Restaurant Review: St. Louis

I am excited to be heading to St Louis this weekend for a family wedding. It will be a fun time to celebrate such a special occasion and also a fun time with my husband's family. When we were in St Louis a few months ago, we ate at one of the yummiest French restaurants. I am secretly hoping that we might be able to pay this little establishment another visit while we are there.

Brasserie by Niche is a quaint yet bustling, authentic French restaurant. Our food was delicious and service impeccable. Though it took them a while to seat us even though we had a reservation, they all but made up for it with several flutes of champagne. We splurged and probably sampled close to the entire menu. Here are a few things that you must try if you are ever lucky enough to dine here:

'Cervelle de canut.' Fresh cheese & herbs

Gougeres. Cheese puffs (ahhhhhhhmazing!)

Wild burgundy escargot herbs, garlic & butter

Steak Tartare (DO NOT MISS THIS DISH!)

Oh What To Do With You?

I am looking for ideas on what to do with this cabinet...my maternal grandparents gave this to my parents about 20 years ago:

It's a great piece but needs to be updated. I'm thinking of fun ideas to give this cabinet a whole new look and a new life! At the same time, we are also trying to make the front part of our house more functional for entertaining, which we do a lot. I wanted to find a way to convert our little home office into more of a sitting space, so I took to the blogs and internet to see what I could find.

Well, I am Mad Men inspired. Elements of Style and Simple Classic Living know just what I'm talking about...what does every Mad Men office need? A bar! :)

One thing I for sure want to do is to give our cabinet some pop of color on the inside to make it more interesting (a great idea straight from my hubby!) just like these below:

I'm so excited to be making progress and am really excited about this fun new project. More details and updates to come....

Armchairs

I am absolutely in love with wooden armchairs. Prints, solids, curved or straight legs...doesn't matter. I love them all. That's why I was so excited to see these at Tuesday morning:

Aren't they lovely? Between the nailhead and tufted back, that is not a bad price. I am working on some of my own for our new Living Room but more on that coming soon...Hope your week is off to a great start!

Fabrics

Premier Fabrics is a great site to find some one of a kind yet inexpensive fabrics. Here are a few of my favorites that I have found:
Hopefully this will inspire a few more throw pillows, curtains or a new look for a fresh chair. Enjoy!

White Out

I am falling more and more in love with all white kitchens. Doesn't Charlotte look like the modern day June Cleaver in her glam all white kitchen?

(Ok I know, enough with the 'Sex and the City' design references...)

Something about an all white kitchen seems so clean,peaceful yet also somehow anxious. Anxiously waiting to be filled with a loud, hungry family, yearning to be painted with colorful foods and smells, and screaming for a big vase of decadent, colorful flowers. Like this:

Here are a few more delightfully white kitchens:

I'm taking copious notes...Do you dig it?

Credenza of the Week: Oscar Style

I love this black credenza by Oscar de la Renta. The greek key pulls are lovely and the marble top makes it extremely unique. The Asian inspired lamps are a beautiful compliment and make the piece even more feminine. I hope you love it just as much!

The Perfect Culmintation

Kelly over at the glamouri has impeccable taste, that's why it was so fun to see pictures of her latest "eye candy", posted here.

What's more, it was even more fun to see so many trends that I have posted about in recent weeks catching her eye as well. Scroll through her photos and see if you can locate these topics I discussed.

Dark wall paint

Colorful cabinets (seen here on bookshelves instead of in the kitchen)

A painted ceiling

Several wall clusters of frames

Beautiful bookshelves

and even more Animal

Time to get busy on your own home now... :)

Life's a Circus

Saturday night, my hubby and I ventured out to an auction event to raise money for Partnerships for Children, a local Austin based charity. The theme was circus with the invitation reading "Join us under the big top!"

The event was so well organized and the decor was so fun and lively. It was a great event to support such a great cause.

Over the last few years, fashion and circus have been intertwined at different points, whether seen here in the window displays at Bergdorf's from a few years ago,

in the ads for the 'Twist' line at Forever 21

or in Pink's 'Funhouse' Tour in 2009

The circus remains a constant symbol of excitement, color and drama all three of which fashion crave. Given the upcoming release of "Water for Elephants" starring the darling Reese Whitherspoon, I would expect more and more circus craze in your life in the coming weeks.

Ladies and Gentlemen, have an awesome week!! :)

Bringing the Outdoors In

I had a fantastic weekend which began with a gorgeous Friday night boat ride down Lake Austin with my hubby! What a beautiful and romantic evening.

The weekend continued with some work outside and inside of our house. My sweet husband bought and planted a hot pink azalea in our backyard (if your husband was watching the Masters like mine, then you probably caught glimpses of millions of these lining the course).

It inspired me to bring a little more color into our Living room in the form of a few knick knacks and accessories like this fun pillow I found on sale.

In addition, I was outside today and saw this beautiful butterfly on my husband's new lemon tree I bought him for his birthday. Look at that gray and orange combo! Even nature is trying to tell me these two colors belong together...so cool!

Hope you have a great week and are able to get outside and enjoy the beautiful out of doors!

Credenza of the Week: Pure Luxury

I found this credenza table on Layla Grace and have to say that it may be one of the most beautiful pieces I have seen in a while. It's opulence reminds me of this piece found in the Palace at Versailles:

Who doesn't want a look similar to that which the King and Queen have in their palace? This would be stunning in an entryway, top of the stairs landing or Living Room.

Love me some French flare!! Happy Friday

More Silver

Following up on what I posted a few weeks ago, here are some more photos of a silver bedroom. Nicely done!

Restaurant Review: NYC

A few months ago when my Mom and I went to visit my sister in NYC, we dined at Mario Batali's restaurant, Babbo. It was delicious to say the least!

Next time you are in the Big Apple, I highly recommend a visit. Here are some of the menu items that we taste tested and absolutely loved:

Grilled Octopus with “Borlotti Marinati” and Spicy Limoncello Vinaigrette

Baby WildArugula with Parmigiano and Aceto Manodori

Gnocchi with Braised Oxtail

Chianti Stained Pappardelle with Wild Boar Ragu

Spaghettini with Spicy Budding Chives and a One Pound Lobster

If your mouth isn't watering yet then shame on you! :)

Je suis malade :(

Unfortunately, I spent most of the weekend curled up in bed sick and have been fighting something off this week at work as well. However, there was a silver lining to me being laid up all weekend. It gave me time to spend reading. I am reading some great books right now including one great novel, two great design books and several for planning my trip to France this summer. More coming on that...

I also had plenty of time to catch up on some mindless TV including more than enough 'Sex and the City' reruns on E! and the latest movie. I couldn't help but notice some of the fabulous design elements used in Carrie's NYC apartment.

1) I love the color of her room is so stunning. I also love all the beautiful lamp light.

2) The cluster of framed artwork over her bed.

3) Her feminine mirrored vanity!

4) The mix of seating in her living room.

5) Her beautifully hidden storage in the Living Room. Doesn't every gal need a good place to hide her mess?

For these images and so many more movie homes, visit one of my new favorite blogs, Hooked on Houses.

Have a happy Hump Day and take lots of Vitamin C folks :) XOXO!

Metal Tables

As I have been doing research to find some new must haves for our new office and Living room, I have stumbled across some gorgeous metal accent tables. Take a look:

I love this look! What a great way to have the functionality that a room requires but also keep a room light and airy. Love it!

Happy Friday!!