Spring Shoe Love

clockwise from top left: black pointed sandal | silver thong sandal | nude kitten heel with neon accents | black and rose gold sliver wedge | red and nude sliver wedge | color block kitten heel | nude and gold ankle strap kitten heel | tan, snakeskin and gold block heel sandal | nude and silver pointy kitten heel

So you may have noticed that despite the fact that a chunk of the country is getting socked with snow (not Houston, though - come visit if you need a warm weather fix!) the stores have all already started stocking up on their spring lines.  This means airy, pastel dresses, light weight sweaters, pretty blouses, and my favorite: shoes.  It seems that the style gods have heard my prayers and this spring 2013 season is chock full of fantastic flats, sliver wedges, and kitten heels all in stunning neutrals and metallics with pops of color.  They're all so gorgeous!  I'm thinking I may have to splurge on at least one pair so that I don't just snap one day and blow my budget on all of them.  Which ones should I get?!?

Dining Room Reveal!

I've officially finished decorating my dining room!!!  The other rooms are coming along as well, but seeing at least one room completed is SO gratifying.  I'm 100% in love with my black walls.  Even S, who thought I was nuts when I first told him my plan to paint the walls black, admitted that it looks really cool.  I've re-used the dining table, 2 of the dining chairs, the 2 directors chairs, and of course the piano that I've had since my Florida place.  I kept  the two moulded plastic chairs that I got in my last apartment to keep things from getting too weighed down.  The ombre curtains are from the bedroom in my last apartment and all of the artwork and objects on the shelves and the piano are items I've been collecting over the years.  New to this room are the gold curtain rods and grey linen curtains, the awesome gold shelf that I showed off here, and the persian-looking rug (that I got at IKEA for only $80!).  I also got a great deal on some curtain rings at IKEA that I spray painted gold a couple of weekends ago to match the curtain rods - they turned out perfectly!

Those curtains were a bitch to hang.  I think I've figured out the best way to approach it now, so I'm still planning to curtain the rest of the rooms, but it was a frustrating endeavor...  Also, I don't technically have the bar cart I want yet, but I've been using an old nightstand from the Florida house as a makeshift bar cart in the meantime. 

It actually works really well and I'm contemplating painting it a glossy red and changing out the knob and just keeping it there.  We'll see...  I also absolutely love the painting I hung in that corner (I got it at Pike Place market in Seattle).  I love all of the artwork in this room to be honest.  My little three-eyed guy from Austin is next to the gold shelf and my el gato gomez space scene is camping out over the piano:

I had a lot of fun styling the shelves and piano top too.  I used the tips and tricks I've acquired from my decorating idol Emily Henderson (here) and I feel like it's much more curated than my belongings used to be.  I still have some shelves to fill on the gold shelf, but if I use the small table as my bar, then I won't have room for all of my alcohol bottles (I'm not an alch-y, it just accumulates over time...) so they may find a home on one of those lower gold shelves instead.  So a little more work, I guess, but it's 95% finished and I just absolutely adore the entire space.

What do you think??

Giant Game Weekend

I had a fantastic weekend!  And oddly enough, it was chock full of giant games... weird.  On Saturday S and I went to his parents house where he changed out the oil on his car and I utilized his dad's power tools to (quite belatedly, I admit) make a giant jenga game for J and B for their holiday present.  I know, I'm two months late.  The game was fairly easy to make.  I cut down five 8' planks of whitewood into 11" segments, then used a wood file to get rid of splinters and slightly bevel the sharp edges, and finally took some fine grit sandpaper to ensure that the outer sides and edges were all smooth and splinter free.  It definitely took some time, but the result was spot on! (see our first experience with the game here)

That evening we went to J and B's house for their son A's birthday and I brought the giant jenga.  After the party (which was a blast as well: make-your-own-pizza, Taboo, and Catch Phrase!) we moseyed out to the backyard to test out the new game.  I'm shocked at how long we kept that tower standing!  We actually reached a point where there were no more boards to remove and stack on top - we beat the game! 

The weather was so fantastic the next day that we decided to walk over to one of our favorite local eateries, Eatsie Boys, for their chef's choice brunch.  I ordered the chicken tamale with black beans, fresh cheese and avocado crema and S had the pork loin rolled with chorizo and jalepeno cornbread.  We seriously haven't eaten anything there yet that we haven't loved.  After brunch we went next door where there's a giant chess game on the patio.  Neither S nor I had played chess in a while, so it wasn't exactly a riveting game.

I do well with my defensive strategy, but I'm not so great on the offensive.  So we kept the game going for a while, but I wound up losing in the end.  Need to practice more!  And after giant chess, since the weather was still impossibly gorgeous, we proceeded to walk around the Montrose area.  It was phenomenal.  I love my new neighborhood!  Sunday evening we accomplished a bit of productiveness around the house (the dining room is complete!  Pictures to come tomorrow!) and then hit up Torchy's Tacos for a yummy dinner.  If you ever go you MUST try the Independent and the street corn - they are insanely good!

Have a Relaxing Weekend!

I can't believe it's already Friday!!!  This week just did not give up - I was busy non-stop!  I'm seriously looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow (and Sunday).  And then I have a birthday party to attend on Saturday, which I'm really looking forward to as I haven't spent much time hanging out with my friends lately.  I have just a few finishing touches to put up in the kitchen and dining room too, so I'm hoping to get those done this weekend.  And then I plan to just relax.  I need it after the way this week kicked my butt...

(picture from here)

Another Busy Week

Yeah, I'm missing posts left and right these days.  At this point my goal is three in one week.  Things have been really busy at work.  This week I'm on console and still performing my MCA lead duties, and as I've said before, something big always happens on weeks like this.  Sure enough, yesterday we lost communication with ISS for a few hours (you can read about it here) and things were just insanely busy.  Some of our systems shut down, but they reacted the way they were supposed to, so it's not like we had any unplanned failures.  But it was busy. 

And in the evenings for the next week a I have to be home to give Zoe more kitty Prozac so she stops using my floors as a littler box.  We're one week in and it seems she's just stopped, but I need to have her on the meds for a full 2 weeks before I can taper down to every other night.  So I've been trying to fit in visits with S in the evenings and going to the gym, then hanging artwork at home and making food.  Lots to do and my crazy kitty is throwing a wrench into my post work plans...

(picture from here)

It was a Fun and Even Semi-Productive Weekend!

 

The weekend flew by almost as quickly as last week did!!!  On Saturday we, blissfully and necessarily, slept way in.  I did get up around 9:30 and whip up a gourmet breakfast of five grain toast topped with scrambled eggs and sauteed mushrooms and shallots with a side of bacon and a fruit salad of fresh pineapple, banana, strawberries, and mango.  Food is one of the few things that motivates me on weekend mornings...  That afternoon we made our way up to the Heights for the White Oaks Pub Crawl sponsored by St. Arnold's brewery.  It was kind of insane because the weather was so nice and the bars were so close together.  The sheer number of people spilling out of the bars was incredible.  But because of the weather and due to the fact that a handful of the mass of people were friends, it was a lot of fun.  After the pub crawl was over we headed around the corner to Pink's Pizza, voted one of Houston's best pizzerias and I got to cross them off of my list.  The pizza was excellent.  And then we met up with some new friends from the pub crawl at Hay Merchant where I had my new favorite drink: a Shandy made with house-made lemon ginger soda.  OBSESSED!

On Sunday I managed to be productive for most of the morning.  We went to Eatsie Boys for their ever changing "chef's special" Sunday brunch where I, for the first time in my life, ate fried chicken for breakfast.  It was served on a biscuit with honey butter and it was quite delicious.  I really wanted to try the quiche with sweet potato and kale, but alas, quiche is made with egg yolks...  S had the blueberry and bacon pancakes and said they were quite good.  Then we swung by Half Price Books and I snagged a few new cookbooks from some of my favorite celebrity chefs (Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer and Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home) and then made our way back to my place where I FINALLY finished painting the dining room!  I also got my new rug laid out and the furniture all pushed back into place.

Despite my promise on Friday, I still need to style the shelves, hang curtains, and hang artwork, so final pictures aren't quite ready yet.  Here are a few sneak peaks, though and I'll try really hard to get it all done this week!  That wasn't the whole weekend, either.  After an early dinner of leftover truffled mac and cheese we headed back out the door and headed to the Houston House of Blues for the Flogging Molly concert (see the first picture)!  It was my first foray into Irish Rock and it was a lot of fun!  Those fans really get into the dancing and crowd surfing and (typical Irish) some heavy drinking!

Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Have a Delightful Weekend!

That week went by quickly!  With 2 days spent on an airplane and only 3 days of real work it seems like time just flew!  Not that I'm complaining.  It was a fantastic week filled with visits with friends, a walk along the Pacific, and a beer and cheese pairing event last night (it was yummy! and it turns out there's a giant warehouse of cheese right here in Houston - be still my heart/stomach!!!)  And now the weekend is here and my plans include a pub crawl up in the Heights with a bunch of friends and a concert on Sunday!  I'm also hoping to FINALLY get the kitchen and living room decorating complete so I can FINALLY show you some pictures of the new place!

Speaking of new places, a big CONGRATULATIONS to my youngest brother, who just closed today on his very first house!!!

Hope you have a fun, busy, productive, and delightful weekend!

(picture from here)

California Girl

Sorry I missed posts this week.  I was out in Cali on business.  Flew out Monday, had a meeting all day Tuesday, and flew home yesterday.  While out there I got to visit with Br once again - we had lunch at this great brewery/gastropub and then he toured me around his office at Nickelodeon and showed me how a cartoon is made - pretty cool!  Monday night I hit up my favorite tapas restaurant, Viva Madrid, in Claremont Village. 

Like I said, Tuesday was a work day.  On Wednesday I left my hotel super early anticipating ridiculously horrible traffic on my way to the airport, as tends to happen in LA.  To my delight, the traffic was less sucky than usual and I made it to the airport area 4 whole hours before my flight!  I didn't want to sit in the terminal for that long, so I detoured down to Hermosa Beach for some breakfast and a walk on the pier.  Delightful!