Bites of My Life

It finally feels like fall in my neck of the woods. Work is busy because we are opening a new restaurant!! I can’t think of what else to say and I don’t have time to think. That is all. Bye!!

-Part 1 of convincing Peter that curry is a diet staple complete. Eased him in with this easy crock-pot curry recipe I have on the blog.
-Pumpkins posing all cute all around the neighborhood I take my walks in.
-Tried the Tik Tok salmon & rice and can confirm the hype. Great way to use leftover salmon.
-Decaf almond milk latte delivery was just what I needed late Friday afternoon after a doozy of a work day.
-Tried a new to me pilates studio. I haven’t take a studio class in about a year and half. I miss reformer pilates!!
-Big time in Denton celebrating the Shorts!!
-Buncha plus ones!
-A stop in historic downtown Denton for post-wedding fuel before the drive back to OKC.
-Got to OKC for a week of work, but first some fall festival cuteness with my nieces.

Annie

Bites of My Life

I feel like I’ve put in more time driving up and down I-35 than my own job these days. All for good reasons, but I’m slightly relieved to be back in Dallas for the foreseeable future. I’ll be forever grateful for my choice to move to Dallas and have close proximity to run home for family, friend and work occasions, but it’s sometimes a strange place to be in going back and forth so much. Beggars can’t be choosers though! You guessed it, but I was in Oklahoma over the weekend for a best friend since 4th grade getting engaged. Another one bites the dust.

-Started the week with sunflowers. Highly recommend.
-Little Monday night creativity turned into my new favorite piece of apartment art work.
-Snacking like it’s my job these days. Anyone else relying on the afternoon snack with working from home.
-Y’all know it, y’all love it. My ultimate single girl meal is Cauliflower Fried Rice using freezer and pantry staples.
-Wine Wednesday feat. rosé, popcorn, and my new coffee table.
-When in Oklahoma City. You can find my favorite Brandy Ice roundup here, and my own recipe here.
-Brunch with MaryKate Saturday, but with an alliterative motive…she just didn’t know yet.
-About an hour later she was engaged! Brunch was a decoy to get her out of the house and looking cute, for her now-fiancé Connor to propose in the house that will be their home!
-Slow Sunday night back in Dallas watching old seasons of The Bachelorette.

Annie

Why, when, and how I started my blog, did you catch it?

New End Tables

Disclosure I give all credit to my mom on this one. She scouted these side tables in our friend’s garage sale and knew she could do something great with them. They were originally in a single guy’s bedroom, hence the masculine dark brown finish.

My mom loves a project and has been inspired by one of our favorite design studios and Dallas. They take dressers, end tables, desks, and then update them with a coat of lacquer paint in either white or a range of colors.

I brought my mismatched white end tables from house to house to apartment over the past five years. They were from Home Goods and cute, very cute. But as my mom said, the symmetry of the new matching tables just “anchors” the room - LOL but true.

We used Benjamin Moore high gloss lacquer in Ice Blue. The hardware was then brushed up and they came out perfect. See below for our inspiration! *Let me add that these were professionally painted. When it comes to lacquer I wouldn’t trust either of us.

My living room:

End Tables - garage sale find, painted (similar: white and blue)
Lamps - originally from Home Goods (similar: spend and save)
Assouline Hamptons and Palm Beach books
Rug
Couch - old
Pillows - custom
Painting - by my dad!

Okay mom, what’s next?

Annie

Bites of My Life

Valentine’s Day is a holiday I’ve always loved. I have a playlist to prove it, and a handful of ancient posts on the holiday. Well, this year I wasn’t looking forward to it. With a little force, I switched my mindset, made some little Valentine’s to pass out to co-workers and friends, baked twice (always makes me feel better), listened to previously mentioned playlist over and over, invited some girls over for a little Galentine dinner and wine-drinking night, then spent the weekend bopping around Dallas with the OG valentine’s, mom and dad! Valentine’s day, you can stay.

-One of my oldest posts got a facelift! This Homemade Oreo recipe can be found here.
-My favorite leggings that are borderline obnoxious. Especially since I wear them every other day.
-Valentine crafting helping get me in the spirit!
-We had a friendly little chocolate chip cookie competition at my co-working space on Thursday. I wasn’t nervous until I tried everyone else's cookies. Some seriously good contenders, but my Perfect CCCs prevailed and won the popular vote!
-I’ve posted about these CALM gummies before, but I’ve been having some seriously good sleep taking 2 before bed. I can legit feel my body go into a relaxed state about 5 minutes after taking them. I also keep a few in my purse and pop 1 during the day when I get stressed or anxious.
-Spotted: Vday flowers at Foxtrot by local mom and daughter floral shop, Flower Gals Co.
-A last-minute Galentine dinner meant one thing, heart. shaped. cheese.
-Parents arrived in town Saturday with my cutie new end tables in tow. More on these this week!
-Ditched the original lunch plan and headed to my (our) favorite place. It’s never not amazing.
-Mid-day stop at the new Virgin Hotel. The style, the vibe, the furniture, it is all everything.
-Not a Dallas food tour without a stop at my #1. We will forgive them for being out of meatballs and crab claws because, well, just look at that pizza.
-After church brunch at Hudson House before sending them north on I-35. Love you mom and dad!

Annie

Work from home bite: Read this for tips on how to get out there!

Bedroom Revamp Inspiration

Since college I’ve had a similar look for my bedroom that has carried me from house, to house to another house to my now apartment. You can see my college home tour here and my current apartment tour here. With subtle changes here and there, I’ve stuck to all-white bedding, white furniture with pops of color in either pillows, a rug, or artwork.

After mysterious staining to my West Elm bedding (that I loved), I decided the culprit was a face oil I was using. I had yellow stains all along the edge of my bedding from pulling it up to my face, it forced me to throw it away after only having it for about 2 years.

I’m currently in limbo using random hand-me-down bedding from my mom and sister. I’ve decided it’s time for a little bedroom revamp. I have looked for some non-white bedding options, but I can’t stray away. There’s just something about white fluffy bedding. I have however thrown out my face oil and have more confidence with my next round of white bedding.

I want to keep things girly, but more modern and less shabby chic. My plan is to paint my Ikea iron bed frame black, and to pull in vibrant velvet pillows to create a punch and to tie in my rug and butterfly artwork. Below are my inspirations. I have my eye on a coverlet like this with this basic duvet folded at the end of the bed. Then matching white shams and velvet pillows from here or here (H&M is my secret weapon when it comes to cheap home goods). More home ideas are pinned in my ‘homestyle’ board on Pinterest.

I love the rust and pink pillows from my main inspiration picture, but I’m also always tied to navy. I’ve also been having a moment with dark forest and emerald green. This shade is pulling me in. Thoughts, comments, suggestions?

Also now that I’ve posted this out in the interwebs I’m digitally being held accountable to actually make changes to my bedroom. Stay tuned. Hopefully a completed bedroom revamp post will come soon.

Annie

If you buy something through my links, I may earn an affiliate commission.