A Taste of the Beach

I've been loving the beachy seaside trend right now with all the whites, stripes, starfish, etc. Since I don't live on the beach, I didn't think I could do much with it, but I realized a little touch here and there is summer-friendly without going overboard. Besides, there are beaches in Texas...I just don't happen to be near any of them!

So here is my mini seaside transformation!

I started with the bookshelf. This poor bookshelf has gotten zero love since we moved in. The green leaf has been sitting alone since I took down the Easter decorations, with its only friend being piles of mail. So here it is after a little seaside TLC!

The great part is I had most of these items already. I got the canister at Target, and the plate and seashell are from TJ Maxx. And if you can't tell, in my bridal I'm on a dock at the lake so I thought it was appropriate.

I had planned on putting the seashell inside the canister but misjudged it's width. So now it sits outside. I was also going to buy some sand to fill the canister, but I'm just going to bring some back with me from our Myrtle trip in a few weeks instead!

Here's a shot of {almost} the whole bookshelf. This area doesn't get much natural light so it's hard to photograph.

I also got this cute frame at TJ Maxx for after out trip. You better believe they'll be a beach photo session!

Then I moved on to the living room. All I did in here was add a couple new pillows but I really like them. I also read on The Nester a good way to "summerize" your home is to bring in more white. So I found a way to add some white to the living room and it's functional!

I brought out the desk wasting away in our bedroom! I don't like sitting in the office perusing the internet all by myself, and I don't like lugging the laptop into the living room and having to balance it on my lap or lean over the coffee table so voila! I've been thinking about it for a while but wasn't sure it would fit. I pulled the couches out a bit and removed the side table and it fit perfectly! Will hasn't seen it yet, so I guess I will know it about an hour whether it stays or goes, but I like it for now! I think he will to :)

I can sit there and read blogs while Will lays on the couch, and we can talk and watch TV together at the same time! I am brilliant! Ha :)

I actually had an ulterior motive to pulling the couches out other than making the desk fit. I've been wanting to put something behind the main couch. I want to move the map up almost to the ceiling and put a shelf up just above head level to lean pictures against. Similar to this...

Obviously my pictures wouldn't be as large since the map is so big...like 8x10's and 11x14's or something. What do you think? I can't get rid of the map, Will would kill me, but I want some pictures up in here! Maybe pictures of us during our travels to tie in with the map?

So - does it make you feel like you're at the beach???

Day Date!

Saturday Will and I went on a day date to the Dallas World Aquarium. I'm so glad we went; it was so much more than an aquarium and I can't wait to take our kids there someday! It's nice to scope out on your own though first, haha.

What do I mean by it's most than just an aquarium? Well, it's basically a giant rainforest habitat you walk through filled with birds, monkeys, sloths, crocodiles, spider, snakes, etc. before you even get to the aquarium part! And most of it is open air, so there are birds flying around that you can feed/pet, and there's a huge waterfall and an area that rains - it's so cool! There's a path you follow, but you can take all the time you need and go back if you want - we spent over two hours which was well worth the price! Here are some of my favorite pictures, but I seriously took almost 200. There was so much to see! By far our best day date yet!

Outside the jungle/aquarium.

The huge waterfall in the rainforest. You start eye level with the waterfall and then walk down to the bottom seeing different animals at every layer. From monkeys and birds, to sea otters and crocs, to ducks, turtles, and fish!

This bird just flew onto one of the posts on the trail...just to hang out and have his picture taken.

Parrot with a blueberry in his mouth.

There was a sloth roaming freely in the trees above us!

That's my hand feeding the parrot!

Will next to a group of turtles....you could have walked right up to them, but I was a wimp and didn't want to get bit!

One of the cutest monkeys

and the fastest too!

River otter!

It was lunchtime for the alligators...the workers would toss in fish and they would lunge for them with their huge teeth - scary!

Mr. Manatee floating on his back

pretty fish

Sea urchin

He was talking VERY loudly

No need to chew!

Can you tell the penguins were one of my favorite parts?

Sea turtle with a Nemo nubbin - he was another fave.

Welcome to the shark tank.

Hammerhead

My all-time favorite picture of the day.

Well hello cheetah??! My shirt matches your fur!

Flamingos!

Home Tour - Extra Rooms

Today is extra bedrooms over at Natalie's Home Tour.

We have two guest bedrooms and an office.

First up is the blue room...this is my college bedroom furniture and an old dresser from my parents' house in Lake Tahoe that used to be forest green..eek! It worked well with the woodsy log cabin feel of that house, but not so much here. I painted it black and added glass knobs that match the bed!

The painting is from Target and the quote is from a store in Waco called Spice I got during college. I wanted to get blue drapes for this room, but the bedspread is really hard to match! I might just get ivory or something.

The next guest bedroom is also my craft room and the future nursery. We painted the walls a shade or two darker than the ceiling (original paint color) to offset the white furniture and duvet, and I want to put crown molding in here eventually.

The daybed is from West Elm that I stalked on Craigslist until I found one for a good price. I'm hoping to keep it in here when we make this room a nursery if it will fit because I don't want to get rid of it and we have no where else to put it. Again, no window treatments in here, not sure what I want to do yet.

And last but not least, the office. I let Will decorate this room so it's all boy with IKEA furniture and the green wall. This is where I do most of my blogging.

This room is also Will's "man room." All he has to do is turn the chairs and the room is converted to xbox central. I don't care for video games, but it's good for him to have some guy time and I'm just glad it's not in the living room! He's really into FIFA soccer right now, wonder why...

That wraps up my tour!

I'm going to get on the ball and blog more today about the rest of our weekend because it's already Tuesday and I still need to blog about Saturday!

Cupcakes and Tea!

So we had planned on having tea with Alice at the Gaylord, but we went around noon and they weren't having a tea party until 6! We definitely didn't plan for that, and we had already told Caroline about it, so plan B - off to Let's Pretend Tea Party!

Let's Pretend Tea Party is about 5 minutes away from the Gaylord on Main Street in Grapevine. It's a cute street filled with antique shops, stationary/clothing/home goods shops, and restaurants. Let's Pretend Tea Party has been around forever, I actually had my birthday party there when I was 7 or 8! It was fun to go back and Caroline loved dressing up and drinking "tea" with us!

Cupcake, n.: a smile with frosting on it

Getting into our tea party attire!

Perfectly Princess

dressed to impress!

cupcakes and tea

one happy girl!

Trying to teach her to stick her pinky out, ha.

They also had a little shop full of uber-girly clothing and accessories!

My mom said this outfit reminder her of Cher.

We had a fun girl day!

Smooch!