sometimes it pays to live in an un-cool town

We spent last weekend with my sis and her husby in Chicago. It was glorious. We had awesome food, I wore all kinds of funky outfits, and we got to feel like we lived in the "big city" for a little while. I'm a total city girl, and would be very happy to set up shop in Chicago or Philadelphia or New York or any city where you can walk from one Starbucks to the next. But today I learned something valuable about living way out in the middle of nowhere special.

You may have heard of the Missoni riots at Targets across the country this week; if not, maybe you've at least seen the fun James-Bondy commercial on TV.

After months of rumors and press releases Target presented a line of clothing and fashion home goods in their stores this Tuesday designed by Missoni. Now, this is a big deal - bigger than Vera Wang for Kohls, bigger than Ralph Lauren for Macys. Missoni is a very old Italian family brand. Very high-end, very luxe. ($1490 dress sold at Bergdorf's.) The fact that they would stoop to design "cheap" clothes for the common woman would not have been expected. They're famous for their sweaters and knitwear, always in crazy patterns, usually stripes or zig-zags.

Now, I had planned on camping outside of our NEW Target here in little Hanover, PA, but, alas, I had to work on Tuesday. I didn't sweat it, though, cause I figured no one around here knew Missoni from McQueen and I'd get to Target sometime during the week. I heard later about the near-riots in New York with everything selling out in an hour and Target's website crashing from the high traffic.

So, all of this loooong back story to say... take that you city-slickers! I waltzed right into Target this morning and got me some Missoni shoes!

First of all, the box is sweet. The cute box swung the decision from a shirt to the shoes. 

Cute suede pumps with the Missoni chevron. (Sorry for the blur, you try pointing your camera down at your feet - in heels - without swaying.)

Love the silhouette. The heels have a faint faux bois look to them (that's "fake wood").

There was a t-shirt and a button-up that I was considering, both black and white zig-zag. I decided to go for the shoes, though. I couldn't justify $29.99 for the t-shirt, even though it felt sooooo silky, and the button-up really wasn't the right size, plus, it was polyester. I guess that's how they make it affordable for us in the masses. These shoes will last me quite a while cause I don't wear heals every day, and they're not too trendy. Plus the box was so darn cute! The sides are all zig-zaggy. I was very tempted by the rain boots.

 

But really, when am I gonna wear rain boots? I also bought a cup!

It's hard to tell, but it's mostly purple. It was the last one, so I didn't feel bad taking just one and messing up someone's set. It drives me crazy when people do that at Pier 1. That last person who wants a set is screwed. All of the melamine dishes were totes adorb, but I was able to enjoy them then walk away. ; )

So, that's my story of how I found something nice about living in a small, boring, uncultured town. Nobody knows how cool the stuff in their stores is, and I get it all to myself. I was able to waltz in two days later and still find shoes in my size (There were actually three pairs in my size. I got to pick the best ones!) If I wanted to, I could buy up the rest and make some dough on Ebay. But I won't. Let's let some other fashion-starved girl in little ole' Hanover, PA find some delight in this piece of fashion history.

fancy a tour?

We did it! We signed, and signed, and signed some more, and they tell us we own a house now! Papers were being faxed from the stupid selling bank up to the minute, but they got it all in, and we were able to settle on time; praise the Lord! After that, we dashed over to our new home for a nutritious quick dinner, then I had to run off to work that evening, haha. Longest night at the store EVER! Now that I can fill, organize, and decorate a house of my own, I just can't wait.

So, at long last, here is a tour of the Hallead Home.

Here I am in front of our townhouse!

Here's what you see when you walk through the front door. (And yes, I get to come home to this studly gentleman every day.)

To your right is a coat closet and a half-bath.

This is the lovely half-bath. The wall paper will come down shortly. (You kind of get dizzy while you're sitting in there.)

To your left is the mudroom that leads into our garage. (So nice to have a mudroom. We are shoe-taker-offer people.)

Then a little further to the right is the stairwell and the laundry room. (No more creepy basements for laundry!)

And the left opens up to the living room.

Moving along, you've got your dining room... (There's slider to the back patio, those awful blinds are coming down immediately.)

... and the kitchen! Yay!

Alright, moving upstairs. First, on the landing, there is a "lovely" wood inlay.

I mean, I wouldn't choose it, but I'm not gonna rip it out. There might be a nice little rug going over that baby.

Here's the landing from over the top of the stairs. Two bedrooms to the right, a shared bathroom in the center, the master suite to the left. I don't know if you can tell, but there's a big space in the landing area (if you follow the line of the wood you can tell). That'll be a nice family computer or toy storage area.

Bedroom #1 (future future baby room)

Bedroom #2 (guest room)

Guest/"kid's" bathroom

Into the master bedroom. Closet on right, bathroom on left.

Isn't she a beauty? I've never had a walk-in closet.

The lovely lavender bathroom. This will be painted shortly. Oh, and there was a dragonfly border. That's already been peeled off.

And the rest of the room. It's a touch small, but we won't need a lot of dressers cause we have the whole closet. Oh yeah, and a whole house. ; )

Hope you enjoyed that! I'd much rather show people around in person, but for my far-away friends, this will have to do. More updates later on painting and moving!

tomorrow we sign

We're buying a house tomorrow. Aaaaaaagh! So nervous. If everything goes well, I should I have pictures by the end of the week.

Meanwhile, here's something I picked up for a fun project in the new house.

Curious? I'll have the full story later. Right now I have to get a certified check for A WHOLE LOT OF MONEY for tomorrow. But it'll be worth it. We're very excited.

nothing to see here

So, since my last post over a month ago virtually NOTHING NEW HAS HAPPENED WITH THE HOUSE. We're still waiting here for things beyond our control to happen. I've been completely fried, and it's affected every part of my life. But, today, I've decided that we will move when it's the right time to move, no sooner. So there's  no use going crazy over it. Thankfully we have wonderful landlords who are very understanding and are fine with us staying as long as we need to. But each day in this apartment draws me closer to the brink of insanity....

So, we're not going to think about that now. We're going to look at pretty old pictures! Here are some more fun finds from my grandma's stash:

These are my great-grandparents on one of their many trips with friends.

 Here they are feeding bears (?!?)

 Here's a classy one of my great-grandfather

This one makes me laugh

Alright, let's change gears. here are some fun pics of Mimi and Pappap. My mom's parents:

That's mom in the picture!

This one's kind of romantic somehow.

And then there's just Mom and her siblings and cousins being silly:

How cute is that?