Friday, April 29, 2011

crazy hats & finally friday

source: vanity fair


ahh the royals never disappoint.
also all attendants of my upcoming wedding are now required to wear hats. i hope they don't mind ;)

gotta say it was really fun to get up and watch this morning while group chatting with my sister and cousin. such a beautiful dress on miss kate! hope everyone had fun watching (and getting a little misty eyed) if that was your thing.

source: Passport magazine


in OTHER NEWS, its friday! tomorrow i'll be heading over to Goat Day at Terrain at Styer's to meet none other than the Beekman boys. funny enough my mother LOVES them and i do too ;) i'm hoping to snag some blaak onion jam and chat about Polka spot. Seriously if that makes no sense to you, you really should check out their show on Planet Green. you won't be disappointed!

What are you up to this weekend?

Thursday, April 28, 2011

thursday dance party & wedding fever




how ridiculously bizarre and beautiful is this new music video by the Tune Yards?

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and because it is now LESS THAN 24 HOURS AWAY, who's getting up (or just staying up) to watch this royal wedding? the media coverage is hilarious with 95% of it being pure speculation about all aspects of the ceremony. I'm not going to lie, I'm kind of excited to see the dress, the procession, and then the kiss (which they have apparently been practicing to get the angle just right - could you imagine!?) So i'll be up in the morning to catch the end of the coverage, who's with me?

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

this time last year







last april, Bryan and I traveled to Peru and hiked the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. Not that I really had much experience with hiking or high altitudes and I hadn't camped since I was about 12; but I was determined to make the 28 mile (45km) journey over 2 mountain passes and a 13,800ft (4200km) peak.

It was AMAZING. Absolutely beautiful and full of lovely llamas (we actually saw the birth of that little llama above right when we arrived to Machu Picchu!). Man I want to go back right about now. I can almost taste the pisco sours...

SIGH.


amazing print by Ashley G.


today is not the best day.

and i feel bad because this is becoming an ever increasing trend. i'm currently nearing the end of my 4th year of graduate school and the non-stop frustration and seeming lack of an end of sight is really becoming far too much to handle.

science is hard. there is no guarantee of results or progress for all the work and time that you put into an experiment; and it kills me to think that in 4 years i've done little more than spin my wheels. yes, i've gained numerous experimental skills and learned to think like a scientist. more importantly i've also learned that i LOVE to teach and that i'm actually quite good at it. lately, however, the stress and anxiety just doesn't seem worth it.

i'm hoping that its just a rut. i mean no one likes to do the same thing for 4 years straight. but i'm not really sure how to shake things up and unfortunately my boss is not really the best with advice or guidance...

sigh, anyways, i feel a whole lot better to get that off my chest. thanks for listening.

now hopefully back to regularly scheduled happy programming ;)

what's in a name?

Organic baby leggings by Thief and Bandit


There was a cute post today over at Cup of Jo about baby names that got me thinking about my own name and the names I might bestow upon my future children...

Apparently before I was born, my very young parents referred to me as Kirby as this was their chosen name for their future son or daughter. In the end, I think it was my aunt that convinced them otherwise and I was named Jessica - which turned out to be the no. 1 baby name the year I was born. So, i've always been one of many Jess's. I do think this has made me very attached to my last name, however, as I've always been Jess O. Even though it's always been popular in my age group, I do like my name.

And now that I'm getting married the whole name thing comes into play again. I've always known the whole name change thing wasn't really for me. Maybe it's my inner feminist showing itself, but I am not going to take my fiance's name and he is totally fine with it. Surprisingly though is how many other people are not so fine with that and like to tell me their unsolicited opinion about it. It's been interesting to say the least...

Looking ahead, I have to admit to dreaming up all the names for my still non-existent children. I've found that I have a penchant for antiquated male and female names and like the idea of incorporating family names. Whatever their name or sex though, I must get a pair of those adorable baby leggings shown above from Thief and Bandit ;)

So what about you? Do you like your own name? When/if you marry will you take his name? What are your top baby names?

Monday, April 25, 2011

time traveling


photo source: Zagat.com

This weekend my friend and her husband came into the city to meet Bryan and I for drinks. We decided to take them to this new place that opened in Philly called the Farmers Cabinet. Little did I know how great this place would be it. I mean just look at the photos ;)

It's styled as a Victorian-era lounge complete with amazing old-fashioned handmade cocktails and a full live band decked out completely in tweed suits, moustaches and bow ties playing 20s and 30s music. I was in heaven. The drinks were amazing and I had a great gin cocktail and then really excellent belgium beer. Bryan said their whiskey sours were outstanding (see above). And while we didn't eat, i'm dying to go back and do since they have what looks to be a great (and veg friendly menu). Plus they have cheese. lots of cheese. what's better than that?

The rest of our weekend was low key. Got the wedding registries tackled. I went to my aunt's for Easter brunch (Bryan worked :(. And then rewatched Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I with my sister (that movie is AWESOME and i cannot wait for part 2!)

What did you get up to?

Friday, April 22, 2011

happy friday and happy earth day :)


photo by Karen Cameron - National Geographic Photo of the Day
how cool is that picture of a thermal pool from yellowstone national park? these hot springs are home to some of the most interesting microorganisms (if you allow me to nerd out) known as extremophiles that are capable of living in super harsh conditions such as hot hot temps, high pH, and really high salt. they also give the springs all their lovely colors ;)

so even though my boss gets off today, i'm still at work but i'm hoping to get out early today and get a jump start on the weekend. there is so much to do! and for the first time in 5 weekends (!) i get to spend saturday with my wonderful and overworked fiance :) hooray! we are going to get started on registering for our upcoming wedding and hopefully get a nice arrangement of herbs planted (i promise to try my best to keep them alive through the entire summer...).

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bright red knit jersey necklace // steel grey and silver braided bracelet


also in honor of Earth Day, just a reminder that i have a fun assortment of necklaces and bracelets made out of repurposed t-shirts and reclaimed industrial materials. and hopefully i will get to post more of the new 100% organic cotton items over the weekend.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

oh poor neglected blog!


man i have been ignoring this blog over the past week! sigh, it has been quite a hectic week though. i started my silkscreening class, successfully locked myself out of my apartment after 14hrs of work and class, hurt my right wrist, potentially suffered a complete quarter life crisis, and got an exciting new position at the teaching center. phew! (and the pretty trees have started blooming here!)

so hang in there with me internet friends. i'll be trying my best to get on here when i can! also i'll be slowly rolling out new spring and summer accessories made in the softest and loveliest 100% organic cotton. check out the new lighter version of the mildred necklace below ;)


the mildred necklace in 100% organic cotton - sky blue


p.s. someone buy these shoes so my broke ass can stop obsessing over them and the tights and dresses they would look so cute with!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

april showers

man oh man it has been rainy and dreary here since april began! here are some cute rainy day finds to hopefully chase away the gloomy blues and remind me at least that those may flowers aren't too far away ;)


1. pure bliss zipper pouch by zakka nouveau @ etsy
2. undercover space explorer umbrella @ modcloth
3. skerry reslig rain boots @ tretorn
4. charcoal pac-a-parka @ topshop

Monday, April 11, 2011

oh monday!

man oh man it is monday and it is kind of a crazy day at work!

this very much cheers me up though ;) enjoy while i get back to protein purification...

Saturday, April 9, 2011

have a great weekend :)


I hope everyone has a wonderful and relaxing weekend. I wish I were headed to a nice warm beach but instead i'll be enjoying the sunshine in philly. This morning I sent off an order to Australia and wish I could of tagged along. Unfortunately my attempts to renew my passport today were rebuffed, so i'm still stuck in US...

Tonight I get to eat at one of my very favorite restaurants in the city, Kanella, with my friend and I cannot wait. What are you up to?

**also treat yourself and take 15% off your oh.just.jess order ;) enter HAPPY15 at checkout **

Friday, April 8, 2011

do you see this?!

so i love the featured seller spotlights on the Etsy blog, Storque. it's so fun to learn all about the artist behind some of the best shops on that site.



Flour and Grain: 18x24 Hand-Cut Paper Art


this recent feature has seriously BLOWN ME AWAY. Papercuts by Joe features some of the most intricate and beautiful hand-cut artwork i have ever seen. the amount of time and precision that goes into each piece is really something to behold.



Couple on Bikes Hand-Cut Paper Silhouette


this artist is also an archaeologist. which is pretty awesome. and totally the career i wanted when i was a little nerd child obsessed with ancient Egypt and Jurassic Park.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

7 little facts about me



so Sarah over at Atlantic Atlantis called me out in her latest post to share 7 random facts about me. love the idea! hopefully this will help everyone get to know me a little bit better ;)

ok here goes:

1. I have 37 first cousins. seriously. my dad was the youngest of 13 children (irish-catholic much?).

2. I'm scared of bikes. this is super lame and i want to get over it. i suffered a pretty serious bicycle-inflicted injury as a child and have only been on a few bikes since. (though when bryan and i were in Berlin i did do the city bike tour because he wanted to. and it was totally awesome until this old lady on the tour totally bit it in the street. see photographic evidence above)

3. I HATE cilantro. it tastes like soap.

4. The first date Bryan (my now fiance) asked me to go on was to a monster truck rally. i'm dead serious. in the end we went out to a movie and panera the night before (and then still went to the monster truck rally the next night - hilarious ;)

5. I cry at everything. including really embarrassing stuff. like reality tv and stories on the radio.

6. I met Dick Clark at an airport when I was younger. he was really rude and not nice at all. new years eve was never the same after this.

7. I started college as a fine arts major and graduated as a double major in biological sciences and psychology. so who knows what i'll be when i grow up ;)

ok, so now I get to pass this along!

i'm going to call out these lovely ladies:
Sasha of What? No Mints.
Chelsea of a lovely, little blog.
Jessica of aberrant moda.
Kate of scientific culture.

you turn ;)

things that made me happy

i love uuuuuuuuuuuuuuu by ilovedoodle


1. bryan finally came home today! he was away at a conference and now he's back :)
(too bad he works an overnight shift tomorrow and over the weekend. boo.)

2. dinner at our favorite bar. we're creatures of habit and always go to the same places but this one bar is around the corner and the absolute best. also nothing beats ordering an assortment of plates and sharing the entire meal ;)

3. trader joe's mango sorbet = DELICIOUS

4. i got to be chelsea's 500th sale! so exciting.

5. watching Blank Check. this ridiculous movie from when we were young was on tonight so bryan and i had to watch and LAUGH. a lot. apparently mansions sold for 300K in 1994?

6. the sun finally came out! after waking up at 5am to a (scary) hail storm and having gloomy skies all day long, the sun finally made a much needed appearance.

hope everyone had a good tuesday!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011


i love this right now (and can't stop laughing). from amber alexander.

Sunday, April 3, 2011

lend me your ear and i'll sing you a song...

i got home late last night and was delighted to find reruns of the Wonder Years on some obscure cable channel. needless to say i stayed up even later to watch Kevin and Winnie share a very passionate dance at their spring formal (it was kind of HILARIOUS and over the top). and the night only got better when Doogie Howser MD came on right after ;)

it got me thinking about the shows i used to love when i was younger and how they are still great when you watch them again. what were your favorite shows when you were a kid?

oh and i still heart paul pfeiffer :)

i would like one of everything please.



1. the knottedrush ring 2. the reticulated cuff bracelet 3. lace small earrings
4. plain weave bracelet 5. octillio small earrings


this weekend i celebrated my friend michelle's bday and decided to pick her up a nice little something. i stopped over at the Bario-Neal studio/shop located in my neighborhood (i was lucky enough to be given a few pieces from them for my last birthday from the lovely fiance ;) and had the best time talking to the jewelry maker and browsing their wonderful collection.

they make the most unique and beautiful jewelry all from 100% reclaimed and recycled metals and then package it all up in those unique little glass jars shown above. it was so fun to stop in and actually see them at work (i even got to see some rough uncut black diamonds!). currently i'm plotting my next purchase but i've highlighted some of their beauties for you ;)

Saturday, April 2, 2011

a little bit of this and that.



1. i love love this song Sun of a Gun by Oh Land.


2. i might need to have these wedding shoes from kate spade's new bridal line. sooo pretty!



3. and you can now get the Fulton braided necklace in colors! (and also as a bracelet ;)

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