shopping at the Barn

I am in serious nesting mode right now, and can't stop thinking about furniture, decor, color ways, design... I am so ready to make our apt into a cozy home. There are several pieces from Pottery Barn that I'd really like to welcome through the front door :) but most will have to wait... at least for now.

Map Coffee Table

Bedford Corner Desk Set

Daily System

Farmhouse Canopy Bed

birthday girl

Today is my birthday. And the first day of July. Which means I get married THIS MONTH! Today, we did a venue walkthrough with our coordinator, photographer, and caterer and I am so excited to visualize it all coming together! July promises to be a wonderful month :)

image via Martha

cottage in the woods

Wouldn't it be lovely to build a little cottage tucked away in the woods?

images credit NYTimes/Trondo

fine china

I have not put any fine china on our wedding registries yet. Part of me thinks I will never use it so why spend the money? Then the other part of me thinks that it's tradition and it will always be nice to have. After all, if ever there was a time to ask for fine china, now is it! My dilemma is that I cannot choose a pattern I love enough. I want something timeless but unique. Something with some color or pattern. Here are a few that have caught my eye so far...

Did you register for fine china?

all from Macys

e-session

One of the most important wedding priorities for me was the photography. It was probably the first thing we researched and booked aside from the venue. I wanted a fresh mix of classic style, photojournalism, and editorial. So I am super excited that the talented Kate Headley will be our wedding photographer! I came across her work through the blogosphere and really love her style, so she was the first photographer I turned to :)

A few weekends ago we set out on a beautiful spring Saturday to take our engagement photos. Although our original plan to hit up Georgetown (and Georgetown Cupcake) was spoiled by the masses of people descendant upon D.C. for the Cherry Blossom festival, we still had a fun time at an alternate location, strolling Old Town Alexandria.

Let me preface these photos by saying that the week leading up to our shoot, I had clocked in a tremendous number of hours at work. The day before our session I ended up working in the office from 7:30 am Friday to 5:30 am Saturday morning! So by the time we started taking pictures I had been up for about 34 hours straight with no sleep... Not how I would have preferred to prepare for my engagement photos, but we still had lots of fun and got some great shots :) Thanks Kate!

all images by Kate Headley Photography

a book by its cover

That saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover"...? I totally do. And I'm totally judging that these coffee table and art books, recently reviewed in Veranda magazine, must be pretty fabulous. Just look at their covers!

I want to flip through them all.

images via Veranda

they should have named it the 'Betsy'

I died when I saw this handbag. It was made for me! Peachy-Pink and just like my old Carly bag (which is showing it's age). Oh, to have $360 bucks lying around. If only it were appropriate to put things such as unnecessary Coach handbags on a wedding registry...

leather Brooke bag from Coach

luxury plush

Maybe it's the soothing neutral colors or the way they're all so neatly stacked in plush little piles, but these pictures of the Luxury Plush collection from Restoration Hardware make me want to drive to the nearest store and get them all! If there's one thing I love, it's snuggling under layers of soft, comfy blankets and pillows. Look at these... can't you just feel the plush comfy, softness?

images of Luxury Plush collection from Restoration Hardware

big and bold

I'm really attracted to big, bold stripes in a simple color-scheme. It's such a classic design element, but still versatile and unique. I think it looks good applied to anything:

image 1 by Carrot and Stick Press via here

image 2 via here via here

images 3 & 4 source unknown

image 5 via here

image 6 via here

image 7 from Pottery Barn via here

image 8 source unknown

image 9 by Cheree Berry

image 10 via here 

edible garden

I've been cooking a lot more lately and every time a recipe calls for fresh basil or dill or parsley, I always wish I could just walk outside and pick just the right amount I need from my own garden. One day it'll happen, but for now I'm admiring the Martha Stewart Herb Garden that is part of the New York Botanical Garden's summer "Edible Garden" program. 

Martha Stewart and her team re-designed the existing herb garden and I think it looks so cute. I'm always drawn to the classic, structured, italian-garden style with topiaries and boxwoods. Imagine having this in your yard!

all images from here

blush

I have a folder on my computer desktop where I store all the images I come across that I find inspiring, and then every now and then I'll go through it and enjoy the inspiration overload. I was doing that yesterday when I realized I had quite a few pictures that featured light pink in some way. Its not hard to crush on such sweet and dainty blush hues.

Love, love, love that headboard and bed!

image 1 from Country Living; image 2 via Peach & Pearl via Black*Eiffel; image 3 from MS; image 4 via dress design decor; image 5 from Gourmet via Old Sweet Song; image 6 from Saks via Lucky Me; image 7 via Coco+Kelley