A Lady Who Lunches

This week I snuck away from work for a quick lunch break.. crazy talk I know.  Usually I eat my cottage cheese cup at my desk and look for left behind scraps in the company kitchen.  Yep, bringing sexy back I know. 

My car accidentally drove to Classic Treasures in Durham... terrible, yep!  I was eager to check out the Honeymoon at Home booth.  Amy over at Triangle Honeymoon is a super fly Durham girl with eclectic personal and home style. 

My eyes got big when the animal rug that I have been eyeing for months was hiding under a table with none other than a sale sticker pinned to it.  "inset happy dance"

My love for a good animal print, horn, rug, etc runs deep.
here, here & here

I had a total come to mama moment.  Now I just need to sneak this giant piece of animal skin & fur into my house without hubby noticing.

Thanks Honeymoon at Home!

Missed Me?

Missed me? probably not

Sorry but life happened, work happened & SUMMER HAPPENED!  I am happy to report that today I have a tan line and about 30,000 frequent flier miles under my Lilly Pulitzer belt.  More to come on that later. 

Today I would like to share my new obsession.  I will always have a place in my heart for a bar cart, this is old news, but Society Social just hit a home run with the video below. 

How can this be my life? 

Society Social Video

Music Sunday

Two Door Cinema Club

These cuties remind me of my first high school boyfriends who would play guitar and sing to me over the phone. Ahhh, memories!

Horny?

Things are getting a little horny around here lately.  After my Playboy post on Monday, (here) I just might need to get my mind out of the gutter. 

I am talking about decorating with horns silly.  Jayson Home from Chicago, IL is one of my first stops for all things unique with a mix of edgy with elegance. 

Thought, hmmm, edgy w/elegance..  that is soo me, or the me I want to be.  Maybe one day I will be more elegant if I stop dropping some many damn F Bombs.. never!

Ok, sorry back to Jayson Home.  The prices are always reasonable and fair for the quality which I can't say for a lot of other online home stores.  Here are some horn treasures they currently have stocked on the website and might be added to my online cart today.

Horn Bookends

$120

Horn Bottle Opener

$22

Brass Berkshire Horn Cups

$26

Francisco Stool

Sale $140

Horn Lamp

$395

Want to see more?

*warning, the images are bananas*

Download the fall catalog (here)

Adventures in Beadboard Ceilings Part 3

Welcome back to part 3 in my series of installing a bathroom beadboard ceiling.  Sorry but we have so many pictures from this project to share I just felt like it needed more than one post.  To catch you up from the part 1 post:

I was inspired to make my bathroom look like this

To catch you up from the part 2 post:

I somehow got hubby on board, he made building plans and we purchased materials

Now lets get this party started with getting all this pretty wood up on the ceiling.

step 1 - cut & install trim boards

Last side

Step 2 - Spackle the corners

The gaps have disappeared!

Spackle is pure magic.

Now it's time to glue and nail the beadboard on the ceiling.. eekkk!

This is when the first DIY fight happened for this project between hubby and I.

hubby: "are you holding it"

"IT" is a giant heavy piece of heavy beadboard to the ceiling on a 9 foot wobbly ladder

me: "huh?"

hubby: "holding it?!"

me: "*&@& I can't hold this"

hubby: "&@%^ GET DOWN"

me: "F&^% Y@*"

You get the idea :)

We called in for backup to save the marriage with a trusted DIY friend.

Step 3 - measure & cut holes in the beadboard for the fan and light to slip through

Look at how serious they are taking.

Step 4 - put glue on the back on beadboard and nail the living heck out of it to the ceiling

Step 5 - install the shoe molding to cover the gap between trim boards and crooked walls

Step 6 - Caulk all up in these joints!

ouch, my neck!

Step 7 - paint the ceiling in your PJ's

Step 8 - assemble and add your fan & lights back in

Step 9 - Then you jump for joy when it's finally done! :)

We love how the ceiling turned out!

If we can survive this project, you can too!

What do you think of our new bathroom?

Partying at:

Home Stories A-Z, Creativily Living, Serendipity & Spice, Everything Under the Moon, Sew Can Do, Mod Vintage Life, My 1929 Charmer, Coastal Charm, It's Overflowing, How to Nest For Less,

My Playboy Arrived Today

Well, not exactly.

My version of Playboy is the quarterly Lilly Pulitzer catalogue that arrives in my mailbox.

Biscuit always gets a little jealous.

Move kitty!

My pinup girls :)

No playboy in your mailbox?

To view the catalogue you can download the [free] Lilly Pulitzer catalog app from iTunes so you can experience and shop the 2012 collection!

~ The Lilly Story ~

It all started with a juice stand. Lilly McKim married Peter Pulitzer and needed something to keep her busy down there in Palm Beach all day long. She opened a juice stand and soon found the need for something comfortable that would camouflage the stains she would get on her clothes when squeezing fruit. The result was a brightly printed dress she could wear every day, everywhere. Not only was the dress practical, it quickly became the iconic style of a fun-loving lifestyle... The Classic Lilly Shift was born.

Here are some adorable and inspiring Lilly videos showing how they create the beautiful seasonal prints.  Loving this!

Talk about a dream job!

Music Sunday

Jessie J is one fierce chick!

Wrightsville Weekends

This past weekend hubby and I decided to leave the honey do lists behind and jump in the car for a weekend getaway.  Our favorite weekend hideaway spot is Wrightsville Beach, NC.  In Wrightsville, something magical happens to us when we cross the bridge into this small beach town. All the stress of the week or weeks melts away and it's always 5 o'clock here. We checked into our favorite boutique hotel the Blockade Runner and got the party started. 

Our sound side room was sooo adorable and charming.  As I have shared in other posts I have a small obsession with anything nautical so our room was PERFECT!

Does anyone know how to find this fabric... it must be mine!

We come to Wrightsville for the white sandy beaches and view of the beautiful sound.  The sound always reminds me of the coastal Massachusetts town that I grew up in. 

Friday evening we ventured into Wilmington and had dinner at Manna Avenue. The food was innovative and delicious. The Gin Gin Mule drink might have been one of the best drinks we have ever tried.

Saturday we did a lot of nothing which was the point of weekend. 

We looked out the window...

Drank a few of these...

Per hubby I dressed like the curtain...

Saw this from our window..

Outside temp is probably 45 degrees and this crazy man drove up, pulled up his shorts, walked into the water and stood there for at least 10 minutes.

no words...

Then we watched a beautiful sunset...

Ahhhh Wrightsville I love you!

Now we are back reality in the big city with all our big problems, boo!

Where do you go for a weekend to unwind and getaway?

Technology Tuesday

A friend recently rocked my face off when he told me about the free Houzz app for my phone or ipad.  Maybe I have been living under a rock but seriously does everyone know about this site except me?

About Houzz

Houzz is a leading destination site for home design enthusiasts-- professionals and homeowners. The Houzz site and mobile apps feature over 250,000 high quality interior and exterior photos, thousands of highly-engaging articles written by design experts, product recommendations and social tools to manage the remodeling and decorating process.

limited attention span video about Houzz

boring but more informative video about Houzz

People, it has changed my life!  I personally think it kicks pinterest butt for design ideas... ohhh fighting words I know.

What do you think?

Adventures in Beadboard Ceilings Part 2

Welcome back to part 2 in my series of installing a bathroom beadboard ceiling.  Sorry but we have so many pictures from this project to share I just felt like it needed more than one post.  To catch you up from Friday's part 1 post:

1.  I had a vision

2.  I had to convince hubby of my vision

3.  Hubby eventually comes around months later and likes my vision

4.  Mission accomplished!

Next steps was to draw up some plans and gather a shopping list. 

We arrived at Home Depot with so much confidence in our easy "weekend project".  Boy, did we quickly realize that we might just be a little over our heads when we came upon the never ending wall of wood.

After maybe an hour or so of wandering the cold aisles of Home Depot in my poorly chosen 4inch heels and asking for help we loaded up our rusty metal wagon and got to work.  Below is hubby checking his shopping list to make sure we didn't forget anything b/c thats never happened.

This is now the point of the project when we stop smiling for a while.  Home Depot allows you to cut the long trim boards to size to save you money but they don't make it easy for you.  Here hubby is using an old bent handsaw they provided to try and cut the trim wood to size.  In all it was about 25 minutes of hand sawing which resulted in some blisters and possible bad four letter words.

*&%@

More bad four letter words followed when we got the bill for our little "weekend project".  Eeekk $164.81 for some wood scraps, ouch!

Out in the parking lot we realized that our giant piece of beadboad might not fit in my car.  Luckily we ended up having about 1/4 inch to spare to close the back hatch after we slid it up against the windshield.

Yep, we were those people!

Things were even safer inside the car not!  We crossed our fingers that we wouldn't get pulled over on the ride home and made a break for it.

Hubby had to try and hold the beadboard up from the headrest so I could try and drive without my ear pressed on my shoulder.  Ouch! Again.. we were those people!

More to come this week.

Do you think we are as crazy as I do?

Music Sunday

The super talented and dreamy Young the Giant

Always Remember...

I absolutely love this canvas print! It just arrived in my mailbox today and will be hanging in my office at work.  It's just like one of my favorite sayings "Keep calm and carry on"!!! but its Lilly Pulitzer themed! This helps me remember to always keep Lilly close to my heart and to always remember to keep a bright outlook on things, just like all of Lilly's clothes! So remember when things are looking bleak, just keep calm and carry/lilly on! 

Adventures in Beadboard Ceilings Part 1

This time last year I was hit with a sudden vision for our downstairs guest bathroom. It first came as a whisper, then a loud scream... beadboard ceiling!!!  Yeah, how in holy heck am I going to convince hubby to make this dream come true. 

 Beadboad ceilings make my heart pitter patter,

make a house a home,

make a bathroom a ....?

After doing some research and blog hunting I came across this post from The House of Smiths detailing how they added such a ceiling to there bathroom.

Inspired check!

Now, how to get hubby inspired?!

One day I just casually sent him the ceiling link and asked him his thoughts for our home.  The rest is history!Here is a tale of one young couple learning to glue and nail things on there ceiling and to live to tell the tale..

More to come.

Do you think we are crazy?