before and after

I love Design Sponge's 'Before and After' feature. It's one of my most favorite things - the idea of turning old and discarded things into new beauties. This is probably also why I love all the shows on HGTV about makeovers and re-making old things. Not only is it amazing to see the transformation along with the creative process that goes with the change, but I am a fan of doing a little extra work to decrease our waste. This is what it's all about people! Recycling and re-making helps maintain our sustainability. I could go off on a tangent here, but I'll refrain and recommend that you watch this great video instead, and leave you with some fun pictures.

I love tree prints. love!


An old dresser and headboard turns into...

Utility space!





I really like the raw look of this.

treasure hunt + six months

We took a day trip down to Williamsburg this past weekend for (wait for it..) another volleyball tournament. The team had great success, seeing as they were a 15 year old team playing against 16 year old teams AND were missing two of their players. It was also sorta neat to meet more parents and hear them say all kinds of nice things about my husband, the wonderful volleyball coach.

During one of the breaks I went over to check out the D.A.V. Thrift Store that was nearby and had fun turning up treasures. I didn't get anything because I am trying to minimize the stuff that we have to haul out during our next move, but I took pictures of some of the nifty things I found.

Beautiful! And all at a bargain price.

The tournament ended later than expected, so we decided to eat dinner in W-burg. We found the Captain George's Seafood Restaurant in town, and decided (at the last minute) that it was for our six month anniversary. We both really like crab legs, and we especially like it when we can eat a lot of it, so, happy six months baby! The line was ridiculous, but we persevered and was rewarded with lots of crab.

Yum. Here we are with our first plates..

See how happy I am with my crab legs? See how good my husband is with his hands? I love him.

March desktop

Right now my desktop wallpaper is this pretty calendar by Shanna Murry (illustration) and Jordan Ferney (photograph). Shanna Murry has been doing a few of these calendar illustrations on photographs to make into computer desktops and I think they are lovely. Plus, I like the "Spring, Come Soon" written on it in that slant font. It captures my longing well. You can download it here.

While it is still cold, March has thankfully been filled with a lot of sunshine. In that same line of thinking, while I have been crankier than usual, I am trying hard to focus on the positives. K's birthday is coming up this month (28!), there is more daylight than last month, and I am excited to do some spring cleaning this upcoming Sunday (really). Hope you all are putting positive spins on your day, ciao!

peeks: our dining room and kitchen

I just saw two old men walk out of the coffee shop with a KITE! They were chuckling with glee and then drove away in a car together. To go find adventure, obviously. I want to watch them fly it but it might be too much to follow them. Truly wish I had gotten a picture of them. The kite was green.

Anyways. Getting back to the original intent of the post, snapshots of our home! Ken did a great job finding this place for us last year and it will always be special because it was our first-year-of-marriage house. As much as we love it, we have pretty much decided to move after our one year lease is up in June. There are several reasons and there are still many things up in the air about this upcoming year, but I won't get into that right now. Maybe later.

In order to remember our first home, I have been taking pictures of the rooms and will share them from time to time. For today, here are some looks into our dining room and kitchen. We love these rooms because we love eating and cooking.

Probably one of my favorite things about this wall are the fabric prints that I framed. I used the black and white fabric from our wedding centerpieces and put them in frames that I got from the thrift store (for 99 cents!).




















I will leave you with a picture of one of our favorite things to do when it's warm: grill! Another reason to look forward to summer.

i can only write so many cover letters before i want to throw up.

For the most part, I really am having a lovely few days enjoying some time off after studying. Some of the more pleasant things have been: catching up with friends, finally folding that huge stack of laundry, and exercising. Things that I'm not appreciating as much is the yo-yo weather, and job searching. I was actually excited to job search, because oh-the-possibilities, and the doom and gloom tone of articles like this had faded somewhat from my mind. However, a few days of writing cover letters and reading job descriptions, I want to shake my fist in the air and yell, I CAN'T HAVE 5-7 YEARS OF EXPERIENCE IF YOU WON'T HIRE ME, FIRST!

I'm open and flexible in regards to the type of job I get. I know it will take a while (if ever) to get to a job that I will be happy with, so I'm willing to wait and work any number of jobs in the meanwhile. Ideally, the time that I spend working the next few years will ultimately contribute to a career, and that is what I'm gunning for with my recent job searches. I don't have too much luxury in taking up unpaid internships to help the greater good, however, since the monster that is student loans come knocking every month.

In order to find a job that will offer sufficient pay (mostly so I can pay off the student loans), AND be somewhat in line with my career, I am looking outside of Richmond to other cities that may have more possibilities. At this point, since we're young and without children, moving to another city for a job is definitely do-able. I am, as always, up for an adventure, and pretty much ready for a new place. But then I also think about how familiar this city is to me and all of the friends we have here, and know that it will be hard to leave, if it ever came down to that. Richmond has so much character - both in its people and buildings - and glad that this is where we are spending our first year of marriage.

Here are some quick snapshots I took of our neighborhood the other day while walking Rusty, isn't it lovely?

Back to cover letters!

pretty things for summer

I have so many things to write about but I'm having a hard time categorizing into appropriate blog posts. I have been busy living life and it feels good. More on this later. I WILL eventually get around to posting more frequently again! But for now, I thought I'd keep it simple with some pictures and post a few pretty things I've been eye-balling recently.

Summer is definitely on my mind..

Cambridge tote from shopmamie. This is such a perfect summer bag. They don't have it up anymore because they don't know when they'll restock, but i'm awating.


I am viciously eying this vintage cotton sequin tank from Jcrew. I would never buy it at this price - I am rolling my eyes as I type- but I love how sequins are incorporated into a soft comfortable summer look. I would pair this with a high-waist skirt or worn denim.

Hello, Michael Kors iPhone wristlet. When i first saw this, I was all, ugh why, especially because of the price, but then I saw how the iPhone fits into the wallet and how there are places to put your cards, and how you can put it around your wrist (thus, wristlet), and then I was all, yes please. Totally unnecessary, but cute.


I love this BDG skirt with black stripes. UO was carrying it last summer and didn't have my size when I was trying it on. I've been looking for it ever since and its nowhere to be found! I can't even find a decent picture of it. I randomly came across this picture on this blog, and its the closest I can find. If anyone comes across this skirt, do let me know. It's a short (slightly above the knee) and fitted skirt with pockets!



My staple during the summer are comfortable dresses, and I am thinking I could wear dresses like this from billabong everyday. Can you tell I love stripes?


I am usually not terribly fond of pastel, but have great fondness for this billabong suit. I am digging the shape of the bottom, and the color combination so deliciously echos a summer from the 70's.

I love these necklaces by heartcharlie, I would wear it with everything!