Weekend Happenings

I finally got that relaxing weekend I had been craving which included some sleeping in (thanks to my new blackout curtains), shopping, vegging and a little QT with friends that came in town to visit.

On Friday night, K and I went out to try the new Texas Roadhouse restaurant that opened in town. It was SO good! K loved the steak he ordered and I had the best Caesar salad ever with some fall-off-the-bone ribs. Definitely recommend this place for good BBQ if you have one in the area.

 

On Saturday, I got the day to myself to do some errands and shopping while K went out with friends to do their live fantasy football draft. I picked up this 2-piece art set for our master bedroom from Marshall's.

K came home later in the evening with another piece of "decor" he wants displayed in our living room. Ummm no and no. LOL. This might have to go to his office or somewhere out of sight!

A couple friends from Tampa stayed the night with us after the football draft so we ordered some Italian food for dinner and hung out at the house.

On Sunday morning, I cooked up a breakfast casserole for our guests before they hit the road to head home. I spent the rest of the day Skyping with one of my best friends to help her plan her wedding in Barbados next year and did some stuff around the house.


The new artwork went up in our room. I think the wall still looks a little bare but it will do until we get the walls painted a darker color.

And then came time for more cooking. I told you I had a vegging kind of weekend. Grilled chicken peanut satay was on Sunday's dinner menu with sauce from Trader Joes, which is excellent!

Joining Biana for Weekending and Leeann for Monday Morning Gossip. 

Welcome To Mi Casa

The 3 year anniversary of becoming a homeowner just passed and it's been a work in progress with some ups and downs in our home. I remember our realtor bringing us to see this house and I immediately fell in love the with Mediterranean style. We looked at 20+ houses and nothing compared so, when it was appraised within our budget, we were immediately sold!

The good memories have been limitless but we've also experienced a few crazy times starting with a tornado blowing through our neighborhood knocking down fences and blowing shingles off the roof. No one was hurt but it was one of the scariest days of my life. Then a few months later our house flooded from a broken pipe causing the downstairs to be completely gutted. All the hard work. Gutted. Things have been back to normal recently and I've been able to focus on some fun remodeling and redecorating projects.

Living Room

Dining Room

Beach-Themed Bathroom

Recent Home Decorating Project: Gallery Wall

TV/Family Room

Kitchen

Recent Project: Kitchen Backsplash

Recent Home Addition: Backyard Patio

Ongoing Project: Master Bedroom Decorating

Master Bathroom Tub

Thanks for stopping by and take a virtual tour of my home!

Where do you look for inspiration to remodel or decorate your house or apartment?

Master Bedroom Design & Decorating

My latest project is to redecorate our master bedroom. The walls are stark white and we have the most basic furniture and bedding set. I want some "pop" in the room and the walls painted gray, which has been the plan since we bought our house 3 years ago. Gray is such a cozy and warm color for a bedroom.

I found a bedding set with the most beautiful colors & a peacock theme. I love emerald green, sapphire blue, and of course gray.

 I'm definitely no interior decorator but I think a gray shag rug, silver mirror/wall decor and sparkly throw pillow will pull it all together to give me the sparkle I love without making it too girly for the husband.

JLO by Jennifer Lopez Decorative Pillows · Overstock Indoor Rugs · Bed Bath & Beyond Table Lamps

What do you think of this bedding & decor set?

Home Decorating: Photo Gallery Wall

Since our wedding in 2012, I've had so many lovely frames and photos that were packed in storage and never put up on display.

When the lovely Jordan posted about a Gallery Wall, a light went off in my head. I decided to try my hand at making one a few weekends ago to display in our downstairs hallway.

I laid everything out ahead of time to decide on a layout before hammering holes in the wall. K was a good sport and helped with the hammering and measuring.

In the process of hanging up all the frames, we realized the space we were working with was slightly smaller so decided to do a black & white theme only and leave out the long rectangular frame on the right.

Since the frames were all different sizes, I had to order a couple different size photos and wait for them to arrive before completing the project last weekend.

The Details:

Most of the photos are from our wedding day, including this one of our First Dance.

Pretty clock

Canvas with a motivational quote

An old photo of my grandparents when they were young bucks

Decorative Mirror
(and there you can see my reflection and iPhone flash...nice Emily, nice!)

I love how it came out even though it didn't turn out 100% as planned. I do prefer the black & white theme instead of having a mixture of colors

A Relaxing & Productive Weekend at Home

After traveling and keeping busy for the past few weekends, this was the weekend to keep my butt at home and be easy on the wallet. I have a friend's destination wedding coming up & her bachelorette in New Orleans that I need to start saving for.

On Friday, I came home to this pretty flower from K...

We then went out for dinner & drinks at Carrabbas to use a gift card from Christmas.

On Saturday, I tried my hand at making a Gallery Wall. It didn't come out exactly as planned but still good enough considering the space I was working with.

And then found myself in the liquor store where I stumbled upon the best deal EVER...2 bottles of Cinnamon Roll vodka for $12 plus a $12 mail-in rebate. Got get yours now! (Cocktail recipes to follow this week on the blog).

Sunday was a wine and blogging kind of day.

I love my pretty redneck wine glass that I bought in Savannah as a souvenir.

It was the perfect weekend. Hope you had a great weekend too :-)

Beach Bathroom Redecorating

My latest home project is redecorating our guest bathroom with a beach theme. I love starfish, shells and all the colors associated with the coast or beach.

I put together a collage on Polyvore for some inspiration:

Beach Bathroom by martinis-bikinis featuring a mercury glass jar

I'm very far from being an interior designer but a girl can try. Here's my progress so far:

It's a work in progress.

Where's your favorite place to buy affordable home decor?

Renovations After The Flood

I'm so relieved that our house is starting to feel like home again two weeks after the flood and living with gutted floors and furniture piled up everywhere.

It was fun picking out new carpet and wood floors. Kind of felt like we were decorating a brand new home.

Luckily insurance covered this expense and we were left with some extra money to do some "upgrades" so we're finally able to afford that kitchen backsplash that I've been wanting for so long along with some painting.

Here's a little sneak peak of our newly renovated living room.

The rest of the house should be done by the weeknd so the nightmare will finally be over.
Happy hump day!

Cheers to the Weekend!

Hi Everyone!

Looking forward to seeing how you all plan to celebrate St Patrick's day this weekend. 

We'll be celebrating on Saturday night with some friends, green beer and Irish Car Bombs. I've been trying to think of a festive dish I can make to bring to the party. I am not exactly the artsy type that can pull off making fancy desserts that you see on Pinterest but this recipe for Guinness Brownie Bites with Bailey's Cream Cheese Frosting looks awesome.

Here's the recipe for Guinness Brownie Bites with Bailey’s Cream Cheese Frosting. 

K and I also plan to get started on our latest home improvement project - a DIY kitchen backsplash.
I'm hoping it looks something like this.

And finally, tonight we are going to a surprise dinner to celebrate a top secret occasion. I'll be able to share more details after the secret has been disclosed tonight.

Joining the Follow Friend Friday Linkup today.

    Hope everyone has a fun weekend!