so for the past few weeks joe and i have been narrowing down our very first euro trip (i say first because i don’t want it to be the only!) we are heading to switzerland for a conference in geneva for 5 days and then extending on to italy! for 5 days we will be…
Lifestyle
baby shower
i absolutely love throwing parties. i love entertaining and i love hosting. i used to get really really stressed out over little details but what i’ve come to realize that if you put a little love and creativity into events, the stress isn’t really needed. this past weekend we celebrated the pending birth of my…
Casual Free People Party Dress
so once upon a time i bought this dress that was sparkly. i bought it (shamefully) at a black friday sale circa 2013. i had to have it. i just didn’t know what to wear it with. (broke rule 101) (i break most budget rules). the poor dress, she hung in my closet for a…
my holiday vintage mantel
i was going to show ya all of my holiday decor in one post but considering i’m posting 15 pictures of my mantle.. i thought best to divide it up even though i only decorated one room. it is kinda sad but totally in line with my personality that i would unpack all…
abby’s chicago
While this post of Abby’s Chicago was made in 2014 These places are all still in business today as of 01/21/2021. Thank goodness! If you are looking to head to some fun shops outside of the Chicago area there is my friend Mark’s store just a short car ride away! ok brace yourself this is…
penthouse progress: restoring the old metal sink
I was just finished restoring the old metal sink in our penthouse cottage. I stood back to admire my handiwork and I realized that I put all the handles on backwards. I am not the queen of DIY but I try hard and thank goodness I had previous photos of what the sink looked like…
penthouse progress the small cottage bathroom
ah yes the penthouse small cottage bathroom. It feels like for the past year we’ve been doing projects that show little progress but they were much needed. What we continuously thought would be a cosmetic makeover has morphed into a total gut job on this house. Projects like removing mildew, reframing walls, electric, plumbing, hot…
penthouse progress the cottage ceiling
We made some more penthouse progress last weekend in the form of our cottage ceiling. We finally got the majority of the ceiling insulated and put the panels up. As much as I really really really wanted those beams exposed, it was more important to me to keep heat and cool air in, especially if…
Small Cottage Bathroom Progress
Progress on the small cottage bathroom has slowed as the snow refuses to give it up and we physically can’t get to pentwater (the snow was up to our waist the last time we went). the winter storm warnings up there is a 2 to 1 ratio. in fact i have an alert they have…
The siren song of Anthro My First Blog Post
This was not my first blog post but it is the first blog post that transferred over from my free blogger account. Essentially it’s the first blog ever published on a paid for platform. Of course it’s about a sale at Anthro. Just as Anthro has changed and developed over time so has this blog….