Bookworm

We are a house full of book nerds. We love to read. I grew with a librarian for a mother (she later was a teacher) and David was the kid who never did his homework, not because he was playing video games but because he was reading. Yes we are a little nerdy! : ) So when I was designing our house I knew we had to have bookshelves wherever possible. This wall-o-books....

....sits directly across from this

When we moved in, we were so sick of living in dust, and so ready to just get our stuff in that I never really took the time to arrange the shelves the way I really wanted them. Our books, and eventually other "stuff" accumulated on our shelves. I've been meaning to re-do them for quite a while now. I was reading the latest Pottery Barn catalog and was admiring the handy work of their very talented set stylist and was instantly inspired.

Janet has also inspired me to get creative and not run out to buy things I really don't need. I still went shopping, but did it in my own house. I collected little "fillers" for the shelves to keep things interesting. I was actually pretty shocked with all of the stuff I found in my house!

{You can see our stairway to the right}

What? You don't keep your iPhone SDK programming book on top of your Apartment Therapy book?

I still need to find a picture for this frame. The brown binders are a must for me! They are recycled paper binders (sold at OfficeDepot) that hold all of my inspirations from magazines. It makes it WAY easier to find things!

{Please excuse our circa 1980's track lighting - we had issues installing lights due to the awkward pitch in our ceiling, and we had minimal room for a j-box}

Here's the "before's." It may not look all that different (or maybe it does.) But, I can promise you our shelves were a little scary!

{Before}

Here's a few inspiration pics

{I would have LOVED to have the space for a library ladder}

{Love this wall to wall bookcase}

{A little more natural}

I've been seeing this more and more. I understand that an all white palette lends a much more consistent look but really - how practical is this?? You'd have to REALLY know your books! : )

{How's this for some wallpaper!}

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

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**