Sunday, April 17, 2011

Springtime in Texas

Today was the most PERFECT Texas spring day! We've actually had some crazay weather here recently (read: tornadoes, wildfires, dust storms, etc.), so today was really, REALLY beautiful, by comparison.


I love springtime in Texas. Well, spring and autumn really, the tiny slivers of the year when the temperature is not extreme at either end of the spectrum.

The high was about 80F, with just enough of a breeze to keep the air from getting stuffy. Low humidity, and those perfectly wispy clouds floating high overhead, making the sunlight more of a glow than those harsh rays we get beating down on us during the peak of summer.

Someone nearby our apartment had a charcoal grill going just as the afternoon started to turn into evening, and the breeze blew in the grill smell with faintest scent of cottonwood and fresh-cut grass through the open windows.

Days like today are few and far-between it seems. We just had all that crazy weather, and then it's supposed to start storming on Wednesday and continue into next week. I guess tornado season is upon us.

I'm so glad I had the day off to enjoy this perfect day. And better yet, Larry and I got to spend it together, at the Main Street Arts Festival. He's sleeping now, and the crickets have started singing (loudly) outside our windows. There's a trace of citronella lingering, some neighbors must have had dinner on their back porch.

So perfect, so utterly perfect. There's not too terribly much that I'll miss about Texas when we eventually head out, but I think days like today will be up pretty high on that list. But that's a completely different post entirely :)

xoxo,
schmash

Monday, February 14, 2011

Shoes.

Someone needs to convince me that I need these. Please. Pleeeeeeease?

New Furniture!

We got our tax refund, and after we paid off our mattresses, tires, and almost the credit cards, we decided to replace the futon and the IKEA entertainment center with some "grown up" furniture, as I like to call it.

I can honestly say, I've never felt like more of an adult than when we were shopping for furniture. Did I feel like an adult when:
  • I got married? Nope.
  • Graduated College? Nope.
  • Bought cars? Kind of.
  • Moved back home to save money? Definitely not.
  • Got a "big girl" job? No.
  • Bought furniture? Yes.
Is there something wrong about that? I always knew I was just a little off, but that just seems downright weird. Meh. Who cares. I'm happy, and we have some BAMF furniture. I just need to buy some sweet wall art, and we'll be ready to entertain our adoring fans! Haha. But seriously. Look at our furniture. It's awesome.

Feel free to ignore the bikes for which we haven't bought a rack yet, the lack of throw pillows, the crappy lighting, and the weenie dogs staring at the camera.

1950's plaid sofa and 1960's buffet (which we're using as a TV stand/console) from Moderne.

1960's Eames-style "Larry" chair from Lula B's Antiques.

I'm thinking of starting a collage of wall art, with prints bought from Etsy and thrifted vintage picture frames. I don't know yet, it's just an idea. I'll post pictures of what I want when I actually figure that out.

I'm an Auntie!!

Ok, so these next few posts are WAY overdue, but hey, I get credit for posting at all. Right?

Anyways, Larry's sister had a baby on February 4, at about 10:15 p.m. And now I'm an Auntie, for the first time EVER!! Little Fillip is to die for, he's precious and sweet and snuggly and sleepy and I just want to hold him all the time :) God help us when we have our own, I'm never going to want to do anything but snuggle!

Here he is!

And yes, Larry and I DID buy him the dinosaur outfit in the bottom right picture. Typical :)

Ed and Kassie did a great job, he's a work of art! I can't stop smiling and :squeeeeing:: when I see pictures of him. He's perfect :)

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A Few of My Favorite Things

That I got for Christmas, and still haven't posted!

I've had so so so much fun with this little beauty, my own Polaroid, from Keith and Kim! The pictures are tiny, like, business card sized. So cute! And I love pretty much anything that's instant gratification. Plus, the film makes the pictures look vintage. I've featured some of my favorite polaroid pictures from over the holidays :)

Picture of the camera is from the Polaroid website. All other pictures are my own.

Mom and Dad bought me a Dyson vacuum (and gave it to me in July, because I needed one so badly for my apartment!), and helped me buy my sewing machine, which I still have yet to figure out. But I'll get around to it!

Larry and his sister Kassie and her husband Ed bought me this beautiful, fluffy, warm North Face jacket, which I've worn all over the place. It's perfect!
Image taken from here.

Last but not least, Larry took me perfume shopping! I'm almost out of what I normally wear, Paul Smith Floral, and since it's so hard to find, I'd been wanting to go find a new fragrance. It was so much fun to go shopping together and try out the different scents. It was really important to me that we both like the fragrance I'd be buying, because I only really care how he likes the way I smell :) We both settled on Voyage de Hermes. It's spicy and interesting. It reminds me of woodsmoke and pipe tobacco, and pine trees. Sounds really masculine, but it's actually really light and feminine. Definitely a unique fragrance. I love it!


Image from here.
Anyways... I'm slowly but surely catching up on all the time I missed blogging over the holidays. Mel is here starting TODAY though (::squeeeeeeeeee::) so I may not get much done.

Love!
xoxo,
schmash

Monday, January 24, 2011

An addition to my previous post...

It would be late September, at a vineyard somewhere in the hill country (Fredericksburg or thereabouts).

There would be a bounce house and/or trampolines.

We would have an extravagant buffet for our closest family and friends, featuring fried chicken and chicken-fried steak, mashed potatoes, all sorts of buttery vegetables, multiple gravies, homemade Parker House rolls, and of course, sweet tea and Dr. Pepper. Plus that open bar thing that seems to make everyone happy! The food would be served in vintage mismatched silver chafing dishes, and drinks would be served in rose and jade glass tumblers. Plates would also be vintage mismatched china, with embroidered linen handkerchiefs as napkins.

For dessert, we'd have that precious wood grain wedding cake (red velvet, of course!), and a snowcone machine.

When it got dark, I'd have a pretty handmade shawl to cover up with, and we'd bring out coffee, hot chocolate, and hot toddies to keep us warm.

We'd light firecrackers and sparklers, and we'd have a huge bonfire made of mesquite and pinion wood as the party carried on after sunset. Some of our closest friends would bring out their guitars, and we'd all kick off our shoes and sing and dance to acoustic covers of our favorite songs under the stars.

Can you tell I've been dreaming?? Sounds like the most lovely thing I could ever imagine!

xoxo,
schmash

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Wedding Mulligan

I've been looking at lot of blogs recently, and since the holidays are engagement season, everyone's been posting wedding stuff like CRAZY.

It's made me think about our wedding, and how it'd be different if we were planning it today. Not that I didn't absolutely adore our wedding, it was perfect for us at the time. But if we were doing it today, our personalities have changed so much over the past few years that it would be totally different! So I spent this morning looking over blogs and picking a few of my favorite things, and creating a collage of what our wedding would be if it was happening oh, say, tomorrow :)

I've included a list of links below, be sure to check them out, each blog/site/shop is beautiful!


So anyways, there they are! I hope you enjoy looking :) I certainly did! I think if we have a vow renewal, I'd totally do something like this. But that's at least a couple of years away (if we do that as early as 5 years!). 

xoxo,
schmash

ps- see below for links and photo credit! 

1. Short Dress: For Emily

2. Long Dress: Oysters & Pearls

3. Reception Decorations: Original photos from Green Chair Studio. Photo taken from elizabethdye.blogspot.com.

4. Bouquet: by Flora Grubb

5. Outdoor Banquet table photo: www.leweddingparty.com

6. Woodgrain Groom's Cake: originally from www.marthastewart.com, taken from www.leweddingparty.com

7. Fascinator: bando

8. Ring: Etsy

9. Men's Ring: Etsy

10. Shoes for short dress: ModCloth

11. Shoes for long dress: ModCloth

Monday, January 17, 2011

On Taxes, Couches, Nail Polish, and the upcoming trip to Sydney

Before you say anything, YES! I do realize it's been forever.

But instead of trying to catch up on EVERYTHING that happened over the holidays, I'm just going to start fresh. Capiche?

Anyways. Taxes: we're going to be getting a HUGE (read::GINORMOUS) tax refund back this year. Between Larry being in school (we get to claim deductions for his tools AND books!), and having taxes withheld from our checks at a higher rate (paranoia from the days of 1099's... not an issue now that we have W-2's, but hey, better to be safe), we're going to be getting a lot back!

Which leads me to my next topic: Couches. As soon as we get that refund we are a) paying off Larry's credit card, b) paying off my credit card, and c) buying the following couch! Huzzah! We're super excited about it. We've never bought a couch before, so it's like this new adventure, discovering the things we love and hate about designs, colors, fabrics, etc. We've learned through the process of searching for the perfect couch that we're both really into mid-century (to be more specific, 1960's-ish) design. Pretty much everything we picked out was mod, and we hope to be getting rid of the existing entertainment center (because it's HUGE) and replacing it with a smaller, more "us" style. But anyways, here's the couch, and the color we're getting it in!


So there she is! I can't wait to get it in the house and get rid of our uncomfortable futon. Not that it hasn't served us well, I'm just super excited about having a REAL couch. And one that we picked out, to boot!
As for the nail polish, I've been looking for a really good neutral color, and I found it! OPI's You Don't Know Jacques is my new favorite color!




It's almost purple, almost brown, almost gray, and all shades of lovely :) Like I said, my new favorite!

Aaaaaaaand for that last bit of news, I'm going to Colour Conference in Sydney!!! I'll be leaving either Sunday night or Monday (March 13th or 14th),  and flying back Sunday (the 20th) in time to be back to work bright and early on Monday morning! I'm going to be so exhausted, but it's going to be so much fun and I can't wait!!!