Trip planning tip

When I travel I hate looking like a tourist. Unfortunately, for our upcoming trip to Asia I don't think there's anyway around that. But I came up with one way to help prevent me from looking like such a lost tourist.

I recently discovered that iPhones allow you to save PDFs to your bookshelf app. So I've been converting the cool travel blog posts or articles to PDFs so I can easily read them on the go.

Here's how to do it.
(Note, you'll need an iPhone, Internet explorer and a Mac to do the following steps.)
When you have your article, save it as a PDF (Print > PDF > Save to PDF). *Note when you save the PDF name it something short and sweet that you will easily be able to access in your bookshelf later. Then email it to yourself. In your email (on your phone) click on the arrow at the top right of your screen and select Open in iBooks.

Once its opened in iBooks it will sit on your bookshelf happily until you try to access it on a crowded street. Not looking like a tourist. At all.

Fabric Stash

I hate to admit this but, I hoard collect fabric. I find a yard or two and bring it home. Sometimes it sits folded in a box for a year and sometimes I use it right away. Recently my stash of fabric has come in handy in Seattle with the lack of fashion fabric stores! 

A few weeks ago I went to the Beppa button sale. Not knowing what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised when I found a TON of fabric. The owners of Beppa are "retired" but use the space to make their creations and open it up 4 times a year for a giant sale. I had a ton of fun and can't wait for the next one. (Who knows when that will be. They don't post it on their website, but send it out via postcards.)

Here's a few of my fabric purchases. The colorful patterned one that was $3 was embroidered. How do you even start to make something like that? I think I may make it into a makeup bag... but in typical Sarah form I'm afraid to cut it. It's truly one of a kind. 

Tuesday Tallgirl: Rose Pants

I currently own two pairs of blue jeans. The rest of my closet lives a pair of red, bright blue (okay, I have two pairs of these) black and white stripped and bright pink. I make no apologies because I love color and patterns.

Here's this week's inspirational Tall Girl closet:

chambray shirt via TopShop Tall.
Shoulder bag via Filson.
Rose pants via Long Tall Sally.
Loafers via pinterest that lead to a sad broken link.

7-Min Workout

Have you tried the 7 minute workout? There's a dozen exercises that you do for 30 seconds each for a total of 7 minutes. It feels a bit like gym class, but doesn't include the rope climb - thank goodness.
Michael and I did it this week and actually had a lot of fun.

The 30-second countdown was a bit clunky but Michael just found this handy 30 second timer that shows all the exercises as it countdowns.

Urban Gardening

We are mini urban farmers. We have a tiny shared pea patch plot that we recently started tending. We planned our little plot with a series of square foot areas using this book All New Square Foot Gardening, Second Edition: The Revolutionary Way to Grow More In Less Space.

I've been walking to it almost daily to make sure it's watered and to see the progress of all the little sprouts. The walk along the lake to the pea patch is super relaxing and a great way to start my day. And soon I'll be able to walk home with goodies for cooking. I know the photo is a bit blurry but we have big plans for this little plot - turnips, beans, beets, carrots, tomatoes, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, lemon cucumbers and romanesco.

Happy Spring!

Tuesday Tallgirl: It's Spring Time!

It's springtime, which means, you can break out your cute clothes... but don't forget your coat!
purse via independentboutique.com
shoes via Nordstrom
dress via Topshop
coat via this (odd) site

Shorts

I usually hate shorts and stick to skirts in the summer. I have a few but for the most part- blak! Until I saw these. How adorable. (I guess it doesn't hurt that this gal is Brazilian and being photographed by the Sartorialist.) But overall the fit is similar to a skirt, but somehow cuter. I wonder if I could find a pattern in time to make something like this for our trip. Hmmmmm.... could I get away with it.
Or would I end up looking like Shelley Long from Troop Beverly Hills.