.  I was all jazzed to receive my new license, right in time for my flight out this Friday to New York with my girlfriends, only to find out that this DMV doesn't give it to you right away -- they mail it to you in 7-10 days. 

Ya'll please keep your fingers crossed for another fabulous license photo?  I'm waiting in impatient anticipation.

I wore a bright peony pink cardigan and a colorful necklace this time.  Mainly so that during the timeframe I have this license, 30-38 years old, I still look like a young fun gal.

Is that so crazy?

Calling All Charlotte Area Bloggers

Ya'll know one of my most favorite things in the world is a good old fashioned girlfriend date.

And the blogging world is a very fun one ... one with lots of sweet, smart women who also share a love for photographing everything in sight.

via

I've been wanting to get some larger groups together of gals who live in or around the Queen City.

If you'd like to be included in any get-togethers, be a doll and send me your info?

Just shoot it to my email -- alizadventures{at}ymail.com.  Please send your name and blog address, even if you know I have it.  :)  Cheers!

Friday This & That

What a long week it's been.  And finally ... FRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAYFRIDAY!

I traveled this week to Asheville and spent just one night out.  How happy am I to say that my traveling will be slowing down a bit from now on.  I'll miss the perks of earning frequent flier miles and hotel points, but let's be honest -- I'm quite content in my own car and own bed.  With my little family.  Happy times.

Last night I met up for post-work drinks at Fabo with two girlfriends who I think you may recognize...

Classic Annie and KTLouise!

We've got so much in common, and hanging with these girls is just easy.  Easy and totally fun.  I'd be lying if I didn't say some of our topics were even, uh ... taboo topics.  But that's the best girl time ever!  Lots of giggles, a wine tasting that ended in some bubbly, and a few bottles of vino to take home. 

On a different note, did you see that Paper Coterie is offering a cute and free printable?

It's a quote from Dr. Seuss (happy belated birthday, Doc!).  Pick your color, print it off, and frame.  Simple!  I think the tangerine and lavender are my favorite colors.  To access them, just visit this blog post of theirs.

Lastly, I had a few comments and emailed questions about sources for some recent outfits of mine.  So here are the details:

Top: Grey ribbed tank from Old Navy (like this)

Skirt: Black maxi from Old Navy (stil available)

Cardigan: Ann Taylor Loft ... old school

Necklace: I made it!  A. Liz Designs

Dress: Mica, purchased at Off Fifth (Sak's outlet) many moons ago

Tights: Brown tights by Hue via TJ Maxx

Boots: My birthday boots ... the brand is escaping me.

Watch: Michael Kors tortoiseshell

I hope you all have a great weekend.  We have lots of yard work planned tomorrow, and I may try to escape the house to do a little shopping in preparation for my upcoming trip to NYC!  Oh, and tonight?  Just a little relaxing and recreating the below picture. 

It's True! {Scallions}

Who would have thought ...

My scallions - day 1.

Scallions (green onions) could be submerged in water for the purpose of regrowth?!

My scallions - day 7.  Tripled in size.

So wait... I have lived 30 years on this green earth and not known this fact?!  Thanks to blogs and Pinterest, I now am in the onion-regrowth loop.

Just place them in a cup of water and watch them grow.

I change out the water daily or every other day.

A simple and tasty addition to salads, shrimp tacos, barbeque baked chicken, you name it.

Easy peasy fresh fruit squeezy.

Updating Vintage Earrings

On our recent trip to the mountains, we popped into Antiques on Howard, which is in downtown Boone, NC.  This shop has so many fun finds, but one item in the store really captured my attention:

This vintage pair of earrings.  They needed a little bit of TLC -- as you can see, they are screw-back earrings, and the earring in the back of the picture above was missing a rhinestone on the top right.

But they were just so gorgeous with the golden scrolly accents, the crystal rhinestones, and a pearl center.  I immediately fell in love.

I saw potential in them.  :)

And what is difficult to tell from the picture is that they have a blue enamel back that shows through the opening.

How gorgeous are they?!

So they came home with me to my little jewelry hospital.

I am bling-obsessed and love just about anything with rhinestones on it, which means that every so often I see rhinestones on our bathroom floor that have fallen out of something.  I keep them for a "just in case" moment.  I had four rhinestones on hand, and one of them fit the missing stone's opening very well.

Then I just converted the screw-back posts into regular posts.  Here they are now:

I'm wearing them today, in fact.

Silly me, I left out the best part!

Check the receipt below to see how much they set me back.

Yes, just $3.50.  And that is why I love antique store finds. 

Antiques on Howard is located at 199 Howard Street, Boone NC, 28607.

A Weekend of Antiquing

There's nothing like a lazy, relaxing weekend.

Due to some {ahem} unplanned vehicle expenses on my end and a large-ish quote for painting Ian's condo in Charleston, SC on his end, we decided to lay low this weekend.  No big plans, no pricey dinners, just a lot of Dateline on DVR.  We're obsessed.

Friday night our friends who are conveniently our neighbors walked over.  I made two different types of pizzas for us and we played ping-pong until we girls drove the guys crazy with our lackluster technique.  :) 

Saturday I did venture out in the afternoon to scout out some potential furniture additions to our home.  I hit up two of my favorite furniture consignment stores and a big antique mall in the area.

I snapped this OOTD picture before heading out.  You've got to love a cute outfit that is totally comfy.

The first shop I hit had an antique secretary desk that is my number one contender for my new jewelry-making desk.  When I lived alone, I had my own craft room -- that was amazing.  In our new home, my craft area is in our guest bedroom.  This style of desk will allow me to open the hinged compartment, work on some new pieces, and then close it up quickly if I need to conceal my crazy mess  creative work.

The pulls on this piece are hard to see in the iPhone picture, but they are ornately-carved wood.  Is this piece pretty enough to purchase?  I need some second opinions. 

Two things that kept me from bringing it home this weekend: 1) The bottom drawer is in really bad condition -- the bottom of it is falling out and that makes the lower drawer not conducive to storage.  Not the worst thing ever, but a negative.  2) It's at an antiques consignment store and the price is set to drop $45 on March 14th, so I'm going to try to be patient and wait 9 days for the savings.

I also fell in love with this unframed oil painting at Sleepy Poet.  Who wouldn't?

These are not a "necessity" at the present moment, but I do believe some may be coming home with me in the near future.  Maybe for our dining room.

Saturday night was the big Chapel Hill - Duke basketball game and our friend Matt came over to watch the game with Ian.  Not being a basketball fan myself, I happily camped out in our office with a bottle of cabernet, my favorite blogs, and a sweet dog that took quite an interest in the Thin Mints stack I was working on.

Sunday I ventured to Metrolina Expo for my favorite weekend of the month - the International Collectibles & Antiques Show.  Every first weekend of the month, dealers from all over set up booths inside and outside that have all sorts of fun finds.  I saw a few good secretary desks, but nothing came home with me.

I also found this adorable monogrammed brass cuff with the initials "EK" engraved on it.  I snatched it right up because I just love the style.  Know anyone with those initials?  If so, I've added it to my A. Liz Designs shop.

I added a few more pieces, too, this weekend.  It's {finally} almost time for warmer weather and brightly colored wardrobes, so this necklace is now in my shop.

And some earrings in nautical-inspired colors would also be a fun addition to your spring and summer staples.

Crafting, antiquing, and relaxing ... it was a great weekend and I'm already looking forward to the next one.

Ouch {A Confession}

Ugh, I did the craziest thing the other night.

I was a little late out the door to meet up with The Recessionistas the other night.  Ian's friend had just come over to our house to pick him up so that they could grab some wings and beer -- their weekly tradition. 

Ian was back in our office on the phone with his boss.  He's been stressed about work lately due to new ownership.  Super stressed.  I spent some extra time with Ian's friend in our den, asking him to please make sure my husband got some stress relief and some high-gravity beer.  He assured me he'd take good care of my frazzled Ian.  He then walked outside with me and moved his car so that I could get out of our driveway easily and head to the restaurant.

I backed up at a high speed right into Ian's car.

The sound of crunching metal ... oh my word.

I'd just spent all of this time inside making sure that his stress was going to be lessened -- and now the only two cars we own are damaged and needing repairs.

His bumper was knocked off on one side and there were plenty of areas where paint was missing.  I have a basketball-sized dent in my lift gate and also paint missing.  He asked whose was worse and I said I thought mine was.  After he inspected both, he told me that he thought his took the brunt of the damage.

We got his car fixed yesterday, and I gladly paid for it.  It was just under $100.  They also prepared an estimate for my car.

Yes.  I am speechless.

The good news is, I can say -- I was right.  My car was worse.

The bad news is, DUH.  That huge sum of money.

I'm getting more estimates today.  I'm still on the fence about whether to go through my insurance policy or not.  I will be responsible for the deductible, which is sizeable. 

So.  We will be eating in this weekend.

Have you crunched someone's car?  My coworker one-upped me.  She backed into her husband's car, which was a police cruiser.  And my manager?  Her daughter didn't back into her husband's car, she accidentally drove straight into it.

Enough complaining.  Happy weekend!  And check out my sister's recent DIY post -- I am amazed at her creativity!

They've Got To Be Losing Money.

Last night our Recessionistas group got together, and boy, did we land upon a heck of a deal.

We went to Arooji's in the South Park area of Charlotte where they offer a special deal on Wednesdays from 5-7pm: three glasses of wine and an appetizer for $14.95.

Yes -- you read that right!

And the appetizer?  It was more of a meal.  They bring a standard plate to everyone, and this is it:

Romaine lettuce tossed in a vinaigrette, angel hair pasta, and a crabcake.  Cherry tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese.  It was perfection.  

The "wine tasting" is hardly that -- when I think of a tasting, I think of a 2 ounce pour.  These were glasses of wine, friends.  They started us off with a sauvignon blanc, then moved us to a bordeaux, and then one more red which was a cabernet-merlot blend.  The waiter explained all of the wines to us -- the region they hail from, the color, the taste.

Dinner was delicious and filling, but we decided we had a little more room in our bellies and in our wallets to splurge on dessert.

The restaurant is beautiful on the inside.  How have I not been there before?  This definitely won't be my last time!  Charlotte area bloggers, who's in?