Love from Kentucky

Yesterday is always one of the saddest days of the year because it means it's almost an entire year until the next derby.  That being said, Derby 139 (well four for our group) was as a marvelous time. 

Me at the Oaks

Derby Week Love

The week that I have long-awaited is finally here!  I just have to get through 3 and 1/2 (well now only 2 1/2) days of work and it will be time to depart for the Derby!  I have made some last minute decisions that may shock you.  I am sticking with my French Connection Derby dress mentioned here and my hat I bought a few weeks back BUT I am going in a different direction with my Oaks dress.

Office Love

I am very fortunate to have an office I like very much.  I spend more waking hours in my office than any other one place so I'm glad that mine is so nice.  A big reason I like it so much is because I have done a lot to personalize it and make it feel like my own.  I've mentioned before that I have a darling Keurig in my office that was a present from my mother.  I use it every day and truly love it.  I had a little coffee serving area next to it and recently added another tray on the other side to hold tea fixings.  

My lovely Keurig set up, note the Tiffany mug a sweet gift from Linds.  The carafe holds water for the Keurig, not vodka, this isn't Mad Men!

 Another feature of my office I really enjoy is my desk chairs.  For my first two years I had the standard issue office chairs and I never really liked them.  I hold a lot of meetings in my office and I wanted chairs people could move around and roll up to my desk as well as something that was more aesthetically pleasing.  One day I found two fabulous tweed club chairs at SVDP for only $25 each so of course I snapped them up.  

beautiful chair

I also have a tiny bit of green in my office in the form of a bonsai tree, also from my mother.  I do not have much of a green thumb but so far so good. 

not a very good shot of my baby bonsai

In addition to the changes to my Keurig set up I also made some changes to my bookshelf today.  As you can see holding books is kind of its' secondary function.  Primarily it holds photos of my favorite people and other little knick knacks. 

lotsa babies

I've also decorated the walls to suit my personal taste.  I had an accent wall painted in a greyish-blue, borrowed a piece of art from the College's Collection and hung up corkboards for my own mementos.  

my office

All in all it's a pretty nice place to spend 40 hours per week (give or take).  Last night my mom made Blackberry Chicken for dinner.  It was delicious! 

                                         
I have a pasta dish cooking in the slow cooker to enjoy after zumba.  I'll post about it tomorrow.  Until then friends!  What do you think of my office?  How do you personalize your work space?                                                                                                  
                      

Closet Love

I hope your week is off to a great start.  This post is going to be brief but I promise I will make up for it later this week when I'm not quite so busy.  I had a lovely, productive weekend.  What about you?  Friday I finally finished Operation Pocket Square: 

the finished product

Welcome Back Love

Hi friends!  I've missed you.  Big apologies for my long absence.  As I indicated here I was attending a work conference and I don't really like blogging on my ipad which was all I had with me.  Please join me as we travel back in time.  We have so much to catch up on!  I briefly mentioned this past weekend in my last post but I wanted to share some projects I worked on as it was a very projecty weekend.  My dear friend Rachel recently had a baby and I wanted to make (bake?) a diaper cake for her.  I found very simple instructions here on pinterest (where else?).  I really wasn't sure how many dipes I'd need so I bought the biggest box I could find of size one, 128 tiny diapers.  It ended up being more than enough which is good to know for future reference.  Here's the finished product:

I put pieces of cardboard underneath the lower two layers for stability.

Love from Milwaukee

Hi friends! Apologies for the lack of a post today. I wasn't by my computer as I am in Milwaukee for a conference until Wednesday. Note the title. I do NOT love Milwaukee at all. I had a wonderful weekend. Got in two great runs with Cher, had a very fun birthday dinner at SALT and accomplished beaucoup projects (diaper cake, pocket square, presents wrapped, framing jobs), saw the amazing UW band AND on top of all that, took a nap. I promise to upload many pictures but can't right now as all I have is my iPad. I have recently received some friendly feedback to include more pics so will do. Dear readers, I always appreciate your suggestion and constructive criticism. And I can't stop singing Les Miz songs!!!

College Love

I was fortunate to go the best, most fun college in the world: the University of Wisconsin.  My senior year of high school I did not want to go there at all.  I wanted to go somewhere on the east coast, preferably in Boston.  Shortly after I got to Madison though, I fell in love with it.  Now that I am an alumna, I am an even more fervent Badger.  This weekend, for the third time, I'll get to enjoy the awesome UW Band here in GB with my mother.  It is so much fun!  This week has been very busy but productive at work and I am looking forward to a break.  Besides the concert tonight I need to run a bunch of errands and run an actual run with Cher (the weather has not been cooperating with us).  Tomorrow, my usual Zumba, menu and groceries and I'm having lunch with my cousin who's visiting for the weekend.  Then tomorrow night I'm celebrating my friend Theresa's birthday at SALT.  Yum!  Sunday, running again and preparing for a trip.  Next Monday-Wednesday I'm attending a conference in Milwaukee.  I also want to find time to complete my pocket square project, fix a broken umbrella and do some other small household tasks.  Think I can do it?  What are you up to?  Something fun I hope!