Santa Barbara....

....was beyond fun! The only problem was that we didn't nearly stay long enough.

We woke up "early" on Saturday morning and took the coast all the way up to S.B.

Driving through Malibu was a trip! The houses are literally hotels! Driving through I kept saying to David "which one do you think is Jennifer Aniston's house?........do you think it's that one?........do you think it's that one?..........oh no I bet it's totally THAT one!"

So we've decided that as soon as we make our first 5 mill (as in million) we're moving to Montecito. It was absolutely breathtaking! It was a little hard to actually see the houses, but it didn't matter. The gardens were enough. And they were incredible!

And I'll be moving in to the San Ysidro Ranch - I don't mind having guests!

I wish I had the words to describe how unbelievable this place is. The gardens are the most perfectly tended gardens I've ever seen. Everywhere you looked there were flowers.

All of the buildings had climbing rose, and bougainvillea.

I loved how they use gravel pathways in lieu of the typical concrete pathways that most inns tend to have.

And the rosemary was amazing!

Alicia - I chickened out on taking a picture of the lobby so I took one of the outside instead! This place made me feel like I had to be on my absolute best behavior!

I have to mention the shop that we stopped at in Montecito. It's called William Laman. It's an adorable shop located in a 100 year old barn. It had the most stunning (can you tell I'm running out of adjectives for this post? : ) open-beamed ceilings.

Ok-Last thing and then I promise I'm done. **INTERRUPTION - Did any one watch Betty White on SNL? I'm not typically an SNL viewer but she was SO worth staying up for! She did one segment on Facebook and how she doesn't understand it. She goes on to say how in her day being forced to look at someones pictures of their vacation was considered torture! I'm SO feeling like that right now!!! But I'm almost done and then I'll move on to design-y things! : )

On to my last story - because it wouldn't be right if I left you without a story of me getting caught house stalking. We were heading out of SB when I saw this house out of the corner of my eye. I literally almost got us in an accident getting David to pull off the freeway. This was the most incredible house we saw all weekend. I wish I could have gotten better pictures but it was pretty hidden by bushes, and as I said - I got caught. And by caught I mean leaning from the passenger side, over David on the drivers side and practically hanging out the window. (Are you getting a good visual?)

{It doesn't look like much here - but it was a very neat house (this is a shot of the second story)}

{This is one of 2 gravel driveways - there was a back cottage too}

I'll leave you with a few extras from the weekend!

**Thank you David for an incredible weekend and for the last 10, incredible years! I love you!**

Road Trip

Yesterday David and I celebrated our 10 year (dating) anniversary. If you're trying to do the math, we're high school sweethearts! : ) Earlier in the year we were talking about grand plans of doing a few days in Napa, driving in our rented limo from vineyard to vineyard. Come end of April, we realized that in fact our budget is more in the realm of a one night getaway somewhere a little closer by. SO, we're heading to Santa Barbara! I'm so excited!! David is leaving the hotel we're staying at a surprise. I wonder if we'll stay here:

{San Ysidro Ranch}

This is the San Ysidro Ranch, an old Inn located in San Ysidro just outside of Santa Barbara. It has a star-studded guest log - including John & Jack Kennedy, who stayed there for part of their honeymoon.

**Please know, that I would be completely thrilled staying in a Motel 6 - I just love quaint architecture and a girl can dream - maybe our 20 year anniversary! : )

I'm not going to lie to you - I just spent the last 20 minutes researching where the bakery from "It's Complicated" (filmed in Santa Barbara) is located, only to find out it's just another fictional character. Damn.

On store I know definitely does exist and that we definitely will be visiting is, Rooms and Gardens. This store has me at the entrance!

{a peek inside}

*Rooms & Gardens images via Stylebeat*

Get ready Oprah! We're coming to visit!

Girl Crush

I'm taking a break from house projects for the week. And while doing so I thought I'd make an admission - I have a girl crush. On Ina Garten. And I can't decide if it's because I'm on a super wedding diet right now and I'm hungry. Or if it's because every time I'm at the gym trying to help said diet, I always gravitate to the bike in front of the TV with the food channel on (can someone explain that one to me? That's just plain mean!) Or if it's because she has an insanely beautiful house. OR if it's all of the above!

On an episode of "the best thing I ever ate" last night, on the food channel, Ina was talking about a little specialty food store she used to work at in South Hampton. How fun does that sound? A little specialty food store in South Hampton?

Wouldn't you just love to be sitting at that counter while she cooks? Not to compare Ina to any other chefs on FoodNetwork - but I just love how calm and relaxed she is while she cooks. And with Ina you get double eye candy - drool worthy dishes and an amazing kitchen!

{So simple and classic.}

Here's the kitchen that Ina teamed up with House Beautiful to design for the 2009 Kitchen of the Year.

{This photo makes me want to go register for cake plates!}

I'm off to go dream of this

this

and this

YUM!

**All photos courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens**

Gallery

I want to start off first, by saying that I had a fun project planned to post last Monday - but I was duped by Craig (you know - of Craigslist.) I had been coveting these completely amazing, set of 4 bentwood, armchairs that I was going to paint a soft, pale blue. They already came with white canvas cushions, and I was going to make pillows in a fun print. And this whole thing was going to go in my breakfast nook. But Craig tricked me!!!!! The chairs are teeny, tiny!! I'm talkin' chin on the table tiny. I drove all the way out to El Cajon (that's a long ways away) to pick them up. And you want to know what the worst part is???? I chickened out on telling the guy "no thanks!" That's right - I am the proud owner of too-short chairs that I can't use! Lesson learned.

Ok - moving on. As you know, I have been chugging away at re-doing my master bedroom. Side Note: I've decided that calling it a "re-do" is a little mis-leading since it really wasn't done in the first place. So do I call it my master bedroom DO? Anyways, I have been completely struggling with what to put over the bed. Does anyone else struggle with this? It's such an awkward place! You definitely need something that makes a statement. At first I was thinking framed sea fans - but after Aaron Brother's told me that they would do it for $225........PER FRAME, I said "no thank you!"

On to plan B.

Our very good friend/roommate is an amazing photographer. He's actually an engineer by day, but is an extremely talented musician/photographer by night. His Dad happens to be a landscape architect with an awesome yard full of every kind of plant you can think of. Combine the two - and I ended up with over-the-bed art!

Getting these bad boys lined up perfectly proved to be quite a feat! I used the brown paper trick. You trace and cut out the size of your frames on brown paper (or any color really) and then tape them on the wall as you'd like them. Using blue painters tape, you can move them around and arrange them easily.

{check out those straight lines!}

{Final Product}

I've always love the look of the random gallery walls. I don't think the random look was right for our bedroom, but I would like one to do one later in our living room.

{The mother of all gallery walls}

{Organized gallery}

I'm Drooling

.....over this house! Not only is the house adorable, but check out that amazing garden!

{Caitlin Creer Interiors}

Wedding Straws

I'm staying true to my word and comin' at you with a fun wedding project I've been working on! I don't think I've said too much about our wedding on the blog so I'll fill you in. We're going to be having our wedding at The Inn in Rancho Santa Fe. It's a quaint, single story inn, built in 1922 by the young and talented Lillian Rice (you go girl!)

{The Inn circa 1920's-ish}

{The Inn today- We'll be getting married under the big Pepper tree!}

The overall theme of our wedding is going to be Vintage Garden. Our main objective is for it to be fun and a complete reflection of us! Because of this, we're not really following "the rules" on quite a few things!

{Our colors are mainly yellow with touches of green}

{We're thinking of adding little touches of green with succulents}

In true "me" fashion - I'm making a lot of the decor items myself (with lot's of help from mama seagrass!) I found some really cute, yellow, vintage fabric on-line and we're going to be making bunting flags to run along the edge of the building where our reception will be held. (I'll show pictures soon!) I wish I had pictures of the reception area - it's in a little private garden area under a canopy of outdoor, garden, ping-pong lights.

{Example of flag bunting}

Remember my Ball Jars post? We'll be using those scattered along all of the tables for tea-lights!

The part I'm MOST excited about (besides the actual getting married part of course!) I just found out that The Inn will be setting up croquet for our guests during cocktail hour, while we take our pictures! Next to the big tree that we'll be getting married under, on the other side of the pathway is a croquet lawn! Should be fun!

On to the latest wedding project I've been working on. Since we'll be getting married in August - notoriously one of the hottest months in S.D. (I know, I know, I'm not complaining - I know hot here, does not even begin to touch the kind of hot other places experience!) Regardless, we want to be prepared so we're going to be setting up a little refreshments table for guests to enjoy iced tea and lemonade. And what would iced tea and lemonade be without some vintage, barber stripe, paper straws???

{I made little flags that say "drink and be married"}

{I found vintage, paper straws online here}

{I've got quite a ways to go before I'm finished - but I had to share my start!}

**All wedding images found via Green Wedding Shoes Blog**