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It's happening again. The bangs are beckoning. Like clockwork, I get this itch to snip snip snip when the weather gets chilly (forehead insulation??). I regret it after a month and my family (specifically my nieces) don't hold back their "sans bangs" preferences, but perhaps if I get the long, fringed kind it won't be so bothersome?? HA. What am I talking about?? That's the worst kind for a 'four eyes' like me. Under the glasses, I look like this. Over the glasses....and I look like this. Perhaps this is one of those 'loved from afar' looks for moi?

PS Yours truly rockin' some bangs...what say you, sartorially savvy munchkins?

The circus....wait, no...I mean the family, is in town and that means one thing: fun times ahead (complete with kiddie snot rockets - wooooohoooo!). We wanted to give these awesome East Coasters a taste of a tiny, truly Texas town so we rallied the troops and headed down to Gruene, Texas yesterday. General consensus was that it was a good time - we walked around visiting a few of the shops, ate lunch, and played tag in the open fields. The supermodel-in-the-making standing next to me is my sweet niece, E. She's pretty darn adorable, gorgeous, and loves stripes just like her Auntie KK. See that dress she's wearing? She saved up all her pennies and bought that with her very own dinero. What are y'all saving your pennies for right now?? I'm not going to lie...I have my eye on this. I'm basically going to be saving for eternity because it costs a freakload of pennies.

PS Pretty much everything I am wearing is either from many seasons ago, sample sales, or flea markets...go figure. The Stone & Honey necklace is still around though....aaaaand that's about it.

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Perhaps it's because the walls of my office are now a deep, sexy, dark navy blue, but I'm certainly craving a metallic poster that'll give my office a dose of glamour with a one-two punch. I would give you a sneak peek of the room, but all you really need to do is watch an episode of Hoarders to get an idea of what it  looks like. Yep. It's that bad right now....and yes, it's driving my OCD organizational tendencies wild.

Now, time to get out of this clutterfest room and head out to the airport to pick my mother-in-law (the best one in the land, y'all). The hub's entire fam is coming in to town for F1 and staying for the Thanksgiving feast, so we are pretty darn stoked about that. Need to whip out my "Move To Texas" campaigning materials...let the game's begin!!!

This past weekend, my parents came over to help John and I paint our house because they are saints. I was all excited and bouncy when they first got here on Saturday AM - I wanted to show off all the prep work we did and brag about our killer color choice for the living room. Once the primer cans were opened, and we started to actually work, the smile slowly faded from my face as my arms, back and thighs began to ache. By the end of the first 16 hour day, we were all covered in paint, sweat and TOTALLY high. It was wash/rinse/repeat after that.....the second 16 hour day was as equally crappy if not worse, as we were now sore and had lost all shreds of hope, sanity, and strength. Not to mention we {I must have a mouse in my pocket...I mean DAD} sanded the walls of the guest bath down. I have two words for that: dust bowl. It was literally EVERYWHERE in the house, and my poor dad had this gross allergic reaction to the dust particles. He handled it like the trooper that he is, and basically put all of us to shame in terms of endurance. He is like the energizer bunny, and officially my hero (well, obviously....I did name this blog after a phrase of his.). Don't worry mom, you're my hero too....but not my "wall detailing" hero, and you know plain well why. ;) We managed to get most of the rooms painted, but still have to do all the trim work by Wednesday night. Let me just tell you, the next time I hear someone say "Oh! It's not a big deal....all you have to do is paint", I am going to punch them in the face. Painting sucks, y'all.

Attached are some snapshots from our bedroom, the one room in the house that we didn't attack with primer and paint this past weekend. Gosh I love that Ikea bookshelf...simple, cheap, and versatile. I like the photograph my little brother took even more though. Anyways, it's like our little oasis in there right now. After we finish painting the rest of this hell hole, I am officially going to lay in a horizontal position and not move an inch for at least a week (obvious exaggeration, but wish it was fact). Clearly, I'm going to need some epic reading material. What's on your bookshelves and Kindles?

Momma bird is coming over this morning to help my indecisive self pick some paint colors for our house before John's fam comes into town for the F1 weekend because, well, I'm spazzing out about the walls being paint swatch central. I just don't understand how people can settle on one color when there are about 55165489465 versions of blue, 29423992384902384092384902384 shades of white, and everything else in between. Definitely overthinking it I think, but how can I not when these amazing homes keep popping up on Pinterest? Gosh darnit, Pinterest....making me doubt my decisions every single step of the way.

Really inspired by the soft and creative use of bold color in these rooms - especially that half white, half pink room. I think that photo just convinced me to get a white slipcovered sofa over the tailored mid-century style we were leaning towards. Certainly more comfortable, just afraid it's going to look too shabby/farmy....will have to put pops of sleek modern furniture in there too. Drats, back to the drawing board for the entire room scheme now. @#$#$%$^&*($@.

images via here, here and here.

 


Feliz, a celebration of anything and everything handmade, is the brainchild of Austin's very own Abby Powell and Natalie Davis. The first ever sale went down this past weekend, which couldn't have come soon enough. I follow Abby on Instagram, where I'd spot little teasers to this weekend's happenings, and to say I was eagerly awaiting the sale was an understatement. I mean, the sheer amount of talent that was about to convene under one roof made me giddy with excitement. It was super fun connecting with some of the artisans I have bought pieces from in the past (Leah Duncan, Son Of A Sailor, Stone & Honey - was even wearing a necklace of hers!), meeting ones I have been a long-time fan of (Paloma's Nest, Satsuma Press, OliveVintage), and a slew of amazing new discoveries (Beam, Satchel & Sage - bought that awesome feather print from them, Cotton & Flax). By no means is this list exhaustive....I was basically overwhelmed with the overflowing awesomeness of literally EVERY SINGLE BOOTH in that room. You're going to want to go visit the Feliz website to check out the entire maker and curator line-up.

On Saturday, John and I ventured out to a super lame garage sale in Westlake. As we were heading home, I spotted this new and swanky looking pizza joint on Lake Austin Blvd called The Pizza Bistro and subtly shouted "NEW PIZZA PLACE!!! PULL OVER!!!" to let John know I totally wanted to try it out for lunch. We had to make the trip worth our while, you know? ;) Right when you walk in, you see a cool space filled with mixed woods, industrial lighting made out of old bottles, a neon "Food is love" sign, sleek white glass tiles, plush tufted leather seating....even if this food sucked (which it didn't at all), I would still love this place based on the design alone.

Ok, now for the part leading up to needing to be rolled out on a wheelbarrow. We chowed on a half "Supreme"/half plain cheese pizza, and ordered a last minute batch of truffle fries because we are fat kids like that. That photo of the truffle fries is pretty close to life-size...gotta love those obnoxiously large vertical photos since my blog is a bit of a wide load *beep beep beep*. Anywho, this pizza was pretty darn good and we'll definitely be back for seconds.

Austinites, any other must visit pizza places you swear by? What are some of your fave pizza combos? I am usually a veggie gal (though tomatoes on pizza are my pet peeve and make me want to hurl). John is a full on Hawaiian fan. Still undecided on that one. ;)