Exciting News!

Riley is going to be a big brother!  Before anyone gets the wrong idea -- he will be a big brother to a welsh terrier puppy -- not a baby (don't get your hopes up there, mom!).  The puppies were born 5 years and 4 days after Riley and will be ready for their new homes in mid-March.  We can't wait to meet Riley's little sister!  We can only hope that she is as sweet and precious as Riley.

I am looking forward to more super cute puppy pictures like these:

You can see pictures of all of the puppies and the parents here.  We should also be receiving weekly updates on the puppies until we can go meet them!

Tahoe 2010.

Finally . . . a recap of the trip we took to Tahoe at the beginning of the month!  We had such a wonderful time taking in the beautiful scenery, getting away from work, and most importantly, spending time with great friends.  The trip was actually like a mini high school reunion (without all of the judging).  The majority of the group went to high school together, and I actually went to school with a couple of the people since the first grade.

We rented a place and all stayed together.  Here is a shot of the back of the house.   

On the way in from Reno, I saw these bear signs (click to enlarge the picture).  My favorite thing was that they included a cute bear cub on them. 

The first full day we were there, most of the group went skiing at Heavenly.  I stayed back at the house because I figured skiing wouldn't be the best idea with my back.  Here are some amazing (or in Justin's words, "majestic") views he captured on the mountain.

 

Zach and Robert thought they would ski part of the way without their shirts on (obviously adding to the majestic views).

The next day, we all hung out at the house and created a pretty sweet sled path in the backyard.  Even neighbors came over when we were done to test it out.  Here are me and my best friend, Lauren, assisting with the path and posing for pictures.      

 

And Justin enjoying the fruits of his labor.

After we were done with the sledding, we threw snow balls at each other for a while (note: don't get into a snowball fight with a professional baseball player, he will win).  And then we sat around in the snow, which by the way, makes for an excellent cup holder and drink-chiller!  Here's part of the group. 

 

It snowed quite a bit while we were out there.  (But basically any amount of snow is a lot for me, growing up in Texas.)  When you walked, you would sink about 2 feet down.  So what better thing to do than to make snow angels!  

Maybe we just aren't aware of the best method, but it's hard to get up without feeling like you're going to mess up the imprint!

That night we braved the weather and roads and went to dinner and the casino for a little gambling.  We rounded out the night with some Wii and a poker tournament back at the house.

The next day, Justin and I drove to Carson City before the Superbowl to get one of my favorite things, In-N-Out.  We couldn't be that close to one without stopping by.  And to make the most of my trip there, I got a double double.  It was so good (my mouth is watering just thinking about it).  I am so jealous of you west coast people!   

There was also a Trader Joe's in the same shopping center, which is also a favorite of mine (previously blogged about here).  Of course we stopped by and stocked up on the essentials (salsa, cookies, cherry preserves, etc).

And my recap wouldn't be complete without mentioning the card game Guillotine.  At first it sounded lame, but it is really a fun game that we played a bunch.  We came home and ordered it from Amazon the next day!

 

 And lots of pretty scenery shots:

 

   

We are already looking forward to the 2011 trip!

Pretty Living Rooms.

I am completely underwater at work (which explains the lack of blogging on my part), so I will leave you with a couple of pretty pictures.

(photo: www.sproost.com)

(photo: www.housetohome.co.uk)

Even though I haven't been posting, I have been keeping a list of all the exciting things (travel and home related) I want to share so I don't forget anything.  I hope things slow down soon!

(Also, you may have also noticed that I have started to tag my posts.  I haven't gotten to all of the posts, but hopefully it will make things easier to find.)

I'm Still Around.

I'm still around despite my lack of blogging. But I have a good excuse -- we have been in Tahoe! I can't wait to share highlights of the trip and our pictures.

In the meantime, here is a little teaser picture Justin took with his phone when he went skiing at Heavenly.

Lovely Bedroom.

I love everything* about this bedroom.

(photo: www.pointclickhome.com)

* Everything except the green bouquet. I love the pop of green, but if you kick the covers (or have a dog that likes to cruise around on the bed), the flowers would be knocked over in no time.

Bathroom Organization.

The other weekend I decided to clean out and organize our medicine (other miscellaneous items) cabinet in our bathroom.

Here is the before:

and the after:


Believe it or not, I actually added a bunch of new stuff in there. It is just organized much better. Well, actually it is just organized. Saying "better" implies that there was some organization system in the first place.

These little baskets from Container Store work perfectly here. We have since added one to hold all the sunscreen in the middle shelf and bought several more to organize another bathroom cabinet. Having the handles is so nice. It is so easy just to pull down whatever you need. The medicine is organized by ailment -- one for bandages, one for tummy issues, one for colds, etc. I also threw out lots of expired medicine that we certainly no longer needed.

(In case you are wondering, we have a coffee pot in our bathroom. Hence the mugs, coffee filters, and sugar in the cabinet.)

While I was on a roll, I decided to organize my most used bathroom drawers too. I forgot to take before pictures (oops), but here are the afters:



I read in Real Simple a while back that you shouldn't buy one of those massive drawer organizers, but instead get smaller individual bins to better fit what you have. I tried it out and am a believer. I did keep my larger organizer for some of my make-up (which works decently), but got smaller ones for the other items.

Sarah's House: Bathrooms.

I am a little late this week, but did anyone else see Sarah's House this past weekend where she redid the bathrooms? Um, one word -- swoon. She did what she called hi/low bathrooms. One was higher end and one was on the lower end. Both of them were amazing.

In the "high" bathroom, I love how she did stripes with the glass tiles for a big impact. Love the mirror, love the counter top, love the floors, love the relaxing color scheme.


Speaking of relaxing, I would totally put this gorgeous tub to good use after a long day.


The "low" bath was beautiful too. How great are those wall decals? It looks like it could be wallpaper. I have spent some time on etsy trying to find something similar for our bathroom. The little pendant light in front of the mirror is great too.

(all photos hgtv.ca)

5 things . . .

Most of the time when I do my "5 things" list, I try to be positive and thankful about things. Well today is different. There is no way around it, today wasn't a great day, and I am not the in the mood to pretend it was. So instead of trying to find the silver lining in a day where many things went wrong (some minor, some not so minor), my list today will be 5 things that made today a not-so-good day:

1. The appellate court denied my motion for continuance this morning.

2. I forgot to put eyeliner on my left eye this morning. Once I realized it at the office, I tried to rub off the eyeliner on my right eye.

3. I forgot my lunch today and resorted to trying Subway again after a long hiatus. (It was the only food place near my law school, so I ate it all the time and got very sick of it.) I won't be returning anytime soon. My sandwich was terrible and way too toasted. I ate the turkey and lettuce (and that wasn't even good) and threw away the gross bread. To make matters worse, I got to hear everyone in my hall leave for a long lunch, while I sat in my office picking at my sub-par sub.

4. A filing we thought was due Monday is really due tomorrow, which means dinner at the office. It's never a great day when you eat all 3 meals at your desk.

5. The weather was cloudy, drizzly, and dreary.

Thanks for reading my vent. I feel better.

My little boy is growing up.

Today is Riley's 5th birthday!

Here he is during his first week home with us. How cute is he? What a sweet little puppy.

He looks totally different now, but he is still the cutest and sweetest dog ever.

Good Stuff.

After spending the better part of Sunday on the hunt for ski clothes, I was reminded of this Colbert "Skate Expectations" clip, which cracks me up:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Skate Expectations - Speedskating Team Training - Tucker Fredricks
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor Economy

Not to worry, Justin's ski gear does not show any chest hair!

The Deep End.

So The Deep End premiered Thursday night on abc. The show is about first year associates that begin working at a large law firm. As a mid-level associate at a large law firm, I felt that I was obligated to at least watch the first episode.



One thing is for sure, the show is not an accurate portrayal of associate-life at a law firm. Who talks to partners like that? Who goes to court during their first week? Who doesn't run a conflicts check before accepting a case? Who has time to go to some swanky bar with a pool multiple nights a week with their co-workers? On the other hand, I guess I should be thankful the show is not representative of my day at the office -- or it would be a huge snooze.

The show was disappointing overall, but I will probably watch it again next week . . . and wonder why I wasted my time (again).

Personalized Art.

We have built-ins above our TV that are fairly large. I have always struggled with trying to accessorize them with objects that are the right scale. I found a large frame (tucked away in a closet) this weekend that was the right size, but I needed something to put in it. I decided to copy my anthropologie monogram mug for some quick, free art.

Here is a picture of the anthropologie mugs (not the "H" one, but you get the idea). These mugs, by the way, make wonderful gifts and you can't beat the price.

Here's the final product "in scene" next to my grandmother's vase and our wedding shadowbox.

I think it turned out pretty well. It definitely isn't perfect, but thankfully since it is up high and over the TV, no one can see it up close. (Except for my blog readers!)

Opinions please.

It seems almost every year I try to find a decent looking pair of sneakers that I can wear to give my flip flops a break. I haven't been overly successful in the past, but came across these 2 pairs at Nordstrom recently that look promising.

Which one do you like better?

Option 1:

(more photos and details here)

Option 2:

(more photos and details here)

Thanks for your input!

Sarah's House: Master Bedroom.

I have blogged about my love of all things Sarah Richardson before here. Well, Sarah's House didn't disappoint this weekend. I loved the master bedroom she did! It actually reminds me of the direction I am headed with our bedroom, so I was encouraged. Hopefully it is just the last bit of motivation I need to order the fabric and get going! (Too bad that the fabric was I was planning on ordering on etsy sold today!)

(all photos hgtv.ca)

So our master bedroom will not look that good, but I hope to be back in the near future with some pictures.

5 things . . .

Here are 5 of my new favorite beauty products, many of which I received for Christmas!

1. Frederic Fekkai shampoo and conditioner for colored hair

Love the way they smell, and the shampoo really cleans my hair without drying it out. I haven't used it long enough to see what it does with my highlights, but imagine it could only be better than what I was using before (which wasn't specifically for color treated hair). The only negative is the price. I told Justin he better not be using it!

2. Korres Lip Butter

I have both guava and quince and love them both. I am a lip balm junkie (see here) and these korres lip butters are must.

3. Laura Mercier Tinted Moisturizer

I love using this on the weekends. It moisturizes well and provides nice sheer coverage. Not that my weekday routine is tedious, but it is nice to just apply moisturizer and get a little coverage at the same time. I was surprised that it lasted all day too!

4. Jack Black Lip Balm

I love this lip balm. It is different than most because it is not shiny (because it's made for men). I got it in the lemon and chamomile and went back to Sephora to get some more. My motto is you can never have too many lip balms! As I was walking through Saks to get to Sephora, they had a little 3 pack special of these balms. Score!

5. Lola Marc Jacobs Perfume

So I don't have this yet, but I really want it! I love the bottle -- how great is that flower? And it smells SO good.