Messy Office

As clean as I would like it to be, my office just seems to accumulate piles, papers, tiles, samples, memos, pens, pencils, notes, books, magazines and cords!!  Its inevitable, no matter how clean my desk is at the start of each day (which it usually isn't)-- it always ends up looking like this....or worse!

I often use one of my desk drawers as an extra surface to work on.  Unfortunately, sometimes I close the drawer and forget about bits of a project that were in there!  Throughout the day, I might work on as many as 7 different projects; its so easy to forget about one thing as something else pops up.

But I will definitely not complain about how busy we are!  We currently have 27 bathroom projects....that's right...27! That's a lot of tile to keep track of!  But that's not all we're working on; we have several kitchen projects, living areas, bedrooms, full scale mini mansions, exterior selections for shopping malls, office spaces and more!

During the next few weeks, several projects will be coming to close-- I can't wait to start posting some photographs of things I have helped design!  Finally you all will get to see what has been consuming my time for the last 5 months!

Not the DC from 8th Grade

The rest of my trip in DC continued on as random as it had began; we did absolutely nothing ordinary!  On my second day in town, we ate a delicious lunch at a small place in Dupont called the Commissary.  The potato pancakes with Lox and scrambled eggs were so incredibly delectable that I took my sweet time enjoying every bite.

After eating, we returned to the place we were staying and relaxed on the roof under the sun.  Lisa brought her book thinking we would read but I knew better.  We spent the next 2 hours chatting and catching up over what we had missed in each others' lives-- jobs, moves, trips, mischief, books, movies, family, friends, gossip, boys, change, hilarity, etc!

Here are a few photos of the Library of Congress we had visited earlier-- more proof that I was actually in DC.

Beautiful stained glass windows.

For dinner, we headed to yet another friend of Lisa's.  Laura and Lisa met while they were both living in Geneva last summer.  Oddly enough, I had also met Laura while I was visiting Lisa in Geneva!  I have been saying this a lot lately, but it is such a small world!  Laura cooked a tasty pasta for us and then.....

we savored a Frozen Yo dessert! Places like Frozen Yo are popping up all over the place.  It is entirely self-serve in that you create your own dessert.  There are about 12 different flavors of yogurts to choose from and then a toppings bar.  The price is determined by how much your bowl weighs.  Luckily, your bowl is weighed before you drown your yogurt in hot fudge!

After attending a party overflowing with University of Michigan grads, meeting several people from Detroit, brunching in Eastern Market (and having the worst temptation to break my no shopping pact ever) and having dinner with a nice guy at the Atlanta airport during my layover, I can't make a single complaint about my mini getaway.  I think I have quickly learned to take what life throws at you, smile and run with it!

I'd like to thank Lisa for the amazing weekend and all of her friends for their hospitality, kindness and laughter!

DC Day 1

This weekend I took a break from the heat of Houston and headed to Washington DC to visit my best friend, Lisa.  You may remember her from several adventures in Paris, "Birthday Extravaganza" and "Three Americans in Paris" and several posts from Switzerland!  She has been one of my best friends for 10 years now and I love how she pops in my life in the most unexpected places!

Lisa is moving to Washington DC for the summer to work as a summer associate at a law firm; I took full advantage of her first few days in town to hang out with her and several of her friends.  We did very few touristy things but I had to prove that I was actually in the city-- so here's me in front of the Washington monument.

With a few of Lisa's friends we were able to take a tour of the Capitol from a staffer for Congressman Hodes from New Hampshire .  It was one of the most entertaining tours I have ever been on; our tour guide Luke was absolutely hilarious describing people and places with adjectives I cannot include in my description!

The white star I am stepping on, marks the center of Washington DC.  The city is divided into four quadrants from this point and it is considered good luck to slide your foot over the star.

While Lisa was busy chatting away with Luke about the amazing decisions and events that have taken place in the building, I was busy taking pictures of the amazing design.  The domed ceilings with sparkling chandeliers......

the mosiac tiled floors.....

and the amazing architectural elements and really awesome looking furniture!

Lisa in the old judicial room-- as a student at Harvard Law, she was glowing with excitement in this room...no joke.

Looking out a window from the Capitol building, we could see the Washington monument off in the distance.

Our tour group: Kristin, Lisa, Amar, Jordan, Luke, me!

Our tour took us late into the afternoon and we were all looking forward to a big lunch.  Although Indian food is not really my cup of tea, I really enjoyed everything I ate at a small Indian restaurant.

On Friday evening, Lisa and I took a trek out to Virginia to hang out with some more of her friends and to see.... the Legwarmers.  The Legwarmers are an 80s cover band that entertained us for more than 3 hours with their incredible list of 80s tunes that included almost all of my favorites!  "99 Red Balloons," "Total Eclipse of the Heart" which I sang all out with some random guy in a white pin-striped suit, "Safety Dance" and of course "Don't Stop Believing!"  For the remainder of the weekend, I dreamt in 80s music.

Stay tuned in to hear about the rest of my trip!

Dream Cruise

I don't know if I've said it enough, but I really love my job!  I am never stuck at my desk for more than a few hours and somebody somewhere is hosting an event.  On Wednesday, the Houston Design Center hosted their annual "Dream Cruise."  Essentially, an evening to showoff new products and designs in the numerous showrooms as well as to eat, drink and socialize. 

Just to prove that besides all of the eating, drinking and socializing, we were doing some work!

Chelsea and Katie-- two adorable By Design girls!

One of the showrooms had paid a large, undisclosed some of money for Edward from Twilight to be in attendance.  I elbowed my way through the throng of girls to snap this picture!

Kaitlyn cozying up to Edward-- I think he liked her more anyway!  :)

Although I've only been here a few months, I have already made some great friends.  Everyday introduces new people and definitely new places as I continue to explore the city.

Party at BB1 Classic

I am doing it again!!! I have to apologize for the lack of posts!  Things have been moving a thousand miles a minute and when I do have a second to myself, I really try not to open my computer.  On top of that, I don't have many recent photos!  I'll work on that! Promise!

Last night, I went to a bon voyage party for one of Cindy's good friends.  Her and her family are moving to Paris for a few months!  I can't say I really feel bad for them :)  It was held at a clothing boutique called BB1 Classic in Uptown Houston and it was....FABULOUS!  Such a good idea for a party.... socializing, shopping, mingling, eating, drinking, laughing, giveaways, trying on clothes!  What more could a group of women ask for??

Kaitlyn, our new intern from University of Arkansas, Cindy's daughter Whitney, Cindy, Larissa, Amber, me!  Kaitlyn is going to be interning with us for the summer and already she is a big help!

Our design team!  While I was writing a blog post for Cindy, I posted this picture and thought, 'man, we really need an awesome name for our design team.'  What did I come up with.....

"CAKE!" 

Cindy-Amber-Kaitlyn-Erika

Awesome!

Some really nice and adorable girls we met!

Amber won the free giveaway! A cute cute purse!  Here she is, posing for the photographer with her fun gift!

Kaitlyn and I!

Mingling!

Several of the women were modeling some of the amazing dresses and accessories throughout the night.  The two women on the ends-- their dresses could be worn a dozen different ways and every few minutes, they would not change their dress, but how they were wearing it! The woman in the middle is the owner of this fantastic boutique.

Tomorrow I am off to Washington DC for a weekend with my best friend Lisa (you might remember her from some of the blog posts from the Europe excursion)!  I am so excited for this little trip....even if it is for a few days.  I promise to take lots of pictures and post several times about the weekend!

Boudros Famous Guacamole

Last weekend Adrienne and Greg took a little getaway to San Antonio.  When they got back, all they could talk about was this amazing guacamole from a restaurant called Boudro's.  So naturally, we had to try and make some!  It was just as delicious as they described it!

Boudro's Famous Guacamole

Ingredients

Juice of 1/4 of an orange
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 avocado seeded and scooped out of skin
2 Tbs roasted and charred Roma tomatoes diced
1 ea Serrano pepper roasted seeded and diced
1 Tbs medium dice red onions
1 tsp chopped cilantro
coarse ground salt to taste (sea salt is better)

Directions

Squeeze juices into bowl. Add avocado and coarsely chop. Add onions, roasted tomato, serrano and cilantro fold into avocado mixture. Add salt (more is better). Result should be crudely chopped not mashed. That’s it.

Enjoy!

Custom Mobile

Just over a year ago now, I opened my own Etsy store, Ebbeautique.  While sales aren't crazy, I still sell a few items each month which takes care of my itch to make something crafty.  

A few weeks ago, I had an amazing custom request; a woman wanted a mobile with ribbons long enough to write phrases down them.  Her baby girl's blessing was coming up and she wanted people to be able to write their blessings on her ribbon mobile that would hang over her crib!  Well, with a request like that, I couldn't say 'no' and began to experiment with ribbons and fabric pens and Sharpees!

The result was....darling!

Thank you so much Olivia!  Check out Olivia's blog here!