Not Merely Living

Currently Coveting // May

Hey May!

These are a few things that I've been thinking about lately:

Coveting // Pink

Source: Fashion Melon

Anytime I see the color pink, I think about my dear friend Melinda and smile. Pink is her color the way that green is mine. My april color of the month is in honor of her.

Here are my pink picks of the month (I hope Melly will approve):

Currently Coveting // April

Keep > Poketo Honeycomb Card Case: How cute is this card case? Poketo is the best. I love the shape of this case and the fact that it has two pockets. It seems like it would be good for cash too. It also comes in five other colors. 

Coveting // Lime

Even though I was sad to stray from my soul-mate color (Emerald of course) during this green month, it's about time I branched out in the green department. Luckily, this month's color lime hasn't dissapointed. In fact, it's kept things pretty bright for me. Have you noticed any recent pops of lime in your life?

Top Ten // Sources for Green

Y'all, I'm obsessed with the color green. I love St. Patrick's day because I love wearing green, but I also love it because in early March there are always so many awesome finds in my favorite color!

If you are looking for green this week in celebration of St. Patrick's day, I've got your back.

Here are some great green finds from ten of my favorite go-to stores:

Adele printed cardigan (on sale!) | Stretch skinny belt |  Hampton fit crop

Currently Coveting in March

Paint>>Winsor & Newton Watercolor set, Wear>>The Palma Camera Bag & Madewell Cabana dress, Craft>> handwritten hello stickers by EmDashPaperCo, Just>> Let Go print by Minted, Carry>> Classic Dodo Case,  Organize>>  Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4

Currently Coveting // Purple

1. Minted Sunset Palette | 2.  Benefit Plum Mascara | 3. Kate Spade Berit | 4. Nuage Purple Lace |5. Nars Pokerface | 6. Morning Has Broken Case | 7.  Hunter Carnaby Snake | 8. Botkier - Valentina | 9. Rachel Ray Stoneware 

Today's round up of plum beauties is dedicated to my good friend Shap who loves the color purple (my color of the month is royal in honor of Mardi Gras). Purple is so soothing, and I have recently discovered that purple works well with my coloring (I guess I spent so many years wearing green that I didn't notice). I love, love, love the phone case and the plum benefit mascara is my one of my go-to mascaras. The plum shade goes extremely well on green-eyed girls (hollah!), but they also have a lovely blue shade if you're interested. I'm currently loving all the Minted Art Prints, and the calming shades of purple in this one really drew me in. 

Happy Thursday friends. Friday is just around the corner. :)

Currently Coveting for Valentines

I don't know about you, but for me Valentines day is such a day of mixed emotions. There's the this is how you should celebrate Valentines day and then the real this is what celebrating love means to us. or me. or you.

I love love.  I love celebrating the deep, loving relationships in my life. At the same time,  I don't like the crowds, the pressure, or the cheesiness. Viet and I  usually stay in to cook and get in some key quality time. We generally avoid the reservations and stress. 

But, in all honesty, I also love a nice and thoughtful gift on Valentines day. It doesn't have to be an expensive or elaborate gift, but I love a nice, thoughtful gift. Gifts are one of my love languages after all! I can't help it! Here are a few sweet things that have caught my eye lately:

1. Nautical Wheeler Hearts | 2. Urban Outfitters Curio Shelf | 3. my favorite chocolates from Poco Dolce | 4.  Unzipped Glass Zipper Bag | 5.  Berry Trio Bracelets | 6. Chic Red Clamshell Clutch |  7. Golden Shoulder Bag with Sequins from chicnova | 8. Textured Hearts Iphone case | 9. Love Lives Here print from Hola Sunshine 

What are your plans for Valentines day? Will you be staying in and laying low? or will you be having a big night out on the town?

My Favorite Valentine Cards

My favorite part of Valentine's Day is the card. That goes for most any occasion actually.  I like things written down. Big Things. Real Things. There's nothing like holding those words in your hands.

That said, my favorite valentine card combination is super cheesy meets heartfelt note.

I love the puns. Bring on the cards with puns y'all. Or the clever cards. I like those too.

Oh and the nerdy ones. The nerdier, the better.

This year the best card I've seen hands down was created by a new friend I just met at Alt. Her name is Emily McDowell:

!!! Isn't this card amazing!? So clever. Emily's stuff is so wonderful y'all. Check out her etsy shop.

Here are the rest of my faves:

1. Sapling Press | 2. Julie Ann Art (dedicated to my new friend Capree) |3. Print Smitten | 4. witsicle

5. My French Sailor | 6. Dark Room & Dearly

I know the hubby would love this one: 

7. Printerette Press

and of course, I would prefer one like this:

8. Bubby and Bean

Which Valentines cards do you have your eye on? Are you planning to buy cards or make them?

Happy Tuesday,

 

A Golden Year: February

Most years when February hits I'm already feeling tired. January always slips away so fast and just like that one month is gone.

This year, probably mostly because of my epic trip to Alt, it feels like February is like a second new year, and I've got some resolutions! I am ready and revving and taking chances. I've got plans y'all. Big plans.

But with all that creative goodness comes a high pitch nervous energy that is bouncing around me like a force field. I've felt very anxious this week, and you know what I think the nervousness stems from? Excitement. Which reminds me of a memorable moment:

On the plane ride to Alt last year, my friend Stace was chatting with a successful young filmaker/entreprenuer who was thoughtful and engaging and giving her loads of awesome advice. 

And I'll never forget this one thing he told her at the end of their conversation (I was sitting on the other side of her). He said something to the effect of, 

You know that fear you get deep down in the pit of your stomach when you're afraid of (fill in the blank: a new idea, a risk, a change, an opportunity)?? That fear. . . well, it's really excitement. We just don't feel it often enough to recognize it. 

And I just thought YES. How often are we truly, passionately so excited about something that we are feeling it so strongly that a) it's scary and b) we don't even recognize that it's really  that rare feeling of being alive/inspired/awake. My new friend Chris wrote about this phenomenon (also known as "gut churn") on Monday on his blog. 

So, February, I feel your gut churn deep down. I'm currently carrying it around like a bowling ball, and you know what I'm planning to do about it? I'm going to just. keep. feeling it. I'm not going to ignore the feeling or pretend its not there. I'm going to embrace it. And every time I feel it really strongly, I'm going to take a chance! Let's do this! Do you have something deep down you want to do, but you're too afraid to try? Sink into that feeling and spend some time with it. Maybe it's a good thing.

February is a magical month in our house. We fell in love in February, Viet's birthday is in February, and we got engaged in February. Given so many awesome reasons to celebrate, you can bet I'm going to keep it Golden around here just like I did in November,  December, and January.

Here are the fun things I'm focusing on this month. Y'all know what else is reason to celebrate this month?! It's also Mardi Gras! I grew up with Mardi Gras, and I sure do miss it. But I'll keeping it alive right here in my little corner of San Fran:

 Color: Royal Purple

 Be (theme): Learning. I'm signing up for several Altitude Channel Classes this month, and I'm going to broaden my skillz.

 Listen (weekly playlists):  JAZZ! I am so excited about listening to Jazz. I loveee Jazz, but I don't know enough about it, and I don't listen to enough of it. This month I'm going to try to actually learn more about this genre while I'm preparing my weekly Sunday song lists like last month. As always, if you have any recommendations let me know.

 Read (book of the month):  Divergent This book was just recommended to me as a good Hunger Games esque series. I'm going to try out book 1. I'll let you know how it goes. 

 Eat: Cajun. I'll be channeling New Orleans all month. Do you have any favorite cajun recipes I could try?

 Craft (DIY): Window Magic. I've got one particularly sad window hanging around, and I've got a project up my sleeve to turn it to magic.

 Travel: Tahoe, Nevada. We have our fingers crossed that we're going to be headed up to play in the snow this month.

 Aurora (my life list):  Finances. Ok. This one has been on the life list for a while. We need a serious system to better track our finances and keep them organized. I'm going to be exploring all the helpful sites and tools around the interwebs. Lay your recommendations on me if you've got em!

 
 Capture (Photography): Still loving Fatmumslim's monthly photo a day prompts. Join along! You can get all the details on her blog. You can follow my progress on Instagram: @notmerelyliving. 

Happy Weekend Friends. Hope it treats your right. 
Go 'Niners!!!