A Westervin Wedding: At Last!

The Shopping Sherpa: Hitting Home

All our travels (past & pending), along with all the holiday hullabaloo, have stirred up a bit of home pride in this southern transplant. The longer I’m away from Arkansas, the stronger my southern roots seem to grow. But with my ties to other states, from Louisiana to Illinois and from Virginia to California, I feel at home wherever we seem to wander.

Clockwise from top left: { Homestead Print from Beauchamping }  { i heart Missouri Necklace from Truche }  { Home Canvas Papercut from The Time is Now }  { Illinois State Pillow from love,california }

Daily Pretties: Fit for Two

{ big jumper by Sam Caldwell }  { mid-afternoon by Kelly Burgess }

WE Thank You

{ insert dreamy, romantic or heartbroken text here. by Victor Huckabee }

Well, my darlings, the contest is over, and although I never stopped wishing on fallen eyelashes and shooting stars or quit nagging people for votes, I knew we wouldn’t make it to the top 50.  While we definitely won’t be winning a fatty wedding, I don’t regret all the effort we put into trying.  The long and frenzied road to 87th place has been nothing but fun and fulfilling.  From the bottom of our happy hearts, Brian and I want to thank every one of the 550+ people who voted for us.  Big hugs and kisses and cupcake sprinkles especially for everyone who wished us well, left a heartfelt comment of congratulations and cheer or entered our giveaways and helped us spread the word.  I wish we all could have won!  And I can’t give enough cupcake sprinkles and hugs to Lorena and Lisa who donated their crazy-beautiful necklaces for those giveaways.  You muh gurls!!!  Now, cue the exit music.  I think my 2 minutes is up.

Giveaway! Embroidered Necklace from Marañón

EDIT: This giveaway has ended.  Enter our current giveaway here!

We’re having our fifth and final giveaway, folks, and this one’s very special.  As many of our faithful readers already know, Brian and I are engaged and we’ve entered the Crate & Barrel Ultimate Wedding Contest.  If you’ve already heard about this 10 times, don’t stop reading!  For those of you who are new to the Westervin blog, lemme esplain!  In order to get to the next round in the contest, we need to be amongst the top 50 vote-getters.  We’re barely hanging on — somewhere around 200th place — but we’re not giving up hope.  Should we win, our wedding will be unique and sassy, like us!  We plan to purchase goods and services that are eco-friendly and that support small, local businesses and independent craftspeople.  Craftspeople like the shockingly sweet Lorena of Marañón.  I plan on wearing one of her refreshingly cool embroidered necklaces on the big day.  To help us win, Lorena has kindly donated one of her necklaces for a giveaway.  This giveaway!  We ask that you vote for us in the contest, and in return, you will be entered to win the hand-embroidered and -sewn Peacock Fan Necklace above.  If you’ve already voted for us, you’re half way there!

How to enter:

1. Follow this link to our Ultimate Wedding Contest entry page.
2. Click “Vote for this Entry”
3. Enter your email address (you will NOT receive spam, this is just to verify that you are an actual person)
4. Leave a comment on this post with your vote number (e.g. I’m vote #170).  To get your vote number, just check the vote count on our entry page after you’ve received your confirmation email.*  In your comment, be sure to include your name in the “Name” field and your email address in the “Email” field.
5. Tell others to vote for us.  Why?  Because you’ll get additional entries and increase your chances of winning the necklace!  So tweet about it, blog about it, post a link on your Facebook wall or email it to your friends.  Just ask them to leave your name in their comment (e.g. I’m vote #170 and Kelly Jones told me to vote!)
6. Give yourself a pat on the back!

*If you’ve already voted for us chances are I know about it.  Don’t worry about the vote number unless you remember it.

This giveaway ends Sunday, March 14th at 11:59pm CST

Daily Pretties: Love & Bedbugs

I would like to point out that, as I began scouring my collection of favorite images for my next Daily Pretties post, this Daily Pretties post, I did not intend to include cliche representations of Valentine’s Day, which, unless you’re living under a rock or, let’s say, a tent (because I’m sure there’s more room under one of those) away from our consumerism soaked culture, I’m sure you’re aware is just around the corner.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a generally optimistic person who values social relationships and the deep fulfillment they bring above most things.  (In this case, I am also considering my love affair with chocolate milk a “social relationship”.  You can judge me if you wish.)  I love “love” and celebrating it.  But people, if I see another jewelry commercial saying that buying me a diamond something-or-other is the most sincere and romantic way my significant other (who must be a man, obv) can show he loves me, I WILL puke.  Yet, despite my newly developed aversion to stereotyped images of love and romance, the beautiful collection of rich reds, soft pinks and dainty florals you see before you just… happened.  Perhaps it was non-conscious (as in subconscious, but less Freudian) — I’ve seen too many Valentine’s Day ads — but I just found these photographs too compelling to say no.

{ Fade Away Show by Mick Alister }  { Untitled (another lovely) by *Nishe }

The Shopping Sherpa: T-H-E-R-M-O-S Spells Love

What’s the sincerest way to show someone you love them?  With a thermos, of course!  Just ask Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin’s character from The Jerk).  He’ll sing you a little song to explain:

Oh I’m picking out a thermos for you.
Not an ordinary thermos for you,
but the extra best thermos you can buy
with vinyl and stripes and a cup built right in.

I’m picking out a thermos for you,
and maybe a barometer too,
and what else can I buy
so on me you’ll rely?
A rear-end thermometer too.

If you asked my Mom, she’d tell you the same thing. She even sent me a vintage thermos for my birthday, just to show how much she missed me!  If you’re missing your mother or another loved one, let ‘em know with one of these beautiful thermoses, handpicked by the Shopping Sherpa.  He also paired each one with some original artwork for extra flair!  That Sherpa… he loves his flair.

Clockwise from top left: White Lace Thermos from Paper Source; Yellow Birds on Gray Tiles from Lucky Bluebird Art; Vintage Orange Thermos from Tigerluxe; Untitled Print from Yael Frankel.

Clockwise from top left: Wild and Wolf Kennet Thermos from Amazon; To Swap from Yael Frankel; Earthlust Feather Thermos from The Green Life; Jetaime from Kat Hannah.

Clockwise from top left: Love Birds from Linda Solovic; Boston Traveler Thermos from Amazon; Leash the One You Love from Life with Tigers; Aladdin Hy Lo Plaid Thermos from Vintage Butterfly 94;

Clockwise from top left: Take My Hand from Paola Zakimi; Alfi Spider Thermoses from Linens-N-Things; Valentine Be Mine from The Frantic Meerkat; SIGG Thermos from Altrec.com.

The Shopping Sherpa: Engagement rings, cont.

For those of you waiting for the second installment of today’s shopping guide, the Shopping Sherpa is here to reward you!  He’s brought us 15 more killer rings to ooh and ahh over.

These wooden rings add a bit of warmth to the usual stone and metal ring.

1.  Cinco Zafiro from Naturaleza

2.  The Kendal Ring from Lotus Jewelry Studio

3.  This Sunshine Ring with yellow heartwood and citrine setting is bright and cheery.  { from Wood by Alex }

You don’t need a stone setting with these simple sculpted rings.

1.  Ratiba Ring from Sara

2.  Mod Pointy Stacking Ring from Nina Dinoff

3.  This Moebius Ring from Mynta could be a lovely symbol of your unending love.

To counter the mushiness of that last sentence, here are some sleek and dark ring options.

1.  Ebony and Sterling Silver ring from Arosha

2.  Halftone Ring from DMD Metalsmith

3.  Dark arts anyone?  Prague ring from Ach Ach Liebling

1.  Fire Opal Ring from Midwest Alchemy

2.  Apophilite ring from MSO Joies

3.  Lighthouse Ring from Dollybird

These last three are so sweet I wanna lick ‘em!

1.  Silver Lace Rings from All Those 3hrees

2.  Forget Me Knot ring from Pauper’s Bounty

3.  Cute alert!  Bird Ring from Sian Bostwick

The Shopping Sherpa: Engagement ring, anyone?

Prepare yourselves friends, because today’s guide from the Shopping Sherpa is a doozy.  In fact, the wise shopping guru found so many amazing items that we had to break it up into two installments.  As you may have read earlier today, B-bops and I are planning to tie the knot!  In my search for an engagement ring, I realized I’m not one for the conventional, but the perfect unique ring was proving difficult to find.  So the Shopping Sherpa sprung into action and found me a plethora of handmade and alternative rings to choose from.  I’m happy to say I finally found the right ring for me, but there were so many stunners I had to pass up.  I thought I’d share all my favorites with you, in case you’re looking for a non-traditional ring of your own.

One Stone New York

1. Numero uno is the ring I ended up choosing for myself.  The stone is a Herkimer Diamond, which isn’t a diamond at all, but rather a rare type of quartz crystal that comes from New York state, making it ethically and locally sourced.  This ring also makes for an environmentally friendly choice, as the band is made from 100% recycled gold.  AND it’s stunning, if I do say so myself.

2. If you believe in the healing powers of stones, you’ll wanna get your hands on this moonstone ring. Moonstone is said to relieve stress and enhance intuition.  However, if you consider that to be a superstition about as powerful as a Ouija Board, you can surely still appreciate how lovely this ring is.

3.  Wave Ring

The Be Side

1.  I fell hard for all the edgy jewelry at The Be Side.  These Big Knot Rings say “Yeah, I’m tyin’ the knot, and no, I didn’t need a big shiny diamond to try to distract you from my lack of style.  Jealous?”

2 & 3.  The Be Side’s Rockwell Ring collection is another big slap in the face for the diamond.  The “stones” set into this Karis Rockwell ring and these chunkier Rockwell rings are solid silver.  Take that, traditional engagement ring!

Oye Modern

1.  Let’s say you’re not into jewelry, but you ARE really into music, AND you want to celebrate your love for another with an engagement ring.  The Shopping Sherpa’s got you covered.  Behold the Turntable Ring!

2.  Caviar Ring

3.  Inverted Prism Ring

1.  These next three stunners are for the textile junkie — embroiderers, sewers, crocheters and all around crafty devils.  Who needs a cold, hard stone when you can flaunt a soft and sweet silk one with this Silk Stone Ring from Jia Style.

2. My runner up, I needed one of these Anti-diamond Rings from Recycled Rings in my life.

3.  Ribbon Ring from Filip Vanas

1.  This Reykjavik Ring from Ach Ach Liebling has a vintage glass gem, which gives you a bigger bling for you buck.  And the colors!  They’re like the sea after a storm…

2.  A Concrete and Recycled Glass ring?  Now that’s unconventional!  { from Concrete Ring, natch }

3.  Apolo Ring (with a Swarovski crystal) from Leela Bijou

Daily Pretty: Some Special News

It’s official, ladies and gents.  The Westervins are an item.  A “taking a walk down the isle” sort of item.  A “till death do us part” sort of item. 

We’re engaged!

{ Remember by Katze Rubiano }  { Vintage photo found on MyVintageLove’s photostream }