New to You

I was going through some idea boards I've recently done and realized I didn't post these... here are some "new to you" boards :)

Bathroom:

Dining Room:

Little Boy's Room:

Teen Girl's Room:

My weekend's agenda is to clean like crazy (our home is so messy right now!), date night/grilling with the hub, and lots of work.

Have a great weekend :)

Char's on Twitter!

The other night my husband and I were playing around and started a Twitter account for our dog, Charlotte: CharTheDog. At first it was a silly little joke but I've grown to really enjoy seeing "Char"'s updates her Twitter.



Are we the biggest dorks ever? Possibly. Feel free to follow her if you want to see some really dorky posts from a really cute dog (not to mention lots of twitpics).

excitement

Today, in the mail, I received my first swatch book*.



It's a very exciting feeling and I hope it's the first of many. Someday I hope to have an office that looks like this:

{erika's work space from urban grace interiors}

* I found this vendor online, they offer dupioni silk for $15/yard. Not bad, especially if you know how to sew your own curtains.

watching the weight

You may have noticed on my twitter last Thursday I started Weight Watchers. I'll share the journey with you just in case anyone out there is interested in trying it out.

I normally would not have signed up on my own, but a group of friends at work put it together - we hold all the meetings at work and it was too good to pass up! The cost is $99 for 9 weeks.

I weighed in on Thursday. Since last year, I've already lost 15 pounds, but I joined WW to lose the last 10. I also joined to support my husband, who is also doing it with me. Before I joined, my perception of Weight Watchers was that you had to be overweight to join. I'm in the healthy BMI rage and thought I may be turned down. This is not the case! It's a great program to help you learn about portion sizes, working out and just being healthy.

So far our experiences have been really great. The Fourth of July weekend was a bit rough, but WW allows you to have "cushion" points so if you go over your points it's not the end of the world.

The thing that surprises me the most is I'm never hungry. I get 20 points a day and my husband gets 31. My husband actually struggles reaching all his points! It also has opened our eyes - we added up a typical meal we'd eat at Chilis and it was around 60 points. That's 3 days worth for me! I'm really realizing that I would mindlessly over eat for no reason.

Today is the first weigh in since my initial weigh in. I'm going to post my pounds lost on my sidebar more to keep myself in line and also just in case you're curious!

Feel free to ask me any questions about it. So far I'm really enjoying it. 8 more weeks to go ;)




UPDATE - Wow, I just had my week 2 weigh in and I lost 4.4 lbs. I'm sure it's all water weight and I'm expecting to gain some of it back next week :-/

Someone asked how I survive off of 20 points - it's actually very easy and I am rarely hungry. For instance, here is a basic day:

Breakfast: Fiber Plus Bar (soo good) & Tea = 2 pts
Lunch: Smart One's Pot Roast & water & fat free yogurt = 5 pts
Snack: Small apple & 100 cal popcorn = 2 pts
Dinner: Baked chicken (with breadcrumbs!!) & smart pasta with ranch a couple ranch dressing spritzes & diet coke = 10 or 11 pts

= 20 pts

You should also add in some veggies to the dinner (0 pts) but we didn't have any on hand.

lotus

I've been drooling over this pendant for... hmm... prob a year?



And I convinced one of my clients to put it in her dining room (size small). I can't wait!

Client's Elegant Dining Room

One project I've been working on is a formal dining room for a client (in addition to her formal living room). She has a beautiful home with beautiful core pieces of furniture already purchased.

I want to share some gorgeous pieces of furniture that I chose for her dining room... this space really had me channeling Urban Grace Interiors. Elegant, with a touch of casual. I love Erika, she's always a great source of inspiration to me.

{Blix Side Chair by Hickory Chair}

Isn't this chair AMAZING? I love everything about it - the gold inlay, the amazing wood grain, the lighter back and darker legs. The nail heads, the fabric. Here's another picture for your viewing pleasure:



The dining room is a bit too small to have a full sideboard or buffet, so I chose to go with a bar cart. When I found this via a Los Angeles dealer, I was amazed how perfect it fit with the chairs:


The straight gold lines of the bar cart mirrors the straight gold lines of the gold inlay on the chair. Perfect! See, I like things that don't match, but play off of each other.

I'm presenting tomorrow night; I hope the client loves these pieces as much as I do!

Sneak Peek

Mid century modern sideboard for a client...



It's a gorgeous piece, especially when it's right side up :) I purchased it planning on painting it a glossy white, but I may play around with the design to perhaps keep it au naturel. Either way, it rocks.