5 things . . .

5 things I'm currently digging . . .

1.  That Sarah 101 will air on HGTV in the US starting July 9th!

(photo: here)

2.  These J. Crew flats. 

3.  This song by Grace Potter & The Nocturnals.

4.  This shirt from Nordstrom.  (If you order it, get one size smaller than what you usually wear.)

5. These Stabilo 88 pens.  They are life-changing.  

Weekend Recap.

This weekend has gone by so incredibly fast.  I can't believe it's already over!  We had our 11 year high school reunion this weekend.  No, 11 is not a typo -- we didn't have a 10 year reunion, so we had an 11 year instead.  Yep, I guess that's how we roll.  Anyway, since a bunch of friends were in town, we had a pre-reunion reunion party at our house on Friday night, which was a blast.  Then we went to the reunion on Saturday night, which was not as much of a blast but still fun.  I'll be back with pictures from the weekend (and some awesome pictures back from high school as well).      

And today is our 7 year wedding anniversary.  Given all of the festivities this weekend, we plan to officially celebrate next weekend.  We did have a tasty brunch this morning and have enjoyed taking it easy today.  I can't believe it has already been 7 years.  But even more surprising is how much more I love Justin each day.  When we got married, I would have never thought that would even be possible.  I truly have the best husband in the entire world, and there is not a doubt in my mind that we were meant for each other.   

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  Happy Monday! 

House & Home Eye Candy.

I was browsing around Canadian House and Home's website and came across some pretty amazing rooms.  I have to say, I'm a little jealous of our neighbors to the north -- they get Canadian House and Home, Samantha Pynn, Sarah Richardson, Tommy Smythe, and Candice Olson.  Lucky!  (said in my best Napoleon Dynamite voice).    

This last picture is the living room of Tommy Smythe (Sarah Richardson's sidekick).  Uh-maz-ing.     

(all photos: canadian house and home)

And last but not least, my friend Courtney over at a Thoughtful Place has a fabulous series going on right now -- 5 days of 5 minute projects.  How genius is that idea?  Anyway, I was thrilled when she asked me to contribute.  Stop by and check out all of the wonderful ideas she's featured this week.  

I sure am glad it's almost Friday! 

Guest Posting X 2.

I was delighted to be over at Bright, Bold, and Beautiful yesterday sharing some images that represent what is bright, bold, and beautiful to me.  I could spend all day looking around Laura's fabulous blog (and her Etsy shop too)!  

And just in case one guest post wasn't enough  . . .

Today I'll be over at Aubrey's awesome blog All Things Bright and Beautiful. I am pumped to be participating in her great series "How to Make Your Home Your Own."  Aubrey's blog is always full of inspiration and humor! 

Go check them out!

Update: Cocoa & Hearts Painting.

Remember how I mentioned we got a fabulous painting from Cocoa & Hearts here?  We hung it in our living room behind the couch.  In case you're curious, click here to see what we had hanging on the wall before the painting.

Here's the new and improved living room wall . . .

(How sweet is Zoey posing for the picture?)

I love it against the darker wall color.  It really just shines in there.  I may have to turn the couch around so I can sit and stare at the painting instead of facing the TV!  

The colors and movement of the painting are simply stunning. I love the gold streaks in it that shimmer.  When I received it in the mail, that was the first thing I noticed.

It's definitely my favorite part of the room now.



Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! I'm glad to be back home, although there aren't any cookies on my nightstand here!

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?