Easter Snow?

Seriously, who would've thought it would look like this on March 20th?

More of New York

This was the view out the window of my hotel room. It took forever to get a good pic since the window only opened a crack otherwise it was me in the glare of the glass. Not such a good pic. I took it after having walked the neighborhood early in the morning. We stayed at the Soho Grand on W Broadway which was fabulous! My only complaint was that the windows didn't open enough and the air didn't work so it was incredibly stuffy for someone like me who likes it cold enough to hang meat in the house at night. Seriously though, this room was gorgeous and super comfy.



Lovely sign on the wall I saw when out for my walk. The color was amazing.



Couldn't resist!



Little piece of home in neon. I didn't try it since I had eaten nor did I want to be incredibly let down. I was still stuffed on gnocco, pizza and pasta from Gnocco. Truly out of this world. If you go just for the gnocco appetizer it's completely worth the airfare.



At the giant Toys 'R' Us in Times Square. Pretty cool.




Finally, if you ever wondered what I thought heaven would be like it's this. French bistro with super close seating and shared favorites with nearby diners. Fantastic hard cider (yep, check me out with the hard stuff), organic salmon, frittes, cheesy polenta and profiteroles... seriously, heaven. I actually had visiting here on the list of things to do before checking out the pearly gates so checked it of the list and plan to visit next week for girls weekend.



Tonight I'm working on finishing up a necklace I started this weekend. Tomorrow, packing for mini-road trip to Santa Fe for long weekend. It's cold with chance of snow! Woo hoo.

For those folks related to us quick Maya update. She's doing much better with the shots and starting to be up running around like her old puppy self. She's back up to giving regular kisses and demanding pets.

Few pics of me in New York

I was in New York last week for work and we managed to get a few outings in.

Enjoying Times Square and the Liberty for Target Marketing.



Yes, I'm 5.








I have more to add once I get them off the camera.

New York

Seriously tired but it's been incredibly productive including dinner @Balthazar's. If you follow me on twitter I took pics of the fabulous dessert. I'll post pics when I'm back home.

Sunday Greatness

Today was a great Sunday. I woke up super early and got in a few housekeeping duties but then spent lots of time in the studio while Rolland slept. He woke up early, I have no idea why, and then we got our front garden cleaned up. I think spring has hit and we're completely rejuvenated and inspired to make things like this:



It also helped that I'm now able to listen to Sirius radio on these.



Tomorrow I'm heading to New York to meet up with our team of folks that work in, well, New York. It's my first time to visit and I'm super excited. Hopefully I'll get a lot accomplished on the work front but also want to hit the streets after work and get lots of pics. Now, it's time to finish packing and hit the hay. Our flight is at 7:00am which is a typical day but with the airport we're heading out about 5am which is when I usually get up. Ick.

Perfect Present

For Valentine's Day Rolland gave me a kindle and it's been a perfect present. I've had to go on several trips lately and it's been awesome on the plane. I read this book while on the trip. I heard an interview with the author on NPR but it wasn't what I expected and I'm still not sure if I really liked it.

The upcoming week kicks off lots of travel in March. I'm going to New York this week for work, next week we're road tripping to Santa Fe then back to New York for a girls trip. I'm hoping to get lots of good pics and check out some great places to visit on the next weekend.

So far I've been getting in lots of fun in the studio and am hoping you guys are also having a great weekend.

Pink Paper and Paper Doll

I'm thinking of using this image in a charm but not sure if it's enough. I always like things fairly clean and simple but then want to add more bling.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day was perfect and incredibly low key. I woke up early and did a little housekeeping while Rolland snoozed. Then, a massage and biscuits & gravy. Yummy. We did snacks and are watching the Olympics tonight so it's been lovely.

I'm also playing catch up on the pics and blog updates so these are a few pics of what I did last weekend. Suzanne hosted the be babes & bbq for our monthly girls (& Yuri) gathering.

This is Suzanne (the blonde) & Elizabeth being completely adorable while we grill. They also have a fabulous, in addition to their day jobs as fantastic designers, gig creating super cute silk screens. You can check it out here.



Yuri doing a fabulous job at the bbq.



It was a great gathering with some super tasty food. Pics of that as soon as I can find them on the desktop.

Hoping everyone is having a fabulous Valentine's Day.

Snow, Snow, and more snow!

This is what it looked like at our house yesterday. Heaven!

Baked Goods A Plenty

Friday's carrot cake was popular with the work folks. Turns out carrots are yummy!



I made this for hubby to take to the office with frosting leftover from...



these that made an appearance earlier in the week.



I think next weekend I'm going to try something super ambitious with caramel and chocolate along with making the homemade bagels.

Jewelry on everything!

Rolland vetoed painting this cute little teak table but he did ok a swap on the drawer knobs. Here it is before:



And after with it's vintage style pulls added.

Living Room make over

This is the living room before



And this is the living room after





Up close shot of the mantle with the print we got on our last trip to Vegas. It reminds me of my sister since she loves all things Wizard of Oz and spending summers in Kansas on the prairie. One of my all time favorite pieces. Also, my collection of mercury glass. It looks aged and still sparkles so gotta love it.


This is a desk my Dad made that used to be stained but I dressed it up with some black spray paint (Rolland's concerned I'm going to start spray painting everything. He could be right.)that I sanded down to hint at the previous staining and lovely drawer pulls from Anthropologie.



My new sitting area in the living room with the couch from upstairs brought downstairs to make use of the space and to create a functional sitting area. A co-worker who was moving gave me the mirror which I love. I mixed a few golds and a hint of purple to make it brighter. The doll head piece on the left was a gift from the hubby a couple of years ago and now she's somewhere safe (previously in the entry where she got bumped frequently).


These chairs were where the pic above is now. I think they make a cozy little area over by the fireplace. Rolland's old teak nightstand is perfect candle/match holder now.



Overall it has a much more "grown up" feel to it. Rolland also thinks it's less girly than some of the rest of the house and I'm just happy to have a place to put everything finally. Amazingly, this took only 4 days to complete (2 weekends) so we're getting this decoration thing down.

Happy Monday!

Long and Productive Weekend

Normally the weekends fly by but with the living update in progress this one didn't move as quickly. We did get it completely put back together and I think I've decided I love it. It was a little touch and go for a while but I think the new set up with easy access to a reading light has pushed me over the love edge. Tomorrow pictures of before and after.

Also, yay Saints! I'm not normally a saints fan but I like Sean Peyton and have been so irritated by Favre that I found myself rooting loudly for the overtime win. We've got the house back in order just in time for the great sports stretch of the Super Bowl then the Winter Olympics. Woo hoo!

Cloverleaf... again

We had a 3 day weekend which seemed like a perfect time for Bo (the girl) and I to hit the road to Cloverleaf on Monday while hubby was at work. We left early and had an awesome trip into Oklahoma. Since I drove, we got there early which left us with a chance to wander the front "yard" looking at all kinds of things like this. Rolland specifically warned me not to come home with this ice cream cone.



I got this one instead.



He's now decided the ice cream cone might not have been so bad.

Rolland was also shocked on Saturday that I wanted to get paint to paint the living room. Further distressing was realizing I meant to start that afternoon. We're halfway through and the color has finally settled in and should look really pretty. We've also decided on a new bookshelf/media storage plan for the tv wall. Hopefully before and after pics will be going up this weekend.

Happy Wednesday!

Awesome weekend

Saturday was an awesome girls day (plus my fabulous friend Yuri). We met at my house for brunch then braved the bone chilling cold, which I love, to do some shopping at the outlets. It seems everyone was extremely successful in helping out the economy. :)

I made it home in plenty of time to watch the Cowboys and their greatness (Go Cowboys!... just for all the Ticket fans out there). Today I haven't felt great and ended up napping most of the afternoon. I did get chicken stock made and watched the Packers/Cardinals game. I was really routing for the Packers but it wasn't meant to be.

Little art's gotten done but I have been inspired to get some new charms done based on a similar look to the piece I created in Phoenix. Hopefully I'll get in lots of studio time this week.