San Diego Trip Recap.

We try to head out to San Diego on a fairly regular basis (you can read about two of our previous trips here and here) to visit Justin's brother and our soon to be sister-in-law:

 

and my bestest friend in the whole world and her hubby (fun fact:  I have known both of them since elementary school).

It's no secret that I am obsessed with Trader Joe's and In-N-out, so you better believe we made both of those happen.  We also stopped by the flower fields in Carlsbad, which were absolutely stunning.   



Aww, Justin and his brother, Jason, posing in the flowers.  Precious.   

No, Justin and I did not wear coordinating outfits on purpose.  But also precious.   

The ranunculus were ridiculous.  Like off the hizzy.  

Alright, that's enough of my awesome sayings.  Moving along . . . we had dinner and drinks at Starlite.  Super cool vibe there. 

Since it was dark, our picture of the bar didn't turn out too well.  This pic below shows how cool the place is.

(photo: starlite)

After dinner, we went to the Aero Club.  Frankly, the only reason I mention the place is because it had a boat-load of bottles.  I spent some of the time trying to figure out if there were multiple bottles of the same thing and if they only poured from that lower tier.  Yep, I'm one of those nerds at the bar.   

I wonder how many pictures just like this (well not necessarily at a bar) we've taken over the years.  Hundreds probably. 

On Saturday, we cruised to Laguna Beach.  I secretly wanted to see Brody (but would've settled for LC, Lo, or Audrina).  Sadly, I didn't see any of them.  However, I did get to meet a celebrity . . . the super sweet and talented Courtney from A Thoughtful Place.  I could have sat by the beach with her all day and chatted!  Thanks for meeting me out there friend!      

You extra-observant readers may notice my sunglasses are different in the picture below.  I picked up a little souvenir while we were there.  I figured some Tom Ford sunglasses would be a nice way to remember the sunny day we spent in Laguna.   

  

Justin and Jacob were totally twinsies in Laguna.  Light blue shirt and navy sweater.  Check check.

Jeans and brown leather sneakers.  Check check.  So cute.

Laguna really is such a beautiful place.  I would love to go back during our next trip to San Diego.

As always, our time out there went way too fast.  I am already thinking about our next trip back!   

Happy Friday!

Eye Candy.

I'm sorting through San Diego pictures, but in the meantime, I thought I would share pictures of some fabulous rooms (and point out one thing I am loving in each room).

This couch = nothing short of fabulous.  The color, the tufting.  Lovely. 

I am generally not a fan of skirted tables (don't know why), but am loving the simple look of this nightstand with the trim.  

This next room just makes me happy.  I couldn't decide which I liked better -- the chandelier or the nightstand . . . or the lucite on the chair.  All of it's amazing! 

I am totally digging the gray with the dark wood tones and the fancy molding above the door in this dining room.

For this bedroom, it's a toss up between the grasscloth wallpaper and the greek key nightstands.

(all photos: decor pad)

So picking out one thing in each room was more difficult than what I thought it would be!

San Diego Trip.

We just returned from a four-day trip to San Diego, which explains the lack of posting and me being totally out of the loop on what's happening in the blog world.  While it's nice to be home, I am already missing our friends and family and the amazing weather (the Texas humidity hit us like a ton of bricks when we walked out of the airport this evening). 

(I haven't uploaded pictures from our trip yet, so this one from another one of our San Diego visits will have to do in the meantime!)

During the trip, I was able to meet up with Courtney from A Thoughtful Place!  It was so nice meeting her in person, and she is just as sweet as what you'd imagine! 

I'll be back soon with pictures and a trip recap.  Hope you had a great Easter!  

Vintage Bar Cart Score.

Back in October, I blogged about wanting a bar cart and my fruitless Craigslist searching.  Well the fruitless searching continued up until a few weeks ago.  And I'm not talking about the occasionally-remembering-to-search-Craigslist kind of searching.  I'm talking about the every-day-compulsively-searching-holding-out-hope-that-I-would-find-something kind of searching, with this image always in the back of my mind:

(photo: Habitually Chic)

I was searching Austin's Craigslist for a friend and came across the perfect bar cart, which was listed for $125 in Lockhart, Texas (a small town about 2 hours and 45 minutes away).  Thankfully, Lockhart just so happens to be the BBQ Capital of Texas so it was an easy sell to convince Justin to make it "on our way" to Austin.  

We showed up and walked around the antique shop, which had a bunch of gorgeous pieces in perfect condition at great prices.  The owner pointed us in the direction of the bar cart and told me no matter the price marked, he would honor the Craigslist price.  He asked what it was and I told him $125; he said he had it marked for $120, but that he would take $100.  Sold!!  I didn't even have to negotiate -- he knocked down the price without me even asking!  (Although, for the record, I thought I was already getting a heck of a deal for $125.)   Check out this ebay auction, which has ended.  They look pretty similar right?  That one was listed for $695.

So with all that build up, here she is in all of her bar-cart glory.  Amazing, right?

And all styled up.

In case you're curious, those frames above the cart contain hand-written recipes from our family.

I love the look of displayed glassware, but I have an aversion to storing glasses out in the open.  It's easier for them to get dusty and ours would probably end up with puppy noses on them! 

And see those fun stripey straws?  Justin bought them for me (without any hints) for Christmas.  They are perfect to display on the bar cart! 

One of my favorite parts of the cart are its neat little casters.

And just in case you want to take a gander at our liquor selection (which I always like to do), here you go.

The more embarrassing ones (peppermint schnapps) and the ones in not so pretty handles bottles (Firefly sweet tea vodka) are still stored in our cabinet with the glassware and related bar tools.  I love seeing the bottles displayed now.  And yes, I bought that tequila just because the bottle was in the shape of Texas.

So the moral of the story is: obsessive Craigslist searching (even in different cities) persistence pays off!  Cheers!  

Trips to Austin.

Two out of the past three weekends we have headed up to Austin.  Our first trip was for Sawyer's first birthday party!  On the way to Austin that trip, we stopped off in Lockhart for two things:  (1) Barbecue at Kruez Market (one of the top 5 places in Texas for BBQ); and (2) a little antique shopping.  I ended up scoring one of my favorite finds ever -- here's a not-so-subtle hint.  It's so swoon-worthy, it deserves its own post!

We went back to Austin last weekend for a friend's wedding.  The wedding was early in the day on Saturday, which left us the rest of the weekend to enjoy a city that we love so much (and to try out some great eats too).  We went to dinner at La Traviata, which was wonderful.    

(photo: la traviata)

It was such a nice night, so we took a stroll down to the Capitol after dinner. 

Of course, the Capitol itself is amazing, but it's also special to us because we got engaged there.  Justin proposed right by the rose garden (over 8 years ago).

After our romatical (yep, that's a word) walk around the Capitol, we were in the mood for something sweet.  Actually, I was the one craving dessert, and Justin knows it's better just to go along with it rather than fight it.  So he was up for getting something too.  After some quick searching for the best place, we ended up at Gourdough's.

I'm almost too embarrassed to admit that they serve massive donuts loaded up with more super unhealthy things like icing, bacon, brownie batter, cake batter, candy, etc. (not all on the same donut though -- please, let's not get carried away here).  Check out their menu.

(photo: gourdough's)

The next morning, we walked around UT's campus and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  It was so fun to cruise around and reminisce with Justin (and to see all of the changes around campus).       

(note: the water in the fountain is usually not green!)

After our campus tour, we stopped by Uncommon Objects, which is a pretty amazing vintage store.  I could've spent hours in there browsing around, but I knew Justin had cookies on his mind. . . . When we were in college, we ordered tasty chocolate chip cookies from Tiff's Treats, a place that would deliver warm freshly-baked cookies to your door (with milk too), which is nothing short of heavenly when you live in a dorm room.  So before we headed home, we stopped by to enjoy them for old times' sake.

We've been having beautiful weather here!  Hope you have too.  I'll be back with my fab find! 

Organized Kitchen Pantry.

I mentioned a while back that Megan from Honey We're Home came over to help me get my mess of a pantry in order.  I have no excuse on why it took me so long to post the after-pictures, other than I just flat out forgot to!  But I'm happy to report that the pantry looks the same today as it does in the after-photos below! 

I think the pictures speak for themselves on what an amazing job she did!  Sadly, I never knew how bad it really was until looking at these before pictures.  {Shudder}  Prepare yourselves. 

And after Megan worked her magic . . . 

Seriously, what a difference!  Through the organizing process, I learned that I have a problem buying canned pumpkin (I won't disclose how many cans I had; but there was a time when there was a pumpkin shortage and I felt that I needed to "stock up").  Megan probably thinks I'm a little loony!  I also learned that Justin has a problem buying baggies in bulk in various sizes, freezer bags, non-freezer bags, etc.  Now that we can actually see what all we have, it's a lot easier not to buy things that we don't need. 

Look at all of that empty space!  We threw some things away and there were some things that did not belong in the pantry, but it's amazing how having things organized gives you some more usable space that you never knew you had.  (Perfect for storing more Trader Joe's goodies that I will get on our upcoming San Diego trip!)  It really is nice now that everything has its place.  Before, that was clearly not the case -- as the pictures above demonstrate! 

We were able to add some additional wine storage in our pantry, which was greatly needed.  It also freed up some space for us to put a recycle bin in there.

Now that things are organized, it's so much easier to keep it nice and neat.  So a big thanks to Megan for being so sweet and helping me tackle the pantry! 

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend!  We headed to Austin.  I'll be back with a recap!

Office Fabric.

I was all ready to make a decision for fabric for window treatments in our office.  After a couple of weeks of having the samples hung, I am no more certain today of which one I like better (possibly even less so) than I was on day one.  I keep waffling back and forth between two choices, but I'm ready to pull the trigger and get this show on the road!  So I thought I would ask my awesome readers for a little input.  Here are the two options . . .

Option 1:

Theo (in citrine) by P. Kaufman

Option 2:

Premier Prints Chipper

We will do drapes on this window and roman shades on the french doors that lead out to our back porch (which obviously aren't pictured here).  



And not to get sidetracked, but see the wooden "at" symbol below?  It's my latest HomeGoods find -- I couldn't pass it up for $12.99!

I think there are some pros and cons for each fabric, but I will keep those to myself so I don't sway any votes!  And one final picture . . .

So which fabric do you like the best?

Or if you have other ideas, feel free to let me know -- I'm all ears!  Thanks in advance for your input!

Guild Shop Chandelier.

Remember the chandelier from the Guild Shop I previously blogged about here and here?  Justin hung it this weekend!  I originally was going to hang it in our entry way, but after thinking about it some more, decided there may be better places where it would be more visible.  So we cruised around the house looking for other options.  Justin actually came up with the idea to hang it where we did.  And he was totally right -- he's a keeper!  He hung it on our second floor in the little area between our kitchen and dining room (and right outside of the powder room).  Here's the view of it as you get on the second floor.

I love the touch of glam it adds to an otherwise boring hallway.  In case you're curious, that archway over there to the left is where the powder room is.

This is the view from the opposite direction looking into the dining and living room from the kitchen.  If you look closely you can see Justin lounging in the living room admiring his handiwork.  (It's like a game of Where's Waldo without the red stripes and glasses!)  And for the record, our kitchen is not sherbet green -- the lighting wasn't ideal.

We ended up just replacing the candle covers and adding some more crystal prisms (there were quite a few missing).   There's now a mix of the old crystals and new ones, but since I was able to find nearly identical crystals online, you can't tell the difference.

{Side note: see those flowers in the background by the mirror?  I recently went to the dentist to get my first-ever cavity filled and was pretty nervous thanks to a terrible wisdom teeth removal experience.  Justin had a gorgeous bouquet of tulips, hydrangeas, roses and lilies delivered to my office before I went to help calm my nerves.  Super sweet!} 

But back to the chandy . . . as Justin said, "it's pretty baller to have a chandelier in your hallway."  And I couldn't agree more! 

Hope you all had a great weekend!