Decorating is in the Genes

I get my love for decorating honestly.

My mother and my grandmother and I are one in the

same when it comes to wanting our homes to look nice.

 While in my hometown of Marietta, GA last month
I took some pictures of my mother's home and
I must say - she has exquisite taste :)
These are of the master bedroom...

My mom started using the fireplace mantle as her

headboard long before it became "trendy".

Her home is full of earth tones, neutrals and TONS of antiques!
Very "home-y".

 (Just ignore Maddie in the bottom left corner!)

 My mom uses an old sewing table as her TV stand.

I've never understood people who decorate without
the "home" feel in mind.  Who wants to come home to
a space that feels...well...institutional?  Not I.
My mother's home is comfortable, classy & 
full of character.  Like every home should be :)
I plan on taking more pictures of my mom's home when
I see her next week - so be sure to check them out!
For now I will leave you with this picture
of my mom's dog Ranger...

AKA: Gene Simmons!

 Have a great weekend y'all!

California Momento

Just a little background...

I was born in Berkeley, California and lived in the Bay Area until age 12.  At that point my family and I moved to Atlanta, Georgia where the rest of my family lives and where my parents grew up.

After a long overdue visit to see some very close friends in Napa,

I wanted to give my mom something to remember our fun trip by!

Here are some of the pictures I included:

We took these pictures on the beach in Carmel -

our favorite vacation spot when I was little :)

Below is our view from our hotel room

during our stay in San Francisco...

You know we had to ride the cable car!

Here's one of the views from the ride...

What a fantastic trip!

And I think my mom enjoyed her memento :)

Tell me about a fun trip you've taken!

Where did you go?

What was your favorite part of your trip?

It's all in the fixin's

I got to thinking about how I eat a salad just about every single night of the week and how sometimes it just takes some experimenting to figure out what kind of salad makes your taste buds water...

This is just an easy-to-make salad that you can whip together in no time flat!  It's great paired with just about any entree.

You will need:

Spring Salad Mix

Goat Cheese

Dried Cranberries

Walnuts or Pine nuts

Rosemary & Garlic Dressing or Brianna's Asiago Caesar Dressing

Fresh Cracked Pepper

Take some spring salad mix (this is my personal favorite, but

you can use whatever kind you please) and place it in a bowl.

Then crumble some goat cheese over it, add a small amount of

dried cranberries and add either walnuts or pine nuts.

(I went with walnuts because that's what I had on hand!)

This is the dressing I used on mine.  I picked it up at Fresh Market.

It is a dressing, marinade and bread dip - all in one!
(As you can tell I like it since the bottle is almost gone!)

Another favorite dressing of mine is Brianna's Asiago

Caesar Dressing...HOLY MOLEY IS IT GOOOOOOOD!

If you haven't ever tried any of the Brianna Dressings...

YOU NEED TO!

And their website is fabulous, too!

They have recipes for every one of their dressings/marinades!

And a lot of them are submitted by their consumers!

Anyways, that is my "go to" salad that I make majority of nights

and it is light and delicious.  A lot of times I'll just make myself

a big bowl of that salad to eat by itself!  Adding some grilled chicken

would be an excellent addition as well!

Let me know if anyone tries that combination!

Bon appetit!

P.S. - I can't wait to get my Le Creuset bakeware in the mail!

Thanks again Dusty Lu!

Mini Bathroom Makeover!

It's the moment we've all

(or maybejust me)

have all been waiting for!

My mini bathroom makeover!

So, since I live in a rental I can't paint my walls.

But I can change others things...

Here are the before pictures:

Bluh. (Please disregard the wrinkles!)

Boring. Yawn.

Lifeless hand towels.

So, what did I do mix things up??

First, I bought some Krylon spray paint in white.

As my roommate and I say,

"It's Spring!  Spray painting season!"

I bought these shower hooks at T.J. Maxx for $5.

Then I took the mirrors from above my toilet

and spray painted those bad boys...

Ahh...Much better!

So are you ready to see the after pictures?

Much better!

I added a ruffle to the bottom of these $2.99 for

four white hand towels from Target.

(I'm still working on putting the ruffle on the bottom

of the $2.99 for two regular towels)

The monogrammed linens over the towels I purchased

at a local marketplace for $5 each a few months ago.

I picked these bottles up for $3 each when we visited

Carmel Beach back in February of this year.

I then picked up this iron garden tray

from Hobby Lobby for only $5!

I love birds.  Not in real life - just in pictures!

I picked up this print from an old

book in Monterey, CA for $6.

I had the frame sitting around the apartment...

And here is the finished product...

The ruffled shower curtain is from Bed Bath & Beyond.

My mom bought it for as part of my birthday present :)

Such a lighter and more "airy" place!

I'm in the midst of making over another room in

my apartment that I can't wait to share with all of you!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!

I won, I won!

Okay, I am back and ready to blog!

I haven't blogged this week because I have been sick :(

Somehow I got strep throat and simply haven't been feeling

like my usual happy and fun loving self...

But I'm back in full swing now!

And I won my first giveaway!!

Remember when I blogged about

Dusty Lu's Le Creuset Giveaway?

Well....

I WON!!!!!!

I know!  I can't believe it either!

After being sick this week and having so much going on at

work this is exactly the type of pick-me-up I needed :)

I am finishing up the final touches on my mini bathroom

makeover and I hope to show it to you all on Sunday!

In the meantime, I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!

My four-legged little girl

So, I know this post doesn't have anything to do with fashion or decor,

but it is a large part of my life that I enjoy everyday...

My dog Maddie.

Maddie is a rescue dog.  She is a 2 year old black lab - schipperke

mix, but gets mistaken for a black lab puppy all the time.

I saw a commercial on TV today that just

made me think about what a rescue dog goes through

before they are adopted into a good home and

it made me think about my rescue dog.

Each morning when I get up I start getting

ready and Maddie watches her "Momma".

And each night when I get home she is thrilled when

I walk in the door.  And super excited when I grab her

leash and take her on a walk.  And ecstatic when we settle

in on the couch to watch some good ol' TV.  And she is

completely content at the end of a long day when she gets to

cuddle up on the bed and fall asleep (she also likes to snore!).

You don't know what your rescue dog goes through before

you adopt it, but you can do everything in your power to make

sure that you've given it the best home it could possibly have now.

Whatever Maddie went through before she was mine

made her grateful for everything she has now.

Everyday when she looks up at me I can tell she's saying,

"I'm a lucky dog! Thanks for saving me mom!"

But honestly, I'm the lucky one here :)

Flower Power!

There is nothing that brightens up a room more than fresh flowers.

And right now I am stuck on ranunculuses!

I love the layers of the petals.  They just make it so delicate looking.

This may soon become my favorite flower...maybe even over tulips!

GASP!

I know, could it be?!

So, I want to know - What's your favorite flower?