Wednesday, February 29, 2012

shots all around! ascaso espresso machines.


I truly can't get over how beautiful these Ascaso espresso machines are.  I can only imagine the homes that they live in and how lovely their mornings must be. A girl can dream, right? Don't think the copper and brass one could be any more gorgeous... nope. I bet it pours gold flaked espresso!

pretty me pinterest. february


































A peek at all the beautiful little gems I came across on Pinterest in February. Hope you enjoy this leap year eye candy as much as I do.

1. bonbon balloons 2. enjoy cupcakes trailer, style me pretty 3. paris wood block art, lucius art 4. gold dot tumblers, bed bath & beyond 5. stripe forts, see jane blog 6. you're gonna make it after all 7. wool blanket, scholten & baijings 8. beach cruiser photograph, wicked witch of the east 9. nola braid heels, anthropologie

follow me here on pinterest!

Monday, February 27, 2012

toast to spring


Toast, the classicly chic UK clothing & interiors shop, now has its spring collection sneak peek on its website. For us in the U.S., they luckily offer reasonable international shipping- so load that virtual cart up already.  

I know it's only February, but Toast's clean and fresh line has me thinking all about spring's longer days, blooms and happy people emerging from their winter hibernation. It's basically always spring or summer in San Diego, which I'm very thankful for, but something I really miss about Minnesota is how energetic everyone gets once 50 degrees strikes. Everyone gathers outside in tee shirts, grills out with friends, sees their neighbors for the first time in four months and gets ridiculously giddy. Miss that. Let the spring fever begin here and everywhere.




1. spiced fig jam 2. sen raincoat 3. stripe jersey tee 4. macausland's blanket 5. yaki teapot 6. wool draped pullover 7. twill stripe tea towel 8. storm lantern wicks

all images via Toast

Friday, February 24, 2012

friday's fab $15.

This week's top picks, all under $15.


1. Hat  2. Bow Ring  3. Belt  4. Milk Glasses {<$4 each}

LA, I love your Pie Hole.

When some sweet people I know in LA opened up a pie shop recently, I knew I had to go. I finally made it up to LA for my birthday weekend in January and am oh-so-happy I did.


The Pie Hole, tucked away in downtown LA's arts district, is a pie lover's heaven. From sweet to savory, they have every type of homemade pie you can imagine and great coffee to sip on along with it. My friends and I sampled plenty o' pie and our bellies were very full and happy once we left. I personally loved the mac n' cheese pie & the poached pear for dessert, although every piece was perfect. The Pie Hole is most certainly worth the drive up to LA {yes, even the 2 hour drive from San Diego!} to get your pie on.


Thanks ladies {& Sean!} for making it a pie-fect birthday lunch.

Photos via Sonya Delebreau & my iPhone

Friday, February 17, 2012

ladies & gentlemen, we have a winner!

Do I have a Friday treat for you... I'm oh-so-happy to announce the winner of my first giveaway by the lovely Shana at The Ropes. Thank you SO MUCH Shana for being such a sweetheart.

The winner is....Courtney of Suttonrowe. Congrats Courtney, you are going to love your pretty new bracelet. Just send me an email at birdyblogger@gmail.com with your address and information and I will drop that little baby in the mail.

Thank you to everyone who entered! I appreciate you all so very much.

Hope everyone has a wonderful long weekend. My sister is en route to Southern California from Maine as we speak so I know I'm bound to have a lot of fun and eat plenty of food {per the usual}. Can't wait to share pictures of our adventures and time together. Cheers.

{image from society 6}

Thursday, February 16, 2012

friday's fab $15.

This Friday's fabulous four finds under $15. With a little extended Valentine's Day love, of course.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

only one day left to register for the ropes giveaway


Friday is just around the corner. Don't forget to enter to win The Ropes giveaway. Friday evening I will be randomly selecting one of my lucky readers to be the new owner of one of these lovely bracelets. Get the full set of instructions here and find out how you can win. See you back here Friday when I announce the lucky recipient.

Monday, February 13, 2012

link love

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you will be sharing the day with your lova' or are having a fun little Galentine's Day with your lady friends. In the spirit of sharing the love, I wanted to give y'all a Valentine's gift in the form of some awesome recent blog posts from some of my favorite blogging ladies. Sit back, grab a glass of bubbly {pink, I hope} and enjoy.


The Studio of Mae: 10% off Sweet Nothings. The amazing online store, Love Mae, is offering 10% off their adorable 'sweet nothings' decals, ends Tuesday. {featured in photo}

Inspiration Cooperative: Stripes Forever. One of my friends from the Blogging Your Way e-course. This post is all about one of my favorite things, stripes!

A Cup of Jo: How to Raise Kids Like a French Woman. A Cup of Jo has to be my favorite blog of all-time. This book looks really interesting. Although I won't be having kids for a while, I am still intrigued to read this one. Looks like a game-changer!

A Perfect Kind of Day: Potato Chip & Chocolate Cookies. Speaks for itself. Meesch is full of tempting recipes.

New York State of Mind: Reunited and it Felt so Good. What can I say, I like donuts. Daina also makes me want to move to NYC. But I won't be. So I live there vicariously through her blog.

Teal & Lime: Cake in a Jar Printable. Jackie took a spin on my cake in a jar DIY from Saturday. Love the recycled baby food jar idea and the printable is so cute.

A reminder that I will be drawing on Friday for The Ropes giveaway. Make sure to read through the instructions here and please enter! It's easy. If you can't figure any of it out just let me know and I'll walk you through it.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

what weekend blogging really looks like

valentine's cake in a jar






Happy almost Valentine's Day! I was feeling the spirit this morning and made these little cuties for some friends. Just whip up a sheet cake and layer 3-4 inch pieces of it it in a jar with the frosting of your choice. I won't lie, I made it with a Funfetti boxed mix. If you know me, you know I have a thing for Funfetti..and it is Saturday... and honestly I'd rather spend my time eating, drinking wine and walking Otis.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday. I just got back from the Golden Hill Farmer's Market where I met up with my friends Ashley and Brian and their little cutie Isla. Happy one year anniversary to them! My friend Nellie also had a beautiful baby girl today, congrats Jan!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend and get some much deserved rest.

Cheers.

Pin It

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

ZARA officially san diego-bound.


Happy shopping news for us San Diegans. The always fabulous ZARA has finally announced that they will be setting up shop in Fashion Valley Mall. No official opening date has been stated but they are hinting at a Fall 2012 arrival. Let the countdown begin...

With this great news, I will share my favorite spring picks from their current collection. Loving the bold patterns and bright color pops that are everywhere this spring. Weather calls for 80 degrees in San Diego tomorrow. We can consider it spring already, right?




Tuesday, February 7, 2012

domino is baaack. well, kind of.

photo from dominomag.com

Design lovers, mark your calendars for April 17. Conde Nast has announced that Domino Magazine, the beloved magazine of all interior design magazines, will be coming back with a special limited "Quick Fixes" edition, hitting news stands in April.

It's been three years since Domino closed its doors but I continue to go through my heaping collection of past issues a few times a year and daydream/drool over the pretty pictures, happens every time. Hopefully there will be more special editions to follow, please, pretty please? Read more about the issue here. {m}

Sunday, February 5, 2012

the ropes. a giveaway!

I have very exciting news to announce. Shana, owner/designer of The Ropes, a nautical-inspired jewelery line out of Maine is giving away one of her adorable bracelets {$60 value} to one of my lucky readers!


I love the bright colors and materials she uses in her pieces. Every design is beautiful and her bracelets remind me of a much more sophisticated and stylish version of the rope bracelets I wore as a kid.


I have a real soft spot for Maine. My sister lives there and I've been lucky enough to spend a lot of time there over the past few years. There is something so easy-going about that state and Shana really embraces it in her design. Doesn't it make you want to go chill out on a boat in Maine tomorrow?



Shana studied apparel and fashion design at the Rhode Island School of Design and worked in the industry in New York City and Boston for the beginning of her career. She always had a dream of bringing her design expertise back to her home state of Maine, the place that inspired her most. She brought her dream to life when she moved back to Maine and began The Ropes. Shana finds inspiration in her trips to large cities and her love for the ocean. She believes that living in a smaller town pushes you to be even more creative with what you have.

"Things are not so straight forward or obvious; you have to look outside the box and that is where creativity flourishes." -Shana



How can you get one for yourself? Click here to see where you can buy The Ropes or enter to win by following the steps below.


Entering to win is easy:


Step 1: Take a look at The Ropes website and leave a comment on this post about why you want to win one of her pieces.


Step 2: Follow A Little Birdy Told Me on Google Friend Connect {just click 'Join' on the right side bar of this page under Google Friend Connect}


Bonus Step 3: To have your entry count TWICE, follow us @theropesmaine AND @littlebirdyme on Twitter and send us both a tweet with a link to this giveaway.


See you all back here on February 17 when I will announce the winner! Let me know if you have any questions. Good luck.


*Must live within the US or Canada, sorry.
*One entry per person.
*I will be using random.org to make the selection on February 17.
*Don't be shy!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

jason wu for target, oh my!



Let the Target mayhem commence! The new Jason Wu for Target line launches on Sunday and it's sure to be a wildly popular one again. It seems like only yesterday I was calling every Target store in the United States for my Missoni for Target blanket. I'm not sure that I'll brave it and stand in line all night but I am definitely going to try to get my hands on a few of these cute numbers. Holy spring fever! What do you think?

Friday, February 3, 2012

friday's fab $15.

Happy Friday! This week's picks for fabulous finds under $15.Can you believe that tank top is from Old Navy?

1. stripe tank top, old navy 2. best. candle, anthropologie 3. minted rose lip balm, sephora {a life saver}
4. striped mugs

Thursday, February 2, 2012

sucker for searsucker

One thing you may not know about San Diego, but should, is that it has so many amazing restaurants tucked into every crevice of town. Twice a year the California Restaurant Association puts on Restaurant Week where some of the city's best restaurants open their doors to us average people. You are able to experience places that you maybe wouldn't consider going on a normal occasion and try some of their best dishes through budget-friendly prix fixe menus. I, for one, take full advantage of restaurant week. This year I paraded all over this city and tried somewhere new {what felt like} every night. Must say, my top pick this year wasn't a dinner selection at all. It was Searsucker's $15 ohmygoshsogood lunch selection. For $15 I had a short rib sandwich that melted in my mouth, simple salad, tomato tarragon soup, french fries with brown butter, a tangy/sweet-to-perfection lemon bar and to top it all off, a picture-perfect atmosphere. That place is designed beautifully floor to ceiling.

Restaurant Week sadly has come and gone but it will be back this summer, my friends. In the meantime, gather your friends and grab a drink and dinner at Searsucker. You will be happy you did. Cheers!