on a little bit of decorating...

Okay, can we just talk about this shelf for a second? (Or maybe an hour?)

When I decided to pop into World Market last week, I had no idea I was about to come face to face with the shelf of my dreams. I have been looking around for a table or shelf in this exact shade of teal for the last year. I kid you not. The thing is, I've been trying to incorporate more color in my decorating - but I like just a punch of color here and there. I thought, "How utterly delightful would a teal piece of furniture be right now?" (Pretty darn delightful, if you must know.) When I saw this shelf on display, I nearly squealed with pure, unadulterated joy! And I decided it was destiny because it was on sale, I had leftover tip money and it was the very last one available in that color.

I spent the vast majority of Saturday afternoon framing photos and arranging them on the shelf with other random things. (I'm totally weird about setting things up and organizing shelves - even though it doesn't look that impressive, it took a while.) It ended up being dedicated mostly to the wee children in my life (nieces, nephews, little sisters), which I'm totally okay with. All of my favorite portraits are of kids, anyway, so it's nice to have a place to display all of them. (Now I just need to visit my sister so I can take some updated photos of her little munchkin!) In any case, this shelf is basically my happiness at the moment, and every time I see it I smile with glee. I can't even help it.

I also added a few other things around our place - this framed print is from an etsy shop called sparkle power. It is incredibly adorable and whimsical and is hanging above our stove. Every time I see it, I'm going to be all, "FOOD! THAT'S WHAT I'M WAITING FOR!" (Or maybe that's just funny to me. That could be the case.)

I updated the photos on our fridge, too. I love that our fridge is basically a big scrapbook. Again, it took me entirely too long to figure out the exact layout I wanted, and I don't think my husband even noticed the change. Ah, well. Every time I go to get something from the fridge, I admire my friends and family and the wonderfully rounded edges on half the photos.

While I was drooling over the teal shelf at World Market, I also picked up these adorable napkins. I've never been one for cloth napkins, because the very thought of rubbing dirty hands all over beautiful fabric makes me break into hives. However, these were too pretty to pass up - they were also on sale for $4.99 for a set of four! The color is just perfect for the season.

And I guess I can always hide them during dinner. You know, so I don't ever have to wash them.

Anyway, I also bought these napkins so I could use the other two to make the cutest curtains in all of humanity:

I'm totally stealing my sister-in-law's idea for these, because ever since seeing the ones hanging up in her kitchen, this idea has been lurking in the back of my mind. When I mentioned on twitter about needing cheap curtains, someone mentioned the curtain clips again and I knew I just had to do it.

Do you understand how incredibly cheap and easy this was? Since the napkins were on sale, they were an incredibly good price, and I just had to pick up a cafe rod and small curtain clips at Target. I figured out the total cost, and the grand total for everything comes to about $10.50. THAT IS INSANE. And I love it.

I think I need to do things like this more often. It makes me excited to come home. It makes me happy to live where we do, for the time being. We don't need a big, fancy house - our cozy, little duplex is just perfect for us right now.