Gone Camping + 12 Gorgeous Teepees and Tents

Today A. and I are heading out on a camping trip with some of my friends. We'll be "roughing it" in Delaware and enjoying a weekend of gabbing, hiking, stargazing, and eating way too much grilled meat. I sure hope we have absolutely no reception out there so we can forget the rest of the world even exists.

Aside from giving me a serious craving for s'mores, one other thing this trip has done is reignited my wish to own a pretty tent or teepee. Sure, I don't have a back yard or a patio to plop one on, but I'd love to have one set up in a corner of our apartment. It could be my little reading and meditating nook or serve as a quiet hideaway when I need some alone time. (No boys allowed!) Below are some of the sweetest tents I've found. Would you ever get one for your home?

1.

Mokkasin

| 2.

Bodie and Fou

| 3.

The Look Factory

| 4.

Stout Tent

5.

House Inhabit

| 6.

Land of Nod

| 7.

Sugar Shacks Teepee

| 8.

Henry's House

9.

Marlowe + Jay

| 10.

Tip Top Teepee Shop

| 11.

Lotus Belle

| 12.

RH Baby & Child

Image:

ohpioneer.com

The Writers' Retreat by Grant Snider

I'd totally sign up for a little getaway to Grant Snider's The Writers' Retreat, which appears in this weekend's NY Times Book Review, and nab a corner right on Inspiration Overlook. Then I'd hole myself up in the Authors' Cloisters before chucking it all over Desperation Drop and hanging out in Procrastination Patio instead. The illustrator behind Incidental Comics has a few other illustrations that made me laugh like The Treehouse of Adulthood and The Story Coaster. Snider's work reminds me of those search and find books that would entertain me for hours while discovering lost items and silly scenarios in a sea of chaos.

To order a poster of The Writers' Retreat and other illustrated commentary on literary and artsy pursuits, visit incidentalcomics.com.

Wall Décor for the Home

Now that we're all settled in and the major pieces of furniture have been bought, I've started thinking about what to hang on our bare walls. Aside from photos from our travels and our families, we want to have some fun art on display that add some needed color to our rooms and serve as conversation starters. I didn't grow up in an artsy household so I never really bought into the whole art collecting thing - until A. and I walked by a SoHo gallery in December and were immediately mesmerized by Peter Lik's The Sentinel hanging on the storefront. We could have stared at it for hours and wanted so much to take it home, but alas, $9,000 is way more than we can afford.

Below are a few prints and wall décor that have been collecting in my bookmarks folder over the last month and are much much more gentle on my wallet. I just discovered The EveryGirl's prints and I'm kinda obsessed! And I'm really hoping that Congo Studio restocks her shop soon, because I was so disappointed to see that the "Some Things Take Time" print had been sold. As for Emily McDowell, the woman has been on absolute fire lately, getting tons of buzz left and right, and am excited to attend her meet and greet at Pink Olive this Saturday!

1. Anek Plums print | 2. Felicita Sala Maple Apple Cake Illustrated Recipe | 3. Anek Wine Anatomy | 4. Cute Stencils Geometric Triangle Wall Stencils | 5. My Igloo Shop "In My Kitchen" | 6. Red Raven Studios Porcelain Envelope

7. My Little Pixels Beach Set | 8. Alicia Bock "Floating on a Cloud" | 9. Paperchat Shoppe Treat Yo Self | 10. My Little Pixels Nautical Set

11. Jessica Illustration World Map for Dennis | 12. Teacup Piranha Carpe Diem | 13. Famille Summerbelle New York Papercut | 14. Maybe Sparrow "Balloons over New York City"

15. Emily McDowell "Peter Pan" Waiting for Me | 16. Emily McDowell Strangers on the Internet | 17. Emily McDowell Though She Be But Little | 18. Congo Studio Some Things Take Time | 19. The EveryGirl Success Is Not Easy

Holiday Madness

With A. moving into the new apartment this weekend (we got the keys today!), me preparing Porcupine Hugs for the holidays, and a new part-time job helping a law firm with their website launch, things have been pretty crazy on my end. My mind has been swirling with gift tag designs, attorney bios, and packing up two households that will soon merge into one.

But I'm so excited by all the positive changes that are going on in my life. Next week, I'll be selling at the annual Holiday Handmade Cavalcade December 14 + 15 at The Space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn from 10am - 5pm. Not only is there a current raffle going on through the Etsy NY Team's Facebook page, but the first 100 people will receive a complimentary gift bag on each of the two days, there will be prizes raffled off throughout the event, and Brooklyn Brewery is sponsoring a free happy hour on both afternoons. So swing by to shop small, local, and handmade for the holidays.

I've been looking forward to this event since September, but for some reason the crazed factor always turns up to 11 the closer a market date draws near. For many of us, the holidays are the busiest times of the year and I'm just hoping all this work pays off. Not only does Porcupine Hugs offer single greetings cards and boxed sets, but today I launched the 2014 Wall Calendar! I know I'm biased, but holy crap it's so cute. Take a peek at the hand-illustrated beauty right here.

There are also gift tags and a special gift box set of 16 greeting cards, a hand-painted pencil, stickers, and a tag that'll have anyone prepared for whatever occasions might come their way. It's a great gift for the snail mail lovers on your list - or to just hog for yourself. Just promise you'll try to part with a least some of the cards, won't you?

Have you started your holiday shopping yet? My family is doing the Secret Santa thing for the second year in a row and I can't wait to start buying my person some awesomeness. I'll be keeping an eye out at the cavalcade as there will be all kinds of fun vendors there and it's important to support my fellow creatives.

To RSVP for the Holiday Handmade Cavalcade, click here and to enter the current raffle, click here.

The Next Chapter

Did you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving? I hope so! This year I found myself feeling very thankful for my friends, health and family, which sounds so cliché, but after seeing firsthand how suddenly you can lose each of those things over the course of this year, I'm grateful for the good I do have.

So remember the happy news I wanted to share with you before? Well a couple weeks ago A. and I signed the lease for our first apartment together! After the stress that was our first go at it earlier this year, it's crazy how easily things fell into place this time around. Back in April I checked out more than 20 apartments and we couldn't agree on a single one to live in and when we started arguing on what borough to move to, we decided that we should just scrap the idea for the time being. Well this time, we only suffered through a couple crappy apartment showings (I mean really, how on earth do people live in these holes?!) before finding The One. We spotted our apartment on PadMapper.com and immediately made an appointment to see it the following day. When we walked into the apartment, I just fell in love. "I want to live here!" I mouthed at A. while peeking into the bedroom. The space was big and bright, the finishes in the bathroom and kitchen were beautiful, and A., picky as he is, will get the dishwasher he'd been requesting.

Unfortunately, another applicant was also vying for the same apartment so for three days we were anxiously waiting to hear if we won out or not - and we did!

The nice part is that I'll be living near my family in Washington Heights again - and just a couple blocks from where I grew up. Granted, what I've always wanted was to leave the country altogether (I'll get you someday, Paris), but this will totally do. Especially since I'll get an office out of the situation! Squeee! As a freelancer who works from home I honestly think I'm most excited by that than anything else. Well, I guess moving in with my boyfriend of four years will be an awesome bonus, too. The end to these exhausting Bronx-Upper East Side commutes is near! No more picking out an outfit in one apartment only to realize the coordinating shoes are in the other borough. No more schlepping my laptop and supplies to get work done from his tiny studio. Now I'll have my entire life and the person I love under one roof.

While the things I will no longer be doing are extra nice, I'm also thrilled for the new routines we have to look forward to: greeting A. home from work each evening, having the space to make dinner together, going to sleep and waking up together each morning, kissing him off to work for the day, and getting the apartment all to myself for 10 glorious hours. Because now that I'll be living with someone who's yet to develop a taste for holiday music, you'd better believe I'll be taking full advantage of every moment alone.

Aside from being excited over this next big step, we're also having fun going to furniture stores, testing out couches, and envisioning what our rooms will look like once we're settled in. Not going to lie, it'd be way easier if A. just said, "You know what Dorkys? I completely trust your judgement and will let you choose whatever you'd like." But noooo, the man needs to have an opinion on things like dark shower curtains that trigger his never-mentioned-before-now claustrophobia and whether a couch "looks too much like a couch." (WTF?) Still, it's cute to see him get so into chaise lounges and dinner tables because it's never something I thought he cared much about and I want him to feel comfortable in our new space, too. So much that I'm willing to overlook the fact that he wants to install a bench press workout contraption in our supposed-to-be-serene bedroom and a big ass subwoofer for our living room's sound system. Maybe I can throw a blanket over that thing, top it with a vase and call it a side table.

We get our keys this week and start moving in next weekend, but in the meantime I've been bookmarking ideas online because I can't wait to start seeing our new home start to come together. What are some of your favorite places to shop for housewares?

1. Chalkboard Spice Jars | 2. Farmers Market Baskets | 3. Textured Dip Bowls | 4. Two Person Desk | 5. Loveseat and Chaise Sectional Sofa | 6. Aqua and Green Shower Curtain | 7. Entryway Bench | 8. Wood Dining Table | 9. Overarching Floor Lamp | 10. Workstation with Shelves