happy hour at my house

Vodka tonics anyone?  Happy weekend!

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perfect peonies

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My Little Lovey...

... is here!!  He was born last Monday (May 21st) in the afternoon and weighed 7 lbs 8 oz.

{There is no better feeling on this Earth than the moment when you first hold your baby}

...And here he is all cleaned up and in his nightie:

His name is Luke David & we are so in love with him.

 {Here he is with his Daddy- David.  We've barely put him down all week.}

Anyway, I just wanted to share our news with you & hope you're having a great week!  I'm not sure when I'll be back in -  I'm really trying to devote all of my attention to the family right now- but when I am I've got lots to share on what we've been doing around here. :)

And a note on the exhaustion/ coping level-  I have to say that with my husband home for 1 more week, we're doing pretty well.  Life with 3 boys is DEFINITELY an adjustment but so far, so good.  Right now, we're tag-teaming & it's really manageable but I'm a little nervous about when real life & work picks up & we're not only focusing on the family & life at home.  I'm trying not to think about it right now & to just recup & relax...  On that note, I'm also sooooo excited to get to work out again.  I gained 60 (!) pounds so I'm ready to RUNNNNN... :)  (I gained 60 with each of my other pregnancies too =  FUN.  not.) 

ok, I'm off.  Have missed you all!!



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my desk

I've been working on some really fun projects lately and wanted to share the board above my desk.

sources:

lamp, LOFT, Austin

table from RSH catalog

Martine chair from Restoration Hardware in sand velvet

fabric bolt basket is from Target

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a refreshing summer cocktail recipe

Recipe:

1 tbsp pure cane cola

sparkling wine

dash of bitters

Cheers!

Fabric napkin is by Trina Turk Indoor Outdoor  for Schumacher, Sunglass Print in Pool.

This cocktail is so good on a hot summer day.

I just made this YOLO reminder to hang in my home.

Do you love this turquoise and navy combination as much I do?

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a recent bedroom install

We started with a simple custom headboard wrapped in Schumacher's Pear Hager Texture

We used Scumacher's popular Chiang Mai Dragon in Alabaster for the euros. 

The coverlet is quilted silk velvet / satin in Fawn from Bella Notte.

 

I love the corals in this print.

The apple green silk trellis bolster is also from Schumacher.

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a touch of fluorescent

A Tory Burch package arrived and whoa, check out these fluorescents.  I'm not brave enough to do too much fluorescent, but I did have this monogram pillow made in fluorescent hot pink for a project.  Very fun for summer...  The new shoes and the pillow! More Info

chevron kitchen backsplash

What do I love?  The back splash, the wood top island and perimeter marble, that fridge, the stove, the old door... everything!  This kitchen belongs in the Beverly Hills home Camille Grammer just purchased.  Oh, how I hope she keeps its charm.  Don't you love it too, Gina, especially that range!?  
Thanks for the image Hooked on Houses.

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Time to Chill...

...This might possibly be me checking out/ signing off for a little bit.  I'll either be back with baby news or back because relaxing's not always in my nature & it's hard for me to keep quiet for very long. ;)

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a coffee bar, bakery, flower shop BISTRO

Hubby and I had a sweet little lunch in Houston's Flora & Muse, a flower shop, coffee bar and bistro.

 grab and go flower bouquets

 walk up coffee bar and bakery counter

 It had me at first sight of the awnings out front.

   

I had the arugula, pear, blue cheese flat bread.  Highly recommend.  And Max ordered the egg pie baked inside of a bread boat.

Okay, how charming is this?  The bill arrived tucked inside of a handwritten, leather bound journal.

Hoping they will expand to Austin soon.

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my new favorite bubbly

 Piper Sonoma Blanc de Blancs (all chardonnay grapes). About $16. Dry and smooth, it's my new favorite.

My Schumacher napkin is courtesy of Gina.  Love how it matches the blanc de blancs bottle!  Cheers!

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The Nesting Continues...

This baby needs to come soon because my house is under attack.  (by me) 

{Most recently, I went after the lower level family room.  It's now cream/ white instead of blue.}

The room has gone through a few different phases over the 3 years we've lived here...

{I had an old ship painting from my son's nursery when we first moved in so hanging it made the place feel sort of coastal - which it isn't.}

At first I went with blues & orangey-golds & beiges, using the things from our old house.

Later I added in some more little coastal paintings I already owned and a crazy faux bois lamp.  ( I love this lamp & realize it's one of those pieces that doesn't appeal to most people but that I just have this strange kitcshy love for.)  ....

The room never really sat right with me, mostly because the fact that the coastal things in it didn't fit the house.  One day about a year ago, craving a change, I brought in one of my favorite rugs & tried out some teal curtains & it was just very wrong.  Totally not the fun happy space I wanted.  I think it only stayed like this for a few hours before I changed it...

 ...To this:

{I was getting there with the green addittion.  Green's my favorite color & more than that, to me it fits my house because we're surrounded by trees and have lots of windows in our house.  The outside is the backdrop for the interiors.}

In this pic below, you can see a couple of the windows in the family room's workspace during the Winter:

{photo by Helen Norman}

For a while now, I've been ready to say goodbye to the blue & bring in more white & green.  We just haven't had the get-up-and-go to actually do it... Until I neared 9 months of pregnancy.  OF COURSE that's the perfect time to attack the basement!  (I really love my husband for humoring me.)  We finished adding shelves to a little built-in book area...

Getting the book situation under control has helped immensely. Our family loves to read & not only read, but keep & collect the books we love. So... that's a major storage issue for us. We have books crammed everywhere. Adding the additional shelves in the nook has been life-saving (for now ;)

I'd like to make some botanicals with the kids out of the plants in our yard for the two frames above. 

{Maybe something like the ones we made for the playhouse}

SIDENOTE: Another thing I should probably explain is my obsession with botanicals & plants in general.  I've always loved them, and as a little girl, I had flower presses & enjoyed collecting pretty things to press.  When I was a little older (maybe around 12 or 13) I got very into researching herbs & flowers & plants.  I collected (still do ;)  books on them & the various medicinal uses for plants along with the folklore & & legends that surround them.  I actually have an "Herb journal" where I've collected all of the different information from various sources about the herbs I had access to complete with my own photos.  (Yes, I'm weird, I know this.)   Remember my zit cure, here? (pic below)

{Please don't be scurred.}

In high school I began making (and selling!) things I made out of herbs & oils.  (Lip balms, lotions, teas, natural body sprays, etc...  In college, my best friend & I sold more of the same things & expanded into pillows & clothing.  SO...  the reason you see lots of botanical artwork & nature-inspired spaces in my work is because it's something I'm really passionate about & it comes out, especially in my personal spaces & textile line. 

And now back to the family room....  It's finally getting to where I'm happy with it.  It just feels so much more in keeping with our house:

{While we have lots of vintage educational charts around the house, these two are actually reproductions from The Evolution Store.  I went with cowslip & anemone.  I'd gotten it narrowed down to five options and let my 4-year old pick.  (What 4 year old can resist the name "cowslip?" ...And we have peonies (from the anemone family) in the backyard.)

And for the rest of the space...
I want to add some BRNO chairs around the table & I'm looking for the perfect ones with old-looking brown leather... Similar to this but not quite: (This pic looks like suede to me.)

My Gustavian desk is going black (it's a few pics up & is currently pale aqua)  & I'm slipcovering my Madhatter Chairs in a natural linen & flanking the hutch with them:

{Madhatter Chair}

Everything else just got a bit restyled & of course that'll sort of continue.  I'll take more pics when I can.

On the pregnancy front:  Having contractions but nothing strong enough to constitute labor yet.  With my past two pregnancies, my water just broke with no warning, so that was fairly straight-forward.  This contraction thing is a little different for me so I'm wondering how this one will be.  Here, our  whole family saying hurry up! hi!! ;) to the new baby:

And it's bigger than it looks here.  my husband & I have big hands ;)

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office L O V E

the office of Aerin Lauder from AD by way of Habitually Chic HERE.

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