Tired of the Cold Weather Already?!? Coral is a GREAT Fix!!

So, I must admit, this weekend, while I was home visiting my lovely family in Michigan - I started to already despise the cold weather that is about to stumble upon us any day. . .Its only 55 degrees or so, currently in the beautiful state of Michigan, but to me it sure feels like its 20 degrees out!

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Don't you think a great coral chandelier like this one below. . .could really help to constantly remind you of warmer weather, beautiful beaches and all of those great vacation destinations?!? (The blue also helps - Bri, doesn't this look like the your new master bedroom color?!? I sort of love it - reminds me of Cabo?!? You too??)

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I think this could be a good temporary fix. . . at least until we head to sunny Mexico in a couple of months! I think it just might do the trick for me. . .hmm.

Daily Inspiration: On the Hunt. . .

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I've have a love for cake plates and I'm currently on the hunt for a special one for an upcoming event. . .

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You know when you have a vision and you can see your room, table decor, and guests gathering around a beautiful piece!

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Well, ok, maybe you don't dream about things like I do. . .but I'm on the hunt for a beautiful mercury glass cake plate. A couple years ago Pottery Barn had a fantastic one - but it is no more. So keep your little eyes peeled and if you see one, let me know!

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Enjoy your Monday . . .

Daily Inspiration: To Keep or Not to Keep

This week the delightful magazine, Metropolitan Home, announced it will be closing up shop and stopping publication after its December 2009 issue.

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Boo!
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Metropolitan Home is not one that I subscribe to currently, but it is one that I pick up every month, religiously in the magazine shop while passing through an airport!

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Just a few weeks ago my husband I went through all of our magazines and I was forced to purge some of them. Luckily I gifted a huge stack to my sweet sister, Sarah, for use as creative inspiration for her daily job, working with great college students. The others, sadly, ended up in the recycle bin and are long gone by now.
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I've decided since this recent notice of Metropolitan Home and a few other favorite magazines who will be closing doors soon, if they haven't already, that I will be keeping all of my favorite magazines! (Sorry dear organized and minimalistic husband!) I'm sure my dear husband is going to be utterly annoyed when he reads this post, but darling, seriously, they will cease to exist and where will I find my inspiration?
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Therefore, going forward, I will be hoarding all of my favorite copies of these magazines and don't worry friends, they'll be organized by month and label, stored in a great container and files away in my basement. Don't fret they'll be easily accessible for anyone to borrow for inspiration!
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Enjoy your Thursday. . . I'm spending my last day in Nashville and will be jet setting home this evening to Indy for a night! Then its off to Michigan tomorrow afternoon, with my dear husbadn and puppy in tow,to spend the weekend with my family!! Woohoo!!

Daily Inspiration: Women, Work and the Art of Savoir Faire

With all of my travels as of late, I've been reading a ton of books. While I love to read a good novel or piece of Chick-Lit, I've set a personal goal to read one motivational, personal growth, career oriented book per month. I generally read anywhere from 4-5 books a month, so allocating 1 of those books towards my own personal growth is not too hard!

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About a month ago I saw an interview with Mireille Guiliano, the acclaimed author of 'French Women Don't Get Fat' on the Today Show. During this interview, I was impressed with her poise, yet no-nonsense approach to life. She was on the show promoting her new book, ' Women, Work and the Art of Savoir Faire.' I made a personal note to research this book a bit more, thinking it was probably closer to a Chick-Lit book, but knowing it was likely a choice that I'd like to read.

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I picked up this book about a week ago, and after realizing that I knew very little about Mireille Guiliano, I found myself enthralled by not only her life, but also her opinions and the way she chose to showcase them throughout the book.

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Mireille Guiliano, is a French born author who has spent most of her adult life as the CEO of Veuve Clicquot, the French Champagne company. She worked her way up through the ranks at the company and spent much of her career as the sole woman in this role and in this capacity.

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Her book speaks on many of her beliefs and opinions on the choices we make both personally and professionally. She brings a level of social etiquette to the workplace and expects nothing but the best from each of her employees. Much of this book reminds me of the few woman I have been fortunate enough to have as professional mentors. In this book, Mireille discusses the lack of mentoring that exists within women in the workplace and the difference between men and women in the world of business.

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So often I find myself reading books about motivation, sales, public speaking, goal setting, career growth, etc - they are all very well written and pertain to my personal growth and potential career advancement. None of them, however, seem to tie into the social etiquette and graces that are so important in the working world. She expresses how hard work, proper etiquette and a continuous drive can truly get you to the next level in whatever role you serve within your company. These are huge hot-buttons for me, and have been for years . . .because of these and many other snippets of this book, I have become a huge fan!

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For anyone who enjoys reading books on personal growth within the workplace and would appreciate a successful career womans perspective - I'd highly recommend picking up this book at your local bookstore of choice! Or shoot me an email and I'll gladly loan out my copy - as long as you can handle the highlighted sections throughout, I'd be more than happy to share!

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I must say, also, that I generally never give recommendations on books. I believe each book serves a purpose and that we are all entitled to our own opinions on novels, etc. Just a week or so ago, I was commenting on how I just finished reading 'The American Wife' by Curtis Sittenfeld and how I enjoyed the majority of the book, my girlfriend, Melissa, on the hand did not enjoy the book and mentioned that it was not one of her favorites. Regardless, this book may not be a choice for everyone, however, to me, in the place that I am currently in with my professional career, I found it to be extremely in line with where I am at today! Let me know your thoughts, if you choose to pick it up!

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Happy reading. . .Enjoy your week!

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Daily Inspiration: Design, Design, Design!

So over the last few weeks I've been not only traveling non-stop for work, but I've also been down and out with the horrible flu bug that seems to be hitting most of us these days. Over the last few weeks I've traveled to Pittsburgh, Tucson, Albuquerque, Bloomington, and now this week I'm in Nashville! I've basically been training during the days and sleeping during the nights - therefore it left absolutely no time for blogging, as I simply did not have the energy!
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Bummer, I know. Good News - I'm officially feeling almost 100% today! Hooray!
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During my weekends I've been mainly trying to get caught up on housework, plan our Holiday Soiree and continue with our plans of redecorating.
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For months I had been tossing around the idea of color schemes for our dining room - and just recently after visiting a friends housewarming party - did I decide to switch our color scheme up completely in the dining room! I have always been of the mindset that each room should coordinate somehow, I always thought that there should be one color that is consistent throughout and carried in every room. Since the majority of our house is painted in more 'Arts & Crafts' style colors - browns, mustards, neat greens - I assumed I had to stick with those colors throughout. Recently, when my wonderful husband had my office completely redecorated and I visited my friends home, I realized otherwise. I'm taking a risk folks - but I'm confident in the end it'll turn out lovely!
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We are going to use Navy with a gray undertone, a pale powder blue with slight aqua undertones, and white as our main color scheme. I have plans to either find a fun white antler or twig chandelier or possibly use two or three smaller chandeliers that I'd display down the center of our long dining room table (I saw this idea in Arhaus - a FABULOUS store!) - we'll keep our white trim as a dominant feature and we'll have some great window decor created as well. I'm on the hunt for some fun fabrics to have Ben's grandfathers chair reupholstered and another fabulous accent fabric to recover my dining room chairs, as well. I'm excited about the ideas - but also slightly overwhelmed with the decisions at hand. . .
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So here is what we have so far. . .
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This color looks very blue on the screen - but its truly very gray in real life on our walls! It's a great shade and I cannot wait to see it on all of the walls!

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Then we have this lovely picture of the double chandelier idea - this one is hard to see - but its fantastic in person. Thoughts anyone?

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Then we bought this great Martha Stewart rug - it looks slightly more green in this picture - but in our big dining room with the wood floors - it looks simply lovely! (You may remember it from an earlier post!)
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What are your thoughts? Any insight would be fantastic. . .I'd love to hear them!

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More to come surely. . .as the process has only just begun!

Winner Announced: Vivireborn Beautiful Bracelet Giveaway!

I am so excited to announce the winner of the Vivi Reborn "A Little Birdie Told Me" bracelet, today! We had over 50 entries and the ladies of Vivi Reborn, Shannon and Rebekah, made the final decision and chose the winner. We all thoroughly enjoyed reading your entries and are inspired by your commitment to living a "greener" life.
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Below is the winning entry. . . and a short note from the artists to the winner! Enjoy. . .

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Hi Abby!!

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I’m actually rather excited about this stuff right now. I’m teaching 2nd grade and the other teachers think I am SO into the three R’s. It’s funny because there are certain things I have totally thought differently about since becoming a teacher and being able to influence all of these little people. So, here are some of the things I teach my kiddos and put into practice. Once a week I encourage “No Trash Snack Day”. I was noticing the large amount of unhealthy and prepackaged foods that were coming to school for snack. No Trash Snack Day means that you bring in a whole piece of fruit or something in a Tupperware type of container that can be reused. The kids really see the difference that they are making. I am one of the only teachers at my school that has a recycling bin in their classroom for all of those water bottles. I have been encouraging the students to bring in reusable ones, but we still get some to recycle anyways. I’m in plans to get water bottles made that the kids can use with the school logo on it. School Spirit + Reusing = Good times. Another item I am going to implement, but haven’t completely launched yet, is using these awesome little bags instead of Ziplocs for everything.

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You’ve got to check out this website…it is pretty cool. http://www.snacktaxi.com/

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The children also are seeing the advantages of keeping scrap paper. As a reward in the classroom they get to go through the scrap paper box with a friend and cut and glue and staple till their heart is content, or for 10 minutes, which ever comes first. The kids love it. I love reusing things and seeing them work on their fine motor skills as well as their creativity. You should see some of the stuff they come up with!! Hats, jewelry, books, phones…the list is amazing. (They aren’t allowed any type of writing instrument. This makes it way more fun and forces them to use their brains in a new way.)

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Even if I don’t win the fun bracelet, I am happy to share some of the ideas that I am excited about! In the slightly more distant future, I want to get shopping bags printed with the school logo too so that they can spread that school spirit all around town.

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Hope you had a great day!!!!!!!!

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PPL,Elizabeth

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Rebekah and Shannon from Vivi Reborn chose the winner and shared. . .

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' We would like to send the "vivi love" to Elizabeth Goold - we believe her influence, by teaching her classroom to protect our environment at such a young age, is essential to the preservation of our Earth. Yay Elizabeth! '

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Congratulations to Elizabeth Goold, from Orange County, California!

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Thanks for all of the entries and make sure to continue to check back often to Vivi Reborn's Etsy shop for more beautiful re-purposed items!

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Happy Tuesday!

Daily Inspiration: Gray = The Perfect Compliment to All Colors

Lately I've been lusting after Charcoal and Gray inspired walls, I'm not sure if its the actual gray walls or if its simply the way that gray helps to highlight every other color! What are your thoughts?!? Take a look at a few of my favorites
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Who doesn't L.O.V.E. frames arranged on a wall? Seriously.

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Tell me this turquoise doesn't add just the pop you are looking for in a room of gray? Oh and I adore the navy lampshade on this little nightstand too. . .

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This one is a bit modern for me, but I love the details on the wall and the color - sure does pop!

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This room is so dramatic. . .yet subtle at the same time. . . .
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I believe this one is my favorite. The light blue desk is lovely, the bedding is to die for and the accent of orange really pops on this charcoal setting. I want to mirror this room in my house. . .I just might!
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Can you see why I adore gray walls? I hope you have a fantastic fall day. Happy Monday!
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