RECIPES 5 Simple and Easy Last Minute Fourth Of July Desserts
Looking for last minute Fourth of July desserts? Here are 5 simple and easy recipes that are perfect for the Fourth. Maybe it was all those summers I spent on the Cape and celebrating the Fourth at the heart of where our nation was born. Maybe it was the fireworks over the ocean and the bicycle parade and the streamers...
DECORATING 11 Products I Wish I Would Have Bought Sooner July Edition
// blue and white polka-dotted dress // I hope you had an amazing Fourth. Around here it was kind of next level. We had the entire family over for hamburgers and hotdogs and relay races. We had the bandana race and the egg toss and the doughnut eating contest and the water balloon toss filled with giggles and laughter and...
HOUSE 17 Affordable Blue and White Pillow Covers
Looking for budget blue and white pillow covers? No worries! I got you. I have tons of affordable options that can update a room in minutes. When I rented my first house in college, I stayed awake nights decorating it in my head. I should have been concentrating on Physics or Latin or World Civilization or how to reimagine Chaucer’s...
TIPS The Ultimate Beach Packing Checklist
Looking for tips on what you need to pack for your next beach trip? After 25 years of traveling to the Cape—here’s the ultimate beach packing checklist. If there is someone who should write a post about a beach packing checklist? You are looking at HER (the one in the blue and turquoise dress who is happy as a clam)....
DIYs My Best Secret I Used For How To Dye Seashells
Looking for an easy project for summer? Here’s how to dye seashells as well as creative ideas to decorate with them. Once upon a time there was a family of seashells. Long ago, somewhere between NSYNC and the Jonas Brothers the entire shell family washed up on the beach. And the wind swept them across the sand. And the water...
TIPS The 10 Best Things I’ve Bought Lately (August Edition)
Y’all. It’s that time again. The time when I share my favorite things I bought over the last month. If you’ve been reading this blog for more than a minute you know how much I love to find a bargain. And when I find something I love? I have to share. Just between us—sometimes I find what I think is...
DECORATING 21 Fall Porch Ideas
Looking for fall porch ideas? Here are 21 porch decor ideas from the front of my house from the last 10 years. How is the weather where you are? In Texas. It was 105 yesterday and it’s supposed to be 104 degrees today and then we are going to have a cool front with 97 degrees. I know I’m going...
DIYs How To Finish Wood Naturally
Looking for an easy way to finish wood without harsh chemicals? Here’s how to finish wood naturally with this furniture makeover. Does this piece look familiar? This wonderful, incredible, amazing cabinet. (total aside: so many of you messaged me that this was an Eastlake washstand and that kind of made me love it even a little bit more). My aunt...
BOOKS Summer Reading Challenge
Not to be dramatic… …but books have changed my life. They’ve changed the way I write. They’ve changed the way I talk. They’ve helped me with the SAT and the GRE and a zillion other tests. They’ve introduced me to plethora and facsimile and myriad and unwieldy and a zillion other words that you don’t find a lot in conversation...
DECORATING 7 Ways I Make My House Smell Like Fall
In the saddest of news, the twins left yesterday for college. Around here summer is officially at an end. It isn’t new, they’ve left before. And I’ve been sad before. But yesterday for some reason was different. I think this summer was just so precious. There’s a moment in life when you realize that those littles that sat at your...