Summer

Summer has officially arrived.




Between work, the new pup, evenings with friends, and mornings to myself posting has been a bit lost this week. I would love a long vacation in an old beach cottage with a fully stocked bar and a full house of friends. Doesn't that sound divine?

all images found on flickr

Shady Lady

Santee Alley score.

This weekend was mellow as planned and perfect as pie. Sunday afternoon we met Alex and Heather at Bottega Louie (so good) for food and conversation and followed up our meal with a walk down Santee Alley, the Canal St of LA.

image courtesy of HBT

RIP Ed, Farrah, and The King of Pop!

Last weekend we partied it up at the Chateau Marmont and went to a mozzarella making party at Marvimon. This weekend we are probably going to be homebodies and try to relax our sore muscles from all the moving at the store. What are you guys going to do? Any Michael Jackson dance parties in the works?

Featured Items of the Week

The store is filling up with goodies now that we have so much space. I have a set of dining chairs in the works to go around the dining table above am secretly hoping it wont sell before they arrive!


These nesting tables are hard to really admire from this shot but we did them in the most exquisite blue palette. Here is the before....


And the afters.....




I currently have them nestled between two white leather chairs. Beyond!

New England on My Mind

This time of year any lobster eating, Crane's beach dwelling, Martha's Vineyard visiting, Bloody Mary loving Bostonian would be dreaming about putting some wind back in her sails. Myself included.


Summer has me fantasizing about the boats, the coolers, bike rides, the dress code and the fried seafood. Oh, the fried seafood...


When I go back each summer it's never how I remember of course. Its all in the cobwebs of my mind. The romance of memory. Chasing my youth. But a girl can still dream.....

all images of prints on wood from here.

Another Bloggers Before & After

Laure from At Home At Home recently posted pictures of her front entry makeover and I was so impressed by the transformation.


Like night and day...



She used a combination of pieces she already had, score, and some items from Ikea.

Summer Fabrics from Silver State

Just got some new Silver State books in the mail and there are a couple patterns I really love.





These are just a sample of the colors each pattern comes in. All great for indoor or out. I am thinking of using one of the Polarity patterns on a bench and Day Dream for some pillows. See their entire line here.

A Sweet Reminder

I just purchased this vintage print of the Jeremiah Lee Mansion {on eBay} to frame with some of my wedding shots from the same location.


It will be one year in another week! Time just keeps on slipping into the future.......

Before & After

This gorgeous dining table just came back from the re-finisher and I can not stop staring at it in its new skin.


I barely even noticed the detail on the legs before its transformation. Isn't it elegant?


Whatever you're plans are this weekend I hope they include some quality time gathered around a table with friends. Its time to relax!

xox

My Desk

For the past year or so 2E and I have been sharing a work surface and we just moved it up to the new space where it has a prominent new home. Its intended purpose is as a store fixture.

The striped cherry and maple plank top is the real gem....


Beautiful right? Until it sells I will be enjoying our time together getting creative!

An Evening With Good Friends

A Jeana braid! I wish she could braid my hair every day..

Last night Jeana, Alex and HBT came over for BBQ and Bachelorette. Milo was very excited.


And dinner was delish.


Spaghetti Squash tossed with sauteed garlic, tomatoes, and olive oil. Eggplant, summer squash, zuccini, asparagus, and mushrooms from the grill. Easy but so good.

All images courtesy of Jeana

New Daily's and Peonies

Frou Frou Fashionista

See Vivier

Pink Lemonade

Beautiful Baked Goods

The Share Our Strength No Cookie Left Behind Bake Sake was a huge success. $3400+ and counting!! Thank you to everyone who donated, contributed, bought and baked. I am happy to be a part of such a fun annual event.


Photos 3,4,5 lifted from various Facebook albums from the weekend.

Hallelujah!

Today we were able to bang out some major projects and I am happy to celebrate with some champagne and {a long over due} blog post! Behold our space before.........

And after!!

The biggest project we undertook was tearing out the drop ceiling and florescent lights to expose the same gorgeous beams we have in our other two spaces. Its really a shame they were ever covered to begin with. The rest of the ordeal has been comprised of a million tiny projects all of which came with their own obstacles. Rather than dwell on the details I will spare you them and just be happy its done!

I am looking forward to bringing a few larger pieces, such as a bed and dining set, in soon but for now - tonight - I am content. Our computer came back today with 100% if its data restored and HBT dropped by just in time to share in a celebratory toast.


Cheers!

No Cookie Left Behind

For anyone in the LA area who loves things that are delicious and hates the idea of people going hungry......


Join us for the 3rd Annual Share Our Strength Bake Sale!!

When It Rains It Pours

This week has been very long and yet way too short. I'm so happy it is over! Although the actual space is done there has been an endless amount of work to get it merchandised and looking good. Still not quite there but leaps and bounds from where we started.

The challenging week was only made worse by another computer crash. This time it was the store computer which I shouldn't have to tell you was a nightmare. It houses years of photographs of furniture, more importantly our quickbooks and every PDF and DOC we use and need on a daily basis. It also has the pictures I promised to post on Monday of the whole renovation.

So, I've been overwhelmed to say the least but will be back this afternoon with, finally, some pictures. I hope you all had a slightly less traumatic week.

xox

A Throw Back

To the good old days of bootylicious ladies and internet free weekends.


I lied, no pictures today but tons to download for you soon. Back on Monday with the new store reveal (wow - done so soon!), a handful of gorgeous pieces we just refinished, some inspiring before and afters, and {hopefully} stories from the next few days. On the calendar, to rest up and relax and look just as casually beautiful as Marilyn while doing so.

Marilyn Image from Time via Ms Muse

De ja Vous

Off today finishing up the expansion.
Back with photos tomorrow.
My centerpiece today is identical to this one last year.
I can't believe a year has gone by so fast!

xoxo

Twigs & Leather

It's been a while since I've sang about the treasures of Melissa McClure's Jewelry Alchemy and she has added some beautiful pieces to her {already beautiful} line. I have trouble finding anything I don't love but I particularly fancy the combination of leather and gold.

I mean, the Leather Wrap Honeycomb has me s-s-stuttering.

And the Leather Twig wrap leaves me just............ speechless. Either of these bracelets could easily be a favorite everyday accessory. In a perfect world I would alternate between these and the Leather Choker/Plain Chain.


With a plain white tank, a tan, and some turquoise bling this would be insane.

Available at Roseark.