Tax return season is my favorite! I recognize that it's not the wisest financial move to let the United States Government serve as your personal savings account, but they happen to be a little better at it than I am, so I don't fight it. Yes, I did put a chunk of my tax return in to savings, and I'm deep in the office redo process, but I still had a little extra to make some fun purchases I've been eyeing up. On to the shopping roundup!
1. Hip Twist Print by Teil Duncan
There is a new favorite lady in my house, painted by an amazing artist I recently discovered. Teil Duncan does figure prints and other whimsical prints in amazing colors, and I couldn't stop thinking about this one after I saw it. The colors will be perfect my office, and her prints are super reasonably priced, and often can be found on One King's Lane.
2. The Inspired Room: Simple Ideas to Love the Home You Have by Melissa Michaels
I have a serious love for design books of all styles and varieties. They're great sources of inspiration and fun to page through with friends. Most of these books, however, are very aspirational and not at all practical for us regular folks. The Inspired Room manages to bridge the gap between practical life advice and beautiful design, and would make a great gift to friends and relatives diving in to new homes. Their mantra? Your home should be a sanctuary, not a showroom - everyone can get behind that!
3. Bone Links Necklace | BaubleBar
This necklace is pretty, so I bought it. I have no idea what I'll wear it with, but it's tax return season so I'm not bothering with any of that normal logic business.
4. Midnight Floral Curtains | Pier1
The dining area right off my entryway has been practically begging me for new curtains for a while now. Now, this rant could probably be it's own entire post, but WHY DID THE CURTAIN INDUSTRY DECIDE TO ONLY SELL CHEAP CURTAINS THAT ARE TOO SHORT FOR EVERYTHING???!!! Sure, big box stores sell some decent looking curtains, but 84" just DOES NOT cut it for most spaces. Well guess what, Pier1 has a bunch of their extra long curtains on sale! These dark floral printed curtains are even sexier in person, and I cannot get enough of them.
5. The Modernist Lena Ankle Pant | LaneBryant
I struggle with pants a lot. I'm a curvy girl and pants really fit my thighs, butt, and waist well, but I am going to wear these pants all spring and summer. I got a basic black pair first, but loved the fit and the comfy stretchiness so much I went back and bought more fun colors and patterns. Well done, LB.
6. Masterbuilt Pro Dual Fuel Smoker
Andy is pretty lucky that his birthday falls pretty close to tax return season, which encourages me to spend a little more and spoil him. This year, he got a smoker. He hasn't fired it up yet, but has been all over the place looking at recipes and techniques to perfect his meat smoking skills. He's excited because this smoker runs on either charcoal or propane. I'm sure I'll be posting some results this summer!
7. Artisan Glass Lamp | Target
Target's home decor has been SO INCREDIBLE lately. I've been picking up pieces for my office redo and other nooks and crannies of my house here or there, but for $25 this lamp was easy standout.
8. Vivacious Leather Wedge | Nine West
Spring means the reemergence of lots of things - flowers, green grass, and most importantly, open-toed shoes! I thought this pair was neutral enough to go with a lot of different work or casual outfits, but had a little something extra special about them. Getting them with Amazon Prime meant they were at my door before the weather got cold again - Minnesota is kind of a tease like that.
9. Distressed Foggy Medallion Rug | RugsUSA.com
My office needed a big rug to warm up the expanse of wood floors, and Andy actually picked this one out of my top 3 options. I was super impressed at the quality of it when it came - it's obviously not actually overdyed, but it gives it a really cool, almost pixelated look. The blues are a little lighter and brighter in person, and I can't wait to show it to you when I reveal the office!
10. Fossil Preston Flap
You avid readers might be saying, "Hey Carrie, didn't you just buy a pretty nice purse back in January when you did this shopping roundup the first time??" And to you I'd say, "Yep. Sure did. But this one serves an entirely different purpose so it's totally justified." Andy bought that line of thinking, so I hope you will too. This was a splurge for me, but after being on a business trip and having a little cross body bag that didn't fit my camera (major pain), I really wanted a nice bag that fit my camera plus the stuff a purse has to carry - wallet, phone, etc. This one is the perfect size and is made from beautiful leather. It has lots of compartments to carry all my stuff, and I couldn't be happier with it.
11. Macrame Throw Pillow | Threshold for Target
Another day, another Target impulse purchase. This pillow was just too special to pass up. I'm not going all hippie dippie macrame crazy, (my mom was shocked when I told her macrame was back in!) but I liked having a little touch of it in my new office.
I've also had a ton of great thrift store finds this month, but it always drives me crazy when other bloggers post unique vintage finds and say things like "look at these amazing chairs I found for $1 each!". Well that's great for you, I'll never find amazing vintage for $1. ever. But anyway, that's the stuff I bought - let me know if you have any questions or any great purchases of your own!