{ lovely things } week of 5/28

there's a pretty obvious threat of a rain storm right now.

chilly wind is blowing, a little drizzle here and there, dark clouds poking in and out

and i'm praying that it does rain hard. 

after spending the morning and early afternoon 

at play class and then walking through downtown and playing in the park,

i need a good excuse to sit on the couch this afternoon and watch thomas and friends with jake. 

for now, i'll take a rest on the couch while he naps 

and share some great links with you. enjoy!

oh and h a p p i e s t of weekends!

a. um, are those really plastic spoons? crafting is getting cheaper by the minute.

b. i love seeing pinterest projects done by real people. tiffany from the twisted ruffle was inspired by a pin to stack up old crates and i love it!

c. by this time next week we will know if we're having a boy or a girl. i've been looking at gender reveal ideas on pinterest... my hub isn't into any of them. seven more days to convince him of one.

e.  head over to my facebook page where i will share a link to an album of my late uncle's paintings. sometimes i wonder what he saw when he looked at the world. he was an amazing artist, his life was short lived, and so much of his talent untapped. 

f. beau-tiful centerpieces with the right hint of diy. perfect for a fresh summer wedding. 

{ book review : the first husband }

my husband's comment when he saw me reading this book was

"babe, i don't know how comfortable i am with you reading that"

i told him it was a self-help book.

k i d d i n g . obvi.

the first husband by laura dave tells the story of annie, a travel journalist based out of LA, who finds herself suddenly dumped by her live-in boyfriend of five years, nick, whom she thought she'd spend the rest of her life with. after moping around her apartment for several days, annie heads out to get a drink and, unbeknownst to her, a husband. 

on that fateful late night she meets griffin. a mere three months later, the two are married and moving across the country to griffin's remote hometown in massachusetts. facing major life changes including moving, being fired, and the return of old lovers, annie begins to question if she might have made a permanent choice to marry griffin a little bit too quickly.

i enjoyed the first husband... it's the kind of girly, love story novel that i enjoy. i couldn't wait to find out what annie would choose to do, return to LA or honor her commitment to griffin.

i loved griffin's character. clearly this book was written by a girl because it's the only way any man, fictional or non-fictional, could read a girl's mind. griffin said all the right things at the right moments, he stands by annie, loves her as any girl would want. swoon. unrealistic but swooooon.

the other characters surrounding the two of them drove me crazy, though:
an irresponsible brother, his twin sons, annie's ex-boyfriend, griffin's ex-girlfriend,
griffin's mother, annie's best friend jordan, her editor.

his ex-girlfriend gia is the worst though.
i wanted to say "get out of here girl. you're not wanted."

but in the end, they are all what made you become dive into the story. 

to find out more about the first husband visit the blog her book club page and and join the discussion!

Disclosure: This is a paid review from the BlogHer Publishing Network,

however all the opinions I share are my own.

{ preview : refurbished secretary desk }

if you saw one of my posts from a few days ago

you would have read that i bought a secretary desk with a hutch 

to refurbish using this image as inspiration.

well, hubs and i spent all of memorial day weekend working on it

sanding. painting. sweating.

and we're about two work hours away from wrapping it up. 

i am so excited to finish it up.

so i decided to share a preview. 

stay tuned. 

{ hello summer }

if there was any question in my mind that summer would arrive eventually

this weekend erased any of it.

well, with the 90 degree temperatures and all.

let's just say i'm schweeeeattyyy.

but i'm not complaining. 

(now that the a/c window units are in)

we spent the whole weekend jumping to and from social events

barbecues being the best of all. 

i ate my weight in burgers. 

and this boy enjoyed playing with water with no parental reprimand.

it must've been a great weekend for him because i woke up at 9:15 this morning and he was out cold

forty five minutes later and he was still asleep 

i checked twice to make sure he was alive

praise god for rest.

of course he was back to normal upon waking up

back to eating everything in sight

including mom's lunch.

how was your weekend?

{ getting crafty : wreath from a pool noodle }

I've been getting the itch to be creative.

Can you say #nesting?

I'm also really #cheap.

I should stop using hashtags when I'm not on Twitter.

So when I saw a pool noodle at the dollar store the other day 

I knew I had to buy one and try to make a wreath out of it.

And guess what? It worked.

Here's how I did it.

I only made one cut but I reinforced it with tape throughout so it wouldn't snap.

The shutters I hung up in the kitchen to use as a card holder for Christmas

were still there and were looking pretty sad.

When I saw this on Pinterest I knew I would have to make a wreath for my shutters.

So I did.

And now there it is. 

A pool noodle.

Covered in fabric.

With felt flowers.

What do you think?

I. Love. It.

{ lovely things } may.26

i can't remember the last time i did a lovely things post 

not that i haven't seen anything share-worthy 

i just have been in another world. 

these links have tickled my fancy recently... enjoy!

a. i was led to this awesome online store (via jami at from the natos).

they have cute and affordable clothes and im going to go virtual shopping soon.

b.i want cute throw pillows like these and these.

c.when i need inspiration for home decor i go to home made lovely... 

someday ill have my house featured there.

d.i'm super nostalgic from watching baby videos of jake. you can see them too on you tube :)

e.um. i love nantucket red, the color. and i love saying it. nantucket red. i needed some visual inspiration and these are the pinterest results. im really loving this coral and nantucket red wedding.

f.i'll take any of these prints for anywhere in my house. thank you.

g.my friend hannah just opened her very own shop with cute little dangly earrings. she's so good with colors. she inspires me to add some to my life.

{ it's the weekend, baby }

weekend. oh weekend. i love you. i miss you. come back soon 

and make sure you bring warm weather with you.

some highlights from this weekend included 

a trip to target for various things. a trip to target is therapeutic, don't you agree? i didn't buy anything fun or even interesting (unless eye drops are your thing) but just strolling through the aisles by myself brought me peace. i love going there and throwing thing after thing in the basket. nothing i didn't need, in fact, i went with a list and followed it, but there is something about just adding things to my shopping cart. retail therapy at its best. 

we made dinner for our little family on saturday night instead of eating out like we usually would end up doing... and boy was it worth it! grilled chicken, mixed green salad, and, the best part, the pioneer woman's tomato cream sauce. i'm stealing her picture so you can see how yummy it can be. 

and we ate outside. that always puts the icing on the cake for me.

while we don't live in a ritzy town by any means there is a section of fairly wealthy people who reside in mansions. they also host an annual section-wide garage sale which i've attended every year that we've lived here. this year there were probably 50 sales going on on sunday and i hit the jackpot at one of them! i have been looking for a secretary hutch to go in my kitchen and i found one at the right price. now i'm off to start planning and working on this project:

{ source }

finally, we ate dinner (outside) with friends and their adorable three kids. they also happen to be jake's godparents. 'twas a good evening. 'twas a wonderful weekend.