when it rains, it pours: a PR story.

Y'ALL. after what seems like ages and ages of working my spindle-y fingers to the fingerbones, two articles have come out in less than a week featuring my interior design projects. for a little farm girl from vinland, kansas, i feel RILL FANCY DOT COM. (backslash: your mom.)

actually, the articles, both extremely well-written, are super humbling in a way i could never imagine, because they are open for comments. i had forgotten there are commenters who are just. not. nice., but that is okay, jerks! it was very eye-opening to read some of the feedback, some of which was mean; some of which very constructive and helpful and some of which was kind, thoughtful and defensive of this very hard profession. thank you, kind people like jan moyer, for getting how hard it really is to do this job.

so here are those articles, girl. read 'em and weep.

CULTUREMAP : 
Houston designers head for the Hollywood Hills to freshen up 1920s home

HOUZZ : 
Playful Luxury Infuses a 1929 Houston House

and because i am fan of keeping it real and because i do not like posts without pictures, here are some photos of me sitting on a pink toilet in a temporary outhouse in kansas with my uncle larry, wearing sequins and holding a feral kitten. uncle larry constructed the outhouse on his farm for his 30th wedding anniversary party (SHOUT OUT TO AUNT LADONNA), and that thing had hand sanitizer and running water flushes from a garden hose, making it the fanciest non-fancy thing ever. my aunt and uncle also figured out a way to make a soda machine serve rum and cokes. they are amazing.

the monday mash: call me maybe.

like everyone else on the planet, carly rae jepsen's jam has infiltrated my life, but this mash-up is something new and something wondrous. i feel like, when i die and my life flashes before my eyes, this mash will be the accompanying soundtrack. i haven't felt this invigorated since i saw that movie The Power of One in the 8th grade, or possibly since the first time a boy i liked told me that i was beautiful* (but i chalk that up partially to the fact that we were at a chili's sharing a skillet queso... that shit is pure magic in a cast iron package).

listen to it, download and share HERE: CALL ME MR. BURGANDY

*for the record, it was micah beck, sophomore year of college, approximately three minutes before he lost interest and went out with some girl named bevin.
*also for the record, this is probably the best use of a rusted root song since pure, unadulterated rusted root. same for skee-lo, same for fun., same for C-Ray Jeps.
*lastly for the record, you can (and i do) thank nick nelson for this and probably any other rad tunes i have to share. way to keep me feeling at least six years younger than i actually am, nick.

i feel like blog posts without pictures are super lame, so here i am with my brother brad (on the right) and his/our friend nick at the beginning of our segway tour of chicago, which remains to this day on of the funnest and funniest things i have ever done in my life. actually, go ahead and put their entire trip to chicago on that list. it was the the bomb dot com and should probably be it's own blog post or series. october 2005.

since i've veered considerably off course, this is probably a great time to share a video (from conan, sent to me by my brother brad) of jack mcbrayer and triumph the insult comic dog, at chicago late night spot, the weiner's circle, a special eatery of which was also part of 'brad and nick's killer trip to chi, 2005'.

rest in peace, MCA.

damn. visionary musician adam yauch has passed away at 47 after battling cancer. it's incredibly sad and for whatever reason, hits a little too close to home. the beastie boys were a tremendous part of my adolescence and i will never forget the day my dad ripped Paul's Boutique out of my tape deck and threw it out the window. rest in peace, MCA.

white panda wednesday.

it's no lie: i love a musical mashup, evidenced by multiple posts prior on the flashdance and girl talk. if you love a badass mashup as much as i do, or if you just enjoy shaking your ass can, you WILL LOVE this white panda biznazz.

like say if you love weezer and that song TIPSY?

or maybe you like jay-z and jackson 5 and lil' wayne, and are like, why did they not exist at the same time and get a group together? and why did michael have to die?

skee-lo and that break your heart song? by taiaiaio cruz or something? MAGICALLY BLENDED INTO ONE.

or maybe you like a slow jam because your name is lauren walsh, and you wish you could combine that with an owl city track?

so alls i'm saying is that these crazy hipster computer nerds are GREAT and just what the doctor ordered this wednesday. if i weren't going to the masters, i'd totally get my buns to austin on april 7th to see them play (spin? compute? mash?) in person. tickets here, jill.

{this band via my younger brother's extremely hip friend nick.}

julia rothman: farm anatomy.

i gave my nieces and nephews (current total: six) julia rothman's new book for christmas (and i totally got one for m'self, duh). it's pretty much the cutest, most educational thing ever. every page is an illustrated cornucopia of farm knowledge, inspired and informed by her husband and in-laws (from rural iowa). don't you want to know about bees and barbed wires and how to plow a field? even if you don't have a natural inclination to agriculture, julia rothmans's illustrations are captivating. seriously, how do you not own this book already?

2011 rewind.

it was the best of years, it was the worst of years. just kidding, it was kind of the worst, which you know because i said so all the time and had to take like six breaks from blogging to deal with my life. JUST KIDDING JUST KIDDING, it totally wasn't all bad. 2011 may have been kind of a kick in the balls, but while i was compiling these photos (spoiler alert: THERE ARE A LOT), i realized that for every downturn, we also had some tremendously awesome things happen that were not people dying / people moving away / friends assholes turning out to be assholes / people getting divorces. not only did sugarbears and i have the best honeymoon ever, brad and i practically circumnavigated the globe with all of our travels. i played on a softball team called the dumpster babies and was on tv (not for the softball but looking equally foolish, trust me) and was in a magazine and also made like nine really amazing dinners for sugarbear. just kidding, it was like ten dinners. we went to some killer concerts, like arcade fire and the avett brothers and wilco and some other ones i don't recall right now. brad read all FIVE of the game of thrones books people. all five. in 2011. someone get him a book-it button and a sack of personal pan pizzas already, forcryingoutloud. a-train johnson moved her happy ass back to texas where she belongs dot com, and then she and i got to reprise the roommate years for a few months. i completed and installed a record number of interiors projects, and actually made a tiny bit of progress here in this house where we live. b-rad's baby sister got engaged to an awesome guy that everyone loves, and as a bonus, he sells wine for a living. i think i actually made some new friends this year, and one of those new friends showed me how to illegally download the entire second season of downton abbey, which doesn't even air stateside until later this month. (ps, if you are watching that show, you understand how great a 2011 accomplishment this is and why it's on the milestones list, even though it did cause some sort of virus situation on brad's laptop. WORTH. IT.). also i beat cally one time at words with friends, and it was like by over a hundred points. so let's look on the bright side and call 2011 a wash, okay? because it really wasn't so bad and 2012 is going to kick ass, even though the world is totally going to end. in the meantime, enjoy these photos. they are mostly for me, except for where i snuck in a really hilarious one of you.

happy new year 2011, from me, audrey, and the black last supper.

ceylon et cie.

w hotel with the utes, prior to ghostbar dance-off.

cat hats on dogs.

park city during sundance.

faux fur, real dog.

space city trivia with this san antonio b.

it's a muthafucking wedding dance off.

sugarbear. redstone. texas. lizzards.

snowstorm.

park city pow.

hey girl.

that's totally a wig, bitch.

i bought 60 boxes, i think, which pretty much makes me the world's best aunt?

duh, winning.

gallery wall up n hrrre.

grumpa, dogs.

lighthouse.

the good ship makai.

gulls.

captain, first mate, gunner.

boat dogs, on the lookout for pirates.

gilhooley's. zomggggg.

finders keepers.

toby keith aka kaidren.

molly, dad and wallace.

recognize.

crepes.

eiffel.

fancy boat dinner.

south france.

hey audrey, remember how i got off the plane from france, took a shower and then we went to this concert and i was cracked out and jetlagged, but regina had hoop ribbons so it was cool?

nyc pre-install.

the view is pretty gross. just kidding.

the furnishings are also pretty gross. also kidding.

bitchin kitchen.

OH I TOTALLY FORGOT AUDREY AND I WERE ON THE NEWS, MODELING HAIRSTYLES.

angela comes to visit, gets introduced to firefly sweet teas.

in kansas, in a permanent temporary outhouse, with my uncle, sitting on a pink toilet, holding a kitten.

dadical.

fields of kansas via 4-wheeler.

i nabbed that texas one in college.

kai-drasaur?

michael.

four of five looking at the camera ain't bad.

hair feathers-also worn 5-year olds and dogs.

why yes, those ARE hot pink sweat pant capri pants.

eames: the remix.

kaleb, me and moms.

grandpa.

la.

la.

jeeeeiiiill, me, pool, nola.

just another monday night in emergency care after sustaining severe cat-food can injuries.

baseball game.

dollhouse-now a project for 2012, as i did not finish.

record-size sectional.

also record-size tv.

round top road trip.

worshiping at the altar of breakfast tacos.

bananagram.

happy halloween.

oh what a feeling, we got inlaid wood wallpaper on the ceiling.

dallas.

it's custom, bitch.

molly and her pops.

mom/luxe/sunday dinner.

kaidren.

gas station.

wallace and dad.

sunglasses inspired by road trips.

newell.

malachite.

rda gala.

aggies.

prom.

EVERYBODY LOVES KARL.

leo.

bomb.

aruba.

b-rad.

shelves.

morocco, baby.

gobble gobble.

the mil, the b, the moh.

hott.

for rent.

noisy.

it's beginning to look a lot like a non-denominational sweater party.

downton.

overbrook.

jed.

farm.

the hardest puzzle on the planet.