keepin' busy

We had another shower this weekend that we helped to host. I am at the mercy of other people for their pictures, which is why I have yet to post the pictures from the gift card party we hosted last weekend. That's what I get for leaving my camera at home. Hopefully I will have some to post for the baby shower we hosted Saturday.

In the meantime, this hot man I call my husband has been keeping me busy as well.







He's been on the road a lot lately, as well as playing at our church every Sunday and two nights during the week. It's no wonder my projects don't get finished...

Crossing my fingers I have more pictures to post soon! Just wanted to update you all!

Color Inspiration: Amethyst

In the recent issue of House Beautiful, I was re-introduced to the color amethyst. That's one of those colors I had long forgotten about. It's the crayon I would wear down to nothing when I was a little girl and because of that, I probably grew tired of the color. Plus, my husband is fairly open to most colors I choose, but this one would be harder to persuade him with. Until now. ;) I know it may sound silly, but after I picked up this issue, my wheels starting turning and that's when I knew I had painted the wrong color in our guest bathroom. Just like my ADD with DIY projects, I am easily bored with accessories. If I wanted to change colors in my guest bathroom, it would have been hard. The gray I chose had too much blue in it.

Not that I plan on overloading on accessories just because I want a change now and again (wouldn't that be nice??). But, this lovely towel is what got me re-thinking my paint choice. And I would take two of them.



I hope there are fellow bloggers who have been where I am now (that is, painters remorse). My sweet friend Paula, from two ellie, has offered to help me find that perfect.neutral.gray.paint color. THANK GOODNESS!! It is definitely something I am thinking about a lot.

Other "amethyst" eye candy:

I will definitely be rocking some purple eye shadow this fall to compliment my green eyes.



Love this bowl.

And if I felt myself getting extra crazy over this color, I could just go ahead and paint the entire bathroom this color. Ok, not really.

Enjoy your day!

I am a better blog-reader than a blog-poster...

This weekend was another busy, busy weekend. I can't wait to show you pictures of the gift card party my husband and I helped to host. I loved the decorations, so fun and creative. It's amazing what you can do with twine, cardboard and a sharpie!

The best part of the weekend was getting to hang with some of my favorite ladies. I stayed up til 3:00 chatting and laughing with Kimberly and Taylor.

I spent most of yesterday cleaning. And I mean, deeeep cleaning. We're getting ready to re-do our guest bedroom, but first we have to declutter and organize our "stuff."

I did take pictures of the guest bathroom for show-and-tell, but after a couple of weeks and looking at the photos, I have decided I don't like the paint color. Thank goodness it's a small bathroom and a quick coat of paint will be just the ticket.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday. Just so it's not all words, here are my precious kitty's lounging in the sunlight.

I have the fever

I have baby fever. BAD. Both of my sisters and my sister-in-law are pregnant right now. How can I not have baby fever?? My husband and I are in no hurry to have babies (for now), but I can't help but wonder how we would design the nursery. Of course it would lean more towards the modern side, but I would want it to feel as comfy as possible (which can be hard in a modern room).

I came across some fun and interesting nurseries this morning. Here are a few of my favorite ideas:



I know we have all seen this room before, so I posted it first. It really is one of the cutest nursery's I have seen. I love love that black wall.



I enjoy the simplicity of this nursery, and the colors.



Creativity is key when trying to personalize the nursery.



A lot going on here, but I love the shapes and textures in this room. I also like the idea of having a bed in a nursery if the room allows.




This is probably one of my favorites. I like the punches of color, the striped rug, and of course the light fixture.



The other side.


More rooms like these can be found here.

Engagement Party

This weekend was quite a whirlwind. Friday my husband and I drove to Marietta, GA to meet up with some friends. We ate chicken salad sandwhiches, toured the Coca-Cola Factory, shopped at cute boutique stores, walked to Midtown, ate some more chicken salad sandwhiches, went for drinks at the Westin, and finished up the night laughing and talked while watching "So you think you can dance." The next morning we went to the Farmer's Market at Marietta Square and ate at a cute restaurant called Sugar Cakes.

We quickly headed back to Birmingham to get ready for the engagement party I was helping to host that night. I didn't take pictures, so I had to steal from the other ladies there.

The beautiful cake and the cake maker, Ashley. Fabulous job!



Guest book and our hostess gifts.



To save money, we made the food ourselves. Delicious!



Wine, and our incredibly cheap wine "glasses." It was a last minute addition.



Table decor. I wish there were more pictures of the tables. Each table had it's own centerpiece. (I will see if I can get other pictures to post)



The girls. We have been friends since highschool. Leah is the last of us to get married, so we wanted to make this extra special.




And the beautiful and wonderful couple of the night. Chad and Leah. I couldn't be more thrilled for my dear friends. They really deserve all the happiness this world can offer them. (and don't ya just love her dress??)

Sunday was spent celebrating my "baby" sister's 25th birthday. I can hardly believe she isn't still 3 years old and we're playing dress up with each other. Well, I suppose we still "play" that, because we do love to shop! Happy Birthday Erica!!

IF...

... I were shopping today, these are the items I would grab up in a hurry.





{both via Urban Outfitters}

The leather jacket is a bit of a stretch for me since I feel leather jackets are very masculine, but the ruffle is just the ticket for me!



{in tan via Victoria's Secret}

Enjoy your Wednesday blogger friends!

Local Artist

I wanted to share a local artist, meaning Birmingham, AL, and a friend to my blogger friends.

Her name is Katherine, and is a new friend of mine I met at our church. Her and her husband Jonathan are just the neatest people. They have two ADORABLE children, Eli and Lydia. If I've ever met a couple to be walking in their faith, it is these two. Katherine stays at home with her children, while Jonathan is finishing an internship program at our church. In an effort to bring in more money, she and her sister opened up an Etsy store called bakd-handmade children's clothing and gifts. Right off the bat they were flooded with orders. She is remaining busy and has even asked for my help a couple of times. (No, I don't know anything about sewing, but I can cut patterns!)

Here are a few of my favorite pieces modeled by her extremely beautiful daughter, Lydia:

Look at those sweet cheeks!

You really should go and check out the rest of her items!

I am thankful

My recent IF post featured this lovely necklace from Etsy shop my lavaliere. Well, as it happens a friend of mine purchased that necklace! She received the necklace and then asked if Daniele wouldn't mind shortening the chain it originally came with. When she got her necklace back, she was surprised to see two necklaces in the package.

Here it is for reference:

So, what did sweet Natalie do with the extra necklace??

She asked me if I would like it! (I really think I had shed a tear when she asked me) Of course, I couldn't turn that down! I was so excited. Not only to get that beautiful necklace, but because I felt like it was my first, if not only, gift from a blog reader, not just a friend. (silly I know)

Sometimes I finish a post and think how silly it is that anyone is actually reading this blog?! But, I love reading blogs and hope others love reading mine too. It's an outlet for me to discuss the things I love and have y'all agree, or give opinions, or maybe even inspire someone. (and this is where I think how much I really love comments and feedback!!)

Thank you again Natalie!! 

(right now my husband is cooking me dinner. I truly love that man!)

hardware

I finally bought knobs for our DIY dresser. I know, I know. I move at a snail's pace when it comes to these makeovers. I have some sort of DIY ADD. I started on the dresser, and then finished the guest bathroom. Then back to the dresser, then back to the bathroom. This probably relates to many other areas of my life, but for now, we'll deal with the dresser. Ok, so I bought two knobs for the doors. Now, I just need four pulls for the drawers.

Here they are, and I love them.

{via Anthropologie}

I love how feminine they are, since the dresser has such straight lines. Once I find those perfect pulls, the dresser will be ready for show-n-tell. Thank you for being patient dear ones.

I also need to show the guest bathroom off. Of course, there are a few pieces I want to get before it's complete, but that will probably be the story of the whole apartment.. so I'll show rooms unfinished from now on. Just promise not to judge too badly =)

Confessions...

...of a shopoholic. Now that my husband and I are a little relaxed about house hunting, we're not penny penching AS MUCH. We still are being very conscious about where those pennies are going. (paying off debt, what little we have, is the first place) But, we do like to reward ourselves every once in a while.

This time is was at Urban Outfitters. We scored 2 album art frames for $10 a piece. (My husband is a huge Beatles fan, so we had the White Album and then a Radiohead album he received as a wedding gift framed)



Then, because he(my husband) loves me so much, he bought me this dress:




Which I wore with skinny jeans, gold sandals and a coral/gold necklace.

The rest of my shopping over the next few weeks will be for an engagement party, a couple's gift card party, and a baby shower. All of which I am helping to host. Phew!

Oh, and I really need a dress to wear to this engagement party. Semi-dressy. Anyone have ideas on where to look? Send links if you can!