pinsperation thursday

Hello Thursday! Lucy and I are just hanging out with the guy from the security alarm company this am while he updates our system. It's super mild weather again today so hopefully we can get outside in a little bit. In the meantime though here is my collection of notable pins I wanted to share with you this week!

I've been in love with Tori Spellings cool blue master retreat in her former Encino home since I saw it on their show. Now we finally know what color she used on the walls- it's Parma by Farrow and Ball. At $85 a gallon though I suggest a color match through my fave- Sherwin Williams. Their "Harmony" and "Duration" lines are my go-to's.

I'm totally obsessed with Sarah Richardson and her decorating style- here's a cool {link} to check out  her family farmhouse retreat

I made this pasta for dinner last night and it was super easy, and very tasty! I added grilled chicken and some freshly grated Parmesan cheese. 

recipe found {here}

I knit up a pair of {these} sweet baby booties yesterday. It was a really quick project and they'd make a  great gift for any expecting mom or newborn baby.

and because I can't live without a little pink here's a super cute stool

Hope you have a beautiful day!

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.

spring fevah

The new country living magazine that showed up at my door yesterday is just teasing me now. You see this will be the summer of fixing that jungle of a yard. By the time we moved in last July it was too far out of hand. We had to just wait until fall and cut, chop, saw, and mow it all down. Now that we've hopefully chased the last large snake away (seriously) the real work starts this weekend. I like simple and low maintenance landscapes so I ordered a few bags of grass seed from amazon and we're going to fill in some of these over landscaped areas. (note to other busy moms: I buy everything i possibly can from amazon, they don't charge sales tax, its usually the cheapest, and i don't have to leave the house)

we need a fence and after seeing this I'm highly considering something like it as opposed to a more typical option.

and not that this has anything to do with landscapes but the this is the living room of the home where the photos were shot. i thought the image is much prettier in actual print but you get the idea.

and one final image of rachel ashwell's lavender extravaganza she's got going on in her front yard. it's out of control amazing!

Blogging from bed this morning. I think I found my new guilty pleasure. My favorite contractor Stan and his crew are tearing out the 1970's wet bar from the lower level so me and little L are hanging out where it's  a little quieter. I'm so excited this project is under way. In the first hour they had already torn out the bar, the cabinets.

Here is a sneaky peak of the impressively awful before:

The glass front cabinets are the only things being saved. They will find a new home hanging in the laundry room. 

I especially love the beautiful textured wallpaper and the matching faux finished up lights.

In other exciting news we got cable yesterday for the first time in almost two years. In the old house we were able to get quite a few channels with out it with our receiver box but since we moved and are under sooo many trees those days are over. I'm not even gonna lie and say "we never watch TV" or "we don't believe in lot's of TV." I love my stories. I missed HGTV and I was sick to death of  missing out on "Sarah's House." So I told Nick I have lot's of junk TV to catch up on this weekend so we won't be making any plans that involve leaving the house which is just as well anyway because it's downright steamy outside. 

Just in case you missed Ms. Fosters' catskills victorian shabby shack in the New York Times yesterday... Grab a cup of coffee and buckle up. You're in for a generous dose of eye candy. Cheers to the weekend!

Mushy cushy thats my new motto when thinking about our new home-to-be. I want it to be a place thats comfortable, cozy, welcoming, kid friendly, uncluttered (besides the usual toys of course), clean and crisp. All the "stuff " that has been accumulating is slowly making it's way to Goodwill because it ain't comin' with us! If I had a million bagillion dollars I would just hop a plane to the west coast and clean out the Shabby Chic Boutique. A girl can dream... Cheers to a new week!

cat's out of the bag...

introducing...

milk glass sorbet desert compotes

rose wreath china

lil pewter cup

rose oil lamp

grandma's cake plate

10 knockout cut glass lunch plates

crystal stemware

aqua ball jar circa 1908

For a while now I've thought about re-opening my etsy shop but it just never felt right. I had tried it last year and I stocked it with my screen printed note cards. It turned out to be kind of labor intensive, time consuming and soon petered out.

I decided this time instead of trying to reinvent the wheel why not stock this new shop with antique and vintage items- just the stuff I love! Plus so it's so fun to load up Lucy in the car and tell her we're going treasure hunting- for her part I named the shop after her. Mother/daughter bonding at it's finest! We've found some pretty great treasures so far and I'm adding new things daily. I've really tried to keep pricing super reasonable especially compared to what other shops have similar items listed for. If I find it for little, I'll sell it for just a little more after all this is mostly about having fun for me and sharing my style.

As part of the grand opening I'm offering FREE SHIPPING ANYWHERE!!! I've also included insurance for my client's protection. To my surprise I've already shipped to New Jersey, Philadelphia and Arizona! Not bad for just opening my doors just a few days ago. I'd been trying to keep it quiet until I could get my inventory up enough so with out further ado visit Lucy and I HERE. Oh and referrals are the highest form of flattery so tell your friends if you love what you see! Thank you for your support in my fun new little endeavor!

*special thanks to my good friend John for help with the text on banner!

retreat...

I just need to throw in the towel and call this day done. For some reason I thought it was a great idea to schedule two tooth fillings for 7 am this morning. I said to myself "no biggie and then it will be out of the way and I can get on with my day"- WRONG. I feel like I've been kicked by a horse in the face and all I want is to crawl into bed. See you tomorrow loves!

*image via Shabby Chic

new bedding!

shabby chic smocked duvet set

holly & sean's master bedroom

Yay for new bedding! I first saw the Shabby Chic bedding on Holly & Sean's blog over at Life in the Fun Lane. I swooned over it for weeks and finally gave in and picked it up at Target yesterday. There is a similar version at Anthropologie that came out in 2008 but not exactly budget friendly. This is the perfect compromise, it looked so pretty and fluffy when I popped it out of the dryer. As soon as I'm satisfied with my master makeover I promise I'll share some pictures!