Where I Blog.

Kate over at Centsational Girl is having a "Where Do You Blog? Party."  I decided to join in the fun because I've enjoyed taking a peek into where other people blog over the last couple of days.

The spot where I do most of my blogging isn't overly exciting -- it's the couch in our living room! 

Even though we have a home office, I sit at a desk all day and stare at a computer, so I like being relaxed on the couch with my laptop.  Most evenings Justin has his laptop out too on the couch and we are both working (or blogging -- me, not him). 

PB Teen.

Should I be concerned about the number of things I liked from the Pottery Barn Teen catalog that I just happened to flip through?  And I'm not talking about liking things like when I look at the Restoration Hardware Baby catalog and think how precious things are.  I am talking about actually considering buying them for my house now. 

(the shower curtain is what caught my eye, but the polka dot towels are pretty darn cute)

and possibly my absolute favorite out of the bunch . . .

(all photos: pb teen)

New Orleans - Round 2.

Several weeks ago we returned to New Orleans to celebrate a friend's 30th birthday.  It was quite a bit different than the trip we took back in June to celebrate our anniversary, which I blogged about here and here.  It was fun to see different parts of the city, and we had a blast celebrating Jeremy's birthday with a group of friends!  

We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel, which was a block away from the French Quarter.  It was absolutely gorgeous on the inside.  In fact, the hotel's lobby is an entire block long!  Fun fact: in 2005, the hotel underwent a $145 million restoration.

Since there was seven of us, we had two connecting rooms.  Here are some of my favorite parts of the rooms:  There was a television in both of the bathrooms.  It was nice to put on makeup/dry your hair and have the TV right there. 

The claw-foot tub.  (For the record, I don't take baths in hotels, but I can still appreciate a pretty tub.) 

The embroidery on the sheers.  So fun! 

Check out the chandelier over the table.

The gold-toned striped couch (it had a vintage-vibe to me).

We also had some pretty great views from the rooms:

Okay, so we didn't spend all of our time enjoying the luxurious accommodations.  Once everyone got into town on Friday night, we headed out for dinner.  And we got to experience the craziness that is Bourbon Street.  Wow -- there is some great people watching.  A quick rain shower came through as we were walking around, but lucky for us, we sought cover in a daiquiri bar.

During the day on Saturday, the group did some touring around the French Quarter.  Meagan (with the help of Kevin) designed some pretty sweet t-shirts as party favors.  Look how cute the guys look in their matching shirts!   Too bad Justin didn't get the memo to wear gray shorts.

A little later in the day, we hung out at the hotel's pool.  I have no idea what they were doing, but I thought it was funny they were doing a similar pose.

That night we went to Mother's for dinner.  We had plans to go to Upperline, but the birthday boy decided he preferred something a little more low key.  And of course that was fine with us -- we went to Mother's during our last trip and loved it!  Seriously, it doesn't photograph well, but their jambalaya is so tasty!

Here we all are at Mother's:

(Despite how he looks, Sean is happy -- he just refuses to smile in pictures.)

After Mother's, we cruised over to Harrah's for a little gambling.  Neither Jeremy, Meagan, nor Amanda had ever been to a casino before, so we had to go!  I am still trying to block out how much money Justin and I lost in a very short period of time at the blackjack table.  But we had a blast anyway.  After some casino-action, we headed to back Bourbon Street for round two.  First stop, Pat O'Brien's for a hurricane (and singing happy birthday to Jeremy at midnight).

It is hard to get a good shot of a group of people on Bourbon Street.  Here's Justin's best attempt. 

And the craziness that is Bourbon Street. 

The next morning we headed to Oceana Grill, a place nearby the hotel, for brunch.  Evidently, Adam Gertler (from the Food Network) featured the restaurant on his Fine Living Network show, Freakiest Foods, for their nutria and ghost pepper caviar.  Thankfully, no one ate either of those things.  After another delicious meal, we had to catch our flight back to Houston.

We had a great weekend celebrating Jeremy's birthday!  On a sappier note, it was also our last weekend with Meagan and Jeremy before they moved to Austin.  But we made lots of fun memories!  And we are already thinking of places for the next big birthday!    

5 things . . .

5 things I am currently digging . . .

1.  OPI - Dim Sum Plum nail polish. 

 (photo: here)

which leads me to my next item:

2. OPI Drip Dry.  

(photo: amazon)

This product is life changing.  Seriously.  I hate messing up my nails, and always feel like I am incapable of doing much of anything after I get my nails done for at least 45 minutes.  But with this, you just put a drop or two on each nail and within 4 minutes you're good to go!  It's pricey, but well worth it in my opinion.

3.  Lululemon.  In particular, the reverse groove workout shorts.    

And these groovy run shorts.

Okay, so like the drying drops above, lululemon's stuff is not cheap.  But the shorts are so comfortable and don't ride up.  Frankly, I wear them around the house when not working out because they are so comfy (love not having the typical elastic waistband).    

4.  These Pottery Barn mirrored trays:

5.  Gap's city flats.

These are great little flats for a reasonable price (and even more reasonable with the current 30% off coupon).  They also come with a little pouch so you can fold them up and toss them in your bag. 

Wallpaper Panels.

The wallpaper panels in our master bedroom are done!!  I am thrilled with how they turned out.  Yippee!    

The project was fairly simple.  (But I guess I should speak for myself since Justin did 90% of the work!)  We picked up some MDF and wood trim to frame the panels out.  After we cut the trim, we spray painted it a muted gold color (I think the name was Rustoleum Caramel Latte).  Rather than messing around with wallpaper paste, we just adhered the wallpaper to the MDF using a spray adhesive (super easy).  Then we used wood glue to attach the trim to avoid any nail holes.  After they were assembled, we just did a little touch up painting around the sides.  And voila!    

The colors in the wallpaper work so well in our room.  It took me a while to commit, but I am glad I did.  I knew I wanted something metallic; and the gray, gold, and linen color work well with the existing neutrals in the room.

Stayed tuned to see what I did with the leftover wallpaper . . .

Birthday!

So I had big plans to take pictures of the wallpaper panels after work tonight, but it was stormy.  (I had no idea it was supposed to rain today; believe me, I wouldn't have spent the time straightening my hair!)  So the lack of natural light means it will be yet another day.  Instead you get to read about my birthday!  It was a few weeks ago, but we had such a good time celebrating, I had to share the fun!

On Saturday night, Justin took me to Pappas Steakhouse.  They have one of the best steaks in town (as well as mac and cheese with crab meat).  On Sunday (my actual birthday), we went with our families to Max's Wine Dive.  And it wouldn't be a birthday without an RJ Goodies cake -- I have had one for the last 25 years!  

I got some great decorating-related items, which I am very excited about.  New magazine subscriptions to Elle Decor and House Beautiful!  

(photos: here and here)

And this book, which has a ton of inspiring spaces:

(photo: amazon)

My mom got me this awesome throw from West Elm in platinum.  It works perfectly in our bedroom.

You can see it in our sitting room here.  While I'm at it, what do you think of the fabric on the windows for drapes?

And of course Riley and Zoey were helping me open presents.  (Look how big Zoey is getting!)

 
Our friend Kevin gave me this awesome St. Germain "entertaining kit."  In addition to the St. Germain, it also has a great carafe and a cocktail stirrer.  Love it!

 (photo: here)

 
My mom got me an awesome necklace from Anthropologie.  I wish I had a better picture of it, but I can't find it online.  So this one will have to do.  (I took a picture of it one morning so my mom could see it "in action".)

Justin gave me the most gorgeous opera-length pearl necklace and pearl stud earrings.  I love doubling the strand of the necklace.  I am sure the people at work are already sick of me wearing it all of the time, but too bad!  Seriously, both the necklace and earrings are amazing and I love them!  Justin had great things to say about purepearls.com (which is a Houston-based company).  You can see me modeling the necklace in this picture below of my mother-in-law, me, and my mom:

 

I don't know why, but I love this picture of me and Justin.    

I received some other great decor items too that I have displayed, but you will have to wait to see them in another reveal I have planned. 

And last, but certainly not least . . . thanks to everyone for making my birthday very special!

Entryway.

It had been a while since I'd taken and posted updated pictures of our entire entryway.  No major changes, just thought I would keep things up to date.

I knew this pillow from Z Gallerie would be great for the chair the minute I saw it.  I actually didn't buy it then (given my love for it, I have no clue why), but every time I walked in the door I would think about how it was a mistake.  So I drug Justin back with me a couple days later to pick it up.  So glad I did (as I am sure Justin is too)! 

When we were in San Diego, one of the cute little shops in Ocean Beach had the same pillow and placed a fancy crystal broach in the center of the flower.  Such a great idea!

And . . . remember the wallpaper panels I talked about here?  Well things took a bit longer than expected (isn't that always the case?), but they are done and I will back with pictures soon!

Temptation City.

One of our friends recently purchased a high-end designer showroom complete with lots of eye-candy.  (Can you say jealous?)  Justin helped her set up her computers and get the network hooked up.  Of course, I was okay going with him because I knew I could spend the whole time drooling over all of the incredible goodies in the showroom.

I didn't bring my camera, but here are some of my favorite pieces that were there: 

(photos: LewisMittman)

How amazing are these chandeliers? 

(photos: marjorie skouras design)

You can see it in all its glory here:

(photo: the love list)

and here:

(photo: apartment therapy)

And one of my absolute favorite things, this amazing chandelier.  It was hanging over the desk area.  I kept wishing I had one of them over my desk.  I'm pretty sure it would totally increase my productivity!   

(photo: studio steel)