Chicago Holiday Trip 2011

Since I am spending today being lazy and recuperating from an insane month (okay the craziness is likely still to continue), I decided to post the pictures from our Chicago trip last year.  Somehow they have been just hanging in my iPhoto library this whole time. Better late than never right? I'm also hoping it'll help me jump into enjoying the Christmas holiday... just in the nick of time.

The Drake Hotel... a Chicago classic.

{Also the setting for the movie "My Best Friend's Wedding" - in case you were curious}

Deep dish pizza at Gino's East. 

United Center for the UNLV vs. Illinois game... our "excuse" for the trip in the first place.

Rebels pulled off an impressive win just for us. 

Ontaerie - My first home. My parents lived here while attending grad school out in Chi-Town.

Festivities in the lobby of the Drake.

Sue the T-Rex on display at the Field Museum.

I somehow dragged this guy to the Nutcracker Ballet while we were there.

Proud wife moment - he only fell asleep once!

Lunch in the Hancock Building's Signature Room and views from the 95th floor. 

{obligatory Millennium Bean picture}

Chilly December day at Navy Pier.

Chicago, it was a blast. 

Can't wait to visit again sometime in the future... probably with a handful of littles in tow.

As of late.

Since Thanksgiving...

Moved out of an apartment.

Moved into our new home.

Hosted the two best friends (and a toddler) for a Vegas bachelorette weekend.

Survived two 20 page research papers, two 6 page papers, a research presentation, and three grad school finals.

(Somehow?) made straight A's.

Flew to DC for Maggie's wedding.

Survived said wedding and being a 33-week pregnant bridesmaid.

HOME. And it feels so good to be here and finally enjoying it.

More design posts and pics of the new home to come!

Now is when the fun really begins.

The Great Bedding Debate

So. I fell in love with Thibaut's Jacobean Trail wallpaper MONTHS ago... before I knew baby was going to be a girl. I had a few nursery ideas should it be a "he" ... but was CERTAIN about this wallpaper if baby was a "she."

I'm now at a bit of a stand-still. 

Something I like to call the "great bedding debate."

Below are four options that I'm torn over. 

All are beautiful, but trying to figure out what is going to work best with the wallpaper is a bit of a challenge. 

I have fabric samples from both option 1, 3, and the sheet for 2.
I have pretty much already ruled out #1. Not quite the right colors and a little too busy.
It's hard to tell in the picture, but #3 is also a lot of pattern mixing for a room that already will have an entire floral wall. I am leaning towards either option 2 or 4... but still am not sure about introducing gray into the room from #2 and the colors matching right in #4.

Any thoughts? I'd love some opinions :)

1. The Land of Nod

2. Pottery Barn & Annette Tatum fitted sheet

3. Annette Tatum

4. Serena and Lily

In case you haven't heard, it's a...

I think the word is pretty much out, but I thought I'd make it blog-official.

The floral print above is actually the wallpaper that's been the inspiration for baby girl's nursery design. 

More coming soon!

Home Sweet Home.

Along with starting grad school at UNLV this past month, I have been slightly preoccupied... Chase and I bought a house! 

It was sort of this whirl-wind of events, but we started working with a realtor and getting things ready for the search, and then a few days later we were already signing a contract with Warmington Homes. 

Our house was already under construction, and something fell through with the initial buyer, so we came in and scooped it up for a great deal. 

{What it's going to look like mid-November when we move in-}

{What it looks like now-} 

It's out in Providence - a master planned community in the very (very!) Northwest of Las Vegas.

I have been lovin' on this community for a while now, and just crossing my fingers that we could find something there in our price range. It has tree-lined sidewalks and brand new community parks. There is also a new elementary school in the area and plans for a new junior high.

Here's the floor plan:

I have been scheming up design boards and furniture layouts for the past few weeks. 

Talk about lack of motivation for grad school hw when you've got a home to be decorating!

I'm definitely excited to share some of my ideas and plans on the blog as well as the actual process of bringing things together after we move in.

Modern Safari Nursrery

A few months back (before I was even pregnant, actually) I made a design board just for fun of a cool safari-themed nursery. My inspiration was a line of pillows that we carried at Four Chairs where I was working. I kept thinking seeing them around the store and thinking of how rad they would be in a little boy's room. Now a few months later, this design board is actually in the running for a possible nursery plan. In the next few weeks we're hoping to find out if we'll be having a little boy or girl, and then nursery designing will officially kick into gear. Until then, it's just fun brainstorming ideas for the little one. 

So excited. 

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 

Mill Haven Home Photo Tour

The lovely ladies over at Hiya Papaya Photography have finished their edits of the Mill Haven Parade Home shoot. They were also kind enough to give me permission to post some pictures on the blog. It was a blast working under Lindy Allen of Four Chairs Furniture on this project. For those of you who weren't lucky enough to see this home in person, I think these beautiful photos might just suffice!

*Furniture, accessories, & design by Four Chairs Furniture

**Thanks again to Hiya Papaya Photography for photo permission