More spottings...

Okay, so it looks like those chairs I am obsessing over are called porter chairs...

The owner of Pieces, Lee Kleinhelter, has not only a porter chair, but also a fiddle leaf fig in her home!  GORGEOUS!

See the tour here...

from Atlanta Homes & Lifestyle

"It's all up here"

Years ago, I gave my dad a picture of a Pottery Barn bed, and said, "Dad, don't you think you can make this for me?"  In the next few years following that exchange, I would ask, "Hey Dad, how is that bed coming along?"  The response would be (while pointing to his head)..."It's all up here, Meghan.  It's all up here."  One day, the bed was finally ready, and let me tell you, it was gorgeous.  He did a fantastic job.

Once I knew Paddy was coming, I asked my dad if he thought he could whip up a kiddo-sized coat rack and one of those wooden changing table toppers.  Needless to say, he didn't disappoint!   Again, the quality of his work is amazing.  Sean Patrick is lucky to have such a handy grandpa.  I hope my dad will be able to pass some of his knowledge along to our little man.   I feel so blessed to have such a talented Dad...and one who is willing to go along with my ideas!

 

 

Sugar in the Raw

I love sugar in the raw.  I love to have my coffee with cream and sugar in the raw.  I bought this jar at Ikea last night, and I think the sugar looks pretty in it.

It Starts Monday.

If I can put off working out for one more week, one more day, one more hour, I would.  Now, I don't have a choice though.  Fear is my only motivation when it comes to running.  Sign me up for a race, and I train.  Not as well as I should, but I at least start moving.  I have never been one that loves to work out...I really wish I was.  I wish I was a person with really strong self control and discipline. 

Not working out becomes a problem when you love to eat as much as I do.  I seem to have this little sweet tooth that sits on my shoulder, constantly whispering in my ear, eat more chocolate!  more!  more!  more!  And, now that I have lots of baby weight PLUS pre-baby weight that I never should have had, it is time to do something.

So, my lovely husband signed us up for the Nashville half marathon.  So, of course, I leave training until the very last second possible. But now, my fear kicks in.  Fear of not being able to finish, fear of ever being able to run that far, fear of training during the winter in Boston (BOOOOO!), fear of not being able to keep up with a partner, fear of thinking that I can't train by myself...a whole slew of things. 

I have never trained alone.  I have always had some poor soul(s) to run with me.  I can't tell you how fortunate I am to have these people in my life because I am a COMPLETE nightmare to train with.  I am surprised any of them put up with me.  I complain the entire time, don't I, Sean, Sommer, Hallie, Brenda?  Don't try to tell me we are half way done if we are even 1/10 of a mile short of half way there.  Don't make me run up a hill.  Don't make me run in the cold.  I am a total baby.  This time, I am going to have to do this on my own.  YIKES. 

I wish I could come up with some really great reason to NOT train.  But I really don't have one.

So, here I go...it starts Monday.

Good morning, sunshine...

Sean brought me these tulips the other day, and they are making me crave springtime!  I like those flower arrangements that use bear grass or thick leaves to wrap around the stems, so I decided to give it a go with these.  I like less greens on the tulips anyway, so I usually take some leaves off...this time, I just ended up using the leaves I would usually toss....

Fiddle Leaf Fig Mourning

So, one of the trees that died en route to Boston last year was my fiddle leaf fig tree.  This was my absolute favorite house plant, especially with a can light behind it to illuminate the pretty leaves.  Down in GA, these would be sold at Home Depot for around $9.  $9!!!!  And they were a good size, very healthy...just perfect.  So, I have been searching for one here since we first arrived, and I have to say, the house plant selections at Lowe's, Home Depot, etc.  are terrible here.  Why can't they carry a fiddle leaf fig??

Of course, one of my favorite shops, Portobello Road, carries them; however, they are out of my $9 price range.  

I have scoured the internet, but being that I am a person who wants immediate satisfaction, I don't want to buy one of the little seedlings you can get online.  Hmmmm.  I wish I could road trip to GA to pick one up :)

Catherine and I are taking Paddy on his first trip to Ikea today, and we are also going to give Home Depot one more shot to come through on the fiddle leaf fig...my fingers are crossed...

*Updated 1/29/10 - I found a picture of my beloved old Fiddle Leaf.  RIP, FLF.

from Domino

from Flickr

Laurie's Shower

I had the honor of hosting my friend, Laurie's baby shower this past weekend. I had the best time getting ready for it. I wanted to make it an elegant and fun afternoon for Laurie.

I designed some simple invitations. Laurie has very cool, modern taste, so I wanted to try to create something that she would like. I wasn't sure about the yellow/gray color combo at first, but it totally grew on me, and I am starting to become obsessed.

Shower Prep...

A big thanks to Jamie as she helped me make the cake pops.  We couldn't find any gray candy melts (probably a good thing...these candy melt colors sometimes freak me out).  You just can't go wrong with Bakerella's cake pops!

Add tiny glassine bags, a cute tie (my new favorite, baker's twine), and a YUM sign, and they were all set!

I also made some little monogrammed flags to spruce up some of the food!

Then, I designed some tags and got them ready to wrap up the silverware...

All wrapped up...

I also made a strand of 'Caden' flags for the dining room...

Being that we are up on the second floor, I wanted to make sure everyone knew which door was ours...

The downstairs door window...

The entryway was a good spot for the favors - the cake pops, YUM.  I didn't want guests to forget to take one home!

 

 I like to place a coordinating piece of paper on top of the styrofoam b/c it is a lot prettier to look at!

I made some yarn poufs for the present wrapping...it always feels so good to use stuff that you have laying around the house, doesn't it?  Here is a tutorial on making the yarn poufs...

Onto the grub....

I was struggling with feeling like my ugly kitchen was going to ruin how cute I wanted the shower to be.  I tried to mask the ugliness, and thank goodness for the buffet Randy built us being in there (Randy/Brenda - it got compliments again :)).  I just had to hope that lots of food/drinks would distract everyone from the gray formica with blue detail.

Here was the menu:

DRINKS:
Coffee
OJ
Champagne
Mocktail - Sparkling Apple Juice with Raspberries
Lemonade

From the bar...a recent purchase that I am absolutely loving is this tiny carafe.  I actually bought 4 that are even smaller than this...Hungry Mother (that restaurant in Cambridge that we love) uses these itty bitty ones to bring cream out with coffee.  I ordered coffee just to have one of those tiny carafes bought to the table!  Yeah for China Fair! (Have you heard of China Fair?  They have EVERYTHING!)

My sweet husband helping me prep!  He was truly a huge help...

 

 

BRUNCH:
-Aunt Noella's coffee cake
-Banana Chocolate Chip Bread (Rene's recipe)
-Sausage Cheese Balls (Does anyone have a favorite recipe for these?  I always google one, and never use the same one...I want a good one that I can use time and time again!)
-Bacon
-Fruit with Yogurt Dip 
-Chili Puffed Eggs (Mom's recipe...this is our FAVORITE egg bake)
-Cheesy Hashbrown Bake

 

 

DESSERT:
-Sour Cream Caramel Cakes (Paula Deen's recipe)
-Cheesecake with raspberries (I overcooked it by accident! ...Krissy's Grandma's recipe)
-Homemade Turtles (thanks to Jamie's recipe!)
-Cake Pops

It was so much fun to meet all of Laurie's wonderful friends and have a nice afternoon to celebrate the upcoming arrival of Caden Lee.  We can't wait to meet the newest little Hoosier, Laurie and Brian!!

Canopy Chair spotting!!

I talked to Brenda today, and she spotted a Canopy Chair in Fort Worth, TX.  I don't even know if Canopy Chair is really the correct name, but I will roll with that until I learn otherwise!

I checked out the link for the restaurant that she saw the chair in, and I absolutely LOVE the decor.  When I think about how I would describe my style, I always struggle.  I feel like it is a strange mix, and it is also a mix of some things that I love but maybe don't actually have in my own home yet...can anyone relate?   The pictures from Tillman's Roadhouse really captured all my favorites...rustic, natural elements, modern victorian (can that be a category?) and mid century modern...ahhh, gorgeous!

Super cool, Brenda.  Thanks for snapping this pic, and if anyone is interested in seeing the decor in Tillman's Roadhouse, check it out here.

Canopy Chair

My mom and I loved these chairs when we visited the Breakers Mansion in Newport, RI...



I adore these chairs that remind me of the ones from the breakers. I hope to have one someday.



I like these that Kelly Wearstler used at Bergdorf Goodman:


from Bergdorf Goodman as well...

Another couch...

I love looking at Jayson Home and Garden - it was a place that i seemed to always whiz by in a cab while I was living in Chicago and would think, I need to visit that place! Now I can't believe I never went in.