lately

helllllo.

i kinda don't know what to post about! life has been normal, i guess. haha. last friday night dave and i went to the other rancho (cucamonga) to have dinner with josh & jenn. we had dinner at a new steakhouse, which was ok...but at least we branched out beyond red robin! (right jen?...if you're reading!) we always <3 hanging out with them. it's fabulous to be family & friends at the same time. and on that note...saturday, after a day of yardening, we had les & david over for some steak dinner! and as an added bonus, baby fell asleep on our couches, which gave us extra time to spend with them! we are also excited because they will soon be our within the city neighbors! woo hoo! i'm so excited for them. it's been a long time coming, and they've been more than patient!

oh, and in other moving news, my parents are buying a place! it's bitter sweet for me. (sorry to describe it that way mom). it's sweet, because i KNOW my parents are SUPER happy about this amazing step in their lives and i share in that. bitter because it was the house i grew up in, and that house, and all the memories, will no longer be where i can go "home" to. but i am excited for this change in their lives and how peaceful they are about it!

well friends, since dave has dashed out to bryan cowdells, i think i'll finish up the rachel zoe project, and go read in bed. which was my nightly ritual...until i got married. apparently the light disturbes daves sleep.

xoxo

Well, hello lovely

Can i just start with this...
I am SO excited!

I have been wanting to get a brown leather sofa for our family room since we moved in. I've looked, casually, for one off and on. I was on craigslist this weekend, and happened upon a listing. It was pretty much one line. So I saved the listing. And went back to look at it like 10 times that day and the next. After an email to the owner, and some impulsiveness on my part, Dave and I drove down to Newport Beach. The people's house was totally awesome, modern with dark hardwood floors. Well, short story long...meet my new sofa!

Now i'm going Google crazy. Rugs, pillows, thinking lamps, frames, and coffee tables, but especially pairing the sofa with some chairs. I ideally want to find some wingback chairs and get them re-upholstered. Something like this...

or this...

From Pottery Barn

with some awesome patterned pillows...
Oh my gosh, i have to stop, i'm getting too overwhelmed!!

just what i needed

annicole over at our suburban cottage gave me some needed inspiration tonight! i have been thinking of how to spruce up our front door area, and have been thinking "wreath". but, given this would be my first real wreath experience, i'm wanting to do it right! also, i have an opinionated husband, who said just twenty minutes ago "i hate wreaths". just great.

but wait....introduce the Etsy seller toinspireyou. guess what? in ten minutes time, dave said, " i totally like that" and "what if we painted our front door?" "HELLO! Dave!" i said..." let me show you this blog i JUST read!!" of course, he said "no, no that's ok..." but i persisted, and here we are, with a little inspiration from annicole, we paint shopped our door, just for fun.

our door now

door after (like my hand paint shopped wreath for the finshing touch?)

any other suggestions on door color? i'd love your ideas!
now, i know the front area is a little, sparse, for a nice word. but not to worry, my birthday present from dave was a lowes gift card to plant hedges along the brickwork, in front of those lights, for some added privacy and landscaping. also, i need a potted plant on the step, to the right of the door. something like this maybe?

from ballard designs

i'm seriously so excited to get a wreath and get moving on sprucing up our front entrance!

September 15th

Tuesday marked our 2 year anniversary Two whole years?! Already?! Seriously, time has flown by. And it has been great. I am so gateful for Dave, and all he does for us. We have had alot of things happen in the last two years, and I am glad for where we are because of it all! xoxo

Tuesday we celebrated by going to work, getting off at the normal times, and then catching some dinner at one of our fave's, Cheesecake Factory. I was able to work in a quick trip across the mall to Crate and Barrel, and with true control, left empty handed. We took some delicious cheesecake home, and called it a night! Low key and simple, pretty much. Just what I was looking for, totally!

This weekend we are here, celebrating.

Dave made us chocolate chip pancakes for breafast, and on the agenda today and tomorrow:

*Relaxing

*Some antique-y decor shopping on Del Mar

*A nap

*Homemade mac n' cheese for dinner

*More realxing

*A walk to the pier

*Another nap

*Some manly car shows on Spike

* Some HGTV to counter the manly car shows

could it be? is fall here?!

with the weather cooler, no A/C necessary, and a nice evening breeze coming through our windows, i can't help but be SO excited about FALL! i mean, really, aren't you all totally anxious about all the fun stuff that this season brings?! here's a little taste of what i'm totally ready for!

from emmie cakes

from martha stewart

from thrifty decor chick

who needs order?

Since i've been quite the lagger on posting the rest of Europe, i'll skip to my favorite place. Roma. aka, Rome. Pretty much amazing. I couldn't believe I was standing IN THE colosseum! I couldn't help but want to come home and become a history major! I loved everything about it. We went to St. Peters Bascilica, the Vatican City, and Colosseum. I'll let pictures speak for themselves about the coolness of it all!!

Amazing ceilings at St. Peters

A pope. Yeah, it's really him. Just with a mask covering his face & hands.

design on the brain

i am forgoing the europe posts tonight to simply blog about my love of all things related to decorating. you name it, i get that butterfly feeling in my stomach thinking about how it would look in my house, where i could put it, how i could justify buying it, how i can re create the look for less, etc. and it's a good thing dave jumps onboard for alot of what i do. actually, dave is the brawn behind my brains. ok, so we share the brains part. and i am about 25% of the brawn

(the 25% that takes place at lowes, decorating stores, scouring websites, homegoods...)

SO, in my ongoing search for anything i can bring to life in my house, i've been checking out lots of blogs in the blogging world lately, and adding them to my 'must check daily' lists. i thought i'd share some that i love with you. you probably are already blog stalkers of them too...but for good measure i will share.

Our Suburban Cottage- cute, good links to fun stuff, and very cottage-y!
Urban Grace Interiors- An interior designer, who has fabulously fun taste, and a fun way of blogging about it and more.
Fly Through my Window- Sister to Urban Grace Interiors. Adorable posts, real life topics, fun fresh photography, and a country setting i'm slightly jealous of!
The Lettered Cottage- Clean, simple, and realistic before & afters.
Caitlin Wilson Design- LOVE her work. Stumbled across her, and i check back often.

now that i've shared some of my fave's, return the favor! i'd love to add to this list!