tea for ONE

Would you like a cup of tea?

Why thank you, Anthropologie. I most certainly would.

SNEAK PEAK inspiration

I hope you all had a lovely weekend. Hubby and I traveled to SoCal for a cousin's wedding. It was surprisingly cold for a SoCal June wedding, but beautiful none-the-less. Hubby performed the ceremony and did an amazing job. He mixes the perfect amount of humor and tradition and everyone loved it. I missed the last wedding he did, so it was fun for me to witness his officiating. I got back to find this amazing office Design*Sponge sneak peak waiting for me.

I'm not usually attracted to such modern, clean lines, but the colors and design details speak to me in this home. It's the perfect combination of traditional and modern. I love all the molding and the cubbies in the master bath... and that hallway... I love it all!

a WEST ELM mystery

Yesterday I finally got around to looking at the magazines that have been waiting for me since I got back. As I was looking through West Elm's May 09 magazine, I came across a page that had already been written on:

At first, I thought it was part of the magazine until I saw that the ink was shining differently in the light (Nancy Drew skills)... I know, I was thinking it would be a very strange addition as well. Then once I figured out it was ink, I thought somehow I had gotten a magazine that someone at the distribution center had written in before mailing. That also struck me as strange. I decided to flip through the rest of the magazine to see if there was anymore writing. The next note tipped me off. Hubby had gotten to the mag before me! Hubby has so many different ways he writes, I can't always tell it's his writing. I confronted him last night and he said he had looked at it at 4 in the morning while he was waiting for his coffee to brew. He cracks me up.

I definitely like this idea to create an entry. We don't have an actual entryway and have been brainstorming ways to create one. We've played around with the idea of a bookcase, and I definitely like this one. The only problem I see is that while it will look nice on one side, the other side will be the backs of all the books. 

The first purchase hubby and I made with our wedding money was a brown couch. Unfortunately we didn't think it through enough and are now stuck with a patterned brown couch with big brass studs up the arms. It is definitely not a neutral or classic style and I already want to get rid of it. Hubby and I always discuss what couch we "should have" bought. A couch with a pull-out bed like this would be perfect since we have so many out-of-town friends we want to keep our home open to. Someday...

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And the lamp-- I love it! I saw this photo in Apartment Therapy this morning as I was continuing through the posts I have to catch up on (I have 700+ left...). I love the style of this room and the colors and that lamp looks perfect. I'm thinking it will have to find a place in our home.

...I guess I will have to leave my magazines out for hubby to find more often!

my FEET are craving:

Rosebud Saltwater Sandals & Bensimon Midtop Sneakers

BROYHILL BRASILIA

When my grandma passed away this last summer, I inherited a dining set and matching hutch. I assumed the furniture was something from the 1950's, but didn't think to look into it any further. Well, today when reading my way through the Apartment Therapy posts I have stacked up in Google Reader, I recognized some similar furniture from one of their New York Scavenger posts. As I searched out "Danish Modern Brasilia" in Google, I found my exact dining set and hutch made by Broyhill Brasilia. It's exciting to learn that these pieces are actually sought out by people, even though I have no plans at all to part with them. Mystery solved! I had plans to paint the pieces, but is it fair to assume I would be tarred and feathered by purists if I did so? I don't think I want to paint them now knowing what they are. But the fabric on the chairs doesn't match my kitchen at all. Can I at least change that? What do you think?

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Broyhill Brasilia done right! That is my exact dining set in the back. It is a huge table with 2 leaves and has 4 chairs and 2 armchairs. A perfect Thanksgiving table... and it always was.

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My exact hutch.

The photos are not of my pieces as mine are hidden under drop cloths in our living room right now. Oh, the joys of remodeling.

NEW YORK state of mind

I am back in NorCal and finally back on Pacific Standard Time. I had a wonderful trip to the East Coast. It was an amazing blessing and my body tolerated it fairly well. Our time in Washington D.C. was low-key because the travel wore me out, but my body bounced back in time to enjoy the wedding in Pennsylvania. The weather was beautiful and our friends are now married. It was one of those weddings where the couple is just perfect for each other so you are (almost) as ecstatic as they are about the marriage. Hubby got to catch up with some old friends and it was just a lovely time. We planned to catch a train to New York the day after the wedding, but found out some friends were going to be driving there, so we hitched a ride and ended up in New York at 10am on Monday. I was well the entire time we were in New York and was able to walk the miles and miles, sleep well at night, and repeat the next day. It was such an answer to prayer. I felt good and it was wonderful.

Our first stop in the city was lunch. Since I keep a pretty pure diet, I had researched raw food restaurants before our trip and Quintessence, being a 100% organic, vegan, and raw restaurant, was the first on my list. I chose the Sundried Tomato Basil Fettuccine. Hubby got the Chef's Club Sandwich and Cold Apple Cider. Everything was delicious and fresh. I definitely recommend this restaurant to those looking for someplace healthy to eat.

As you know, the place I was most excited to visit in NYC was Babycakes, the raved about vegan bakery. It did not let me down. We went there two days in a row and tried every cupcake flavor. My favorites ended up being the red velvet, chocolate, and brownie cupcakes. I bought myself a mug (actually, hubby suggested it) to commemorate the trip and of course I couldn't leave without my own copy of the new Babycakes cookbook. I am SO excited to try all of the scrumptious looking recipes out! I have to admit... I miss it already.

I don't think I have looked up so much in my life as when we were walking around New York. I felt very small. I am definitely not a fan of heights and could barely stand looking down at the ground from our hotel room 26-stories up. I can't imagine being someone with a penthouse 40 stories high. Yikes! Despite my fear, it was amazing to see so much living and business space so high in the sky!

I loved all the brick in the city. So many streets were filled with brick homes- often different colors than the one next door. The architecture was stunning. I don't know how many photos came home with me of buildings. Too many, I'm sure.

One of my "must visit" stores was MXYPLYZYK. Even though it's not very big, hubby and I spent quite a while pacing around in it and discussing all of the fun and interesting home goods. I left with a mint green double kitchen timer, but trust me- we would have loved to have come home with more. Those darn luggage rules kept us from buying any lights or clocks though. Gotta stay under the 50 lbs.

After going to see Wicked on Wednesday night (which was AMAZING!), hubby and I walked to Times Square. The lights were blinding and it was crazy to see how many people are out there at night. It definitely lived up to everything I have heard and thought about it. After seeing it in so many movies and photos, it was surreal to be standing there. Of course, I felt that way the whole time we were in New York. I felt like a character in a movie. Granted, it would be a pretty boring movie: Heidi and Hubby's Visit to NYC. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't stay in theaters after the first weekend.

Our last day in New York, we took a 75-minute "cruise" to see The Statue of Liberty. I just couldn't leave the city without seeing Lady Liberty. It was cold and windy, but beautiful. Hubby and I braved the wind and sat in the front of the boat. I took photos like a crazy woman and enjoyed singing "I'm On a Boat" with hubby for a few moments. We couldn't resist.

Other highlights of our time in New York were going to a taping of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Baldwin- who?, The Roots!, and Keane), lots of shopping in SoHo (I will share my purchases with you sometime this week), lunch in Central Park, dinner at Cafe Cluny (recommended by Joanna of A Cup of Jo- thank you!), and miles and miles of beautiful walking exercise. Four days in New York was definitely not enough (I already have a mental list of what I want to do next time we visit), but I am so thankful we were able to visit at all. I have been wanting to go to New York my entire life and it was a dream come true. Silly way to put it, but you know what I mean. It's New York for goodness sake! : )