Postcards From Italy

i am finally home from my fifteen day vacation to croatia. we were there a majority of the trip, but also saw a little of montenegro, slovenia, and venice, italy! maybe scheduling the venice days at the end of the trip wasn't the greatest idea (emotions were high, people were tired, etc.) but it was a pleasure to visit, especially if it does in fact sink one day. i didn't think venice smelled too bad, but dang, was it super expensive, especially compared to croatia! restaurants and bars charge like three euro a person just to sit down, even if you buy a whole meal, so that added on about $20 a sitting for our group. i don't think it was my favorite place in italy, and i'm not even sure i'd go back, but i'm glad i went! here are a few shots: ) 

Postcards From Croatia

hello! i have been enjoying the last few days in the beautiful country of croatia. i'm literally on a moving boat right now heading toward the island of vis. gotta love wifi. don't have much battery left, so here are just a few shots!

we stayed a night in obrov, slovenia

trogir, croatia

off the balcony at our hotel in trogir, croatia

tory and i in milna, island of brac

milna at night

andrew, sailor man. 

exploring stari grad on the island of hvar

stari grad, hvar

statue of croatian poet

dinner in jelsa, on isle of hvar

we made a friend who i named kava. wishing i could have saved him and taken him home. what a cutie for real.

do vidjenja!

Meet Mr. Kitty and Kelly!

I told you I had one more cat to introduce you to, and his name is Mr. Kitty. Have you ever wanted someone you can't have? Sigh.
So the story goes, that about a year and a half ago Andrew and I went home over Christmas for about four days. When we got back, we heard a miserable kitty crying in the apartment next door to us. I had seen this cutie orange cat one other time, and met the neighbor once as well, so I knew his name. Upon further investigating facebook stalking, whilst feeding this kitty tuna under the door, I found out that my neighbor was back home in Minnesota for three weeks. I was super worried about the kitty, and he did not. stop. crying. So we contacted building management and the neighbor and got permission to watch the little guy while he was gone. He said his girlfriend was checking in on him every two or three days, but Mr. Kitty is such a friendly and playful little guy and wanted some love! So I gave it to him. After that, Andrew and I developed a friendship with our neighbor, (who is well meaning but just needs a lazier cat) and were able to watch Mr. Kitty a lot. Unfortunately, we moved from the apartment building about ten months ago, so I haven't seen my little guy too much lately. Who knows where my old neighbor will move since he's about done with school, but I'm so happy to have met Mr. Kitty in the meantime. He give hugs and kisses, LOVES to play, and is the most rambunctious cat I have ever met. He made his way into our ceiling once. That was terrifying, but he was having a great time! Anyway, do any of you consider yourself a "godparent" to a cat? I wish Mr. Kitty could be mine! (I'm a little obsessed, if you couldn't tell).

Sorry, he photographs so well that it's hard to pick just a couple!




So I also want you to meet my new friend Kelly! I'll be honest here a minute and say that blogging is hard work! It's hard to gain followers and make relevant posts that people actually care about. One way I've reached out to other potential readers is through an Etsy team, and there I met Kelly! Kelly has an Etsy shop with handmade cat toys and accessories. She is here today to tell you her story, and I included my favorite photos from her shop: )


Here is Kelly's story about Bax Cat & Co!

"I grew up always with a love of animals, and always with cats as pets. My life has lead me through a lot of different fun paths, but some things have remained constant: my love of animals (cats!), my love of art, and my appreciation of nature. 

In December of 2011 I put together a knotted no-sew toy for my cat who was bored of her other toys. Around that same time, I was trying to decide what I could do with my creative side that has been shut off since I began working in various corporate offices after graduating from college years ago. The light bulb flashed brightly when I realized that I could make things for cats that they would have fun with, as much as my cat did with her toy! That is where the idea for Bax Cat & Co. began. 

My shop is named after my great cat friend Baxter, who is no longer with us. He would be very proud of how much love goes into each toy (along with catnip!). He was always such a fun-loving cat, and I named this shop after him to keep his memory alive always. 

While designing cat toys, I always have nature and art on my mind - the colors, the feeling each gives, the aesthetic qualities of both. I have an Art History degree, and have always been interested in diverse styles of art. 

The goal of my shop is to make cat toys and cat accessories that will make cats happy when their humans open the package of their purchased items. I love hearing stories from my customers about how excited their cats got when they opened up the envelope and took out their new toy, it makes me happy and proud! 

New items are added as soon as I can make them from the images I see in my head! I hope to continue to gain momentum with Bax Cat & Co., and to spread joy to lots of cats around the world!"

I hope you guys will check out Kelly's etsy shop if you're in the market for some adorable handmade cat toys made with organic catnip! Show her some love on facebook as well! I love the above pineapple toy, and had to include the picture with the kitty because he looks so much like Mr. Kitty!!! Obviously I'm loving the owl as well, and the fact that Kelly took a picture of it in a tree! So awesome.


P.S. I pre-wrote this post and scheduled it for when our plane lands in Venice, Italy! Jealous? ; ) Have a great Saturday!

The Format > Fun.

Anybody else feeling a little hipster-egotistical because you, like me, loooooved The Format back in the day, and then they reformatted, so to speak, and became Fun.? I saw The Format open for Something Corporate my sophomore year of high school and then "Interventions and Lullabies" became one of my all time favorite albums. Every song is amazing. The Format never got insanely popular, but they were so good! So so good. Even if you do just like Fun., you need to please check out that album! My favorite song from it will always be "The First Single (Cause a Scene)" but there are zero good versions of it on youtube, so I'll refrain from posting one that's not going to get you excited. Check it out on their myspace though. (Does anyone actually still use that??)

Anyway, so then Fun. came along, and I knew they existed and had downloaded their first album that I never really listened to because it just wasn't the same very good. I was home a month or so ago and listening to the radio station that plays the best music in town, so you know, whatever is popular and not too much rap or country. I hear Fun.! Whoa! I mean, hey good for them, but how strange! So I guess this is the new anthem for life now or something:

So who do you like? Fun.? The Format? or all of the above because you love Nate (the vocalist)? Just wanted to throw the discussion out there!

Tuesday Treasures #4 / Pinterest Edition

this edition of tuesday treasures is inspired by things i found on pinterest that i want! have you bought anything you found on pinterest? i sure have!

this is like, the most beautiful camera i have ever seen. i found it on pinterest, then it led me to a blog that led me to another pinterest-esque site called the fancy, which then led me to 'fancy' a bunch of stuff before i finally found the link to this gorgeous camera. pretty sure this baby is real gold. i didn't even try to search for a price on the page i finally ended up on, so maybe i can shoot with it in my dreams.

i think this rug is absolutely hilarious! it's $35 on amazon, but i figure i can easily make this myself if i can find a plain doormat. so pumped about making this!

this is so adorable! it's a custom made portrait from Jordan Grace on flickr. i imagine she has an etsy maybe, but this is where pinterest took me. She makes the most amazing drawings, and there is even little paperdolls she created which i assume she made in the likeness of someone. want!!

so allegedly i can't actually buy this toaster. according to this article about cool toasters, this is given to owners in japan who bring their cars in for servicing or something. just like the actual van, i may never own this. they are for sale on ebay, but they are well over $200! damn!

this ring from etsy is crazy awesome because it is actually your fingerprint! or your significant other's? i think that would be a super cute way to order it. how the heck do people come up with this stuff? i love this, and for $89, it's possibly the second cheapest treasure this tuesday. 

i guess i should live in chicago, because the maker of this spectacular pillow describes the blasphemy of putting ketchup on your hotdog there (yeah, it's gross, i already knew that but whatever!) so even though it may be blasphemy for me to be eating a veggie dog, i will never put ketchup on it! for those of you who don't know, i loveeeeee mustard, and so i loveeeee this pillow, also from etsy. so silly. and $35. good, i was getting worried all of these things were in the hundreds or thousands of dollars today!

what treasures have you swooned over on the internet this week? there is just so much good stuff out there!!

Not to Brag or Anything, But...

so this is it, andrew and i will be headed to europe on friday! It's scary how fast time flies sometimes. i think we have gathered most of the supplies we'll need (dual voltage flat iron, really nice headphones, travel journals, new swimsuits!), and we have the itinerary mainly set. we are trying to learn some important phrases (kave, mollim = coffee, please). we even practiced going over the canadian border memorial day weekend because we fly out of toronto (eh, no issues!). since croatia is a fairly less-traveled destination, i'm not sure how much preparing we can really do, but we are super excited! here are a few of the places we'll be visiting!

trogir, croatia: we are spending a couple of nights here before taking off on the boat. can't wait to explore it!

split, croatia: we're taking off on our rented sailboat from here. yes, we're sailing. i'm hoping not to be the (wo)man overboard.

isle of hvar, croatia: one of our stops as we sail! eric clapton was just there, I hear!

isle of brac: another island on our tour of dalmatia.

dubrovnik, croatia: we are renting a villa here for about a week (I'd be staying in hostels if I wasn't going with andrew's family, so this is beyond belief). they are filming "game of thrones" here, which I've said before,

but we love that show! i hope we get to have a beer with peter dinklage!

budva, montenegro: hopefully one of our excursions from dubrovnik. it's supposed to be really beautiful here.

mostar, bosnia and herzegovina: we are really hoping to go on this excursion as well. i think the bridge is the most iconic part, but i'd love to see bosnia!

venice, italia: the members of our group have all been to italy, but not to venice! i'm really excited for this part. gelato, bellinis, gondolas, cappucinos, and tiramisu!

and that's our trip! i'm hoping to have internet access so i can update you all. have you ever been to any of these places? what's the best vacation you've been on?

The Fancy

guys! have you heard of this website, the fancy? i found it earlier while i was working on my next tuesday treasures post, and i've been addicted since. it's the basic setup of pinterest, but i don't know, more artsy? better photography? more elite? not really sure, but it's neat-o. if you want to sign up, here is a referral link to do so. i think the main differences here are that the fancy shows bigger photos than pinterest, and that you are able to build up credits on the fancy to buy the things you see. you can find links to buy, and if you own it you can also sell yours. i don't really know how all that works because i've just been "fancying," but you should check it out! here are some fun things i found:

what do you think? just like pinterest? better or worse? or does it just have something of its own to offer? well if you sign up, make sure to follow me!

Friday Feline

i have had a cold on top of allergies all week and now i have a bad headache, so this is about all i can muster today. i already introduced you to my cat, ellie. this is dewey! he is named after dewey the library cat. we got him when he was about 4 months old from a shelter after i found him on petfinder and fell in love. he is such a big boy! ellie doesn't like him that much, but i think they mostly get along fine. he kind of acts like a dog and loves to rub his face on anything and everything. it's so funny learning your cats' personalities.

 huge paws!!!

i think he's posing.

aw, what a big handsome kitty cat.

i will have to introduce you to mr. kitty soon. another orange guy, but with a whole different personality. i'm kind of like his godmother, or so i like to think. i wish i could have him forever. but that story is for another time. anyway, where did you all find your pets from? 

happy june, and i hope the weather is better wherever you are!