Art and Such: Living Room Edition

We are both pretty serious arts festival junkies. I think for me it dates back to going to the Canton Flea Market in Canton, TX, or because its seems to mean summer is officially here or maybe its because I have yet to meet a funnel cake I could consume in under 2 minutes flat. But we at Pretty as the Morning love us some arts festivals.


Last year for the first time we attended the Broad Ripple Arts Fair and fell in love with a particular artist, Dolan Geiman. I am sure you could find fabulously written reviews on his work anywhere out there, but I seriously love it. It is the perfect blend of vintage Americana while still being fresh and modern and of course, its got this great Southern twist. Love.


So for the last year I have been scoping out all thier work on etsy and have pretty much decided that this piece would look amazing over our couch and be the perfect thing to compliment our letterpress print collection that is already in there:

More recently I have decided that this beauty would be perfect for the long (and still empty) wall in our dining room. The color and composition would work well with our very natural and soft feel we have in there while still tying together its neighboring room:

But since we are in no shape this particular year to spend that kind of money on art work (one day soon I hope!) this year at the arts festival we purchase this lovely set to hang alongside our "Love Your Neighbor" poster (once it has arrived and is framed) next to the front door. The colors go magically well in our living room with our existing work. I am hoping to hang them one night after work and will snap some pics to share here.

They are small, but a good start to a no doubt soon to be growing collection.

Bathroom, Interupted

I realize by the title of this post that what I say could go any number of directions, but since this is a family blog, I am going to talk about our recent partial bathroom remodel. I call it recent, although it began in March. I call it partial, because it was one of those unexpected situation. You know, the ones that start like a little like this:

Me: Honey, come here.

Me: NO, honey, really come here I think somethings, wrong, there's water along the baseboard of our bedroom

Yeah...so the partial comes from the unexpected nature of the situation. It started with some tile in the shower that had bad grout and gained in force as we tore out the shower walls, and then since the contractor was already demo-ing the joint and it already looked like hell in there, we had him rip off the eye level high 1" square tiles from the 50s that the previous owner had just painted white that encompassed the rest of the room. But we weren't in the mood (and I mean by mood, the budget, time and patience) to rip our the tile on the floor, the sink, etc, to make it an all and our bathroom remodel.

But I do call it a remodel because we could see the inward parts of our house for several days, I had to make some on the fly decisions about more than three things and how they were going to tie into the overall asthetic of the house. So, yeah.




Here is our sweet house with her guts all showing. I wish I had before pictures, but the situation was so unexpected I forgot to hop in there and snap away. I guess if all you see are these, the afters will look that much better!

(our shower, post-demo, pre-tile. Is our house beautiful and sturdy on the inside?)

(this is a shot of the wall that had our mirror on it...When we took it down we discovered that there was a medicine cabinet there at some point...classy)

Today's Lunch-Turkey, Avacado and Sprouts

We are pretty committed to healthy eating and exercising at our house, but we have had to redouble our efforts lately, probably because we discovered a real-live Mexican food restraunt in our neighborhood none the less that serves up tasty dishes that will pass for the Tex Mex we miss so much living in the Midwest. They have the BEST chicken chimichanga and chile relleno we have found yet and thier queso is called queso on the menu rather than the wierd midwest phenomenon called "cheese dip." Eck. It sounds so much less fattinging when you use Spanish. Anyhow, I digress...

So today I packed my lunch (like most days) and I have to say I am totally in love with this sandwich becuase it features my new favorite condiment-avacado. Avacado is loaded with nutrients, has the "good" kind of fat and if properly ripened can totally sub as a spread on just about any kind of sandwich. Today I paired it with turkey, provalone and sprouts on whole grain. Yum.

Here's To Thousand and Ten

Since so many folks out there are sharing thier New Year's Resolutions, I thought I might. I guess I should preface this by saying that I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions. Don't get me wrong I set goals and work to achieve them, but I am a pretty ambitious girl and so waiting for once a year to role around to set goals and work on them has never been my style. But for some reason, maybe because of where I am at in life, maybe because its a new decade, maybe because I am the most settled I have ever been, I feel the urge to lay my Resolutions out there. So here goes...



1) This blog. Well, I got too excited to wait for the new year to get it going (see what I mean!). But I really enjoy reading other fashion, design, creative blogs and want to give my own a go. I grew up with an incredbly creative mom who sewed and crafted and taught me to do the same, so I am sorta stoke to see where this will take me. Which leads me to my next goal for 2010...



2) Be creative. I know how to sew and I am hell on wheels with craft glue and now that we have a house and I have a craft room I am looking forward to having the time and space to encourage creativity outside of the already very creative work I do each day for my vocation.



3) Use my existing wardrobe more creatively. Ok, this one is going to take a while. I am definitely not one of those girls that could vow to not buy a single thing all year and only use what I have...although I admire those women. I think this will help me appreaciate what I have and better use what I have.


I think that's all I want to share for now...

Brrr

Its been in the temperature outside has been in the negatives every morning when I wake up in my 85 year old house and put my feet on the polished hardwoods. Ugh! I hate wearing pants, because I don't care what other people say wearing dresses and skirts are amazingly comfortable becuase its like wearing no pants at all. There is one little exception to that golden rule of fashion and comfort--when its negative degrees outside. Then, it doesn't matter how well lined your boots are or how long your coat is you are going to loose feeling in your knees. Sigh! Obviously this little Southern transplant has a few more winters before she acclimates to the Midwest. So I have been bundled up the past few days. The one fashion positive is that I get more wear out of my cowboy boots in this weather--which makes me happy. But I see the high in a few days in going to be in the 20's so I am looking forward to rocking a new grey flannel skirt I just purchased for a whooping $10.

In the meantime its less than 24 hours until my new sideboard table arrives and I can unpack my china! Then I am certain I will have a revelation about what color I should paint over the awful golden yellow in the dining room...any suggestions on that one are more than welcome! I have been really inspired but the light and airy, yet warm and cozy feel of the paint Nichole has used for her home, especially the Chocolate Froth from Behr featured in thier bedroom.