collections / words:

I come across so many nice inspirational art + words so here's a little collection of some little messages and lovely words/advice to live by in 2012. Hope you're encouraged + inspired today, sweet friends.

isn't this so true? some people are so mean. why can't we all just love.

via Simon Walker

beautiful words. via The Ardent Sparrow

Art by by Lizzy Stewart. via Brain Pickings

via 55 some

via Etiquette for a Lady

Love will set you free.

Love Mumford + Sons, beautiful graphic via A Pair of Pears

patrick costilow found via Sacred Lotus

Depeapa print found via Mademoiselle Cranky Pants

love this print. Isn't it so true that actions speak louder than words?

John Tibbott via Atypical Type A

heh, another one by Lizzy Stewart (she is awesome!)

via Joy Ever After

resource / vintage scans:

Scanned these in from vintage pieces in my paper drawer. An old journal. Index card. Tickets. and the ladies are from a 1951 sewing pattern. Free for your use in designs, personal or commercial. File contains a .psd (photoshop) file with 4 scans, each one is on it's own layer. Hope you like them! Please don't sell or redistribute.. if you use the scans, would love a link/credit back to this post, but not required. They are just for your enjoyment :)

Download file here!

new design + giveaway:

Welcome to the all new 2012 oh, hello friend design! I am so fortunate to know Ana from Blog Milk, who helped me do all the coding and make my design even possible. It is a lot of fun to design blog layouts, and I realized I've pretty much had a new design every year. Shall we take a look at all the previous oh, hello friend looks?

2008: has anyone been reading the blog for this long?

This seems like such a long time ago. My first blogging days, good times!

Loved this mint green back in the day, before I loved mustard yellow ;)

2009: Saw a complete redesign.. This is when I started "the daily"

which were daily columns and features for the blog.

2010: kept a lot of similar features, changed the logo fonts.

2011: Thought I'd get rid of the "oh" in oh, hello friend but decided I can't take away from the brand and the "oh" is back! ;)

and now we're in 2012 with a new 2-column design. I really hope you like it! I tried to simplify things (it's hard for me to simplify sometimes) but get rid of the blog clutter. There are some new links at the top of features I think is this blog's speciality: packaging/notes/vintage. One thing I did keep and have had since the original design is the "my heart" list. and you may notice a couple new "daily" buttons - I'm going to start doing weekly diy's and resources. Hope you like all the new changes!

Thought I'd also offer a little giveaway to go along with the new blog design launch. Win $50 from each of my 3 shops: the wanderlust, reverie market, and oh, hello friend for a total of $150 worth of credit! Simply leave a comment to enter with the year you started reading the blog (if you remember) For an additional entry: Tweet or post about the giveaway on facebook! (Up to 2 extra entries if you do both!) A winner will be chosen at random on Monday, January 23rd. Good luck :)

golden globe 2012 fashion:

Did anyone catch the Golden Globe Award's last night? Did a post about the fashion last year so thought I'd do another post this year with some of my personal faves ;)

photo source: hollywood life + just jared

It's crazy that a whole year has passed, it feels like just yesterday I posted about the fashion from the 2011 golden globe awards. Well this year I think this nude color still seems to be in - it is so classic, I don't think it will ever get old! I thought Madonna looked gorgeous and the top of her blouse during her presentation was so pretty. The bottom of the dress is whatever. I do love the dress of Andrea Riseborough (not sure who she is but she is with Madonna) and

Zooey is so cute, she shouldn't be on the worst dress list but I think she made it to a few. Not such a fan of any of these dresses. Natalie Portman's looks like something my friend wore to prom back in 2001. I think some people liked Heidi but I just think it's so plain, not golden globe fabulous.. What did you think of the fashion this year? :)

Happy Friday:

Can you guess who this yummy treat is from? My little brother's girlfriend: Samantha! You may remember she got us some cupcakes and doughnuts before. She is the best, and is always thinking of others when she buys delicious treats. Not only are they yummy but they're fun to take pictures of too.

These are from a bakery in Tustin called Cream Pan. You locals may have been here. These are the strawberry croissants. So good.

and in about 5 seconds, demolished. :)

So what are you up to this weekend? Nick has been working late all week (he got home around 1am the past 3 days!) so I am just looking forward to spending time with him this weekend. He is taking me on a little date on Sunday, I super excited! I've been keeping myself busy with getting ready for alt next week and a wholesale show after that..

Just a thought for the weekend - we got news this week that a friend was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer. It's also in his spine and hip. He's only 30, so young. and he just got married a year ago. I've been processing it this week. It's a little weird that their lives are changed in a second and I go on blogging about what I'm wearing or some pretty food, you know? I don't know. I guess what I took from it was that life is short. Nick and I argue sometimes and get into really petty fights. You know how when you just get really in your head and so angry you can't let it go? I don't know, maybe it's just me. But all that to say, it's just not worth it. Spend some time with someone you love. Be sure to tell someone you love them. One day it can be all fine and the next, changed forever.

Have a great weekend friends. See you on Monday.

blog discussion - blog etiquette:

thanks to alice b gardens photography for the image above!

Today's discussion is about blog etiquette. I'm actually speaking on this topic at Alt Summit next week and am really curious to hear your thoughts on the subject! Would love to get some of your input and possibly address some of the points/topics.. I'll definitely come back and report on what my panel discussed with you all.

So what do you think friends? Is there a general 'blog etiquette' rule-book out there or guidelines that we bloggers should be following? Are there things you see in the blog world that you may not agree with? Anything can be brought up here - crediting, (which I know we've discussed before) copying, content, dealing with mean people. I've been blogging for 3 years now (wow, actually going on 4!) and I've seen a lot but may also be out of touch with certain blog issues that may be happening out there. Let's also turn it around and focus on the positive too --what are some 'polite' things you notice bloggers are doing? Anything out there you've noticed that you appreciate fellow bloggers following proper blog etiquette?

As always, this post is not meant to stir up controversy or point fingers or anything like that. Just an open and friendly discussion. If you have something you're not sure about regarding blogging etiquette - please be sure to post it for all to discuss! :) Thanks in advance always for a lovely discussion! (and for any input on etiquette-thoughts for the panel!)

Antique Market Baskets:

This is a bit of a random post but I always see such interesting baskets around the flea market so I thought I'd take some pictures to share with you. Some cute, some vintage, some practical, some funny, some random. It's almost like each one reveals the owner's personality in a sense.

The always very cute wire baskets..

Love the wicker basket.

I want to sit in this one and be pushed around ;)

A mini shopping-cart basket, so cool!

Huge industrial carts, this works too.

Would be pretty big to load in the car since they don't collapse.

Stacked high with vintage goodness. I think these are my favorite. Lots of open room w/options to tie things down. Pretty nifty.

Shopping carts work too.

This is my cart. Simple and small. Nick asked why we even bring this cart to the market, the stuff we get never really even fits. But you know why I got it. Yellow! Couldn't resist those yellow wheels ;)

Hope you enjoyed this post all these fun baskets and carts!