Sweetness, Cuteness, Awesomeness!!!

My wedding photographer just sent me a little teaser from our wedding pictures!! My little blue eyed bombshell niece "The Flower Girl" has stolen the whole show, and rightfully so.......

When my sister noticed she was crying she asked her "why the tears?" Emily answered "I am just so happy for my Nanny." Their are no words for how much I love this little girl, and no words for how happy I am I did not miss this moment. Priceless!!!

"Tears are words the heart can't express"

My florist did a fantastic job, the flower girl was decked out with tons of beautiful FLOWERS!!!! The pomander ball of white roses and her headpiece were so perfect. She took exactly what was in my head and made it come to life. I don't think I will be able to wait much longer for the rest of the pictures!!! This is so exciting.

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"Peace. It does not mean to be in a place

where there is no noise, trouble or hard work,

it means to be in the midst of those things

and still be calm in your heart." -unknown

(image from my husband's family farm)

Wine and Wood

In keeping with the barn theme from yesterday.......This unique wine rack is one of our wedding gifts from my family, and if you bear with me I will give you the story behind it. You know I always have a story....

I grew up on a 20 acre farm in the country, yes I am a country girl turned city. I had a wonderful, amazing, adventurous childhood on our farm. The hub of my adventures always began and ended in this huge barn we had behind my grandparents house. It was not your typical barn - on the left side my dad had an office that he turned into a music studio where I played my first electric guitar with the speakers blaring. In the back of the barn he had another area that he turned into a dark room where he developed all his photography. They had every type of tool, torch, or concoction one could ever imagine. One year we had chickens, the next a pig, then bunnies, next goats, then sheep. We always had horses and a garden, and in the later years we had a fishing pond. Needless to say it was a wonderland for any child and I really believe I am the person I am today because I was able to explore and really find myself as a kid.

I can still close my eyes and see every part of that farm. Now the sad part. The major caretakers of this land (my dad and grandfather) both passed away, my sister and I moved away for school, so my grandmother was left to care for the farm. Five years ago hurricane Rita blew the socks off her little life on the farm and we moved her to town. The farm is now abandoned and overgrown, it makes me so sad and we have no clue what to do with it.

So to pull this story together for our wedding gift my family went to that old barn and cut down some of the cypress wood and had this lovely wine rack made from the wood of the barn. How special!!!

This is the note on the bottom of the wine rack:

Made especially for Ann Marie and Britt with wood from the Bernard barn in Ester.

Love Leah & Andrew

I Heart Barn Doors

I want a sliding barn door in my house!! Our master bathroom is half the size it should be because this huge door opens up into the bathroom. You have to close the door to get into the cabinet behind it. My solution is a stylish sliding door like the ones below. It would open the space up and make the bath look double in size. What do you think? Much more stylish than a boring sliding door.

(The Brooklyn Home Company)

(via Decesare Design Group)

(via Dowling Kimm)

(via Southern Living)

Georgetown Sweetness

The husband just left for a road trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina to play something like 30 rounds of golf in a week. I am flying up on Wednesday to meet him, and do some shopping in Savanna!!! In the meantime I am slightly bored. I was looking through some pictures from my DC trip and wanted to share with you guys my little cupcake tour.

I could not leave DC until I got my hands on the famous Georgetown cupcakes, we waited in a line wrapped around the building for 20 minutes. It was well worth the wait. Check out below some of the flavors we got, the icing was amazing but the cakes were a bit dry. Overall each little cupcake was well worth the calories.

Yes I did get an entire dozen!!!

And I took a bite of each one!!!!

Chocolate and Vanilla

Caramel Apple

Carrot

Red Velvet

Eddie Ross in Lafayette LA

I am sooo very sad. I will be on a jet plane when this lovely event takes place. I love Eddie Ross, he is such a talent. SO, all my friends in Lafayette make sure you check it out and report back to me. I can not believe I am actually going to miss this.

The Acadiana Symphony Orchestra Decorator Showcase!!!!

Work Space

We have this little nook in our great room that was originally suppose to be a fire place, but I think the company that built the house ran out of money so it is now called a nook with a chimney instead of a fireplace (sad face). I love nooks so we brainstormed about what to do with this little magical space for a year now. First we thought of going with the first plans and making it a fireplace, then we leaned towards a built in to give us storage space, but I wanted something more stylish. Finally, with the help of an amazing friend with some connections in Indonesia, we have this beautiful carved reclaimed teak wood desk with a glass top. It has instantly become my favorite spot in the house!!!

This is the spot where my silly little blog post come to life.

Snuggle Bugs

Napping is my thing!!!

I would give my pinking finger to be crawled up in bed next to this cutie. Little Elizabeth is so sweet and her mommy sends me pictures like this all the time.

She makes my ovaries ache.

Unique Like Everyone Else

What to put above the fireplace? It's the centerpiece of the entire room so its got to be something special. I love art, but a big piece of art to go above the fire could end up costing you a fortune and then you are stuck with that look for ever. So today lets look at some gorgeous cheaper alternatives.

The above room is from Jennifer Worts. Let's break the mantel down, we have about 5 different pieces. One medium size round mirror, three different size frames, a vase with flowers, two little birds, and a tall dish. Simple yet genius, you probably have a few of these pieces lying around your house, and it would be quite easy to find these pieces at ikea, tjmax, or your local antique store.

I don't remember where I got this picture but it has to be my favorite, I love antique maps and wing back chairs. You can find some amazing old maps on ebay for great prices and maps just go with anything and everything, they add a little history to your space.

If you do go with a fancy art piece just keep it neutral so you can change the design around without having to ditch the expensive piece of art. I love this design by Michael Del Piero!!!

One last inspiration for the guys, this picture is of the Nottingham Estate from Brown Design. Another mirror, but this mirror is very unique, I love the shapes and texture it has. A simple sail boat, candle sticks, and a pottery vase. Again about 5 pieces that add interest to your mantel without being cluttered.

OK now I just need a fire place so I can decorate it!!!!!

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Flower Power

While we were honeymooning at the Pink Sands Resort in the Bahamas I fell in love with the light fixtures they had in the main restaurant. These floral chandeliers immediately caught my eye and every time we would pass through the lobby I would point them out to my new husband. Once we where back in the states I was surprised how easy it was to find these lovely little lights.

Can you believe they even have one a target, its called Capiz Shell Floral Pendant in a 15" for $400.

Lotus Flower Chandelier from Island Woods, 10" for $162 or 16" for $300

Lotus Flower Chandelier from Viva Terra, 13" for $329 or 21" for $649

I found the two images below from Decorpad.com.....

High Rise Apartment

This weekend I was flown to Washington DC to decorate a high rise apartment in Arlington. It came out beautiful, we had a great time in the city, we worked our butts off to get it done in 3 days, and I was actually kinda sad to leave.

Sorry about the grainy quality of the pictures, we finished the room at 10pm that night and I had an early morning flight and had to leave before the natural light could shine through. The before was your typical apartment with white walls, vertical blinds, and generic quality of everything.

Slip cover chair and ottoman at West Elm

The accent wall color is Deep Space by Benjamin Moore, curtains from Pier One.

Good rule of thumb in picking out throw pillows is to pick a solid, print, and a texture. The tan sofa came with a solid brown pillow and we found the printed pillows at Home Goods and a cream colored fuzzy pillow for that texture we needed.

Most of the decor and accent pieces that fill the room are from Home Goods, I am all about design on a budget. It makes things special and exciting to me when you get a good deal on the purchase. It's no fun to pay full price.

Cupcake Time

For the past few months I have become slightly obsessed with cupcakes. Lets just say that you will be seeing alot more of these pictures in the months to come as I experiment and play around with all the different flavors and techniques.

A friend called and asked me to make cupcakes for her little girls birthday party. I said sure, what kinda cupcakes do you want? She said PINK, so I went heavy on the pink making strawberry cupcakes with a buttercream frosting and cut out some pink fondant flowers - and who can forget the hot pink sprinkles.

I also made a dozen vanilla cupcakes and put a drop of red food coloring in the icing. I found out that my little birthday customer loves cherries, so I put a cherry on top.

Enjoy!!!

TiVo is Set!!!!

The Nate Berkus show premiers Monday September 13th!!! And is that Bethany in his chair - I love her witty personality!!! And dear ole Nate where o where can I get that rug? I can not wait for all your advise, designs, and talent.

(image from Nate's facebook Page)

When Can I Move In?

I love everything about this living room designed by James Michael Howard. The white and brown calm neutral tones with pops of blue. Our living room has this same color scheme with bone white walls, brown sofa and tan chairs. I would love to find a rug with this muted gray Greek key shape and the coffee tables are just to die for. Every time I have doubts about which way to go in decorating our living room I always resort back to Mr. Howard's living room.

(images via Decorpad)