Friday, April 29, 2011

Window Shopping...

I thought this post could be a change of pace, as there is no actual home to improve upon yet.

However, we are still budgeting for it, so all of my shopping these days has been window browser shopping.  Ugh there is some cuuuuute stuff out there! And on the city to burbsie front, I think I'm actually in more trouble once we move... you'd think that being in the city would lead to more shopping, and it does, sometimes, but I feel like it's more expensive shopping.

I love supporting local businesses, and feel less guilty (well, until the statement comes) about spending more there, but not gonna lie I'm excited to hve easyaccess to places like Homegoods, Target, and even *gasp* malls in Wilmington.

No more will I have to pony up $8 for cheese to make dinner because the closest shop is a gourmet little bodega situation (there is a time and place for 'spensive cheese, I just don't like to be forced into it). And ev.ery.thi.ng. is TAX FREE, hallelujah - no more Nordstrom shipments to Mike's work, I'm sure the department secretary will appreciate. AND no more schlepping to the depths of South Philly when I miss the UPS delivery, which of course, is made during the work day... why, UPS, why?

So obviously, I love to shop on the internets. And here are some of my faves these days just begging to be delivered to my new porch! I hope I have nice neighbors...

Let's hit Land's End Canvas first - they have some really great stuff, and I feel like it's one of my shopping secrets; such great classic pieces at very reasonable prices.

I would essentially just want to live the life of whoever is wearing this outfit. Buuut I don't know if I can pull off the shorts ;)
 

Then, Lilly Pulitzer. Ahhh Lilly, I want to spend many a brunch/tea/shower in you. 

More realistically, Ann Taylor Loft has some awesome dresses right now, like this one:
and I snagged this on sale already (shh, I have a ruffle problem)

Then there is always great stuff at Nordstrom - these are just sitting in my shopping bag

Then there's my old standby trio of Gap, Old Navy, & Banana Republic - here are some faves

From Banana (that neon pink stripe might be my very favorite):


Good old Gap:
ohh and some boat shoes from Piperlime
and Old Navy of course, though their quality miiight not last past this summer:


That's what I clicked around on this week - hopefully I can save my pennies for a few of these things and not spend it all at Home Depot!

THE DRESS

Those of us inspired by Grace Kelly's wedding dress continue to be in the best company...

 

HAHAHA.
Not gonna lie, my first groggy words at 7am this morning were "laaaaceeee sleeeeeveeesssss"!
Happy Royal Wedding Day

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

BOOOOOOOOOOOO

So, evidently this is super normal, but our closing date got changed from this Friday to next Thursday. 

This a) means one less weekend to paint, etc., before furniture is there and b) really cramps my celebrating Mexicanity and their libertad (or is it independencia? google translator did not have a definitive answer). Also, it will be awkward to toast the new place with tequila since Mike hates it...

I just got a very disturbuing visual of Mike and me sitting at opposite ends of the house him drinking scotch and me tequila just being like "yay" to ourselves and then my family shows up with celebratory champagne and judgement. (Champagne and Judgement - awesome band name?! For a WEDDING BAND?! Ohh the possibilities...)  

We decided we are still going to nab lots of paint swatches (yay for like the only free thing associated with this ordeal) and maybe even test drive a couple vehicles this weekend.

That is, if I can pull myself away from the approximately 10 (shh) hours of royal wedding programming my little dvr has lined up. Thank you BBC America, for being the bright spot in this now crappy week.

But we *must* have a bistro table!

I am INTO this weather! Seriously the sunshine and higher temps have me jonesin' for some outside dining and general hanging out. We were in Target the other day getting actual things we needed (groceries on sale, dog food, etc.) when I saw all of their outdoor furniture and did a (quite embarassing) little happy dance about our al fresco possibilities... Mike wasn't convinced, hence my unintentionally ridiculous quote (see post title).

I'm thinking that the den room that leads to the screened in porch will for sure be one of the most-used rooms in our home from June-September, and I definitely want to do something fresh and fun, and let's be honest, preppy. Though I'm fairly sure we won't be setting sail on the Delaware any time soon, Mike is the proud new owner of some hot kicks, and we agree that lime and navy is one of our favorite combos!

Thus, another plan for another room - lots of white, khaki, appley limey green, and crisp navy.

Here's what I've dreamed up so far:
These teak beauties from Sams (of all places) are crazy comfy in person
 Thought this would be a wonderful seat cushion fabric (Mike is on the fence, he thinks it's a little "wild")
 Love LOVE this little tray for boots and shoes and such from Ballard Designs
Cannot wait to hunt out one of these little Chinese garden stool beauties at Home Goods - alas, not in the budget to buy one from Ballard - and this rug from Garnet Hill is basically everything I want in life. 
 
I'm gonna cover our old couch with some khaki slipcovers, and since in this fantasy blog world I can sew, I thought these lovely little patterns would make a cute pillow or two
 Loving this coffee table from Home Decorators

Oh and I jumped the gun a little and picked up this beaut on sale while I was ordering preppy clothing items. Shock.
Greek keys are also high up on my loving list, and this fabric is doin it for me too...though I probably need something more plain if I get my lime green zig zag way
 
   Bunting stuff is so trendy right now, I wonder if I could do a little without having full-scale regatta decor back there... 

All in all, we can sum this up by saying: Boat Shoes or No Shoes. Boom.

Monday, April 25, 2011

My subscription to AARP should start any day now...

Um, it's gross out. I was NOT prepared to be assaulted with August-like humidity on this lovely Easter Monday walk to work. The result? Not cute, I'll tell you that much.

Anyway, this weekend made me even more excited for the big move - while there are obviously fun aspects to living in a big city, they are really being outweighed by the convenience of the burbsies (turning in my cool card....now!)

Between needing to ask the dude sitting on our stoop to move while lugging our bags of clothes, melting Easter gifts, dog, etc. to the roasting 3rd floor as fast as we can so that we don't get a ticket for putting our blinkers on in front of a fire hydrant while we unpack and the way overly friendly male "neighbor" who wouldn't leave me alone while I walked Lemon Saturday afternoon, I'm becoming extremely fine with saying a big deuces to living in the PHL.

I'm giddy about the weirdest things these days - the thought of having a garage just about sends me over the edge, and I can't even tell you how many times I've been like ohmigod we can put that in the basement!!! Who knew I could be more excited about storage than living within walking distance of an Anthropologie? 2008 Katie, you've just been served. With lameness. (But you get lots of closets!!!)

Add to this the prospect of having my own car again for the first time in 2 years (and a place to park it all.the.time) and I've really hit the convenience jackpot - which to a lazy person like me will mean the world.

So I'm thinking all this, and of course it strikes me that I should fight this, that I should cling to my youth, that, hey!, I'm fun! So I clearly tried to play college on Saturday night (really Katie, going big the night before Easter? Classy), and on Sunday morning, while croaking "Jeebus is back!" it hit me yet again that I am getting o-l-d... At least too o-l-d for West Chester at 2am (sadface)

Now that I've fully admitted to being all ready set go for the burbsies, I can at least revel in the fact that (for now, if they don't abandon me after this post) I still have some super cool friends who have super comfy couches in Brooklyn, Baltimore, DC, and beyond! Yay for visiting, hopefully I don't get too college on you... AND don't worry friends, if you fear you are getting a touch of the o-l-ds there will always be a bed for you at my place :)

Friday, April 22, 2011

Playing Designer

So I was planning on posting pictures of my incredibly messy bedroom, etc., but I didn't get home til 11 last night (after a SPECTACULAR dinner at The White Dog Cafe in Wayne btw) so I pretty much just crashed with a quality Lemon snugglefest...

BUT I wanted to share something so I thought I'd share inspiration for my future CLEAN living room! It's the room I'm most excited about and have the clearest vision for sooo here goes!:


The second image is from Sarah's House on HGTV (LOVE!) and the first is from House Beautiful.

Here are some things I have picked out so far that I'm thinking can help acheive the look on a realistic budget (psst, the furniture is all pretty much from the Home Depot Decorator site and Overstock.com, and the fabric is from fabric.com) :

 Love that this is actually grey, and can offset some of the more feminine patterns with nice clean straight lines: 
Slightly rustic console table would give a nice contrast to our other furniture that's dark and new:
  Coffee table Mike actually likes:
 Rug Mike hates...and I LOVE (shocker):
 Possible curtain fabric? (Katie, who is going to make these curtains? Since when do you know how to sew? Shh, it's fine! It's just a straight line! Oh... maybe I'll price out seamstresses):
Complimentary curtain fabric (Note to self, does bridesmaid magician seamstress make curtains???):
 A great compromise couch for the hubs who "needs" to be able to flop around and watch tv (fair enough):

Some sort of a more formal loveseat, I'm quite obsessed with tufted back items - but they were deemed not flopsy enough for the main couch (see above):
Yeah, this chair or one like it proooobably isn't going to fly with ol' Marin, but I just want something with a fun but neutral pattern, maybe even a thrift find that the yet-to-be-found upholsterer/seamstress/livesaver could redo:


Best of all? The room is already painted a lovely greige color that is pretty much what I would have picked anyway! Just need to paint the bow window trim white:

So, wish me luck! On both doing these projects and convincing Mike...

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Wellll you might need 4 guys...

I finally pulled the trigger and hired movers!!!

In typical Katie fashion when I say pulled the trigger I clearly mean procrastinated and then the date we actually wanted was booked and now we're moving on a Monday.  That's when cool people move right? May 23rd for those keeping track / volunteering their packing services...

This will be ok (Mike) because: The only thing you really need need when you move in are sheets and towels - and we have the house for almost a month before we move all our stuff, so I'm sure it will be fiiiiine. Just don't cross me from Tues-Thurs that week (we also took of Friday to have a 4 day weekend of getting our shizz together).

I am a list LOVER, so I thought it would be easiest to list these things out to share... in real life these lists will probably be pretty intense, complete with sub categories and possibly colored pens

To do before actually moving:
In the City:
1. Get rid of stuff we don't need

2. Um, pack.

3. Throw a sleep over bachelorette party for 10 (no joke)

4. Visit our favorite spots a billion times in fear we're going to be lame and not come see them anymore (but, Katie, you're working in Center City everyday. Shh! We need to be nostalgic for our cool city lives!)


In the Burbsies (before we move in):
1. Break through the wall to widen the doorway between the kitchen and dining room (but, Katie, you and Mike have never done any home improvements without the supervision of a licensed contractor and or Greg. Shh! We are adventurous)

2. Rip up existing and lay a new floor in the kitchen and den (see above issue)

3. Pick out colors by going to Lowes/Home Depot/Sherwin Williams 98343249089834 times and second guessing everything until you realize you are just going to pick whatever Martha suggests

4. Paint / Remove a bit of wallpaper

Life:
I can't list these out without risking hyperventilation, but they including parting with moooost of our savings, me changing my name, parting with more savings at stores all over the Delaware Valley including but not limited to a TBD car dealership for a TBD automobile which will be registered to Katie MARIN who needs to change her name because really we've been married for like a year and a half and and and *cue head explosion*

Oh, and the reason for the post title? I started listing (duh) all of my large furniture items to the mover guy on the phone and reminding him that we live on the 2nd and 3rd floor of the place and he just kept going "weeeeelllll" so we agreed we'd do 4 guys instead of 3 to hopefully keep things moving faster.

A certain number of you CLAIM to be interested in such things so here goes, blogosphere, we movin!