studio part 2

visit sam's shop here.

first of all i lied, i didn't get this post ready in time for you yesterday. don't hate me. second, thank you so very much for all of your sweet and encouraging comments about the studio. makes all that hard work feel SO worth it. thank you!

i think that sam's side of our space is perfectly him. no fuss. he built a custom peg board with frame to house all of his tools and all of his things are organized on shelves and in boxes, which he left plain and labeled. the awesome mounted antlers were found over at veryfinehouse on etsy. i think they were the perfect finishing touch, with room for more if we want!

matilda has been loving hanging out in the room with us. it's awesome.

ok, back to waiting for this storm to blow over. hope everyone was able to stay safe out there...

studio part 1

tada! after weeks and weeks of non-stop clearing, cleaning, painting, hanging, building, etc etc. we are finally done. we still need to get our rug and the orange stools will be switched out for these, but we're DONE. this is my area of the studio, and i'll share sam's tomorrow. i'm really happy with how it turned out. the paint color is country mist by behr and the desks and shelves were custom. sam worked with my sweet lynndaddy and grammy, along with my dad to build the desk of my dreams. such a joint effort! i love the pipe legs and extra long workspace. sam worked tirelessly (with help form my dad) to create the beautiful tops, which are pine, stained and then coated three times with acrylic poly. they are so awesome! i'll have a better picture of the legs tomorrow. the shelves are a system of tracks designed by sam and then simple shelves stained the same color as the desks.

i wanted the room to feel airy and clean with schoolhouse touches like the globe and chalkboard. i also wanted there to be a clear division between my world and sam's, so that both of our style's and shops were reflected. i also wanted everything to be super organized, so i used a lot of storage items from ikea and some that we already had.

i've been sewing away and listening to this. i love having a room specifically designed for being creative. sam and i can just make stuff all night together! matilda can hang too because everything was designed to be up and out of reach. don't worry, she's still right up in the mix, getting leather lessons from her daddy.

so, what do you think?!

easter

see more of our easter here.

did you have a great easter?! we spent ours over at my mama's house with the most delicious brunch. we ate entirely too much (can someone say detox next week) and then watched matilda hunt for eggs. it was her first egg hunt and she LOVED it. pure unadulterated excitement. it was hilarious. i will say i missed not going to church. we should have. i also struggled with explaining the true reason for easter to matilda. any advice on that sort of thing? the whole easter bunny bit is a little crazy, huh?

we also got to go over to my grammy and lynndaddy's to shortly celebrate lynndaddy's birthday. pretty darn lucky to still have all of my grandparents in my life. so thankful.

kate and andy stopped by too with some vintage goodness for the studio. speaking of, i'll be showing off our new lastfiveweeksofourlife room tomorrow! so excited to share it with you guys...

guest post on blue eyed yonder

i'm guest posting over at one of my favorite blogs, blue eyed yonder. hope you'll go check it out!

found

hello monday. the weekend came and was gone before we knew it. we celebrated jessica's 30th birthday which meant i got to see some of my best friends multiple times this weekend, which was awesome. we even took matilda to the laser show! we didn't last until the actual "event," but stone mountain was much more beautiful than i remembered.
sam worked his behind off making really awesome shelves for the office which means... we are almost done!
i've been looking for the perfect rug, something matilda could play on that would also hold up to high traffic. i love flor and found this picture before finding the exact design on their website. don't you love when that happens?
it looks like maybe one of the tile colors is different, but i love them both. a flor store is opening in atlanta this month in my shop's neighborhood. can't wait!

turkey taco salad with homemade guacamole

mexican food is one of my favorite food groups. honestly. this "taco salad" is a twist on the original- no fried tortilla shells here. lately this meal satisfies me like no other. sam and i "go to" this one at least once a week. i like my tacos spicy, perfect compliment to the creamy guacamole. hope you'll love it like we do!

turkey taco salad with homemade guacamole

for the tacos you'll need:

1 pound all natural ground turkey meat

1 packet organic taco seasoning or make your own

1 onion

1 pepper

prepare turkey meat by following directions on the seasoning packet. i always brown the meat with diced onions and peppers. i also love jalapenos added at the last minute, but i leave them out so they're not too spicy for some of the less spice tolerant people in my house.

i layer the bottom of a bowl with mixed baby greens. you can use any green here. you may prefer something crunchy like romaine hearts. then i top the greens with the taco meat. so simple. the guacamole and shredded raw cheddar are the finishing touch.

for the guacamole you'll need:

1/2 a red onion

1/2 a vine ripe tomato

1 avocado

1 T lemon juice

pinch of salt

i finely chop the onion and tomato and add them to the chopped avocado. i then sprinkle with a pinch of salt and lemon juice and then use a fork to mash them all together. i've found that if the avocado is not quite ripe i can throw all of the ingredients in my blender and that does the trick. i also love cilantro and jalapeno in my guac and will add those if i have them on hand.

top with the world's greatest condiment and you have a totally yummy, healthy dinner.

right now i am

listening to: adele

reading: creative walls

loving: my girl. just amazed by how awesome she is.

eating: turkey taco salad with homemade guacamole. recipe to follow.

wearing: this cute cardigan that my brother jake gave me.

missing: jake, he's on a road/move trip to montana with my dad.

watching: secrets from a stylist. love her!

admiring: my husband's handiness. he built the most beautiful desktops.

waiting for: my office to be finished (i just want to decorate), this weekend's birthday festivities with some of my oldest friends, life to slow down a bit.

what are you up to?

lately.

1. spotted on the little green notebook/ 2. can't wait to get this book

hm. i don't even know where to begin. the last few weeks have been exhausting. who knew that moving a few things around would take such a toll on every free second we have. add a bunch of social commitments (albeit fun ones) and you've got one tired lady.

just a few of the mishaps along the way:

• our washing machine has stopped spinning. this doesn't work for me. soaking wet cloth diapers are not pretty. trust. you should have seen me and sam trying to perform "diagnostics" to solve the problem. made me love sam that much more. (ps it's still broken)
• one of matilda's bottles fell in the dishwasher and sam had to use a heat gun to remove it from the bottom. it was glued. problem solved.
• i patched all of the holes from the frames we'd removed from the walls. proudly i repainted the patched holes with "alexandria beige" only to see that the new paint did not match the old and there were dark spots-everywhere. luckily sam found the old paint can buried below the house so that will be my project tonight. repainting.
• we've had the hardest time deciding on what kind of wood to use on the desktops, but i think we've figured it out.

thank God for wine.

a cute thing that happened today:

there was a lost baby owl outside at my mom's house. she had to call animal control to help move it back in to the trees. all matilda could talk about was the baby owl: "i saw a baby owl. it had two wings."

still here...

from l to r: first of two going away dinners for jake, my date matilda for our dinner with lindsey and parker, parting gift from our friend's baby "party," our new desks

i feel like i've been drowning in boxes and paintings. all of the contents of our office resided in our (already tiny) living room for the past few days. we went to alabama early saturday morning to pick up our new desks that lynndaddy and grammy made for us for our thirtieth birthdays. they are so perfect. now we are on the hunt for salvaged wood for the desk top. i am so excited to get to work!

we had a great weekend celebrating new adventures and new life. we have so, so much to be thankful for.