Golden Globes - My Winner

Its all any one will be talking about today, so I won't publicly gush over all of the amazingly beautiful gowns that made me so happy last night. I will speak to one.

My favorite, straight from the Christian Dior Couture Fall 2012 collection, worn by Best Actress Jennifer Lawrence. I don't care what movie she was in, and I probably won't see it; she will always be Katniss Everdeen in my eyes. The girl must have gone on that "don't eat anything, and when you feel like you're about to pass out, eat a cube of cheese" diet, because her waist looked perfectly tiny.

This dress does everything a dress should do. It compliments hips, flatters a waist, and shows just enough skin to make it more classy than sexy. Even the fact that Mr. Husband told me it made her up-tops look like cones, made me even more happy with the dress (most straight men don't fully understand artful fashion). It was like time machine travel back to a more glam-glam Hollywood. L.O.V.E. So happy!

photo courtesy of stylefrizz

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A Few of My Favorite Things

Things I'm lovin' right now....


Flower Vases from Anthropologie 
Happy Birthday to me! I was in line behind a cute TCU sorority girl who was buying a few of these and at the time I didn't really think I had a spot for them. Then, about a week later I received my Anthro 15% off birthday card and it was a done deal - spot or no spot!

I had to re-arrange a few things, but they look great above above my new stainless refrigerator.
(chrysanthemum, anemone, pansy, bouquet)

Bali Offering Basket
I found this at Tuesday Morning and knew it would be perfect for my coffee table. I had been looking for something to store things that I would rather keep tucked away when guests are over. The price was amazing, and even more amazing when the lady helping me at checkout told me that I was missing the top half.... "Say what??!!"

Yes, this is an offering basket made in Bali. It is essentially a box. So, not only did I get the bottom piece that I use under my coffee table, I also got the top half that I'm keeping stored away until I can figure out a way to make it work and show off the pretty design on the top. L.O.V.E it!

Vintage Map Coasters
Also a new addition to our coffee table are these great coasters my esq. sister gave me for Christmas. You can have them made from maps of any city/state you want, and they also have vintage postcards and ads - nothing is reproduced. I realize that several people make these and I could probably make them myself, but the fact that my sister found them in Cape Cod and they're unique makes me love them even more!

Here's a fun article about them with more pics!

My Rescue Fiddle Leaf Fig
Mr. Husband and I rescued this poor little guy from the nursery not too long ago. It was missing eaves, and several of the remaining leaves were damaged and turning brown around the edges. I'm a sucker for any plant (especially ones that get marked to clearance which to me is like the little runt puppy that no one wants), so we loaded it up and took it home.

For a while, leaves continued to brown and fall off. I couldn't find a spot in my house that it liked, so I called my mom who has had one thriving in her home for the last 9 years (its now reaching the top of their 12' dining room ceiling). Finally, we found the right spot for sunlight, and she helped me replant it to make sure the soil completely drains after every watering. LOOK!! New growth! I'm beyond happy! Fiddle Leaf Figs are slow growing, so I'll have to be patient, but its going to be a really beautiful plant in the long run.

This plant is super popular right now in the design/blog world (abode love here and here, Honey We're Home, Emily Henderson, Elle Decor, I could go on and on) and should be relatively easy to care for if you're looking for a good house plant. If you're going to pick one up or if you're having trouble with one you already have, email me and I can give you some pointers!

PS - did you know they're remaking The Sound of Music and Carey Underwood is going to play Maria???? Its true! Not sure how I feel about Carey Underwood as a would-be nun??

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Missing Maui

Its raining and cold in Dallas. I'm 100% ready to pack my bags and head back to Maui right now - especially after reading Megan's post recapping her trip there in December.

If you're cold and needing some sunshine... head over to her blog and relive her trip, or enjoy some of my pics! I'll have to do a full post with our favorite activities and food later - there's so much!

Haleakala Sunrise

 Paddleboarding (more trying to be cute than actual paddling)

 Wailea beach

Grand Wailea grounds (this pic doesn't do it justice)

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Tuesday Morning Treasures

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no stranger to Tuesday Morning stores, BUT today in honor of Tuesday Morning Treasures I felt the need to check out their website... What?... For real?... You can now shop their site and its had a serious facelift!

Here’s some serious fabulousness with amazing price tags. Hope you enjoy… and I really hope some one gets to buy some of this stuff!

Almah Kilim Dyed Cube, $149.99 

Classic Union Jack Pouf, $69.99

 

Kantha Queen Bedding Set, $79.99

Four Hands Morrison 9 Drawer Chest, $1,199.99

(okay so this one is a little more pricey, but it is FOUR HANDS… L.O.V.E. )

Bernhardt Bon Maison Upholstered King Platform Bed, $999.99

New Yorker Cruise Beach Towel, $19.99

8’ x 11’ Momeni New Wave Cheetah Spotted Area Rug, $599.99 + Free Shipping!

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New Year Already?

I know everyone says this, but as you get older time really does fly by so quickly. I'm at work wondering how Christmas is already over?!? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I work in retail and I'm constantly living in a world 6 or 7 months early trying to plan for the 4th of July in December.

Then, yesterday I was trying to gather all of our 2012 pictures into a family yearbook (thanks YHL for the idea) and I realized that our entire year revolved around a few large events, and nothing really memorable in between them. Dumb.

New Year's resolution 1: Try to take pictures of e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. I don't care how embarrassed I feel, I need to document the little moments in life that I apparently forgot about in 2012. Oops.

There was a lot that happened last year that I just didn't take the time to enjoy/remember/grieve… and I would really like to make an effort to appreciate every day this year, rather than just waiting for the weekends or big trips and holidays. Hopefully that will also slow things down a little bit for me.


Along those lines, I want to say that working on the "family yearbook" yesterday was really fun and I've decided to make it a family tradition for New Year's Day. It feels weird calling it a family yearbook because its just me, Mr. Husband and our little Mitz-Mitz… but we're pretty self important and we for-sure need a yearbook for the three of us. I highly recommend doing this for your family as well!


Another New Year's Day tradition: working on our family budget. I really love my husband for managing the $$$, and for trying to keep me in line…. If it were up to me, we would be in BIG trouble. All of our friends are starting to have babies and I think we're both freaked out about how our lives (lifestyle) is going to change when a little gina or little mr. husband comes along. Oh well, apparently babies are pretty awesome and fulfilling (not to mention needy, loud, sticky, stinky, and permanent - but who's keeping track).

I told my sweet friend Oh Louise that her son (scheduled to arrive february 14) is going to be the determining factor for me. Pressure's on baby Boynton!

(from one of the bigger moments of 2012... SNOW... on Christmas Day!)

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Guest Bathroom Update

I have never been a real “black and white” décor person, but something about our guest bathroom made me want black and white tile. Perhaps it was the nasty rainbow of colors that previously inhabited the small space along with gross linoleum, yellowish shell shaped double sinks, and layers of wall paper (original circa 1982 orange, green and brown flowers - and not in a good way). YUCK.

The demo felt so good... it was part of the house that I hated most. I couldn’t wait to be rid of the enormous L-shape vanity – which weighed a ton and nearly killed me getting it out of the house.  Scraping linoleum is unfortunately not an unfamiliar task for us, but as much as I hated scraping it up, I love the end result a hundred times more. We also pulled down the off-white track lighting above the sink area and replaced  it with several can lights (I'm still trying to figure out what kind of fixture I want in the commode area... more to come!).

 

These pics are from my phone, and we were both deliriously tired (hence the very odd pose and face of Mr. Husband, but at least you can kind of get an idea of what I'm talking about. 

 
We got rid of the wallpaper when we first moved in and textured and painted the walls "Light Silver Sage" from Restoration Hardware to hold us over until we figured out what we really wanted.  The beadboard wainscot went bye-bye, we had the black and white tile from Home Depot installed on the floor, and added large white subway tile from Daltile on the walls where the old beadboard used to be. The blue walls didn't last too long, because I knew how fraken awesome it was going to look with some gorge dark grey (Tricorn Black from Sherwin Williams) walls! - oh, and I also painted those built-ins the same color grey as the walls and they look lovely now.

I found two sink chests at a Seconds and Surplus store for around $200 each, and they really make the tiny bathroom feel much more spacious than the ole’ L-shape. Handy Mr. Husband installed them himself – I assisted of course… and after 3 trips to Lowe’s for various plumbing and fixture pieces, we were in business!

Drum roll please.......

So, I guess its not technically monochromatic... because like I said, I've never really been a black and white gal. I had to throw a little color in there - I'm loving the chartreuse rug (sorry, I can't find my color online any more, but you can get the charcoal color here) and hand towels from West Elm.

I had previously purchased the two mirrors from Homegoods (around $45 each) to coordinate with the nasty L-shape countertop (that was before I decided that I just couldn’t stand to have that in my space). The color wasn’t right, but I really didn’t want them to go to waste. I think Mr. Husband could see my wheels spinning and more money flying out the door, so he took it upon himself to paint those bad boys black and that did the trick! Of course, if I had a limitless budget I probably would pick up a couple of these venetian beauties.

Even without the fancy mirrors, I love our guest bathroom and we did a good job staying in budget! I’m still working on the finishing touches, but don't worry, I'll keep ya'll updated.

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Pimp my Laundry Room

I got a wild hair the other day to give my laundry room a little facelift. Its not that I spend a lot of time in there, but I walk by it everyday and cringe at the florescent lighting, and yellow walls with remnants of floral vine wallpaper that I half ripped off when we first moved in. We also use the built in shelving as a pantry because we ripped the actual pantry out when we remodeled the living room and kitchen areas, and that whole thing was a complete disaster/eyesore.

It was one of those "enough is enough" moments. I scavenged the left over paint samples that were living in our garage until I found something that gave me a little inspiration: fifty two shades of grey (names I didn’t even look at because I was in such a craze). I cleared the pantry shelves and decided to paint the back walls of the shelving the darker of the two grey colors. These pictures are from my phone, so apologies for the poor quality… but you can see a little bit of the jank wallpaper, disorganization, and Mr. Husband’s dry cleaning that likes to hang out in the laundry room instead of his closet.

While that paint was drying I decided to run to Michael's and buy some baskets (50% off that week!) to get that nast of a pantry organized and looking pretty. I found a group of baskets in a dark brown color in varying sizes – 4 large tall, 1 large short, 2 medium short, 2 small shorties – all for less than $50!

By the time I got home, I was ready to tackle the remaining wall space with the lighter shade of grey. It turned out a little darker than I would have liked, so I decided I would paint some lighter stripes on the back wall – which is what I see every time I walk by the room. I read a few different blogs and took most of the advice (I didn’t use frog tape because I already had regular painter’s tape at my house).

My wall space is 94” and I wanted the stripes to begin and end with the color I had already painted so I needed an odd number of stripes. I started with 5, but thought almost 19” stripes were too wide so I went with 7 stripes at almost 13.5” each.

  I measured from the top down and used a straight edge to draw the lines connecting my measurements. Then I got busy taping that bad boy up, using a credit card to smooth down the tape and get rid of air pockets. Using the color already on the wall, I went over the edges of the tape where I would be painting the new color to seal the space in between the tape and wall… this will help prevent the stripe paint from bleeding under the tape and I won’t have to do too many touch-ups on the lines.

Then for the stripe color...

I went back to my garage to see if I could find a lighter color that would work. I was a little disappointed in my options, but found one tan'ish color that could possibly work. My initial thought was "yuck," but I decided to keep painting and finish at least one stripe before heading to Lowe's. Maybe its the grey painted under it, but this "tan'ish" color turned out to be a lovely yellow creamy butter, and i L.U.V. it! Plus, all of my work taping the wall really paid off... the lines are perfecto!

My attention then turned to the jank cabinets above the washer and dryer. I couldn't have this beautiful wall, and organized shelves, then turn around to see a brown mess of cabinets that I hate. Mr. Husband actually gave me the idea to remove the cabinets doors, and use the shelving for my storing my project supplies (his way of getting me excited about clearing all of my things out of his office). We had some left over white trim paint from having our sofets re-done outside, so I just pulled the doors off, gave the base a light sanding and layered a few coats on there. Already looking better - minus the popcorn ceilings which I'm really hating myself for not removing with the rest of it through the house when we moved in!

and with some progess....

...and finally done!

And the other side of the room with the panty...

I'm so thrilled with the results, especially considering the fact that I probably only spent about 3 days working on it. Maybe now I'll actually do the laundry! maybe...

Resources and Paint Colors:

Darker Grey - Sherwin Williams, Serious Gray

Lighter Grey - Sherwin Williams, Uncertain Gray

Butter Yellow - Sherwin Williams, Kilim Beige

Baskets - Michael's

Yellow and Grey Shelf Liner in above washer/dryer cabinets - Home Goods

Detergent and Dryer Sheet Jars - Target

Galvanized Metal Lookin "WASH" Letters - compliments of Holly over at Life As A Thrifter, here

Three-tier Storage Stand - compliments of The Crafting Chicks, here

Wine Rack Storage - Pier 1, here

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