W.E.S.T. E.L.M.

 

Two words: West Elm 

I have spent many hours browsing the web pages of West Elm, but having never been to an actual retail location, it was time to make a visit. While on our anniversary trip to Philly my husband and I stopped in for a quick peek. Since it was a rainy day and we were decked out in our rain-proof fashion bests, I felt a bit out of place, but the ideas were still everywhere in that store. If you ever get a chance to visit a location make sure you do... they have the neatest stuff! Since I wasn't sure on the protocol for snapping pics in the store, and because the store attendants were already giving me a hairy eyeball for dripping on their displays, I pulled a few pics from their website that I'm loving.... can't wait to re-create them in my own home. 

 This little guy is the first thing I saw when I walked in and made a bee line for it. I'm looking forward to re-creating this lil' buddy in the near future. 

I love all the colors of these recycled glass bottles, and am going to start scoping out the local thrift stores to try and re-create this look. 

 

These are the reason I even found my way onto the West Elm website to begin with. I was looking for something to replace the Christmas ornaments I had hanging in our window, and came across these in a Better Homes and Gardens mag. LOVE them! 

Lastly, I wanted to take these pillows home with me... I have the perfect home for them on our bed, but with a hefty price tag for each,  I had to leave them at the store.

p.e.a.c.e   ...   l.a. p.a.z.

Celebrating 1 year!

Well folks, a milestone has been met in the Swartzentruber family and we are super excited! 

My husband and I just celebrated 1 year of marriage! 

Yahooo! 

A year back I stashed the top tier of our wedding cake in a sealed Tupperware container and stuck it in the freezer, not really knowing how it would taste a year later. 

It was still super good! The icing was a bit crumbly when we were cutting it, but it tasted fantastic. My advice to newlyweds is to put a layer of plastic wrap (in our case Press n' Seal) over the container before putting the lid on and sticking it in the freezer. To thaw it I just let the container sit in the refrigerator for a few hours.

We also took an anniversary trip to Philly and in honor of Adam Richman, the host of our new favorite show: Travel Channel's Man V. Food, and because it was a rainy weekend, we hit up some of the best local food joints to stay dry and cozy.

 

The Franklin Fountain served us up a delicious "Mt. Vesuvius" sundae. The line was worth the wait! 

Yum! 

For lunch we checked out DiNic's at the Reading Terminal Market and had their tasty Roast Pork with cheese and broccoli rabe, topped with some delicious gravy!

To get our chocolate fill we visited The Naked Chocolate Cafe. Yum-o! We sampled their hot chocolate and also brought home some dipped pretzel rods. The hot chocolate is one for the books! So thick and creamy. My husband got the European style which was like eating melted chocolate... rich and tasty! It's a great little cafe atmosphere too!

Cheers to our first year! 

p.e.a.c.e  ...   l.a. p.a.z. 

Stop... Rewind

I realize I haven't been providing you readers with any project updates or fun DIY ideas. Life has been a bit busy with the start of spring, and we're losing an hour tonight! I'll miss the extra time to snooze, but I'm very excited for a few extra rays in my day. Bring on the springtime and summer! 

So here's the lamp project I keep talking about. 

exhibit A: "the lamp"

 I picked up this beauty at a local thrift store for about $5 at one of their great half price sales. I love the concept but the brass parts were starting to rust at the edges and it didn't fit in with the overall room decor. 

Here's a close up of one of the crackled glass globes. See how the brass color plays into the cracks on the globe? Not my favorite color.

I picked up some of this at our local Michael's store. You can't really tell from this picture but the color is "Oxford Blue" and it matches the overall color scheme in our dining room/ my craft room where I wanted to find a home of the lamp.

I disassembled the lamp and since it was snowing out, made a makeshift spray painting both in our basement. 

And the finished product after a few coats of paint:

  

  

I'm really happy with the results! I especially like how the navy and metallic paint give of a silver effect to the cracks in the globes.

p.e.a.c.e.   ...    l.a. p.a.z.