travel wall

My friend Martha, who sometimes contributes to this blog with chronicles of her travels (which can also been seen at A Curious Misadventure) recently revamped her travel picture wall. Being the avid traveler that she is she selects one picture from each country and displays it in her home. Here are some pictures of the re-vamp.

She used brass stickers to identify the city, country and year she visited. I think it is the perfect touch.

laundry

A laundry room like this might inspire me to do more laundry. On the other hand having my husband do 95% of the laundry would be a hard deal to give up.

via pinterest

topiary

I love the look of topiary flanking a front door. I want some but I have yet to see any at home depot which means it would require search efforts.

via pinterest

peanut butter mini cheesecakes

I started looking at pinterest when my cousin posted on facebook something she had pinned. I am finding one of pinterest's best benefits is being able to follow the food that she pins. Take these Peanut Butter & Creme Fraiche Pretzel Crust Mini Cheesecakes, they are an answer to my prayers as I am currently in a doctor ordered month of no chocolate. I am having some serious withdrawals so I have been searching for non-chocolate sweets.

plate wall

I have been collecting plates for the last two years so that I could have a plate wall. In our rental home we have the perfect wall for it so I finally put it up. It needs more plates but it is not too bad for right now.

one word challenge

My friend Martha gave me a one word blogging challenge: chartreuse. Here is the best of what I found.

via neiman marcus, curlin reed sullivan, love and laughter, bellewood gardens, paloetic, the modern pillow

happy friday

Today I am going to combat the 105 degree weather with some lake time and some homemade raspberry lemonade.

1 1/2 cups lemon juice

1/3 cup lime juice

1 cup sugar

6 cups water

1 cup fresh or frozen raspberries

Mix together in a 2 quart pitcher. Let stand for at least an hour before using.

silk road

I am in love with this silk ribbon I found on pinterest. I am still trying to figure out just exactly how they executed the clasp...

via Cici Absolutely White

two is better than one

I have been refurbishing some furniture. A new coat of paint and some new hardware. Little did I know, not all furniture is made to fit current standard sizes. The hardware holes (there is probably a proper name for these of which I am unaware) are a weird size. Even using the internet I could only find two handle options, neither of which I loved. So I am trying out two knobs rather than using handles. I think it could work out nicely.

I am planning on using these knobs on the bottom drawer. In my head it looks great, lets hope that translates to reality.

pinterest

Last week I decided to take the plunge and see what pinterest is all about. I have to say I love it. My boards are far from full but you can see what I have been 'pinning' here (I think). Here are some pins I have loved.

a mobile

garland

Chalkboard place mats

via Morgan Maler, Elmarie Giles, and unknown

an art wall of my very own

I am finally getting things on the walls. This time around I decided to heed the advice of using masking tape to define the area you will be hanging in so you can rearrange to your hearts content before throwing nails in the wall. Whoever thought of this was inspired.

This was my first go around, which I sent to my art aficionado sister-in-law (who owns this art wall) for her suggestions. She sent me back some wonderful advice, "when you make it all line up perfectly, it's hard to add to it. Also, when you stagger, it's more forgiving. Sometimes it can be hard getting all those different pictures lined up evenly."

With a little re-arranging I came up with this. A little room to grow and I think it just looks better in general. I love it.

tennis rackets

I have two vintage tennis rackets like the ones in this picture. I love what they did with theirs, I want to acquire a third now.

via little moth

gray crib

With the exception of the dressers I love this room. Especially the gray cradle.

Via Squidoo

found on facebook

This is a project completed by one of my good friend's family. They each were in charge of a block or two and when all the blocks are put together you get Starry Starry Night a la Morgans. I absolutely love it.

altered bookshelf inspiration

While I was taking a break from spray painting yesterday (I decided to stick with my initial plan of white) I took a look at Little Green Notebook which had serendipitously posted this bookshelf project. As white turned out to be an incredibly unforgiving color, particularly in the back of the bookshelves, I decided to follow suit and paint the backs of the bookshelves dark green. While mine does not look nearly as good (I got really lazy near the end of the all day project) I think with books in it it will hide most of the major paint flaws. And I love the white with green way more than the white with white. Pictures next week...

for camilla

My sister-in-law recently found out she is allergic to pork, beef, spinach and lettuce. So Camilla, here are some tried and true recipes that you can still eat. Come to Texas and I will make them all for you!

These Chicken Gyros from Mels Kitchen Cafe are amazing

My favorite black bean burgers

Delicious Greek Chicken Burgers

Pesto Pizza is a staple at our house (I buy the pesto from Costco)

Hurry Curry

Grilled Black Bean Quesadillas

and most importantly, Raspberry Coffee Cake

the other royal wedding

Did anyone pay attention to the other British royal wedding this last weekend? Zara Phillips (the Queen's oldest granddaughter) was married in Scotland. My favorite part of her ensemble is the tiara she borrowed from her mother, Princess Anne.

I am not sure if Princess Beatrice redeemed herself from the last royal wedding, but this was better.

No clue who this person is but one of my favorites.

Does anyone else think William must be doing some kind of hair growth treatments?

and some full length views of the dress...

photos via People and Daily Mail