Fireplaces in the Off Season

When it's about a-billion degrees outside (like it is in Texas), our fireplace is the last thing on my mind. But lately, I've been making some improvements to our apartment (lots of posts coming soon!) and I wanted to improve the look of our hearth.

Last winter, we didn't have a chance to buy a screen or even use our fireplace so it's been bare since we moved in. And, go figure, they don't sell that kind of stuff in the summer wit the aforementioned "billion-degree weather". So, I searched out some alternatives to make our fireplace less of a black hole. Here are some of the ideas I love and the one I chose.

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I love the look of this fireplace in general. It's light and cheery, which is the opposite of what I envision when I think fire. Love it! Get this look easily with some vases in complimentary colors to your room decor and fill with faux blooms to keep your display looking good all through the warm months.

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I love this idea! Especially for a room that isn't full of wood tones and natural wood furniture. Here, it really brings warmth to the crisp white walls and fireplace. It's not exactly functional if you'd like to use your fireplace, but if you aren't really a fan of the flames or have a non-working hearth, then this would be a beautiful option!

I kept it simple with some pillar candles and a mirror. It keeps option of soft light and looks good when it's not lit. The mirror also helps brighten up the black hole that was our fireplace.

Have you used any of these techniques? Or any other fun ideas? I wanna know!

Room Love: a living room that's actually lived in...

Room Love: I save so many photos from the interwebs of gorgeous houses and rooms and I want to share some of my favorites.

Bower Power Blog

I love this living space! The warmth of the wood floors and furniture, the bold navy and white, and the mixture of patterns. It just comes together all so nicely. I can picture a family living here and enjoying the space. As much as I love the meticulously styled spaces in magazines and on TV, they can be a bit impersonal. But this room looks like it belongs to someone. (In fact, it belongs to some pretty cool people. The Bowers are a funny, beautiful family that have been blogging for over three years!)


What rooms do you love? Share in the comments!!!

The DWIT Stage: Doing What It Takes

Today was my first day at a new job. Don't misunderstand, I'm still working very hard to create and maintain my own company, Très Sweet Designs, but in this current stage of my life, that particular endeavor isn't covering our expenses. Not only are we trying to cover our current expenses, but we're also trying to get out of student loan debt (before graduation day) and start saving for that "dream life". So, today was my first day at a new job...

That's right, I am currently employed by the world's largest private employer, Wal-Mart. And you know what? I had a lot of fun today. I won't go into the specifics, but I think that it could turn out to be a great and (dare I predict) fun experience.

In honor of this new stage, the husband and I have coined a new verb: dwitting. It's fun to say and it makes sense so, why the heck not? "Doing what it takes" is extremely important to me. I have this wonderful (but not unreachable) idea of our future life and I'm willing to sacrifice my extra time and energy to help get us there. We've got big plans for the future and it's going to be so worth it when that time comes.

*I'll be adding more "dwitting" posts to the blog to chronicle our progress, so stay tuned.

Happy Royal Wedding Day!

While I didn't follow it avidly, I do appreciate the romance that is seeping out of humanity because of the royal wedding!

Today is the day that every woman will wonder, even if only for a split second what it feels like to be a princess! (Or Duchess anyway!)

The (First) Adventures of Being Self-Employed

As I was doing my daily blog-hopping the other day, I did my usual visit to Meg at A Practical Wedding and discovered her monthly chronicles of working for herself full-time. I really enjoyed her second post in, what I'm hoping will continue to be, a great series on being your own boss. This particular post detailed the "happiness factor" which so many people credit to owning your own business.

In the first few months after opening Très Sweet Designs, I have had a lot of fun discovering what schedule works for me, what systems work, and what culture I want to create. But the truth is I have yet to really feel that full satisfaction. I attribute this mainly to the fact that I'm still a student working on my BS in Hospitality Management. I'll admit it's a bit frustrating being completely committed to two huge projects, but I really feel like starting up while still in school was the best idea for me. It's like having a little safety net.

I'm actually using and retaining the information I'm learning in my courses and applying it to creating a solid foundation for my company. And instead of getting to graduation day with the sudden need to find/take any relatively good paying job to get student loans paid off, I'm starting that transition now.

My company is in the super early stages, where my main goal is creating a good business plan, implementing smart and efficient systems, and meeting potential clients! But I am planning for growth and preparing to make the full transition into self-employment after graduation. More to come!

The Wedding: Beauty and Fashion

As I explained in this earlier post, the day of our wedding was a little bit different than usual.

When it came down to fashion on the day of our wedding, mine was pretty simple. I bought my dress and cathedral length veil on super sale at Alfred Angelo. I wore super cute, gold peep toe pumps that you can see in my blog header! My pearl necklace was borrowed from my Aunt Brandi and my white gold earrings were a gift from my mom a few days before the wedding. That took care of my something new and something borrowed.

For my hair, I decided to keep it simple and just go straight and "half-up/half-down". After the ceremony, it got so hot outside that my MOH (who was amazing) fixed my hair into a cute low bun with two flower pins.

But what I was really proud of was my make-up. I have super oily skin, so I really needed make-up options that were long lasting. Last year I found the Bare Minerals Matte foundation and absolutely fell in love. It goes on smooth and provides great coverage, but doesn't look cakey. To keep my pretty pink eye shadow going strong, I primed my eye lids with the Urban Decay Primer Potion. Top it off with the Clinique Black Honey Almost Lipstick for some subtle color and I was good to go. I'm usually one of the people that requires 50+ photos before there is one I actually approve for public viewing, but when I opened up our wedding photos I was really happy with the way I looked. Doing my own make-up let me be in control. I didn't have to worry about an over-zealous make up artist coloring my face. Don't get me wrong, a great make up artist is worth their weight in gold, but not only was this out of my budget but doing my own just made me more comfortable.

What are you doing for your wedding? Hiring someone or going it on your own? Any products that you just have to share? I'd love to know!

Husband of the Year: 2011

Yesterday started out as a good day... that turned horrible in about 2.3 seconds. I won't get into details, but I got some rough news that came out of nowhere and yielded some pretty outlandish accusations about my company. Needless to say, I was pretty upset.

But luckily, I have the best husband ever. This phone call came while dinner was in the oven and I was mixing batter for some awesome red velvet and cream cheese whoopie pies*... so as I paced the living trying to breathe, he finished dinner, and kept an eye on me the whole time. Not only did he jump to my defense after I hung up (therefore, fulfilling his "big-strong-man" duties) but he continued to comfort me and talk out the situation throughout the night

And then, he did the best thing of all; he made me laugh. I have this weird habit of taking strands of my hair and putting them over my top lip to create, what some might call, a fairly handsome 'stache. Every time I do this, I try to see if he'll 1) let me put the mustache on him and/or 2) ask him to kiss me with this hairy lip. (I don't know how he doesn't find it attractive or at least hilarious!) After sitting on the couch for the better part of an hour and sorting out the details and the truth, I began fiddling with my hair as always. And then he said, "This is a one time offer, but if it'd make you feel better, I will kiss you with a mustache." Why yes, that would make me feel better! AND THEN, he let me put that handle-bar monstrosity on him! And I just laughed!

I really can't explain how lucky I feel to have such a great husband. Our first year of marriage has been pretty rough but nothing that has happened has even come close to putting a damper on our relationship and that makes me happy. (Note: we have also decided that when our one year anniversary does come around that we will be buying lottery tickets as a testament to how crazy the first year has been. Here's hoping we'll get lucky!!!)

*Just in case you were wondering, the whoopie pies turned out awesome!