The new Vanessa

I have turned the corner. I officially like Vanessa. Aside from her hanging at Rufus's (gawd I just hate saying that name, so fug) gallery and being a door mat for boys, I think there's possibility there that she could be a good match for someone. Right? Maybe? I mean she went from this ensemble this to this, at least she has that going for her.

Don't get me wrong I love Blair and Chuck but maybe him dating a nice girl will be fun, for awhile.

Monday already?

Whew! Still here. I had a super busy weekend due to the fact that I had a sick dog which involved a lot of clean up and now involves me cooking her breakfast, lunch and dinner.

This is Chloe, thankfully she's sweet.

Then this morning I opened a drawer in my desk and this is what greeted me.

I haven't opened the others yet because I'm scared to see what other havoc my Little has created and I have too much to do. He obviously has been having fun with the post-its. What kills me is that he made sure his post-it party stayed hidden in the drawer. The sneaky little trickster!

On a side note my weekly meal planning is going well and I can't believe I didn't do it sooner. For those of you that dread the 5 o'clock "what are we going to have for dinner??" moment, try it!

Rustic loft

Remember this delish kitchen? Well see the rest of the pad over at Desire to Inspire.

Wishin'

So far my morning has been a bit hectic so days like this I wish I was cuddled up in this dreamy chaise by Peter Dunham with the paper and some coffee.

Recipe from the Room: Chocolate Chile Bread Pudding

Don't you think that this warm toasty room gets a huge kick of spice from the artwork? Well I think that Chocolate Chile Bread Pudding is the perfect recipe for it. I adore sweet and spicy desserts and good ole' Epicurious suggests a Duck Pozole to serve as the main course with our spicy treat, mmm.

[Room image via Habitually Chic and Recipe via Epicurious]

Me likey

I want it, I want it, I want it! This little nook with it's colorful mugs, espresso machine, Dualit toaster and stainless steel is begging for me to move in.

[image via decorology]

Galvanized Troughs

I have been really wanting a trough like this for some time now.

I haven't had any luck so I asked Erika where she got hers and she said to try a local feed store. So I stopped by a feed store while I was out running some errands Saturday and they didn't have any but told me to ask someone who worked there. Well he was helping another customer so I hung around and finally had to leave because I couldn't stand the smell [I'm the weirdo that has a huge aversion to smells]. Have you guys ever been in a feed store? OMG I seriously had no idea that large animal food was so smelly.

So I'm back at square one but I really want a couple of these, aren't they gorge? I think they would look so pretty mixed in with the trough.

Do you think I should give up on the trough and just run to Home Depot or call every stinky feed store in town?

Her Morning Elegance

OK you may all have seen this but I'm the jerk that rarely watches video clips so it's new to me. It's mesmerizing and the little dance sequence at 2:48 is my favorite part.

A little Gossip

Mondays are making me so giddy these days since I have something really juicy to look forward to tonight. I LOVED Blair's look last week.You really think Blair and Nate are back on?

Peg or Martha...

Morning friends! I have that really good feeling because we got a lot accomplished this weekend (really on the account of being stuck home with sick littles) but whatever the reason I love that feeling come Monday.

Here are a couple of my whoo hoos.

-Ran to Homegoods and picked up a few darling Easter goodies for a song.

-Planned my meals. I have always been slightly in awe of Jora and Pittsy with their supermom meal planning abilities and last night I decided to give it a whirl. I planned the meals and shopping list for this week and next truth be told. We will see if this little activity in domesticity pans out for me but here's to hoping.

-Organized my magazine madness.

-Got a pedi.

Here's a few of my mehhh's

-My closet is having a code red disaster moment. It's almost over though my laundry pile significantly shrunk this weekend.

-I spent a good portion of the weekend chasing my children around with antibiotic eye drops and bleaching toys and every surface they may have touched because they both had pinkeye. We can all gross out together because seriously; gag.

All in all it started out a little shaky but ended on a high note with a family dinner and my kids even asked politely to be excused when they were finished. What more could a mom ask for?

I Heart Fifi Lapin

Like my new desktop wallpaper? Having little Fifi at my desk will make my weekend!

You can get this and and many others at Kindred, the brainchild of Decor8's Holly Becker and Creature Comforts Heather Pudewa. Have a wonderful weekend!

Peepers

Last week the boys made their Peeps wreaths but this year I changed it up a little I decided to just use a paper plate for the wreath form. This made it much easier for them to place their Peeps and I already had them on hand. We used Elmer's School Glue so it takes a couple of days for them to dry (with all of the sugar), for a quicker fix use hot glue. I try not to be too freakish about them looking perfect they are after all a kids craft so if the Peeps are a little crooked with tons of glue seeping out I think it just adds to the charm.

They love making them and I think they might just be our new Easter tradition.

Recipe from the Room - Lemon Ginger Cake with Pistachios

I always love Coco + Kelley's Rooms from the Runway and I thought I might change it up a little because while I love fashion, I'm usually sporting a men's Hanes V-Neck White Tee [I think I may be obsessed with them, but that's another post]. So I thought it might be fun to create Recipes from the Room. I love design and well who doesn't like something tasty?

Room from Desire to Inspire and Lemon Ginger Cake with Pistachios from Epicurious

Paris Hotel Boutique Giveaway

Win one of these lovelies by commenting here.

Office Glam

Ooh la la, one more sparkly thing to make me smile. Faux diamond push pins to glam up an inspiration board and they come in a cute container to boot.

Think it will be easy?

I saved these pictures because I loved the envelopes lined with maps. I adore receiving a handwritten note, so I'm wondering if I can whip these up with some gorgeous simple stationary and a map. My dilemma is will the juice be worth the squeeze? Will making these babies cost me an arm and a leg and be a pain? I would not consider myself crafty, if I'm making something it's usually out of necessity or just to see how easy it is to make it. The big part of being crafty that I find annoying is that crafting requires lots of supplies which take a lot of money and a lot of storage space. Not to say that I don't enjoy making something cute because I do. It's just not the way I like to relax, you know me I like to watch some trashy Bravo reality. Anyhoo I think I'll give it a whirl because I do have exactos, corkbacked rulers and a cutting mat.

[I'm a bad, bad blogger and didn't save the source. If this image is from you or is your gorgeous handiwork please let me know and I'll credit you ASAP]

Frank the Tank

Just thought I'd share the picture message (because it made me laugh) I got from my husband while I was at Pilates. I teach on Tuesday nights so a lot of the time my husband takes the kids over to his sister's so the boys can play with their cousins. Looks like tonight they took a tub over there and forgot their jammies.

Here is my three year old wearing his cousin's girly jammies while chugging from a sippy cup. We don't call him Frank the Tank for nothing.

Gap it's Love/Hate

Cuteness at the Gap can happen. It's one of those hit or miss places, usually it's decent separates that I think just need a little better styling. I did have the opportunity to stop there without the kids for a quick peek and ended up with a few things. I picked up this dress in grey I paired it with these shoes and decided to wear a belt lower on the hips.

While I was there I also chose this shirt in white which I wore tucked into a black pencil skirt with a wide black belt and cute round toe pumps that I picked up at good ole' Tarjay.

I would have grabbed these sandals too but they didn't have them in my size.

Are you like me with a love/hate relationship with the Gap? I shop there quite a bit for the littles because I love their jeans and shorts for the kids. They're not outrageously expensive but don't look cheap either but then again sometimes their little boys shirts...not so cute. Ugh, see here I go again, love/hate.

Take your medicine

Morning lovelies, here's a quick dose of prettiness.

It's painless, I promise.

[image via Southern Accents]

I'm still here

In case you were wondering why I have been so MIA lately it's because we are heartbroken here at my house; my husband's grandfather passed away yesterday. We will be fine and we are happy that we were with him but the next few days we will be spending with family, enjoying our time together and reminiscing. I'm so thankful that my children have had to opportunity to know some of their great-grandparents because that's what they are great.

Have a lovely weekend.

What do you say?

Things are crazy and this is all I can muster; there is nothing I would rather do. xo -S

[ffffound via Absolutely Beautiful Things]

Peeptastic

Remember this fab Easter idea from Erika last year? See here and here. I have all the supplies and will be breaking out this idea when things get a little stir crazy and we are in need of something fun to do.

I was just doing a little digging to find the links and decided I may be heading to the store to get the supplies to make more of these Easter projects courtesy of my pal Seleta.

[Sadly there are no photos of my wreaths from last year so here is Seleta's]

Hip bag

You know those things that you covet forever? I have been doing that with the May Your Stars Align Belt Bags from Lizzie Fortunato Jewels ever since I saw one on the oh-so-cool Courtney's blog. Such cuteness.

Oh and just in case you're wondering...I'm Gemini.

[images via here and here]

Spring Break

Woo hoo party people it's Spring Break! Well not that kind anyways, the kind where my little preschoolers get the week off so Mom and kiddos have a long stretch of family time. I think sometimes Summer gets a bit long without school to break things up but I'm looking forward to a week of no rushing and hanging out. I don't have much on the agenda so I'm taking all suggestions.I do plan on making these cookies sometime this week I got the white chocolate chips and cranberries at Trader Joe's yesterday. I know the recipe calls for dried apricots but I'm craving dried cranberries instead. Some of my favorite memories as a kid involve baking, mixing and pouring so I really like to do it with the boys.

I'm drooling.

Wanna swoon with me over this lovely abode?

[images via Living Etc.]

Pillow project

Is anyone else beyond excited that Anna from ABT decided not to jump blog ship? Her images, style and her own designs are lovely and I'm so excited that we still will get to see them. So thanks for sticking around Anna! Which brings me to this, how would I ever seen the Historically Inaccurate fabrics if she wouldn't have shared them?

They're so cheeky and fun, I love 'em. I know it's cheating but I kind of want to try to embroider some pillows like this for my bed. Think it will be an easy project?

Antique Locker

If I had some extra cash lying around this would be one of the first things I would snap up.

How fun!

Is it wrong that I'm completely adoring the disco ball in the living room? Girly and glittery, so me!

[image via Made by Girl]

Closet Take 2

Here it is folks, still organized and the floor fairly tidy. Well, who am I kidding I'm thrilled to have kept it this neat for this long.

Let's talk Bachelor - Spoiler for those of you who care

Last night there was NOTHING on, while flipping channels I notice there's about 20 minutes left to go on The Bachelor: The Final Rose. Perfect I'm thinking, I watch it and then I subject myself to more torture by watching After the Final Rose. Seriously I wanted to bury my head in the sand, is this guy for real?! Last week Paige posted the ring the Bachelor has chosen for his bride-to-be and all I could think of while watching it was that ring will be perfect for Molly. She will love it, just her style. See the following:

Subject A: The Ring and the Dude
Subjects B, C & D: The girl, the clothes, the hair

Catch my drift? Thoughts?

[images via I Heart You and MLive]

Be bold

I'm feeling a little sassy this morning so I thought some bold colors were in order.

[images via Skona Hem, Southern Accents & eek, I don't know.]

Warm & fuzzy

Right now I'm wishing this girl was me and I had a big cuddly bear that would make me feel warm, cozy and safe. It's been a little crazy around our house for about two weeks now. My husband's grandfather is in the hospital in ICU and it's been a tough time. I'm thinking right now is a good time to ask for prayers, good vibes or telepathic get well wishes. Friends, we'll take 'em all.

Cute little lady can be found here.