Thursday Loves

I've been so unbelievably happy ever since I heard the news yesterday.  Buzzfeed rounded up some of the best images and signs from outside the supreme court before and after the decision was made.  I'll admit, it makes me tear up to see all the happiness. Also, Wendy Davis, you're a real badass. Thank you for literally making a stand for women's rights.

This image of a mama and her baby makes me warm and fuzzy.  Wyatt and I have been enjoying each other lots and lots and I've been seizing every opportunity to get tons of snuggles and kisses in.  He's been following a pretty consistent schedule lately and has been doing really good at night.  The night before last, he slept 11 hours straight! I've studied up on some secrets (this blog is amazingly helpful for any of you with young babes) and we've finally established a nice rhythm.  

* original photo source

Hello, flowy-easy-breezy Free People dress.  You are very lovely. I would love to travel on an amazing getaway with you in my suitcase.

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The husband and I have committed to making over our screened-in porch and we're SO EXCITED! We've dropped some serious dough on amazing tile and we can't wait for it to come in so we can get started!  We ordered some terra cotta tile from Lowes and some specialty/decorative tile from a little store in our neighborhood.  Needless to say, it's going to be gorgeous.  

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Recently, I made a delicious cherry cobbler and it felt quintessential summer.  It reminded me of our last-minute camping trip to Michigan two years ago when we thought we were moving to Louisville but fate had a different timeline for us.  That was one fun mini-vacation.  We bought roadside cherries, camped in a beautiful forest, hiked the dunes and canoed.  Cherry cobblers are definitely a labor of love, well, making anything with fresh cherries is a tedious task.  But so very worth it!

Hope you all are having lovely weeks! It's almost Friday!

Weekend Recap

Hey, everybody! Hope you guys all had a great weekend.  We sure did and I tried to capture some of the best moments.  Stevie really hammed it up for the camera this weekend and I couldn't resist sharing her adorableness with you all.  Some highlights of the weekend include ::

• Friday night birthday celebration with family - we ate delicious dinner, cooed at baby Ava and re-watched Bridesmaids (it gets me every time).  
• Lunch at Salsarita's (I recommend this place when you're in the Qdoba/Chipotle kind of mood)
• It took us all weekend but we (and by we I mean my awesome husband) rearranged our living room in anticipation of the furniture we're still planning to order.  This included rerouting the speaker wire, cable/internet and rehanging the tv.  Oof, what a chore! But it was SO worth it!
• We may or may not have gone on an online shopping spree for said living room project.  Hello West Elm frames and accessories!  
• Sunday morning walk on the trail with the pooch
• New porch swing! Husband's grandpa crafted us a beautiful swing that you can see above.  Hanging it up wasn't easy, and husband and his dad cursed the builders of this house for inconsistent studs galore.  It's up and in studs though, just on the wrong side.  But that's cool.  It looks BEAUTIFUL!
• Playing with Stevie in the front yard is so much more enjoyable for some reason.  Maybe it's because of the porch that I can sit comfortably on?  Yeah, that's probably it.
• Video chat with two of our favorite people :)
• Breaking Bad - seriously, if you don't watch this show by now there is something wrong.  Something seriously wrong.

So I kind of caught up on sleep, had some laid back fun, tried not to think about work and enjoyed myself thoroughly.  What did you get up to this weekend? I'd love to hear!  

Here's to a great week ahead!

Weekend Recap

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Hello, everybody!  Here we go with another week.  Hopefully Wednesday comes fast because my baby has left me for work yet again.  Stevie and I shall do tons of snuggling together while bumming it up on the couch.  Or maybe we'll be awesome and go for long walks and be social.  Although the last time he was out of town we did go to a bar and she did sneak behind the bar and bark at the bartender after she barked at guys on the patio and then she escaped through the back door and ran down the street with me chasing her like a crazy person.  Maybe we shouldn't let that happen again.  Where was I again? Oh yes, the weekend.  It was a good one, folks. Some highlights include ::

• The Campaign - we had free tickets so we figured a comedy would be the best way to spend them.  It was funny but I'm not going to tell you all to go rush out and see it.  It is definitely Netflix worthy and you will definitely laugh.  I'm also sure that whenever you see pugs you will think of this movie.  
• Douglass Loop Farmers Market - we traveled down to the Highlands to get our farmers market fix.  It's not quite as easy for us to go to one here as it was in Chicago.  I mean, we just walked two blocks and voila - the Logan Square Farmers Market and all its glory was right there!  This one may not have been as big as the LS one, or as many people or as much variety, but it still made me happy and we still made it home with flowers and beets (we have no shortage on tomatoes this year!).  
• Tom + Chee - this is a new grilled cheese restaurant in town that is all the rage.  We were so close to getting food from the taco truck but when I realized I was planning to eat the same meal for lunch and dinner we opted to hightail it over to grilled cheese heaven.  It was pretty great but considering the fact that grilled cheese is my vegetarian staple I was a little disappointed with the lack of options for myself.  It was a meaty grilled cheese paradise, much to my chagrin.  But still delish - and cheap!
• We painted our stairwell! What a task.  We used this color again and it really brightened it up a lot.  It was so much of a task that we honestly only did one coat.  It could probably benefit another coat but if you saw how tall this stairwell was and how hard it was for my 6'4" husband to reach you'd opt to not paint another coat as well :)
• Captain's Quarters - what a strange place this is.  Going to this restaurant was like being on vacation in Florida mixed with a weekend at Kentucky Lake.  Insert a 1992 high school reunion, a one man cover band and people walking around in suits, bikinis and resort wear and you can easily fool yourself into believing that you've left Louisville and gone on a very weird vacation.  On the Ohio river, no less.  But hey, the weather was nice and a rich old sleazy man with very bad jokes bought my husband a tequila shot and a beer!
• After a Sunday brunch at home featuring biscuits and gravy, we got productive and did our chores.  But then I took advantage of the sunny Sunday afternoon and baked this and made the whole house smell heavenly!

Apparently this Monday is all about really super long sentences (see above).  How were your weekends? Thanks for all the good vibes you sent Anna-Maria's way, that lady is now a DOCTOR!  Holy guacamole, congrats, my friend!  

Here's to a wonderful week ahead, my friends.  Remember...wake up and be awesome.

Thursday's Randoms

Once again, my Madewell obsession is fueled stronger by the Keds for Madewell collection for spring.  I do declare that the middle pair really should be mine.

This is another one of those "I want to go to there" photos.  I really do.  Via

This straw bag from TopShop makes me long for a vacation so bad.  I can almost feel the sun against my skin and hear the sound of the waves crashing in.  Oh Mexico, some day I'll visit you.  Hopefully some day sooner than later.

This dining room is so so lovely.  I'm such a big fan of the combination of dark walls + wainscot.  I love that pendant light, too!  And the floors? Le sigh.  The owners of this house have got it going on.  Via

How eggsellent does this veggie and egg tower of power look?  I want to snarf it down right away!  Via My New Roots

How have your weeks been? What's inspiring you today?  Happy Thursday!

Thursday's Randoms

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Punxsutawney Phil predicted more winter this morning but many other groundhog's seemed to offer a different opinion.  Whatever the case may be, I'll take it.  If it means winter is finally coming, well, that's fine because that's only rght and natural.  If it means warm weather is here to stay? Why complain?  Also, I can hardly believe that snowpocalypse was this time last year! What a couple of days that was.  I made us watch Groundhog Day while we were snowed in!

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Well, it's February.  Which means many things.   Some reasons why I love this month so much are a) my mom made Valentine's Day pretty cool growing up.  I would always get a piece of jewelry or a cd or something cool along with candy.  Also, she helped out a few years at the florist so I would get pretty flowers from her.  b) it is the month that my husband and I started dating 6 years ago.  6 years? Holy wowzers!  c) I'm just a fan in general of pink and red together so seeing stores decorated for Valentine's day makes me happy.  

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Blue Moon and Corona cupakes?  Yes, please.  Here's the recipe for the Blue Moon ones.  Mayhaps I should make these?

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Through Marie Claire magazine, I discovered this beautiful (and very expensive) lingerie store - Agent Provocateur.  If only it were feasible to spend $350 on a bra and panty set....

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This chicken coop has a rooftop garden! I love how inventive people are.  I would really like to have a few chickens in our yard to go along with our soon-to-be-crafted vegetable garden.  I love the idea of being able to eat an entire meal from our backyard.  If we have the room, why not?  

What's inspiring you this Thursday? Hope your weeks are going great!

Weekend Recap

Another weekend is behind us but oh what a good weekend it was.  You may be wondering, who is this cute baby and why is she on your blog?  Well, this cute baby is Ava, and I am her aunt Mo.  Hooray!  Some highlights of the weekend include ::

• Hang out sesh with Raegan - involving beers, good music and Yahtzee.
• Taking Stevie to the vet and to the trail - she got a clean bill of health (and it's pretty awesome to take a dog to the vet in comparison to a cat, you know?) and all the people who saw her out and about stopped to gush over her.  She's pretty awesome.  
• Family time - we all got together for some food and love and we all stared and held and fell in love with baby Ava.
• Takeout + TV - the mister and I know how to do it up right, or something like that...
• Bathroom project - FINALLY we got around to making this happen.  I painted our master bathroom 'mystical sea' by Behr and we bought wainscot to hang next weekend.   It's going to look b-e-a-utiful.

Between a puppy, some baby love and feeling accomplished with house projects, there was a lot to feel good about this weekend.  Let's just hope this week is a reflection upon it!  Here's to a good week ahead, my friends!

Thursday's Randoms

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The mister and I have been in talks about the bathroom in our bedroom and how we will fix it up.  Right now it's pretty "meh".  The paint is not at all appealing to me, but it's been tolerable.   The countertops are perfectly fine and so is the shower, but it's not very tranquil and that is something I definitely long for.  Plus, it doesn't even begin to match our bedroom, as that was the first room we painted.  I would love to be able to recreate this bathroom - view included.  Although our view is pretty rad if I do say so.  It overlooks a meadow and many mornings I have looked out and watched groups of deer frolicking, with their fluffy white tails bobbing up and down.  I'm thinking we'll paint the walls the same shade of minty blue green as our bedroom and hang wainscot halfway up the walls.  We'll add some shelves and pops of red and voila, the perfect bathroom shall transpire!

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Between taking care of Stevie, work and well, taking care of Stevie, there hasn't been much motivation to knit.  I've been trying to work on finishing up a last-minute Christmas gift (that obviously didn't really turn out to be a last-minute gift considering it's mid-January practically and it's no where near being done) and still have a lot to do, but when I'm done, I'm thinking this beautiful pattern is my next project.  The last hat I knit for myself was definitely a learning project.  It was completely unwearable even though it looked good over all.  

How chic are these mittens?  I love the zipper and I love how warm they are making me feel.  They're on sale, too!

I purchased a bar of soap a few months ago from a boutique here in Louisville and I've been loving the way it feels and smells.  If you're in the Brooklyn area, check out Saipua - a family-owned soap and flower shop with amazing scents.  They're carefully handmade in the store and they have some pretty great packaging too, might I add.  If you're not in Brooklyn, the soaps are sold across the US!  I have the gardener's soap and I love it, but I really wish I could wash my hands with the coffee mint right about now!

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So many of us are experiencing winter today - finally.  Since I have the day off, I'm thinking that curling up by the window with a book is the best idea.  

Happy Thursday, everyone! What's inspiring you today?

Home Invasion

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I wouldn't mind having any of these in my house.  I love animals but I love the way utilized in all the decor.  Would you add playful touches like these to your home decor?  I personally can't get enough of that dog lamp, and it would be so aesthetically pleasing to have cat scratchers like those...

Thursday's Randoms

This bedroom has left me completely inspired.  There's something about the colors in here, the softness of it and that little pop of red.  It just leaves me feeling warm and fuzzy and I want to model our bedroom around it completely.  Luckily so does the hubs, so I think this may happen!

I've been laughing pretty hard over this one.  People are so creative - and I love a good pun, especially when paired with amazing illustration.   Via Paper Parasol

These Rachel Comey shoes (spotted during fashion week) have completely stolen my heart.   I want them.  Bad. Via Refinery 29

Today's weather has me all kinds of excited about this photo.  We don't have our fireplace ready to go but clearly we need to get on top of that.  I mean, it's 48 degrees outside and 65 in here! Is it too soon to have a fire inside?!  Thanks to Martha, I want to.

I am also really wishing I could eat a slice of this strawberry dream cake right about now.  It sounds so refreshing and delicious and it looks very pretty.

Last, these simple yet bold earrings from Kim Dulaney would make a perfect addition to my jewelry collection, don't you think?  I mean, they would go with practically everything in my wardrobe!

What has your heart today? And thank you so much for sticking with me this week.  Clearly, I've got today off.  It's tough not being at a computer to pay attention to this blog throughout the day, and once I adjust to my new schedule you'll be hearing mofe from me.  All I can say though is "what a week!" and by that it really means, "what a week of change!".  

Be sure to enter the giveaway!  You have until Sunday night at 10 pm eastern to enter.  Good luck!