Grain rings.

not, you know, actual grain grain, although i find big heaping barrels of grain rather lovely.  but these:

these little rings are made from reclaimed electrical wire, and i love the punches of color they add.  i’m so used to seeing only metals on my fingers, so this would be a nice change.

$19 from Grain Design.

I have no idea what the origin of this idiom is, and Google has failed me so far, but the only way this idiom makes sense is to assume that at some point packages were, in fact, pretty.

And I mean, pretty pretty.  Thoughtful pretty.  Not thrown into a gift bag printed by someone else and tossed in with some tissue paper while in the front seat of the Walgreens parking lot 10 minutes before the occasion pretty.

Ahem.

LIKE YOU HAVEN’T DONE THAT.

To be honest, I think I started really noticing the packaging of things at the same time I started to be more thoughtful about the gifts I was giving.  This isn’t easy, thoughtfulness, but maybe that’s why I like pretty packaging — it’s visual thoughtfulness.

What a lovely idea.

I am by no means the best gift-wrapper-packager, but I just…loveitsomuch.  It’s on my life list (create beautiful things) and it appeals to the design side of my brain.

This was last Christmas for my family, with help from my graphic-designer husband:

I was just about to write “this takes no time at all”, to implore you to get right on your pretty-packaging way…except, it’s not true.  It doesn’t take a crazy amount of time, but truthfully — thoughtfulness in any manner takes time, but for me, this is time well spent.  That’s just what I like.

This was $3 wrapping paper from Walgreens (apparently Walgreens and I have some kind of weird cosmic giftwrap connection) with $1 mini-crayon boxes and a vintage coloring book picture scanned in and printed on cardstock.

Here’s Christmas for the boy last year:

Obviously this was wrapped in newspaper, tied with grey yarn and adorned with number tags that I found somewhere on the internet machine and printed out on cardstock that I bought at Office Depot.

I’m all kinds of fancy, yo.

I forget where I found the template for the tags, but if you google things like “gift tag template” you’ll find some interesting stuff.  If you don’t have time to wade through google-y piles of junk, though, just read blogs like Sally Shim’s and How About Orange, and they’ll hook you up with all sorts of great ideas and templates, respectively.

Here’s this year for the boy (and a little glimpse of our charlie brown tree):

And for the family, some lovely wrapping from the fine folks at Design Army at the Felt & Wire Shop:

with a little embellishment ala a free font that I cut out of other wrapping paper &
some grey yarn from my sister Amy

and turning paper into a little yarn-sewn envelope, which should be very easy
for my 5-year old niece to open

I couldn’t decide between their DoReMi & Wrap In Style collections, so I got both. And poking around that site made me very jealous for more, but I restrained myself.  Of course, I’ll repurpose a lot of the leftover wrapping paper throughout the year, which is the genius part of having Christmas paper that’s not too Christmas-y.

I could go on and on, but I have to go wrap presents now.

i hate it when long asides punctuated by parentheses make me lose my train of thought.

so.

as i was saying, i used to use the surface if my $15 garage sale desk for my mousepad, and it worked great.  but with my newly lacquered and pimped out desk, a rodent-related rug is a necessity.

i trolled etsy for something that would suit my style (pronounced in my head as “staaahl”) and i found my head spinning between these two beauties:

Option A:

or

Option B:

aren’t they lovely?  i can picture both of them underfoot my virtual vermin, letting it cruise around with ease.

in the spirit of appropriate decision making, i should really list pros and cons for each, but honestly — there are no cons.  they both rock, so here are the pros:

Option A:

• totally fits my style (mid-century modern)
• uber cheap and made well
• goes with the colors of the room
• bonus: this was the actual fabric we used to make my niece’s dress for my wedding, and features (of course) our exact wedding colors.

Option B:

• fits my style in a less direct way but appeals to my love of simplicity
• uber cheap and made well
• coordinates with the other wood grains in my office
• i used to have this pattern as my macbook background

so, the big question is:

seriously, how many ways are there to say the word “mouse”?

ha.

just kidding.

which animal apartment (mousepad) should i buy?

vote and/or comment!  let your voice be heard, people!  decision 2011!  exclamation point!

we don’t quite know if this is what will go best next to the chair in my office, but in my mind it was the DREAMYPERFECTTABLE.

all one word.

it looked amazing in my imagination…

and my imagination always works out perfectly in reality.

right?

RIGHT?

exactly.

so we left it at the store.

sniff.  sniff.

[editors note: my birthday is coming up, so if any of the zero benefactors i have would like to be assured of giving the most stupendous birthday present ever; to be the valedictorian of birthday-present-givers this year, you can direct your attention and funds towards this table/gift card at crate & barrel.
because now that we've got the desk in here, this table would be PERFECT.]

i love lists.

but i have a love/hate relationship with goal-oriented lists.  have i discussed this before?  it feels awfully like a well-tread discussion.  the reader’s-digest-condensed-version synopsis of my complex relationship with goal lists is that i feel often like it’s just an opportunity to fail and/or i make unrealistic goals or ones that as it turns out i don’t even care about very much.

and who wants that kind of pressure to muck up the fun of making a list?

but.

i’m being inspired by both making it lovely’s 30 before 30 list and also mighty girl’s mighty life list.  the things i like about these lists:

• they are specific
• they mix audacious goals with mundane “i’ll feel so much better once i’ve organized the hall closet” kind of goals.
• they are modifiable if needed or if wanted
• i love lists
• i really love lists

so, in that spirit, i may have allegedly rumored to have started creating a 30 before 30/mighty life list.  maybe.

[how's that for non-committal?  we're dipping our toe in the shallow end, here.]

one of the things that i knew promptly had to go on the list is acquiring pieces of jewelry that i love.  i own a few pieces that are in constant rotation, because i look at what i could wear and then immediately discard that for these items that i love lovey love.  as a rule, i think i should only buy things that i absolutely love, and we’re starting with jewelry.

also, i’ve found that i can get away with possibly more casual/simple/modern-lined [read: black, white or grey, which is what my wardrobe mainly consists of] clothes day in and day out if i pair it with awesome shoes and fun jewelry.  i also get compliments from my students, and that’s never a bad thing.  [or is it?  hmmm...]

here are some possible contenders:

[etsy]

[etsy]

[greener grass design, which is quickly moving up the ranks in my books for awesome stuff]

[greener grass design]

[dejarnette]

[dejarnette]

[etsy]

*     *     *     *     *

let the listing commence.

dear delightfully perfect wedding reception shoes,

you arrived at my wintry home today.

cheers!

i’m sad that we won’t see much of each other for awhile.

stay safe in my closet until june.

but don’t feel neglected — there’s quite the party waiting for you.

love,

sara

cloud 9 headband? dreeeeeeeeamy.  i can pull this off as a teacher, right?

yes, please!

(via etsy)

(via lifehacker)

cheap, easy, environmentally conscious, natural, glowy, holiday, warm, fragrant.

any word association i do with this DIY orange rind & clove votive candle holder ends up good.  total winner.
look for this at a table near me very soon, along with good company (you, hopefully .