BOOOOO Iphone

Ok maybe not BOOO to the Iphone (I know some of you Iphone haters got excited for a second) more like BOO for standing in line! SO my poor Eli stood in line this morning for almost 4 hours to purchase the new Iphone, as he approached the store he was told, "Sorry we ran out"....It really surprised me cause he's usually successful at things like this :( He came home bummed and went straight to bed. This Iphone thing is getting pretty scary.....But I must admit I don't think I can switch back to any other phone.

Line from one end of mall to the other and out the door

Before and After Wall

So we've had this blank wall in our living room for a while now and had no clue what to do..... It is close to the TV so we didn't want to hang a big rectangular piece of art because we thought it would compete with the big rectangular TV. SO...our search began for a collage or series of some sort (either art or frames) to hang on the wall....After months of searching we came back to one of our first choices, 6 square antiqued mirrors. They are big in scale so they would take up most of the wall, antiqued for a worn look, mirrored to help make the room look bigger and reflect more light which seems to brighten up the room. Yea, we saw these a while back but just didn't know if they were the ones, after seeing them again displayed at the store and having a beautiful french lady come up to us asking if we were contemplating the purchase of the mirrors, she quickly gave us her thoughts and said, "Get them, they are beautiful. I have them in my home and always get compliments" (of course she said it in that lovely french accent) So...we went for it and got them :) and are happy with the results!

BEFORE:


The mirrors we purchased:


After:


A big thanks to Mr.Eli for taking time to hang them up for me :)

Candid Shots with My Elly Belly

Love these candid shots Eli took while at the pool with Elly, I think I'm gonna order the prints and buy a collage frame to keep them in :)














absolutely love the face on this one, I was feeding her a paleta :)


Love Her :)

Restuarant Review Grade: A

So this weekend we made our way into Houston to try a Vietnamese restaurant called Mo Mong. A cousin of mine, the beautiful Areli :), had been inviting us to check it out and we finally did. The restaurant is located on Westhiemer a block from Montrose, and though we drive through there often we never noticed the restaurant before because it's tucked away in a corner. It's a dark 2 story building with an outdoor side patio. When you first walk in you see the staircase straight ahead that leads you up to the main dining area, to the right is a little loungy bar


hanging above is a grand scale Asian inspired chandelier.


The restaurant is tastefully decorated with paintings from local artists, exposed pipes and bricks, and simple clean line tables and chairs.


Food: Had a decent menu with many items at reasonable prices :) I ordered the Pho Ga (Vietnamese chicken noodle soup) it came with noodles, chicken, and a plate of fixings that included jalapenos, cilantro,bean spouts, limes, mint, and sauces. It was delish!


Eli ordered the Vietnamese chicken sandwich which was just as good. It was marinated grilled chicken on a french bread bun with veggies.


Price: Our total was about $20!!! Which certainly bumped it up from a B to an A!!!

So if your in the area check it out

bedroom inspiration

The color inspiration for our bedroom came from one of my favorite summer dresses


I love the pattern and the colors in this little dress and tried to figure how we could use it in our space. Most of our house has a greenish scheme going on and I wanted to do something alittle different for our bedroom, so I let Eli take a look at the colors I was thinking of to see how he felt about it. Gray to me is a masculine type of color so I didn't think he would mind (He's pretty open about these kinds of things anyway) and mentioned to him that I wanted to only use pops of yellow (it can get annoying fast when overdone). I love the pattern in the dress but am always to scared to actually use it in furniture for the house, so I promised myself to live a little and to use a fun pattern in our bedroom.

After we kinda had an idea of what colors we liked, I wanted to check out what other people were doing with similiar schemes and these were the wonderful photos I found:

Love the classic stripe pattern


I'm a sucker for a big upholstered headboard! They kept the bedding simple but still brought in pattern on the pillows and the area rug.


Now this one was my favorite, especially since we had already ordered a very similar headboard!

WE'RE MAKING PROGRESS-

World Cup

And so it begins we may still have to work but we are DVR-ing the Mexico game and BBQing for the American one! Have a great weekend all :) GO USA!
-Eli

The Edland series from IKEA

So I have a love hate relationship with Ikea, I love love love the prices, but not the quality, don't get me wrong, I have plenty of "Ikean" items at our place BUT I'm totally LOVING the Edland Series.
I love vintage pieces, but they can be super pricey, so I like that these new pieces have a vintage style feel to them at a fraction of the price. I'm in the middle of redesigning/redecorating our bedroom and I'm definitely going to use some of these pieces along with other great vintage finds (if I can find them at a decent price). Check out these inspiration photos with the Edland Series......




This is a mood board someone created for their own bedroom


The Edland small dresser was used as an entry way table on the show "The Good Wife" on CBS


Used as a dressing table/desk in a bedroom


Aren't these beautiful? I just love the white drop pulls on these pieces, can you tell I'm super excited to start on our bedroom? These photos are inspiring, pics of our redo will be up soon!

Things I'm loving this summer (Men's Edition)......

Ray Ban Aviators

Fishing


fresh linen shirt (suggested by erica)



floating the river


BBQ

Men's boardshorts

(suggested by Erica, Eli thinks their a tad too short....)

hmmm, can't really enjoy these things with the summer weather we've been having lately, what's up with that?
-E&E

Please direct me to this grocery store....

Seriously, this video makes me want to hop on over to the local HEB and jump into song and dance! It just brings a smile to my face :)

Another thing that brings a smile to my face is a money saving technique when grocery shopping....Ready... it's a shocker.... It's called a LIST! Seriously though here are some tips that really helped us stay on our budget when hitting the grocery store:

1. Make a weekly menu (This also helps with the, "I don't know what to make for dinner", or "Hmmm, we don't have anything to make for dinner" even though you just went grocery shopping.)
2. Make a shopping list only consisting of things on your menu and other essential items.



Of course plans may change during the week so don't fret if one night you don't make what's on your menu, it's just a good guide :)

Yea, it may seem weird, like who still takes a list with them to the grocery store, but this has seriously kept us focused and has kept us from buying unnecesary items and spending extra cash. You know what I'm talking about.... You go to the store to buy 2 or 3 items and then you find yourself at the check out spending $100! You know you've done it too!
Hope this helps, it definitely has helped us :)

Things I'm loving this summer.........

The Classic Ray Ban Wayfarer


White skinny jeans


Lounging by the pool


Lancome Definicils Waterproof Masacara


Anything Animal print (I am woman hear me roar)







The summer months are here!
What are you digging this summer?

A White Kitchen

So the other day a friend/cousin-in-law (vicki) and I were talking about kitchens with white cabinets and whether we liked them or not. Well, I can say I definitely likey after taking a look at the these beautiful White kitchens.

This great kitchen is from a young couple who did most of the remodeling of their home themselves younghouselove.com







All I can say to these fabulous white kitchens is "Go on with your white self!" hahaha

Get inspired Vicki can't wait to see the White kitchen :)

When life hands you lemons.....

just kidding! when life hands you lemons you make lemonade and I have a sweet new recipe for mint lemonade, just in time for summer!

Two years ago I went to visit a cousin of mine in L.A. and we ate at a terrific little cafe that offered mint lemonade, since then I've been wanting to try a recipe for it and finally found one and decided to give it a whirl :)

Ingredients

* 2 cups sugar
* 6 cups water
* 2 cups fresh lemon juice
* 1/2 cup mint leaves

Directions

To make simple syrup: Place 2 cups sugar and 2 cups water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Stir until sugar is dissolved and let cool. Place lemon juice in a large pitcher, add remaining 4 cups water and 1 cup of the simple syrup or more to taste. Stir in mint leaves and refrigerate for 1 hour. Serve over ice.


making the syrup


recruited Eli to peel the lemons, as you can see he's hard at work watching a movie....


Mint Plants





CHEERS! Give it a try let me know what you think.
Do you have any refreshing summer drink recipes?