OBSESSED: My Summer Style Must Haves!

So these are the things I am wearing A LOT of right now...


STRIPES! It's unhealthy really. I'm embarassed to say a few things were in the laundry too. Stripes being a style craze this summer makes me a happy little clam. Black and white stripes paired with something bright/neon or bright stipes paired with navy or black are the looks I am really drawn to. Don't belive me? The proof is in the Pinterest board ladies!

FLAT SANDALS! It's over 100 degrees in Cleveland right now and the last thing I want to do is strut around in heels all day. Flat sandals are my favorite becuase they are so versatile - they can be dressed up or dressed down. They look effortless but we know you tried becuase you're not wearing flip flops. Oh and I am also proud to say that not one single pair of these sandals cost me more than $20. Oh hey Target, hey Marshalls!

POCKET TEES!
Another shameless shout out to Target becuase thier boyfriend pocket tees are a summer essential! Calm down Kristin, I am giving you your credit right now. My friend Kristin turned me on to these bad boys. They come in tons of really fun colors and the price is right. $8 is not a big committment to try this summer's neon trend! And sometimes they are on sale for $6 - I know, well I'll be a monkey's uncle right?

WEEKLY SNAPSHOTS: A Few Firsts

Some highlights this past week that were worth Instagramming included drinking out of my $5 clearance Anthropologie mug (with my first glitter accent nail no less), vintage sconces arriving from Etsy (that Charlie has yet to hang despite my persistance), building up the courage to buy my first summer fedora and baking my first quiche to accompany Charlie's awesome chemex brew featuring PT coffee's Columbia Peaberry (what an amazing cup of coffee!).

WEEKEND IN REVIEW: Baby Bumps, Fire Pits & Bubble Mowers!

It was a fabulous long weekend for me! I had to be in Columbus for a meeting on Thursday morning so I took some PTO and hung out with my BFF Audra and met her baby bump for the first time. Greyson is due in October and I can't wait to meet him. It was so hot all we could do is shop so we scored some adorbs onesies for baby G. Then on Saturday night we met up with some friends for brewskies and s'mores around a fire pit. Possibly one of my fave thigns to do a summer night! Then on Sunday we celebrated Charlie's little cousin's third birthday. We got him a Fisher Price bubble mower which was a nice trip down memory lane for both of us becuase if you were ever a child then you probably had one!

DIY: Rustoleum!

Tarnished rusted metal objects plaguing your home? Don't throw them away. Spray paint them! Rustoleum spray paint has become our new best friend. When we first moved in we painted some silver light fixtures in the kitchen so they matched the oiled bronze hardware we put on the cabinets. Then we had our bathroom remodeled and could not find a medicine cabinet with the same charm as the vintage one in there - so we refinished that inside and out. Then the thing that was bugging me the most - the hideous mailbox on the front of the house, which can not be replaced until we paint said house because the mailbox has made scratch marks behind it. We sanded it down with some rough paper, wiped it down, then applied two coats of hunter green Rustoleum. If you want you can also use a primer first, which we did for the medicine cabinet, but not the mailbox. Honestly its like magic the way it makes things look new again! P.S. Shout out to the husband for doing most of the leg work on this project.

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WEEK IN SNAPSHOTS: Goat Cheese, Presents & Cat Dads

This past week/weekend consisted of eating goat cheese on my scrambles eggs every day, hitting the one month mark of Insanity (Heisman is my favorite move as you can see), continuing my summer salad obsession with a tomato and beet salad, receiving my first Birch Box (a birthday present from my amazing friend Kristin) and of course celebrating Cat Dad day with brunch at our local favorite - Sweet Melissa. Hope yours was a good one too! P.S. If someone not as HTML illiterate as me can tell me how to get these little pics next to each other that would be great because I can't seem to figure it out. Titled head confused dog look happening right now.

HOME: Wallpaper - Oh the Choices!

Wallpaper is in again. And not the kind that conjures up bad flashbacks to the 70' and 80's. There is actually some amazingly beautiful and fun wallpaper out there. We were having a really hard time deciding on a paint color for the hallway/stairway so we were kinda like - well let's just wallpaper it. Some of my favorites are from Anthropologie so I went ahead and ordered some samples. I have a favorite so let's see if we can actually make this happen in the near future.

GIRLY STUFF: Summer Nails

So I tend to be pretty in the box when it comes to nail polish. My usual suspects are dark reds, dark purples, browns and grays. But come start of summer I always go for a new bright bold color. Last summer was the summer of Essie's "clambake" (an bright orangey red, which is my favorite color in life in general). My new friend this summer is Essie's "ole caliente" (a fiery coral). As you can see I don't even go too far out of my comfort zone with my out of the box colors as some would say they look identical. But not so, I swear it! I have yet to try this summer's pastel trend but it's on my list!

WEEKEND SNAPSHOTS: Flowers, Food & Cats

The hubs and I had a fabulous weekend complete with having our most favorite friends over for a BBQ, new chairs for the living room that we've been waiting on for 2 months and s'mores making with marshmallows roasted over the grill. We need to get a fire pit stat!

HOME: West Siiiiiide

Charlie and I bought our first home about two months ago now in the lovely city of Rocky River, OH. This is kind of a big deal because Charlie grew up on the East side and here in Cleveland they act like if an East sider moves to the West side they will melt upon contact like the Wicked Witch of the West - and vice verse. No melting so far and sorry for the shame I bring my second family when I say this but - We LOVE it!


We could not be more in love with our little house. It was built in 1925 and still has a lot of the original detail. But with AC and thank the heavens because anyone who knows me knows how much I hate to be hot. Hence the reason I was happy to be whisked by my beau from a life of misery in Florida. One place we did still feel the heat though was from our neighbors who made it very clear the previous owner didn't take too kindly to yard work. That's was Charlie's cue to buy every piece of motorized lawn equipment he could. If you need to borrow a professional strength gas powered hedger, I have one. We worked hard and its still a work in progress, but it's worth it because look at what a difference a couple weekends of work has made! 

BEFORE (Granted this is in the winter):

AFTER:

All the best,
Mags