p.s.

perfect summer nightie… found here.

Filed Under: p.s.
Tagged: juicy couture, p.s.
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what to wear

tgif.
earrings / tank / shorts / bangles / clutch / oxfords

Filed Under: what to wear
Tagged: bloomingdales, forever 21, gap, patagonia, tory burch, what to wear
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marble + grout

the beginning of a looong project….

finito!

this project came with a lot of hard labor and a side of panic. having never had marble tile before we, a bit naively, went with white grout. it took all of about 5 minutes to learn that that was not the right choice. turns out white grout on marble looks really, really dirty and does not come clean. no matter how much you try or wish or stare at it. and it’s hard to put a lot of time, money, and energy into something like this and not be blinded by all but the dirt. it was kinda making me crazy.

we realized we should have chosen a gray, something that will hide the specks instead of spotlight them. we chose charcoal and you-know-who spent about 9 hours with that grout removal tool getting it all out. (major husband love) it takes a fair amount of strength and as steady of a hand as you can so i was the caulk remover and cleaner and we worked the weekend away. although i (and he) immediately knew it was the right decision, when we started the clean up process and the tiles weren’t coming quite clean and the imperfections in the marble that had previously been hidden by all of the white were now glaringly obvious with the charcoal, a few worry lines might have been added, along with a gray hair or three. it was a lot of work to then not know if it was the right decision after all.

he said, don’t worry. i worried. he re-caulked, i worried less, we cleaned more. and then today, magic (literally). a lot of elbow grease, some marble cleaner, and the coup de grâce, mister clean magic eraser. that eraser wiped aways all last feelings of worry and fret. the marble is back to being super shiny and white, no more dirty lines of grout, totally worth it.

Filed Under: D-I-Y
Tagged: diy floor grout, diy marble grout, marble
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toddy time

some days this is what is needed, a good, stiff, drink. i’m a little grandmotherly in my libations (or so i’ve been told); what is not strong to me at all curls the lips and faces of those who take a sip, especially the husband. i love a good single barrel whiskey. my favorite mix is a good pour, a few splashes of coconut water (this is my fave), and several slices of fresh squeezed lime. i varied this past weekend and included our last blood orange of the season, good stuff for these newly sunny and high seventy degree days.
do you have a signature drink? (for hot days, my and his favorite, greyhounds. they’re almost too good.)

Filed Under: everyday // bits & pieces
Tagged: harmless harvest coconut water, whiskey
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life in the fast lane

hello monday! this little beauty popped up in the middle of our green but haphazard and full of weeds yard. perfectly pale lemon and almost the only non-dandelion flower we’ve got. i found it while struggling with the eco-friendly, all man-powered mower that we have. let’s just say the yard looks like it was mowed by a blind person. push mowers and weeds are apparently arch enemies and the weeds are clear winners. that mower plows through real grass with no problem but give it a weedy strand and it is powerless. a year ago we had nothing but dirt so i’m really not complaining.

we worked our tails off on a diy this weekend that will (hopefully) be one hundred percent by the end of day today so i’ll be able to show off why we are both (the husband and i) sore and stiff. so short and sweet today peeps, we’re finishing our weekend project, and the new closet door, and one more diy. no time for dilly-dallying.

i must pause to say how grateful we are that sunshine and warm days are upon us this week. we, in-between working, soaked up some sun this weekend and it was glorious. we hung with neighbors and even had an impromptu dance party in the living room one night. and lastly, the diy we worked on all weekend, more proof of how much that husband of mine loves me. it didn’t have to be done, but i really really really wanted it and he not only obliged but didn’t complain and even might have said a time or two that it was a really good thing. ♥.

Filed Under: life in the fast lane
Tagged: life in the fast lane
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friday

happy weekend everyone! we have sunshine on the forecast and please let it come and stay, like for good. this cute blue-eyed boy took me on a date to the ogden theater last night to see jim james perform. wow. we saw him (with my morning jacket) in concert last summer at redrocks and were blown away by his voice live. we could not pass up the opportunity to see him in a small venue because with all great artists you just never know how long you’ll have that chance.

his stage presence is amazing, a little bit old school. his voice goes without saying. and his band, there was a drum solo that started with three (i guess not exactly a solo at that point) and ended with the main drummer and the whole thing was mind boggling it was so good. talent in spades. if you have any opportunity to see this tour, go! we listened to some of the album we weren’t familiar with before going and live was night and day by comparison. (it’s hard to beat watching him make the music come alive)

otherwise, we’re working on that new closet door, it’s been a bit of a pita. and we have a few other little diy’s on the agenda for the weekend, and if it’s sunny you know a lot of soaking that in will be on the forefront. in case i haven’t said it lately, thank you to all who follow and comment and share in this little corner of the world of ours, we appreciate you so much! makes everything seem bigger you know?

Filed Under: everyday // bits & pieces
Tagged: friday, jim james, my morning jacket
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work in progress

building, rebuilding, renovating, the whole lot of it is not for the faint of heart. i dare say you must be brave to even put yourself through it. i look back at where we were when we started this house project of ours and cannot believe how far we’ve come; sometimes those big gigantic projects of the early months seem easier than the smaller projects we have remaining. some days are flat out hard, especially when you’re one and only is doing all of the work.

it’s affordable to have the über handy husband do it all; and is the only thing that has allowed us to do
this renovation. but it’s a lot to put on one person and no matter what i offer to do, at the end of the
day a builder i am not, and some days 528 square feet doesn’t feel as spacious as others, you know what
i mean? when (supposed to be) small projects go awry and instead of an hour, it’s a day, with an entire half day or more needed, it’s stressful. i am sure that anyone reading who has built a home can relate whole heartedly.

it is theorized that a president ages something like double time for each term in office, i wonder if the same is true for couples who renovate, haha! at the end of the day i sure am thankful for everything, and for those not-so-smooth days, i’m thankful for five o’clock. (;

(brave bear print by lisa congdon)

Filed Under: everyday // bits & pieces
Tagged: lisa congdon, renovating
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wash & dry

the perk of everything in a home not being finished asap is living with things and realizing what is not working like you thought it would. our original cabinet plans called for a vintage fridge that had no ice maker; so we planned to install an ice maker under one side of the island, and on the other side a 2 drawer dishwasher. and then what really happened (best laid plans and all). the dishwasher was a disaster, didn’t work, took forever to get  refunded, and in the meantime i decided i never want another dishwasher; one empty hole. prior to that the vintage fridge went down in flames and enter brand new (with ice-maker) unit; no under the counter ice maker needed anymore, hole two.

the stackable washer dryer that previously had to go next to the sink could now be moved into our new empty spaces; which was apparently meant to be because they fit like they were made to go there all along, a little haha from the universe and our going the long way to get there. anyway. the cabinet that had been built to hold the w/d was disassembled, the sink now has a countertop next to it (hallelujah!) that can hold a dish drain for my hand washed dishes (not missing a dishwasher one little bit btw), and the silver lining is slow (even when it involves a re-do) can be just the thing you need. sometime in the near (distant?) future, our newly acquired counter space will have a concrete countertop to match the island and our farmhouse copper sink will finally have a home (besides the car, the bathroom, anywhere we can put it and not run over it). not earthshattering mind you, but one more thing off of our to-do list. (;

Filed Under: D-I-Y
Tagged: asko washer and dryer, diy
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p.s.

and speaking of food…
this is the perfect husband plate.
leftovers, what leftovers? (;

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Tagged: liberty of london, p.s.
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didn’t we just go….

this bag is hilarious! don’t you always feel this way? we go to the store, come away thinking we’ve stocked up, that we’re good to go for awhile, and then two days later i’m staring into the abyss wondering why is there nothing to eat. we’ve blinked and we’re struggling to put a dinner together, what happened to all of the food that we just bought?? if it’s not where did all the food go, it’s wait.. we have to decide again what to have for dinner, didn’t we just do this yesterday??? seriously. we can’t be the only ones. (bag found here)

Filed Under: everyday // bits & pieces
Tagged: groceries, what's for dinner
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