exit, pursued by bear

Friday awesomeness.

via Jezebel:

kitchen cabinet.

I am in LOVE with these cabinets - how gorgeous is this kitchen and dining room? I am just swooning over everything I've spotted over at Design*Sponge today -- so, thanks again to Grace for sharing with her readers these lovely inspirational photos from interior designer, Jessica Helgerson:

{photo from "sneak peek: portland four-square" on Design*Sponge: photographer Lincoln Barbour, interior designer Jessica Helgerson}

Think I will always love white kitchens, despite my current rather colorful one, which I do love very much. They always look clean and calm and classic. Oh, and how great are those shiny stools against the white? Love!

put away for a rainy day ...

How cute is this umbrella stand?

{Boot Umbrella Stand - White, $39.95, from Z Gallerie via Design*Sponge}

Spotted this in Grace's under $100: umbrella stands post on Design*Sponge and just had to share. I think wellies are so cute, and I love this painted white terracotta stand -- it would look so snazzy standing in an entryway!

Cute AND useful, can't go wrong there ;o)

sweet shoes.

{Unisa Keyana from Piperlime: $49}

It's too early for me, still, to be thinking about sandals -- but these are just darling.

loving this ...

bird feeder:

{Eva Solo Bird Table from Bobby Berk Home: $149}

Modern AND organic looking. I think this would look lovely in our back yard. Too bad about that price, though -- ouch.

on the stove ...

I'll have to share some of the great things I picked up while at IKEA, but one of my favorite purchases from the weekend was this beautiful little guy that I picked up at the Le Creuset outlet:

Isn't he darling? He was a "second," so I got an even better deal -- but the only noticeable problem was just some slight paint discoloration on the lid. I've been wanting a smaller enameled cast iron pot, and this 3 1/2 quart size is perfect.

You do know about my love affair for Le Creuset, right? And really, all things made from enameled cast iron. I truly use this cookware for just about everything and I love it. NOTHING sticks to it, it cooks so evenly and perfectly and cleans up so well.

He looks so happy perched on top of my blue enameled cast iron "chili pot" from Martha Stewart:

Please excuse this rather crappy photo and my obviously-in-need-of-a-spring-cleaning kitchen.

Oh, but in the photo you can see my lovely slate colored, oval dutch oven peeking out of the corner on the right. The color is great for our kitchen and I got a fantastic deal on it -- Williams-Sonoma apparently has started selling that color only online, so all of their in-stock slate colored Le Creuset was deeply discounted this winter. I snagged that guy one night when we went to Plaza Frontenac to see a movie. The hubs went off to get tickets and I said I was just going to do a quick browse through the store. He was rather bemused when I met him in the concessions line with a huge, heavy bag and a grin on my face.

Dune is by far my favorite color, and in the future I'm going to try and collect more pieces in this color (much to my husband's chagrin) -- but I do like having a few other colors in my kitchen, too -- keeps things cheerful, no? ;o)

on the shelf.

A few weekends ago, while I was in the outskirts of Chicago shopping at outlet malls and IKEA with my mom, my fab husband and father-in-law did some shelf installation in our dining room:

We've had these Lack shelves for ages now, thanks to the lovely Lynn, but I've been nervous about hanging them, for fear that they wouldn't support anything properly and would come crashing off the wall in the middle of the night.

While my fears have been (thus far) largely unfounded ... I don't think it was an easy process to hang these, especially considering that's an exterior wall on our 100+ year old brick house.

But, they do look nice, don't they?

Now I'm in the process of trying to arrange/style the shelves properly. I'm leaning towards a mostly all-white look, mixed with some glass vessels (many from our wedding), but that could all change on a moment's whim ;o)

Since taking these photos, I've actually moved a few things around. I believe that round bowl on the far left of the middle shelf is now in the center position on the top shelf.

The cake stand (bottom shelf, far right) -- I have two other cake stands just like it, a medium and small size, that I can stack on top. I feel like that might look better than just a lone cake stand.

Anyway, what are your thoughts? Too matchy-matchy? It's definitely not there yet -- I may try to take some photos of other items throughout the house that I could put on the shelves in place of these items, and get some more opinions.

And if you're anxious for more whiteware, fear not, I have even more stashed away that can be brought out and displayed ;o)

gnome needs home.

and I think he'd be perfectly happy in our garden -- or even perched inside:

{g-nome from CB2, $24.95}

love that white, hi-gloss lacquer finish.

name that shrub.

Anyone know what this flowering shrub might be? It just started blooming in the past week or so, here in Saint Louis. Here's another look:

Any ideas? I'm sure my mother has told me what this, but it has slipped my mind. It's really quite beautiful -- I'm wondering how the flowers would hold up if I clipped a few branches and brought inside to put in a vase.

We were busy in the garden this weekend, so I have lots of photos to share!

overlap.

'cause i know there is strength
in the differences between us
and i know there is comfort
where we overlap
- ani difranco, "overlap"

two years ago today, in Chicago where it was quite chilly, our lives officially began to overlap. we were engaged the night before this photo was taken, and I'm quite sure I've hardly stopped smiling since. love you so much, honey! xoxoxo