pugiversary.

one year ago today, my husband and i took home an absolutely adorable seven-week old pug puppy. now he's all grown up and brings us joy and laughter every single day.

happy pugiversary, elmer!

our first date.

{our first date treasury on etsy}

my husband and i recently celebrated the eight year anniversary of our first date... it was such a sweet, perfect night that i'll remember forever. i can't believe it's been that long!

i was an undergrad and he was a grad student at the university of maryland. he brought flowers of course, and took me out to this cute little italian place in town (which sadly closed a few years ago!). he still jokes about what a cheap date i was... all i ordered was an $8 plate of ravioli!

after dinner we went back to my cozy studio apartment and watched amelie... which is still one of our favorite movies. it was a wonderful first date that led us to where we are today!

here is what we looked like back then... so young and in love :)

do you remember your first date with your significant other? tell me about it in the comments!

this is what i did last week.

what an incredible, challenging, surreal, transformative experience. mèsi, ayiti! i will be back.

habitat for haiti.

{"home sweet home" photo by jeremy cowart}

tomorrow i leave for haiti to help rebuild houses for 100 families who lost everything during the 2010 earthquake.

it's going to be lots of hard work and i know i'll miss my family and my puppy terribly... but it will all be worth it if i can help get just one family into a new, safe home!

see you in a week.

wine & food... and plenty of it!

{burger bash photo via popsugar}

it's been over a week now, but i'm still recovering from this year's new york city wine & food festival. i consumed way more food and drink than one person should probably consume in a month - over the course of three days. i think i must have gained ten pounds!

while all the events were amazing, the standout this year was definitely the blue moon burger bash. 21 of the city's best restaurants and chefs came together in a warehouse under the brooklyn bridge to determine who serves up the best burger in new york. i don't necessarily recommend tasting 21 burgers in 3 hours, but my family and i were on a mission to find the best one... so we did! there were tons of great contenders, and while we might not have all agreed once the winners were announced (i'm still rooting for shake shack and quality meats!), a good time was had by all.

i also got to mix and mingle with some of the hottest celebrities in the food world. some of my favorites... bobby flay, giada delaurentiis, robert irvine, paula deen & family, and ming tsai!

all in all a spectacular weekend... a big thanks to my parents for inviting us to tag along. let's do it again next year!

toi et moi.

four years ago today i married the love of my life. happy anniversary, robin. je t'aime!

whisk me away to paris...

{montmartre view photo available from my etsy shop}

i'm off to paris for the week... i've been looking forward to this trip all year, and finally it's here!

i can't wait to stroll along the seine hand in hand with my husband, eat macarons in the jardin du luxembourg, and rummage through the beautiful old junk at les puces. i'm bringing along my new camera and my trusty netbook, so i hope to be able to post some highlights from abroad.

au revoir, mes amis!

habitat for humanity + haiti + me = one amazing opportunity.

so, dear readers... my life just got a little bit crazier, and i need your help!

i have been chosen as a volunteer for habitat for humanity's 2011 jimmy & rosalynn carter work project in léogâne, haiti. over the course of a week in november, 400 volunteers will work alongside president and mrs. carter to build 100 earthquake-resistant homes and help families in need.

there's just one catch... i need to raise $5,000 by november 30th in order to participate. yikes! the funding will cover chartered transportation, lodging, food, building materials, and ongoing support for habitat in haiti. most of the other volunteers have had since june to raise the money, but because i was chosen from a waitlist, i am in a bit of a time crunch!

if you can donate anything at all, even just a few dollars, it would mean the world to me... and to the people of haiti, who have had nowhere to live for the past year and eight months.

here is the link to my personal fundraising page:

http://www.habitat.org/cd/cwp/participant/participant.aspx?pid=93531879

if you can't afford to make a donation, i would really appreciate it if you could spread the word by posting my story and fundraising link on your blog, facebook, or twitter.

thank you so very much, from the bottom of my heart!

p.s. you can find out more about the 2011 jimmy & rosalynn carter work project here.

crazy life.

{free printable via simple as that}

between an earthquake on the east coast, a vacation cut short by a mandatory hurricane evacuation, and an unexpected upcoming trip back out to portland this weekend... my life has been a little crazy lately! hope everyone in the path of irene is safe, and hopefully i will be back to blogging sooner than later.

heat wave!

{photo by blue sky clouds}

i'm back from portland, where it was a brisk 55 degrees and misty... only to return to 90 degree, sunny, humid weather in new jersey. yikes! it's only june 1st, but it already feels like the dog days of summer.

my husband and i had a great time in portland... lots of good food, laughs with old friends, and exploring all over the city. more on that later!

for now, happy june to you all... try to stay cool!

off to portland!

image credits:

1. victor vonsalza 2. the impression that i get 3. osucommons

4. vintage indie 5. rios-enriquez 6. anty diluvian

7. sfgamchick 8. joseph readdy 9. stargayzerr

i am in desperate need of a vacation... so the hubby and i are off to portland, oregon for an extended memorial day holiday!

portland has been majorly up-and-coming in the past handful of years... you can't turn a corner of the blogosphere without hearing about another amazing artist who calls the city home. lucky for me, my husband makes the perfect tour guide - he was born and raised in good old portlandia :)

hope you all have a fabulous week/weekend... be back next tuesday!

sneak peek... my living room & dining room

this will be the last round of house pics for a little while... enjoy your sneak peek into my living and dining rooms!

i love my living room chairs! i've been obsessed with the ghost chair for years, and i'm so happy that i finally own one. the pillow is from karen hilton, a long-time etsy fave based in london. i also love the exposed brick wall and our newly refinished original wood floors :)

my mantel. the rustic wood is totally different from everything else in the room, but i liked the contrast so i decided to keep it. the super bright artwork is by kathryn dilego, and the ampersand is from tucker reece. the round mirror was a diy project... it started as a colorful magazine frame from urban outfitters, which i painted matte white.

the dining room, my favorite room in the house! the color palette is so calming (compared with the crazy brights everywhere else in the house!). i was inspired by paris, so i decided to display some of my favorite photos on the far wall. the pendant from shades of light was a pain to install, but i love it! the feather tray is john derian for target.

i've been completely obsessed with using ceiling medallions as wall decor since i first saw it in a home decor magazine years ago. i'm so glad i decided to try it out in the dining room! the medallions are from architectural depot. i'm also really pleased with the paint color... it's called sharkey gray, and it is from martha stewart's paint collection. the perfect taupe-y, mushroom-y, warm grey... just what i had in mind.

well, that's all for now! i'm actually planning on re-doing my living room in the near future, so hopefully i'll have some new stuff to show off soon :)

sneak peek . . . my new & improved kitchen!

here it is... your sneak peek into my freshly painted kitchen...

i know you can't tell much from this little corner, but trust me, the new paint does wonders for my little retro kitchen! the walls were previously a dingy, flat, stark white. the color we chose really warms the space up while still keeping it bright and fresh. the rest of the space is still a work in progress, but i have tons of amazing ideas.

another project i've been waiting to reveal... my chalkboard fridge! the appliances that came with our home aren't exactly what i would have chosen, but they are fully functional so i can't justify buying new ones. the one thing i really hate is the ginormous black fridge that you walk into as soon as you enter the space... so i decided to spruce it up with a coat of chalkboard paint! what do you think? très cute, no?

another fun little project... my diy mason jar soap dispensers! such a sweet detail to add to the farmhouse kitchen vibe i'm aiming for. this project was soooo easy... check out the tutorial from girl in air here.

here are some other elements i am hoping to incorporate into my new and improved kitchen....

1. adorable vintage bird egg prints i purchased from vintage foster care.

2. i really want a schoolhouse ceiling light like this one from lamps plus.

3. i've been debating over what chairs i want to use for our tiny eat in space... i think i've decided to go for a french-industrial look with these stools.

4. a pink teapot! from reston lloyd.

5. i bought this vintage street sign ages ago from bella lulu vintage, and now i finally have a place for it!

6. my sister gave me this retro clock, and it is absolutely perfect for the space.

7. i just ordered this repro holophane glass pendant for above my little eat-in table. from rejuvenation.

8. air plants! i would love to see a row of these little beauties on my window sill. these ones are from air plant supply co.

9. i've been eying this vintage metal tray from vintage now & then for a while now... and i finally have an excuse to buy it :)

sneak peek . . . my studio & guest room

as promised, more pics of my house!

here's where i spend most of my time... my computer/inspiration corner. i made the inspiration board by affixing pretty scrapbook paper to cork tiles, then nailing them to the wall one by one. now it displays some of my favorite artwork (from the likes of nancy mungcal and leah duncan), old photos, and other little bits of inspiration.

my bookshelf is also home to some of my favorite vintage finds, like this sweet mint green camera.

another corner of my studio, for those times when i just want to kick back with a book or my sketch pad. the eames chair was a total rehab... found the shell on the curb near my parents' house, painted it bright yellow, and bought the rocker base on ebay. love it! more great art here from catherine campbell, erin paisley, betsey walton, and others.

my guest room also doubles as a music room for hubby & me... hence the music theme! i was psyched when i found the "hello, i love you..." poster from blu lima, which matches the color scheme perfectly! the chevron pillow was custom made by deco yellow.

i also created a fun little chalkboard wall in the guest/music room. the frame decals are from simple shapes... i just taped off the centers and filled them in with chalkboard paint. voilà!

that's all for now... to be continued :)

sneak peek . . . my house!

i know i've been promising to share photos of my new(ish) home for ages now... so here you go, your first sneak peek!

my hubby and i in front of our house on the day we closed... so exciting! it's a 1920s craftsman style bungalow. it was definitely a diamond in the rough when we bought it, but we've been working hard to polish it up!

the new and improved house number i made. the old one was shabby and sort of falling apart, so i painted the plaque bright white and bought some modern brushed nickel house numbers. you'd be surprised at how such a small change can really brighten things up!

my fun diy-decoupage mailbox. plain white mailboxes are so boring, don't you think? and this definitely beats the countrified (as in, covered in pictures of ducks and little red hearts) mailbox that came with the house!

some details from my moroccan-inspired back porch. i stenciled the throw rugs myself... which ended up being a lot harder than i thought it would be, but i'm really happy with the results. the screened-in porch was one of the big selling points of the house... can't wait to use it again once the weather warms up for good.

that's all for now... hope you like what you see so far! i'll be sharing more pics of the inside of the house in the coming weeks.

my valentine...

... is this little guy! his name is elmer and he is an 8 week old pug puppy. my hubby and i brought him home last week. what's not to love?

happy valentine's day, everyone!

wishing you...

... the happiest of holidays, from my nest to yours! hope you all have a very merry christmas, filled with warmth, laughter, and good cheer... see you again in the new year!

xoxo lesley shop!

i am so pleased to announce a little side project i've been working on... the xoxo lesley etsy shop! the new shop features prints of my whimsical mixed media artwork, inspired by some of my favorite things. i'll be adding new pieces periodically, so check back for updates!

as a special gift to my blog readers, i'd like to offer 15% off your first purchase. just use the coupon code BLOG15 and the discount will automatically be applied.

come visit xoxo, lesley!