Picking the blue for our dining room was pretty frustrating. I wish I could have taken my new car (very pretty midnight blue) into Home Depot and had them color match it. But even then I’m sure it wouldn’t have been perfect because we did try color matching for a few things and boy was it off.

Before (no idea what Bear is doing and I have no other shots so this will have to do!):

Anywho, we did try a million and settled on Behr’s Daring Indigo…the grey was a color match from Valspar’s Blind Date. We are giving it a few days to darken as the guy said and may change it if it doesn’t because sometimes it seems a little too blue for me and not dark enough. We shall see but either way I do love the combination and it’s definitely the look I was going for.

What do you guys think?

We are going to cover the walls with all the vintage gold mirrors we collect (every one is under $10, it’s a rule) and replacing the chandelier. Started to buy some of the furniture and are picking out the flooring this weekend. Again, we can’t wait!

We got the house!! It’s only been about a week and a half since we closed but we have made some big changes already. It was a steal for sure because the owners live in another state and didn’t want to do any of the cosmetic changes. So they left dirty carpets, yucky paint, and tons of dings and wear/tear. So we’re pretty much changing everything.

I adore before and after pictures on all the design and DIY blogs so I”m definitely sharing the updates with you all.

We’ve gotten the gutter fixed and the fence up as well as the whole house powerwashed. They made a huge difference and while we have a ton of landscaping to do at the end, it looks way better already.

But the biggest thing we’ve done is started the painting. It’s amazing how much a fresh coat of paint really changes a room. Everything is brighter and cleaner and the house looks years younger already!

My favorite so far is the living room, which looked like this before:

We tested a BUNCH of colors (we have a huge bag filled with at least 30 paint sample containers in various colors now!) all over the house. Here were the color choices for the living room (there are four more on the sides you can’t even see because they are so light):

We finally decided on Celtic Gray by Behr which isn’t gray in the least. I wanted something warm but light with a hint of green and maybe even some robin’s egg blue. (Please ignore the debris):

At dusk:

SO happy with the way it turned out. Our living room feels bigger and brighter…can’t wait to furnish and decorate!

I had my engagement makeup trial yesterday with Maris Malone Calderon. She absolutely rocks and really listened to me and gave me a look that I feel still looked like me, just a much less flawed version!

And since my makeup was done anyway and it was the 1-year anniversary of our Drinko De Mayo celebration last year to rock out on our last days of consulting life (quit and never looked back, whoo!), we decided a date night at La Sombra was in order. If you haven’t been there and you’re in town…go immediately. It’s yummers.

Dress: Anthropologie on sale a few years ago – $25, Belt: Thrifted/Garage sale – $1-2, Shoes: Aldo Outlets – $14, Purse: Thrifted – $10

Have a wonderful weekend! We will be spending our time picking out tile…and carpet…and flooring…and paint!

Our offer on this gorgeous house just got accepted!!

It was built in 2001 and is 3,000 sq ft of space just waiting for me to fill with garage sale and DIY goodies!

I feel so grown-up….and kinda freaked out. Like is someone really trusting us with this? And also crazy nervous that something will halt the process before I am done going through my Domino book and picking out colors.

So fingers are crossed and prayers are fervent….but that whole “you’ll just know when you walk into the right house” bit? I felt that so I hope my instincts are right.

We are also in the process of spreading Trigger’s ashes. I can’t help but feel he’s still around guarding us and that he loves the house as much as we do. His future brothers and sisters will romp around the yard and in my eyes, he’ll always be leading them.

So much to do but wanted to catch up my lovely friends on the great news!

Thank you all for your support with our loss and for understanding my break from the blog. The grief still punches me in the stomach many times a day and it takes me a moment (or hour) to recover but we are healing slowly. We miss him and love Trigger every moment of every day and we appreciate the love from you all.

Life however doesn’t take too kindly to breaks and while we gave ourselves a week or two, it came back at us full speed. My business is busier than ever (and it’s exciting!) and I’ve been spending a lot of my time volunteering at the shelter (we currently have 3 very cute foster kitties stinking up our guest bathroom in case anyone is interested) and then of course planning the wedding. The house hunt was on hold for awhile but we’re back at it and while we’re being picky, we know we’ll find the right one for us and all furbabies present and future.

I got an email the other day asking if I wanted to attend a special event at Blo Austin, the latest location of a very fun and practical concept of salons – no cut, no color. Just a shampoo and a fun style. I immediately said yes because I needed it to pull me out of my ponytail and smelly animal clothes funk and I’m so glad I did.

The salon is just plain adorable and all the ladies (and guys) are the sweetest. They gave me a ‘Hair Menu’ to look through and I chose the ‘Red Carpet’ look. Ashanti was sweet and did a great job on my blowout!

Before (forgive the unwashed, unstyled hobo look):

After…blown away! (sorry couldn’t resist):

Blo also gave me a bag full of goodies like yoga classes and coupons for future blowouts (in case anyone is interested!) and a trial of the hairspray they used, Aerogel, which is incredibly light and soft. And some fun pink cotton candy – I was tickled pink! Seriously, I must quit with the puns. I blame the champagne. Kidding. Don’t drink and drive, kids.

But DO go out and get your hair did at Blo – they are doing $21 blowouts tomorrow on their opening day! They also offer updos and birthday or bachelorette parties and even come out for events to you. They have locations all over Cali, Florida and TX.

This inspired some much delayed outfits posts:

Skirt, Shoes, Bangles, Belt, Purse: All thrifted and around a couple bucks or less each. Top: Old Navy, also a couple bucks. My whole outfit was like $8-10 I just realized. Score!

Have a blessed weekend!

This is my second post with the same title and how I wish I could go back in time to the first one and stay there.

Our baby boy, Trigger, passed away on Monday at 8 1/2 months old.

We are in shock and grieving and I don’t really know what to do with myself. I’ve spent hours writing to him and documenting everything so I don’t forget.

I miss him.

I’m not the biggest fan of tights. Because, well…they’re tight. I’m not a big fan of anything restricting my legs (dirty!).

No seriously, I change into pajamas the instant I get home and according to the masses on Facebook, I’m not alone.

As for tights or pantyhose…I have always found them incredibly uncomfortable. So much so that when I try them on to decide if it goes with an outfit, I’ll put only one leg on and another pair of tights on the other leg to minimize the amount of time I must wear them.

So while I find tights very versatile, cute and fun, let’s be honest: I wear them because then I don’t have to shave.

Saturday, before my birthday dinner, I went through my one-leg ritual and finally decided to just give up and shave.

Clearly I’m not a fan of shaving either. And while growing up, I was unlucky enough to have chicken legs for which I was mocked…it just meant I always wore jeans. Until college when I kicboxed and unearthed my calves.

But now, the fiance is regretting the day he told me he didn’t mind if I didn’t always shave. Muahaha…man captured…shaving ceased.

Long story short…here’s what I ended up wearing Saturday night (with my lovely new purse that I forgot to hold in these shots):

Dress – Random Store in Sydney, Australia, $14

Shoes – Bakers bought from Savers, $10

Jacket – H&M, $15

Belt – Thrifted or Garage Sale or Estate Sale, $?

I have the greatest friends. I received so many great presents that night (who knew 27 was such a special age?) including some very thoughtful clothes and books from Andrea and an adorable mug from Cathy, tons of candy and cute wallets/clutches.

And in unrelated news, I wore my new beaded tunic on a date night and was way overdressed. It happens a lot to me. I do not mind whatsoever.

Tunic – Thrifted, $8

Purse – Thrifted, $?

Jeans – AG, $100 or so?

Shoes – Aldo Outlet, $14

In even more unrelated news, how cute are these pillowcases my friend brought me from Japan? Seriously, the greatest friends!:

Hope you have a stress-free week!