Sunshine & Smiles

I hope your weekend is filled with sunshine, smiles and relaxation.

Happy Friday!

A Little Eye Candy

This kitchen is absolutely delicious!!! Bin pulls, and cabinet feet and flush mounts...Oh my! I can't stop staring at it, so much so, that I have moved it to my desktop for ease of opening just to gaze at between task changes. This little gem is located in a beautiful home in the prestigious Highland Park neighborhood of Dallas. I could seriously lick the marble it is so yummy. I don't know if it is Calcutta or Carrera but it is just gorgeous!!! Notice the juxtaposition of the clean lines and pure white color scheme with the rustic antique lanterns over the island. This works so beautifully. Every room should have just a little patina. I think that just a little age gives a space so much depth. Another element to this kitchen, that is so aesthetically pleasing, is the way that the arched window is mimicked over the cooktop. This creates symmetry but isn't boring.
I'm going to have a white kitchen some day. This kitchen has definitely moved up on my inspiration list.
Lovely!

Monday

Last night I dreamt that a large order of furniture for a client arrived and it was really small....I couldn't even sit in it...as small as playhouse furniture! Really scary :-) I imagine I dreamed this because on Sunday nights my mind is generally filled with a mental to-do list of all that I need to take care of on Monday, what orders are coming in that week, etc. Ironically, I usually look at design magazines to relax...this sounds counterintuitive, no? There is just something about those glossy images of beautiful rooms that makes me happy. I missed my magazine ritual last night because I was traveling home from a weekend in Dallas. However, I had a wonderful and much needed weekend with my family and girlfriends. I miss everyone so much. San Antonio isn't quite home yet, but it's growin' on me. This week I'm looking forward to getting a little more settled in our house and working on some new clients, some existing clients and some fun new projects.

Have a great week!

Bella Italia: La Parte Due

More images...

Hello love...um, you want to stop at the gelateria again? yes, please!

beauty on every inch and around every corner...

The Oculus of the Pantheon

The Pantheon by the light of the moon

My sister-in-law, Jane, and I.

I mean, seriously?! Does it get any more beautiful than this?!...Good thing my camera was glued to my eye the whole trip, I was able to snap this as these newlyweds just strolled by...

My first official Italian meal ;-) yum!

Always time for a gelato break...

Typical cafe in the street...after a long long long day of walking these were our havens for yummy food and wine. We sat in a lot of street cafes, people watching, drinking wine and trying to digest what we had seen that day.

The fountain of Trevi. Frank and I threw our coins over our shoulder into the fountain to ensure that we would return one day.

My love and I enjoying the street cafes

Cin Cin (Italian version of cheers)

One of the many breathtaking streets that we got lost wandering down.

Flower shop on the street corner

Frank and I at the foot of the Spanish Steps.

Prosecco at the top of the Spanish Steps...perfecto!

One of the many gorgeous doors of Italy. I have an obsession with doors. I took tons of photos of doors. I think my husband thought I was crazy at first but then he started pointing them out too..."look, honey, that's a cool door" :-) I will have to do a separate post of all the doors I took pictures of.

Stay tuned, Vatican City is up next.

Ciao!

Bella Italia

Ok, so I'm finally writing about my amazing trip to Italy. I have been so overwhelmed with how I was going to do this post that I have just procrastinated too long... too much time has gone by and I must tackle this. I have gone over this a million times in my head and words are not even going to scratch the surface of sharing what I experienced. Italy is in my blood and while I was there I definitely felt it.

Roma, what an amazing city! The architecture and history alone are so humbling that I think that I am still trying to process what I saw. Every day that we were in Italy we walked everywhere. Wandering down tiny little streets, I mean TINY, little streets, and discovering the cities step by step. I must have said the word "beautiful" a million times, and it was beautiful! Every little inch, literally. Even the sewer grates were beautiful! We would wander around a corner only to bump into a piece of history that I've stared at a hundred times in an art or history book.

I desperately tried to remember every detail, paying careful attention to the smells, the language being spoken around me, the feeling of youth amidst such age, the uneven cobblestones I was walking on and how they felt under my feet....I didn't want to forget a thing. As I look back through these photos I can still remember. I know that time will take many of these details away from me and that is why I am just going to have to go back...often ;-)