A Friend Date

Today I woke up very very late, like at one in the afternoon late. And right afterwards, got a text from a friend inviting me out to lunch. We ate Chinese and then visited a French bakery and had a chocolate croissant. It's a nice little place. We don't really have anything like it here unfortunately. The man who owns it is French so that means his pastries are authentic and super good. He has a cute patio in the book with wrought iron tables and chairs. What a relief to go sit back there! It has been so humid and hot here today. We learned that he has a lunch special. A sandwich, a pastry and a coffee so next time we're going to try that! Next door there is a little used bookstore. One time I found vintage copies of Carlos Casteneda books. You know, the ones about peyote. The covers were great. I started reading the first one and tripped out with his trip-outs! I helped her pick out the first Carlos Casteneda book for her boyfriend. It was a really lovely day, especially because I haven't been out with a friend in awhile!

Now I am home and my grandparents have come to visit so it's going to be a wonderful weekend. And I'm looking forward to it! Tomorrow they are going to Mexico and I wish wish I could go but I don't have a passport. You used to be able to cross the bridge without one but they changed that a couple of years ago. Maybe I will just give them a list!

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// Dress from Forever 21
// Zippered pouch from Marc Jacobs for Target
// Messy topknot, of course. Obligatory.

Spring Style

I first heard of Samantha Pleet through some of my lovely internet lady friends and instantly fell in love. In every single collection, she manages to invoke all that I love, simply through beautiful, well-designed clothes. I am so excited about her S/S 2013 collection. It has made me absolutely giddy for spring which is surprising for a winter lover like me. I love the colors and the wistfulness. And that pattern! Swoon. Just so beautiful. This collection is going to be very inspirational for my spring style.

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All photos from Samantha Pleet

Daily Life Photos

I finally was able to buy this amazing book that I had been wanting some time. And finally the day came when it arrived in the post. The wait was well worth it. It's such a beautiful beautiful book and very inspiring. The book is by one of my favorite author/blogger/photographer/inspiration lady, Pia Jane Bijkerk. She has several books out. While I do not own them, I had the pleasure of having them for a little while through Inter-Library Loans at the library I worked at. This particular book is beautifully photographed and well written. It is called "My Heart Wanders" and you can preview it here.

"A reflective and visually sumptuous memoir of one woman's search for home.What would happen if one day you decided to follow your heart? Where would it take you? Pia Jane Bijkerk takes us on her journey as she leaves behind a comfortable life in Sydney to follow, unconditionally, her instincts. Setting up home first in Paris, then on a houseboat in Amsterdam, Pia observes the serendipitous moments that present themselves when letting go and following one's dreams. My Heart Wanders is a reflective, inspirational, tender memoir that speaks to "the wandering heart" in all of us.

Definitely something to buy and cherish and get inspired from if you suffer from wanderlust such as I.


A bracelet I made for my little wrist. (The polaroids are old old old from a different time in my life) Lately I've been into jewelry making. So far it is just for me and friends but I've some interest from other people about buying. However, I'm not so sure about setting up a shop. It is something I've always wanted to do. (Selling photography and digital art prints and other hand-made things) But the thought kind of frightens me.


The sort of simple lunches I sometimes make myself. I'm not going to lie, sometimes I don't like cooking for just myself and so I usually eat and snack on things I don't have to prepare or cook. Baker I am, a cook I'm not! But this one day I made rice with broccoli and sweet grape tomatoes. I love those small tomatoes, so delicious. I usually sit at the table with some book or magazine to flip through or a notepad for writing lists.


A silly photo I took while lazing on the couch. Mostly to take a picture of my favorite slip-ons. Those cute floppy leather bows got me when I first saw them. Couldn't resist buying them! On my walls are framed Instagram photos I've mine. I designed a super simple background and overlayed my photos over it and then printed them and bought cheap wooden frames. I did this when we first moved into this apartment. There is so much wall space, I had to do something to fill them up! Okay, I think I really need to practice hanging frames straight.

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Lately I've been trying to get this blog back up and running. I'd like to become more serious with it. Right now, it's a bit hard to do since I don't have internet at home and my Macbook Pro is in the shop. But I'm writing notes, keeping track of ideas I have, posts I want to make, and features I want to start. I also started using Tumblr again(as an inspiration outlet) and Twitter, to keep track of all my favorite bloggers, shops and people.

I also discovered, through others, another wonderful social media site called Tint. Tint is a way to display your social media feeds, such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Soon they will be adding others. The reason I signed up for this is because of the beautiful and simple way your social feeds are displayed. My favorite is the Basic Slider option but I went ahead and choose another option to display on it's own page which is located on my left sidebar. Take a look at it HERE. I think it's pretty neat that all my social media feeds are available on my blog, in one beautiful space, for you to read!

Here are other places to find + follow me:

+ Vine // cottonhearted
+ Instagram // cottonhearted
+ Pinterest
+ Tumblr
+ Twitter

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Sky + Cloud Beads

I found these lovely lovely beads that are reminiscent of the clouds and sky, which is why I was instantly drawn to them. I can't wait to make some new pieces. I've even thought of opening a shop. Definitely something to think about.

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Wrapped

DIY wrapping is one of my favorite things to do. I love being creative and thinking of things to put together to make something look nice. This year all my wrapping was done by hand which meant it took oh so long. I pretty much wrapped every single night decorating each box and bag. I think I mentioned this before but I used all the patterns from Hello Sandwich's craft book which are exactly the style I like! I made pom poms out of yarn, accordion folded paper bows, gift tags and hand-stamped gold and light pink polka dots. I also cut out little Christmas trees from mint green paper to put on each.

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The last one is mine wrapped by Isaac. He copied my style (hehe) and did a lovely job. I loved it! It's the only glittered one. I didn't even think to use glitter. ^_^ Crafting is so fun and I love it but it is so time consuming. Here are some other holiday decorations I managed to somehow make after my 12-9 shifts at the library. (The night shift takes up my day. Weekends are when I have a lot of free time but I still managed to craft every night after I got out of work!)

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The colorful paper tree was another DIY project from bloggers that I found on itself. Here is the link: 01 . I decided to leave out the stand. It was incredibly easy and fun to make! The little houses are boxes that I got from a craft supply store and decorated. Painted mountains with chalkboard paint on top and the other wrapped in dark gray yarn and gold top. I randomly added bits of pink tinsel to things around the house especially framed bits. There are quite a few other things I didn't get the chance to photograph. A hand-made jewelry box, tons of jewelry, a garland, etc. Not to mention all the baking I did last night! Mini cranberry pies, loaves of Cranberry Orange, Whipped Eggnog and Brown Sugar bread! I went crazy this year. That's the crafting life! Check out my "Holiday" board on Pinterest. I got so much inspiration from it!