Shoe Craving

{Girls only post}

I've clearly been craving a new pair of shoes but don't quite have the budget to go out drop a hundie on some new kicks.

So when I found these bad boys at Target for just $35 I had to have 'em.
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Women's Isaac Mizrahi for Target® Ariel Patent Oxford Booties - Black

But let me vent on Isaac Mizrahi for Target for a minute. I don't know who his muse is but the man designs clothes that are completely disproportionate. I've had a little bit of luck with his belted dresses (that I only buy when on super clearance) but otherwise his tops are shaped like boxes and his pants do that bunchy gappy crotch thing. So I was worried when I fell in love with a pair of his shoes - but they fit like a glove - for my foot.

 

Kitchen update

Like I promised here are a few photos of our accomplishments so far for this weekend.

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My mom sewed us some cafe curtains for the breakfast nook (thanks Mom!)I think they're sweet and charming. The table is the IKEA DOCKSTA. The chairs are Herman Millers I scored at an antique store about 4 years ago.

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I've always loved this table and it fits nicely in the breakfast nook.

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Close-up of the aloe we planted in the yellow pinwheel potter.

I am updating the blog from the breakfast nook at this very moment. I think it is where the laptop will live. It's cozy and will be nice to internet it up in the morning with a bowl of cereal and cup of coffee (which is when the both of us do most of our internetting). Oh - and Jeremy just took a break from the xbox and was excited to see that I'm using this space. I think it's just novel because for so long the breakfast nook was housing the uninstalled vent hood, ladders, tools and tile - it's neat to be in the nook for its intended purpose.

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Check out our vent hood. Here it is after getting all the tile grouted and the protective white film off it. Funny story - when we opened the vent hood I was freaking out because it was white and not stainless steel - when I called Home Depot to inquire about it they informed me that the white was just a protective film over the stainless steel. I asked them nicely to please forget we ever had the conversation.

I should note that I left my camera cord at work so all of my photos are taken with my iSight. Please disregard the poor quality and the fact that all of the images are reversed - I'll have some really nice before and after shots once we get everything polished off.

Just for fun here is some of my original inspiration for the kitchen.
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Tile - check. Stainless steel venthood - check.

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Tile - check. Aloe plant in a yellow vase - check. (P.S. that was tucked away in my sub-conscience - I didn't intentionally rip that off!)

All we have left to do in here is fill some nail holes, grout the patched tile on the floor, install the lighting, touch up the cabinet paint, install cabinet hardware and then we're DONE. So far we've grouted the backsplash and Jeremy installed the water line to the ice maker on the fridge (which was a huge ordeal, unfortunately).

 

The couch!

So our couch arrived this morning! They sent us the wrong throw pillows but other than that it looks good. It is HUGE compared to what we had in there before - but that's what we wanted. Something large enough for all our friends to pile on and watch TV with us.

This is going to be a very busy weekend being one of the last ones to work on the house before our housewarming party. I'll keep you all updated with the progress as it happens though - I promise!

 

Ceramic Fortune Cookies - Bowl Fillers

So I've been wanting to fill the bowl on our dining room table with something like fruit, but fruit rots and I'm not sure how I feel about using the faux plastic alternative.

I came across these ceramic fortune cookies via Design Milk.
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YogaGoat Pottery, by Amanda Ryznar
I think these are definitely more interesting and unique then a bowl of fruit and they would look great under our white chandelier.

For a while at my old place I used the wooden balls from my vintage croquet set to fill a bowl but I think I might need something slightly more refined since it is on the dining room table.

Any other ideas?

 

Donny Vomit

So I meant to finish grouting our backsplash Monday night until I got distracted video-chatting with my brother for three and a half hours. Anyone that knows me knows how much I love my family, especially my siblings.

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Let me introduce to you, my brother, Donny Vomit. He works as an entertainer at the Coney Island Sideshow. For a living he shoves nails into his head, eats and breathes fire, swallows swords, sets mousetraps off on his tongue, and so much more. He moved out to NYC 4 years ago and slowly worked his way up to becoming a minor celebrity. He's been featured on ESPN during the hot dog eating contest, he's made appearances on Miami Ink and is coming up on Girls Next Door (a show about Hugh Hefners girlfriends).

My parents are always googling him to see what he's been up to. I just tried it out and found blogs of girls wanting to be Mrs. Donny Vomit, articles about the sideshow school he teaches, and then the random vomit photos that have nothing to do with Donny.

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Photo taken by his beautiful and talented girlfriend, Halston.
I love this photo. It compeletely captures his essence. The way he's holding that glass is so him.

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Here he is looking holy while doing the human blockhead.

This is what the human blockhead looks like from the inside.
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Recently a reporter insinuated that this photo is fake. It isn't.

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This is where he works.

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This is one of my favorite photos of him. It's also the first photo I took on my Holga camera. This photo is Donny just as my brother.

So if you're ever in NYC during the warmer season make your way out to Coney Island and say hi to Donny.

 

Organization by Color

I've always been so impressed by books organized by color.
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Look at that! The main problem, of course, is that if you're looking for a specific book and cannot remember the color of the spine it would be near impossible to find if you have more than 100 books. I've also heard that it's easiest to organize books by color if you take the book jacket off (in order to get a more solid colored spine).

I organize my clothes by color. Unlike books, it actually helps me find what I'm looking for. Also, my clothes reside in the hall closet which is a set of french doors - so you can see everything. The hardest part of this kind of organization is deciding which color to start with and where do black and white fit in? I'll photograph my closet for you to let you know how I worked it.

So this morning I thought it would be a good idea to organize my toolbar on my desktop by color.
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This is my desktop. The very bottom is my toolbar housing my design applications along with other tools. I considered getting rid of everything except my adobe creative suite (the solid blocks of color that look like they came from the table of elements). I decided against that considering how often I access everything else on my toolbar. So, like a huge nerd, I thought it would be fun to organize it by color. I started with the Finder locked to the far left and worked my way to the right where my hard drive and trash hang out. So far, like a shelf of color-coded books I'm having a hard time finding things but I like the way it looks!

 

Updated To-Do

Our goal is getting all of the following done before our housewarming party next month.

Weekend to-do:
1. Grout tile (backsplash and floor)
2. Caulk baseboards, quarter round and anything else that needs to be caulked.
By the way... I've noticed over the past month of living in our home that everything is pretty much being held together with caulk. I'm ust going to add to it.

3. Paint, paint, paint.
4. Paint: bathroom baseboards and threshold
5. Paint: hallway (walls and trim and doors)
6. Paint: Kitchen pantry area - CHALKBOARD
7. Paint: Office wall - CHALKBOARD
8. Paint: Kitchen cabinets (they just need one more coat of white)
9. Paint: Kitchen walls - touch ups
10. Paint: Bathroom wall - touch ups

11. Install kitchen lighting (cabinet lights, pendant over the sink, nook light, maybe a new overhead light for the kitchen)
12. Install cabinets knobs and pulls

13. Measure, order and install basement door
14. Print photos and hang frames
15. In fact, frame all artwork laying around that needs it
16. Unpack and set up office (currently the room that's holding all of our stuff that we don't know what to do with)
17. Install light in hallway, remove ugly fire alarm.
18. Cover up the carbon monoxide hole in the kitchen cabinets
19. Replace broken window in living room
20. Buy patio furniture

I'm sure there's more to be added but those are the things that are top of mind.

Long term to do includes:
1. Install 4 piers under the house
2. Replace furnace
3. Bury electric lines

 

Oh, hello.

These would look damn good attached to my ankles.
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And against my wood floors. Ha.

And these would just be a good staple for the fall.
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And while we're on the subject...
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"I can be a Mad Men for cheap!"
Jeremy scored these, in Celery, for $14. He's the master of bargains.

In fact, he found us these for our kitchen cabinets for just $1.86 each.
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Terrible photo, but you get the idea.

 

Office Space

A great amount of time is spent in the office.It seems as if most people strive to make their office space conducive to being productive while at the same time adding a little personal touch to their space.

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We're all familiar with the office space in Joe Versus the Volcano, featuring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. He works in a dark, dank, florescent flickering lights, cinder-block wall kind of space. But even he tries to make it his own by bringing in a Hawaii themed lamp.

So without further ado, here is my office space.
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This was a candid snapped by one of my favorite photographers I work with. Yes, I'm always wearing headphones that large.

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Here's a detail of my desk. Our space has these loud wood floors so a few of us thought we could slap down some FLOR tiles to help with noise control. When you order FLOR tile you can request samples - they're miniature and therefore adorable. So my robots and wind-up sushi have their very own FLORing.

Here's a detail of the actual FLOR on the floor.
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I work in a warehouse built in 1919 in Bricktown, OKC. It's an open office space that 23 people share. I'm back in the creative corner with a north-facing window behind me and an East facing window to my right. It gets cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Sometimes it smells a little. Sometimes if I'm working late on a Thursday or Friday night I can smell smoke and cheap cologne accompanied by a pounding beat from the night-club we share the building with. Everyone always knows what everyone else is doing. With all that said, I absolutely adore this space and feel so lucky to be a creative in this kind of environment.

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One time our elevator shaft was on fire. I'm not entirely sure what the situation was but everyone was evacuated from the building. We all used the elevator the next day, no questions asked.

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This is a detail shot of some of the wall structures built to divide up the warehouse space.

Our space is so cool and perfect that we've reserved it as location set for our favorite clients.
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This is a still from a commercial we shot in the corner where my desk is. As we were setting up that shoot I thought something was missing - a rug. I ran home and grabbed mine from the living room at the last second. I thought it added another really nice layer of texture.

We've also shot up on the top floor of the building for our own special projects.
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It looks quite a bit different.

My brother was the talent for that particular shoot.
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He does this thing where he puts a ping-pong ball in his mouth and sucks it in and out really fast. You kind of don't know what you just saw when he does it. He's incredibly talented and deserves a post all on his own. I'll do that one of these days.

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I should note that it was FREEZING when we shot this project. I should also note that I work with my sister. She's the boss of me. That's her on the left.

We managed to squeeze a few more family portraits out of that shoot.
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I would show you a photo of Jeremy's office space too but it's top secret. And it's mostly just a shrine to me, though. Haha. No, really.

 

Grilling

Jeremy's grill has finally made it's way to our deck this past weekend. So far we've made some delicious jalapeno, mango and cream cheese quesadillas, corn on the cob and some tofu and veggie shishkabobs.

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Jeremy sez: I was tasked with "making the sauce". After putting together a few ingredients that sounded good together (olive oil, balsamic vinegar, brown sugar) we had what was unmistakably barbecue sauce, completely serendipitously.


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Next we're going to try out some provolone portobello mushroom burgers.

Oh and yes, that is some kitchen tile you see on the wall back there.
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So far so good. The venthood is installed (after calling out an electrician to install a plug and make sure we're not going to start a fire in the attic) and the backsplash tile will probably be finished today. I'm going to grout it myself over the weekend. After that, everything is moving right along.

 

Oklahoma Lightning

Our house was struck by lightning last night! We were enjoying the women's finals in the Olympics when all of a sudden a huge clap of thunder and a bright blue light knocked out our power. It immediately came back on.

However, it managed to destroy a lightbulb and knock out our air conditioning. Fortunately, the thunder storm that did this damage gave us the peace offering of a cool front.

The good news is: Our house didn't flood. In fact, our basement is still very dry after such a heavy rain.

Other good news - our lovely plumber, James Dean (I kid you not), came over and installed our sink faucet, dishwasher and garbage disposal. Yay! He also gave us a can of acid to eat away at any roots that might be growing in our poop pipes.

 

Kitchen Progress (and more!)

We. Have. Countertops!
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It's not an incredibly flattering photo - but we have counter tops! And glass in our cabinet doors!

When I came home to all this I just wanted to hang out in the kitchen all night and stare. In our minds we had this image of a bright lime green counter but in reality it's much more subtle.

We still need to install the backsplash.
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We picked out the glass for our cabinet doors last week. I originally thought we should go with something that looks like vintage lace but then we saw this glass.
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It still has that vintage feel, with a slight basketweave texture, but at the same time is a little more modern and geometric. I also thought it might compliment the 1x1 tile backsplash nicely.

I also spent a little bit of time organizing the cabinets.
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I got those jars from Wal*Mart for just $2 - $4 each. Now I'm wanting to fill the shelves with these and dump anything possible in them.

We still need to install our lighting and finishing touches but we're getting there!

We've also been continuing to refine our reading nook area of the living room.
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The sheepskin rug is one of our IKEA purchases. With help from Liz, a bottle of wine and the Olympics on the TV we were finally able to fill those shelves. It was almost as stressful as picking out paint colors.

The other side of the fireplace has shelves as well. They're empty except for a few select objects.
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Pinwheels and Diamonds

I recently came across this necklace on Oh Joy!, one of my favorite blogs.
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Augustine - 14k gold plated pinwheel pendant by Stone & Honey

And that's when my love affair with pinwheels began.

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When I saw this FLANÖR Plant pot at IKEA (which I promise to blog about soon) I had to have it - because of the pinwheel shapes on it.

And just for fun...
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Harlequin Jewels Necklace by Dapple Grey
I've noticed a trend in three dimensional shapes being drawn flat and graphic. Especially diamonds. And I love it.

 

The Crew

When we're not hanging out with our families or working on the house these are the people we're usually hanging out with (or the people that are also working on our house). Bookmark this page for future reference.

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First, you've got us. Jeremy and Kathleen. But you already know plenty about us.

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Here are the guys. From left to right you've got Mario, Brett, Dan and Jeremy.

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Mario and Brett are in a band together called the Hellhounds. Mario plays drums and Brett plays guitar. They both sing. If you remember, Mario helped us tile our bathroom floor and install baseboards. Mario also works at OU as a designer/web developer.

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Brett and Dan come as a pair. If you get Brett, you're getting Dan too. They're brothers from different mothers and the closest thing to soul mates I've ever seen. The two of them have come to my rescue many a time and I am forever grateful to them. Brett is also a designer at the advertising agency I work at. We're trying to get Dan on as the receptionist.

Dan's contribution to working on our house was installing some electrical plugs and light switches. He only shocked himself once. Brett brought over a .25" brush and touched up our messy paint jobs.

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For Halloween the three of us dressed up as Fight Club.

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I was Marla Singer - played by Helena Bonham-Carter.

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Then you've got the girls.
From left to right you have me, Liz and Hallie. We all work together as well. Liz is a designer and Hallie is an account coordinator and does some research. Hallie was a sorority girl once and schools us how to look Greek.

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This pose is called "Kappa Keys" - I still don't get it.

Liz is constantly taking care of all of us. Baking us brownies and making sure we keep our heads on our shoulders.

When Jeremy and I moved out of our duplex she moved in. I'll be doing a sneak peek of what she's done with the place in a few weeks.
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The duplex happens to be across the street from Hallie's duplex and around the corner from where we're living now. How convenient.

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Here you see me, Liz and Brett, in our office, dressed for the post-apocalypse. We're ready.

So there you have it. The crew.

 


J & K started this blog project to document the remodel of their 1929 historical home in the heart of Oklahoma City. It has now turned into a documentation of life, food, fashion, freelance, inspiration, design, adventures and details around the J & K house.

Kathleen works as an award-winning brand consultant and designer specializing in small business branding at Braid Creative & Consulting. Jeremy is a software engineer and is the left-brain to Kathleen’s right.

You can contact Kathleen at
jeremyandkathleen (at) gmail (dot) com.

All photos and graphics by Kathleen unless otherwise stated. Feel free to use them with permission or credit.

Anatomy of an Outfit



Sometimes I like to get dressed and take pictures of myself. For all of my outfit posts click here.

Freelance Matters



Freelance Matters: A series about how I tackle freelance issues such as estimating, billing, to-do lists and how to fire a client.

Trekking to Everest



In October 2010 Jeremy and I trekked through the Himalayas to Mt. Everest Base Camp. It completely changed my life. Read about the entire adventure, day-by-day, here.

My Business



Braid is a creative & consulting business I own with my sister. We do branding and business visioning for creative entrepreneurs. On the Braid blog I share branding adventures, how-to articles and advice on the creative process. If you need a little brand therapy of your own visit Braid or subscribe to the Braid blog RSS feed here.



What We Eat



We like to eat really good food - at least 3 times a day. Sometimes I blog about it - click here for recipes and yummy ideas.


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