Hello, Gorgeous.

Check out these photos.  They have been breathing new life into me all week long.

From talented photographer Meg Smith.  See her work here.

Slade Drive - House Tour - Dining Room

We mostly did paint work to the dining room.  My grandpa helped us repair and smooth over some cracks in the lower half of the wall, and later, we painted the upper half of the wall, with the help of my parents, before Sean came home for R&R in 2007 (Ralph Lauren Barn Owl White).

While Sean and I were up in Michigan on R&R, my wonderful friends moved our prized piece of furniture into the house (it only cleared the doorway by about 1/8"!) and arranged all my serving pieces beautifully inside of it.  It was a big surprise for Sean when we arrived home.  We were both speechless when we saw it.  It far exceeded any expectations that we had.  Randy brought the doors from my grandma's cottage back to life and built the beautiful piece around them that I had dreamed of.

I wanted the lighter walls so that they would set off our beautiful new piece.  We miss this piece so much.  As I mentioned before, it is in storage right now, and we can't wait to get it back at USMA.  If it doesn't fit in our house, it will go to the Crow Mansion, if they still need/want furniture :)

Before -

Getting ready to paint!

After -

Spring Treasures

Under the cover of darkness, I was able to snip a few spring blooms...no, not from anyone's yard...

Ahhh, spring.

Favorite new crafting supply...

My favorite new crafting supply is baker's twine. I saw it a while ago at Mike's Pastry in the North End, and I wanted a similar set up in my house...twine that can be pulled from the ceiling, wrapped around cute boxes and torn with my hands. Love it.

I have noticed a lot of cute places are selling it now, but are charging more than I wanted to pay. I got mine here. It was only $8.95 and I will have it forever. I love that it will last so long b/c I am one of those people who hates to use up things that I love. Since there are 3400 yards, I am not worried. (Sidenote: Do you know what I mean about not wanting to use up things you love? One of my 2010 resolutions is to burn good candles more often...I fall into a trap of not wanting to burn them b/c I don't want them to be gone!)

I just used some of my twine for Laurie's shower next weekend. Now that all our guest visits are done, I can focus on shower details. I heart details, so I am happy...pics to come!

Alarm Clocks

Does anyone else have an issue with finding a cool looking alarm clock for your bedside table?  I have an ancient one for CDs (again, dating myself), and Sean has a weather station.  The weather station is actually very handy...I would just love the look of matching clocks.

I also love digital for a bedside clock, probably because I am so disoriented when I wake up.

I started perusing some sites this week for a good clock.  So, I am guessing many of you do this as well, but I seem to use Apartment Therapy as my starting point for most design related searches.  They have had posts about everything.  I just love it.

So, this is my favorite clock...however, it has a couple small issues...no alarm, no back light.  Admittedly, it does look a little cheap, but I am just loving the flip clock look right now.

Here is one that does have an alarm and is backlit...but I don't love it as much as the other one.

I just know how much I adore the Fliqlo screen saver that I have, so I thought the old school flip clock would be fun.  If I went with something more traditional, I think this one is pretty...but not digital :)

I swear, my tastes are all over this place.  Does that mean I have a problem? :)

New Diaper Bag

My parents got me this tote for my birthday, and I have the biggest crush on it.  I was having a hard time finding things in the Moop bag, so this is now the one I carry all the time.  Love it.  We were lucky enough to get 35% off, but even without that killer deal, I still think it is a great price!

Straight No Chaser

Sean and I went to see Straight No Chaser last night...they were amazing.  It is so much fun to see them, 10 years later, and better than ever.  Every time I hear them, so many IU memories come flooding back to me.  I remember how giddy we would get when we were stuffing our faces in the Alpha Chi dining room, and Straight No Chaser would surprise us with a few songs. (funny thing to note, AXO girls...we said hello to them after the show and they remember stuffing their faces at our house, too!! :)).  It was always the ultimate treat to be able to see them or have them sing at one of our functions.

They are such animated performers as well as incredibly talented singers.  It is hard for me to comprehend the kind of musical ability that they have.  I wouldn't even know where they begin to create the arrangements that they do.  They really blew us out of the water. 

They just released a new album two days ago, you should check it out.  They are also going to be on Jimmy Fallon Friday night.  Set your DVRs!  Here was our favorite song...

Sommer's 30th Birthday

A couple of years ago, I hosted a party to celebrate Sommer's 30th birthday.  It was so much fun prepping for it.  I was an eBay fiend the month before the party, that is for sure.  We had a lot of fun at the party - even Sommer's mom was able to attend, all the way from Texas.

Onto the details...

The invitations...I wanted a cute picture of Sommer as a little girl so I enlisted Tim to help me.  It was so cute...he showed up at the door one day after work with some pictures that he had found...they were perfect!  I then assembled the three page invitation (vellum, photo, invitation details)...

The color scheme was red and black with silver accents. I threw together a table run from scraps of black fabric I had, and Brenda brought down lots of yummy smelling red candles.

The placecard tags -

to be tied onto bud vases with red roses...

 

Placemats...saw this in a magazine (can't remember which one)...just printed on 11x17 paper.

Menus...I liked the quote:

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." - Virginia Woolf

Mini milkshakes - scored these little silver cups on eBay.  Filled them with yummy Hardee's chocolate shakes...still one of my favorites. 

I made some CD mixes as favors (I know, I sound so 'old school', right?  Well, at least I didn't say 'tapes'...)

CD Jacket...

Destination Wedding Invitations...

I was so flattered that Ryan and Jamie asked me to create their wedding invitations.  Since they are planning an intimate, destination wedding (Maui, here we come!), we thought it would be fun to create a pretty little package for guests to receive.  Jamie has to be the most laid back bride I have ever known, and it is always fun working with Ryan...they basically gave me free creative license.  It was fun to dream up something that would be special and unique for two people that I love very much.

I can honestly think of few things more fun than putting a lot of heart and soul into a project when you are doing it for people that mean so much to you.

Enough babbling...here is the making of the invitations...

I ordered some starfish to be incorporated into the invitation...

I cut and ironed pieces of burlap that I had in my fabric bin...

I designed, printed, cut, and taped all the invitations, RSVP cards, additional information card and RSVP envelopes...

Labels to be used for the boxes...these are left over labels from my wedding!

You can never go wrong with grosgrain, in my opinion...

The invitation package...

Wish I would have more pics in natural light, but in typical Meghan fashion, much of this was late night work, including photos...

The jute and ribbon were tied in the back.  It is interesting how I just assumed people would slip the entire burlap/ribbon/jute cuff off the invitation, but Ryan said that one guest was commenting on how hard it was to untie the knots!

I used paper shred to serve as a cushion for the invitation/starfish..

I put some shred on top hoping to avoid broken starfish...

Label on the box (I used necklace boxes)...

Getting ready to wrap!  Thankfully, Sean lent a helping hand with some of the wrapping...

Each box was wrapped in shipping paper and a coordinating label was placed on the outside.

Ry & Jamie - it was such an honor to get to make these for you.  Can't wait for Maui!!

Blog changes!

I have had the very talented Jenna of QA Designs helping me spruce up my blog.  We are in the midst of making the changes, so please bear with us if anything looks/seems haywire temporarily.

I learned about Jenna from Kirsten at 6th Street Design School - I love her blog too.

More about Jenna and her work later...

Jackpot.

I love bamboo chairs.  I am not lying when I tell you that I got SIX of these chairs for $20 - TOTAL!   I can't even believe it...$3.33 per chair. 

I don't know that they will be our forever dining room table chairs - they are a *smidge* short...but maybe with some thick felt feet, it will be better...

And yes, just ignore the vinyl.  There is a khaki damask fabric on them that is not bad at all, but then they are covered with clear plastic.  That may be removed tonight :)

But, even if I just use one of them for the red desk...

Ideally, we could have an eat-in-kitchen that could fit a small table, like the Docksta from Ikea, with 4 of these chairs around it with a fun fabric on the seat.  And then, the other two could be in our bedroom, along with the red desk!

Bottom line...they were worth the trip to Worcester and every penny of the $20. 

AND, they will be super easy to re-cover when the mood strikes.  Even better.  Paddy and I already stopped at Freddie Farkels on the way home from the pick up to check out possibilities.  As you can see, I am still obsessed with geometrics.  But I honestly think I would pick the bright floral fabric just b/c you could pair that with so many different color schemes.

 

Thanks to Sommer for showing me that you can get amazing deals like hers...and thanks to Krissy for getting me re-energized over craigslist after seeing all the amazing finds that helped fill out their house!  I may have a sleepless night just thinking of all the fun possibilities with these beauties...just like Sommer did after her find!