Nothing to Wear

Dear Chicago,

Please make up your mind on what season it is. It is impossible to know what to wear each morning. Is it going to be chilly? Suddenly get hot in the middle of the day? Rain for 5 minutes an hour for days on end? I'd love it if it could just be summer, you know, since it is June and all.

Thanks,

Kelly

In other news, I love this shirt, which is unfortunately currently sold out. 

Pretty Things

Last week was rough. So naturally I decided to kick this week off on a lighter note - with a collection of pretty things currently on my wish list. I always find my wish lists to be a little amusing with their mix of items. I may quite possibly be the only person I know that's coveting a scarf with zebras all over it at the same time as fancy salt & pepper grinders. As for the other items - I'm thinking I will finally bite the bullet and use my Bauble Bar points to snatch this necklace up since I can't stop staring at it, and considering I've been looking for a plain white cake stand for ages I just might treat myself to one of these this week. Happy Monday!

scarf  //  salt & pepper grinders  //  notepad  //  tote  //  lip crayon

necklace  //  juice cleanse  //  cake plates

Reality Check

I realize I've had a major lack of real content in the last week, and while I'm bummed about that, it's simply all I have the time or energy for right now. The good news is that Pinterest is chock full of inspiring quotes displayed all pretty in a graphic, and sometimes on a rough day a phrase that really hits home is just what I need.

Here's one for today. It's a bit harsh, but I love it. I'll be back to my chipper self soon. Promise.

Quarter Life Crisis

via

I'm in a rut this week friends. I'm exhausted, overwhelmed and feeling totally uninspired. On the flip side, I have some really great things ahead of me in the coming weeks, starting with an incredible event with the advisory board I'm on tomorrow evening that my awesome father in law and a good friend are joining me for. The event is at the Signature Room, where I've never been, and I'm looking forward to feeling fancy and doing some friendly networking for the foundation. I'm struggling to stay afloat, but I'm working on it!

Until I'm back with something more substantial, feel free to check out Paper & Honey's "Make Your Mark" series, where the image above came from. This chick is Talented with a capital T, and her hand lettered go-get-em phrases make me happy.

If you're having as rough of a week as I am - hang in there! We can do it.

Almost Heaven

There is nothing quite like spending a weekend at the lake with family and friends, sitting by a bonfire every night with hoodies, marshmallows and drinks, paddling (sometimes in circles) around the lake in a canoe, grilling almost every meal, chopping wood and driving a four-wheeler around the yard. Even raking leaves is more enjoyable when you're at the lake. Everything is just better. More relaxing. Slower. More cherished.

Thanks to spending the last 4 days doing just that, I'm struggling a little to get back into the swing of things this morning. The rain we're having here isn't helping, but regardless, it's already Tuesday and based on my emails it looks like I'm walking into a crazy busy week at work so it's time to get back in gear.

I hope you enjoyed the long weekend as much as I did. If you're interested, check out lots more photos of our little mini-vaca over on Instagram!

Blessings in Disguise

This past weekend when I was moping around bummed that I wasn't packing for Mexico, my good friend Amy who lives in Seattle was packing for Chicago. I of course didn't know that because I am the WORST friend ever when it comes to keeping in touch (For real - how do I get over the fact that I hate talking on the phone?? Who's got tips for me?), but the good news is that Amy is awesome and she sent me a text when she got here saying that we should get together and catch up. I haven't seen Amy since my wedding, and haven't met either of her little ones, so you can imagine how much I freaked out about her being in town. We promptly made dinner plans for last night, and I was actually a little nervous to pick her up to come over thinking it was going to be weird because we haven't really talked and now I'm married and now she has two kids and now we both have careers... you know, adult stuff. Gone are the days of us babysitting for approximately 15 kids between us and taking group trips with them to the pool. No more shopping for the heck of it on a Wednesday and then wearing our cute new outfit to the bars that evening. Forget about swooning over cute guys that we see while we're out - we're both (happily) taken! Things are different now.

But I was so so wrong for thinking for even a second that anything would be awkward. It was perfect. I loved every second of catching up and it was like we'd never been apart. Amy is a natural-born mother and it was so incredible to see her doting on the kids. And her daughter?!? Dear God that child is amazing. Not an ounce of shy in her and a total chatterbox... so basically, me as a child only with a mess of blonde curls I'm super jealous of. She was giggling with me before we even got to our house, and was totally smitten with Dan within minutes. At one point towards the end of the evening I came downstairs from the bathroom and she stood up on a chair, held up her arms and said "Kelly!! Cuddle with me!!!" MELT. MY. HEART. Seriously. I almost cried.

So besides gushing about Amy and her amazing little family, the point of this post is to serve as a reminder - mostly to myself since I have a real hard time looking on the bright side sometimes - look for the positive. Remember the little things. Realize that if I were actually in Mexico this week I would have missed the chance to see one of my oldest friends that is only in town every couple of years.

I never thought I would say this, but I am SO glad I'm not laying on a beach right now. There is nowhere else I would have rather been for dinner last night than at home with Dan, Amy, Aoife and Collin.

The 4 C's

As I gather inspiration for this year's Summer Projects List, I'm realizing more and more that I'm leaning towards simple little projects that can still have a big impact. As with the entire time we've had our house, we've made a TON of improvements in the last year, and now I'm trying hard to keep true to my promise to the hubs that I will work towards just relaxing and enjoying our home instead of constantly trying to change things. With as much as I love crafty DIY projects, I know I will never stop making tweaks here and there, so this summer I plan to focus on just that - the little things.

The projects list is in the works, but for now, here's a few things I'm drawing inspiration from.

Cooking: One of our favorite summer meals is a pizza on the grill. My cousin taught me this little trick last year, and once we found a 99 cent pre-made dough at the grocery store that we loved, grilled pizza quickly became a dinner staple. I'm pretty sure Dan wouldn't go for this one with grilled peach and prosciutto, but it'll be perfect for an evening at home with Manda during one of his many trips in the coming months.

Crafting: With the farmer's market open, it's time to grab my yearly starter herb plants, which I will inevitably kill long before summer ends. Or maybe this will finally be the year that I have the flourishing, successful herb garden that I dream of. Fingers crossed. These cinder block planters would be super fun and simple, not to mention easily modified to fit whatever space you have.

Clarity: Positivity. A simple (and pretty painted) reminder.

Cleaning: Oh, the never-ending battle for an organized and decluttered bathroom. Absolutely at the top of my list this year. Thankfully, we have a linen closet outside of the bathroom where towels and things go, but there's still toiletries galore piled up on the sink at all times, and it drives us both insane. I'm determined to finally figure out a way to defeat the clutter!

Scenes from the Weekend

It is officially summer in Chicago, at least in my book. It was gorgeous out all weekend, the Farmer's Market is finally open for the season, and Memorial Day weekend (which will be spent in Wisconsin with friends and my awesome dad!) is just a few work days away. Despite going to bed WAY too late last night I managed to get up early enough to make myself a lunch and a smoothie to go for breakfast, and I'm crossing my fingers I get out of the office in time to make it to a class at the gym this evening. I have a feeling it's going to be a good week. Here's a little recap of my weekend on Instagram -

treated myself to some spinach and asparagus at the opening weekend of the Farmer's Market  //  Dan and Mayah taking a Sunday afternoon nap  //  a little Sunday evening DIY (will be on the blog this week!)  //  snowing flower petals //  FINALLY got a pedicure (and some new gold sandals)  //  my masterpiece from the afternoon painting class portion of Bridget's bachelorette party!

Happy Monday, friends!

Home Tour: Front Porch

It's front porch "tour" time folks! Our DIY pallet couch was the perfect kickoff to a full space makeover, and I'm thrilled with the outcome. Scroll through for more photos than you could ever want to see of my new favorite room in our house!

Obviously, the pallet couch is the main piece in the room, and I love how the pattern really livens up the entire space. The throw pillows are all ones I already had - I'm planning to add a few more over time, and would love a long lumbar pillow to act as sort of a "back" to the long side of the couch.

Thanks to the huge windows, there isn't a whole ton of actual wall space, but the far corner of the room was perfect to hang up handmade pinwheels from our wedding. The paper lanterns are also from the wedding, but I'm thinking I might take them down (or spray paint them?) eventually seeing as there is a LOT of blue in the room overall. You can also catch a glimpse of the faux bamboo side table in the corner that I scored at Dan's work community garage sale last year for $8. I'm thinking that will get a fresh coat of a different color very soon since it is ALSO blue.

We needed somewhere to sort mail, so the awesome little $5 metal cart that I found at Goodwill during the Young House Love Unofficial Macklemore Thrift Shop Challenge got added in with some fun acrylic wine glasses and a small white tray on top for mail. The Missoni for Target crate fits underneath the cart perfectly for some of my hundreds of magazines, and the big basket is perfect storage for a couple extra floor pillows.

The main table in the space is an awesomely affordable Ikea Lack table that will be perfect for all those game nights I'm dreaming about.

A couple of vases on top of the table house the air plants my very best friend in the world surprised me with - she claims they're nearly impossible to kill. We'll see. ;)



I really hope I don't kill them, because they're super cute.



The opposite side of the room is more functional than pretty and fun like the area with the pallet couch, but I still wanted to make it look good. Right next to the door is another magazine holder (I seriously have a problem) and a vintage printing block tray I fell in love with on a thrifting day with the hubs last summer.

Like I said - this is the "not pretty" side of the room, and there's a lot packed in there but I love the $5 garage sale score storage cabinet that holds extra shoes and all of our board games. On top of the cabinet is a basket for the dustbuster and a few other little things and a few vases of tissue paper flowers from our wedding. Next to that, the coat rack also holds Buddy Louie's leashes and a small basket up top of some other random dog necessities. 

Opposite the door into the house (which is in the right side of the image above next to the coat rack) is my very very very favorite craigslist find ever - my first piece of campaign furniture! I found this little guy for $20 in Bolingbrook on a search for an end table with storage for the porch, and it is absolutely perfect. It could use a fresh coat of paint but I'm kind of loving the dings and imperfections so for now all I'm planning to do is line the drawers with some patterned paper.



Campaign hardware makes me giddy.

My terrarium, a favorite engagement photo and a couple of little knick-knacks from West Elm sit on top of the campaign piece.
 

To finish up the tour, one last shot of the pallet couch! I am so glad this project worked out as planned and kicked off a weekend of extreme cleaning and organizing in a space that I've been wanting to makeover for years.

I always knew the porch would be a super low-budget area, and am happy to say that if you add up the pallet couch at about $150 and every single other item in the room including the rug, tables and accessories the whole space still cost around $250 total. Considering a couch alone would generally cost at least that much, I'm incredibly proud of the fact that the entire room was so affordable overall. It took a few years to get there, but I'm thrilled to finally say it's perfect!

What do you think?? Hope you love it as much as I do!

Stacked

With short sleeves becoming a regular occurrence (finally!) it's time to get some new arm candy. I've been more and more into gold jewelry lately, and love how a few bracelets look stacked together. Here's a little roundup of some bracelets I've got my eye on for the warmer weather!

1  /  2  /  3  /  4  /  5  /  6  /  7  /  8

Which ones do you like best?