Home Sweet Home

Taking pictures of your house is hard. I would take pictures, sit down to edit them and then decide I needed to rearrange the entire house again. I had my living room set up and then my mom found a "coffee table" for me at Round Top. I had my kitchen done and then we antiqued the island. I had my Halloween décor up and then decided to just skip on over to fall because I hosted a baby shower at my house this week and babies and cobwebs sort of clash. Because I wanted my house somewhat finished by this week for the shower, we have finally come to a semi-stopping point and so let's just pretend you just drove up to our house....

Walked up our walkway...

Through the front door (which you should never leave open, especially in the rain, otherwise Patti and Selma will escape and get three neighborhoods away before you even realize they're gone. If I was a better blogger you would have already heard me tell two similar stories.)

This would be to your left...

Along with our bedroom...

And to your right would be the Office...

The office was arranged to look like this office I saw in Pottery Barn:


Special thanks to Leslie and Ryan for the laundry hampers and round glass tabletop which serve as our desks and the bookcases and drawers. Also special thanks to Granny, Ruth Ann and mom for making the office resemble the picture using what we already had.

The office, front door and dining room...which isn't really a dining room seeing as we don't have a dining room table. 

So then if you follow the hallway...

And take a left you'll see the reason I wanted this house.

  

This "nook" if you will, was a big hole when we first saw the house and I knew immediately what I would put there. After we moved in I showed my father-in-law, Jeff, a picture of what I wanted and he designed and built the entire nook in his shop in Austin. He and Preston both assembled it in our house and it turned out even more beautifully than the original picture I had seen.  It is my personal favorite part of the house.

 

Down this hall are two bedrooms. I only took a picture of one because the other has an air mattress and an armoire...not too exciting, but this my friends is YOUR room if you come stay with us!

  

And this is for you too...

  

The guest bathroom... 

 

If you were to go back to the main hallway you would reach the Kitchen...

 

 

And Living Room...

 

 

 
Mom says this is a den but I've never called anything a den so this is our Living Room. Please note the super awesome "coffee table" my mom found for me at Round Top. Restoration Hardware sells these authentic antique lumber carriers for way too expensive and when my mom called to tell me the story about this one I fell in love. Yep, fell in love with a coffee table. Apparently the guy who sold this one to my mom used to sell them directly to Restoration Hardware. After a while, RH decided to just have replicas made in China so he no longer sells to them but he still sells at Round Top for less than half the price of RH! Plus, he adds wheels to the bottom that can be put up or down to stabilize the table and none of the other vendors at RT were doing that. Also, my friend Brittany reminded me that when kiddos come around you're going to want a safe coffee table and this one had rounded corners. I love you new coffee table yes I do!

The butler's pantry is attached to the kitchen...

 

 And the Laundry Room...

And if you head upstairs you will find Preston's favorite room in the house...

The Media Room.

This cute little office is upstairs too that I think I might turn into a craft room one day.

Well there you have it! If you ever need a place to stay in Dallas, we'd love to have you over! Happy Halloween!

Allergic to Marriage

So I guess I'm allergic to my wedding ring. My ring finger started itching a few weeks ago and I didn't really think anything of it. It hadn't rained in a hundred days so I figured my skin was just really dry. I took it off for a couple days, let my finger heal and put it back on. Then it all started again. Now I have a branded red mark around my finger where my ring used to be! Proof:

Google said something about the nickel in the metal rising to the surface over time irritates skin sometimes? So now I am wearing my ring around my neck but it's ok because that red mark is not going away anytime soon. I told Preston he needed to buy me a new ring since this one is attacking me. He said no.

I read that you can just get it re-dipped (whatever that means) but I'm not sure how expensive that is so I'll keep you posted on the ring saga.

Moving on up

We are moved in to our very first home.

And by "moved in" I mean we can actually live in our house without stepping on boxes and debris from moving day. We still have a few things to hang and clean and unpack but for the most part we are settled. Patti and Selma are delirious with their new crib, though I think they do miss the wide open, no fence backyard to which they had adjusted. We have a nice, tall fence surrounding our backyard that they inspected upon arrival for escape routes. My father-in-law and Preston promptly took care of that with the help of a few boards and nails. There is one little hole, too small for the puppies to squeeze through but just big enough for the neighborhood kids to stick their sweet faces and hands in to pet the puppies. My mother-in-law discovered this the other day when she overheard a little kid hollering for Selma. I hope they know that they are welcome to drain our puppies of their energy any time they wish. I'm just happy I don't have to worry about the puppies running across the dam or into the street or being eaten by a hawk.

On moving day I let the puppies out for their usual restroom break at the old house and as usual, they took off. We had to cage them for a lot of the day because we were moving things in and out of the house and it was too much of a hassle to keep an eye on them so I guess they decided this was their chance to break free. So there I go, chasing after the two of them screaming for them to stop when all of a sudden an enormous hawk came bolting from a tree directly in front of me and headed for Selma.(Remember the movie The Proposal? Just like that.) Of course Selma has no idea she's about to be eaten alive; she's just frolicking through the grass, running away from me like we were playing some sort of game. As soon as I saw the hawk I freaked and let out a blood curdling "NOOOOOOOO!!!!" and luckily the hawk immediately retreated back to its perch. Selma still had no idea I had saved her life and I still had to chase them down. Dumb dogs.

To celebrate the purchase of our first home we decided to take a Gondola ride on the canal in Las Colinas the week before we moved in. Actually, the truth is I had bought a Groupon LAST YEAR and never had time to use it but it was about to expire so I unfortunately had to redeem it during the hottest summer of the year. We just knew we were going to be miserable but I was determined not to waste money so we made a date night out of it and decided to do dinner at Trevi's overlooking the canal beforehand. When we left for dinner, the wind had picked up and was out of control. I was actually afraid I was going to get a call that the trip had been cancelled. Upon arriving to the restaurant we learned that it was Restaurant Week and were able to take advantage of their special menu. During dinner we watched the canal as the wind picked up so much that the water literally had white caps. The food, by the way, was excellent but the dessert was of course my favorite. We might have ordered two per my request.

 Gelato

After dinner we headed to the boat and were shocked when we walked outside and the weather was shockingly cool! The wind had also died down. Our gondolier greeted us and offered to take a million pictures for us and then we set out into the sunset on probably the most perfect night of the entire summer. It ended up being such a great way to celebrate the purchase of our first home!

Props to our gondolier for the great pics and beautiful voice. He sang to us acapella throughout the trip and was very good. If you're ever contemplating taking a gondola ride in Las Colinas I highly recommend it!

Shout out to my parents, Preston's parents, my brother and my Granny, Ruth Ann and Ella for everything they did to help us move in. I also have to mention our sweet friends Leslie and Ryan who GAVE us a lot of their furniture when they moved to Shreveport! My dad almost killed himself moving our furniture in and pulled his back first thing the morning of move in day. Mom came every day she could while I was at work to do everything from rearranging furniture, to shopping for décor, to making dinner, to decorating, to organizing my kitchen, etc. My house would still be disaster if they hadn't pitched in. On Friday I walked in the door and Ella jumped out and said, "SURPRISE!" She then helped eat candy hearts I had used for décor for Valentine's two years ago.

Malena and Jeff came down Labor Day weekend. Malena was there to help with anything and everything we needed, even if that meant ironing what seemed like a million curtains and Jeff pretty much built us a custom house within our house. He and Preston fixed our guest bed, fence, trash drawer and so much more. He also designed and built one of the most beautiful custom "nooks" I have ever seen. I'd show you a picture but it's not done yet and I don't want to spoil the surprise. It's pretty awesome though.

We are going with a Pottery Barn look for our house. In past years I had leaned toward the Anthropologie style but decided to start fresh in the new house with a simpler look. I chose specific rooms in Pottery Barn magazines to imitate and we went to work trying to use what we had to create that look. Home Goods was our best friend. I think we went there every day for the last two weeks. That and Ikea. Word of advice though: go to Ikea an hour before they close. Nobody is there. DO NOT go on a Saturday. Nightmare central.

I can't wait to introduce you to our home but we're obviously not "done" yet. I am aware that it will always be an ongoing project so I am prepared to reveal a few pics but at the moment I haven't taken any so perhaps I'll post some this weekend. For now, here are a couple pics from our first day at the house...

 Can't wait for you to come visit!

The Hottest Summer Ever

So a lot has happened lately and I have realized that I really rely on my blog to tell everyone what's going on in our lives because I feel like I've said "I didn't tell you that?" a lot in the past few weeks. I also realized that in order for that to happen I actually have to write on my blog so in the words of Al Rocker, here's what's going on in our neck of the woods.

I decorated for my good friend Leslie's baby shower at the beginning of July. Her shower took place at La Duni in Northpark Mall and we didn't have much time to decorate beforehand (30 minutes) so I had to get creative with what we could and could not do. Luckily the venue was already beautiful so we didn't have to do much for it to look impressive. Here are a few pictures but I will post more on EBSR when I get a chance. At the rate I'm going that may be never.

Leslie's sister coordinated with La Duni to do the flowers. Aren't they gorgeous!?

 

A special thank you to Three for designing these for me!

I had seen letters like these on Etsy and thought I could probably make them myself and sure enough I found a tutorial online. I don't consider myself a crafty person but these were pretty easy to make. I might have to start making these for all my friends' babies.

Best. Cupcakes. Ever. Quatros Leches. Mmmmm...

Leslie's aunt took care of the party favors which were precious cookies individually wrapped.

La Duni made signature drinks for the event. This one was my favorite. It was some sort of Berry Lemonade Spritzer. I think I had three of them.

I also decorated for PJ's 16th birthday party which ironically we also weren't allowed to start decorating for until 30 minutes prior because they wouldn't let us on the boat until then. We got it done but not without being threatened. A few of the kids got onto the boat early and were playing around on the top deck and someone was pushed off the side. Minutes later one of the boat employees came storming in the room threatening to cancel the whole party. Being the calm person that I am, I was about ready to punch him in the face but Amanda just apologized repeatedly until he calmed down. Luckily his threats were empty and we did set sail. You can read more about the event and decor here.

Then Patti almost died. It all started when Preston called me while I was at the Harry Potter premiere and said she had cried a few times when he had touched her stomach but then she had stopped. A few days earlier the dogs had escaped from their crate (aka we accidentally left one of the doors open) and got into the trash so we assumed she was just having indigestion from something she had eaten. The next morning she was "fine" (or so we thought) but when Preston got home from work he called to tell me he was taking her to the emergency pet hospital. When he had opened the door Selma had come storming out as always but Patti walked out slowly and when he picked her up he noticed an ugly bruise on her stomach. I had to stop by my aunt's house to pick up something after work and my cousin happened to mention that rat poison had just been put out at the house. I didn't think anything of it until Preston called to say the vet thought Patti had anemia caused by either genetics or, you guessed it, rat poison. Until that moment Preston had told the vet it couldn't be rat poison but as soon as he mentioned it I told him that had to be it. Patti ended up needing a blood transfusion and an overnight stay at the hospital. When she came home she slept for 24 hours straight but now she's good as new! Unfortunately she has not learned her lesson about eating things just because they happen to be on the ground. We might just have to buy pet insurance for Patti. She seems to attract accidents.

I also designed and decorated for the GO! event at my church last weekend which acted as a kick off event for all our church volunteers. It was a challenge because I had a lot of space to cover on a budget and needed to accommodate over 300 people. With the help of several volunteers (which is ironic considering the event was for volunteers) we were able to execute my vision. I was pleased with the outcome and will post pictures on my events blog eventually.

Now I have milestone news to share: we are in the midst of buying our first house! We found a home in Frisco and are closing this week! It all happened a lot quicker than we expected. At first we were going to rent a house or apartment. The problem with an apartment is that taking the dogs to the bathroom is problematic and renting a house seems to be more expensive than owning one. We've heard opinions from both sides, many advising that we don't buy a house, but we decided that if America goes down the drain we're all in trouble anyway so we might as well live the dream while we can. So without further ado, here she is!

We looked for houses for about two weeks before finding this one. Mom had scoured the internet and driven through neighborhoods helping us look since we both work full time. She had actually found one similar to ours that we decided to go see. We weren't too intrigued by our house at first because the pictures online just didn't do it justice. So we went to see the first house which was basically our house but one story and loved it. When we left we planned on going to a development but decided to just drop by our house since it happened to be in the same neighborhood. As soon as we walked in, we knew it was the one. It was the exact same floor plan we had just seen but two story instead and much more space. The curb appeal was adorable and the community pool and park areas were gorgeous so we put an offer on the house the next night and after a little negotiation, they accepted! We are going to be painting and moving in this weekend and will decorate Labor Day weekend. I can't tell you how excited I am!

And last but not least, I got a promotion at Fossil! I am now the Product Coordinator for Leathers Samples and my first week was this past week. My job is to help coordinate Leather samples from inception to our vendors (aka factories) and then back to Fossil for both the Men's and Women's Leather teams. I'm excited to be a part of such an integral part of the design process and especially proud to be a part of a great department. Fossil's leathers department is growing exponentially so I am looking forward to playing a part in it all.

This weekend I was in Abilene helping Morgan move into the freshman dorms and wishing I was headed back to college. Morgan's room doesn't even look like a dorm anymore and she's had visitors from all over the dorm stop by saying "I heard I had to come see this room!" Mom was the brain behind the design but everyone did a great job coordinating and getting things done efficiently. I swear it took me five days to move into my dorm. I guess by the time you get to the fourth kid you've got it all figured out. They started working at about 8am Saturday morning (I showed up around 9am) and didn't stop until dinner but the room only needed a few finishing touches on Sunday. Here are Morgan's before and after pictures...

BEFORE

AFTER

 They have their own coffee station with a Keurig Coffee maker and every variety of coffee you can dream up.

 Morgan's side of the room.

 That couch turns into a futon and they bought it at Walmart! I'm not lying...it's one of the most comfortable couches I have ever sat on.

 One of my contributions to the room. I hung the earrings.

I love this shelf and wish I had one for my pantry! They found it in Abilene at one of my favorite antique shops, It's About Time (cute name right?).

Well, if all goes as planned we should be moving into our new house this weekend! We won't have internet for five days because AT&T is our service provider, so in the words of my husband, "I guess we'll just have to talk to each other."