Foxy Mocs

If you are a woman who lives in the world, you've probably seen the fashion makeover/advice shows where they take an absurdly bad dresser and teach her how to shop for her body and her age (which almost always involves buying a blazer and other "basics"), and then they give her makeup and highlights and a haircut and do the big reveal.

Have you noticed a change in the way women dress in the world at large since these shows have aired? Me neither.

Well, now it's my show, and I say skip the blazer and classic black pants and buy some shoes with animal faces on them! If you already are somewhat stylish and/or aware of your surroundings, it will work, and if you aren't, you aren't, and oh well, you might as well enjoy your animal-face shoes instead of spending the money on something boring that you will probably keep for too long and wear with white socks and gym shoes anyway.

Images from Red Velvet Shop.

A hankering for hankies

A few weeks ago—on Mother's Day, actually—I added a new item to my list of things to look for: hankies. I saw another mom pull out a cute hankie (hanky?) to wipe off her daughter's face and immediately decided I need to acquire some. Of course, a "quick look" online turned into a new obsession, especially after I saw this great idea for displaying hankies in a recent Ohdeedoh nursery tour.

This room is full of great ideas, incidentally. Why oh why didn't I save the heads from my daughter's birthday pinatas from the last couple years?

But back to hankies. Naturally, I found lots of cute vintage options on Etsy, from children's themes:

to hearts:

to blue-and-white delft themed:

to an instant collection of patterns ready for hanging:

I mentioned this new obsession to my mom, whose own mother always carried a hankie tucked in her sleeve, and she said she would send me a box from her collection. So I'll let you shop from the listings above while I go wait for Dan the mailman.

The real cheap and chic/cute

Well, what do you know: All this time I thought the slogan was "Moschino Cheap and Cute," but it's actually Moschino Cheap and Chic. Did it change somewhere along the way? Was I wrong the whole time? Could I adopt the "cheap and cute" slogan for my own?

Like many items from Forever 21, these ditsy heart earrings are very cheap ($1.50) and cute. I couldn't find them in the store the other day, but I did manage to find some other cheap and cute accessories to give as little-girl gifts and/or to share with my 5-year-old daughter:

bunny doll necklace ($2.80)

dachshund jewelry stand ($4.80)

and many owl-themed items, including this psychedelic owl neckalce ($3.80) and

this owl pendant ($2.80). Yes, I bought them all, and so far I haven't given any away.

Birthday wishes

Yes, I have a birthday coming up, and yes, I really would like this $12 badminton stamp more than most anything else you might find at that price! Thank you in advance for your attention to this matter.

Wanted: Working Time Machine

I'm drafting a Craigslist ad that will help me go back in time and purchase this vintage Swedish couples tablecloth before it sold from my friend's vintage store, Lucitebox. Here's what I've got so far:

Want to Buy/Rent: Time Machine - $250 (Chicago )

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Date: 2011-06-07, 12:00PM CDT

Reply to: sale-want-0669-timemachine643362-6@craigslist.org ^{[Errors when replying to ads?]}

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Want to buy or rent time machine for the weekend of  June 11-12. Will consider any machine in reasonable working order. Need to travel back in time to correct very minor shopping error; no major events in history (i.e., having to do with Lincoln, Hitler, general elections, etc.) should be affected.

• Location: Chicago area
• it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Fortunately, Lucitebox has a great selection of other items both cute and fancy, including this daisy print top (just $10!) and vintage apple print sun dress ($68), both on sale. They're not my size, but they might be yours!

The Happiness Ceiling

You've probably heard that more money won't make you happier once you reach the magic salary of $75,000 a year. But did you know there is an easy and inexpensive way to increase your happiness NEARLY 3 to 7% ABOVE this reported happiness plateau? Simply replace your existing baskets and old coffee cans with these Shinzi Katoh storage bins and play suitcases available at Oliebollen.

It's just that simple.

Cone Gnomes

Do a little of the assembly yourself, and you can have this set of cone gnomes from Cutesypoo on Etsy in your hands within minutes for just $1.99! Display all four or choose to use the appropriate gnome—love gnome, angry gnome, cheery gnome, or sad gnome—to alert your coworkers or family to your current mood.