Nail Spotlight - Taupe

I paint my nails a lot. I would say that I keep them freshly manicured and polished about 90% of the time. I always polish them right before I go to bed (during my "power hour" ..or hours.. after we put Levi to sleep - this is when I get everything done). I inherited this trait from my great Granny Iva. She always wanted her nails polished - 100% of the time - and felt naked without them done. I enjoyed painting her nails whenever we got to spend time with her.
I prefer to do my own nails instead of getting a professional manicure, because I am pretty meticulous about it and frankly I just do a better job. I feel the complete opposite about my toes though, I try to get regular pedicures to keep my feet in tip-top shape. There are only so many sides of your own feet you can reach! :)
I love neutral nail polish - nude colors with a hint of pink. This became popular several years ago, and I'm glad it has stayed around as a nail "staple." I usually stick with neutrals, or variations of red, but every once in a while I like to try something out of the ordinary.
A year or so ago, taupe nail polish became popular. I didn't like it at first, but I have to say it's grown on me a little. This past week was my first try at taupe nails (I've done toenails and loved it on them), and I have to say I like it as an alternative neutral from my normal light pink. The polish is by OPI and called Barefoot in Barcelona.

Here are a few essentials that I use to keep my nails manicured.

Orly Top 2 Bottom for a base coat / Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (I also love Orly In a Snap for a top coat) / Solar Oil for cuticles (a must for in between manicures/polishes to keep paint looking fresh and skin moist - especially on toes)

H A P P Y   T H U R S D A Y !
I am coincidentally heading over to do
my sister's toenails for her now (I am the family pedicurist)...

Put a Flower On It

As a result of a) being born a female and b) developing a love/obsession/passion for clothes, shopping, etc., I've always been big on accessories. I've gone through phases in the past -- I had an earring phase where I LOVED big, gaudy earrings -- I had a headband phase where I wore headbands almost every day, and still have baskets full of them -- and the past 3 or 4 years I've been on a flower kick.

I love clipping a flower on whatever dress, top, or jacket I'm wearing. I think it's a great way to add a little femininity or glamor to even the most drab ensemble (like yoga pants and a jean jacket, or jeans and a simple top -- "outfits" I rock often, embarrassingly enough -- please don't tell Stacey and Clinton).

A few years ago, I was Christmas shopping in Dallas (yes, the same trip I mentioned in THIS post), and I picked up a flower pin/clip in Urban Outfitters. The flower looked old and was neutral in color, and I just liked it a lot. Little did I know that thing would be the most popular thing in my closet for years to come. It's still my absolute favorite flower and I wear it with everything and every kind of ensemble. Here she is, in all her glory:

I have a small collection of flower clips, and I have a lot of fun wearing them year-round for different occasions. My mom and sister have quite a collection of their own, and we swap from time to time (I guess it runs in the family).

I call the big red flower my "patriotic" flower because I always wear it for Memorial Day Weekend or Independence Day - sometimes I'll just throw it on a denim and white outfit to make it "red, white, and blue" (yes, I am 26 and I'm a big fan of themed "holiday" outfits).

If I'm feeling extra quirky, sometimes I'll clip a flower in my hair or on a handbag to switch it up:)

Happy Wednesday!

Disclaimer: Several of these photos were taken when I was very pregnant which in turn, explains the huge belly. :)



One step closer...to a completed living room!

The biggest thing we bought on our vacation was a coffee table. It was one of the things on my "list" (I made a list of things I hoped to find last weekend), so I feel really good that we got it.

When we first moved into the house, we were using an old cedar chest that used to be my grandma's as our coffee table. It was actually too tall, and overall just not a good size for a coffee table. Here is the only picture I could find of that makeshift coffee table:

There is a table runner on it and an outdoor rug leaning up against it but you get the picture! Then my grandma loaned us a different coffee table she had in her guest bedroom and we've been using it ever since. It's been great for us to use, but it was just too small for the room, not the right shape, not sturdy enough to put your feet on, and overall just not our style. Here is the only picture I could find of that table. Feel free to say "aaawwwww" at the witty bitty 1-week-old Levi in the picture.

So here is the new coffee table! I am sitting on it to show you how HUGE it is (I'm not a small girl)! I knew it was going to be big when we got it, but when Tyler unloaded it and put it in the living room, I was in the other room and all I heard was "uuhhh..........it's really big." But, extremely large or not, this is EXACTLY what I wanted. I love it! I will put a few better pictures of it after it has "settled" in a while:)

You can bet this one is plenty sturdy to prop your feet up on!

Canton Trip: Family S N A P S H O T S

This is not the post about our neat Canton finds, but just a few snapshots from our trip. Enjoy!

I love this one. They were waiting in the shade while I ran to the bathroom. One of the vendors gave Levi a balloon and he loved it. It entertained him the whole day.

He really loved that balloon - so much that he wouldn't let go of it even after he fell asleep. Overall Levi had a great time people-watching. For those of you worrying that the 100+ temps were too much for him, we took LOTS of air-conditioner/fan/truck breaks, gave him LOTS of water, and in general he was pretty comfortable. Here are some more snapshots:

Levi learned to "clap" and say "Dada" on this trip. For those of you who aren't his parent, I realize that is trivial but for us it was pretty neat! In one of those pictures above he was clapping.

He got pretty tuckered out!

Taking a shade/water/snack break.

Don't worry - we were parked here! At Starbucks for some after-dinner coffee and a diaper change.

And of all the great "Tyler" photo ops we had while roaming around Tyler, TX, - THIS is the one he wanted. A construction dumpster.



My Flowerbeds - After!

You'll remember that I showed you my flowerbeds in THIS post a few weeks ago. Now I will show you some after pictures! I have pictures from right after we planted them (the day of), about two weeks later, and then about a month after that. Progress!

Here is a reminder of the plan Tobin made us:

And here are some shots of the day we planted:

And here are the after shots of the day we planted:

Here are the beds about two weeks later:

And here are a few shots from this week:

And there you have it: a very extensive "after" post. I love our results. I am very happy with it all!



STAY TUNED!!!

We just got back from a mini-family vacation over the holiday weekend to Canton, TX to the First Monday Trade Days. It was sunny and above 100 degrees but we had a great time. Stay tuned for some pictures of the great treasures we found! :)

H A P P Y   F O U R T H  ! ! ! ! ! ! !

I am an Island

Just kidding. I hate when people say that! But I am going to talk about an island. For those of you who know me well (this sentence is comical because there aren't even 20 people reading this blog), you probably know I am going to dedicate this post to my beloved island.


My kitchen island was the very first piece of furniture I purchased for our house (before we started building!) and it was and has remained my favorite piece in the house.


I stumbled upon it one day while browsing Windsor Market. When I saw it, it was love at first sight and I knew I would buy it. I refrained (painfully) from purchasing that day, and I waited about a week until Tyler could go look at it. When I took Tyler back to look at it, they had lowered the price by $100 (insert Hallelujah chorus)!


Here it is in the holding cell while we built our house (in Tyler's parents garage - where the dogs frequently walked across it, hence the paw prints)

When we brought it home, we hit a road block and I was [almost] devastated. It was more than 3 feet wide at every angle, meaning it would not fit through a standard 3 foot door (for those of you wondering why it was in a garage). I was ridiculed by my husband for this - BUT if HE didn't think about this when he saw it BEFORE I purchased it, I don't feel bad at all. Actually, my husband, who does construction for a living and is required to think about things like this on a daily basis, AND my father-in-law who is a structural engineer, both saw the island and it never occured to them that it wouldn't fit through a standard door. Why should I feel bad??? :)
So, as soon as the house was dried in and before we put the door frames in, we had to take the island and put it in the house. So here's how it looked for several months:

That is scary! Thank goodness for the tarp. I gave very specific instructions that it was not to be used as a work table but you can see how well the contractors listened to that.


Finally, here is a picture of the island in the kitchen. We actually planned the kitchen around this island :) We had the cabinets stained to match it. This picture was taken around Easter right after we moved in last year.

I will add a better, more current picture of it later. Now you know the story of my beloved kitchen island!

UPDATE*** Here are some newer, better pictures: