a BOY!

you guys, during my absence from this blog, i found out that the little nugget

is most definitely

a BOY!

we were told it was most likely a boy at our 12 weeks sonogram but

i can't go making decisions and hopes and dreams come true, off of 'most likely'.

so we held out for our big sonogram at week 20,

to be officially told,

so we could officially tell,

that he is in fact, an active (KICKING) little boy :)

and so.

to announce it to our family that night,

i made one of those giant 3' balloons that i love.

they knew it was either going to be pink, or it was going to be blue.

and BLUE!

(and here's my disclaimer: i am way way better behind the camera than i am in front of one. oh good lord. my hands get all weird and i don't know what to do with my legs and i end up looking bizarre. which, i just scheduled my maternity session for the beginning of january, and i'm nervous! ha... DEAR LORD, please let there be snow so at least the background will be beautiful and interesting to look at and can take some of the pressure off. thank you. amen.)

here are some of the photos i had husband snap as we were getting in the car with our ginormous balloon. with an iphone. with the sun at full force. and the wind.

it was difficult. i should have used my big camera, they could have been arty and glorious, but i can't take them and be in them at the same time.

i used crepe paper streamers, cut in half for the fringe. in cobalt blue, light blue, mint green, grey, cream, and white with blue polka dots. i also threw some gold ribbon in there because i'm still me.

the B-O-Y was made with a gold poster board found at hobby lobby.

then i tied them all the balloon and voila.

not anywhere near geronimo balloon status, but it did it's job and it's still going strong hanging out in our living room :)

note-- they last for a really really long time!!

JILL

(ps - i am so stinking excited to be having a boy. i know i'd be just as excited if it were a girl, but a boy! things are getting very real. i hit the 5 month mark in 11 days.

i have lots to do in the next 4 months, my friends.)

boys and girls.

get it...?

blue and pink. boys and girls.

dumb :)

but i am kinda having a moment with these 2 colors.

a true saturated blue and a true saturated pink.

oh hot pink, let me count the ways.

sidenote: after all you people will be over and sick of neon, especially le hot pink, i won't be. just so you know, you know?

in large doses, small doses and medium ones in between, i dig it.

that third picture is so ballsy. my home is colorful, but images like those make me crave more.

viva hot pink!

JILL

{images via: vintageluxe tumblr, the aestate tumblr, cloud.feedly, and glitterguide.}

come on over

and we can have cocktails

in my happy place.

designed by ruthie sommers.

gosh i love her.

JILL

best friends.

cafe au lait if you're fancy, or taupe.

french blue/robin's egg blue.

two great colors that go to the mountain of even greater together.

i had these thoughts of grandeur of re-doing my dark navy front room.

paint would be in these 2 colors. one for the ceiling, one for the walls. i hadn't yet decided which one was going to go where. but those grand plans involved painting a pretty large ceiling surface... and painting the ceiling in that large of a room can really put a damper in the way your neck feels, for days. so i'm kinda waiting for that spark of diy to hit again before i take on that large of a ceiling-paint-project :)

so i've stepped back.

and who knows, by the time that strikes, i may have changed my mind again.

this is one of my all time favorites. it was done by albert hadley. genius.

i'm in love. always have, always will be.

better homes and gardens. lighter colors than i'd go but still quite pretty.

domino. duh.

an actual french, french blue. so pretty with the natural stone.

from theonewholooks tumblr.

i just think it's the cat's meow.

thoughts?

and do you know what i mean about painting a ceiling? or am i a total wimp?

JILL

oscar inspires.

have you ever seen a gown so lovely and amazing and gorgeous?

this is the ultimate for me.

the very dress of my dreams.

oscar de la renta. spring 2013.

i'm so in love.

i love that the white and black stripes aren't the same size.

i love the necklace with it. big. black roses and a bit of gold.

i love the cut and the lay of the stripes, and how they meet in the center.

and the full skirt.

love.

and you know what else i kinda love with it?

that man's blue shirt and shoes.

make this into a bathroom?

sure, why not?

and although i love the colors of that chair, i wish it were a little less harsh. maybe a gilded louie with some cobalt velvet? regardless. pretty.

happy thursday!

JILL

{bathroom via elle decor.}

aqua y gold.

i got nowhere on my cart last night.

my uncle is in town. he's a global traveler/dweller.

he's now living in norway.

just moved from australia.

before that here.

before that, grenada.

before that, south africa.

and he's originally from the uk.

and i'm missing stuff in there, too i'm sure.

anyway we were hanging with him last night.

lucky for me, there's a long weekend ahead... perfect for projects.

totally unrelated, but isn't this color combo kinda gorgeous?

i hope you all enjoy your weekend.

think i'm headed to the lake.

that hurricane is now hanging over us and it's not forcasted to lighten up until sunday or monday.

but rainy days at the lake can be fun, too.

LOVE.

JILL.

{images via the decorista and pinterest}

it's here!

hong kong squeaked in for the win!

{sorry i have olympics on the brain.

that's all i watch now.}

in fact, this necklace is so big and beefy, i feel like it's my own little medal of sorts.

wait, would that make it a medal for being-too-cheap-to-buy-the-real-one-so-you-settle-for-an-ebay-knock-off...

scratch that, it's my medal for saving-mucho-dinero!!!!!!!

:)

well, my perfect little ebay knock-off got here yesterday.

you might have gathered that by my new widget down there in the right corner.

i've been updating the ol blog. lots more changes to come!!

back to my necklace.

here's a really really really lame photo of myself sporting (pun intended)

my new cobalt bubble necklace through the bathroom mirror.

{i don't know how all those fashion bloggers do it without feeling like a total boob. seriously.}

its so lovely.

i love it.

the color- i was so extremely happy with when i opened my little package from hong kong yesterday. it's blue. like the purest, brightest cobalt blue.

the gold isn't shiny, it's more matte.

and i can't tell if that's how it's supposed to be, or because it's a cheap knock-off...

but i think if it were shiny it would have looked in fact, cheap.

so all in all.

quite pleased.

in fact, i'm going back for more.

the blush pink one is calling my name.

there are quite a few of you who also got yourself one.

can't wait to hear what you think of em when they get here.

happy thursday.

JILL

cobalt bubble necklace.

i don't buy anything from ebay.

i'm always tempted, but i got burned back in college on some (probably fake) lacoste polo shirts... i bet jo remembers. we waited and waited and waited.

those super collegiate-preppy polos never came.

and the jerks were off with our poor-kids-in-college money!

i know i shouldn't be nervous now with paypal,

but still am.

anyhow,

i retract my first statement because i just bought this:

i have been eyeing the j.crew version for how long now?

don't know. but that means it's been a long time.

but we can start from the very beginning.

friday afternoon i stumbled upon a new blog and within a few posts, she had mentioned how she bought and just received her new j.crew necklace in turquoise. but it's not really from j.crew... it was from hong kong. funny enough, it even has the j.crew tag on the clasp.

she says the quality is just like the j.crew version.

and she wears it all the time:

so i figured hmm.

why the hell not?

let's check it out.

followed her link to ebay and they are between $15 and $30.

MUCH better than the j.crew $150.

i mean, i would never. what happens when i wear it twice and then i'm over it?

so i got a little shaky from distrust... and then a little nervous, because i went ahead and jumped on that bandwagon and bought the cobalt blue one.

i think cobalt rocks with almost every other color.

so i'm crossing my fingers, toes, arms and legs that i don't get burned on this one....

or else!

just kidding.

i can't really do anything, just like the jerks who took my money along time ago. positive side-- it's not much money and i'm not as poor as i was in college. but now i'm excited and i want it.

so i'll sit here and wait for my necklace.

and i'll be darn sure to keep you updated in case you want one of your own.

did i mention there was free shipping?

from hong kong?

so a necklace for exactly $18.99.

like i said, fingers crossed.

and in case you don't want to buy it directly from hong kong yourself...

you can buy an also-much-cheaper version of this necklace from furbish.

{i just found these.}

i'm more a fan of the one color version so i'm still happy with mine (provided it actually gets delivered),

but if you like the two toners, i'm betting a million dollars that transaction would be a whole lot more trustworthy.

furbish's tessa necklaces in blue and green.

guessing these are also coming from hong kong for that price :)

love.

JILL

blue.berry

i'm digging shades of blue with all different shades of berry.

from deep raspberry all the way down to pink.

i think it's my new favorite combo.

especially dark raspberry velvet.

that shit's good.

last day of work for me this week.

(i love those words, btw)

happy tuesday.

JILL

{images via: anna spiro @ absolutely beautiful things, cup of te, dreambook design, house of turquoise, joe nye via house beautiful, make life easier, mfamb, nuevo-estilo, and ruthie sommers}

aqua and roy are friends.

roy g. biv and aqua are in fact besties.

it's like a neutral. it goes with whatever it wants, and it wants to go with everything.

so it does.

red:

orange: 

yellow: 

green: 

blue: 

violet: 

sorry for my absence friday and monday.

i took a vacation from here and it was awkward at first, all day long i felt like i was forgetting something. but then it was kinda awesome. a little internet detox if you will. i didn't even get on pinterest once, no i lie. i did maybe once a day but for no longer than a minute. honest :)

i hope you all had a most splendid long weekend.

i did!!

loves.

JILL

{images via: apartment therapy, coco + kelley, properhunt, vivaluxury, google, pinterest, cococozy, brooklynblonde, completelytotallymadly, duskjacketattic, desire to inspire, google}

paint.

so as i said, i was at the lake this weekend. and all i did was paint.

i touched up all the white hand rails on the huge top deck.

i finished painting a new piece of furniture for our tv in the kitchen. i'll share that later.

i touched up a closet where we removed a shelf.

my dad finished painting the upstairs deck this same royal blue color as the picture above. this is a photo of the lower deck (the only photo i took all weekend). but i also painted the dingy white swing a cool shade of minty-light blue, behr teal ice to be exact.

everything looks so fresh and ready for the start of summer......

but we also picked something else up while we were down there.

my dog got fleas.

i'm freaking out.

i've vacuumed my whole house. doing lots of laundry. we bathed her last night at midnight with flea shampoo. poor thing.

she even had her flea and tick medicine on but i don't think it's doing/did its j-o-b.

i have been hearing this summer is going to be awful with all sorts of bugs because of our mild winter, but now i believe it.

ick.

so gross.

so sorry i don't have any more fun pictures.

the fleas ate them.

JILL

  

room to an outfit

remember when domino used to do the room-to-an-outfit?

i truly loved those.

remember also when i posted the gorgeous-and-over-the-top-heaven-came-down-and-plopped-in-a-backyard backyard of hutton wilkinson, partner of the late tony duquette?

wilkinson and his wife have a new home that was featured in harper's bazaar.

(you can read and see the full spread here.)

hutton emphasized that this home was more restrained than his last.

it's every bit as opulent, guilded, and colorful... but you'll just have to go over there and see for yourself.

back to my room to an outfit....

here's wilkinson's bedroom.

i immediately fell for the aqua and mustard combo,

as in, where and how can i implement that in my house and wardrobe?

here's the same full color and full detail theory in a head-to-toe:

actually 2. because i couldn't decide between the floral top and the gold shorts.

so i chose both.

but i think the aqua sweater and gold shorts, and the floral top and the mustard jeans could be swapped, and it'd be just as lovely.

wilkinson-esque by thebluehouse featuring neon jewelry

By Malene Birger v neck blouse, $340
Knit top, €20
CIMARRON gold jeans, €80
Metallic shorts, $60
Nine West platform wedge heels, $79
Jil Sander platform wedge, $650
Jil Sander python clutch, $1,600
Trina Turk coral jewelry, $295
Neon jewelry, $74

 

a little mustard yellow. a little aqua. some chinoiserie/wilkinson/duquette details with enough gold, coral, brocade, florals, and even a little tassel.  

 

 

 

i hope you have a fantastic tuesday.

 

JILL