Crates & Pallets

I'm linking up with The Vintage Apple today for Oh How Pinteresting! I was going through Pinterest withdrawals since I didn't link up last week & have been sooo busy!

Today I went with a little home inspiration (I feel like that's the only thing on my mind these days!)

My hope is that posting this will lead to actually completing {or starting} some of these DIY tasks! :) And since I work at a winery, I really have no excuse!

I think this one is my fav!

I love this one too! This would be great in- & outdoors!

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Home project #80

...who's counting anyway?!

We are getting ready to design our kitchen pantry! Yipee! I can remove my boxes of food off the pantry floor.

When we moved in, our washer & dryer were basically in our kitchen. We decided to throw those into the garage and convert that little room into a pantry. But since it was just a laundry room, we took on the project of building our own shelves & drawers.

I found some pictures that I thought would help us to get started.

 Perfect for the lil baker in me!

Loving the shelf/drawer combination.

 Great chalkboard idea!

And I love all the bottles & jars!

Absolute pantry heaven!

Any inspiration ideas are always welcome!

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Destination: Wedding

Today I am linking up with Long Distance Loving, where we love is home & cornflake dreams (wowza!) for a "Destination: Wedding" link up! What a brilliant way to dream. And dream I did...

I chose Bora Bora. It may sound a little cliche, but I don't know what sounds, or looks better than this:

The link up is intended to make you think about where you would have a destination wedding, if money were not an option. This would be my choice!

I would rent out all of these fabulous bungalows for all of my closest family & friends.

 Because the views do not get better than this!

And I would bring these fabulous pieces with me:

Swoon!

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Chicago: Part two

Thanks for stopping by for the rest of the story. If you missed Part one of the trip, you can view the post here.

After a early night in, we woke up to the race day: Rock 'n Roll 1/2 Marathon.

Pre-race via the iPhone.

I did not feel nearly prepared enough for my first 1/2 marathon! But I tried to stay positive & reassure myself in the days prior to the race. My first real sense of nervous panic came while standing in my Corral waiting for kick off! It makes my stomach hurt thinking about it!

But actually, the race went great! Could I have prepared more? yes. But with what I had to work with at the time and it being my first 1/2 marathon, I felt great!

For those of you who run races, I don't know if you have felt the same way, but it was very emotional for me. I think that came from a combination of a huge sense of pride, accomplishment, and pure wearing down of my body for 13.1 miles! Because at about mile 11.5 or 12, I looked up, saw the finish line & started to cry!

Not the tear jerking kind, but more of getting choked up & teary-eyed. A mix of elation that I was almost finished & exhaustion!

With that being said, I averaged about 10 minute miles; finishing in 2:13 and was pleased with my time! :)

My mom & I post-race. Freezing & exhausted!

I was so sore after the race, and the next couple days following. I have never walked so slow!

But since we still had so much city to see, and thought it might be good for us to walk that afternoon to loosen up our legs, we hit the town :)

First up Millennium/Wrigley Park to see the bean and the fountains!

Dirty bean!

 

Next we went to the Art Institute of Chicago.

One of the highlights of the museum were the staircases with the colorful lit words, reminded me of the Light Bright! 

Do you remember those?!

The last day we went to the top of the John Hancock Observatory! What an amazing view!

If you look hard enough in the distance, just at the edge of the large green patch towards the top of the picture, you can see Wrigley Field. 

One thing we didn't get to do, but definitely on the top of the list for next trip! :)

And last but not least (and another fabulous recommendation from you!)

We went to Sugar Bliss for a delicious cupcake!

Chicago was a blast! The run was a success! And spending time with my mom was unforgetable!

Thank you again for all your fabulous recommendations! You helped make our trip very memorable :)

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Chicao recap.

I finally got my pictures together for a Chicago recap post, just a few days tardy! But it was a blast & I wanted to share our adventures in the city & the 1/2 marathon itself.

The first night we got it, we took the el (or L, or subway...?) train into downtown where we were staying: the Marriott on Magnificent Mile.

Those of us in Northern California aren't that savvy with efficient public transportation. And definitely weren't ready for the craziness of rush hour traffic & what seemed like a million staircases, up & down, with all of our luggage! I took this photo of my mom: the blonde woman straight ahead. Separated & exhausted!

For dinner that night, we went to Rockit, per lots of recommendations from my fabulous bloggy friends!

The food was delish!

We had a blast there & a special treat:

They were hosting a charity fashion show, with many of the previous Bachelor & Bachelorette girls!

And although I didn't recognize most of them, Trista was there... and since she & Ryan are pretty much the show's only success story, she was easy to recognize.

The next day, we enjoyed some much needed shopping along Magnificent Mile.

We walked up and down Michigan Avenue, walked to the beachfront & went to Mike Ditka's restaurant for lunch.

That afternoon, we took the Wendella Architectural boat tour. (Another fine recommendation! Thank you!)

Next up was Epic for dinner! One of the best meals I have ever had! Thanks for the reco!

Great company, great food & I even had a drink with my mom on the rooftop bar! Great night :)

The next day we headed into Bucktown to explore. We went to Northside Bar & Grill for lunch.

Later we went to the Marathon Expo & prepared for our race the next day.

The Expo was a blast & a serious reality check!

To save this from being the longest post EVER... Part 2 to come:

{The Race, the bean & more reco's from all of you lovelies}

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Back to work

I am linking up with Long Distance Loving for her Friday's Fancies link up! Her theme was "back to school"... so very appropriate for this week! Once I started working on my outfit though, it did not seem anywhere near what I ever wore to school. Especially in the 80s! What were we all thinking!

So instead, I switched up a tad and made it a back to work outfit! Still so far out of my league, but a girl can dream, right? :)

Compliments of Polyvore

Happy Friday lovelies!
I will be editing vacation photos & doing house renovations all weekend!
Hope yours is as exciting as mine! xo

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Book worms

Something about traveling always get me in the mood for a new book. While on my travels, I picked up a couple. They are complete opposites of one another, but I love them both!

On one hand, I am a chick-flick kind of reader. I love all the books by Jennifer Weiner, Lauren Weisberger & Emily Giffin.

On the other hand, I am a memoir fanatic. I love intriguing true stories. Like these two books, couldn't get enough and was so interested in them!

Like I said... complete opposites!

So for this trip, I purchased one of each genre. The memoir I picked up, I finished in 2 days! It was incredible.

I'm sure you have heard the story. Her book just came out this year and it is an amazing book! I cried & laughed and felt true inspiration from reading it. Here is a great review if you're interested.

Here is the second book I picked up:

This was my fun read! And by the author of Sex and the City, it has to be good! This one I just started (because I seriously could not put down 'a stolen life'), but so far so good.

Do you guys have any other book recommendations for me? I am all ears! I love finding a good book I can get lost in :)

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Party Accents

I am linking up with The Vintage Apple today for Oh, How Pinteresting! I just love this little link up & the excuse to get lost in Pinterest for hours on end!

Here are a couple boards with pins from my Party Accents board:

Stripes

Sparkles

& Shoes!

Lovely party accents; many of them from a few of my favs: Chrissy, Jacin & Jessica. If you are in need of some inspiration, these are definitely sites you want to check out!

I am so ready for a party!!! :)

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And we're back!

What a fabulous trip my mom & I had to Chicago! Its always exciting visiting a new city and it was a blast having mother/daughter time & running my first race! But I must say... I missed all my bloggaboos! I seriously went through withdrawals.

I dont have all my pictures up & running yet, but I wanted to share a couple iphone pics I snapped.

The view from our hotel room at the Marriott on Magnificent Mile.

Wendella Architectural Boat Tour

Pre-Race pic!

We had a blast! I will share more pictures & details later this week.

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Pretty 'n...

Red!

I am linking up with Friday's Fancies and the theme this week is red. If you know me at all... you know I am not a fan of this color. I don't know why, but I think the color looks awful on me. So I had to dig deep this week to find something to get excited about. The one thing I thought of that I always love in red, are Pea Coats. And I figured, summer is coming to an end and soon we'll all be dusting off our coats for fall.

Compliments of Polyvore 

So far so good in Chicago! I am taking in as much as possible and enjoying some qt with mom. Wish us luck on Sunday for the big run! 

Happy Friday Lovelies! xo

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