bon anniversaire!

it's my wonderful mother's birthday today and i wish i could be there in person to celebrate with her! though we're far apart she makes time in her busy schedule to email and skype regularly which i'm so grateful for. i am heading home soon and can't wait to spend time with her and treat her to loads of birthday treats :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

[image via pinterest with no original source linked]

home sweet [temporary furnished] home

we're living in a temporary apt, and it's been...different. you've seen how great our neighborhood is and the apartment itself is nice with hardwood floors, lots of windows and natural light. the downside is it's less than 650 square feet and filled with 95% NOT our things. the apartment has a kitchen, bathroom, 2 bedrooms, and a dining/living room. it's mostly furnished by ikea (which is fine) but on skype my cousin pointed out "it's so...WHITE." we are getting milo soon, so we'll see how long that lasts! (just kidding, management)

fun fact: in reality there are only 13 plastic plants, not a million

paper bicycle daily pattern: triangle

i drew "fashion flags" (as they called it at paper bicycle) for the triangle theme and amped up my love of color for this happy banner pattern!

iva jean rain cape

after living here for over a month now, my biggest tip would be "carry an umbrella AT ALL TIMES." the weather is incredibly unpredictable with showers hitting you out of the blue (literally) on and off throughout the day. i once went into a grocery store for less than 15 minutes and upon exiting had to run home through pouring rain.

we are planning on getting bikes this week (YAY) and how great would it be to have a rain cape like this one to protect you from the elements??? it has so many practical features (TONS of cinching) and looks super cute on too! perfect to wear riding your bike and walking around in this cool fall weather.

good luck to iva jean (and sweet amelia presents :) on daily candy's start small go big--i put in loads of votes for you...fingers crossed!

beaches

i was going through photos (do you notice they multiply the longer you take to organize them?) and found these fun beach ones i took during our west coast trip this summer. since my old roomie and i went on a fantastic trip to santa cruz during college and she currently lives in california (one of my favorite states!) this post is dedicated to her...
happy birthday michie, love ya!

girl, put your records on

LOOK AT THIS AMAZING WEDDING INVITATION!!! not only is the design just fantastic and fun, but the invitation ITSELF folds up and allows you to play the included record that contains a song written and sung by the bride and groom. SO CUTE! check out the designer's blog link below for the full story and details about their process.

[seen via pinterest, green wedding shoes, and kelli anderson's blog--the SWEET designer behind this amazing piece of work!]

copenhagen design week

we braved the storms and went to various exhibits during copenhagen design week, with this year's theme being "think human." the egg-crate-esque coffin was actually one of the more interesting things i saw. it was a completely different aesthetic than a traditional oak coffin which got me wondering--why aren't there more modern coffin options? will the options be different when WE [knock on wood] pass away? (especially since the egg crate material is biodegradable) i luckily don't know much about the coffin industry, but it was definitely interesting to think about.

i bought this AMAZING notebook from about:blank and i love it! it's an A6 sized notebook that opened flat becomes an A5 size layout, the pages are nice and thick with faint grid lines that aren't visible when photocopying/scanning, and when you tear one page out it doesn't make another page fall out...genius! i love when details are so well thought out. [image from their website]

pinspiration: yarn + nails

remember those projects we did when we were kids at summer camps--with nails and wood and yarn winding? this reminded me of that, but in a grown-up and fun sort of way. i'm pretty sure i want this in my future house...how easy (and inexpensive) it would be to update with new phrases and colors whenever you wanted to!

this post is named "pinspiration" in honor of SOMEONE, who has a disappointingly low appreciation of portmanteaus. you're welcome.

[image found on pinterest and simply grove, a great interiors blog]

paper bicycle daily pattern: snakes

for paper bicycle's snake theme, i found my cozy fall color palette on pinterest (find me here http://pinterest.com/rhymeswithfun) and made the snakes triangularly wide AKA they are well-fed and friendly. they just want to lie flat and veg out in their pretty colors. (or in the squiggly patterned snake's case--imitate the snake shoe horn at IKEA ;)

tivoli gardens

we spent the day at tivoli (an amusement park here in copenhagen) and it was so fun! they have beautiful gardens, concerts and shows, carnival games, crazy rides (we're waiting for visitors...swings spinning at 260ft in the air scare me) and tons of food. we saw a few shows and concerts, ate at a delicious buffet for dinner (chris was SO happy) and decided we are definitely going to join an archery club someday.

[last two photos taken by chris]

house hunting

today chris and i are going house hunting, as we would like to be out of our temporary apartment by the end of october. we know our next place would ideally have a yard for milo to frolic in...what are the chances our view out the window will be as beautiful as this?!

[image found on pinterest]