Maternity Photos

Posted in Family & Motherhood by

A few weeks ago, our talented friends Brandon + Kristin Kidd (maybe you remember them as our awesome wedding photographers??) took us on a little adventure to the Oak Canyon Nature Center (where they were married — such a neat venue!!) near our home (that we’re getting packed up to move out of this weekend — eek!) for a maternity session. Mumbles and I really wanted some photos to document this special time in our lives and it was made even more special having Brandon and Kristin there to share in the joy of yet another huge milestone for us — the anticipation of our first child. Even Baxter was included, which was awesome.

Here are a few of my favorite photos from the day (click on photo to enlarge for slideshow):

Thank you, Brandon + Kristin for blessing us with your talents and friendship!  I sort of want to get prints of all of these and hang them up in our new house but a shrine to my pregnancy might be a little weird.  Maybe I’ll just pick a select few, which will be hard.  I adore all the black and white ones.

If you’re in the market for an incredible wedding photographer, Brandon Kidd Photography is always my first recommendation. Brandon and Kristin are simply delightful people and they do genius work behind the lens to truly capture photos that you’ll cherish forever.

Splurge vs. Steal: Silver Metallic Oxfords

Posted in Beauty & Fashion by

I’ve been holding out for just the right pair of oxfords and while I love the look of a tan or cognac leather that will only get better with time (style stolen from the men’s section), I also love the idea of something that stands out a bit more.  I’ve had my eyes on these J. Crew beauties, but the price tag is a bit much.  I’m sure the quality is fantastic, though. I could live in my bronze  J. Crew loafers — they’re the first shoes I go to in the morning but since these are such statement shoes, I don’t know that I’d wear them as often (though, they’d spark up just about any outfit if you’re looking for a good excuse to splurge!).  Luckily, the other day my friend Kacee from Life With Lipstick On (you may also know her as the beauty genius of Kacee Geoffroy Makeup Design) was featured on Inspired by This and included a similar pair from Zara for about one-third of the price! Yahoo!

In any case, here are two darling choices if you’re in the market for some shiny new soles:

jcrew mirror metallic oxfordMirror Metallic Oxford | J. Crew
zara silver metallic oxfordPatent Blucher | Zara

Leather Loveseats

Posted in For the Home by

Exciting news: Mumbles and I are in escrow on a new home! I know I shouldn’t be getting carried away before everything is signed and the keys are in our hands but I just can’t help it.  I’ve been pinning away on a secret Pinterest board to keep track of all the ideas I have swirling in my brain for decor, furniture, renovations and storage. I’m having way too much fun and it’s been quite fulfilling seeing as this is the time in pregnancy when I should be nesting, alas, I have no home to currently nest in.

Even though I’m super eager to get all the baby stuff into the new house, what I’m most looking forward to is a larger living room. Our current living room is very small and cozy – you practically spill into it when you walk in the front door and it acts like our entryway, family room for tv watching, eating area, office and library. Since we love to entertain, I keep thinking about seating options. We have a fantastic sofa + chaise sectional that I love and originally I was thinking we could add a corner section to make one giant U shape (it would look a lot like this). But then I realized that the way the living room is laid out, it would mean you’d enter the room and have to walk all the way around a long sofa arm to sit anywhere on the couch. It would close off the room and I don’t like that vibe. Living rooms should be inviting, beckoning you to come on in and make yourself comfy, right?

Instead I was thinking we’d keep the couch as is and add a loveseat. Great idea!  But now I can’t decide if I want it to match our current sofa or get something totally different. Lately, my obsession is leather. I think it’s so rich and masculine, very earthy and would compliment the [yet-to-be-installed] wood floors and the brick fireplace in our new spot. Plus, I love how aged leather looks and it would seemingly be good for kiddos to be able to swipe up spills (minus scratches, I guess…but hey, patina and character, right?) Our current couch is a charcoal gray fabric and we’ve also added the dove gray graham glider from west elm to our seating arrangement so I’ll have a comfy spot to nurse without having to go hide in a room somewhere and miss all the fun (read: tv watching). So, another matching loveseat would be a whole lotta gray in one room.  We can certainly liven up the grays with throw pillows, but it seems like a safe choice and leather is still on my brain. I’ve never had a leather sofa, though, so I’m wondering: have you ever had a leather sofa? What do you think? Love it? Hate it?

Here are my favorite leather sofa/loveseat options that I’ve been secretly pinning and pining over:

everett leather loveseat west elm
Everett Leather Loveseat | West Elm

brooks-leather-settee crate and barrel
Brooks Leather Settee | Crate & Barrel
(also comes in an awesome charcoal color)

tobacco leather loveseat living spaces
Tobacco Loveseat | Living Spaces

stockholm-three-seat-sofa__in natural Ikea
Stockholm Sofa | Ikea
(I like this new for 2014 tan color but the chocolate brown seems like it might age better…plus it looks a bit cheap – and the pricetag isn’t!)

petrie-leather-76-apartment-sofa gray leather Crate & Barrel
Petrie Apartment Sofa | Crate & Barrel

Any favorites from this roundup or others to recommend?  I’ve been keeping an eye out on Craigslist, but because I’m not really ready to pull the trigger quite yet, it’s almost too much of a tease.

For more home decor, bedroom, bathroom, flooring, and seating pinspiration, check out my Pinterest boards.

The Bachelorette After the Final Rose – Desiree

Posted in The Bachelor/Bachelorette Recaps by

Desiree comes out in bridal white, flashing a happy smile and her shiny engagement ring. Here’s the interesting updates from After the Final Rose:

– Brooks faces Desiree for the first time after breaking her heart leaving Antigua. Brooks says that watching the show back was difficult but Des commends him for being so honest, which is what helped her to move on. As far as regrets go, Brooks is easy on himself and Desiree is easy on the situation as well.  Oddly enough, Brooks didn’t know what had happened so Desiree had to say “Well, you leaving was actually really great.” And when she tells Brooks that she’s engaged to Chris, he says he’s not surprised at all.  A very easy, uninteresting interview actually.

– Drew‘s interview is long and drawn out and there’s really not much you can say about it. It wasn’t there. He’s fine. She’s fine. He wants her to be happy. She wants him to be happy.  And the “could I have done something different?”  “No.”  “Drew, are you still in love with Des?” “No. But…I have nothing but love for you.” The end.

– Chris comes out and Chris Harrison waits a whole one minute before bringing up Brooks. Way to ruin a moment, guy.  Once we see how happy the newly engaged couple is to be reunited again, we get to rewatch their proposal.  Cute.  But we just saw it five minutes ago, so thanks for that.  New developments: Desiree is moving to Seattle this weekend. They got a new place so they’ll have a fresh start to their new life together. (read: I didn’t want any of his crap).  In true Chris fashion, he’s written a poem for Desiree, framed with dried rose petals from each of the rose ceremonies.  Super sappy but they seem happy.

– The next Bachelor is….Juan Pablo!   I’m telling you, the accent wins every time.  Here’s what you need to know: Juan Pablo is 32, he grew up in Venezuela, he was a professional soccer player, he moved to Miami, had a daughter who is now 4 years old, and he speaks highly of his daughter’s mom.  Juan Pablo wants to a) find a stepmom for his daughter and b) wants more kids.  He’s finding it hard to be a single dad and find a good mate, which I’d assume is just because he’s so good looking that he doesn’t ever settle down, but apparently, he’s ready to be a one-woman man and make more babies. I think there’s plenty of ladies out there looking for a little Latin flair in their life.  Juan Pablo seems a little overwhelmed/scared about the throngs of women yelling and screaming. I almost expected some panty flinging on stage.   I expect we’ll see a lot of kissing next season because Juan Pablo is a little hard to understand (though I don’t think the ladies will be complaining). We’ll have to wait until January to see how crazy it gets.