Seagrass isn't just for the beach...

     My design esthetic is almost always about light, bright, and airy.  Seagrass is one of those elements that lends itself perfectly to that environment, and it looks great in almost any kind of room whether traditional, contemporary, or eclectic.  The neutrality of seagrass can anchor a room with its amazing texture.

Gorgeous!  Love, love, love...
Source: google.com via kira on Pinterest

Wall to wall...
Up the stairs...


At the foot of the bed...

Source: garnethill.com via Lila on Pinterest

Gorgeous seagrass window coverings...

Source: google.com via Carrie on Pinterest

To layer with another rug...


Source: google.com via Maureen on Pinterest

It is a perfect material...

Source: google.com via Maureen on Pinterest




An outdoor room with a view...

     It's that time of year again when we are spending as much time as possible outside.  In Texas we have many months to be able to enjoy the great outdoors, but it is already super hot here so much of that time is spent immersed in a pool.  7 o'clock in the evening is about the time I go grab my book of the moment and enjoy the cooling down part of the day.  I'm loving some of these outdoor spaces...

Love this color of blue!
White hydrangeas look so great...




Source: bhg.com via Maureen on Pinterest

I love how the color of the shutters match the water...


This is a positively zen spot...


A peaceful place to dine alfresco...
















































And a bit of a cozy spot...


Masquerade...

     Sadly, I have been away from posting for far too many days because I've been pretty much doing nothing besides planning a masquerade banquet for the high school's drill team for 200 people.



I got my invitation inspiration from, of course, Pinterest

  I just finished cutting out a bazillion wee little masks to attach to their place cards for the night.

Printed out the table cards...
Folded and fluffed pink and silver poms...
Covered masks with pink petals for the centerpieces...



Embellished a bazillion others...

And have been burned by more hot glue than you can imagine!


And, after all what is a lie?  'Tis but the truth in a masquerade...

              ~Alexander Pope



Can I get a...white, white?

     Lord knows that I am that light and bright girl 24/7 around my house.  Doors, windows, plantation shutters, open, open, open!  I love the look of white, but I have to be careful because with three dogs I am washing everything in my house all of the time.  My bedroom linen is white, with a white coverlet at the end of the bed, and I am constantly washing them to keep them looking as though I'm not actually living in squalor.  I have very dark wood floors which I love next to the off white shag rug (I'm obsessed with a more contemporary shag to anchor a rather traditional room), but the rug and the floors are a mess all of the time with muddy paw prints from my precious pups.  So here's to some spaces that have the look of white worked out pretty perfectly...

White peonies...what I would give to have a yard full!
A place to make you linger...


Simple and perfect...

In a country kitchen...

Or one a bit more glam...


In a bath...


A pantry filled with white dishes...


On a perfect porch...

Book love...

     There is nothing like a good book that you can dive into, devouring every word, every syllable and dread every moment of putting it down while methodically slowing down your reading pace so that the book won't actually end.  And those are the ones I go back to read again and again.  My current book that I fell in love with about three years ago, and now have finished for the third time is called It Happens Every Day, a memoir written by Isabel Gillies with heartbreaking candor about being blindsided by the falling apart of her marriage with two young sons.



     First of all, I love memoirs.  I love feeling like I'm a fly on the wall of someone else's life and intimate conversation, and you want to jump into the middle of it with all the answers!  So I read it for the third time, because the writing is so raw and brutally honest, and at times you are literally wincing for her, begging for her to wake up and smell the proverbial coffee!

     So she has a sequel called A Year In Six Seconds that I had no idea about until I went snooping on the internet to find out more about this woman's life, because I'm kind of obsessed at this point.

Source: amazon.com via Alice on Pinterest


     So I'm like YES!  THANK GOD!  I NEED TO KNOW MORE!  And since it was published nearly a year ago, I thought I would get on Amazon (I know they are evil personified ruining all small book stores, but usually I go out of my way to shop local...so throw me a bone people)  and get it.  So I'm counting down the days, actually two, because I signed up for Amazon Prime which means I paid nada shipping for a second day delivery and free trial of their Prime program which is akin to signing a deal with the devil people, because that's where they hook you on the free super fast shipping!  It's a cautionary tale...

Met Gala fashion fabulousness...

     High fashion on steroids meets a wee bit of culture (because these people need some kind of reason to get all fancy schmancy hifalutin and all), and Prada was out in full force looking mighty fierce I might add...
Diane Kruger in Prada...
Loving this whole, I'm-wearing-enough-feathers-to-mop-the-worlds-dirtiest-floor-whilst-providing-a-seduction-scene-situation-look...


More feathers!  Kate Boswell in Prada and I love it!

Source: google.com via Maureen on Pinterest



I must have those shoes!  What are those shoes Kate is wearing?  I will track them down and they will be mine...MUAHAHAHAHAHA...

Hot mess feather situation...we shall blame the sad ensemble choice on a postpartum moment of insanity ...either that or ridiculously bad fashion sense, but I choose to focus on insanity; because it's kinder...

Source: popsugar.com via Molly on Pinterest

Sarah Jessica Parker
OK, this is not a good look and what is up with all the long sleeves/we're bringin Amish back fashion thingy...cause I'm pretty much not feelin it Sarah?  And it's Valentino...WTH?  And the gold bracelets...wha?  I clearly don't get this whole thing that probably has some kind of fashion story that if I were in the vicinity of hearing said fashion story I would be saying something like, "I totally get it.  It's a 60's throw back to Laura Ingalls Wilder's (aka half-pint) late 19th century struggle for fashion survival in God awful rural Minnesota".  Because sadly I'm influenced by fabulous people that tell me they know better...Sorry...I heart you.  Call me...


Loving this red Lanvin on Emma Stone...

Somebody is trying way too hard here in Rachel Zoe...
Source: nymag.com via Lori on Pinterest

Source: styleite.com via Azra on Pinterest

Hillary Swank is killing it in Tom Ford...