Winter strikes again

It snowed about five inches today here in Charlotte and we (work was canceled for Nate) spent the day with Reacher playing in the snow, catching up on TV shows and drinking Dean and Deluca coffee. I have a pot of homemade cheesy chicken chowder warming on the stove for the boys when they get in with frost-bitten fingers as Grey's Anatomy first season plays on our new Apple TV. This past weekend I went to Greenville to go fabric shopping with a friend for her baby girl's nursery. There is a fantastic and HUGE textile mill about 45 minutes from Greenville that opens its doors to the public once a month. Here is the website if you are down there and want to check it out. On Saturday Mom and I went furniture shopping for the lake house and, while we found hundreds of items we wanted, we will be making a trip to Hickory before we make any decisions. Seeing as the temperature should be in the teens tonight, and we are experiencing sleet for the remainder of the evening I am guessing that Charlotte will be closed down again tomorrow- no first day of school? We shall see. Reporting to you live from my couch, in my long-johns, drinking hot tea. Enjoy the snow those of you in the south!

P.S. Just got an email alerting me that the new issue of Lonny is live. Oh, life is good. AND tonight is The Bachelor...yes, I am admitting to watching it, every sketchy second of it. Anyone out there with me?

I am learning...

...how to process and keep working through chaos. Right now,  Reacher is mutilating one of those plastic multicolored bags you get in Mexico. When he brought it in a few seconds ago I realized that he has probably been working on it for a while...so...anyway it's a goner.

(the criminal in question and me at Hilton Head over Thanksgiving- I will pepper this post with random pictures that I never got to share with y'all.)

So an update on life at this point. Maximilian is HUGE and not even six months old yet. Reacher had his first birthday party on Christmas Eve (Nate refused to sing Happy Birthday to him before his "cake"- Mom, my beautiful cousin, Kelly, and I serenaded him instead.)

Nate is LOVING his new job at CBRE where he gets to wheel and deal his way around the real estate world. 

(Acai bowls in Maui in July: (left to right: Kyle, Janelle, Nate, me))

Meanwhile, there's a whole lotta baby-bumpage going on around me. My matron-of-honor (hehe, matron), Alexandra, is due in April (which will make me an honorary aunt, right?)

Aww, cute little mama.

Her sister and my maid-of-honor (we call her Vanessa) just landed her a fine man and is gettin' hitched in a few months...whoop!

AND, guess what? I am also going to be a "real" aunt when this little boy below is born! (we currently call him Edgardo...probably still will even when Justine and Isaac pick a real name)

My cute knocked up sister-in-law! (Sorry Justine, I just had to say knocked up)

And so, amidst nurseries, bachelorette parties, baby showers, and lake house renovations I will be starting my second semester of interior design on Tuesday. We are already blessed beyond measure in this new year and I can't wait to see what else happens!

Greetings

hubba, hubba, check out those shelves (Dad, note these shelves for bathroom!)

 Panton chairs with rustic wood table? Yes, please.

Kicking off my second year of blogging is a home of Lyndsay Caleo and Fitzhugh Karol in Brooklyn (via The Selby). Give me a few days to get back into the rhythm of things around here...I wasn't quite sure that I would keep blogging, but it seems that as it is my only voice to the outside design world I better keep on pushin' on. Anyone out there? I was watching the movie Julie and Julia this weekend which led me to try and find the quote from the movie about being a bad housekeeper (which I couldn't find) but did find this.

"Nowadays anyone with a crap laptop and an Internet connection can sound their barbaric yawp, whatever it may be." -Julie Powell(the real Julie Powell, not the movie Julie Powell)


And so, I guess that is me: sounding my barbaric yawp. A HUGE thanks to anyone who stops by, looking forward to the new year with you!

I know you have seen alot of this from me lately...

...but I promise no more dark rooms for a little while if you let me show these.

 via House Beautiful