Cowhide Rug LOVE (Our Updated Living Room)

For about a year now, I've been wanting to add a cowhide rug to our living room, collecting images on Pinterest, and generally swooning every time I saw one layered over a natural rug.  After I bought a round rug for under our stairs, and two new runners for the kitchen, my husband was teasing over the weekend and said, "We have so many rugs, we now have a rug on a rug!"  Yes, that's true.  I've been doing everything I can (short of buying this beauty) to try to obscure the baby-safe ottoman we have now:)  I think the layered rug, or "rug on a rug" helps:)

I knew I wanted a light cowhide rug as opposed to black and white, and found one recently for a decent price at Z Gallerie.  It's so soft and gorgeous in person, but not nearly as gray as the Z Gallerie online picture.  It's more greige and cream. 

Speaking of rugs, the rug our cowhide rests on was an investment I'm so glad I made.  I still love this chevron patterned natural fiber rug from Crate & Barrel.  It was one of the first big purchases I made for our new home when we moved in two years ago and I'm still crazy about it.  It's really soft and we haven't had any problem with stains yet. 

And since I had my camera out, I thought I'd show you that our Fiddle Leaf Fig is still thriving.  I check the water level once a week, but have only watered it once or twice (in a month).  It arrived very well-watered and I've been told that if it isn't in direct sunlight, it won't drink as much, and overwatering is bad.  

And if you read yesterday's post, you know I'm adding pops of the color lime everywhere.  The apples in this silver bowl are helping add energy to the room, instead of beige overload.  I'd like to also add a couple more colorful pillows to the sofa, but I'm pretty content with what we have now. 

The pillows above are from Home Goods (the lettered one) and Crate & Barrel (the Ikat one).

And I just couldn't resist giving you a glimpse of the rest of the room, part of our real life, lest you think that a toddler doesn't also share this living room:)

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Sharing with Sarah!

Adding Color in the Kitchen

I'm sure I've still got the "fresh and green" Spring bug as I can't get enough of that appealing lime color, and I've been craving little bits of it throughout my home.  The kitchen is a place I'm becoming intimately  familiar with lately as I resolved at the start of the year to cook more and I'm in full swing now, creating family meals with healthy ingredients.



We are blessed with a bright, open kitchen with lots of natural sunlight, especially in the afternoon and early evening.  I'm thankful to be able to prepare meals in such a nice, light kitchen.  We have dark hardwood floors throughout the first floor of our home, and because they are so sleek and solid, every spill shows easily.  The wood is bamboo and very hard, so I like to keep area rugs around to cushion our feet.



I recently changed out our beige runners for two colorful striped runners.  The update instantly made the kitchen feel brighter and more fun.

These babies are LONG- 2 1/2 by 12 feet!  At first I thought they were too long, but quickly changed my mind after living with them for a day and enjoying walking on all that softness.  I've got a long rug pad underneath both runners, which is comforting and helps the rug stay in place and not slip. 

Here's a close up so you can see the fresh colors- green and lime, light and dark blue, aqua, cream, and brown.  The rug is Dash & Albert Fisher Ticking Flat-Wovan and I ordered it online from Rug Studio.  They were on sale and I was able to use a coupon code I googled "EMAIL20" but I'm not sure if the code still works. 

I must be into rugs lately, because I also got a new one for the living room that I'll be showing you tomorrow!  

My Favorite Boutique is Coming to Houston!

Happy Friday!  I'm thrilled to hear that one of my favorite boutique stores, Henri Bendel, is finally coming to Houston- June 2nd to be exact!  (For you Houstonians, the store will be located in the Galleria, on the 2nd level, near the Apple store). Until now, I've only shopped their stores in New York and Dallas, when I've been visiting those cities.  So happeeeeee!!!  Henri Bendel is known as a Girl's Playground, and sells fun stuff like unique jewelry, handbags, makeup bags, accessories, makeup and beauty products.

                                       

I recently got their catalog and fell in love with their new line of bangle bracelets.  LOVE!  They sell for $88 - $118.  Their smaller bracelets fit smaller wrists very well.  

Have a great W E E K E N D !

Casey Grace Design (Gorgeous and Affordable Interiors)

I'm so happy for my good friend Courtney and her sister, Kristin, who have just announced the launch of their new design business, Casey Grace Design.  I was fortunate to "meet" Courtney when she first started her blog (A Thoughtful Place) and we quickly became friends via our blogs, then through email and texts, and finally phone friends, chatting about design and family life and everything in between.  She is truly a genuine, funny, and talented woman.  I've grown accustomed to checking in on Courtney's blog daily and am constantly inspired by the design in her home as well as the designs she creates for her clients.  What I love most about her design aesthetic is that it is always gorgeous, inviting, and approachable.  She creates rooms you just want to BE in.  She's also conscious of expense and is always finding inventive ways to bring beauty into a space.  Her projects and designs for kiddos are awesome too.

I browsed through the Casey Grace Design portfolio and was blown away by the look of every room.  Below are just a few of my favorite designs, but you can visit their website to see the full portfolio, or to inquire about their services.  They provide online style boards for all clients and personal consultations in Orange County, California. 

So proud of you friend!  Good for you for following your heart and making your dreams reality.  

Eating Healthily

One of my biggest goals with my family is to feed us healthy foods.  I know when I eat better, I feel better, and, as the female head of my home, I feel like the responsibility for most meals is mine.  I cringe when the "what's for dinner?" question comes my way and I'm not prepared:(  I'm working on getting an array of tasty, healthy meals in my cooking arsenal.



I spent a good part of the weekend researching past issues of Whole Living magazine and several cookbooks in an effort to find some NEW healthy recipes.  Whole Living featured a 3-week cleanse a few issues back, and while I'm not particularly interested in going that extreme, I wanted to try a few of the cleanse recipes because they featured food we don't normally eat, which contain loads of good-for-you ingredients.

I picked a couple recipes and came home with two bags full of groceries, mostly veggies.  

Also, since one of my favorite snacks is apples and peanut butter, I'm trying a natural peanut butter instead of my beloved low fat Jiffy.  I tasted the 365 version and it's good!  This is part of my effort at eating less processed food. (You can bet I'm not giving up my coffee and creamer though!) 

Some of my recipes called for things I'm not used to cooking with, like Tahini 

butternut squash (I went ahead and bought it already cut this time)

radishes

and these spices.

Also, since I really can't get James to eat veggies, I buy him these, which he calls JUICE, and he loves to drink. 

Some of you asked about my morning Greek yogurt (that I pair with granola when I'm not eating oatmeal), and Oikos honey is my favorite, even though I usually pour a little of the honey out so it's not too sweet.  It's got 13 grams of protein. 

The recipes I committed to trying this week are below.  I have to keep them listed on my fridge or I'll forget what I was going to make.  I might be losing my mind, or I'm the mother of a toddler, because I can't remember anything these days if I don't write it down.  Do you experience this?? 

And I just tore out the recipes from the magazine and stuck them on the fridge for easy reference this week. 

On Sunday, I made Orangette's Soba Noodles with Peanut Sauce (this wasn't from the magazine, but a recipe I've been wanting to try).

You combine thinly cut carrots, radishes, and strips of baby bok choy.  

Chopping these fresh vegetables made me feel so good.  Look how pretty they are!  I'm having to switch my mindset that our dinner must include a meat, starch and vegetable (something I grew up with).  Now, I'm realizing that dinner can be just a hearty salad or soup.  Add some bread and it feels more substantial.  

Make a peanut sauce: 

½ cup well-stirred natural peanut butter, such as Adams 100% Natural Creamy
1 ½ tsp. soy sauce
¼ tsp. pressed garlic (about 1 small clove)
½ cup fresh lime juice
½ tsp. sriracha or a similar hot sauce, or more to taste
½ tsp. chili garlic sauce or sambal oelek, or more to taste
2 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. water

Boil your noodles for 6-8 minutes, then rinse them in water. 

Add the cooked noodles to the peanut sauce.

Then combine the veggies.

I topped ours with salt and sesame seeds.  

I thought it was pretty good, but I actually like my jarred peanut sauce better- but perhaps I didn't get the sauce right, hers looked more "saucy" than mine!  My jarred peanut sauce (Bangkok Padang) was at work because I use it on my grilled chicken salads.  A lot of times for lunch at work, I take grilled chicken tenders and a bag of pre-washed lettuce and top with my peanut sauce and nuts. 

We'll see how the rest of the week goes. 

 If you have any healthy recipes, websites, or cookbooks you like, I'd love to hear.