tissue paper carnations

i stole this entire idea (down to the milk glass vases and color of the carnations) from one of my favorite bloggers, joi of nuestra vida dulce. she has the best ideas and puts lots of love into her creations. hop on over for the how-to and to see how joi styled her kitchen with them. i love them and the pop of pink in my blue and white kitchen is perf! thanks, joi!

glimmy glam glam

lulu's gilt-y pleasure grey top, $71

while perusing new arrivals at lulu's the other day i also came across this little gem. a bit pricey for lulu's but it seems the glimmy glam glam detail would make up for it. cute with skinny jeans and some stacked heel or over the knee boots, no?

bought for hawaii: equator pink shorts

lulu's equator pink shorts, $29

love. perfect for casual dinners or beachside breakfast in hawaii. paid an arm and a leg for 3-day shipping so they get here in time but the $29 price tag for the shorts makes me feel better about exorbitant shipping costs. will likely pair them with wedges and a silky top for dinner.

recipe: a cucumber cocktail

my new favorite bar/restaurant here in austin is called contigo and they have the. best. cocktails. my ultimate favorite is the el pepino, an incredible combination of cucumber, mint, lime and tequila. i like it so much that i decided to give it a go here at home and i think mine came out pretty darn good. sure, it was a lot of work but totally worth it for a fancy, refreshing cocktail at home.

how to (warning, this recipe is totally ambiguous...): peel and blend a cucumber, turning it into a slushy pulp. drain and reserve the tasty part - the cucumber water - with a fine strainer and toss the leftover pulp. juice a few limes into a glass, throw in a spoonful of sugar and a few leaves of mint and muddle together. add ice, tequila and a bit of bubbly water and top off with the cucumber water. garnish with a sprig of mint and a slice of cucumber.

backyard lounging

while nick and i are still a few months away from hiring a landscaper (we're waiting for spring), there have been a few backyard touch-ups this summer. we were looking for a couch and comfy chair situation to replace the $79 target table and chairs but when we saw this double chaise on sale we knew we had to have it. can't wait for the temps to drop so we can sleep outside. the chair cushion was on backorder so the one you see here is placeholder for 4-6 weeks.

the next order of business was finding some good throw pillows to adorn the chaise. even though i loved the red and blue options ($9 per pillow from homegoods), the white stripes were too bright white.
the final winner?

$13 per pillow options from pottery barn outlet.

i still want to make some smaller ones in navy and white chevron, but i'll have to put that on the DIY to-do list. you'll be the first to know if i ever get around to it!

miles of macrame

when was the last time you owned anything macrame? if it was any time between 1983 and 2007, i'm not sure we can be friends. but since today is not within that time period, i was lucky enough to find this little gem of a macrame purse for $9 minus 30% off at the austin antique mall. it could use a little clean up but it will be perfect for a weekend of music, sundresses and brewskies during ACL in a few weeks.

prepping for hawaii: dreaming of dvf

nick and i are soon heading to maui for our annual labor day week of vacation. while i'm in very limited clothes shopping mode, i have been keeping my eye out for hawaii must-haves. after seeing diane von furstenburg's ethyl dress on blair of atlantic-pacific, i knew it had to be mine. i rarely splurge on clothes more than $150 so this took a lot of nail biting and obsessing before i bit the bullet.

but there was a problem. since it was from the spring 2011 line and popular with people way richer than me (here and here), it was nowhere to be found. after fruitless trolling of dvf.com, ebay, craigslist and multiple blogs, i finally gave the dvf 800 number a call. halleluja, the very last one in dvf's posession was in desert hills, ca and it was in MY SIZE. meant to be? YES.

i'm waiting with baited breath for this beauty to arrive so i can tuck it away for a good dinner out with nick in maui. it better be worth every one of those 4,000 pennies.

check out atlantic-pacific for some amazing shots of the dress in action.

blue ball jars

i was telling my friend heather about my search for a new console table (as noted the other day in my re-debut post) and she suggested i head to austin antique mall. it's exactly what it sounds like - a giant warehouse full of vendor booths that are chock full of goodies. you've just got to be prepared to find the hidden gems. i didn't come home with a console table but i did come home with a smorgasboard of old skool green and blue bottles (some of you know about my obsession with ball jars, especially blue ones) to fill up my boooooooring mantle in the living room.

i'm going to fill a few of them with single fresh white flowers for special occasions.

and i think one day i'll change out those sconces. they're a little tooooooo victorian for this girl.

before: yawn

after: full of "antique" goodness; reminds me of growing up a stone's throw from the beach

ps. wondering what those "things" are next to the media console? speakers. nick's. new. they blend...right? *sigh*

it's been a while. sorry. i've been stenciling.

remember back in june when i said i was back in action and would be blogging regularly again? apparently i am a full fledged liar, especially when you consider that today is august 15th and my last post was july 3rd. i guess that's what happens when you're so burnt out that you're taking a break from work/real life/typing/shopping/wearing makeup/communicating with other humans.

but...now that i'm out of that funk...i've been up to a few good projects that i'll blog about over the next few days (because i don't want to overwhelm you guys [read: i don't want to waste all of my posts in one day]) but i thought my biggest project of them all would be the best re-debut.

introducing our new entryway wall.





you: "is that wallpaper?"
me: "nah, it's stenciled."
you: "as in my-great-aunt's-southwestern-print-sponge-paint-in-the-ugly-bathroom stencil?"
me: "yep."
you: mouth gaping open in disbelief.
me: "i know!"

i've been debating what to do with this space since we moved in almost a year ago. it's been totally empty for 11 months and this post by joey and lana over at making a house a home finally got my entryway juices flowing (you don't think i come with these ideas on my own, do you?). their master bedroom stencil adventure came out so beautifully that i decided the zamira print from cutting edge stencils would be the perfect "holy f now THAT's an entryway" print.

five days (yes, FIVE DAYS), two crossed eyes, two sore legs, one cracking wrist joint and a quart of glidden navy blue eggshell later, it was finished. AMEN, i've never been so happy to be done with a DIY project in my entiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiire liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiife. but i lurv it. lurv lurv lurv lurv lurv it.

and i lurv even more that when i'm over it in a year all i have to do is whip out a few sheets of sandpaper and some paint and voila, it's gone.

i temporarily flanked the wall with an ugly broken side table, dusty lamp and DIY chair that got booted from the guest room. it's definitely not permanent. now the space is dying for a console table, lamp, giant mirror and door mat. here are the pieces i'm currently carefully considering.

ikea

ballard designs

ballard designs

four hands home

loft home

bonus: i found this on my desktop just now and thought you guys deserve a little laugh at my expense after i ditched you for six weeks. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz (the sound the segway makes).

the doyles are going greenish

you guys know all about nick's garden in the back. well, knowing how much nick could use the compost and after spending a few days at a friend's ranch out in central texas where they compost like craaazy, i realized just how much useful trash i was throwing away. so i decided we'd become a composting family. i found this super cute countertop compost bin at world market for $14.99 and after a fruitless search on craigslist for a used composter, we ended up buying a relatively inexpensive one for $98 from home depot. i spent about 45 minutes in 100 degree weather putting it together so it better make the best compost in the world.

btw, it's not like we're a farm or anything...although we do have egg-laying hens now...more on that soon.

reader question: what to wear with the tiered skirt

i had a reader write yesterday asking if i could suggest some tops/jackets/cardis to go with the banana republic tiered ruffle skirt in wednesday's post. here are just some of the options i came up with after a few clicks around the world wide web (admittedly, i found a lot of keepers at zara). any of these strike your fancy? i can keep looking...it really depends on how work-appropriate you'd like to be...and really, any top could be paired with any jacket.

to be honest, my go-to top would probably be a white wifebeater and I'd take a summer scarf along in case there's a chill. easy and simple.

combo #1: lulu's superfine lace white tank top, $41 paired with zara's buttoned blazer, $69.90 on sale for $49.99

combo #2: urban outfitters' ecote embroidered cami (love the back!), $59 paired with zara's short/vintage retro jacket (has awesome zipper cuff details), $129 on sale for $99.99

combo #3: zara's pintuck blouse, $39.90 on sale for $29.99 paired with zara's blazer with lapel, $159 on sale for $99.99

combo #4 (and the one i'd choose): victoria's secret's silk button-front henley, $68 on sale for $58.50 paired with victoria's secret's quilted leather moto jacket, $129 (don't forget to use an offer code!)