Zoey Pictures.

There's rarely a dull moment anymore at our house with Zoey and Riley.  It's fun to watch them play together -- Zoey is sassy and fearless.  We try to always have the camera nearby because they are so cute!

Look at those crossed back legs!

She was asleep with her head in Justin's shoe like this for over an hour.

She takes after Riley and loves to sleep on top of the cushions on the back of the couch.

Unfortunately, she is so tiny she slides down between the cushion and the back of the couch all the time.  Here she is after she fell (and stayed asleep).  That's her tail in the back and her ears flipped up in the front.

From the pictures, it looks like she is always sleeping, but that's certainly not the case!  That's just the only time she holds still long enough for us to snap a picture of her that's not blurry!  Here are a couple of her actually awake:

Riley likes to hop up on the ottomans when he wants a break from his little sister.

Baby H Is Here!

Jeremy and Meagan had their beautiful baby boy yesterday!  Sawyer Henry weighed 6 lbs 6 oz.  Isn't he so precious?   

Congratulations to the new mom and dad!

5 things . . .

5 things I am liking . . . 

1.  This gorgeous room:

(photo: decorpad.com)

2.  The April issue of Traditional Home.  It was perfect reading on the plane this morning on my way to Dallas.  There were so many inspiring pictures!

 
3.  A restful puppy.

4.  The ice cream social we had last week at work.  Yum!

5.  That it is almost the weekend!

Kitchen Update.

I mentioned a long time ago about getting new kitchen lighting (here and here).  The lights were installed before Christmas, so besides just flat out forgetting to post pictures of them, I have no excuse for not sharing them earlier!

Here's the breakfast table area before (and notice the "boob" light, as Sarah Richardson would say, above the sink):

And after with the 18" clemson pendant from Restoration Hardware:

 The kitchen island area before:

And after with two 8" clemson pendants:

And here's a shot of all of the new lights, including the schoolhouse pendant over the sink.

I love having the extra light over the table and the island.  Looking back at before pictures makes me realize how empty the space looked.

Sarah's House: Laundry Room & Backyard.

While Zoey was taking her first nap of the day this morning, I was able to catch up on some old episodes of Sarah's House.  And, as usual, I loved everything she did. 

The laundry room was so bright and cheery.  For a second, I thought to myself that I would actually enjoy doing laundry in that room -- and then decided that's not true.  I don't like doing laundry period (even if the space is cheery and beautifully designed).

I love the carrera marble countertops and floors.  And the blacksplash is so fun!

She created a little storage area in the basement as well during the episode.  Sadly, the website didn't have any pictures, but she painted the concrete floors a very pretty blue/gray color that I loved.

The next episode was the backyard.  How amazing does that pool look?  I could totally enjoy a nice drink, a good book, and the sun in that space. 

(all photos hgtv.ca)

Sarah and Tommy were cracking me up with all of the comments about the buff guys working on the pool and how they wanted to make a calendar.  Too funny.  I also enjoyed seeing how much her plans changed as the backyard progressed.  It makes me feel better when I start with one idea and end up in a completely different direction!

Introducing Little Zoey!

We picked up our new welsh terrier puppy (Zoey) yesterday from a small town outside of Dallas.  She is super cute and so tiny!  I will have another post soon with more pictures of her after we are able to sort through the hundreds (yes, hundreds) we have taken already of her and her big brother.

In the meantime, look at that sweet little face. 

Baby H Shower.

We recently hosted a co-ed shower for Meagan and Jeremy to help them welcome their baby boy!  We had a great time planning it for them and, most importantly, we can't wait to meet Baby H!

I managed to snap a few shots of the decorations before the shower started.

Of course Martha's look better than mine, but the pom-poms are so cheap and easy to make for such a fun decoration.

To spruce up our everyday centerpiece, I just took some coordinating ribbon and wrapped it around the candles and sprinkled some "baby boy" confetti around the tray.

Here's a close up of one of the bouquets (and one of the buffet lamps):

And my favorite area . . . the dessert table, which had cake (of course), iced shortbread cookies for the favor, chocolate covered ritz peanut butter sandwiches, and sixlets.  The sixlets were Justin's pick -- he was very excited to see that Hobby Lobby carried them (I had never heard of them before), but they did look pretty in the candy dishes.

And last but certainly not least, the dad-to-be was double-fisting it at the end of the shower with a bottle-shaped iced shortbread cookie and a beer. 

Dining Room Update.

I realized I hadn't posted a complete picture of the new and improved dining room with the chandelier, lamps, chairs, and new art work all together.

And for those who pay extra attention to the pictures on the right side of my blog, I have updated the picture of the dining room there too.

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!