YHL | West Elm Dallas

This Saturday, I had the opportunity to meet Sherry and John Petersik of Young House Love.  If you are a fan of DIY, I'm sure you've heard of them before!  I came across their blog a little over two years ago and have been following them ever since.  In some way, they influenced me to start my own blog!  They recently released their very own book earlier this month and have been going around the country on a book tour.  I'm so happy they stopped by the Big D!

Paul accompanied me since he didn't want to leave his prego wife in line for hours (I owe him, big time!).  The book signing was supposed to be from 11am - 1pm, but the line was out the door of West Elm!  Here are a few pictures that I took to keep me entertained.

Ok this is obviously out of focus, but they were handing out hot cocoa for the people in line.  It tasted REALLY good!

They were also giving out cookies - lots of it!  I finally snagged myself one of these sugar cookies.  So sweet and appropriate!

12:45 rolls in and we're still outside.  Luckily, Sherry and John stayed until they saw everyone who came out to see them.

Aaaand, we're in!

I loved all the festive pieces they had at West Elm.  It made me a little sad that I couldn't decorate our own house this year though =(

Stalker pic.  Almost there!

Three hours later, it was my turn.  Here's my picture with the lovely couple!  The first thing Sherry asked was if I was having a boy.  She's even more gorgeous in person!  John told Paul that he just wore the same shirt yesterday.  Hahaha!  (Do you see an uncanny resemblance?  When Paul looked at this picture, he said that they look like they could be related.  Someone on Instagram even made a comment that he looked like Paul.  Distant cousins perhaps???)  They were very sweet and so down-to-earth, as I imagined (now if only I can convince them to be my BFFs...kidding...sort of).  I applaud them for all their hard work that they put in to get to where they are today.  They are truly an inspiration.  I started reading their book as soon as we got home.  It's full of really great ideas that I can't wait to try in our new house!

Did any bloggers out there go out and see S + J when they visited your city?

baby's first book collection

As I mentioned on a previous post, I'd love to put a bookshelf in Baby T's future nursery.  So for the past week, I've been on a hunt for some picture books for the baby's first book collection. 

I Wish... by Jillian Harker / Love You Forever by Robert Munsch / Arthur Goes To Camp by Marc Brown / On the Day You Were Born by Debra Frasier /  Clifford Collection by Norman Bridwell / Henry's Amazing Imagination by Nancy Carlson / Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney / Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin / Good Sports: Rhymes About Running, Jumping, Throwing and More by Jack Prelutsky / The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery / Corduroy Lost and Found by B.G. Hennessy / The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter / Curious George by H.A. Rey / The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle / Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown / Corduroy by Don Freeman

I purchased the majority of these books at Half Price Books, ranging in price for as low as $2.00 and as high as $8.00.  If you don't care for new books and are on a budget, I definitely recommend buying used books at your local used bookstore. 

As for The Little Prince Pop Up Book, I splurged on this one and bought it at Anthropologie.  I saw it last year and I've been waiting to get pregnant to have a reason to buy it - ha!  Here's a little peek of the inside.

 
This was one of my Dad's favorite books and it has many lessons on life.  I'm sure Baby T won't really appreciate it until he's a little older, but I thought this would be a good one to add to my his collection.

Bailey was not happy with all the attention the books were getting, so she decided to lay next to them.

This little basket is filling up fast, but I'm not done yet!  My goal is to try and collect all of the books on this list.  My sister also sent me this link on kids' books about color.  With these great lists combined, we might end up with a whole study full of books before the baby arrives!

Do you guys have any favorite kids' books that you recommend?

book review | before i go to sleep by s.j watson

I usually make fun of my Mom when I find her on the couch, engrossed in a Lifetime Movie.  Then I start asking her what the movie's about, and before you know it, I too, am either crying, screaming or laughing with her.  When I was reading this book, all I could think of was, man, this would be such an awesome Lifetime movie! 

Christine suffers from amnesia.  Every morning, she wakes up not knowing her identity.  When she goes to sleep, her memory is wiped clean, and each day, she has to try and piece her past together.  Can she really trust Ben, who is supposedly her husband?  What "accident" occurred which caused her to lose her memory?

This book was definitely a page-turner.  It kept me up late at night, and sometimes, I'd scare myself, and I had to put it down before I got nightmares.  It's pretty impressive that this is Watson's first book.  Hopefully he'll have another one like this soon. 

Have you read a good book lately?

Currently reading:  1Q84 by Haruki Murakami

meeting grace bonney

On Thursday, October 13th, I got to meet the creator of Design*Sponge, Grace Bonney!  She started this design blog back in 2004, and has become such a success, that she decided to write her own design book.  She basically compressed years of blogging into a manual for her avid readers as well as those who love design.  The book is broken up into parts - sneak peaks, DIY projects and before and afters.  It's full of ideas and inspiration that you can do in your own home. 

The book signing was held at West Elm in Dallas.  I've honestly never stepped inside a West Elm store before and have heard great things about it, so I was super excited to check it out.  Here are some that caught my eye. 

Those two gray leather seats would be great for our living room.  The white ceramic hurricane vases are so cute, I couldn't resist buying one for myself.  And I took several pictures of dining room sets so Paul could see my vision.

(psst...we actually just purchased our formal living and dining room sets, but they won't be delivered until November.  Stay tuned for an entry on that sometime next month)

Now onto the actual book signing....

Here we are, waiting in anticipation.  Pretty attractive bunch aren't we?  I think I slightly resemble Bert here.  Karina looking like Ernie?  Not so much, but I guess that's a good thing. 

These next two pics are a little stalker but whatev.  She makes me want to have a bob again.

 

Then it was my turn.  I was trying to brainstorm some things we could talk about but when I finally got up there, I really didn't know what to say.  I think I said something like, "it's so nice to meet you!  My cousin saw you in Vancouver...blah blah blah"  Couldn't really remember what I said, but I didn't get any reaction.  Sad.  Karina said it was probably because I was talking like 100 words per minute!  Hahahahaha!  That or she was concentrating really hard on how to spell my name (they give you a post-it with your name on it so Grace knows what name to put on the book).  But she was super sweet!  She even blew on the ink after she signed the book before closing it.  Tear! 

I look so awkward.  Ugh, how embarrassing. 

And here's one of the three of us.  I have no idea why I was so far away from her! 

After that, we made our way towards the cupcakes and refreshments.  The cupcakes were sooooo good!  We need to figure out where they came from. 

They also had a photo booth, but as of today, they haven't posted them online yet.  Will update this post once I get a hold of them.  I must tell you, Karina and I had waaaay too much fun! 

Yet more fun in the "woods" of West Elm. 

Buy a copy of Design*Sponge at Home if you haven't already.  It's a great book to use as reference when desiging your own home, and the bright poppy red cover adds a great punch of color on your coffee table!  Just saying!

hgtv magazine

HGTV debuted its very first magazine.  I snagged this one at Costco this past weekend for 30% off the cover price.  I browsed through it and so far so good.  They go into the homes of some of my favorite designers, Vern Yip, Sarah Richardson and Genevieve Gorder.  I can't say it stands out compared to the other home and design magazines out there because there are a ton of really great ones, but hey, I have to support HGTV.  Pick one up at the grocery store this weekend and let me know what you think. 

And while we're on acronyms, TGIF!  Have a good one!

design sponge book tour - DALLAS

I know I still need to post another entry on Austin Part 2, but I HAD to make this announcement.  The Design Sponge Book Tour is coming to Dallas on Thursday, October 13th!  My cousin just told me about it this morning and I've been waiting for them to announce that they'd be coming to my side of town.  I honestly haven't bought the book yet, hoping that someone could buy it for me for Christmas.  Guess I'll have to buy it sooner than that!  Hmm, I wonder if I should buy my copy on Amazon beforehand, or purchase it there?  I already RSVP'd for the book signing from 7-8:30 pm, and will most likely not attend the Craft Workshop from 6-7 pm because cheapo me does not want to pay $45.  I'm trying to get my sister to go with me so I don't look like a loser!  Anyone else care to join me???

Design Sponge at Home (Official Book Trailer) from The Panic Room Videos on Vimeo.