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August 29, 2014

Fashion Friday // BHG Style

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jeans (similar here)  // sweater // necklace // heels (similar here & here)

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jeans // shirt // necklace (similar here & here) // flats(similar)

Happy Friday and yay for the start of a long weekend!  It's always nice to get the first week of school behind us.  Both kids started new after school activities too this week, so it's been a week of adjusting schedules and trying to find a routine again.  But besides being a bit tired, everyone is adjusting well.

Today for my Fashion Friday post, I thought I would talk a little about my wardrobe for our Better Homes and Gardens photoshoot.  Honestly, this was the hardest part of the whole process for me. After I spoke to the wonderful editor and art director at BHG and found out they were coming (ekkk), I immediately started thinking about what I would wear.  And by the way, the people at BHG were so kind and helpful with wardrobe suggestions, and really made me feel so comfortable and made this whole process such a awesome experience!  (But I still stressed a bit about what to wear :)

You know how it is when you are in search of specific pieces, it's like the hardest task ever, but when you're casually walking into a store just browsing, you love everything!  I think I hit every store in Houston and we have some awesome shopping venues here, but had very little success.  Thank goodness for online shopping!  So above are my three outfits that I had ready for the stylist the morning of the shoot.  Which would you choose for a December issue and still look like you're at home?  Oh, and did I mention that my two kiddos were in the picture too, so I had to coordinate with them as well :)  More behind the scenes and what I wore coming soon!

XO


August 26, 2014

master bedroom // current state

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There are a couple of rooms in my home that I have never shared on this blog before and my master bedroom is one of them.  And here's why.  When we moved to our current home 3 years ago, we sold our master bedroom furniture and bought this sleigh bed, which is a gorgeous bed.  But a few months after I purchased it, upholstered headboards became really popular and I feel in love with them!  I was past the point of being able to return this bed and didn't think I would get my money back selling it and my husband thought I was crazy wanting to change beds again :)  So my plans for this room came to a halt and I have not done much in this space except add this mirror and a few pillows.  

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This chair is so old and not the prettiest, but we just can't get rid of it because it is so super comfortable!  So, it is still with us on the opposite side of the room.
 
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So, my plan for this room is to one day move this bed and bedding up to our guest room and then get an upholstered headboard and new bedding for our room.  But for now I'm ok with this room and finally decided to share it.  Do you have rooms and design ideas like this?

Have a great day!

P.S.  I am in the process of getting a new camera and if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them.  My camera now does great close up, but when I try to photograph a whole room I can't get the clarity and crisp pictures I want.  So any suggestions you have would be great!


August 20, 2014

Back To School Ice Cream Party

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Since we are in the last few days our summer break, I decided a little back to school ice cream party would be a fun way to wrap up our summer!   A couple of simple DIYs did the trick to give our party some personal touches.

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I decided to dress up our sugar cones with a little piece of scrapbook paper.  I simply folded a big 12x12 sheet in fours and cut.  One of the cut pieces was a perfect fit for my cones.  We couldn't find any fun ice cream bowls, so I decided to add some polka dots to plain white throw away bowls to add a fun touch.

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And of course my little helper was with me every step of the way :)

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And this guy wasn't so interested in the DIY projects or setting up, but he was more than happy to dig in!

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Have a beautiful day!



August 13, 2014

Shop It // Anthro

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You can save big on some of your wish list favorites!
Happy Shopping!



August 12, 2014

Back To School Organization

Hey there!  I hope everyone is doing well.  We are back from the beach, where we had a great time visiting with family, while soaking in the sunshine and seawater!   And today I'm still left with lots of laundry and suitcases to unpack, but my brain has suddenly switched gears to back-to-school mode.  My kiddos go back on the 25th, so we are definitely in the last few days of summer.  With that said, I thought today I would share some back to school organization strategies that have helped our school days flow more smoothly.  You can click the link below each picture for a full post. 


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Having these organized spaces really help keep us on track!

Have a great day!

 

August 7, 2014

Office Update

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Good Morning!  I hope your week is going well :)  After I took some pictures of our new window seat in our office a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I haven't shared any recent office update pictures in a while.  It's finally coming together.  There are still a few more things I would like to change, like a new rug and more styling on the shelves, but for the most part the big projects are complete.

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So here's what I've done since my last update.  I've added the new window seat, a few more accessories, the large baskets on the bottom shelves and the rug.  Most the accessories and the baskets are from Home Goods.  It's my go to place for accessories...so much goodness there for such great prices!  The rug was one I had stuck away in a closet and it works for now, but a larger one would be more ideal.  The bulletin board was a simple DIY, that I said would be temporary, but it's still there since I haven't found anything else yet ;) 

Of course the biggest impact was painting and rearranging the furniture.  You can see the difference in this lovely before picture below :)  I almost considered getting rid of the this furniture and starting fresh, but then decided to paint it first thinking if I hated it, I would start fresh then.  You can go here and here to see how we painted the furniture and the progress of this room.

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Yikes, this before is so bad.  How did I live with it like this for any length of time?  When we moved, our previous home did not have an office, so this room was a collection of several different pieces of furniture just thrown in here.

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What I love most about this space is this huge window and the high ceilings.  I love all the natural light that pours in this room.  We spend a lot of time in here mostly because both kids are taking piano lessons and they practice daily, so it's nice to have a bright, pretty, organized space to enjoy their music in.


Have a great day!


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August 6, 2014

Serena and Lily Private Sale

Good Morning!   I am super excited that one of my favorite stores is having a mega sale today!  Serena and Lily is having their private sale and there is so much goodness majorly reduced, but you've got to hurry before the quantities sell out!  Check out some of the gorgeous sale items below :)


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It's a crazy good sale!  Happy Shopping!!




August 5, 2014

Summer Update via Instagram

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Hi there!   How is your summer going?  We are in the last few weeks of our summer before school starts here, so we are trying to soak it up!  My husband's family has a house at the coast, so we took a last minute trip there this past weekend and had a great time!  And we have one more trip to another Texas beach this week with my family and then it will be time to get into back to school mode.

It's been a little while since I've done an Instagram update, so I thought I would share some of our summer happenings.  I think this has been one of my favorite summers with my kids!  They are at perfect ages (8yrs & 6yrs) this year and I've really enjoyed it!  It's been full of camps, playing with friends, beach trips, late evening walks, and just enjoying our laid back schedules. 

How about you...any last minute trips to squeeze in before the kiddos go back?

Have a beautiful day!

P.S.  There's a really sweet story associated with that huge sunflower, that I shared on Instagram, if you're interested :)  XO