Quote: This Too Shall Pass

thistooshallpassgraphic-01For when things are tough. For when it’s hard to imagine that there will be a tomorrow, or a day when things will be easier. Or, for when things are absolutely wonderful, all you have is now – so enjoy it. I particularly like this quote because it can mean either, or both. Or all of the above. Enjoy it, because it won’t last. Grin and bear it, because it won’t be forever.

And in time, this too shall pass.

Such is life.

xo

Carly

Please feel free to share & pin my original graphic as much as you like – just please link back here. Thanks!

Leave Comment

Chic Steals February Content Round-Up

0.diyvalentinesgiftsHello everyone! Can you believe it’s March already??! (I always feel like that with February – that it just whooshes by.) Whooooooooosh! Did you hear that? That was last month!

I just wanted to re-share some of my favorite bits of content from last month:

To start off the month, I shared a round-up of 15 DIY Valentine’s Day Gifts for Everyone. Even though V-Day is long gone, many of these would still make wonderful DIY gifts to a special someone. That tissue-paper art in your living room? Sharpie mugs on your kitchen shelves? Pretty pillows in the bedroom? Certainly not limited to Valentine’s Day!! Plus you can also do many romantic things at home for your sweetie like this infographic shows (again, not limited to February 14!!).

diyclaymacaron_done3diymacaronstand_done2I did a number of DIY’s, this month finally sharing my secret fetish (DIY Japanese-style deko sweets, which I’ve been making for some time but haven’t yet shared on this blog). I made some Pastel Clay French Macarons, and for Valentine’s Day, a little Macaron Stack Memo Card holder.

diyneonstingrayclutch_done20.diyevileyering_introphotoz.diysweatshirtsleeveskirt_done2I also did a DIY Faux Stingray Box Clutch with Tulip Neon, an Evil Eye Ring for WeHeartThis, and a Skirt with Sleeves Tied in Front from a Sweatshirt. I’ve been wearing my sweatshirt skirt nonstop -it’s so cozy!

0.daisyprintinspo_introDaisy-print is the next new thing! Check out some fun Daisy-Print inspiration here.

I also shared a fun feature on Cut Out + Keep on how to DIY the Look: Tilda Swinton (all linked to doable tutorials). To think that such a unique high fashion look is totally DIY’able!!

littlewarrior_chicsteals_febspotifyplaylistMy friend Little Warrior shared her February Playlist all about love- you have to listen to it if you haven’t already – it’s soooooo good!!

Hawaiiphotodiary2014_1cI’ve done a lot of traveling this February with a week-long trip to Hawaii for my brother-in-law’s wedding, and now to Japan to take care of my mother who was hospitalized early this month.pinkoutfitwatchesintray

And the best thing ever: being able to share my promotional video collaboration for Modify Watches (been working on that 2 months!!) plus a look-by-look breakdown of all the fashion on-screen.

Can’t wait to see what this month brings! (Spring, budding flowers, new collaborative projects…and maybe some cool DIY’s??!)

Thanks so much for reading this past month, and stay tuned for more!

xo
Carly

Leave Comment

Greetings from Japan

aptYes, folks, you may have noticed a slowdown in posts this week…and that’s because I’m currently in Tokyo, Japan right now.

My mother was hospitalized earlier this month and I’ve traveled here to take care of her as she recuperates (flashback to Spring of 2012 when I did the same thing). I only just set up the internet at her place (after figuring out how to connect through a LAN cable and setting up a PPPoE on my computer after the ad-hoc connection to her computer failed…what is THAT, right??! I mean, it’s not like my Mom’s PC & Windows 7 could actually make connecting to the Internet easy or something) and with everything that’s been happening I’m quite behind on my posting, social media, tutorials, and online sharing.

I’ll be catching up slowly in the next couple days – since I’ll be here for 3-and-a-half weeks, hopefully I’ll be caught up by then. 🙂

Thanks for your patience!holdinghands

xo
Carly

Leave Comment

Hawaii Trip February 2014 Travel Photo Diary

Hawaiiphotodiary2014_0I just returned from spending 6 days in Honolulu, HI for a family wedding. My husband’s youngest brother was getting married, and Lil Tot was to be the ringbearer on this special occasion. We just happened to leave the day before Portland received a record amount of snowfall (the most snow since 2008!!) and we arrived back the day it melted. C’est la vie, or how they say in Japanese, shouganai. We had to be content with sun, surf, and sand instead. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have been seeing my updates. Here are some of my photos from this trip, which was packed every day from morning to night with family obligations and events: (more…)

Leave Comment Leave Comment

How to Use the Cartwheel App to Get Bonus Savings on Everything You Love at Target! Plus Bonus Giveaway

0.targetcartwheelsavingsI’m always on the hunt for a bargain, and savings on top of that bargain is just icing on the cake! My local Target is one of my favorite places to score fabulous, fashionable items for a steal – and now with the Cartwheel App, there are even further discounts available! It’s super-easy to use (and fun to be able to use it in the store and see what you can save on the fly!) Cartwheel can be used on desktop, tablet, mobile web, iPhone, and Android (though first you have to download and install the app on your device.) You can use it before going to Target, to see what has Cartwheel discounts before going. cartwheelonphoneWhen checking on items at Target.com on your mobile device, you may see a notation next to the item that says “Cartwheel Offer” – for these items, you just click through to the item and hit the “See Target Cartwheel Offer” button. cartwheelonphone2The Cartwheel app will open and tell you what discounts are available. If you find a Cartwheel offer that you like, you simply hit the “Add” button to add it to “My Cartwheel” – which will then be scanned at the register at Target. The barcode that is generated by Cartwheel is unique to you. scanningbarcode1Cartwheel offers can only be used on in-store purchases, but once you’re at the store you can also scan the barcodes of items to see if there is an applicable Cartwheel discount. This scarf caught my eye, so I scanned the barcode to see if it was discounted on Cartwheel. By tapping on the barcode icon in the top Search Bar of the Cartwheel app, the app opens your phone’s camera with a rectangular area to scan the barcode. Hold the phone with the item’s barcode in the rectangular area, the app will scan it, and then it will redirect to a page that tells you if there are any Cartwheel offers on that particular item.scanningbarcode2 And there was: 15% off Women’s Fashion Scarves! Score! When I browsed through the lamps aisle, thinking to pick up something for my bedroom table, I saw a gorgeous clear bubble-stemmed lamp base, and decided to see if Cartwheel was offering a discount on it. scanninglamp I was in luck and Cartwheel was also offering 15% off Lamps, expiring that very day! So I tapped the “Add” button, and it was added to my other saved Cartwheel discounts.clearanceitemoffer The neat thing is that even if items are on Clearance or marked down, the Cartwheel discount is on top of any other Target discounts or coupons, manufacturers’ coupons, and your REDcard discount. So it’s like double, triple, quadruple savings! scanningregisterAt checkout, after ringing everything in my cart up, the cashier scanned the barcode Cartwheel was displaying. This barcode activated my saved discounts: 15% off Lamps, 15% off Mirrors, and 15% off Women’s Scarves. I had 2 mirrors and so the discount was applicable to both of them – woohoo! One of the mirrors was even a clearance item and marked down already – so I got 15% off that final price. (For each Cartwheel discount, you can have up to 4 items.) I ended up saving a grand total of $30.68! This was on one lamp base, 2 mirrors, and 1 scarf – and though some items were already on sale, just by using the Cartwheel app I saved an additional $17.18 off my purchases. Cartwheel offers change often (there is a countdown in the app to when each offer expires), and there are more than 700 discounts available! Each person starts with 10 spots on their list to “clip” their virtual coupons to. You can earn badges for saving and interacting with the app, which earn you more spots on your Cartwheel list to fill up with extra discount offers.

Sweepstakestargetgiftcard

To celebrate the launch of their new app, Target is offering one person a $1,000 Target GiftCard®! Entering is easy: just leave an answer to the following question in the comments on this post:

What is the biggest discount you’ve gotten when purchasing something? Did you use creative couponing, time your purchase to an annual sale, stock up on gift codes – how did you make that big score??! Do tell!

Sweepstakes Rules:

No duplicate comments.

You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:

  1. Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
  2. Tweet (public message) about this promotion; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
  3. Blog about this promotion, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
  4. For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.

This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. The notification email will come directly from BlogHer via the sweeps@blogher email address. You will have 72 hours to respond; otherwise a new winner will be selected.

The Official Rules are available here.

This sweepstakes runs from 1/30 – 2/28.

Be sure to visit the Target Cartwheel brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ posts!

Good luck! xo Carly

Leave Comment

Pin It on Pinterest