The Woodlands :: Hagen Learns to Swim

This week has been a bit busy thus far, hence the prolonged post about our trip down to H-town. Logan’s house was awesome and The Woodlands are amazing. Seriously, you can’t see any of the stores from the street. All you see is a thick band of trees and a small pretty sign indicating what stores lies behind the forest. I loved it. The doggies traveled so well together. They both slept alot and enjoyed looking out the window as well.

On Saturday, they took us to Old Town Spring … just a few miles south on 45. It’s a collection of older-homes-turned-cute-stores and let me just say, if you’re in the area you should definitely swing by for a look-see. There’s something for everyone. The boys camped out in a bar disguised as a train caboose, while us girls perused the adorable shops.

First store we went into had cupcakes for its guests. As I was snapping a picture, one of the workers told me “They’re real .. you can eat one.” Laughing, I knew he wouldn’t understand my need to take a picture of the cute thing before eating it. Hillary and I shared a chocolate cake.

Next was one of my favorite stores … because it was an antique shop.  Fireking and pyrex galore.  I scored a great deal on a few colorful doilies that are going to soon join with some other beauties I’ve collected for a kitchen and pantry curtain

Next stop … a candle that smelt heavenly and burns for 1,000 hours.  I *almost* talked myself into it.  They’re candles were pretty impressive.  The blueberry muffin was incredibly realistic.  However, I did get some great wreath ideas and let myself gawk over some amazing Texas pottery.  Both way too pricy for my taste, but so fun to look at.

OTS also has some adorable kiddy things.  I loved this tutu.

There was also this store.  Bet you can’t guess what’s inside.

 

Hagen scored an elk bone.

These treats took it just a little too far.  Dog treats shouldn’t look like human food. 

Our last stop (before grabbing some burgers), was this cute little craft market.  It felt like we stepped into Etsy.  There were booths inside .. each housing the work of a different local artist.  These little beanies were some of my favorites.

We Hillary & I lounged at the pool for the rest of the day.  The guys swam with the dogs.  Hagen “learned” to swim.  Started off with Romo’s lifejacket and then went solo with her big dane paws.  She’s not a huge fan of the water.

That night we spent some time at Market Street and killing time before seeing Bridesmaids.  Hubble & Hudson was the absolute perfect distraction for me.  I want them to come to Fort Worth.  Just look at these. *Love*

Sunday we took a quick jaunt down to Galveston to visit my aunt & uncle.  After having a late lunch on the Seawall, we started the trek back home.  Such a great weekend and totally worth the tired eyes on Monday.

Ryan :: Hagen’s Bed

This pretty girl has been averaging a 5 lb weight gain every week. It’s very impressive. This obviously means she’s eating more, pooping more (well it’s true), and she’s taking up more room on the bed. Yes, when she was a puppy I couldn’t handle the whimpering when we were in bed and she had to sleep on the floor alone. Now, however … I take a different stance. We would need at least a California King (we have a Queen) to handle all three of us. More importantly, I would rather snuggle with my man anyday. All of this explains my urgency in making a bed for lovely Hagen beans.

The striped fabric came from one of my mom’s friends who was cleaning up leftover materials. The H was cut from a piece of a pillowcase that was included in a bag of fabric scraps I bought at an estate sale for $2. The stuffing is memory foam that was at one time on one of our beds, but most currently took residence in the cow trailer at my parent’s land. Don’t ask me why. After shaking the dirt off, it now serves a purpose as Hagen’s favorite place to sprawl out.

Today we head down to The Woodlands to visit a friend from high school, Logan, and his fiance, Hillary! We finally get to see his house! I’ve been excited about it for awhile. If we’re lucky we will make it to Galveston and soak up some sun while we’re down South. Did I mention we’ll have two dogs with us? This is them resting last night after wearing each other out.

That’s the best part … Hagen will have her buddy Romo (Logan’s pitbull boxer … I am dog-breed challenged) as a companion on the drive. Longest trip yet for our girl, so I’ll report back on the weekend’s happenings.

I have to share how great friends are. Steve not only made the amazzzzzzing turquoise cabinet for us, but he ALSO made a gorgeous towel rack in the same great color and even thought to pick up this little chair off the side of the road for me! He knows me pretty really well.. Can’t wait to refinish it!

Vintage Fresh [ love & teacups ] :: Style Shoot

So … in case you’re getting tired of all of the Ryan posts, here’s something fresh for you .. some images from my lovely peeps, Brandy & Brandon of Bella Pop Photography.  Yeah, they’re pretty amazing peeps I must say.  This style shoot was back in April at Honeysuckle Gardens in Midlothian, TX.  We also collaborated with Shannon Caldwell of Something You who made our models — Stacy, Lisa & Matt — even more gorgeous … and handsome (Matt was such a great sport).  This style shoot was an opportunity for me to show my abilities, but also to give ideas to incorporate at a wedding reception, shower, etc. The day was perfect, minus a little wind, and it was great experience for me .. pulling all of the details together.  The overall vision was a fresh take on vintage with a smidge of french influence.

I incorporated lots of fresh flowers from The Connection (previously The Flower Market) in milk glass vases, also used in my wedding. Brandy contributed some of her doilies to accompany some my grandmother had made, which heightened the vintage feel. The place settings were borrowed from my mother … I almost lost it when I found them in her cabinets, because I had never seen them before! Way too pretty to be collecting dust on a shelf. The spoon napkin holders were borrowed from Levi’s aunt, who made them using rustic silverware that had been passed down. All of the teacups and saucers were graciously offered by some dear family friends. Brandy made the macarons, which were delicious! I made the scones and intended to bake the wedding cookies, but unfortunately they flopped … so Central Market lent a hand there!

Overall, the table, tablecloth, and chairs were the only pieces that were rented. The troops definitely rallied to help me gather the pieces for this event!

I took inspiration from Martha’s fringe focused designs for the paper pieces for our shoot. Using paper selected from Jo-Ann’s and the convenience of Brandy’s printer, with our’s on the blink, these pieces came together seamlessly. I really love them a lot.

I tried some different paper dahlia techniques, but was never satisfied with the result. So I created my own method for the paper dahlias.. cutting tissue paper into small squares, pinching the middle of the paper and twisting the edges, then pinning the twisted middle to a foam ball with sewing pins, until completely covered with paper. I used hot glue and a sewing pin to secure fishing line to the ball to hang in the trees. For a more permanent application, hot glue would be a good option to secure each pin down, I just didn’t take the time. Unfortunately, the wind was a little rough on the dahlias … so they flattened on one side as the day progressed!

Stacy .. this girl has some definite style. Loved the skirt.

Lisa and Matt .. working their stuff. This was around their anniversary; what a great time for some new photos!

Happy Tuesday!

Vintage Fresh Style Shoot :: Sneak Peek

So… remember that workshop back in April that I styled with BellaPop?? Well, I have a little sneak peek for you compliments of Vanessa of Del Pino Photography, who attended the workshop. We had such a great time that day and the weather was perfect (minus the minor gusts of wind)! Here’s a small taste of that day … many more pictures to come! Vanessa, girl, you’ve got some major talent. Thanks again for sharing your amazing shots!

Howard Home + Wedding Cake Goodness

Welcome to our new home. We close on Wednesday! I can’t wait to get the keys and really start nesting. With how pre-occupied I’ve been with furniture, paint colors, and decorating ideas to make the space a reflection of us, I can only imagine how crazy mother birdy I’ll be when we have a (human) little one. I had to specify, because Levi has clearly realized that I view Hagen as my daughter and I’m a little crazy protective of her. It’s ok .. you can think I’m crazy too.

These next few weeks will be busy as we give some walls new life with some awesome colors and get all of our stuff moved over. . . So, I apologize in advance if there is a lack of posting activity .. but I’ll do what I can. I’ll try to give updates as we go, especially with the garage sale finds we’ve been updating! First on the agenda is to cut down a chinaberry tree in our backyard. We don’t want any dying puppies on our hands!

In other news, Stephen and Teresa have been married for over a week now! I wanted to share some pictures of the wedding cake that my Mom and I made for their awesome shindig. We got the idea for the rose piping here. It turned out almost as great as the wedding itself. I am still so happy for those two and their adventure in this life! Here’s to many years of chasing each other around the house.

B H L D N :: Decor

Yesterday, BHLDN debuted their new decor line. Now they won’t just dress us, they’ll dress our events too. Go take a peek at all the fun new shiny things. Tabletop. Decorating. Lighting. Keepsakes. Stationary. Here’s a taste..

There are some really lovely things.  Some affordable things!  Which is not often the case with Anthro, unless you scan the sale section.  Regardless, their new line is beautiful as always and definitely deserves a look!

Here’s to a kickin‘ weekend!

Our Changing Life :: Design Inspiration + Puppy!

I hope your Easter weekend was full of love and appreciation for The One who gave it all! Our weekend was amazing .. from the house inspection to quality time with friends, topped off with both of our families sitting down together over a beautiful and delicious Sunday dinner. We had the house inspection on Saturday .. and overall it went very well, with only minor problems to fix! Both of our parents came over and gave us their two cents on the place .. I think my favorite comment was from my father-in-law .. ‘You might want to think about raising those lights; When the Howard family comes to town, there might be some problems.‘ .. This was so funny to me because I hadn’t even noticed the height of the antique hanging lights in our entry and dining area. The Lee’s have no problem walking right under!

With all of this house excitement, I have been completely preoccupied, scouring design sites and Pinterest for some inspiration for our new home. I wanted to share some of my favorites. Don’t hold me to it if one of these elements are not included in the final product .. but for now, this is what we have in mind.

For the master bedroom, a rich blue wall with a textured glaze. I found a technique on Martha Stewart‘s website that will give the wall and ‘raw silk’ texture. We’ll see if I have the steam to pull that off.

This I love! I always struggle to pick out shoes in the morning and I’ve always thought stilletos deserved to be on display.. What better idea can you have than to use some thick molding and create some shoes racks on the wall? What’s even better is that the boy was okay with this idea!

This just catches my eye. I’m all for big artwork, but arranging smaller frames definitely creates the same allure! Hoping to find a place for this kind of grouping in the living area.

I found this little beauty on Three Potato Four. I have definitely become a frequent visitor of that website lately! The hotel key rack design is something I think I can recreate … now to gather all of the pieces!

This little nugget came from Gracie on her adorable blog … something she saw at an Anthro. I just fell in love with this idea and would love to create something similar for the office with an old chair that needs some love.

We’ve started making garage sales part of our Saturday mornings, and have already found some awesome pieces to update! I’ll be sharing those projects with you as they progress. Right now, we’re in the cleaning/sanding stage..

In other exciting news, yesterday we went and picked up the first addition to our little family! A full blood, Blue Merlequin Great Dane. She’s 8 weeks and her name is Hagen (in honor of the capital of Denmark) .. she’s my new pride and joy. Levi can’t wait for her to grow to 200 lbs, but I’m savoring every moment of this puppy goodness!

Easter Inspiration

With Easter coming this weekend, I am currently obsessed with pastels and brighter colors that complement pastels. These picture beauties should provide a little inspiration for your easter table … or maybe a makeover to a room in your home that needs a little love.

Loving lavender these days.  The color and the plant.

I could definitely find a place for that teapot in our home.

Absolutely adoring the pop of lime green.  Such a simplistic and gorgeous tablescape.

It’s amazing what a simple tablecloth, some colorful plates and antique glass will do.

Enjoy your time with family this weekend … eat a few deviled eggs and laugh a lot!  Maybe you’ll even find the prize egg!!  Oh man, I used to live to find that prize egg before my brother and cousins.

Oh Dear! :: Rustic Wedding Shower

This wedding shower was a gift to one of my best friends, and his beautiful fiancé. At the end of this month, she will walk down the aisle, take his hand, and they will become husband and wife. They are full of life and ready to take on what this world throws at them! Stephen and Teresa both serve in the U.S. Marines and have a love for all things country .. as a lot of us do in Texas. For their shower, I wanted to incorporate their wedding colors and lots of rustic details.  The weather was perfect and we had lots of fun catching up with old friends and making new ones.

We had a biscuit bar, with all kinds of toppings … including the infamous jar of bacon!

My brother contributed some deer antlers he had, you know, just lying around … and even took the time to mount them for me! Like a pro!

What kind of Texan party would it be without some haybails?!

One of my favorite things about the food [other than the bacon, of course] was the Heart Cake that my mom and I made the night before.  I fell in love with this idea a few months ago … and just had to try it!  We were going for a more “peachy” color, but with the cocoa it turned out much deeper.  It was quite yummy, though!

A HUGE thanks to everyone who helped with this event, especially my husband — lugging those pallets around — and my mom, chef extraordinaire.  Also, to the wonderful Brandy & Brandon Frank of Bella Pop Photography!  They so graciously took pictures of the details before the guests arrived.  Hugs to all.

Kate Spade :: Wedding Belles (and whistles)

This is an exciting week at Leftover Lemons. Still recovering from the wedding shower last weekend (detail pictures to come this week!!!) and pulling together the final details for the Vintage Fresh style shoot — this weekend I was a busy girl! The style shoot went off without a hitch, thanks to the help of my wonderful hubby, our amazing Bella Pop peeps, and a new friend, Shannon Caldwell, who rocked makeup and hair for the event. Look forward to a sneak peek this week of all the style goodness!

For today, another shopping distraction .. Kate Spade debuted their wedding line, Wedding Belles (and whistles), last week. The collection boasts bright colors, little white dresses, and lots of killer shoes! The wide selection of jewelry would make a statement at any occasion! There’s a yellow necklace on the sight that has my name all over it. Pop over and take a look – spring has arrived.