o' happy day

4 years ago today I was a super excited 25 year old. Nick in some sort of fit of craziness had asked me to be his bride. It was the perfect wedding for us, I mean there isn't anything I would change and I also feel blessed to say I feel the same way about  every second spent together since.

We're celebrating with a romantic home cooked meal after the little heads off to dream land. I'm fixing fettucini Martha style and baking the dark chocolate butter cake with raspberry sauce from The Farm Chicks cookbook.

Happy Anniversary love. You da' man. ♥   

this is a typical picture of nick. getting him to smile and look is like spotting big foot sunning himself on a beach in cabo.
for. real.

new photos of Rachel's Shabby Chic Malibu Pad

The L.A. Times recently featured Rachel Ashwell's stunning Malibu beach house. While I've always felt Rachel does a fabulous job at styling the spaces in her books, I'm really loving the particularly relaxed and easy feel of these images. So grab a cup of coffee, kick back and enjoy!

See the full article with more yummy images here. 

*images by Brian van der Brug for the L.A. Times.

white hot

The dog days of summer have definitely set in here with a heat index  again today forcasted to be above 100. In contrast I find myself drawn towards light, bright and airy spaces to balance out the "sweatyness" like this beautiful turn of the century home in Stockholm.

*images via 

This is how we've been staying cool...

Hope you have a great start to your week! I see lots of McDonald's 59 cent cones in my immediate future.

ruffle buns

Lucy had an impromptu "house" party Saturday evening. When I saw those sweet girls in all their ruffle swim glory I had to grab my camera. It was hysterical the way they jibber-jabbered away in their toddler talk to each other like little ladies at a dinner party. 

Happy Sunday ya'll! 

Saturday

Good morning! I know I've been a little scarce this week, quite frankly I just didn't have much to say. Been super busy just doing boring life stuff like catching up on laundry after the holiday weekend and hanging out outside a lot with Lucy. 

I do have some of this awesome low-fat banana bread baking in the oven right now. It's pairs so yummy with a morning cup of coffee or my favorite the 3 pm is it time for daddy to come home yet? cup of coffee.  You can find the easy recipe here. 

I also have great news if you want another chance to win a Shabby Apple Dress. One of my favorite people in the whole world is giving one away! You can visit her here.

I hope you all have a happy, relaxing, full weekend!