What were they thinking Thursday? Blow Bars

They were thinking Brilliant!!  Blow Bars are a type of hair salon that wash/blow/style your hair no cuts or colors.  You can go in and have your hair styled and some offer scalp massage.  It sounds like heaven to me!!  There are those days when your hair just won't cooperate and how cool it would be to go have it done and be out in 45 minutes.  What if you felt like a braid or curls one day? 


See this article from the wall street journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204831304576595322366093848.html?mod=googlenews_wsj


I always feel like it's awkward to make an appointment for a style unless it's a special occasion.  I feel like I have to get a cut or color to go to a salon.  That's why this idea is awesome!  Salons could make more money if they offered this service, especially if you can walk-in or make an appointment in the same day.  I would spurge on this.  There is nothing more relaxing than for someone to wash and blow dry your hair and I would always opt for a scalp massage (who could turn that down?)  A glass of wine and chick flick and I might never do my own hair!

Here's some examples of Blow Bars

http://blowny.com/index.php

http://thedrybar.com/

There is a Dry Bar in Dallas so I am going to have to go try it!

Here's some inspirational pictures to get your scalp tingling...

Who wouldn't want to look like this everyday?

Petition your local salon to add this brilliant concept to their services!  ~ Brandy

Pining for a Bungalow

As most of you know, Eric and I are moving to the Dallas area soon. I really have my heart set on a Craftsman Bungalow for our next house.

After living the past couple months in less than 1,000 sq. ft. in my parent's boathouse, it's made us both realize how we really don't need a lot of space. I used to think that I wanted a 4 bed, 3.5 Bath with office and two living spaces house. Well, that's just too much to clean! I really like the coziness of our place right now.

I have always loved craftsman bungalows and so today I just wanted to show you some of my dream spaces for our next place. I think a little bungalow would be just perfect for us!

Can I live here please!

Love the front landscaping. I like it when your flower beds look more wild than planned. 

So cute!

I could sit our here with some coffee for hours!

Love the yellow front door!

Love Love Love this!

Not only do I love the exteriors of craftsman bungalows with their big front porches and square columns, but the insides are to die for too. 

The typical craftsman fireplace with built-ins on both sides and those little windows at the top. I am drooling on my keyboard right now. 

I love painted built-ins and I must say these are some really well accessorized shelves. 

Look, they are all ready for me to move in!

This is more original looking with all the dark wood. It's gorgeous but my personal preference is to paint it white to really lighten the space up. 

Love Love Love! Very cute chalkboard wall. See with a bungalow, you can really have fun with bright colors and cottagey things. I love it!

I also love all the wainscoting and built-ins in Craftsman Bungalows. 

Not to mention the stained glass.

Love the columns!

I really like all the white. I like how it keeps the vintage feel but makes it feel more modern. 

Love this!

With a bungalow, you really have to utilize all your space. These built-ins are great for storage and look awesome!

Now off to the kitchen:

This is my absolute favorite. I love these stairs and give me a farmhouse sink and I'm happy!

A more traditional craftsman kitchen. So cute! Love the old stove. 

However, I am biased to a white kitchen. I love how clean and fresh it feels.

Gotta have some built-in seating in the kitchen. Great for family breakfasts or just chatting over a cup of coffee. 

This is fabulous! Love the green cabinets and the bead board behind the glass fronts. 

So, if you can't tell yet, I am obsessed right now with Craftsman Bungalows! And now I petition you to find me one in the Dallas area! I am not made of money so it needs to be affordable and it's okay if it needs some of my elbow grease. Comment if you know of anything! 

Thanks!!!

~Jessica

Contagion

I went to see the new movie Contagion last night with Eric and my sister and her husband. It was not a very good movie and only added to my growing OCD of germs in movie theaters. Yes, I occasionally Lysol the seats before I sit to see a movie. Don't judge!

The best part of the movie was a quote about blogging which I found to be very relevant to today and me especially, you know, with all the blogging I do.

Jude Law plays a blogger who rants against the pharmaceutical industry and government and in one scene he is confronting Dr. Ian Sussman (Elliot Gould) trying to get an interview claiming to be a freelance journalist.

 Dr. Sussman replys that he is only a blogger. And that "blogging is not writing. It's just graffiti with punctuation. "


I don't know why I found this to be so funny. Probably because of all the millions of people out there blogging and feeling like they are actually writers. Now, I am not saying that there are some really talented people out there blogging who are in fact writers. I just think that sometimes we forget how easy it is for anybody at all to be blogging about whatever they want with absolutely no credibility.

Take me for instance, I would in no way, shape or form call myself a writer yet I do have a sense of pride and accomplishment that you are sitting in that chair right now reading whatever I feel like writing, ahem typing. I have no editor or publisher to worry about. Just me and my ideas, bad grammar and all!

I don't know, I just thought it was an interesting topic for discussion. What do you think? What's your opinion of bloggers vs. writers. Is there a difference? Are bloggers just self-proclaimed writers that are validated by the amount of followers they have on our site?

We're Back!!

Eric and I just got back from a wonderfully relaxing vacation and I just have to share it with you! We went to Martha's Vineyard dahling and it was simply divine.

We ended up flying into Providence and staying the night at the NYLO Hotel before catching the ferry in the morning. Here's a look at the awesome NYLO Hotel.

 Very cool built-in platform bed and hanging side lights instead of the typical lamp.

The coolest part was the shower. It's a curved frosted glass wall. And I loved the barn door to the bathroom except it needed a little WD40 because it was hard to pull. 

A closer look at the platform bed and the cool acrylic side tables. 

 The Hotel Lobby which they called the "Library"

Very cool furniture!

A not so good shot of the front desk but I wanted to get the lamps around the desk because I love them! They are the Kartell Bourgie lamps. 

Ok now off to the vineyard:

 Pulling into the harbor at Oak Bluffs

 I loved all the ponds everywhere and the blowing reeds. 

We rented a car and drove to the famous light house at Aquinnah and to see the cliffs. 

Paid the $5 to climb to the top of the light house.

 Had some fun with the light at the top!

Here's a shot of the light house and the cliffs from farther away.

 We bought some seafood at a shack called the Bite and walked over to eat it at the beach and watch the sunset. 

The next day we drove all over the island in a little yellow convertible mini that we named "the bumble bee" because that's what it sounded like when we tried to gain speed to pass all the bikers. 

We saw a parking lot to a private residents only beach at Lambert's Cove and decided to take our chances and see it. We followed a sandy path all through the woods until we came upon this....

A beautiful shot of a pond and a little bit farther...

A beach! It was so beautiful and secluded however we didn't stay long fearing that the bumble bee would get towed.

We had to stop at the Black Dog Tavern, but the wait was an hour and half so we settled for a cinnamon twist from the Black Dog Bakery instead. 

Stopped at a little harbor filled with sail boats.

I love the architecture on the island!

Another shot of a pond, "fisherman's pond" to be exact.

Tom Clancy's house. 

The famous carousel, oldest running carousel in the US!

The horses had creepy glass eyes.

But we still had fun!

The next day we rented bikes and rode down to Edgartown. Again, I love love love the architecture!

Can I live here please!

A beautiful light house we stumbled upon, I love not having an itinerary.

Nice person stops to take our picture with the light house....

so we don't just have pictures like these in our photo albums. 

What good looking line-up

A quaint path between a pond and the ocean to see the light house. 

We like to be crazy. 

And then we hung out on the beach for a while where it was very windy and we got nice and sunburned. We just wanted to empathize with all the lobster. 

An early dinner on the roof top overlooking the harbor. 

This was the best meal of the trip! Lobster Quesadilla, more please!

And can't forget that shrimp and scallop scampi.

All in all it was a fantastic trip! Our second to be booked and planned only the week before it's time to leave. Are we spontaneous or what!? Gotta love my husband who doesn't mind hopping on a plane to wherever I want to go at a moment's notice. 

Do you like last minute trips or are you the planning type? Where's the best place you have traveled to? I need some ideas for next week! ;)

~Jessica