is it too early....

to start my birthday wishlist? my birthday is 7.5 months away. i'll take a set of these please.


pantone postcards. 100 of them. i love color. i love pantone colors. i love paper goods. therefore i love these.


i first read about them here. you can buy them here.

sale at pixelimpress thru schuelove blog

natasha of schue love blog bought calling cards for her blog at pixelimpress a few weeks ago.

here's the finished product.
she posted them on her blog and her readers loved them. so we decided to offer her readers a discount of 25% off everything at pixelimpress thru august 5th. i thought i'd let you all in the deal also. head on over here to get the coupon code for my etsy store. and check out her blog while you're there.

you can see what you did with the giclee she won from brooke at velvet & linen.
and check her out here with her "lap dog" wilson. love this picture.
thanks, natasha, for shopping at pixelimpress!

my new favorite restaurant

i could eat sushi 7 days a week. i love it. which is odd, because i didn't eat fish until i was in my late 20s and didn't eat raw fish until several years later. my local sushi restaurant shut down a few weeks ago. steve and i were their best customers. we ate there sometimes twice a week. i'd been going through withdrawals. until kotta! we went to kotta sushi in frisco friday night to celebrate our new house purchase. it was awesome! we sat at the sushi bar. the sushi chef was phenomenal. he really took care of us. the fish was beyond fresh and the service fabulous. the owner even greeted us and chatted for awhile.
and, knowing i was heading back to seattle and not going to have sushi for awhile (at least at my local spot), we ate at kotta again sunday night. it was event better! you must try it if you're in the area. our favorite roll.... the sakura.

images from here

the winner!

this is our winner! the frontrunner from the last post. we love it. we move in the end of august.

and i didn't realize how big it truly is until i saw steve and i standing in this archway. it's deceiving because the interior space is still cozy.it has everything we want. and it's in a beautiful community just north of frisco, just north of dallas. they still have some finishing touches to complete. like hardwoods (on the entire main floor) and landscaping.

the frontrunner

i am off to dallas to buy a house! finally....

this is our front runner. preliminary negotiations have gone smoothly. now we just need to seal the deal. and then celebrate.

and on a side note, the weather in texas is in the triple digits. they probably do hot yoga classes in a parking lot. it'll be at least 35 degrees warmer than seattle. i haven't experienced that in several years. hope i don't faint...

dallas real estate

i think between us, steve and i have looked online at every house on the market in dallas and the suburbs north of dallas. it's exhausting. many of them are badly staged (read not staged at all) and badly photographed. when you spot a magazine worthy home photographed well you stop and look. and drool. i found this one today. even if it's out of, or rather, way out of our price range. and i actually think it's under contract, but... i thought i'd share it.

loads of curb appeal.
gorgeous front entry.
gorgeous kitchen.
but the backyard is where the magic happens. i'd gladly sweat out a hot dallas summer here.

all photos from here

i won!

about a month ago, the lovely ceri hoover of cooper grey had a contest. the winner won two pillows of their choice. i won! i got the pillows today. they're gorgeous! and huge. and in my favorite fabric, kelly wearstler's bengal bazaar. head over to ceri's etsy shop to get your own. the quality is superb! thanks ceri!

yum

my book club met this past friday evening. i love book club nights. good food, good friends, good conversation. in fact, when steve and i first discussed whether or not we should move from seattle to dallas.... my first reaction was "but i just got into a book club!".

anywho, back to friday evening. we met at bridget's house. she's a cook, a serious cook. she had the most awesome food.... bowtie pasta salad, grilled shrimp, grilled corn, lemon chiffon pie for dessert, and my favorite... this salad. from tom douglas. tom douglas is a famed seattle chef with several restaurants and cookbooks. bridget made one of his salads for us. i haven't stopped talking about it.

image via here, by mark thomas

it's grilled cornbread salad with red onions, arugula and red wine vinaigrette. i found the recipe for it here. bridget modified the recipe slightly. she served a sweet cornbread on it, and didn't grill her cornbread. it was delicious! thanks bridget. i'll definitely be making this myself.

chevron wedding menus

client nicole contacted me about a month ago to make chevron menus for her upcoming wedding. she's having a modern wedding with colors yellow and grey and succulents. not many details, but enough to conjur up a beautiful image for me. after a few drafts, we went with this. thin chevron on front. thick on back.
all packaged and ready to ship. i also printed some grey and white chevron placecards. i love the way they turned out. happy wedding day, nicole!

dining alfresco

well, almost alfresco. july 4th breakfast. the patio was still in the sunshine, so we opened up the french doors and enjoyed the cool breeze coming in.
our view.
my peonies exploded this last week.
even pixel enjoyed the view.

happy 4th!

steve came home wednesday from being in dallas for 4 weeks. yes, 4 weeks. we missed him. pixel especially. they're 2 peas in a pod. or 2 red haired beings on a sofa. you get the drift.
and now it's time for the holiday weekend! well, after i get caught up on orders from here. i'm swamped.

steve's sister and her family are enroute to our house for just an overnight visit. we're making these for dinner. have you ever tried them? what?!? you must.image via here

and then saturday we're hosting a cookout for a bunch of our favorite people. we want to use this space before we pass the house to new owners.

what are your plans for the weekend?