Farewell summer. I hardly knew you.

The rain continues to pour over Washington and it only seems appropriate on September 11. But I can't help but feel that summer zoomed by way too quickly this year. So as I wistfully gaze at this photo I took of Joe during our summer vacation I am wishing I could click my heels together and go back to the beach with the warm sun on my back.
I suppose it wouldn't be a great summer if I didn't feel like it went by too quickly. We had lots of birthdays to celebrate, fun cookouts with family and neighbors, an amazing Coldplay concert, days by the pool, trips to witness friends getting married, trips to visit friends just because, family to visit us, and a couple of lazy days in between. Ya, it was a good summer.
So instead of melancholy, I'll just choose to be thankful that beautiful autumn follows summer and not winter.

Decalin' Around

If you're looking for a quick and easy way to spice up your plain walls on a budget, you may want to consider decals. Etsy is a wonderful resource for unique and high-quality decals to suit virtually any aesthetic. Here's how we've used decals in our place.

I loved the look of this ornate S for the stairs in our entryway.
































And I thought these birds were a sweet and subtle touch to add to this lattice screen my husband built for our living room.















I love clean lines and simple design, and these poms add some interest to our bedroom without going over the top.


















Here are a few Etsy seller options for you to peruse.

I like this fun floral pattern from Single Stone Studios.

You could use one by itself, use them in a pair, or layer them with other colors. Look at all the color options!

With Etsy sellers, it is so easy to customize their merchandise and get exactly what you are envisioning. The only limit is your own imagination and nothing has to look exactly like a catalog or magazine ... unless you're into that sort of thing, that is. If you've never purchased from an Etsy seller before, let me tell you, it is truly a pleasure. All of the sellers I have interacted with have been uber-accommodating and happy to tailor an item to exactly what I'm looking for.

I purchased my cute little birds on a branch from Decorette. (You can also see her stuff on her new web site decorettestore.com.) Guess what? She's located way down under! I won't lie, I was pretty excited when the package came adorned with all the cool postage markings.

How pretty is this huge swooping design?

Or this adorable peacock?

And I can be pretty picky about words on walls (especially when they're cheesy), but who doesn't need to be reminded of what love is, according to I Corinthians 13?? In the right spot, I think it could really work.


















The dandelion poms in our bedroom are from Elephannie, where you can also find this cuteness. I think it would look so cool in a girl's room ... maybe on her mirror or on or above the headboard.

Or how about just making the decal the headboard?

If you don't own your current place, you (or your landlord) may not be keen on sticking your walls with decals (even though they come off in a flash and don't even take off the paint). As an alternative, you may want to consider using decals to embellish basic pieces like an old dresser you repainted or one of those banal Ikea sidetables. I think these circles from Elephannie would look rad.


















Or how about a dressing up an old piece of furniture with these great blooms from Byrdie Graphics?
















I may have to give that a shot if I find anything makeover worthy when I do a bit of thrifting on Saturday. I'll keep you posted on what I find. Wish me luck!

Oh hi, August. Have you seen July around here anywhere? Apologies, and our trip out west.

Oh my word, I have been busy busy busy! I can’t believe we’re more than halfway through August. Mentally, I think I’m still somewhere around July 8th. Please excuse my blogging absence. In July, we had three family birthdays, the premier of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (come on now, this is big stuff), I went crazy helping out with a last-minute proposal at work, my parents came to visit for a week, and Joe was in two weddings in sunny California.

Today, I'll give you a little wrap-up of our trip to the other coast.

Joe flew solo for our friend Matt’s marriage to his sweetheart Katie, at the beginning of the month. He had a blast and hasn’t stopped talking about Roscoe’s Chicken and Waffles since.

Katie chose lemon and lime for her colors and I think it turned out so fresh and cheery. Don’t they make a cute couple?
















For California-in-July wedding number two, we both flew out (on Virgin America -- it's the only way to fly) for Chris and Lindsay's wedding. It was a beautiful affair! It was clear that lots of careful planning and attention to detail went into making their day perfect. They both come from such sweet families. And Chris worked on the classic truck that his late father left him and he and Lindsay drove away in it. Ahh the romance!













Our trip was only slightly clouded by an accident at the rehearsal dinner. After we'd eaten and were enjoying the beautiful pool under the cloudless California night sky, Joe's foot went straight through the dry-rotted lid to a pool filter and his shin looked as if someone had used a melon baller to scoop out a hunk of his flesh. And as it turns out, he was rather attached to that bit of flesh, too. Seeing as how it was 10pm in a strange city, (and it didn't seem like there was skin to stitch together) we opted out of a trip to the ER and the next day, it was quite painful. Nearly four weeks later, he is thankfully infection free and the wound is on its way to being a distant memory.

Determined to have a good time in spite of his unfortunate encounter with concrete, on Monday we ventured to Santa Monica to visit Evan and Kerstin. They live in the cutest area in a lovely one-bedroom just down the street from Montana Ave. where you can stroll the sidewalks with your dog (we saw three Cavaliers!) and window shop at chic little boutiques.

There's this gorgeous shoe store, Il Primo Passo.














Photo from here.

There's also Planet Blue, which features lots of fashions worn by celebrities.









And kind of like The Denim Bar here in DC, Santa Monica has The Blues Jean Bar, which is modeled after a neighborhood pub and makes jean shopping look like a lot of fun! There are also locations in Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, and Denver.












While the shopping in Santa Monica is great, nothing can compare to the beautiful beach. It was so fun to spend a couple of hours in the sun with the cool breeze, some good conversation, and a few copies of old Domino magazines, courtesy of Kerstin.

Wallpaper, I'm so glad you grew out of your awkward stage.

Wallpaper and I, we have a history. When I was a little girl, we had wallpaper in our house -- a lot of wallpaper. During my pre-school years, circa 1987, my mom created a Precious Moments bedroom for me. I thought it was extremely glamorous. Like any good DIY mom, we worked on the wallpapering project together and I picked up on the technique. (I'm sure I was incredibly helpful). In fact, I felt so helpful that later on when I was alone in my room, I took the initiative to line the shelves of my closet with the wallpaper border. I've always been such a go-getter. My mom was thrilled, as you can imagine. That experiment helped me to begin to grasp the relative persistence of wallpaper. It's a lot of work to install so you'd better make sure you love it now and will definitely love it later.

I hate to disappoint, but I do not have a picture of that room! Instead, I found a shot from my second wallpapered, themed bedroom. Introducing ... unicorns!



A third room featuring Native Americans and galloping horses may also exist ... but that will have to wait for another day.

As fun as it was to have (creepy) dolls with big eyes, unicorns with pink hair, and galloping mustangs on my walls back then, I couldn't be more pleased that new, wonderfully modern papers are now readily available. So for the first time since 1994, I am planning a wallpaper project!

The plan is to put beadboard in our powder room with a fun wallpaper on the top half of the wall. Most of our house is the golden-yellowy color of Compatible Cream from Sherwin Williams.


The dining room is Uncertain Gray but looks very blue compared to the online shade.

I've been considering a few patterns for a while but I'm incredibly indecisive. Maybe it's because I'm a Gemini. Or maybe I could blame my being a middle child. I'm just not sure ...

So enough of that. What papers are your favorite for adding drama and style to a small space?

Chenonceau in Bisque


Xanadu in Glacier


Graphic Panel Stripe in Spring


Daydream in Yellow


Traviata in Beige from Graham & Brown


Vivid in Cream



And for old time's sake...

Pink Donkey


Do you have any beautiful suggestions for me or papers that have you ready to commit?

A shot of creativity

My buddy Michelle over at Mitch & Winnie introduced me to How About Orange, a place I can always turn to for a dose of creativity when life as a technical writer starts to feel like a dark abyss of monotony. This morning, Jessica posted a link to some design inspiration resources and I am flabbergasted and twitterpated by the raw creativity. Here are some of my favorites from Business Card Collector Kariann Burleson's Flickr Stream:



Swoon! You really must go check them out for yourself.

When asked why she collects business cards, Kariann replied:

I see the business card, calling card, and name card as tiny works of art, or even poems, as they express a brief visual narrative of something so much more. They are an introduction - an affectionate piece of evidence, a receipt of a connection, a meeting, a moment. It's this nature of the business card or calling card that enchants. They are generally intended as small, brief, and hopefully, possibility invoking pieces of paraphernalia. They encapsulate tangibly and visually the essence of something that is a transient. They bridge a gap between two people, sources, or ideas using humor, novelty, beauty, art, even cryptic information. They are parcels of possibility, relics of remembrance, they say, perhaps in a whisper, perhaps a shout 'remember me.'

How lovely. I couldn't agree more.

Elite Occasions by Stephanie

When it comes to event planning, my dear friend Stephanie over at Aisle with Style just has a gift. She is creative, organized, and has exquisite taste — a rare combination that results in unique and memorable occasions for all of her clients.

When we worked together right out of college, she faithfully fulfilled her role as bridesmaid by taking part in brainstorming sessions, gently washing away my naivete when it came to wedding etiquette, and accompanying me on late-night drives into the sticks of the Missouri countryside for fittings at my seamstress' home. Stephanie is the sort of friend you like to keep around. Even though life has geographically separated us, we keep in touch any way possible and visit when we can. Here she is at the Cherry Blossom Festival in DC when she came to visit me just a few weeks ago.

She came to visit me all the way from Tulsa, Okla. Wasn't that nice? Back home, Stephanie works for an environmental and combustion company by day and in her free time she plans events. (It really is fun for her.)

Here is the look we put together for her business cards.

Front:


Back:


Make sure to check out her blog for updates on events she is working on and practical tips and advice for making the most of your own occasions.

I love weddings

There's nothing sweeter than witnessing the vows of a couple that you really love and who truly love one another ... except maybe seeing the beautiful wedding pictures captured by an extremely talented photographer. Some wonderful friends of ours were married on May 30, 2009. Here are a few pictures of the pictures captured by Sesha Shannon of Convey Studios.






All images are from Convey Studios.

Congratulations to a lovely couple.