quick tip...

This is a quick and easy hack for repurposing those clear macaron inserts. Don't toss them out, clean them up and use them as makeup storage! They're perfect because they're clear, easy to tuck into a drawer or shelf, and best of all they are FREE!! After you buy (and eat) the macarons of course. Mine were delicious and from Savor Patisserie in Dallas. If you're even in town, check them out!

My new makeup storage in action. I love this because it's so easy to see what each color is without having to take out a hand full of shadows and spreading them out to find the right one.

Yes, I know I need to clean my eye shadows. I'm a messy person. 

diy flower balls...

This post is A LOT late. I made these flower balls for my baby shower and my daughter is now 8 months old. By the time I had some free time to post it,the holidays were here and then the idea kind of fizzled away since the window to purchase the materials is kind of small. It's now spring again and a good time to bring it out though! 

The idea for my baby shower was just a romantic rose, peachy, and gold scene. For the main dessert table I wanted a cluster of poufs and flowers. The initial idea for the flower balls came from this photo (I can't find the original source to save my life!)  love the way this photo makes you feel; the way the sun is shining and how warm and special it looks.

However, recreating them was not on my mind or agenda. I figured that even with Michaels coupons, the price of buying enough flowers just to make one would be way over anything I was willing to spend (which was no more than like $7 each). The idea actually clicked while browsing the dollar store isles. I was checking out the summer items that were just hitting the store and then...LEIS DUH! 

With two leis in hand I then set out to find what to stick em on to.The most inexpensive paper lantern in the appropriate size I was able to find at any store near me was the Spritz paper lanters they carry in the party isle at Target. I wanted to find one for a dollar but $3 isn't bad.  

After you have your materials, the rest is pretty self explanatory. Break open the lei and have at it with a glue gun. One good tip, have a medium to large bowl handy to set your ball on so it doesn't roll away. Took me a little while to figure that one out. Although it seems like it would take a long time to finish it, it really only took about 25 to 30 minutes. 

If you want a more lush, fulller ball, I'd say use 3 leis. I decided to make a second ball and used 3 leis and the results were beautiful but the one with 2 leis looked more like my inspiration picture. Also, I didn't add the drapey strands of petals that float from the bottom but those are as easy as just threading a few petals and tying them to the metal on the bottom opening of the balls. My baby shower date was incredibly windy, so that was just not going to work for me. 

I didn't get any good pictures of the balls during my baby shower, but I posted the best. Almost a year later the balls still look great! I pulled them out to show you the differences and a close up shot as well. These have endured 4 moves and a baby! 

The finished product and my baby shower! I really hope this inspires someone to make these! I'd love to see others interpretations of this diy!

macaron date...

They always say that things are never going to be the same after you have a baby, but you don't even notice it until you're so far in that you don't even remember what you did before your little one came along. Saturday nights used to mean getting dolled up, going out to dinner and drinks with your friends but you've now traded that in for some sort of delivery food, sweats covered in spit up, and if you're lucky some Netflix after the baby has fallen asleep. Maybe if you're like me and you're VERY lucky a nice glass of wine! 

This has been life for the past 7 months and since I've decided to become a stay at home mom, I wonder how much more of this I can handle. I have no family here, no friends, no social interaction This is when I decide that we are going to get a babysitter and go out and do something. I went through Sittercity.com and found a wonderful sitter for my baby bear and while walking through some shops in Dallas over the weekend we came across a very cute macaron shop that just happened to be hosting baking classes. I jumped at the opportunity and so we set a date! 

Although ours were not as beautiful as the ones they make at the shop, they were ours and we had a wonderful time.

making the most of it...

This time last week I thought I'd be enjoying beautiful meals on my beautiful marble table with my beautiful family, but thanks to our terrible shipping luck we are still eating on patio furniture. Not since my college days have I had the pleasure of enjoying outdoor furniture indoors and I'm not really enjoying revisiting this throwback. However, I can't sit around and pout it out and I'm not going to settle for just any piece of furniture to fill the space, so I am making due with what we have and trying to make it work for now. Because we already have the benches for our breakfast nook, I decided to use the chairs for the bistro set in the living room area and use the table to fill in for a dining table...for now. I'm actually very happy with the temporary fix and I couldn't wait to share!

broken...

We are attempting to get our new apartment put together and decided to invest in our furniture this time around and stop purchasing disposable furniture. We figure that this way, when we buy a home the costs of furnishing it shouldn't be as high. With this in mind we ventured into searching for the perfect dining table. A dining table is so important to me. It's where we are going to have our morning coffee and family dinners, holidays and birthdays, and just make lasting memories. It just had to be the perfect table. Because I have a slight addiction to white and grey marble (specifically Calcutta or Carrara) we decided to go for this gorgeous marble table for our breakfast nook.

Cup of Jo

 The bad signs were all there from the beginning. I should have just looked for another table when my card was declined! I'm not sure why, but my bank thought someone was committing fraud and declined the transaction. After a lengthy process to assure them I am truly who I say I am and yes, I am making this purchase, I was finally able to purchase it. It was all down hill from there. The table didn't make it into the warehouse in time, so it didn't make it's scheduled delivery. Calling to have the delivery rescheduled was a mess as well. After I got it all straightened out my dream table was delivered only to find this...

Pallets? Who delivers normal things to normal people in pallets? I have one knife and one pair of scissors. How the heck am I supposed to get these out? Luckily, I remembered I had a teeny tiny emergency hammer I bought at Target in the dollar section. That worked good enough. 

As the stars were just about to align and my dreams were about to come true, my love opened the box to reveal my beautiful marble table was BROKEN! Just a box of shattered dreams lay on the floor of my apartment.

I was too dissapointed to even handle the situation, so my love took over and scheduled a pickup... I was going to have to live with a pallet and broken table in my living room for a week. I know it doesn't sound like much, but with a crawling toddler, every day is like an eternity!

This disaster was finally picked up today but now I have no idea what kind of a table to replace it with. Amazon offered to replace it with the same item, but since we're only temporarily here, I'd hate for us to package it incorrectly for our move and have this same thing happen while attempting to move it to our new home. I'll take all of these happenings as a sign!

It saddens me a little to have to go with a traditional wooden table, I just had my heart set on this one. The search is on to find the perfect fit for our breakfast nook. Ideally I would like to find something contemporary to balance out the traditional benches we have now and the stools for the island that will be coming in. If you have any suggestions I'd love to know! 

I literally purchase everything on Amazon Prime and this table was no exception. Although I was very disappointed with the entire process of purchasing, receiving, packaging, and returning this table, I'll definitely continue to purchase through them. One bad experience does not offset all of the benefits I've experienced with Amazon.  

blooms...

We had a blast exploring Dallas over the weekend. If you ever get the chance to visit Dallas, head to the Arboretum and Botanical Gardens. We were lucky enough to visit during their Spring Blooms and WOW! I didn't expect much, just a cute walk and some flowers maybe, but it is so much than that. They pay so much attention to detail at the gardens and the flowers are amazing! I was not prepared for what was to come...or the heat. It was only 89 degrees, but I'm a weather sissy. I was dripping sweat, my makeup was a hot mess (literally) and I was not dressed for the occasion! I mean just a few days prior there were tornado warnings!

I couldn't help but take the opportunity to take my baby bears 7 month pictures, I mean...could there be a better place?

And a quick little family picture.

I can't wait to go back and see the changes throughout the seasons. 

moving in...

I HATE MOVING. Really, I really really do. I've moved more than 10 times in the past 11 years. Sometimes I look at all my stuff and just get rid of it all only to regret it later and wish I had all of my junk back. Well, we just moved into our beautiful apartment in Dallas and we are finally furnishing our place with quality items that we can carry onto our home when we actually purchase a home (which I hope won't be too long from now). We've been in Dallas now for about a week and a half and we are going through steady waves of boxes. They come in, flood our place, we get rid of them, and then the next set of boxes make their way in.

This weeks packages brought clothes and these BEAUTIFUL benches for our soon to be breakfast nook! LOVE!

Don't mind the mess on the floor, it's just Styrofoam from Olivia's crib. 

And...I couldn't help myself.

I can't wait to make more memories on these, and I can't wait to share our apartment progress!

welcome to Dallas...

After a long 15 hour drive from Tucson we have finally made it to Dallas! We have made it to our new home and we've got TONS of work to do. We have a PODS container being delivered with our things so we are trying to survive a week with pretty much nothing. The only piece of furniture in our apartment right now is Olivias crib and a blow up mattress, but we're together and in a big beautiful new city and we couldn't be happier!

1st day in new home!

We've got lots of work to do and I can't wait to share the process of us turning this place from an empty apartment into our home.