Workspace Updates

I was going to post this past weekend, but I was here instead...

We road tripped to a little beach town on the Florida panhandle called Destin. I thought I had been transported to the Caribbean... I was blown away. Absolutely love this place.

Anyway, back to where we left off.

Let's rewind to phase 1: More desk space in my office.

In the past year I've quickly outgrown my double Ikea desk setup, as evidenced by the piles of boxes and equipment:

Lots of wasted space and a huge lack of a work area. After some brainstorming, I had a lightbulb moment and figured I could just shift the desks to the right and add another one against the right wall to form an L shape. Luckily, it fit perfectly under my map!

Gotta love those cheap & easy solutions. I could still use another 2-3 of these desks in a perfect world, but this is 100 times better than before.

Because everything shifted a couple feet to the right, I had this empty space between my computer desk and the wall that I had to put to use.

What I really needed was a place to hang my stuff, as the floor had become a collecting area for purses/flip flops/blankets/sweaters. So I scoured the aisles of Hobby Lobby looking for inspiration, and found it:

Okay—so the JS is more decorative than functional. I was trying to figure out how to incorporate them into a coat hook somehow, but decided they'd be better off just painted a fun color to add some dimension and personalization to the space.

I also scored this large woven basket for half off ($12!):

Into the spray chamber they went (along with my key holder template from my last post)

Once dried, I taped off the sides and sprayed the face of the letters with a coat of Valspar's Exotic Sea (leftover from my Target sunroom table). All it took was a bit of double sided sticky foam tape and they were on the wall. I then centered my hooks below them and secured them into the wall with walldog screws, and I had myself a purse hanging area:

I love how it matches my binder labels and file folders.

And my basket fits in the space perfectly.

Yay for functionality!

Here's the wide angle of everything:



But I'm not done yet.

There's something that is just not working for me... can you guess what it is?

Here, I'll narrow it down a bit...

If you guessed the two big boxes being used as a cabinet, you would be correct.

But I've got the perfect solution...

Of course, this won't look anything like its current state next time you see it. I'm taking a break from my typical paint it blue/white and distress it procedure and trying something new. Without giving too much away: it involves wallpaper.

With that said, I'm anxious to get started so I'm signing off to go grab my supplies. Tune in next time for the reveal :)

If this were a fashion blog, it would be called “Awkward Girls Wear Clothes, Too.”

Yesterday my mom and I drove down to the little town of Wimberley, Texas to scout out a spot for a photo session I have this weekend, and while there we decided to brave the heat for a little outfit post. (well, I decided that, and my poor mom just patiently went along with it.)

Do you ever have days where you just do NOT look right in pictures? Maybe it was the heat, or the fact that I’d just eaten a big dinner. But while flipping through the shots afterwards, there was a lot of “what’s wrong with my face?” and “wow, I look 14 weeks pregnant,” and “I hope I never actually stand like that” and “note to self: the hours upon hours of sitting on my arse editing pictures are starting to manifest themselves in my hip and buttocks region.” (We girls really pick ourselves apart sometimes, don’t we?! Silliness.)

Here’s today’s rather blindingly bright outfit… the few pictures I was happy with. ;) Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a hot date with the Stairmaster.

    Bracelet: c/o Ampris Loves (15% off discount to the shop with the code LOVESOML), Skirt, shirt, and shoes: J.Crew, Hat: Banana Republic, Necklace: gifted

Be sure and check out Ampris Loves a fab little shop full of vintage treasures and gorgeous handmade jewelry (and use your shop discount code above if you choose to make a purchase!). I love my bracelet, partially because it’s called the “double happiness braided bracelet,” which, of course, doubles my happiness, and also because it’s, obviously, super cute!

Happy Thursday. :)

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PS – My favorite photography website, Photography Concentrate, just underwent a site redesign and they’re having a huge sale! Remember those tutorials I love to rave about?! They’re all 30% off right now. Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Don't you love.....warming up with mulled wine

I wish I was skiing, its cold in Sydney so there must be good snow somewhere.  At least I can still warm up with some mulled wine.  I will wear my apres ski boots round the house to get into the mood.

Ingredients: cloves, one orange, a few cinnamon sticks, sugar to taste, at least 1 bottle of red wine
Recipe: make porcupine with orange & cloves, add porcupine and other ingredients to large pot, bring to simmer slowly, don't boil!
Serve and enjoy.  Mmmmmmm!  Nice and toasty!
Images by me