In the Box!

Some things are more difficult than others to organize.

:: One Hot Mess ::

For me I've always struggled to keep my bras, socks and hanky panky's well organized in a way that they can easily stay like that. When I designed my closet I didn't want to have drawers because I wanted to see my clothes! But, I did want to have daily items easily accessible and organized of course. I found these great crates at The Container Store and I have to say I am in love with how they keep me organized while also allowing me to easily access everything.

:: All Together Now ::

:: The Light & Bright Ones ::

:: On the Shelves ::

:: All Tucked Away ::

Whatever the project may it's always important to keep an open mind about the organization process and how things ultimately come together. It took me a while to figure out what would work best for me. A lot of times it comes down to just trying something, rearranging it, moving it or thinking a little outside of the box :) Or in this case thinking and keeping it in the box!

xo, 

#HappyLife

Some Happy Things

:: The Beverly Hills Hotel :: My Latte :: Curling Up with Kindle ::

I love having little reminders of moments, trips, people, memories and favorite things throughout my surroundings. They are what make our home, our living spaces and my life uniquely ours, and they make me incredibly happy!

On a recent trip to Color Me Mine with my little cousins I happened upon an enormous coffee mug that I knew would accommodate my double latte vice. And so, I decided to fashion my cup after one of my favorite places, knowing that it would hold my one of my favorite beverages and that typically I would be enjoying said drink whilst doing one of my favorite things.  

 I am so in love with my cup!

Signature pink stripes and green accents :)

The inaugural filling!

My seat at this very moment, surrounded by some of my favorite things! 

#happylife

xo, 

Tidying Up!

I may not be able to cook very well but I can clean like it's no body's business...I love to clean! Maybe it's my OCD, maybe it's that it's always been oddly calming for me, whatever the case may be I really love to not just make things clean but organized too!

All of my nail polish is in a drawer organized in stackable plastic bins by color...

 The funny thing is I don't really care what I'm cleaning, it's the act of taking something dirty or disorganized or both and being able to make it neat, tidy and fresh that makes me satisfied.

My "daily" drawer has all of my essentials...I used small mercury glass votives from Pottery Barn to separate and organize my hair ties, bobby pins and hair clips...

I washed my face the other evening, and happened to have been wearing make-up. You would think I would wear makeup far more often than I actually do, but typically I go sans makeup. I've been using Dermalogica's pre-clense for years to take off my makeup, and like any other evening I used it to wash my face. I finished washing my face and didn't bother to wipe the counter clean (I thought it was just water) and so I went to bed, only to awake to multiple dark stains on my pretty gray granite!!!

My pre-clense was the culprit but it made me realize that I also need to be careful with my Moroccan Oil as well...

Thanks to Pinterest and Google I quickly learned that the best way to remove an oil stain from granite is to make a pumice out of acetone and baking soda. I know this sounds crazy, but let me tell you it really works. I should know, because while attempting to clean the original stains I managed to stain my counter three more times. So let me just tell you, I've really put this one to the test.

My life savers!

Many tutorials advise against using nail polish remover as it may not be pure acetone. This one happens to be pretty pure and worked well for me. After allowing the mixture to sit it would sometimes look darker than before so I simply covered it in a pile of dry baking soda and allowed it sit and it pulled up the stain and whatever remained EVERY time. 

Hope this might help you too!

xo, 

To Love, Laughter and Friends...

Today I was surrounded by love. 

It was a quiet love, the type that is unspoken but simply present. There have been a few great men in my life and today it was an incredible gift to be surrounded by those who have always been there for me. After an early afternoon with family my GH (gay husband) and his BF joined me at our house for an evening of love, laughter and friendship. 

My GH, the third generation of some truly incredible gentlemen and gentle men...

A simple but sweet afternoon...

...

I have many loves in my life, these however are some of my greatest...

Nap time...

The greatest compliment a guest can pay me is to demonstrate that they feel at home in our home. I just love when people can relax enough to really enjoy themselves and I truly mean it when I say, "Please make yourself at home!"

I feel so privileged to have such incredible men in my life. My sweet, amazing actual husband joined our posse after work and my day became complete. I hope your day was also filled with love laughter and friends. 

xo, 

An Afternoon of Fun

My "gay husband" produces events around the world for some really incredible clients. At a recent event with Anthropology they had the adorable activity of creating miniature succulent gardens that guests were able to create and then take home. If you follow me on Instagram you know I'm just about useless in the garden, but I've always thought succulents were cute, and I've always been drawn to their varying textures and colors. Not to mention my GH told me they are nearly indestructible. 

What we began with...

We've been talking about creating some miniature gardens of our own for several weeks now and just hadn't found the time. As time went on we decided this would be the perfect activity to surprise my mom with as she loves gardening and I knew this was something she's never done before! And so on an unassuming Tuesday, with what my mom thought was a BBQ dinner at our home my GH came and surprised her with this little project. 

First step, make sure you have good drainage...

Add soil nearly to the top...

Make sure to get the proper type of soil, a mixture made especially for cacti, succulents and desert plants will make your succulents happy little plants. 

Be creative and have fun as you plant your micro-garden!

 GH helps Mom to neatly pack her gravel...

Use the remaining gravel to fill in the gaps between your succulents.

Make sure to give your new garden a hydrated start...

The succulents will only require a few teaspoons of water a couple of times a week! Check the texture of the leaves to know if your plants are thirsty, they'll loose their firmness when they need water. 

My boy and I were great helpers throughout the process! 

 Hope you enjoy!

xo, 

Onward & Upward!

It's been a while...a long while since I've posted anything of substance and there has been a very good reason as to why. My privacy and my family's privacy were violated. 

Obviously, I fully understand that when blogging any information one chooses to share should essentially be considered public. To this day I have no regrets about anything I've posted. 

Never in my wildest dreams did I expect or even consider that the content of my blog would be used against my family. What would have appeared, and what I am sure did appear as a typical and seemingly innocuous post was used as fodder against my family in an outrageous and totally inappropriate way. This malicious act was committed by a couple of very close family friends, and I'm truly disappointed in them.

My decision to take a brief break from blogging was an easy one, you simply do not hurt my family. The good news is that I've never lost faith in my blogging family. After giving this blog a lot of consideration over the past several months, I have made the decision to begin blogging again!

Why?

Because I have truly missed blogging and it is something important to me. 

I don't let people keep me from what I love and I am certainly not going to begin now. 

And, while I have always known that I was awful at keeping a journal I came to realize that this blog quickly became a beautiful way for me to chronicle my life, interests, travels, friends....

To my friends and family who have supported me, thank you! 

To my fellow bloggers, I am sincerely sorry if we've lost touch, I truly look forward to reconnecting! 

And so with love, gratitude and perspective, I look forward to what's next. 

Pink!

Who doesn't love a little freshening up, especially with Spring right around the corner. There's something about this time of year that makes me loves reorganizing, tidying things up and making changes. I recently decided that I wanted a touch of delicate pink in my life and now I just have to decide which lovely shade of pink suits me best. I've narrowed it down to a few...

:: pouf of pink ::

:: sweet memories ::

:: rose hips ::

:: calique ::

:: rose point ::

:: spring rose ::

:: her majesty ::

Any favorites?

xo, 

Heart to Heart

:: Disclaimer | I had planned and still will post a much lighter piece in the coming days :: 

The last two weeks have been a humbling reminder of how fragile life can be. They have also been a stunning demonstration of love, friendship and family. Nearly a year ago my life began to change. In some ways things have changed for the better, in some ways things have become more challenging.  Some changes were more foreseen than others and some have been downright shocking and painful. 

:: truth ::

Last Sunday my best friend and I had a wonderful evening together. We said good night to one another and I began to get ready to crawl into bed. Then my phone rang, it was him. In an instant my heart sank and I knew he needed me and that I needed to be with him through whatever the coming hours would bring. Ultimately, a patriarch passed away; a husband, a father, a grandfather and one incredible man. It was sudden, unexpected and heartbreaking.  I was fortunate enough to have witnessed Max's incredible love, devotion, affection and kindness. His presence and energy were such that by proximity alone you could feel the warmth, love, and gentle manner of his soul. 

:: my everything ::

I returned from Sunday evening mid-day Monday. Only a few hours later my husband received a phone call from his mom. His cousin had passed away. This was also a sudden and unexpected death, he was only 42. To say that my husband and I felt overwhelmed at this moment does not even begin to touch on the emotions of disbelief, emotional exhaustion and sadness that we both experienced. 

Yesterday we gathered to celebrate the life of an amazing son, brother, uncle, friend and person. Following the funeral we returned to the family home and were surrounded by his closest friends. His brother, sisters, nieces and nephew's all jumped into the pool in his honor. There was laughter, there were tears, wonderful memories and shared stories but above all there was what matters.  

:: love. friendship. family :: 

As I write this I am sitting in the warmth of the incredible sunshine, looking at the deep blue sky and there is an overwhelming sense of peace. My peace is not the result of a perfect life but rather the acknowledgement of a life fulfilled. 

And while some people have come and gone from my life I realize that those who matter remain. And, that through it all there is love, there is friendship and we are all family. 

With incredible gratitude & love, 

Parabal Gurung

A few days ago the Parabal Gurung collection for Target launched. Following the incredible success of the Missoni | Target launch there have been a handful of of designers that have attempted to follow suite. I'm not including the entire Neiman Marcus disaster, I think it's just best if we put that behind us and pretend it never happened. 

Personally, I am not sure if there will ever be another partnership like that with Missoni. To date not a single collection has maintained their brand with the quality and level of design that Missoni clearly invested. Not to mention the Missoni collection was insane with the number of incredibly diverse products they offered. 

I'm not sure if anyone else feels this way, but I've certainly lost a great deal if interest in these pairings. I shop at Target at least a few times a week and so I figure I'll stop in and see the collections when I can. 

I perused the collection online nothing had jumped out at me. Yesterday I stopped by and found two cute items! 

At first I wasn't so sure about this dress. I was initially drawn to the bold colors and thought it could be a cute dress for Spring and Summer. I tried it on and it is cute! It will be great for running errands or having lunch with my girlfriends. The dress is mostly made out of cotton and is sort of like a t-shirt dress except that it has fun ruffles at the bottom. The ruffles are actually another much lighter weight material which gives them a bit of bounce and movement in person. 

My next little discovery was these! I love shoes especially colorful shoes and these fit the bill. They are actually comfy too! I can already see pairing them with jeans, tailored shorts, skirts and dresses. They are a great accent piece for any outfit and since they have nearly every color in them you can choose whichever color you like and they will really make it pop! I even bought my sister a pair for Valentine's Day :)

Overall, I think this collection fell into the rut as well :( Most of the pieces were not well designed and the quality of construction was poor. I think like with most of Target it's really about finding those few pieces that standout from the rest.  What did you think of this latest collection? 

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xo,