Setting Tables

I'm sure you've noticed by now that I love beautiful things. I also love to eat at beautiful tables. Here are some fun ideas and beautiful pictures to help you get creative the next time it's your turn to be the hostess:

Doesn't this look like the most ideal place to have a late lunch?

I love this table because it mixes so many materials, the stone table, the wooden place mats, the glass globes on the ruffled silver plates with the flowers underneath. It has the perfect combination of rustic, natural pieces with designer fine china. I love this!!

Don't you wish your table would be set like this when you came home from work today? Ha! Have a wonderful day!

How I Built a Budget

Well, we are certainly on a tight budget at our house, so in order to redo the study and front living room of our house, we had to start with lots of purging. I sold

Thankfully selling all of these things helped us build our budget for buying some new pretty things!

In addition, we also sold our Bedford Pottery Barn desk which we purchased back in August. We decided it was too heavy for the study and we wanted to go in a different direction. We got every penny back though!

Now, we've got lots of extra spending cash to use to create our dream looks in these two rooms. I'm telling you, get on craigslist and sell, sell, sell! It's amazing what you can sell and an awesome feeling when you have some extra summer spending cash. Have a great day!

Wedding Wednesday: Make An Entrance

I always think it's important to wow guests at the entrance to a wedding reception. In my case, we served drinks and hors d'oeuvres on the back lawn overlooking the lake while also allowing guests to take their photograph with a Longhorn (heck ya we are big UT fans!).

Last week though, I found this photo and thought what a simple and fun way it was to dress up the entrance with lighting and several fun colors of ribbon.

Elegant yet simple! I love it!

Bedroom

I have taken a little break from working in our bedroom but now it's time for me to get back in there and put the finishing touches. Accessorizing is always the fun part :) Here are a few things that are sparking my interest

Dwell Studio Home Batavia Citrine Pillow

I really love this piece of art that I found on etsy. It would be so cool along our long wall in our bedroom! I'm hoping to find something a little less pricey but we'll see...

So glad to be home from the Tour and can't wait to get back after my house after being gone for so long!

Artist Spotlight: Shepard Fairey

My job allows me to meet some really interesting people. Some of my favorites that we have been working with are the folks at Shepard Fairey's Studio Number One in LA. We aligned with them to create some one-of-a-kind looks for the Tour of California, which our team is racing this week. Here are some of the cool looks that Shepard produced for us to use:

Here are a few other works that he has done:

Here are a few things he did in conjuction with the Nike Stages event benefitting LIVESTRONG in 2009:

I'm driving from San Jose this morning to Solvang, CA for the Time Trial tomorrow. Have a great day!

Tahoe

Today we arrived in Tahoe (well, really Truckee California) for the Start of the race tomorrow. We have a busy day to prepare for all our sponsors and guests to arrive tomorrow. I have never been here before so I am really impressed with the beautiful scenery and landscape. Our home away from home for the next three days will be the Ritz Carlton in Lake Tahoe, which is a gorgeous property. I would love to see it in the winter all covered with snow!

Hope you're having a Happy Friday! Have a great weekend and wish me luck :)

Emily Post

“Manners & Etiquette go hand in hand, but are not the same. Etiquette is a set of rules dealing with exterior form & Manners are an expression of inner character!”

Emily Post

Today I am headed to California for 10 days to run a Hospitality program for many of our sponsors and partners as we follow the cycling race across the State. I always think about my Mom a lot while I am working one of my programs because all the things she taught me growing up seem to be very applicable (dang it. Mom was right again!) Mom used to constantly say things like, "Well you'll need to know this for the next time you go to eat with the Queen." Well it may not be the queen but I will certainly be dining and entertaining lots of folks over the next week or so. Time to plaster on that smile and put my Emily Post knowledge to good use....And we're off!

More Animal

I want a puppy or kitty more than anything! Unfortunately, my hubby is deathly allergic so I have to get my animal fix in other ways. Simultaneously, our hallway in our home felt a little neglected. Soooo lucky me when I stumbled upon a woman here in town who has just recut her Bill Benson rug and had several square feet left over. Check out our new hallway look:

Poor hubby is not that thrilled :( What do you think?

Books

I'm not big on New Year's Resolutions but this year I decided to give it a go. My resolution was to read more books (too many nights I turn on the TV and stare aimlessly at some mindless show). Here is what I have read so far this year along with a few comments:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan (read while I was traveling in Asia)

the Twilight series (the 4th is by far the best & the books are better than the movies)

The Help (FANTASTIC! Read it!)

Water for Elephants

19 Minutes (THE BEST! A story about a school shooting told from the perspective of the shooter, one of the victims, the shooter's mother and the victim's mother-Gripping and makes you think! Incredible read! )

Decision Points (incredibly interesting. I enjoyed President Bush's sense of humor and a glimpse into his role as President)

The Botticelli Secret (the story of a murder and how it relates to one of the artist's most famous paintings. very similar to the DaVinci Code)

The Pilot's Wife (entertaining but sad without a lot of redemption in the end)

Right now, I am on the hunt for some good books on cd as I will be driving a lot over the next few weeks across the State of California during the Tour. Any suggestions, please send them my way!!

Also, just think. When you are done reading all these good books, you can use them to color and flavor your home like I described here. Enjoy!

A Cool New Way to Rug

I have discovered a very cool new way to make a rug and am contemplating it for our home office. Our home office is a narrow room off our Living Room. Currently, it has large 12x12 cream tiles, which look nice but need a little dressing up. Check out this new way to design with FLOR tiles! Here are some of my favorite looks:



I think these could be really cool in a playroom as well. Wouldn't it be great if something spilled and you could just replace a tile or two? What do you think?

Pursuit for Orange

Continuing with my quest for orange for our new office, I have found a few fabrics that are just awesome:

These are from a site called Spoonflower, which allows you to design and create fabrics as well as shop. I especially love this one with the orange and gray~

Though this one probably isn't going to work for me, this price is just too unbelievable:

IKEA Gunilla at $7.99 a yard

I would love to find something like Knight Moves did in her guest bedroom:

The orange trellis is just gorgeous with the black and blue! Looking forward to our new office coming soon...

Hats

Don't put away that hat just yet! For those that were sad to see the royal wedding come tand go and felt a tinge of sadness when it was time to put your hat back in the box until the day Harry weds, think again! The Kentucky Derby this weekend gives us another occasion to sport those unusual flower hats that we all love!

Philip Treacey, who's hats were seen all over the royal wedding, is probably one of the best known hat designers. Any why shouldn't he be with creations like this?...

But, if you aren't able to afford one of his creations or get one in time for this weekend, here are a few that I suggest on ebay, etsy, or Zappos. Happy hat hunting!