hidden bricks

This is my favorite part of the living room. Josh's guitars are moving to the sunroom soon.

As we were taking down the plaster this brick wall was found. It was so exciting (and by exciting I mean couldn't wait for it to be over) to wire brush it and uncover all the bricks hiding under the plaster. Ahhhh.

It used to look like this. The room sort of felt like a cave -- but now it feels much more bright.

(Sorry for the poor quality... all the before photos I took were pretty bad).

sunroom: possible lighting

We need to figure out which light would work best in the sunroom. We opted not put recess lighting in this room so there could be a large fixture instead. Meet the contenders:

Josh really likes the Luna Cord from Schoolhouse Electric. This company is amazing -- if you haven't been to their site do it. Now. Really, it's that good.

I like this guy from IKEA. It looks similar to the Luna Cord but is $75 less. I'm cheap like that.

An Industrial Pendant could also be very cool. But which color? We are already using a ton of yellow in the curtains. I don't really want to add to our white decor addiction.

The Otis 4 from Schoolhouse Electric looks very classic. But it would also be introducing another pattern into a small room.

So many good choices.

blank slate

This is the view of the other side of the sunroom. Pretty boring. Well, besides the boy :).

Our Grandparents gave us this beautiful piano when they moved. It's from Philadelphia and a Betsy Ross Edition.

Something large is going above the piano but I have yet to find it. I need to put together a few pieces for the piano top that have some continuity -- so it doesn't look cluttered.

Also, Josh's guitars are going up on this wall (to the right of the piano). I'm not sure where we are going to stash the guitar cases.

Decisions decisions.

weekend: summer

After spending a few weekends trapped in the house, this past weekend was a breath of fresh air. We helped my parents throw a graduation party for my sister. It was so great to celebrate her and spend time with family we don't get to see as often as we wish.

The weekend wrapped up sitting outside with a (ridiculously good) mojito in hand. The laughs were many.

Happy days.

dinner: chickpea piccata

After reading one of my favorite blogger's reviews of this cookbook, I had to get it. Josh suggested we cook more vegan dinners. Honestly, I thought it would be really difficult. We know that a well-balanced vegan diet is the one of the healthiest diets to live by. But we just really love milk and cheese. Really love.

This cookbook totally changed my mind about eating vegan a few times a week. It gives simple, healthy, and best of all, quick recipes for a hectic weeknight. We've now found ourselves going to Isa's cookbook on a daily basis.

Chickpea piccata on garlic smashed potatoes and arugula. I literally took me 20 minutes to make this. And it was amazing.

office: in the works

Here is the very beginnings of our office. We have loved this desk (in white) for awhile but didn't like the price tag. We snagged a $32 desk from IKEA that looks very similar. We obviously need to get some curtains -- which will be a orange zigzag print. The lamp will be replaced eventually with an orange office lamp.

The door isn't our favorite but Josh pulled it down and sprayed it white. It does look much better than before (cream-ish). *Ignore the curling rug... it needs to flatten out...

This little guy is awesome. It was pretty much love at first site (IKEA). Now we need to find a good type for the labels.

key lime

Homemade key lime ice cream by Mom.. topped with lime zest, whip cream, and a graham cracker. Oh summer...