summer, summer, summer...i miss you...

i am l-o-n-g-i-n-g for summer...i need a tan, desperately. like seriously, i am so pale i'm practically see-through. i saw this outfit on polyvore and it only made my desire burn brighter for summer to come! i love everything about it. i have almost all the components of this outfit, but the watch. oh the watch, yes please...


...and then i saw this recipe for sriracha bloody marys...yummmmm...


ingredients:

2 oz. Vodka
4 oz. Tomato Juice
1/2 oz. fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 t freshly grated Horseradish or Creamy prepared Horseradish *see note above
2 pinches Celery Salt
3 dashes Sriracha Chili (or more to taste)
2 dashes Worcestershire Sauce

garnish – There are a ton of variations. Go with what you prefer… Celery Stalk, Lemon Wedge, Lime Wedge, Pickled Green Tomatoes, Cherry Tomatoes, Olives (add a little olive juice for a dirty Bloody Mary), Baby Carrots, Cocktail Onions…

directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients into a mixing glass. Add ice and roll the mixing glass to combine ingredients. This is not a shaken cocktail.

2. Strain into an ice filled glass and garnish.

quotable...

looking back...

make shift cedar closet idea...

i saw these canvas storage wardrobes with cedar panels in bed bath & beyond over the weekend, thinking about getting a few for the basement for winter clothes/coats storage...until i can outfit one of our closets with cedar paneling of course...

summer sperry's & sail boats...

oh how i'm longing for summer (as i sit here freezing cold in my office, i don't think the heat is working in here!)...and i would like to wear a pair of these sperry's...

...and i'd like to have a hinkley sail boat while i'm in full on day-dreaming mode...

the kitchen...

the kitchen is probably the most unpacked room in the house so far, sans kitchen table & chairs that i want, so i thought i'd put up a few photos of it. i love the light this room gets!...

designer for the divorced...

when i was in high school i wanted to start a business shopping for kids of divorced parents, primarily the dad. i thought it would be a huge money-maker, shopping for the holidays/birthdays/etc for fathers who had no clue what to get their kids and no time to do it either. but laziness set in, i never got around to writing a business plan to present to my parents for a start-up loan, and thus my company never took off like i had hoped.

but i just read this article in the new york times, in dire need of design, and my old-company idea has relaunched in my head. i actually thought about doing bachelor pad designs well before i read this article, as i have a slew of guy friends in their early/mid 30's & early 40's here in boston who have great jobs, killer new apartments/houses and no idea of what to do with them...and who are always trying to impress the ladies i might add! i've always got along with guys better than girls, so this niche wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for me...maybe i should consider making the leap into this???



i really love susan manrao's perspective in this article too...

“I realized my role in this project wasn’t simply to design a space,” she said, “but to help rebuild a home.”

In Ms. Manrao’s experience, working with men alone is easier than working with couples or women, because they tend to be more hands-off, affording her greater creative freedom.

Divorced fathers, especially, often want their homes done quickly, to make the transition as smooth as possible for their children, which means they are apt to agree with her design decisions.

uber cool event...

my friend, fellow blogger & insanely creative force behind petal floral design, becca, invited me to her friend, fellow blogger & insanely creative brain behind radiant republic's event at neiman marcus on tuesday...and i am so stoked. but i have one problem...what to wear? i'm going to be around cool, hip people, i need to blend in.


any thoughts on an outfit?

thank you to someone...

i need to thank someone for a housewarming gift that was delivered yesterday, but i don't know who to thank?!?!? this arrive yesterday with a note that said 'there's no place like home', but it was anonymous. whomever sent it to me, thank you, thank you, thank you (and thanks for reading my blog)...please let yourself be known so i can thank you in person too! i love it and have just the place for it. 'pigs' are going to be my #1 theme in the kitchen i have a feeling. my aunt sent me a whole bevy of pig themed items the other day as well!!!

playing in my head...

kitchen table & chairs...

started to think about potential table & chairs for the kitchen, something simple and sweet to compliment the bench seat in the bay window (which is going to have a red and white ticking strip cushion on it with a few pillows of various fabrics/patterns/textures). i'd prefer a more square table so it doesn't take up too much room in the little nook, but so far i'm liking these...

jackson rectangular table with metal base from cost plus world market

avignon extension table from cost plus world market

shayne fixed kitchen table from pottery barn

garden side chair from home decorators collection

sandra side chair with aluminum seat from home decorators collection

happy valentine's day...

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.

I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.

I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints,--I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life!--and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

-Elizabeth Barrett Browning

done, done, done...

it's done, done, done... and just in time for tomorrow! oh how i love an all white kitchen...


which leads into a lovely little dining & living room...


and the best transformation of all, the hideous blue bathroom (with BUTTERFLIES on the wall, yes people, butterflies) is now all white. the floor is still majorly gross, i'll attack it once i get in the house. ideally, i'd like to gut this bathroom entirely, but that's not happening right now...


and can we just talk about this awesome, deep linen storage closet in the bathroom? i am in love. it's the simple things...


oh yeah, and i put in the shelves last night for the bookshelf, still need to get the full overlay hinges so i can install the doors below, minor details. i'm still drooling over the blue color of this room though...

bling giveaway for your ears...

go enter elephantine's jewelry giveaway, right-this-second...i did...and you could win a triple set of these lovelies...

quotable...

via observando

color, color everywhere

ok, i couldn't hold out on showing you the color progress at the house. sorry for the bad shots, i was using my dumpy point & shoot in not the best light.

so the blue trim on the kitchen in gone and the cabinets are all painted. next up, getting rid of the the red walls. everything in here will be ben moore oc-17 white dove...clean, clean, clean looking! can you see my new stainless appliances in there too?...


the back bedroom/office (which used to be the ugliest room in the house) now has gorgeous ben moore hc-159 philipsburg blue walls with white dove trim. i am in LOVE with this room...


the front bedroom is a really bright room (but you can't tell from these pictures) so i went with ben moore 2109-60 portland gray, also with white dove trim. it has a hint of lilac in it, and it's going to be a gorgeous room once we start decorating it...


move in date is this friday...photos of the moved in house to come in a few weeks.