cabin inspiration

My family has a cabin in these mountains, it is an amazing location. One day we plan to re-build the cabin. I like these pictures for inspiration. The first one is my favorite but I highly doubt I could get the rest of my family on board.





via my modular obsession, bma, justin wathke and the log home

picture, blog and update

via skoots and cuddles

I love this room. The many colors are awesome. I also love this new blog I found, there are some awesome diy projects...

Update: Today I went in for my shot tutorial. My husband is away on a rotation so my wonderful friend came with me to learn how to shoot me up. The nurse was slightly disgusted to find that I do not intend to administer any of the shots myself. I remain firm in my refusal to give myself shots. Thank heavens for friends and husbands who are willing to take one for the team!

swimming holes

I saw an article on Yahoo! on America's best swimming holes. I swear this article was made for me, there are few things I dream about more than fresh water swimming. I love it. One of Austin's biggest draw is their abundance of fresh water swimming spaces (one included in America's best). Here are my favorites.

Redfish Lake- Idaho
This one made my list because my friend is going there next month and told me all about it. It sounds awesome.

Havasupi- Arizona
Where I come from this is the place to go. You have to backpack in but once you get down to the canyon floor the scenery is supposed to be amazing. It is also the place where my sister fell in love, kind of.

Cummins Falls-Tennessee
I have never heard of this one but just look at it. Who wouldn't want to swim here?

The Blue Hole-Texas
This one is apparently close to Austin. Perhaps another pro to add to the list.

eclipse

photo found here

I am getting kind of excited to see the next Twilight movie. Maybe because I get to see it in theaters with friends...

bar stools

I have four bar stools that look similar to these two. I have been throwing an idea around in my head, what if I painted them blue?

The more I look into it the more I like it. I feel confident in saying my husband will likely strongly oppose the idea. Luckily I have eight different weeks where he will be on rotation, starting next week.



Maybe a gray instead of a blue?

via target, polyvore, chow down atlanta

the pen

Have you ever seen one of these before? It's a shot that you administer to yourself. I will likely be giving myself five of these next month. Actually my husband will be giving them to me because there is no way I will be able to inject myself without passing out. That's how much I love needles. I think this whole infertility experience is aimed at getting me over my fear of needles, they seem to be everywhere these days.
(My sisters are likely laughing or rolling their eyes by this point. I fully acknowledge I am a baby when it comes to shots.)

dream craft room

I went home last week for a wedding. While I was there I went to a party at my Aunt's home and we made a trip down to her new craft room/fabric supply store. It is amazing, this picture doesn't do it justice. Think of the craft projects you could do here.

world cup

via Black Eiffel

I love this World Cup image.

yellow dress

via omg!
I think Anne Hathaway looks lovely in this yellow dress. I love her lipstick.

diane keaton

I saw a tour of Diane Keaton's home on Architectural Digest. I love all the details.

The painting over the fireplace is my favorite, the colors are amazing.


Mmmmm, the library. Everything you dream of and more?

It reminds of her house in Because I Said So

via Architectural Digest

poolside

via oh joy
I love this pool, mostly because of it's basic rectangular shape the the streams of water shooting into the pool.

brooches

My friend Martha just inherited brooches from her Mother and Grandmother. She was wondering about different ways to display them.

I like these two options. This first one makes art out of jewelry but at the same time you can still unpin the brooches should you wish to wear them.

I like the idea of putting a brooch on chain and wearing it as a necklace, it has a whimsical quality to it.
via decor amor, jenn ski

denim quilt

via jelly wares
From Martha:
"I'm going to make a denim quilt. I've been searching for inspiration on the internet, but I'm not finding anything that cool. Have you in your quests ever come across a good one?"

Here is the best of what I have found...

via Daily Dabbler
This drawing is almost a pattern. They didn't have a picture of the finished quilt but you get the idea.

via soft star shoes
I don't particularly like the trim or the back on this one but the denim part is interesting.

via purl bee
This one is my favorite. They used some khaki's and corduroy to accent the denim.

healthy food

Yesterday I discovered Eatingwell.com. There is a whole section on healthy meal options that still taste good. I want to try this broccoli pizza, I think it looks delicious.

floor update

For some reason blogger isn't allowing me to upload pictures. We started installing the new floor this weekend, we are almost done! We learned several things along the way:

1-I had no clue the vast variety of saws that are necessary for this kind of project. Needless to say we are now proud owners of more saws then I knew exist.

2-The Pergo was easy to install but the measuring of the room angles held us up considerably.

3- My neighbors like to make all sorts of unreasonable sounds at unreasonable hours but are not so keen on hearing unreasonable hammering at reasonable hours.

4-Refrigerator's have wheels.

5- In most cases, you really don't want to know what kind of surprises lie under your carpet. Ours weren't even half as bad as the ones my brother found several years ago.

My Dad flew in to help with the installation and to lend his expansive do-it-yourself expertise, now my husband and I are going to try and finish up the job with our "new found knowledge." Wish us luck.

decorating tip

I love this tip from House Beautiful
"Stack art, design, gardening, travel books — whatever you collect — on a table. Books are my favorite accessory because they're so personal — they reflect your interests."

My coffee table drawer is full of books right now, I think I might pull them all out (even my husband's sports books) and try this out.

showers

I love the turquoise tile in the shower.

In my mind these two showers epitomize luxury.

via design and build and ebuild

summer reading

So far my summer reading has consisted of these books:

The Feminist Promise

Mobilizing Minerva

Liberty's Daughters

Women in the Civil War

By the time the semester ends (2 more weeks! Yikes, I had better read faster!) I will be ready for some light summer reads. Any suggestions? Light!

flooring

We are pulling up the laminate and carpet in our kitchen and dining area this weekend and putting in Pergo. We decided to go with Pergo because it is a higher quality laminate and it is easy to install (theoretically) and it is about half the price of real wood. I would prefer real wood but it doesn't fit our current budget.

I had my friends over to look at my 15+ flooring samples and we finally came to the consensus that a warmer wood color because it matches my cabinets better. This isn't a color that I would initially be drawn to but I think (hope) it will look good with the cabinets and walls. Wish us luck!

chair update

via Martha Stewart
I was at a friend's house last night and she told me that she doesn't like the legs of her chairs. When I saw this suggestion on how to makeover a chair (paint the legs a fun color) I immediately thought of her. The same color as the side tables perhaps?

finale

via e online
Did anyone watch the finale of Glee last night? I loved it. I am excited to watch the whole first season over this summer.

southampton home

Doesn't this Southampton guest house look like the perfect weekend getaway?

The blown up map is one of my favorite details.

via house beautiful

gray

via Little Green Notebook
This is more like the gray I imagined for the cradle. I wonder on a scale from 1-10 how crazy my husband would think I am if I re-painted. He might say an 11.

cradle update

My $10 cradle before

and after....

I chickened out on the green. I chose a light gray but when we painted it on we discovered it was so light it looks white. Which is fine, white will never go out of style, right? Plus now I can add a fun bumper or something and I won't ever have to paint it again. That is the real advantage, those spindles were brutal.

the home library

I was talking to a friend yesterday who described her dream library as the one in Beauty and the Beast. She started me thinking of the home library. My dream library has floor to ceiling built-in bookcases with a ladder.

My Dad is an all time reader. He has more books than shelves. When I saw this home library I thought of my Dad (I even sent him the link). I think he should adapt one of his home offices (I think between he and my Mom they are up to 4 home offices now) into more of a library using this type of shelving.

This library warms my soul.. I love the red accents everywhere.


A more traditional home library. This how I image Elizabeth Bennett's library, inviting.

The color coordination in this one is amazing. I tried to do this with some of my books but it drove me crazy to have them sorted by color than by subject or author.

A truly luxurious library= dual levels

What does your dream library look like?
via eva designs, fres home, Laudem Gloriae, House Beautiful, Vitsoe