Bathroom Renovation Update.

So I realize I have done a lot of talking about some fairly minor renovations we wanted to do in our bathroom (see e.g., here), but we finally made some real progress last weekend!

Here is a (not a very good) before picture. As you can see, there were 3 large mirrors spanning the length of our vanity, which is about 10 feet long. That has to be some kind of record for the longest vanity, doesn't it?

Here is a better shot of the wall-o-mirrors when we were playing around with the idea of 3 smaller mirrors.

Last weekend, we took the plunge and pulled down the mirrors. While our main goal was to pull those suckers down, we also wanted to make sure we didn't end up with a bunch of little mirror pieces in the process. Justin had the great idea to put contact paper over the mirror to help keep things together if there was any breakage.

Thankfully, we only had one crack throughout the whole process, which I thought was pretty impressive. Justin put shims up at the top of the mirrors and then just slowly worked the mirrors off the wall. I think this "slowly but surely" technique was really the way to go to prevent breaking.

Here is the first mirror down (and my super handsome husband)!

For some reason, I got a kick out of Justin's outfit. While there really is a lot to comment on here, my favorite was his old pair of dress shoes. When I asked why he chose those over his usual tennis shoes, his response was "they're leather, they're old, and they're comfortable." Well, there you have it.

Here are 2 out of the three mirrors down! You can see the one crack where the blue painters tape is.

And it wouldn't be a home improvement project without the help of Riley. He enjoyed laying on the contact paper backing. I love his curled-under paw.

Here is one of the new mirrors up:

And here are 2 out of the three mirrors and a sneak peek at one of the sconces.

Of course, we still have a way to go with getting the wall patched and smoothed, repainting the bathroom, and getting the sconces wired.

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.

A Big Thank You.

Dear Judge,

Thank you a million times over for granting our motion for summary judgment in full today. It was the best news I have heard in quite some time. So great, in fact, some of us had to apologize to the others in our hall for shrieking in delight after reading your order.

I would like to say I am going to miss drafting all those briefs for you, but really and truly, I am looking forward to a little bit of a break after billing over 500 hours in the past 2 months.

Thanks to you, I can now have a life again. I no longer have to worry about being out of state for a 2 week trial at the end of the month. Instead, I can think about going out of state for a lovely vacation!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Emily

I Love Banana Republic.

I received a friends and family coupon code for 30% off at BR from a listserve I subscribe to.* It was only good in stores from Friday (7/31) to Sunday (8/2). I realized today that it was about to expire, but before I ran around town looking for stores that had my items in my size, I called customer service to see if they could do the searching for me.

The customer service lady told me that my items were available online for purchase, but when I told her I had a coupon good for in-store purchases only, she gave me an online coupon code so I could, in her words, "shop from the comfort of my own home and not worry about going to the store"!

How awesome is that? I love good customer service.

I'll be back of a recap of my birthday weekend soon!

* Does it offend anyone if I end my sentences with a preposition? When I am writing briefs and other important formal documents, I change them to the "proper" way, but I figure this is my blog and I can make up my own rules. Right? If not, then replace the first sentence of this post with the following: "I received a friends and family coupon code for 30% off at BR from a listserve to which I subscribe."

Austin Recap (finally).

Meagan did a timely recap of our Austin trip here, but I am a slacker and just now getting to it . . . almost 2 weeks later. We had a great weekend of eating, lounging by the pool, and seeing our friends' babies.

We stayed at Barton Creek and the grounds there are gorgeous.




We've stayed there several times and every time we are there, Justin takes pictures of these houses. Maybe one day . . .

Notice the little putt-putt course in the bottom left corner. We played about 2 holes, got tired of being terrible, and played a winner-take-all final putt-off. Justin and Meagan tied for first, I got second, and well Jeremy got last.

Where we hung out for most of the day on Saturday . . . the pool!


I have no idea what he was doing:


Meagan and I were talking by the side of the pool the night we got there, and all of a sudden we see this sight. Amazing.


Good picture of Meagan and Jeremy (our culinary experts for the weekend). Clearly, this picture was taken after the day at the pool.


Now on to the cute babies . . .

It was so nice to catch up with Zach and Carrie and getting to see Porter. He is so cute!

(photo: zandcplusone.blogspot.com)

The next day, we got to see another sweet baby, Ruby. She is just precious. It had been way too long since we had seen David and Emilia, and it was great visiting with them (and Ruby)!

(photo: rubyalbina.blogspot.com)

Our trip to Austin was wonderful. We had a great weekend -- it was so nice to get away and forget about work for a couple of days!

Bath Stool.

I took a little break this weekend from working (I have a brief due in the Sixth Circuit on Thursday) to get my hair cut and to do a little shopping for the house. More pictures to come of the goodies, but here is one of my faves from the weekend . . .

A little stool for the bathroom (it's the Newbury from Restoration Hardware). I usually sit on the counter with my feet in the sink or stand to do my make-up. I didn't know what I was missing. Sitting down the last couple of mornings has been so nice! Only downside is, I tend to linger a little longer since I am comfortable, so it takes me a little longer to get ready.


We got it on sale too. Thanks to the bath sale, it was 20% off. Now we just need to complete the bathroom renovation I keep talking about. I have it all planned out now, I just need my handyman (aka Justin) to get busy taking the mirrors down.


More posts to come after my brief is filed! I need to recap our quick trip to Austin (in the meantime, you can read Meagan's recap) and share my great craigslist find and other house progress.

Kobe Burger.

Texas Monthly magazine had a recent article listing the 50 best burgers in Texas.


One of our favorite restaurants (Mockingbird Bistro) was number 25. They have a delicious american kobe burger. The one on the dinner menu is served with foie gras and is $29. We eat at the bar frequently and Justin always orders the kobe burger. It is the exact same except stilton cheese and carmelized onions are substituted for the foie gras, and it is a bargain. It only costs . . . wait for it . . . $9! (and don't get me started on their truffled fries).

For a short period of time, instead of 1 large burger, they had 2 smaller burgers (sliders) with 2 different cheeses. Justin enjoyed the variety of the cheeses. After they went back to the regular burger, the bartender told us that a regular customer complained about the sliders so they went back.

Well, tonight my friends we got to eat at the bar with that patron. When the guy walked in, Justin commented that he sensed the guy was the one that abrogated the sliders. As expected, he was an opinionated older gentleman (in Justin's words, an "old codger") who evidently eats there every Friday night (and reserves a seat at the bar) -- and has the burger every time.

Tonight he asked the bartender (and I quote): "were you around when they had those god-forsaken sliders? that was a terrible idea." I was glad I was sitting in between him and Justin because I thought Justin was about to let loose on him for doing away with the sliders. Thankfully, we avoided a confrontation and Justin was more than happy with his non-slider burger.

Bedroom Decor Inspiration.

Now that we have our new bed and mattress, I am on the hunt for decoration/furniture ideas for the bedroom. It is a blank slate now, screaming to be decorated. It is hands-down the most neglected room in our house. But that is about to change. I have a few ideas in mind, but of course love searching for additional ideas.

I love the nightstand in this bedroom (and the glass lamp and tufted headboard):


I love this room's wall color. I am leaning towards a gray -- Benjamin Moore's Silver Fox is currently at the top of my list, but I am looking into other gray options. Any suggestions?


The muted palette is lovely, and I am a big fan of the mix of patterns and textures.

(all photos: realsimple)

Time Traveler's Wife.

This may be old news (I am always out of the loop), but they made a movie based on the book The Time Traveler's Wife! I love that book; hopefully, the movie won't disappoint. I am hoping I have some time to read the book again before the movie.


Here is the official website: www.thetimetravelerswifemovie.com. Mark your calendars -- it is in theaters on August 14 (ignore the incorrect date shown in the website's title bar).

Office Inspiration.

I am loving these office spaces:


And for something a little more "fun":

(all photos: martha stewart)

Crackberries.

I looked down at the couch the other night and saw this:


It's not as bad as it looks (kind of). Justin has two blackberries. And I just got a new one and was changing its settings to match my old one, which I had to reference. I am the person that forgets I change my ring tone and look around for the idiot who's not answering the phone only to realize it's mine.

Pink Flowers.

I have the best husband in the whole world (not like I didn't already know that though). After a very rough day at work today, I came home to find these beautiful flowers from Justin.

The best part is that he actually bought 2 different bouquets from Whole Foods and arranged them himself. Quite impressive, if I do say so myself.

Thanks for making my day, Justin!

Classic Justin.

Last night Justin and I were both working and Jeopardy was on in the background. One of the categories was "Tom Time." The answer was:

"He and his band were runnin’ down a dream as the halftime

entertainment at the super bowl in 2008."

Justin blurts out confidently "Bruce Springsteen!" over my obvious response "Tom Petty."

Clearly it is not Bruce Springsteen (or any other guy with a band whose name is not Tom) given the category. Of course, when he realizes his answer was very wrong, Justin's reaction was "well I didn't know what the category was." Sure.

(photo: jeopardy.com)

Please note that the Jeopardy story was much funnier last night. It must be one of those stories where you had to be there -- but I wasn't going to delete what I already wrote and the lovely picture of Alex. Take my word for it, it was funny.

Tonight, I asked Justin if he heard about Tony Romo breaking up with Jessica Simpson the day before her birthday. Without missing a beat, his reply was "Smart move. At least he doesn't have to buy her something for her birthday."

(photo: newyorkdailynews.com)

Maybe I should be concerned since my birthday is less than 3 weeks away.

Aveeno.

I just discovered the best shaving lotion ever. Aveeno daily moisturizing body wash. This is Justin's daily body wash (yes, it is slightly girly), and I stole it the other day to shave. My legs were so smooth and silky -- I didn't even have to put on lotion. And it smells nice too!

Try it. Believe me, you won't be disappointed.

(As a type, Justin is dancing to the Jack in the Box "mini buffalo ranch chicken sandwich" song. Amazing.)

Score at J. Crew.

We ran to J. Crew last night because they were holding a pair of the Joley pearlized-patent peep toes for me (previously blogged about here). I was thrilled they had them in the store because their sizes tend to be pretty inconsistent.

They are a dream! It took everything I had (and a couple of stern looks from Justin) not to also grab the red and pink ones (which looked more brown in the store than online, if I remember them correctly).

The shoes are actually very comfortable. I wore them the whole day and didn't get any blisters. I have a feeling I may live in these shoes. I plan to stalk to jcrew.com for the other colors to go on sale.


The heel height is perfect for me -- not too tall, not too short, but just right. I like how the peep toe part is a little bigger/more open than some. I can't explain how awesome the leather looks -- it is shiny, and it has a pearlized look to it too. The pearlization (is that a word?) is more noticeable on some of the other colors, but the black is great. You can kind of see it below, but I had a hard time getting it to show up in the pics. In case anyone is planning on getting them, I think they run about a half size small. These are a 7 and I have other pairs of J. Crew shoes in a 6.5.


I also happened to find the atelier jacket while I was perusing the sale section. I have been eying the gray one online for a long time (and have balked on it several times when there was free shipping). After trying on the one in white, I was sold. And, the best part -- it rung up for $30.00 cheaper when I checked out. Love it when that happens!!

Close up. Love the ruffle neck!!


The jacket and shoes combo.

I had a long day at work and was in no mood to smile or worry about my hair/make-up for the picture, hence the headless shots. Don't judge.