currently seeking: new area rug

we have an awesome creme shag rug in our living room that we purchased from ikea about a year ago. it has survived numerous parties, my 6-year-old niece sleeping over, and lots of late night meals on the coffee table; however, i think it may have found it's match. the culprit is this guy (shocker another picture of my pup - sorry!):



we haven't dared put the rug out (it's been rolled up in our add on hallway for a month now) but judging by the amount of shedding going on in our house currently and that it is a shag (and did i mention cream?) rug, i think it's time with us must come to an end. we love this carpet dearly but sadly it may be going to craigslist sometime in the near future.

now we just have figure out a good replacement. so far i'm loving these:


this crate and barrel rug is the right color and simple/ classic.


this discontinued west elm rug has always been one of my favorites. ♥


this brown folk rug from macy's is so cute.


this cb2 rug is awesome. love the letterpress! this would look great in an office.

target also has some great rugs that are nice and more affordable.

do any of you have shag rugs and pets? if so, what is the best way to clean them? for the record, having townes makes any hair and dirt worth it. we're so lucky!

i will keep you posted on what we do and if we decide to keep our current rug. i have some exciting news to share that may make it possible - stay tuned!

weekend recap

athen's pizza with extended family. reminiscing about peru and the incan trail. watched "boy in the striped pajamas." cried. cried. sobbed. breakfast burritos on the deck. sunshine. ambulances and howls. errands. caulking windows. "kite runner" movie doesn't come close to the book. bagels from bagel palace and jalapeno and scallion cream cheese. yummmm. u bet chocolate syrup. visit from mom, brother, and niece natalie. townes's first adventure getting out the front yard. sunshine. raging burritos and queso dip. scooter and swing competitions at the park. big love drama.




p.s. so stoked about this!

dr. seuss

i've always been a huge fan of dr. seuss. actually, i don't really know anyone who isn't! today would have been theodore seuss geisel's 107th birthday! what i've always loved about dr. seuss's writing is that the words are not just for kids, but so inspiring for adults as well. books like "the butter battle book","horton hears a who" and "lorax" have some very powerful messages behind their imaginative illustrations and rhyming words. his books are so timeless and incredible and the world is definitely a better place thanks to dr. seuss. celebrate by sitting down and reading one of his books with those you love today!

"the more that you read, the more things you will know. the more that you learn, the more places you'll go” - dr. seuss

a few months ago, j, my best friend, and i went to the jewish bremen museum in atlanta to see their dr. seuss exhibit called "dr. seuss goes to war...and more!" the exhibit showed various editorial cartoons in which he advocated political and social change and urged america’s entry into wwII long before the bombings at pearl harbor. the exhibit was so captivating and i felt so lucky to have been able to see it. if the exhibit is still on tour, you should see if it's coming to a city near you!

this post is dedicated to my best friend in the world beth who has bought me most of the dr.seuss books in my growing collection and read "oh the places you'll go" during my wedding ceremony ♥ i can't wait to see you sunday!!! xo

barn light electric

in our kitchen, we have a very outdated ikea fixture that should have been replaced when we replaced 99% of the other fixtures in our house within the first month of living there. the current fixture collects bugs (yuck) and looks horrible. the one saving grace is that it covers a larger amount of the ceiling that needs to be fixed a bit (i.e., spackled). i've been looking at some light fixtures to replace in the kitchen and some of these fixtures from barn light electric are making my heart skip a beat!







i love how most of their awesome fixtures and the vintage pieces even come in various different colors and they sell the edison bulb to compliment the look of their fixtures.

i think it might be time for a kitchen revamp!

happy friday! j and i are having his extended family over tonight to meet our little pup and then dinner at athen's pizza - yumm! no solid plans for the rest of the weekend except spend some time outdoors and maybe work on the house a bit. tgif!

p.s. happy happy birthday to one of my best friends in the universe. she is spending the weekend with her fiance and her new pup and i want to send nothing but magically happy vibes her way. i love you sash! ♥

weekend recap

shortly after j and i started dating, he moved an hour away to work for the summer, so every weekend we could spend every second together and then first thing monday morning, once he got to his office, i would get a weekend recap. these were the best and always made me smile. those weekend recaps were a way for me to remember the wonderful things all over again and again.

here's this past weekend's recap:

breakfast for dinner. dropping plates and mini meltdowns. girl scout cookies and pistachios. laying in the grass. fox bros bbq. toy baskets are meant to be emptied. bath time with townes. takeout with the folks. scary drive home for dad and worried faces. scrambled tofu and vegan pancakes. the social network. highly anticipated provino's dinner. happy 82nd birthday papa. fedoras and animal blankets. doggie dates via skype. townes is a bed crasher.

hope you all had a wonderful weekend ♥

good news

today was a long day. although my company doesn't give us a day off for president's day, i took a PTO day to spend the day in the hospital with my mom and dad. my dad had to go in for an angioplasty, because he'd been having some scary episodes and the preliminary tests weren't able to show a certain area of my dad's heart. i wanted to be able to be there for my dad and i didn't want my mom to be out in the waiting room alone.

after some gross cafeteria food, some starbucks (chocolate croissant = yumm!), and lots of random and outdated magazine reading, we met with the doctor for the consult and then were able to go see my dad. the good news is that everything checked out great, but dad will need to take a few precautions going forward. it was such a relief and i felt lucky that i got to be there for my parents (and bring my dad a celebratory blueberry muffin)!

dad, i love you very much and i'm glad today went well. don't worry, we'll find out what's causing the other issues, but at least we know now that it's not an issue your heart ♥

[image via life magazine]

best kind of love

after a laid back weekend with my boys, i went to work today missing our backyard and the time spent laying around in the sun in our hammock.

at lunch time, i decided to go home to let townes out to go to the bathroom since he wouldn't do this morning and i was worried about him*. when i got home, my j was there with flowers and we had lunch together outside while out little man soaked in the sunshine. i wish all lunches could be so sweet.

we don't have any set plans for valentine's day since we usually don't put as much emphasis into it since we show eachother love every day, but i'll tell you that this short, but oh so sweet lunch date was all i needed. maybe tonight we'll grill out and enjoy more of this nice weather (way to go february)!

happy valentine's day j. i love you to pieces every single day. ♥

*our new pup had his first round of heartworm treatment last week and we've now been having to give him antibiotics and pain medicine every 12 hours. the worst part about this whole thing is he has to go back in 30 days for a double dose of treatment and a whole other month of complete inactivity (a total of 2 months). so far, keeping townes inactive for almost 4 days has been a nightmare. all the little guy wants to do is play and all we want to do is take him to the dog park. sighs. here he is with his little shaved patch where they had to give him the injection.