5 things . . .

I know it's been too long, but I have to pop in to share 5 things about Justin in honor of his birthday today.  I can't have a blog and not even mention my husband's birthday!

 
(1)  He puts up with all of my shenanigans.  He listens to me talk about work, he approves leopard carpet for my closet and an ostrich in the entry way, he pretends to care when I show him pins on pinterest, he looks at the million craigslist links I send him, and even pays attention when I talk about design.  He used the word ikat the other day (and he even pronounced it correctly too).  Impressive.    

(2)  He can hang a chandelier like it's no one's business.  It must be all the practice I've given him over the years.  But regardless, he's good.  (And this year, he's proven his mad skills at hanging Christmas lights at our new house.)     

(3)  He works hard and is great at what he does (even if he is an IT nerd).  I'm proud of what a hard worker he is and how good of a job he does for his company.  And it's always an added bonus that he can fix my computer problems!      

(4)  He cracks me up. all.the.time.  There is not a day that goes by that he doesn't make me laugh.     

(5)  He's the kindest and most patient person I know.  Which is good, since frankly, I am generally neither.  Obviously, I love my husband.  But I also like him a lot too.  And respect and admire him. 

He deserves to be celebrated every day, but especially today.  Happy birthday, Justin!  I love you. 

30th Birthday Present.

I turn 30 in 2 weeks.  Yikes!  I already know what Justin is getting me for my birthday.  And it's not because I'm super sneaky/nosy and figured it.  (But that would be something I would totally do.)  Instead, this present was one he couldn't really keep from me.

We are going back to Paris for a week! 

When I did my Paris recap shortly after returning from our 2-week Europe trip about a year ago, I said the following: "I seriously loved every single second of Paris. I would go back tomorrow if I could."  Well, it may not have been "tomorrow," but I will take a year instead.

Source: Uploaded by user via Emily on Pinterest

I can't hardly wait.  Our trip won't be as near as rushed this time around.  We are already planning on hitting up some of the places we didn't have time to check out last time, and I've been scouring blogs for some other great tips.  If you have any to share, I'm all ears!

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the house renovations go according to plan while we are away!  I like to think I can calm my worries of what's happening back home by drinking copious amounts of wine and champagne and eating lots of French pastries and cheese.

Happy Birthday, Justin.

Happy 30th birthday to my wonderful husband!

I am so thankful to have such a handsome, funny, kind, patient, and loving husband.  We've been together since our sophomore year of high school, and I still love him more and more each and every day.  I am confident that no one else could love me or make me laugh like he does.  He definitely deserves to have the best birthday.

Happy 30th, Justin!

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!    

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!

Happy Birthday, Mom.

I am a couple days late posting this, but happy birthday to my mom! Like Justin, her birthday celebration consisted of watching UT football. (more on the national championship game later.) Thankfully, she was a great sport about it (pun intended!).

Justin's Birthday.

Justin's birthday was the same day as the Big 12 Championship, so rather than going out to celebrate that night, we had family over, ordered Maggiano's takeout, and watched the UT game.

Everyone was wearing burnt orange that night:


. . . including Riley.


I see a theme here. (If you are in Houston and need a cake, Carrie at Carrie Made the Cake does a wonderful job. Not only are the cakes super cute, they are very delicious as well.)


The birthday boy and his new scotch (he is an old man).


Because sunglasses are impossible to buy without actually having the person try them on, Justin's parents gave him money so he could pick out his own. Justin's dad drew a picture of sunglasses to go along with the money. How cute is that?

Happy Birthday, Justin.

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. He is the best husband in the whole world (even though he is the hardest person to buy for). He got an early present with all the snow Houston had yesterday! And I am hoping UT will win the Big 12 Championship game tonight in honor of Justin's birthday!

Wonderful Birthday Weekend.

On Friday night, Justin took me to Brenner's Steakhouse. They have the most delicious smoked cheddar macaroni and cheese. They serve it in a little sauce pot . . . I could have eaten the whole thing by myself, but I was nice and shared with Justin.

During the day on Saturday, Justin and I worked on some of the bathroom projects I have mentioned previously. Stay tuned for a post detailing our work. It is looking better! Our families came over during the evening and we enjoyed a great meal at Backstreet Cafe.

Then we came back to our house to open presents! Note the super cute Amy Butler paper in the lower right corner that Justin wrapped a couple of my presents in. He is good!

Of course, Riley was right there assisting me with opening all those presents.

I got some awesome things . . . including some house decorating items that I can't wait to show off once I get them displayed. And I got a great belated birthday present a few days later.

Then we had RJ Goodies cake, a tradition for over 20 years!

Thanks to all for making my birthday special. It was wonderful getting to spend time with everyone.