Ottomans.

We have been looking for relatively inexpensive ottoman cubes for extra seating in our living room for some time now.  There were never any that were the right size with a fabric we really liked.  So we decided to check Ikea for some options.  We found the Solsta Pallbo ottomans for only $19.99.

So they went from this . . . 

To this . . .
 

 To this!

Of course the plain white cotton covers didn't do much for us.  Instead, we found some fabric we liked at High Fashion Home, and I enlisted my mother-in-law to sew slipcovers for them.  This isn't the first time she has recovered ottomans for us (you can see her previous handiwork here).  She added a little foam on top to make them a little taller and voila!

Didn't she do a wonderful job?  They turned out just like I hoped and were obviously a much cheaper option than something like this from Pottery Barn.


Here is a close up of the fabric:

The cubes are great and it's nice to have some extra seating that's easy to move around when we have guests over.

Back Home.

I left Monday morning and headed to Denver for an oral argument we had before the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals.  The courthouse was absolutely beautiful.  From what I understand, the building was recently restored.  There's a lot of marble and gorgeous architecture.  Unfortunately, they do not let you take cameras or phones with cameras past security.  Of all times I wanted to take some pictures!  But I found some pictures on the court's website. 

This is the actual courtroom where we had our argument.  It was so grand for being so small.  You can't see all the beautiful details in the picture below (I sat there for 15 minutes just admiring everything before the arguments started), so take my word for it!

This is the lobby area.  The arches were so pretty.  They also had these cool U.S. seals in the ceiling. 

 (photos: here)

Once the argument was done in Denver, we headed straight to Cincinnati for another oral argument before the Sixth Circuit.

(photo: here)

We stayed at the Cincinnatian Hotel, which was originally built in 1882.  It was a pretty neat hotel.  As a side note, their mini-bar peanut M&Ms were the perfect treat while I was working in my room all day!   

(photo: here)

Needless to say, I am way past tired.  It is great to be back home. 

Sarah's House: Guest Suite.

Like most other blog posts of mine recently, this post is way overdue.  The guest suite episode of Sarah's House was a long time ago, but I finally got around to watching it this weekend.  I love the simple color scheme in the room -- it's perfect for a guest room.

How great is that wallpaper?  The green headboard looks amazing against it, but I think the lamps are a little busy against the background.  I would have done black lamps -- something like this.

The bamboo dresser is awesome.  And can you believe she got it for only $70 at an auction?

(all photos hgtv.ca)

I would be more than happy to stay in that guest room!

Corporette.

I came across the website, Corporette, today and think it is such a great idea.  Their motto is cute: "a fashion and lifestyle blog for overachieving chicks." 

According to the site, it came about because they "noticed that young professional women had a few things in common no matter where they lived or who they worked for:

- they all spent hours surfing the internet, either because long hours had thoroughly blurred the line between personal/home tasks or because there was significant downtime

- they all based their work wardrobes around Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and J.Crew

- their problems were just a little bit different from the women the rest of American magazines were profiling -- they had plenty of money but no time; they had to deal with extremely onerous demands at the office, and they were generally expected to be on 24/7."

That sounds about right.  I haven't fully explored the site yet, but some of the following posts are my favorite so far:

• 10 Things to Know About: Wearing Button-Down Shirts 
• What to Wear to Work on the Weekend
• How to Wear Stockings (the comments' suggestions were helpful as I will be before two different circuit courts of appeals next week and need some new hose since I never wear them otherwise).

They also have a "suit of the week" feature.  I happen to own (and love) the suit of the week this week (but, for the record, don't wear the pieces together).  And they do a daily personal shopper post where they suggest a piece of work-appropriate attire.   Love the dress the recommended today (and the suggestion to pair it with a yellow cardigan).

While I love Chloe, I will be back to Corporette for more conservative work attire ideas. 

Tag, you're it.

I was tagged by Jesse from Good Girl Gone Glad with this blog award (a while back, I have to admit).  Thanks, Jesse!

 

To accept this award I must list 10 things that make me happy and the pass the award along to 10 fabulous blogs!

10 things that make me happy are:

1.  Peanut butter sandwich girl scout cookies.

2.  The beautiful weather we had this past weekend.

3.  Getting the new J. Crew catalog today.

4.  Janet Hill Studio's paintings.

5.  Sarah Richardson's rooms.

6.  Cold sheets.

7.  Singing along to Taylor Swift on my way to work in the morning (without Justin there to laugh at me).

8.  Real Simple Magazine and Lonny Magazine.

9.  This kate spade shirt.  (I don't have it yet, but I visit it frequently online and it just exudes happiness to me.)

10.  And of course, reading blogs.

Now to pass it on:

Bluebonnets and Bluebell
Z and C + one
Ruby Albina
Hudson Corder
Nuestra Vida Dulce
Elements of Style
Odi et Amo
Design Esquire
The Stamford Wife
La Dolce Vita

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!