Upon A Fold‘s stunning paper products caught my attention when I saw them over on Pinterest.
They are beautiful & breathtaking. But, the best part? You can buy all of them & make them yourself to display in your own home!

My life has been essentially put on hold for the past two days as a result of the “white death” that has visited Cincinnati. I don’t mind at all. Personally, I think it’s quite nice. I am taking it as a sort of vacation from reality. My cat Atlas (pictured above) & myself have been busy cleaning & organizing the apartment. Alright, mostly I’ve been doing the cleaning. Atlas has been supervising the situation closely though. Yesterday I did all my laundry & have been attempting to clean out my closet & organize it in some manner. I was kind of stumped because I couldn’t figure out how to go about organizing. Should I organize by color? Type? I had no idea! I decided upon organizing by type (sweaters, button-ups, cardigans) & then by color as much as possible. This is what it ended up looking like after I was done:

What I have come to realize about my wardrobe after cleaning/organizing my closet:

1. I wear A LOT of stripes & cardigans. I need to stop buying these items.
2. I need more pants/trousers for work. I haven’t bought any proper pants for a long, long time.
3. I need more shoes. I also need to get rid of some of my shoes that I’ve been holding onto for too long.
4. I have a lot of different pieces that don’t work together. As you can see above, a lot of my closet is comprised of colors, stripes, & patterns. It makes it difficult to figure out what to wear.
5. I need to start simplifying things & working on building up my professional wardrobe by adding pieces that will work together & be versatile.

Looking for some more closet inspiration? Below are some links to some excellent sources for maintaining & organizing your wardrobe:

• The 80/20 Rule…Sartorialized from AmandaLee.org: “Pare down. Get rid of anything that doesn’t fit your body, your lifestyle, or the climate where you live. Get rid of duplicates. Get rid of anything you haven’t worn in over a year, no matter how sentimental it might be or how much you want to fit into it again.”
• Build Your Wardrobe: Let’s Start at the Very Beginning from What I Wore: The perfect advice on what essential items to buy when you are attempting to begin building your wardrobe. This post is practical & offers a breakdown that newbies like myself can really appreciate.
• Do it Yourself Closet Organization Video: This video, although seemingly simplistic, really helps break down the steps necessary into organizing a closet. Watch it.
• How to Organize your Closet from Real Simple: Three easy steps, including creating a “grab & go” section of the clothing that you wear the most often. Smart. Why didn’t I think of that?

Hopefully now when I go shopping, I know what to buy & what not to buy. What about yourself? What do you find yourself being drawn to as far as clothing is concerned?

{via weheartit}

Like so many others around me seem to be expressing, I am more than happy to see 2009 go. Although many wonderful things have happened to me in the past year (graduating from college, finishing my internship, meeting my wonderful boyfriend), it all seemed to come along with a lot of– for lack of a better way to describe it– bad stuff. Certainly, I am not naive enough to assume that the coming year won’t bring its fair share of bad stuff, but I just love New Years for the fact that we can all start fresh with the idea that anything is possible. It’s like the perfect “Ctrl+Alt+Delete” analogy.

So, here are my obligatory 2010 New Year’s Resolutions. Some of them are specific. Some are more broad; all I believe are absolutely doable.

1. {Feel better about myself.} This doesn’t necessarily mean one particular thing about myself needs to be changed. I’m not going to say “Lose 10-15 pounds” or “Work out 4 times a week” or “Eat healthier” because my physical appearance is not the only thing I need to work on in order to feel better about who I am as a person. I need to work on making myself feel better about all facets of who I am– from my personality to my spirituality as well as my physical characteristics. My resolution is to do whatever it takes to make myself feel better about myself — inside & out.
2. {Take more photographs.} I have this nice camera that needs to be used. My resolution is to actually use it. Easy enough.
3. {Read more books.} Another rather self-explanatory one. I love to read, but I haven’t been reading for pleasure lately.  I want to change that.
4. {Take care of the people I love.} Start nurturing relationships of friends & family members. Stop focusing on the relationships that make me feel bad about myself.
5. {Do what I love.} I resolve to find a way to live a life that I love & sustain myself while doing so. As a recent college graduate with a Bachelor’s degree now in tow, I feel such pressure to do something with my degree. I have been constantly stressing myself out about finding a job. My hope for 2010 is that I find a job that allows me to thrive!

I like that I only have five. That feels manageable to me. Now, what about yourself? What goals are you trying to reach in 2010?

Here are a few gems that caught my eye this year:

This messenger bag by Moop. Except I want it in gray. I just think this picture shows it off the best.

Plank Woodgrain Ring. There’s also an owl one that I like, but I am trying to avoid buying anymore owl-related items for the time being before I begin developing a reputation.

This lovely cardigan from Anthropologie. Love the slouchy pockets!

A pair of gray Toms! I’ve been wanting some for a while now.

Do you detect a color palette preference of mine? I am just a gray kind of girl, I suppose. I hope that doesn’t say anything about my personality! Now, it’s your turn. What do you want for Christmas this year? Let’s keep it strictly materialistic. None of that “world peace” mumbo-jumbo. (I kid. But, seriously.)

I have lived in Cincinnati, Ohio for the entire twenty-two years of my existence. There are certainly positives and negatives to living in this city. I feel that many times it gets written off as boring or stagnant. However, as of lately, some pretty neat things have been happening around these parts– things that are making me feel a glimmer of excitement and pride to call Cincinnati my hometown. A few weekends ago, I attended an amazing craft and trunk show called GRASS. Let me start off by saying that it was fantastic. It was well-organized, well attended, and the vibe there was that of genuine excitement and creativity. There was vintage clothing, silk-screened t-shirts, handmade jewelry, art, photography, zines, and even lovely ladies cutting hair (which I absolutely took advantage of!) and painting faces.

Basically, it’s as if someone was like, “Okay, so what sort of things would make Emily swoon like a teenage girl?” and then meshed them all together into one lovely space for all to enjoy. Plus, it was only a five-minute drive from my apartment! I think it was an absolute hit and I definitely feel as though this is exactly the type of thing that Cincinnati needs. There are so many unbelievably creative and talented individuals in this city. It’s about time they all started putting their pretty little heads together and making neat things happen!

That’s me in the yellow sweatshirt, watching my friend Sarah (she has face paint on, if you were wondering what those black lines on her chin were) getting her hair cut. I was next in line!

I bought a necklace from this sweet girl! I plan on featuring her soon. I loved her stuff so very, very much!

Go download your free aerograms now!

I found some charming items on Etsy today that I simply had to share. It’s getting chilly in my neck of the woods (although no snow yet–knock on wood) & all these items somehow remind me of a cold blustery day (although, I confess, the casserole dishes are a bit of a stretch).

I simply adore the twig picture holder by Etsy seller Kindling. I think it would be a great (dare I mention it already?) Christmas gift for that person who seems to already have everything. Next, I am lusting over this beautiful leather bag by Valhallabrooklyn. It is the perfect winter accessory, in my humble opinion. And, don’t even get me started on how much I am crushing on this delicate scarf made out of wool from a farm nearby Etsy seller Gaia Conceptions. Last, but not least, are these set of three kitschy casserole dishes from White Elephant Vintage. Think of all the yummy homemade dinners that could be served out of them!

{Item Links Clockwise from Top-Left:}
1. Twig Picture Holder, $25.00, 2. Astrid zip pocket flap bag – black rustic leather, $229.00, 3. Set of 3 Pyrex Casserole Dishes – Woodland Brown: $36.00, 4. The Skein Scarf (local organic wool), $32.00

If I knew how to knit, I would make all four of these lovely scarves for myself. Alas, I have neither the attention to detail nor the patience needed to take up knitting. Besides, I am pretty sure anything I tried to knit would never look as fabulous as these! This makes me find these scarves by Etsy seller Urbanknits all the more impressive! I picked the more neutral colors to post here, because those are the sort of colors I typically wear. But, there is a wide spectrum of other color choices available in their shop.

{Links Clockwise from top-left:1. Cream Mix Button Scarflette: $50.00, 2. Green Wool Neckwarmer: $54.00, 3. Cream Scarf: $85.00, 4. Ginger twisted scarf: $75.00.}

{Telephone pole and flying birds by Decorette: $75.00}

In response to my bedroom post, a reader (Hi, Rachel!) suggested that I look into filling my empty walls with some fun decals. I can’t believe I hadn’t thought about this before now. It’s pretty much the perfect solution for renters such as myself who aren’t allowed to do anything drastic and/or permanent to their places. I guess I always thought that decals were too expensive for my budget; but, once I began perusing the wonderful world of Etsy, I found that this is certainly not always the case. Here are a few of my favorites:

{Clockwise from top-left:}
1. Antique frame vinyl decals by Elephannie: $90.00
2. ShaNickers Wall Decal/Sticker-Tree in Wind by Shanon1972: $69.00
3. Birds in Birdcage Grouping Vinyl Wall Decals by Single Stone Studios: $48.00
4. Curve Wall Graphics by Michelle Christina:$40.00