Inspiring lady.

Photo credit goes to: calanan.com


OK. I'll admit it.
I love a lot of things...well...a lot.
I'm one of those people that say "I love _____" often. What can I say?
I suppose I abuse the word. But I really do just find so many things to be
so many levels of awesome.

And I guess this is one of them, but I still find her to be extra special.
Who am I talking about?
Dooce, of course.

Although I have been a bad blogger lately and not kept up with her writings,
I have to admit that she is such an inspiration. And not only to fellow bloggers,
but to women in general. Hell, to people in general.

She has this uncanny ability to bear her soul without hesitation. There it
is. Just out there for everyone to read (and see). No fear. Just complete and total
exposure. And it's refreshing. And it's beautiful. And it's life. And your invited.

I highly recommend subscribing to her blog. She is currently 18 weeks pregnant
with her second child and I don't think I've ever been happier for anyone I did not
know personally. It's kind of silly, but that's the connection she makes with her readers.
For example, the highlight of my husband's trip to SXSW was getting to dance with
her at one of the after parties. And my husband does not fanboy often. He did this time.

And as if reading her daily musings wasn't great enough, she has finally published a
book of her memoirs documenting her first pregnancy and subsequent postpartum
depression: It Sucked, and Then I Cried. It will be available on March 24th, but is
currently available for pre-order at Amazon.com and you better believe I will have
a copy. She is also doing a handy-dandy book tour in select cities, which unfortunately
Miami is not a part of. Wretched. But maybe your city is lucky enough to host her!

So in conclusion, I may fangirl often but take my word on this one.
Promise.

Back in Black!

I'm back!!!!
We had a great time in Virginia, even though I'm pretty sure we spent the majority of our trip traveling in some way either by car or plane. The wedding was absolutely spectacular and very romantic. Congratulations to Mel and Bill!



Ever since arriving back, I've been catching up on my online life (very tiring) of blogs, facebook and gmail. Upon beginning my music updates, I stumbled upon this little enticing tidbit on Blamo, my favorite Smashing Pumpkins fansite:

To celebrate the band's 20th anniversary, The Smashing Pumpkins will be playing select U.S. cities in August and September of 2008.

No dates or cities have been announced but expect the band to revisit a few specific places that were missed during the last U.S. tour...

Could Miami be one of these mystery tour dates? I certainly hope so. I am still getting over my pain when the festival the Pumpkins were headlining down here in Miami was postponed indefinitely and then canceled altogether. That was not a pretty day in the world of Meli.

I'm still patiently waiting for Corgan and crew to make their way down here again, but dammit Billy, you are pissing me off so lets get to it!

Stamp of Approval

How cute is this???

I found this adorable custom stamp through one of my favorite blogs, appropriately named Cuteable. It can be ordered through Craftpudding's Etsy shop. It currently states that she is not taking any new orders, but I messaged her anyways. I must have this for our return labels!

Murals with Love

I wanted to familiarize my local readers with my dear friend Nadia's glorious business, Murals with Love. She is a professional artist and art educator with over 10 years of experience. The girl knows her art and is beyond talented. After preparing her own beautiful daughter's nursery, she realized how much she really loved the art of murals.

She is now providing her services to other proud moms and dads that want something special for the new members of their family or just want to give their children's rooms a facelift! So mosey on over to her blog to check out her work, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Plate Lust

I never thought I would see the day when I would lust over plates.
Well, the day is here.

These adorable plates are made by Sarah Cihat, who finds unwanted plates at thrift stores and then redesigns them into some of the most kitschy, adorable creations I have seen in some time. Unfortunately, they run between $34 to $59 each which make my pockets very very sad. Oh well, I'll continue to lust from afar.

Racing Stripes

In order to get some blogging inspiration, I have added some great new blogs to my netvibes this morning and found some great material! Thanks to Copy Cat Chick, I now believe that I am slightly obsessed with having a zebra print rug.

What do you guys think?

Oh, and I come bearing fabulous news: we are back in our condo! It's hard to believe, but we are finally home! So despite all my house hunting anxiety, I have decided to continue our renovations. Afterall, our condo has to reflect our pretty outstanding personalities, don't you think? ;)