where the magic happens

Remember this fabric I had curtains made into for our bedroom:

I took our down comforter out of our KING size boring brown duvet to see if it would work for the FULL size duvet in one of the guest rooms. Those duvets always run big...anyway-it worked. So then I was tossing around the idea of getting a new filler for our boring brown duvet or get a brand spank'n new comforter. I like the idea of a duvet because I wash ours a lot but I figure I can drop a comforter off at the dry cleaner since we go every other week. Also, I'm not a huge fan of our duvet bc it doesn't completely cover our tall pillow top mattress. I need something wider that will hang lower. Like this:

Hello, Kate Spade! I'm really hoping this will look like dynamite next to my curtain's fabric swatch.

Our walls aren't that blue but they are Martha's Cake Stand Blue:

I'm not getting the complete set bc I'm not into that anymore. Besides, I'm obsessed with my sheets. I am tossing around the idea of getting 2 of those green Euro shams though...Thoughts?

If you need help with more of a visual, we have the PB Farmhouse Bedroom Collection. It makes for a tall bed that needs a low hanging comforter! I believe that the masculine lines in our existing furniture combined with our blue walls will help keep the floral pattern in the comforter from being too girly. Plus, I like the idea of throwing all the boring brown duvet ( I will say that I love the texture) out the window since the rest of our house has many punches of color. I like color and as my budget allows, I want more of it!

Once the bed is good and sleep worthy again, this Ballard Design mirror will  be my next item of purchase(thank goodness I have a killer discount):

Dresser (Before & After)

This dresser was bought for a guestroom in our house. However, Lee's Army wardrobe and "stuff" (lots and lots of stuff) are housed in this guest closet. He's not the only one that uses this room though...our treadmill is in there too which is a major reason why we bought another cable/dvr box for the guestroom. I'm sure you can see the box in the After pic below.

Before (Craigslist image)

After

I need to go back and touch up a few inside edges but you can see that for the most part-it's just about done. I removed the hardware and sprayed it in the perfect gold, sprayed the entire dresser in this perfect orange-y red color and then wiped a gloss over the dresser to give it a sweet shine.

leaving on a jet plane

I'm headed home today and I couldn't be more excited. Our housekeeper comes today too so I get to come home to a clean house. I love starting a weekend off on a "clean" slate.

Lee and I are swearing off our phones and spending a lot of QT time together. I see a movie, gun range date, Big Truck Taco lunch and a trip to Cuppies & Joe in our future.

The gun range date is my idea. One-I know Lee is on board for that any day. But two-it's important to us both that I feel comfortable loading and shooting my gun. I do not sleep well when Lee is gone and I know I will feel a lot safer with more gun shooting under my belt.

We want to see Horrible Bosses. We've seen Transformers and Bad Teacher-both really good by the way...

Have a super fantastic weekend, y'all! I'll leave you with some pretties that I'm dreaming of for when we build our future doll house. All images below are in my "I'm serious about this image and something in this pic will influence my future dream house" folder.

Sorry, I don't have sources. Sucky, I know. I do quick saves all the time for inspiration. Today, I just feel compelled to share a bit of my serious folder with you. Ha!

keep it clean

I am obsessive about washing my face every night and try to take really good care my skin while I am sleeping or playing in the sun. This doesn't change when I travel. I pack a lot of products when I travel but 3 things I will always have is face wash, eye makeup remover and moisturizer.

I have been using this clean and clear face wash since the 7th grade. My skin is used to it and I have never had problems with it. I like that it has the micro-scrubbers in it and it gives a good lather to assist in getting my makeup mask off at the end of the day. I occasionally try others when I'm overnight somewhere with friends or family, but my skin feels more irritated when I change things up.

Are your eyes sensitive like mine? Man. Ever since I started wearing makeup, I have tried so many different eye makeup removers to keep from getting red eyes after I wash my face. Then I started working for Chanel in college and discovered:

This stuff is awesome at removing eye makeup and leaves your skin feeling great too. I hate super oily things and this solution is perfect. However, when I stopped getting Chanel's products for free-I really hated spending $34 to take off eye makeup! I mean, I WILL pay more money for makeup but makeup remover? That's just silly. So I started my search again and found Neutrogena's eye makeup remover and love it. I also use cotton squares to do the deed...if you care.  

My favorite moisturizer of all time is Chanel's Hydramax.

Love love love this stuff (cost $75). The smell and texture will always be a household product of mine. My jar at home is close to empty so I didn't want to bring it with me and chance running out mid trip but I also didn't want to make a trip to the mall just for moisturizer before I left for Pitt. Instead, I stopped by my neighborhood drugstore, and reached for Nivea's cream ( cost .99) like Kate Middleton did. I figure-If it's princess worthy than I should give it a shot. I've used it since arriving in Pitt on Monday and after 4 nights-I can honestly say that Kate is onto something. It feels really great on my skin. AND I love that packaging. It takes up no room in my suitcase.

Note: I was not paid or asked to endorse these products.