Last Chance Saves The Day

Remember when I introduced y'all to my most favorite clothing store ever, Last Chance? Well they saved the day again for me this week. We are getting our maternity photos done most likely next week {was waiting for the belly to be big enough, haha its definitely big enough now!} and I thought I could just find some dresses in my closet to wear. Heres the problem, few still fit- and the ones that do are not flattering at all. As in, I can get them on, but they are too fight {hussy style} looking, or make me look like a circus tent. No bueno. So I pleaded with J to let me do a little shopping trip to the good ol' LC in hopes of finding something fabulous. 




Of course I ended up getting a few 'extra' items, how can you pass them up at such incredible prices? And when I feel like I have lost 1/2 of my wardrobe, and I know its only going to get worse!? I found three great tank tops that are super long, and larger than I normally wear, to hopefully help get me through the last couple of hot months. They were on sale for a whopping $.97 each! A Splendid tank for under a $1..heck yes. I also got the adorable grey Trouve sweater, that I can't really wear much more this year, but I will for sure love it for next winter. Then the white sweat pants I got for $5. I already had a pair of Zellas 'live-in leggings' that I got awhile back at LC {for $5, not the $52 Nordstrom sells them for}, and knew they were my most favorite black pants ever, so how could these not be my most favorite white sweats..im sure they will be! The Bella Dahl cords are a perfect shade of mustard, and surprisingly fit. I grabbed them because pants were 50% off so I grabbed my pre-pregnancy size with the hopes of them fitting me once the little man is out. I tried them on thinking I could just check to make sure the length was ok and SURPRISE- they freaking fit! At 28 weeks pregnant. Made my day;) And finally, the awesome 'man-shirt' as J calls it. Its nice and roomy and will hopefully continue to fit my growing belly. 

The feather earrings are fun too, because I might keep them earrings, or I might take the feathers from them and add them to these new leather headbands I am making. We shall see..

The dresses are the best! They totally fit comfortably right now, but will totally be able to be worn beautifully while not preggo. The Donna Morgan solid white one alone is freaking $158 at Nordstrom, I paid $13. I think I win! The Maggy London one totally reminds me of Anthro.

All in all I spent a total of $68! Pretty great day at LC, and so happy I now have things to wear not only for the shoot, but for when I get bigger and bigger! This whole 'your belly gets bigger by the second' is so crazy, and beautiful, and miraculous! I wish I could put a Last Chance in every town y'all live in, because in reality this post is kind of a mean tease to you all that don't have the opportunity for these deals. Although, you might have secret stores that us in AZ don't know about...do tell!!

The Homies 2012

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Just a friendly little reminder if you haven't yet, would you please take a second and go vote for Dream Book Design for the AT 'The Homies 2012' contest? It would mean the world to me..thanks:)

Midcentury Modern House Makeover

Something super exciting is happening friends.. some of our very best friends {Ryan and Kylie who own Modern Manor} just bought this incredible midcentury modern home. Best part of it? Well theres two-    1: it's within 3 min. driving from our home!!!!! 2: it's a total 'tear out everything from the inside and re-do it ALL' type of project. I think I am more excited for their reno then I was for my own, mainly because I don't have to do any work for theirs;)
I popped on over there the other day to sneak in some before shots before all the crazy demo started! To me the best part once you are done with a reno is being able to look back at the befores and see just how much has changed. And for this house, a whollleee lot is changing. The house itself has incredible bones, but just needs some serious work. As in, knocking down a lot of wall, all new flooring, etc. In the photos everywhere you see an orange X it means to knock that crap down. So many exciting Xs!!
I'll start with the incredible outside..

Which you totally cannot see once you step on to the end of the driveway..can we all agree that some {most} of these bushes should go?!

And now for the inside:

The beams on the ceiling are to die for..

The flooring..not so much:

But the windows in the front make up for a lot of the faults. I can't imagine having one huge wall in my home with floor to ceiling windows..stunning;

To put it kindly, the kitchen needs some work, or just to be completely torn down {which is the plan!}

While that cutting board is a cool concept, the thing itself was foul! Keep in mind, no one has even lived in the house for the past 5 years..

I am however in love with this bell in the kitchen, thank goodness Ryan and Kylie are too:

Now this room I think was just a huge pantry, or maybe the laundry room, not too sure. I am sure that it has far too many built-ins though!

And then because it makes perfect sense to everyone, you walk through the kitchen and the pantry{?} to get to a bedroom.

This is the other bedroom, which im kind of in love with the 'point' it comes to:

And this is the final bedroom:

The bathrooms all need to be completely re done, and I cannot wait to see how they turn out. Just by following Kylies Pinterest I know its going to be so amazing!!

Again I am obsessed with the beams {and high ceilings}:

And this fireplace..so fun. It is the largest piece of copper I have ever seen in someones home. I can't wait to see what they do with it!

So needless to say, this house has a long way to come..but I promise you it is going to be one of the best B&As you have ever seen. How could it not be with the owners of a midcentury modern furniture store designing it?! If its ok with y'all I am going to be continuously updating here with what they are on to next, because I know I can't wait to see it all!

Rolling With My Homies..

You know you all instantly sang that in your head and thought of Clueless...right?!

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So I have a favor to ask you. Apartment Therapy runs a contest every year called The Homies. There are no prizes for winning this contest, but you do get to brag. And I like to brag {not really, but how fun would it be to be able to say that I was at least in the top 10!} If you like this little ol' blog I write here please go a vote for me:) I will give you a virtual hug, kiss, and high five! All you have to do is sign in, and vote for Dream Book Design in the Best DIY Blog category. 
Please, por favor, s'il vous plait..and thank you:)

Design Inspiration Monday

Hi loves! Not gonna lie, this past week off was just what I needed! I worked more in the last week than I have any other week in the last two years-it was nuts! I missed you guys though! Here are some images to make your eyes smile:)

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And because we obviously have a love for drafting tables, how could I not post this one?!

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BRB

It's official, I am taking a week off from blogging. I have not taken a whole week off in well over a year, even while on vacation- so its needed, especially after this weekend. Let me give you a little insight into my last four days. I have done as many facials in these past fours days as a I usually do in about a month {crazy busy at work!!}. I am not complaining, because I want to work hard while I can, but man that is a lot! On Saturday I knew it was going to be an extremely long day at work so I made myself a juice that was supposed to give me tons of great energy for the day. Well, I had never made this juice before and apparently my body hated it. I was throwing up in between clients for the first three hours at work..fun times. Between working so much, and being sick that morning, it then lead me to my first experiences with Braxton Hicks contractions. Thank goodness they were not more than 4 in an hour, so definitely not pre-term labor, but scary nonetheless. Then, this morning before work I wanted to treat myself to Starbucks to celebrate that I made it through the weekend...the drive didn't go so well. A guy came within an inch of crashing in to me, and didn't even get out of his car or apologize for the near accident. What a way to start your morning right?! SO- with another really busy week coming up this week at work again, I am taking a week off from blogging. I will be back here next Monday with some great inspiration, and projects later on in the week. Hope you all have a fabulous week! See you soon

Instagram Friends?

Tell me friends, are you on Instagram? I have had this app downloaded on my iPhone for a long time now, and really just started using it this week. For a long time I would simply use it to edit a photo here and there- not even realizing other people could see my photos {whoops}. Now however, I love it! I take a million photos daily, usually most on my phone, so its a fun way to have them all gathered together, and sometimes get funny feedback on them. 
If you want to follow me and see a million and one photos of my pups, food, and random life inspiration then search "Dreambookdesign" click on it, and start Following! I would love to have some new friends on there, and follow you back as well:) 
I'll give you little peek into what this week has been for me, naturally just starting out I will take photos of the things nearest and dearest to me..food, pups, and sweet cards from J;)

Im sure I will be posting a ton of photos of the nursery projects as they get underway too! So follow along if you want, and I look forward to see some of you on there:) Happy weekend

26 Weeks Pregnant!

How far along: 26 weeks!Total weight gain: gained 13 lbs totalMaternity clothes: Still just the work pants, although I did just buy a bunch of cheap maternity clothes from Old Navy! Jeans require the hair-tie trick. I love that trick:) Although I did find one pair of jeans that still fit me! Woohoo!Stretch marks: Just the ones from Christmas Eve on my chest, but still using the amazing tummy stretch mark oil {here} and the chest cream {here}Sleep: Still getting up every night to go pee. Best moment of this week: Our good friends wedding this weekend and celebrating Valentines day<3Miss anything: being able to eat without having acid reflux an heartburn..fun times guys!Movement: His movements are so crazy now. I seriously feel like sometimes he is shoving his whole butt against my belly button, it looks super creepy, yet totally amazing!Food cravings: The natural golden grahams cereal craving has taken over, and olives of course. Through this whole pregnancy I have had to force myself to eat meat, which is weird because I am a total meat girl..Anything making you queasy or sick: nope!Have you started to show yet: Foorrr suureeGender: Boy!!Labor signs: none, it will be crazy when I say yes to this.Belly button in or out: The top half of my belly button is out, bottom half is kinda flat- it cracks me up!Wedding rings on or off: On, on the days that I actually wear them..which I am trying to do more these days so I don't look a hussy;)Happy or moody most of the time: So happyLooking forward to: my doctors apt. today! Hoping everything is looking perfect:)

Leather For The Nursery Rocker

Hope everyone had a fantastic Valentines day. Mine included a beautiful run, doughnuts {those totally go together right?!}, a yummy steak/potato/asparagus dinner, and time with my J. We also got to go down to Tandy Leather Factory and pick out the leather hide for the nursery rocker!! I had never been to Tandy before and it was so incredible! Imagine beautiful leathers, cow hide rugs, leather kits, etc. sprawled out over a huge warehouse room. Better yet, see for yourself:

Here is the table of all of the upholstery hides {minus the table that had the more expensive ones, we didn't even want to look at those for fear of temptation!}:

Except J just had to grab a quick peek, and then he ran back to the better priced table! He met me there on his lunch break, how stinking handsome is he in his business clothes?!

So heres how it all went down. We were debating between two hides. One had a more black undertone, and one had a more red undertone. I loved the one with the red, so we went with it! There was a sale going on of the table we were at, so all the hides were on sale for $2.99/sq.ft. instead of $5.99. AND if you bought the yearly membership for $35, you got it down to $2.50/sq.ft. Our hide that we got was 42.5 sq.ft.. We ideally wanted one a little larger, so that we would for sure have enough to cover the rocker and an ottoman {we dont have one yet, but have high hopes!} but all the larger ones up to 50sq.ft. had small holes in them here and there, so we took a chance with the smaller but perfect one. 

• TIP: always fully open up any hide you are buying to check for holes, damage,etc. Each hide is unique, and you don't want to be surprised when you get home to huge holes in the middle!

If you aren't being too picky and are down to have some funky colors for your hides, you can always shop in the clearance section:

Overall it was really fun to be able to look through about 10 different hides and finally choose our favorite. In real life it is a beautiful chocolate brown, with a little red undertone:

We are getting it reupholstered by an incredible guy that our friends over at Modern Manor use, and I cannot wait until it gets done! Just one more thing checked off the list! Hooray for nursery progress. In case you forgot, this is the rocker we are using. We got it at an auction for only $25 bones! Needs a little work, don't you think?!

What do you think? Loving the hide? Hope so:)