I love me a good bathroom....

Via Flickr

Via Hilsa Beck

Via Hilsa Beck

Via Hilsa Beck

Via Coco of cococozy

Courtesy of Brooke Giannetti/Velvet Linen via cococozy

Courtesy of Kevin Oreck Architect, Inc. via cococozy

Ralph Lauren Home

aaah.....back to the grind folks. I'm so torn over my bedroom these days. I've bought about a cagillion pillows and can't decide a color scheme! Some days I'm going for the pastel spring colors and then the other part of me wants the cools of the Eastern Coast Nautical style. Frustration. If I go back to all my home decor haunts and exchange pillows and throws one more time, I'm going to pull my hair out. That said, have any of you seen the Ralph Lauren 2010 Home Collection? He has two collections: La Plage which is totally nautical inspired with the East Coast feel. The other collection is Le Grand Hotel. It's beautiful, rich colors and fabrics but, still has that nautical, classic Ralph Lauren vibe. Take a gander at these beauties here. This is a sneak peak:
Cannes BedRoyal Rue Settee
Damask Wall Covering
Indian Cove Bed
Indian Cove Settee
Indian Cove Console

Happy Weekend Everyone!

Oh the weekend....it brings me such joy. I love weekends for a couple of reasons: 1) I get to eat a sweet. After following a pretty strict diet all week, Friday comes and I literally leap out of bed with excitement that I can have a treat. 2) Sunday I get a break from the gym! I'll admit it, I'm a gym rat purely for vanity's sake. But, when Sunday hits and I can just relax....ah......love it. So.... I made some banana chocolate chip cookies with toffee bits! I love these cookies because I don't add butter due to the fact that bananas are pretty fatty on their own. This doesn't mean that you should consume 7, that's right, 7 cookies. Sigh. No self control. My sister and her husband came over and we had some delicious Pizza Factory bread sticks. If you are near a Pizza Factory and haven't had one, take advantage, I urge you! They are huge, fluffy, delicious, and sinfully good. My sister made a delicious salad with mixed greens, goat cheese, and sugared nuts. I made grilled chicken (which I have every single darn night.) with dried onions and Laury's seasoning. So after everyone left and we had such great food (I was actually good dinner-wise, dessert was clearly another matter) the hubs and I got to talking. "I can't believe how many cookies the four of us ate!" He says to me. "Me neither!" I respond disgustedly. So......this morning we wake up and I hurry and drink my protein shake and get both kids fed and ready for the gym. This is where I realize the difference in priorities and thought processes between the hubs and myself. I'm thinking, "Wow, I've got to get to the gym because of all those cookies I ate." I realize my hubs is not ready and he says, "I ate too many cookies last night and they've just weighed me down! I'm going to take a break from the gym today because I'm just so tired!" "What?" I asked as I'm thinking, "Is he really serious? Taking a break?" Oh well, I hope he enjoyed HIS break. After my two hours of working my guts out, I head home and remember that we have a family dinner tonight. The hubs' mom is coming from England and I've got a dessert assignment. Dang it! Why?!!!! Why did I eat so many damn cookies when I had promised to make heath bar blondies! Serenity now!!!! .....sigh...I'm over it. Lesson learned: Do NOT gorge on desserts before thinking through your other delicious options over the weekend. I hope you all have a more promising weekend than me!
Images via The Delicious Life, One Family. One Food, Bunrab Blog Spot, Kara's Kitchen Creations, The Food Network, and Glamour.

Mean, lean, jeans!

My friend owns a couple clothing stores and frequently offers me good prices on awesome pieces. The other day she sent me great buys from Rock & Republic and William Rast! WOO HOO! The great Rock & Republic jeans are:
Naomi BermudaBerlin SkinnyKassandra Bootcut (My fave)
Stella Straightleg
And my favorite jeans of all of them from William Rast:
Savoy Trouser Don't you just love them all! Images via William Rast and Rock & Republic. Take a look!

Why me.....

As I was working on the computer the other day while I was still in my workout clothes, I happened to look out the window and cringe at the horror I saw. I'm generally pretty good if not great in taking care of my yard. (No these pics are not my yard) However, last fall I made some serious errors. I had a baby and between working out, taking care of the baby and the other child, and frequent nursing sessions, I didn't care one iota about the yard. (yes, this is actually my son) So, no, I did not trim my mums after they were dead or any other plant for that matter. As a result, my flower beds have become a mass of complicated weeds and dead flowers. Well, I was still sweaty and gross from my workout, so out I went on a mission to cleanse my lawn of any dead and unappealing object. A couple hours and curse words later, my lawn was back to manicured perfection. The irony of it all is that while I was making my glorious flower beds transform beautifully in order to display my spring tulips, my hands were becoming rapidly uglier by the minute. My husband came out to help me shortly after I had begun and that night we both complained of serious hand achage! I still have cuts and scabs that need some serious Neosporin. Hydrogen Peroxide has been my best friend. I truly wish that my lawn looked like some of these beauties I found. I really should have taken a before and after..... Well, there's more time for that. At least now I can focus on my little DIY finds instead of looking out the window with a dirtied conscience!Images via Front Yard Landscape Design, Allie Creech, and Stacy1313.

Interior Design Love.......

I frequently look at professional interior design sites. If you haven't looked at Turquoise Interior Design, you really should. I realized that every page I looked at had the most beautiful lamps! Enjoy these pictures of some of the houses they have done in California.











There are so many more! Make sure you look at this site!

Rugs, schmugs.....

Trying to furnish a basement, looking at every room, and then trying to figure colors schemes for each room is soooo stressful. So stressful in fact, that when we were painting the basement, I wasted three gallons of paint because they just didn't look quite right. We painted the entire basement ourselves and due to the excessive workload and stress, I went into labor with my second child two weeks early. But, that's beside the point. The point is that now that the wall colors are done, I'm thinking accessory color. I really wanted a rug in the main room. I have a fabulous rug in my dining area. It's pretty traditional meaning: classic color, style, and shape. It looks almost identical to the picture above. I found this really cool rug with cutouts! So now I'm thinking traditional, modern, oriental, floral, plain, patterned, shaped, you get the idea! It's ridiculous! As I was shopping I came across some awesome sites and rugs! I love the black and white theme in the picture but, I'm not an animal print person per say.... Oh, but I do love a shag rug. Look how big and luscious this is! I just want to roll around in it! Now this rug is very patterned but, looks perfect because the walls are white and nothing else is really busy. I love this one because I'm a sucker for golds and deep yellows. This rug has just a touch. And lastly, as you all know, I love green. Not only was the room green but, the rug had some in it too! It's the best of both worlds! Oh well, while I'm still pondering this, I had some thrift store finds that need some TLC. My issue is that I need a better camera to show them. I guess we all do what we can, right?!
Images via The Lennoxx, Cincinnati Oriental Carpets, Interior Vision, Selector, HGTV, ehow, and Artstyle