Kitchen Crush.

I was recently cruising around decorpad and came across a stunning kitchen that was just too good not to share.  It has such a classic sophisticated vintage vibe to it.       

(photos: decorpad)

After seeing those pictures, I really wanted a more straight on picture so I could get more of that awesome chandelier action I saw teasing me in the first couple of pictures.  I hunted around decorpad to no avail and then came across it via my mad googling skills at House of Turquoise.

Here she is in all of her glory.

(photo: house of turquoise)

Wow.  Simple, yet so beautiful.

A few of my favorite parts of the room are the windows, the cabinet color (of course), the hidden appliances, the gold on the stove, the farmhouse sink, the cararra marble, the green crown molding, the faucet, the chandelier (obviously), and the suzani rug.

What's your favorite part?

P.S.  I'm currently in Cincinnati for work.  How can it be 90 degrees here?  I thought I would head north and enjoy some cooler temps!  But on the bright side, at least the humidity is extremely low.  And when I got back to my hotel room tonight (after eating a tasty steak dinner), I had a chocolate chip cookie waiting for me on my nightstand!  

Sarah's Summer House.

It's no secret I'm a big fan of Sarah Richardson.  I know I'm a little behind on blogging about it, but I was thrilled when I heard that Sarah's Summer House was going to be on HGTV.

How amazing is the living room?  It's almost like you are sitting out in the middle of the water with all of those windows overlooking the fantastic views.

I love that she used a bunch of different shades of blue in all different patterns.  I was thinking it may be too busy, but of course, it wasn't.  It all came together so beautifully (as usual for Sarah's rooms).  Those blue Chiang Mai Dragon ottomans are amazing!  I would love to put a little Chiang Mai Dragon fabric somewhere in our house.   

(photos: sarah richardson)

I couldn't post about the CMD in Sarah's living room without mentioning this fab powder room makeover over at Hazardous Design where the blue Chiang Mai Dragon wallpaper is a showstopper.  Seriously, this may be one of my favorite powder rooms ever.  Every detail is just perfection (the lighting, the mirror, the floors, the beadboard, the monogrammed towel, the hardware, the pink flower).  Stunning, isn't it? 

And speaking of great bathrooms, the one on Sarah's Summer House was fabulous too.  It has such a clean fresh feeling. 

(photo: hgtv)

(photo: sarah richardson)

Are you watching the show?  Are you as obsessed with Sarah and Tommy as I am? 

P.S.  Hope y'all had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend.  We headed to New Orleans on Friday with a group of friends.  We spent part of Monday recovering and part of it grilling and hanging out by the pool. 
   

Happy Long Weekend.

Hope you all have a wonderful and relaxing Memorial Day weekend.

(photo: decorpad)

Yogurtland.

The party is over; the brief is filed!  I have a life again (at least for a few days!).  Yippee!  It feels good to be blogging and catching up on all I've been missing!  Thanks for being understanding!   

Yogurtland, yet another yogurt shop, opened up not too long ago by our house.  I figured it was like the other 15 yogurt shops we have around the area so didn't really make it a point to stop by and check things out.  After seeing a bunch of positive reviews on yelp (and hearing people talk about the red velvet cake batter flavor), I finally decided to check it out.  I had no clue what I was missing out on!      

Yogurtland's yogurt is so much better than all of the other yogurt joints around.  They have tons of flavors, it's all self serve, and the best part is . . . it's fat free!  With the near-gallon sized bowl they give you and with me at the helm of those soft-serve dispensers, I usually end up with about 4 servings worth.  So while it may be fat free, I'm probably consuming a day's worth of calories.  But I put fresh fruit on top, so that cancels it out right?   

The yogurt really does taste so good, I seriously question whether it really is fat free.  Of course that reminds me of a great Seinfeld episode where Jerry and Elaine also question whether allegedly non-fat yogurt truly is fat free.  They even take a sample to a lab to have it tested out after they start gaining weight (and the tests determine it wasn't really fat free).  View part of the episode here and the wikipedia page about the episode here.  And a funny blooper at the yogurt shop here:

Maybe if I didn't have such a sweet tooth, I wouldn't have such a hard time doing all the exercises at my new workout class (Define Body) with my awesome work out buddy, Elz.

Hope you all are having a great week! 

Coming up for air.

So the tiny break I expected to take has now turned into a rather extended break.  I've been working pretty much non-stop (as in almost 30 hours just this weekend) since the party ended on Wednesday on a brief that's due Tuesday.  But the good news is that the party was a success (and Tuesday is almost here)!  

Over the weekend, Justin sent me pictures while I was at the office of our precious dogs.  Since I don't have time for much else, here are sweet Riley and Zoey enjoying the backyard this weekend.  

I really have missed blogging and seeing what you all have been up to.  I can't wait to get this thing filed on Tuesday and sit down Wednesday to catch up! 

Hope y'all had a wonderful weekend! 

Tiny Break.

I don't know why I haven't mentioned it before, but I am hosting a party for my office this Wednesday to welcome our summer associates.  Needless to say, we are busy around here making sure everything is just perfect.  I am going to sign off for a bit and focus on things around the house. 

So in honor of the office party, here are some pretty amazing offices (which sadly look nothing like my office at work).

(photos: decorpad)

The good news is that we've made some little changes that I can't wait to share with you!  I will be back to blogging and visiting your blogs shortly. In the meantime, have a fabulous weekend!

Cocoa & Hearts.

Have you seen Cocoa & Hearts, the new shop of Jen Ramos (of Made by Girl), where she sells her amazing original paintings?  If not, head on over there now and check out all of her beautiful work.

I have always wanted an original piece of art, but wasn't willing to settle for just anything.  I've admired Jen's work for a while, and when I heard she was opening up an online store, I was giddy!  It was very hard narrowing down a favorite, but I am thrilled that we were able to score a painting of hers.  So which one did we get? . . .

This one! 

(photos: cocoa & hearts)

Gorgeous, right?  I'm not 100% sure yet where I am going to hang it.  I love all the great colors in the painting, so I have a few options in mind.  Of course, I will show you pics of the painting once she's hung in her new home!

Chevron Boards - Round 2.

Remember my first attempt at inspiration boards for the office?  After making them, which of course is the perfect time, I decided I needed something that was not a blue-gray so they wouldn't be so blah against the wall.  Here's what they looked like the first time around:

After reading all of your helpful comments, I really considered leaving them the way they were.  I figured once they had pictures, notes, etc. on them, you wouldn't notice as much.  But at the end of the day, I really wanted a little more color.  I loved the look of the chevron, so when I saw the turquoise chevron at High Fashion Home, I knew it was the winner.  It's a Premier Fabric Print, but I don't see the fabric in this color online.

Because I used spray adhesive to attach the first fabric to the cork board, I knew that if I tried to remove the fabric, it would pull up the cork with it.  So I just put the new fabric right on top.  If you look closely, you can barely make out the fabric underneath, but it is almost completely unnoticeable. 

Clearly both Justin and I need some more inspiration on our boards!  But don't worry, I actually completed these a while back, and they are looking more filled (and inspirational) at this point.

I am much happier with the new fabric!  And ultimately am glad I made the relatively easy change.  

The office is really coming along.  I can't wait to show you how the rest of the room is coming together. Happy Monday!

Guest Blogging.

I'm guest posting today over at Simple Dwellings as part of Amber's If My Blog Was a Room series.  Stop by and see what I think the room would look like (and be sure to check out some of Amber's design boards -- they are always beautiful)!  

Lip Reading.

I didn't wake up early to watch the royal wedding, but I did read about it (and of course found some pictures of Kate's and Pippa's dresses). One of the things I enjoyed reading about was the lip readers who let us in on some of the sweet moments between William and Kate. Does that make me super nosey? If so, oh well. I think part of it is being nosey, but the other part of it is because I actually enjoy trying to read people's lips. Not in a weird way -- but I find myself doing it a lot during sporting events to see what the coaches and players are saying to each other (or when they are cursing out the refs). I am not bad at it, if I do say so myself. I especially get a kick out of it when there is an f-bomb or two.

But back to the wedding . . . this was when, according to the lip readers, William told Kate that she looked beautiful. So sweet, right?

 (photo: here)

Seeing that reminded me of our wedding. I'm not sure if there were any expert lip readers at our wedding, but Justin said one of the sweetest things ever to me towards the end of our ceremony. As it was wrapping up, I told him that "it was almost over." His response was that "it was just the beginning."

Speaking of my wonderful husband, we had our first date on May 2, 1998. 13 years ago!  Do you celebrate your "dating" anniversary?

San Diego Trip Recap.

We try to head out to San Diego on a fairly regular basis (you can read about two of our previous trips here and here) to visit Justin's brother and our soon to be sister-in-law:

 

and my bestest friend in the whole world and her hubby (fun fact:  I have known both of them since elementary school).

It's no secret that I am obsessed with Trader Joe's and In-N-out, so you better believe we made both of those happen.  We also stopped by the flower fields in Carlsbad, which were absolutely stunning.   



Aww, Justin and his brother, Jason, posing in the flowers.  Precious.   

No, Justin and I did not wear coordinating outfits on purpose.  But also precious.   

The ranunculus were ridiculous.  Like off the hizzy.  

Alright, that's enough of my awesome sayings.  Moving along . . . we had dinner and drinks at Starlite.  Super cool vibe there. 

Since it was dark, our picture of the bar didn't turn out too well.  This pic below shows how cool the place is.

(photo: starlite)

After dinner, we went to the Aero Club.  Frankly, the only reason I mention the place is because it had a boat-load of bottles.  I spent some of the time trying to figure out if there were multiple bottles of the same thing and if they only poured from that lower tier.  Yep, I'm one of those nerds at the bar.   

I wonder how many pictures just like this (well not necessarily at a bar) we've taken over the years.  Hundreds probably. 

On Saturday, we cruised to Laguna Beach.  I secretly wanted to see Brody (but would've settled for LC, Lo, or Audrina).  Sadly, I didn't see any of them.  However, I did get to meet a celebrity . . . the super sweet and talented Courtney from A Thoughtful Place.  I could have sat by the beach with her all day and chatted!  Thanks for meeting me out there friend!      

You extra-observant readers may notice my sunglasses are different in the picture below.  I picked up a little souvenir while we were there.  I figured some Tom Ford sunglasses would be a nice way to remember the sunny day we spent in Laguna.   

  

Justin and Jacob were totally twinsies in Laguna.  Light blue shirt and navy sweater.  Check check.

Jeans and brown leather sneakers.  Check check.  So cute.

Laguna really is such a beautiful place.  I would love to go back during our next trip to San Diego.

As always, our time out there went way too fast.  I am already thinking about our next trip back!   

Happy Friday!

Eye Candy.

I'm sorting through San Diego pictures, but in the meantime, I thought I would share pictures of some fabulous rooms (and point out one thing I am loving in each room).

This couch = nothing short of fabulous.  The color, the tufting.  Lovely. 

I am generally not a fan of skirted tables (don't know why), but am loving the simple look of this nightstand with the trim.  

This next room just makes me happy.  I couldn't decide which I liked better -- the chandelier or the nightstand . . . or the lucite on the chair.  All of it's amazing! 

I am totally digging the gray with the dark wood tones and the fancy molding above the door in this dining room.

For this bedroom, it's a toss up between the grasscloth wallpaper and the greek key nightstands.

(all photos: decor pad)

So picking out one thing in each room was more difficult than what I thought it would be!

San Diego Trip.

We just returned from a four-day trip to San Diego, which explains the lack of posting and me being totally out of the loop on what's happening in the blog world.  While it's nice to be home, I am already missing our friends and family and the amazing weather (the Texas humidity hit us like a ton of bricks when we walked out of the airport this evening). 

(I haven't uploaded pictures from our trip yet, so this one from another one of our San Diego visits will have to do in the meantime!)

During the trip, I was able to meet up with Courtney from A Thoughtful Place!  It was so nice meeting her in person, and she is just as sweet as what you'd imagine! 

I'll be back soon with pictures and a trip recap.  Hope you had a great Easter!  

Vintage Bar Cart Score.

Back in October, I blogged about wanting a bar cart and my fruitless Craigslist searching.  Well the fruitless searching continued up until a few weeks ago.  And I'm not talking about the occasionally-remembering-to-search-Craigslist kind of searching.  I'm talking about the every-day-compulsively-searching-holding-out-hope-that-I-would-find-something kind of searching, with this image always in the back of my mind:

(photo: Habitually Chic)

I was searching Austin's Craigslist for a friend and came across the perfect bar cart, which was listed for $125 in Lockhart, Texas (a small town about 2 hours and 45 minutes away).  Thankfully, Lockhart just so happens to be the BBQ Capital of Texas so it was an easy sell to convince Justin to make it "on our way" to Austin.  

We showed up and walked around the antique shop, which had a bunch of gorgeous pieces in perfect condition at great prices.  The owner pointed us in the direction of the bar cart and told me no matter the price marked, he would honor the Craigslist price.  He asked what it was and I told him $125; he said he had it marked for $120, but that he would take $100.  Sold!!  I didn't even have to negotiate -- he knocked down the price without me even asking!  (Although, for the record, I thought I was already getting a heck of a deal for $125.)   Check out this ebay auction, which has ended.  They look pretty similar right?  That one was listed for $695.

So with all that build up, here she is in all of her bar-cart glory.  Amazing, right?

And all styled up.

In case you're curious, those frames above the cart contain hand-written recipes from our family.

I love the look of displayed glassware, but I have an aversion to storing glasses out in the open.  It's easier for them to get dusty and ours would probably end up with puppy noses on them! 

And see those fun stripey straws?  Justin bought them for me (without any hints) for Christmas.  They are perfect to display on the bar cart! 

One of my favorite parts of the cart are its neat little casters.

And just in case you want to take a gander at our liquor selection (which I always like to do), here you go.

The more embarrassing ones (peppermint schnapps) and the ones in not so pretty handles bottles (Firefly sweet tea vodka) are still stored in our cabinet with the glassware and related bar tools.  I love seeing the bottles displayed now.  And yes, I bought that tequila just because the bottle was in the shape of Texas.

So the moral of the story is: obsessive Craigslist searching (even in different cities) persistence pays off!  Cheers!