Sarah's Summer House.

It's no secret I'm a big fan of Sarah Richardson.  I know I'm a little behind on blogging about it, but I was thrilled when I heard that Sarah's Summer House was going to be on HGTV.

How amazing is the living room?  It's almost like you are sitting out in the middle of the water with all of those windows overlooking the fantastic views.

I love that she used a bunch of different shades of blue in all different patterns.  I was thinking it may be too busy, but of course, it wasn't.  It all came together so beautifully (as usual for Sarah's rooms).  Those blue Chiang Mai Dragon ottomans are amazing!  I would love to put a little Chiang Mai Dragon fabric somewhere in our house.   

(photos: sarah richardson)

I couldn't post about the CMD in Sarah's living room without mentioning this fab powder room makeover over at Hazardous Design where the blue Chiang Mai Dragon wallpaper is a showstopper.  Seriously, this may be one of my favorite powder rooms ever.  Every detail is just perfection (the lighting, the mirror, the floors, the beadboard, the monogrammed towel, the hardware, the pink flower).  Stunning, isn't it? 

And speaking of great bathrooms, the one on Sarah's Summer House was fabulous too.  It has such a clean fresh feeling. 

(photo: hgtv)

(photo: sarah richardson)

Are you watching the show?  Are you as obsessed with Sarah and Tommy as I am? 

P.S.  Hope y'all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  We headed to New Orleans on Friday with a group of friends.  We spent part of Monday recovering and part of it grilling and hanging out by the pool. 
   

Happy Long Weekend.

Hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.

(photo: decorpad)

Yogurtland.

The party is over; the brief is filed!  I have a life again (at least for a few days!).  Yippee!  It feels good to be blogging and catching up on all I've been missing!  Thanks for being understanding!   

Yogurtland, yet another yogurt shop, opened up not too long ago by our house.  I figured it was like the other 15 yogurt shops we have around the area so didn't really make it a point to stop by and check things out.  After seeing a bunch of positive reviews on yelp (and hearing people talk about the red velvet cake batter flavor), I finally decided to check it out.  I had no clue what I was missing out on!      

Yogurtland's yogurt is so much better than all of the other yogurt joints around.  They have tons of flavors, it's all self serve, and the best part is . . . it's fat free!  With the near-gallon sized bowl they give you and with me at the helm of those soft-serve dispensers, I usually end up with about 4 servings worth.  So while it may be fat free, I'm probably consuming a day's worth of calories.  But I put fresh fruit on top, so that cancels it out right?   

The yogurt really does taste so good, I seriously question whether it really is fat free.  Of course that reminds me of a great Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine also question whether allegedly non-fat yogurt truly is fat free.  They even take a sample to a lab to have it tested out after they start gaining weight (and the tests determine it wasn't really fat free).  View part of the episode here and the wikipedia page about the episode here.  And a funny blooper at the yogurt shop here:

Maybe if I didn't have such a sweet tooth, I wouldn't have such a hard time doing all the exercises at my new workout class (Define Body) with my awesome work out buddy, Elz.

Hope you all are having a great week! 

Coming up for air.

So the tiny break I expected to take has now turned into a rather extended break.  I've been working pretty much non-stop (as in almost 30 hours just this weekend) since the party ended on Wednesday on a brief that's due Tuesday.  But the good news is that the party was a success (and Tuesday is almost here)!  

Over the weekend, Justin sent me pictures while I was at the office of our precious dogs.  Since I don't have time for much else, here are sweet Riley and Zoey enjoying the backyard this weekend.  

I really have missed blogging and seeing what you all have been up to.  I can't wait to get this thing filed on Tuesday and sit down Wednesday to catch up! 

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend! 

Tiny Break.

I don't know why I haven't mentioned it before, but I am hosting a party for my office this Wednesday to welcome our summer associates.  Needless to say, we are busy around here making sure everything is just perfect.  I am going to sign off for a bit and focus on things around the house. 

So in honor of the office party, here are some pretty amazing offices (which sadly look nothing like my office at work).

(photos: decorpad)

The good news is that we've made some little changes that I can't wait to share with you!  I will be back to blogging and visiting your blogs shortly. In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend!

Cocoa & Hearts.

Have you seen Cocoa & Hearts, the new shop of Jen Ramos (of Made by Girl), where she sells her amazing original paintings?  If not, head on over there now and check out all of her beautiful work.

I have always wanted an original piece of art, but wasn't willing to settle for just anything.  I've admired Jen's work for a while, and when I heard she was opening up an online store, I was giddy!  It was very hard narrowing down a favorite, but I am thrilled that we were able to score a painting of hers.  So which one did we get? . . .

This one! 

(photos: cocoa & hearts)

Gorgeous, right?  I'm not 100% sure yet where I am going to hang it.  I love all the great colors in the painting, so I have a few options in mind.  Of course, I will show you pics of the painting once she's hung in her new home!

Chevron Boards - Round 2.

Remember my first attempt at inspiration boards for the office?  After making them, which of course is the perfect time, I decided I needed something that was not a blue-gray so they wouldn't be so blah against the wall.  Here's what they looked like the first time around:

After reading all of your helpful comments, I really considered leaving them the way they were.  I figured once they had pictures, notes, etc. on them, you wouldn't notice as much.  But at the end of the day, I really wanted a little more color.  I loved the look of the chevron, so when I saw the turquoise chevron at High Fashion Home, I knew it was the winner.  It's a Premier Fabric Print, but I don't see the fabric in this color online.

Because I used spray adhesive to attach the first fabric to the cork board, I knew that if I tried to remove the fabric, it would pull up the cork with it.  So I just put the new fabric right on top.  If you look closely, you can barely make out the fabric underneath, but it is almost completely unnoticeable. 

Clearly both Justin and I need some more inspiration on our boards!  But don't worry, I actually completed these a while back, and they are looking more filled (and inspirational) at this point.

I am much happier with the new fabric!  And ultimately am glad I made the relatively easy change.  

The office is really coming along.  I can't wait to show you how the rest of the room is coming together. Happy Monday!

Guest Blogging.

I'm guest posting today over at Simple Dwellings as part of Amber's If My Blog Was a Room series.  Stop by and see what I think the room would look like (and be sure to check out some of Amber's design boards -- they are always beautiful)!  

Lip Reading.

I didn't wake up early to watch the royal wedding, but I did read about it (and of course found some pictures of Kate's and Pippa's dresses). One of the things I enjoyed reading about was the lip readers who let us in on some of the sweet moments between William and Kate. Does that make me super nosey? If so, oh well. I think part of it is being nosey, but the other part of it is because I actually enjoy trying to read people's lips. Not in a weird way -- but I find myself doing it a lot during sporting events to see what the coaches and players are saying to each other (or when they are cursing out the refs). I am not bad at it, if I do say so myself. I especially get a kick out of it when there is an f-bomb or two.

But back to the wedding . . . this was when, according to the lip readers, William told Kate that she looked beautiful. So sweet, right?

 (photo: here)

Seeing that reminded me of our wedding. I'm not sure if there were any expert lip readers at our wedding, but Justin said one of the sweetest things ever to me towards the end of our ceremony. As it was wrapping up, I told him that "it was almost over." His response was that "it was just the beginning."

Speaking of my wonderful husband, we had our first date on May 2, 1998. 13 years ago!  Do you celebrate your "dating" anniversary?