Ralph Lauren's Tropical Home

It's cold and miserable outside so I'm really wishing Ralph and Ricky Lauren would invite me to their tropical paradise in Jamaica.  What is taking them so long, already??

All images via The Enchanted Home

I Live in the Cutest Town on Earth

This weekend I got in the holiday mood by starting (yes, starting) my Christmas shopping in Old Town Alexandria.  I think it might be the cutest Christmas town ever!

Singing Christmas carols in the town square

Real fruit decorating the transom - so clever!

Bedroom Redo - Headboard R&D Day

I've been looking forward to today for a long time!  For the last few weeks I've been drawing sketches of my headboard in the margins of meeting notes, researching fabrics while eating dinner, and studying construction techniques while watching TV. Finally, while at my parents' house over the Thanksgiving holiday, I took advantage of my dad's construction knowledge and tools and my mom's upholstery knowledge and tools and came up with a mock-up of just how I want my headboard to look.


Here is a look at the mock-up process today but I'm keeping the design a secret until it's all finished!  My room is awfully tiny so the headboard will pretty much define the whole room and I'm really, really excited about how it's going to look!

William and Kate's Honeymoon House

A big part of being a young professional is fantasizing about what your life might maybe possibly could be like someday.  The engagement of Prince William and Kate Middleton dealt a crushing blow to the females of my generation, the majority of whom secretly believed that they would one day be second in line to the throne of England.  Well, girls, the position of third in line is still up for grabs!

Meanwhile, Kate and William are a "just starting out" couple who are starting out in the best possible way.  There has been speculation about where they will be living as newlyweds but the best information I could find about the plans for their house were at the Telegraph.

According to the Telegaph, it will be a six-bedroom eco-friendly home on the Duchy of Cornwall's Harewood Park Estate designed in the classical Greek and Roman styles. Pretty, huh?

As a side note, how fabulous is Kate's taste in hats?

 Don't you wish you had a life where you lived in a castle and could wear fabulous hats on a regular basis?

My Dream Future: a stone house, fall clothes and horses

During my daily perusals of my favorite blogs, I came across a few pictures which will now define the rest of my life.  Heather Clawson at Habitually Chic never disappoints and now she has provided me with the photographic inspiration I needed cement my resolve to find a wealthy young country gentleman.  Just kidding, I really only need the house and the horse...and maybe the clothes!

Room Redo

I saw this advertisement in the September issue of Elle Decor...

It's obviously a beautiful room, but definitely not my taste.  I did love the high window and exposed beams, though, and I thought about how I would decorate it differently, so I gave myself a project.  Using only furniture I found in the same magazine, I put together a room with a totally different look.  I took all of these....

And made this!

I liked my sketch better before I colored it because the colored pencils I had available were not exactly the color scheme I had in mind.  I thought it was fun, though!  Do you think you could stand to live in it? 

Which is Better - NYC or DC?

Junior League Headquarters in Washington, DC

Junior League Headquarters in NYC

My sister has been trying to convince me to move to NYC ever since she deserted me to move there this spring.  Ok, so their Junior League headquarters look a little fancier than ours, but I think ours is incredibly charming!

I am using this as a barometer for which city is better because I think the Junior League is such a great way to join a community and make friends.  I have been a member of the DC chapter for a few months now and I have met some great girls and learned a few things, too!  Here are the most important things I have learned thus far:

1. I need to go shopping
2. Don't spike the punch

The first one is obvious.  Most girls who are in the Junior League are impeccable.  We had a meeting at 8:00AM last Saturday and girls arrived in full-on Chanel suits.  I'm going to be honest, I put my shirt in the dryer with a wet washcloth instead of ironing it that morning.

The other pearl of wisdom came from an experience I had at our first meet and greet potluck at the headquarters.  We were all assigned what type of dish to bring based on the first letter of our last name, and I was assigned to bring a drink.  True to my competitive self, I assumed that the purpose of this event was to see who was the best cook and I set to work finding the cutest drink recipe I could.  Since it was a summer potluck I decided on a girly punch with spritzer, lemonade, vodka and some fruit garnish:

Turns out I was literally the only girl, of the 40 or so girls who had received the drink assignment, who had not decided on a bottle of either white wine or Perrier.  Literally, the only one.  A few minutes later some girls came over to tell me they were enjoying my drink and that they were grateful for something non-alcoholic to drink other than water.  Oops, I guess I should have labeled my drink.  When I let the girls in on my secret, their smiles flickered a little.  “Well how much alcohol is in it?”  they asked.  Wait, you’re supposed to measure out the alcohol in your drinks??

The moral of this story is that this is one of those fruity drinks that completely masks the flavor of alcohol and so, if you make a similar drink, you should probably be smarter than I was and measure it out.  The recipe is actually very similar to a drink we used to make in giant trashcans in college called a Pink Panty Dropper.  If I had remembered that while I was making the drink I might have watched my vodka a little more carefully.  I definitely don’t think my social status would be helped by making a bunch of Junior Leaguers lose their panties!

The Furniture Store on F St NW

I have been wanting to go into this antique store on F St NW downtown ever since I first noticed about a month ago but I have been too intimidated because it looked a lot like walking into someone's basement.  Finally the other day I got my friend to go with me and it was even cooler than I'd hoped!  Yes, there were some pieces that I would love to buy and repaint or reupholster, but what I'm most excited about is what an amazing building this is right in downtown DC on prime realestate.  I wish I had taken better pictures but you can see how this area with exposed brick could be turned into a gorgeous foyer...

Then you walk back towards the columns....

which separate the foyer from the area with the sunken floor and stories-high ceilings.  I think this would make an amazing restaurant and my friend thinks it should be made into a club.  I don't know if it's for sale, but would someone with more money than me please, please buy it and make a fortune.  Here are some of the furniture pieces they had for sale that I liked...