Best part of 'making groceries'....

Fresh Flowers!  Will's favorite chore is grocery shopping, and he often tackles it without me.  As if that's not enough to love, he also frequently brings home a little prize bouquet for me.  I lead a charmed life indeed!

I am not much of a baker...

but I do have a bun in the oven.  Yes, we are having a baby!!!

We are just past the halfway mark at 21 weeks, and everything has gone so smoothly.  We are so thankful for how everything is progressing. Now that the holidays are over, I am on to tackling starting to think about the nursery.   We are saving one of life's last surprises until the end, so we are on the hunt to create a gender neutral nursery.  To amass my inspiration, I have slowly started a Pinboard.   Let the fun begin!

Make a splash, 2011

Happy New Year!  >> new decade!  >> new beginnings!

I tend to stumble upon things, more so than diving right in....particularly when it comes to my career.  I like to ease into situations, maintaining my comfort zone while I test the waters.  This year my resolution will be to get out of my comfort zone.  I think Billie is a bit like me {okay so she is only 13 weeks old and I'm 31 years old}.  Much like myself, she inadvertently discovered the swimming pool this New Years weekend.  She was just tagging along behind me when she stumbled over the edge of what she apparently thought was a blue rug.  She trotted right into the frigid water.  Her water dog instincts kicked in and she paddled herself back to the edge from which she tumbled.

I guess whether you stumble into something or dive in, you better make a splash.

Joie de Vivre V + Smilebooth

This month makes five years that we have been in our little casita and the fifth year we have had our Joie de Vivre party, serving up gumbo and good cheer.  I can't imagine what that first year was like since we had just closed on the house December 1st.  Needless to say there aren't any photos of that shindig.  Actually I usually break out the camera after the festivities.  So this year we had a Smilebooth to document all the camaraderie.  Here are a few of my favorite shots...I think Billie Holiday makes an excellent prop.  Hope your holiday festivities are rolling right in to the new year. 

I can't believe that I haven't blogged about Smilebooth before...as you can see it takes fabulous photos and looks great at your party.  My profile picture and our Christmas card last year were all from Queso. It's a really long story that started out with Queso and ends with a fabulous collaboration with Smilebooth.  Basically our cousin Josh made the finest, most modern, photobooth on the block.  

Desert Chairs

On our last trip out to Marfa we met Jamey and Constance Garza of Garza Design + Build.  The dynamic designing duo couldn't be sweeter or more genuine.  After a fabulous Pad Thai dinner whipped up by Constance... the pair showed us their latest furniture designs.  They were working on the prototypes for the Desert chair series, refining every last detail.  I am so pleased to see the final product released, with the saddle leather finish, stitching details, steel or powder coat options and all. Let me tell you, these chairs are as comfortable as they are sculptural.
The art paired with the chairs below is also by Jamey as part of a show he did in San Francisco in 1999 at Gallery 16.  There are a total of 16 paintings on plywood each 34" x 34".  All imagery and text was taken from album covers and liner notes as part of a concept of "Honky Tonk Heroes".  I think they are so Classic Country Chic!

All images via Garza Design + Build.

Austin City Limits

Gorgeous weather, massive crowds, Knitta Please, rock & recycle, good times, great friends, scooter rides, and at last lush grass in Zilker Park, here are a few photos from Austin City Limits [which was, ehem, three weekends ago.]

As many of you may know I am a few weeks behind on posts here.  I know, I know, I need to pick up the pace a bit.