Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Roman Holiday

view from my window
This past Thanksgiving I was lucky enough to spend it in Rome, Italy. Eric and I flew out on my Birthday to arrive in wonderful Rome. My parents arrived a day later for us to spend our first international holiday.  

St. Peter's Square

We had an amazing time exploring the city. It was wonderful to share my parents first trip to Italy with them. Walking into St.Peter's basilica and watching there faces was an awesome experience. We dined out, ate tons of gelato, ate more gelato, and really explored Rome.

 Trevi Fountain

Eric and I also rented a Vespa and followed what the Italians did. It was one of the coolest experiences ever.

It was a wonderful holiday and I did throw a few coins in the fountain in hopes to go back.





Friday, November 2, 2012

Food!!!!

I am a pretty big food person. I like to eat it, cook it and experience as many different types as I can. I follow a lot of chefs and like to eat at their restaurants when I can.  Since traveling to Spain I have become a huge Spanish cuisine fan. I make Spanish food whenever I can. I love to go out and eat tapas and watch cooking shows about it.
When I walked past one of my favorite chef's resturants in July and actually saw him in the restaurant I had a bit of a fan freak out on the street. I walked by the corner thinking it looked like Jose Andreas, continued walking by, realized it was him and backed up like a kid seeing Mickey Mouse.  I think he saw me. My eyes must have been huge. I told Eric we HAVE to eat here, now. Even if I didn't get to meet him I wanted to see what he was like. So we went in. I tried to not be crazy and look out for him but I was really excited. I've seen Jose Andreas on television. I have his cookbook. I'm a fan.

After some delicious food. including rabbit, cheese, octopus and some Estrella Damm beer. We asked if we could meet him. The server said he was really friendly and not be shy. So when we got up to leave we walked over. He was awesome really nice and totally ok with taking a picture with us. 

He also told us to tell the bartender "happy birthday Jose!" Turns out it was his Birthday and we were given a glass of Cava. It was really awesome and absolutely made my day.

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Ciao Bella





In a few weeks I will be celebrating my birthday, my last year in my twenties. Ferris was right life does move pretty fast.. anyway I will be moving pretty fast on my birthday. I am heading out to Rome, Italy. I can not wait. It has been 5 years since I visited Italy and I am so excited to return.

I am even more excited about this adventure this time my parents are also coming along and they have never been before. Eric and I can't wait to see how they love it. My Mom has a dog eared copy of Rick Steves' travel guide. It was new when I gave it to her but she's read it cover to cover. She may be our own tour guide.

Another fantastic part about this trip is our apartment. Eric and I learned in Barcelona that apartment rentals are the way to go.  So this time we are renting a place that was built in 1582. It's going to be amazing. This is going to be a fantastic experience.

I really want to rent a bike to tour the city. I don't think I'm brave enough to drive with the Italians yet. 


Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This past Saturday some friends gathered at my home to carve pumpkins and celebrate the spooky season. We had a great time. We also had way to many pumpkin guts. I roasted the seeds and they came out really well too.

Eric and I's pumpkins were plays on our favorite British car show Top Gear. Eric's amazing pumpkin is on the right. He broke out the dremel tool to make it happen.

Happy Halloween all! I hope your Halloween is filled with candy and pumpkin pie!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Love is in the Fall?

I need to post about things that make me happy. One is my Brother-in-Law is getting married! He proposed to a fantastic girl in September. I know my post is a bit late. :) I love them both and can't wait to see what their future holds.

Congratulations!!!

Monday, October 29, 2012

Flight-Tastic!

I'm a terrible blogger. I've had to many things going on and forget to write.  When I posted  last about Eric he was taking his first flight lesson. He has now taken the FAA test. (Scored a 98!!) He's so smart. Next week he takes the final part of the check ride with an FAA person to prove he can fly and we are off!

I got to buy my own headset in celebration of his test. I bought him a headset to fly and now I need one so we can talk.



Here is a picture of Eric's first solo flight. I was really proud to watch him.



I can't wait to go up and fly too!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Happy 35 years Mom and Dad

My parents have been married for 35 years today! They are awesome. What a better way to show them how much I love them then by posting young pictures of them. Here's hoping you both have many happy years to come!


I

Monday, August 27, 2012

Awesome things.

This weekend was full of fun. I did my very first group bike ride.

Heels on Wheels. It started at my favorite bike shop, Houndstooth Road. It's the shop where my bike is from. It has fantastic items and I wish I could take everything home with me. Not to mention that the owner Jae is super knowledgeable and friendly.  It was a really fun experience and I will definitely go to more events if I can.  A  picture taken on that day was posted on Atlanta Bicycle Chic. I feel very chic to be in one of the pictures and my bike is featured in the group shot!

I had to leave early though because Eric was taking his very first Flight lesson and I had to make it to my parents for my Aunt's birthday party. (Happy Birthday Aunt Kelly.)

Flight Lesson! I kind of glazed over it but Eric has started taking lessons. I am so excited for him. I bought him a headset earlier this week, but Saturday was his first real lesson. He learned about plane maintenance and took off and flew a real Cessna 172! How amazingly cool is that. Now in the realm of reality is owning a plane, and flying it places. What a wonderful and crazy day Saturday was.

Now I just hope our future plane is as cute as my bicycle.


Friday, July 27, 2012

Painting

In the home I grew up in my Dad always seemed to be painting the trim, the ceiling, doors, or the walls. For decades the walls were one tone of beige or another. My Mother has only recently in their 30 odd years together to embrace color. Either way there was always some kind of house maintenance going on. 

When it came time to select paint and get to work on my new place I knew I would be the one to paint. I enjoy painting. It's like detailing your first car you really get to learn the ins and outs of it. There is also something very satisfying about seeing the finished product. I love to paint, I love cutting in then rolling it on the walls makes a part of me very happy.

What I don't like doing is taping off the walls. Especially taping off the ceiling. Eric says I tape with hate. I'm sure I do. I just hate doing it. It's a necessary evil, like paying for insurance, I know it has to be done but I don't want to do it. (Whine.)

It's a good thing Eric likes to tape. He also says I tape with hate. I just might tape with hate. :(

Finally all the a painting is done. Everything looks crisp and fresh. Now it's time to hang artwork. I feel like I'm moving at a slug pace. I know what I want to do but haven't made the time to do it.

Tonight I will finish hanging artwork!


Bike Love


Eric bought me a bike! 
Happy early 3 year anniversary!

I am so excited about it. It is very similar to the bike pictured above. 
It's a sky blue Bobbin Birdie. It has a basket on the front too.
I can't wait to go home and ride it. :)

THANK YOU ERIC!

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Living with color.

Moving into our new place has allowed me to do something I don't often do. Live with bright colors. I design around other peoples wants, but for many years I have always kept my personal spaces limited to a few colors or muted palettes.  Our loft was all neutral, purple and some green.  Eric and I both wanted bold color in our new place. This time I've done exactly that. Colors that I want to live around and it feels awesome. Shades of lime,peacock, and vibrant green are on my downstairs walls. The small galley kitchen's one wall is the lime, the lucky green is on the dining room and my favorite the blue peacock color adorns my fireplace wall. The main walls are a nice neutral called by Sherwin Williams called "Wool Skein." It makes me smile just walking in the door.

This is the board I made for Eric to see. Using our existing pieces with some new ones. I'm still working on finding a rug. I want something bold and fun. I'm just not sure what. The octopus pillow is what inspired me to do green in the dining room. :)

ps. I love the names of paint chips. Wool Skein, Peacock, New Green, Lucky Green. They always make me smile.  Our bedroom is called raindrop more on that later.

Monday, July 9, 2012

Home happiness.

Along with all the traveling, and adventures that have been going on this summer we moved. Well as of a week ago we have moved.  We knew we couldn't stay at our current loft for much longer and we found an amazing townhouse, swooped in and got it.

Best parts: More than one bathroom (3) vs our original one.
                  A garage and work area. ( We can now build things!)
                  I can paint and redesign stuff ( Yipee!)
                  It is over twice the size of our last place.
                  1 word: closets.

Moving totally sucks. It took us awhile to box and put everything in order quickly to move by the first of July. We finally did the grown up thing and hired movers. It was quite possibly the best money spent. Carrying all our belongings two flights of stairs would not have been fun. Our new place is amazing. I've had a blast figuring out where things should go and some new furniture changes that have happened.  Finally after many years We have new bedroom furniture!

 I had been looking around in Atlanta with no luck on finding anything mid century and modern. My mom however lucked out and found a dresser, mirror, and awesome chest near her house. She called me and said it was amazing. I trusted her and now own some amazing walnut furniture. it replaced the very very old and dated furniture I have had since I lived at home with my folks and was in the 8th grade.

In other awesome furniture news. Eric and I bought a new teak dining room table. It has a secret hidden leaf and beautiful lines. I can't wait to make dinner and eat there.

Everything is still a work in progress, we have no pictures on the walls or curtains. I do have paint! When we moved in everything was flat gold, poo brown and red. It's slowly changing over to a more neutral beige with brighter accents. I love the peacock color in my living room. It makes me so happy every time I see it.
 




 

The home changes are still happening. I love the hunt of finding something fantastic. The place is starting to feel more like home though. I also admit I love having walls again. Living in a loft was fun, it had a great view, but if one of us wanted to go to sleep creeping around and being quiet all the time sure did stink.




continuing summer adventures



Back from NYC we stayed cool at the Aquarium. I finally saw a dolphin up close. Which was so exciting to me.

 Then headed to South Carolina to celebrate my Sister in Law graduating high school! Yeah Ellen! I am so excited for her. :)

This summer has also been exciting locally. Red Bull took over our city for one weekend for the Soapbox Derby. It was so much fun to see all the creative cars and cheer them on.





The amount of free Red Bull that was around had the crowd keyed up and loud.

It was a lot of fun the winner was Sweet water with a great trout soap box. It went by so fast I couldn't get a picture of it.

After that a huge skate board parade closed down Peachtree for the Modern Design Museum's Skate it or hang it. Hundreds of skate boards are hung up in the museum and to celebrate the opening they had ramps in front of the museum and skateboarders doing their thing.














The amount of entertaining things around this city makes me so happy. It's been a great summer so far.