Loving These Illustrations

I am loving Andrew Banneker's work...and these illustrations for healthcare insurance reform hit close to home right now. I sincerely appreciate all of you that left kind comments about my dad's situation; it means so much to me.

And this one makes me so happy. I may splurge for it. ($50 for 16x20)

Pillow Love

I immediately fell in love with this dog-shaped pillow from this nursery makeover on Young House Love.

Could it be that I have puppies on the mind?

Apparently the pillow is from Babies 'R' Us. And yes, I actually went to their website and couldn't find it.

Eternal love if you send me the link.

8 Years

It's still hard to believe.

Celebrity Pads for Sale

The blog Hooked on Houses often features celebrity homes up for sale. I thought I'd do something similar today after I saw an email in my inbox from Trulia that had links to both Holly Madison's and Alec Baldwin's places. By the way, do you know if there's a special area on Trulia where you can see these celeb listings? Clearly Trulia knows but doesn't display it on the listing itself. I could look at these for hours.

Carlos Boozer
I wasn't going to include Carlos Boozer since I don't know who he is (big sports fan that I am and all), but since the link to the realtor listing for Alec's place is gone and there's only one Trulia photo of it, I thought I'd share Mr. Boozer's digs as well. (Not too shabby.)

Love the view.

I only posted this one inside pic because the interiors not really my style, and I totally don't see a young male athlete living here. Not very Miami at all.

Alec Baldwin
I like the yellow walls...and I totally cannot see Alec living here.

Holly Madison
I'm not going to lie, Holly was totally my favorite on the Girls Next Door. (Yes, I watched it.) I thought it was interesting to see what kind of place she got after leaving the Mansion.

Yech, satin sheets

Holly, do you need a home stager? I suggest you put away your toiletries. And get better photos...some of them are way too dark. Don't you watch HGTV?

Smaller patio, but nice view

If you look at the pillow, you can make out that it's the cover she did with Bridget & Kendra...hmm

The listing says furniture is negotiable...seems like a dream home for a PB Bunny wannabe or a perv who's in love with Holly and this is his only chance to sleep in her bed.

So what about you? Do you love real estalking as much as I do?

NOLA-Bound

Hi Cupcakes,

Isn't this cupcake Megan decorated for me at work cute?

Needing a getaway, the hubs, our friend T, her dog B, and I are road-tripping down to New Orleans tomorrow for the long weekend.

The only other time I've been was exactly 2 years ago to visit our friend J, who is down there for law school and is kindly letting us visit again before he's done. Any suggestions for must-see eating or shopping in the Big Easy?

1 Year Blogiversary & New Addition to our Family

My first blog post was exactly one year ago with an Ode to Gordy, the most bad-ass poodle dog you would ever hope to know and love.

Since he passed away, we've been missing him. And after a while, we started looking for another snuggle buddy to join our family. We've done many a search on petfinder.com: size = small, age = baby or young. A couple of times we came across a dog we liked and would make an inquiry: Someone came by the shelter at 7 that morning and already picked him up. Adoption pending on that one. 15-page application not approved by the rescue group. Nothing had worked out, but we were fine with waiting.

Last week my sister-in-law sent us a listing for a litter of toy poodles because she thought the parents looked just like Gordy. We made an appointment and drove north, north, and east of Dallas to see them Saturday.

There were 2 girls and 1 boy left when we got there. We originally thought we wanted another boy, but our heart just went out to this little sweet, reserved, my-siblings-are-crazy I'm-ready-to-move-to-the-big-city girl. She loved chillaxin' in my lap and nibbling my finger while the others were bananas.

Photo in the listing - they call her Brownie

She's changed so much already

Mom and Child

So Brownie it was. She gets her second round of shots and will be ready this weekend, but we're going out of town. We're anxious to pick her up once we get back but decided it best if we waited until next Friday so we could all have the weekend to start settling into a routine.

Now we just have to pick out a name. There are several up in the air, and family members have already provided quite the list of suggestions. I'd prefer something French (gotta honor those roots), and it's gotta have that je na sais quoi.

Any suggestions for what to call our little girl?

Open My Heart

“Muscle tissue gets stronger after being broken down. I believe the same is true
for our souls. Feeling broken from a crisis opens our hearts and helps us
appreciate things we previously took for granted.” source

I don't know if anyone reads my little blog or noticed that I didn't post anything for the entire month of August. I've been sitting on this post for a while now because I didn't know what to write since I never really post anything personal.

A little over 5 weeks ago, my father was in a motorcycle accident.

It's been a very long 5 weeks. He's been in the hospital the entire time, with a very brief stint yesterday at a nursing home and rehabilitation center. We went to see him there last night, and today he's back at the hospital. (Pulled out his trach and is being uncooperative.)

There are so many other factors involved that I'm not going into right now that make this situation all the more difficult. I've learned all of the different ways a heart can break, and I've learned how it is possible to feel a flood of conflicting emotions at one time.

Whenever I hear someone get bent out of shape about something insignificant in the grand scheme of things, and whenever I start to do the same, I try to be grateful for everything in my life that is going right.

"Gratitude comes easily when our lives are in order—when the bills are paid, the
children are behaving and our health is good. But our challenges are what bring
the chance for transformation. And it is during our deepest pain that we can be
most grateful, because we know our hardship will deliver a lesson that redefines
our character. As you practice gratitude, give thanks not only for what you
have, but also for what you've escaped. When difficulties arise, ask yourself,
'What is the lesson for me in this?' And when you give thanks in the midst of
your trial, know that you're becoming your finest." source

If anyone's reading this, please go hug someone you love. And if you feel like, please say a prayer for my family.

Travel Accessories

I want these for my next big adventure...

Coin Purse

Make-up Bag

Travel Pass Holder

Passport Holder and Luggage Tag

Paper Plane travel products found here

I've been wishin' and hopin' for a passport cover, and the one above may be the new front-runner. I was previously looking at these colorful options, preferably one that could be embossed with my monogram:

Personalized Passport Covers at (where else?) Personalization Mall

Island Leather Passport Cover at See Jane Work

Some other airmail-inspired goodies...

Air Mail and Personalized Postcard Pillows found on Etsy


Etsy again

...and more Etsy

Let's take a trip!

Centerpiece Inspiration

I love all things chalkboard...



and I'm a big fan of easy-peasy lemon-squeezy fruit centerpieces

Found at Real Simple. I just snagged a $5, 1-year sub to Real Simple. Hopefully it's good, I haven't spent too much time perusing it at the checkout counter...have to cram in all the celeb gossip of Us Weekly.

Good Thing I'm Not Shopping

...or else I'd be buying this. Now I say "not shopping" as if I was a huge shopper before - I wasn't. But a J.Crew dress reduced to $50 would be enough to seriously tempt me.

Above, daffodil (yes!) and grey, $50

Reverse color for $80

Love this color, $60