Category Archives: Travel

door county

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I just spent an incredibly low-key weekend with the husband and some of our great friends in Door County, WI. It was a much needed quick weekend getaway filled with beautiful weather and fabulous memories.The husband and I first went to Door County in the summer of 2006; we were just dating and I was excited to explore a wonderful new part of my state with him.

In the summer of 2007 we went back, but this time, my husband had something up his sleeve, a great surprise: We got engaged on the rocks on Cana Island overlooking Lake Michigan.
It’s hard to believe it has been five years since we had been back. We’ve been through many changes since then, but not much has changed in Door County. With all the changes that have happened in the last five years, it was only fitting to bring some change ourselves to this place that always seems to remain unchanged, which is exactly why we invited our fun friends to go with us!
This week will be filled with Door County goodness! If you haven’t been, please go! You won’t be disappointed!

shopping in the wind

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Yes, one more Chicago post! Did I mention I’m in love with this city? It’s my favorite. The best friend and I ventured out to a couple of new shops I’ve heard amazing things about, and they didn’t disappoint!

It’s amazing to see how our (the best friend is usually adventurous with me) shopping tastes have changed. When we first moved to the city, we would shop on the cheap for food and clothes, collectively. When we started our careers and had a bit more independence, we started to branch out away from the chain restaurant and stores; we would shop boutiques after boutiques for the best outfits for ourselves. Then it moved toward wedding gown shopping, and now, our weekend was filled with furniture and baby stores! Oh how Chicago has always been able to accommodate our ever changing needs!

Jayson Home & Garden was in Chicago’s Lincoln Park neighborhood with fabulous displays of fine furniture and accessories. Eye candy for the home owner.

We then moved on to P.O.S.H. which was a fabulous place for great dining, kitchen accessories, and great display pieces. Another gem in this vast city.
Did I mention our level of sophistication in happy hours has changed too? After all day of shopping, we headed to a cute restaurant called Pops. Champagne after a day of shopping with your best friend and new baby… There isn’t anything better!
Happy Monday! After work, maybe drink some champagne?!

frank lloyd wright

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Frank Lloyd Wright has always been one of my favorite architects. Though I’m not fond of his arrogance or family dynamic, he did build beautiful pieces of art, inside and out. I had the luxury of touring the Oak Park homes Frank Lloyd Wright build from 1889 to 1909 this past weekend with my best friend.

It’s amazing the lengths he took to get to know his clients, even making clothing that should be worn while entertaining in the home. Think about that. Isn’t the simplicity and convenience of today sad in some ways? Do you want model one, two, or three… don’t worry you can “customize” the shutters.

Our first stop was the Unity Temple commissioned for $60,000; Wright was one of the first to build with poured concrete.

Inside, his attention to detail does not go unnoticed.

We then headed outside to look at all the buildings Frank Lloyd Wright created in Oak Park. Some were even considered “bootleg” houses, which were commissioned and built by Wright without the knowledge of his employer… this caused Wright to “resign” after his boss found out.

We also can see the changes in his design through these homes. Some were requests from the home owner (a more victorian look), some gave Wright free reign.

This house is for sale!! If you’re in the market for a new house, it’s a steal at 900,000.

The Hills-Decaro Home, 1906, was my favorite.

This house was the one house Wright said he regretted building. Considering how arrogant he was, thats pretty amazing he admitted this.

Lastly, we walked around the perimeter of Frank Lloyd Wright’s studio and home.

We used Chicago Savvy Tours, and they did a great job. If I were to go again, I would take a tour of the inside of his studio and home!! All the more reason to take another trip to Chicago!

mile’s nursery

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Hi Friends!

Back in December I shared with you chicago nesting style.  My best friend was expecting her first and I flew to Chicago to help with the baby decor! We shopped a lot that weekend (online and in the city), and our vision really came together. I think it turned out really well!

Here’s a couple of photos of the space. It’s a little “lived in” but I figured that would be best!

Resources:  Color – Benjamin Moore HC-159 Phillipsburg Blue, Crib – Wal-Mart, Rug & Lantern – Overstock.com, Sheep Skin Rug – Ikea, Glider – West Elm, Dresser – Thrifted, Owl Prints – Etsy, Love print – T.J.Maxx, Miles yarn letters – homemade from a friend, Frames – Ikea

Miles said he liked it too.

wisconsin summer

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Sorry this is late! I’ve been trying to get a post out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, but sometimes that just doesn’t happen.

I headed home for a little R&R last weekend and to help my parents deal with some health concerns. My brother was also able to come home and he brought my fabulous niece and nephew (Ben & Ellie) and their younger brother, Thomas.

It was a much needed weekend at home.  We ate too much, did too little, and just had a fabulous time. Here’s a couple photos from the visit.

Saturday morning, I walked outside to find a couple bees pollenating the flowers in our front yard. Ahh… bees and fresh air!

And then there were the kiddos! I definitely want to work on my skills of photographing moving subjects!  Wow, it’s difficult and I have a new found respect for professional photographers who work with children.

I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!

long weekends

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We had a fabulous Memorial Day weekend with Ms. Anna Grace at the front and center.  It was her baptism weekend so we traveled up north to Columbia, Missouri.

We wanted to bring the boys, so we made the 9 1/2 hour journey by car.  It was adventuresome, and we even picked up a turtle that was making it’s own journey across the highway.

We got in late Friday night and woke up Saturday to cinnamon rolls and two wild boys.

The baptism went smooth. It was just trying to get the family picture that was a little more difficult. But it was a success!

After the baptism, we had the whole afternoon to grill out and enjoy the spring/summer weather.

I spent the afternoon taking pictures around the lake!

It was such a fun weekend to get away, and we enjoyed being outside with the family, kids, and chaos. She looks innocent, but we all know better. Ha.

The boys were rather tired from all the activities.

Goodbye Missouri, Welcome back to Texas…

weekenders

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This week went by super fast with work and all our evening plans, so I haven’t had time to catch up and write about last weekend’s activities! We had more visitors!! I could definitely get used to this!

The husband’s parents came down to see us and the progress of our home. I think they were really impressed with all we have done, considering they haven’t seen it (in person) since we moved in! It was also nice to revisit all the changes we have made and realize just how much we have accomplished! Our official list is here.

When they got in Friday, we stayed in and made turkey burgers and enjoyed the beautiful weather outside!

The next morning, they woke up to scones and French pressed coffee, of course!! We then headed out to watch some baseball!

For a moment I thought I was back in Wisconsin?!?!?

The Rangers lost, but we had a great time anyway! Plus, the weather was fantastic! 70’s and overcast – we could not have wished for better weather!

That evening we took them to Frankies, a wonderful Mexican Restuarant in the area which is steps away from my favorite ice cream shop, Fire Fly! We had to introduce them to both!

Trying to save room for ice cream…

Sunday we spent relaxing. We introduced them to our favorite sushi restaurant (our treat for Mother’s Day) and made one trip to Home Depot for Arlyn’s help with some electrical work!

All-in-all another great weekend! It always goes WAY too fast!!

first visit & color balance

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This past weekend, we had the pleasure of hosting the Daugherty clan in our Dallas home.  The first to venture down and see what Texas was all about.  We had a wonderful time, once Paul and I got over the initial shock of being “on” all the time. Paul even said, “kids are a WHOLE different level, I was tired after Adventure Landing!” But, we had an absolute blast and the things that come out of their mouths are so funny, such as Drake stating the sheets on his blow up bed were Fancy, wondering if the crabs would eat them at the aquarium, and the realization half way through a meal, “I have NO drink!”  They were great, and I wanted to adopt them all. What a great weekend. These kids are a ball full of energy and we didn’t want to disappoint.  So we hit up a couple local attraction: the park, which is right down our street, a couple times, Adventure Landing, Fort Worth Rodeo, and The Dallas Aquarium.

It was a great weekend and honestly, if I could guarantee a baby like Anna, I would have four.

Plus, it was nice to have a general contractor in our presence to nonchalantly ask questions… can we actually do that?  and how much would that cost? and what would you do? and can you just come down and do it?!?  Okay, I was thinking that last question.  I’m so happy they came down and here are the highlights of the weekend.

*Weekend Photos by Lisa Daugherty – because who forgets her camera? This girl. :( 

Otis also won a souvenir prize thanks to Anna.  Otis got many face licks in to Anna’s surprise this weekend; she was watching him all weekend but never got mad, just gave a look of what was that?!

He’s been playing/sleeping with it ever since. Sorry Anna.

Prior to the Daughtery’s making their presence in the Big D, I knew I had to clean up the main bath for their arrival!  I fell in love with the gray-with-green-undertones BM Stingray 1529 in our kitchen and decided to use what was left in the main bathroom.  It works perfectly with yellow tile and bronze/gold accessories. I also demoed the gold shower door! That was such an eye sore, so I replaced it with a simple curtain from West Elm.  I still need to add framed items in here but it’s such an improvement, I wanted to share.

Before

After (Progress Pic) – Sorry for the dark mirror photo…

When first purchasing a home, I got all excited about paint color, the kitchen could be this and the bathroom that, but then I realized the zen quality of cohesiveness… and stopped wanting to paint our house like a preschool classroom, so I started picking colors that complement each other.  Though I know people that have the same color throughout their house, and it works for them, I couldn’t do the same. I couldn’t think of that one color to blanket the whole house; I couldn’t handle just one color.  Instead, I found a happy-medium.  Here’s my color palette thus far;

  • Guest Rooms #1 and #2 – BM pashmina AF-100
  • Kitchen and Main Bath – BM stringray 1529
  • Hallways and Strip in 1/2 bath – BM swiss coffee OC-45
  • 1/2 bath other strip – BM halo OC-46 (though I could of used Early Morning Mist or Stringray)
  • Entryway – BM stone harbor 2111-50
  • Living and Dining Room – BM bennington gray HC-182
  • Master Bedroom – BM palladian blue HC- 144
  • Master Bath – BM boothbay gray HC – 165
  • Family Room – BM early morning mist 1528
  • Laundry & Guest Room #4/Office Bookshelves –BM dragonfly AF-510 or rockport gray HC-105 (TBA)

I tried my best to use the same colors throughout the house.  I think it’s working really well! I only have the laundry room, 4th bedroom and some bookshelves left!

christmas 2011

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I spent the Christmas holiday in Wisconsin.  It was so nice to be up north at Christmas with the whole family and cooler weather!  There is something great about celebrating the holidays in the elements, or at least looking outside at the elements, while staying warm indoors.  I flew to Minneapolis and caught my connecting flight to Wisconsin; during my layover, it started to snow! I captured a photo of at the airport, as I was getting really excited for the upcoming adventure home to celebrate the holidays!I got into my family’s home and couldn’t help but take pictures of the Christmas decorations. I’ve come to think this is standard operation in everyone’s household but have since realized how lucky I am to have had such a warm and inviting home every season.The Christmas festivities have taken on a new and exciting meaning this year with the new additions to our growing family.  My brother (and sister-in-law) have 2-year-old twins and a 3-month-old, which are really starting to enjoy and understand the magic of Christmas!  The twins know “Santa” and Ho, Ho, Ho and PRESENTS! Lots of presents! And Santa is watching, don’t do that.  Works like a charm!  It’s been a really fun transition for the Christianson household to go from three adult couples to now three amazing children running around!I’m excited for the years to come where they truly understand the Christmas traditions.  Aunt Sarah is really excited to conger up more lies about the North Pole, reindeers, and Santa!  They will thank me, too, because I’ll be right there with them yelling at Grandpa C, as he tries to explain the necessity to take a shower prior to anyone heading downstairs to see what Santa has brought them!

COME ON GRANDPA!

We had our annual family traditions of eating and drinking way too much and celebrating with the ladies on the Christianson side with our annual lunching on Christmas Eve day!  I love this tradition and am so lucky we have such strong and vocal women in our family.  This extends to my Michalik side as well!  After lunching, we have the whole Christianson clan over for Christmas Eve dinner.On Christmas day, after opening all of our presents, we decided to frost Christmas cookies with the twins!  I think this will be another Christmas tradition!  It was so much fun for them.  Though we did find sporadic cookies on the floor licked clean of any frosting…  I wonder who that was?

The twins loved the sprinkles!!I’ll leave you with my favorite holiday pictures!  Kids in jammies! Except I didn’t get Ms. Eleanore in her princess ones…What a magical Christmas!  Seeing Christmas through children’s eyes makes everything more fun!

Merry Christmas to you and yours!

chicago nesting style

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One of my favorite activities is observing personal style and their individual likes and dislikes, making for a cohesive living space, or nursery, or bedroom. I personally feel like I don’t have a style but like it when people have a vision. I spent this weekend working on an assignment: Mission Nursery.. and living… and dining/office place at the Frankel residence in Chicago. My best friend, Wilyna, is expecting her first baby, and I couldn’t have been more privileged to help her decorate for the new baby boy!

First we lunched at a cute restaurant in Chicago, Jerry’s Deli.

We spent the better part of the weekend painting, putting up frames, organizing and making her adult bungalow into a place for their first, or at least help with that process.

We started by painting the nursery. I’m a big fan of spending money on samples. Buy two or three of your favorites and paint squares in the room. Walk through that room (a lot) in the morning, midday, and at night; that way you really get a true sense of the color in your place. I sometimes paint a couple squares in different areas, depending on the light. Sometimes one wall can make the color pop and the other make the whole design drab. We did that with Winnie’s nursery on Friday.

We walked in and out of that room on Friday and woke up Saturday to pick the right color for the space! Winnie went with Benjamin Moore HC-159 Phillipsburg Blue, a fabulous grey-blue! And we painted.

We did allow ourselves some down time to watch one more of my favorite (top 5) Christmas movies, The Family Stone. We actually watched it twice; Winnie’s friend Jenni expressed great interest when we said we had watched it, and we were invited over to her house Saturday for a second viewing. Oh, how I love that movie. Winnie and I both want big families with all the crazy family dynamics! I don’t get through that movie without crying but it really makes me happy!

During the first viewing of The Family Stone, we multitasked and made some internet purchases and some wish list items for the nursery. Because I’m a planner and I have no visions of children of my own in the near future, I shared with Winnie some of my own nursery ideas, some which she liked, and some which she tweaked for her own nursery. It made me happy to share my personal ideas and help inspire some of her own!

Here are some of the items she chose:

The owl playing the guitar is a series of prints which has a whole band! So nursery cute, but inspired by both Wilyna and Tyler’s loved for music. I loved it!

Overall, it was such a wonderful weekend with my best friend, in a city that just makes me happy. Even that crisp cold air feels so refreshing! Winnie promised me once she gets all of these items, she will send me a few pictures… but I’m hoping to make it up at least one more time for a baby shower and my own photography angles of the new space.

And yes, you might be wondering, where’s the pictures of you and Winnie, or Winnie’s face or ANY pictures of people… this will be on my new year’s resolution list. Ha. Heck, maybe I’m just a macro-photographer and I need to accept it!