During the summer I had the opportunity to see Florence and the Machine live at the Fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. Not only was the music amazing but the stage design and Florence herself was visually stunning. It was at that moment that I added her to my list of individuals with inspiring style. Since then I have been following her on Facebook and I love that she posts what she is wearing quite frequently. This month she is on the cover of British Vogue and it is a gorgeous cover. I am trying to get my hands on a copy but until then there is a sneak peek on British Vogue’s website. Check it out and be style inspired.

Back to my day with Nate Berkus. Nate is one of my favorite interior designers and the best at making over small spaces. Last year when I heard that Nate was getting his own show, I was so excited and set my DVR to record the show every day. Well, let’s just say, that’s a lot of Nate Berkus Show episodes and I got WAAAYYY behind in keeping up with them. And I don’t know about you but when I have a lot of TV episodes saved on the DVR, I kind of feel guilty, like I have a messy room that I need to clean up. So, I started the day with 17 Nate Berkus show episodes on the DVR and I was determined to get through them and clean up my DVR gosh darn it. First, I went through all to see which ones I could nix based on description alone and then I got it down to a more manageable list of about ten. Now I only have one episode on the DVR and it is because it was filled with great easy design ideas and I want to save it for future reference. The episode was a montage of the best of Nate’s “House Proud” tours on the show this past year. “House Proud” tours are submitted by viewers who are proud of their homes and their personal interior design efforts and want to show them off. In this episode there were two ”House Proud” tours that I fell in love with and made me want to redesign every room in my tiny townhouse which I think would probably make my fiancé Joe mildly insane. His idea of good design, is being a complete minimalist and throwing out all of the furniture and having a blank room with plenty of space for Yoga and Tai Chi. Needless to say, we disagree on this design philosophy.

One “House Proud” in this episode that I fell in love with was Mandi Gubler’s home in Utah. Mandi has a blog call Vintage Revivals that I recommend you check out because she features a lot of great DIY design tutorials. Her style is kind of vintage, thrifty glam and there is a definite whimsical feel to her design aesthetic. From the wall of mirrors, to the teapot lamp and the tree painted on the wall, I took away of lot of ideas to file away for the future. Here are a few of my favorites from her home.

The second “House Proud” in this episode that impressed me was Lizzie Carney’s 1930′s bungalow. Her bungalow has a great feminine, vintage, shabby chic feel and I loved it. She has chandeliers in virtually every room of her bungalow even the kitchen which was really gorgeous. The most exciting room was her closet. Well, technically it wasn’t a closet. She took a spare bedroom and turned it into a glamorous dressing room which makes me green with envy. If you are like me and you live with limited closet space, you too will lust after this room.  Here are a few of my favorite rooms from Lizzie’s bungalow.

The overall lesson to learn from these inspiring spaces, is that you don’t have to have a massive budget to be creative and design a truly inspired space. Recently, I have gotten into “yard saling” and it is so much fun to stumble upon a great design find. In a future blog, I will share with you some of my recent treasures.

Here is my last design share for now. A gallery wall makes a great statement in any room and can be pretty easy to create from what you can find in your own home whether it is a wall of mirrors, framed photos or arts. Some of the “art” I have created has come from framing cloth napkins, vintage doilies, and pictures from old calendars, magazines or books. I also like the idea below that I saw on the blog Apartment Therapy. These framed bandanas actually look really cool against the blue wall. You could do the same thing with old scarves or interesting pieces of fabric. Here’s to creative and cheap design!

Anyway, I’ll leave you with the song “Islands” from Young the Giant that I stumbled across this morning on one of the blogs I read, PoppyTalk. The video really makes it hard to be in my office at work. Here’s to great summer playlists and beach daydreams!

Hope you enjoy this really cute wedding video!  Happy Friday!

• I have watched entirely too many horror movies where innocent campers are butchered in their tents, or mutilated when they venture out alone in the dark which leads to my second point…
• I have a super tiny bladder. This means I am going to have to get up and go to the bathroom at least once, probably twice during the night and the thought of doing this outdoors, at night, in the middle of the woods alone, frightens me tremendously probably because of my previous point.
• Bugs. My overactive imagination will convince me that I am covered in ticks, most certainly getting Lyme disease.

You are probably asking yourself, with all of these valid points I am making, how did I end up going camping. Well, it was for the love of my best friend Rogue Bird. It was her birthday wish to go camping and her devoted husband thought it would be a great idea to surprise her with a camping trip with all of her closest friends. This is how I got suckered into having my first camping experience.

The first thing I learned about camping is it’s a lot of work. Since this was my first camping trip, Joe (my fiance…..love saying that) and I had to gather all the gear – tent, sleeping bag, lantern, air mattress, flashlights, bug spray, coolers, etc. This meant major shopping. Then, we had to fit all of this gear along with food and Daisy into the car. This was a major feat. I have a rather large car but let’s just say, I probably overpacked. I mean along with the camping essentials, I did remember that I would want to decorate my tent…so in went the paper lanterns, christmas lights and a rug. Long story short, we packed a lot into that car.

We went to Vogel State Park which is beautiful and the camping site was set in the perfect wooded setting under a canopy of trees. As soon as we got to the park wouldn’t you know it the sky darkened and Joe and a friend managed to get our tent up in record time before the downpour from the heavens. But my friends, remember point number 3 above, the first thing I see when I go inside the tent, is a tick on my pillow. I am not joking. My fears were already coming true before we even got started with the weekend. But I persevered, finished unpacking the car, decorated the tent and was pretty pleased with the finished product. Here we go, I am camping!

All in all I am glad I had the camping experience. And, I learned a lot in the process. Here are a few lessons learned:

• Don’t leave any peanut products on your picnic table ever. It took me two incidents to fully learn this lesson. The first involved a paper bag of fresh roasted peanuts from The Sunrise Country Store (where Joe also acquired Moonshine Jelly…). The second a jar of peanut butter (which Joe left out after he had a “shiny peanut butter and jelly sandwich” with the Moonshine Jelly) that had its thick plastic top completely chewed through. You’re welcome little furry forest creatures. I hope you enjoyed it!
• Even though it was 90 degrees in Atlanta the entire week before you go camping a few hours north, it does not mean that you should not pack warmer clothing. It’s amazing how cold it got at night.
• When deciding to go to the bathroom outside behind the tent in the middle of the night because you don’t want to wake up your fiance to walk with you down to the camp site bathroom yet again…don’t take your dog out with you who will growl at something, which will scare you because of Point 1 above and oh yeah that threat of bears…which will cause you to trip over the tent stake and almost come crashing down through the middle of the tent. Not saying that happened…but you should be aware just in case…

My first camping experience was fun and I enjoyed being out in nature with my closest friends. However, I think it would be better if I had a fully furnished teepee like the ones at  Ralph Lauren’s Double RL ranch that I got to see when Oprah interviewed him during her last season.  I think camping would be a much better experience in one of these teepees. It would most definitely be more my style.

Well, now that I have all the camping gear, I guess I have to go camping again. But not too soon… I have to take time to recover from this first experience.

I’ll leave you with comedian Jim Gaffigan’s take on camping. I have to say he makes a lot of sense…

Back to my personal life, so much has happened!! First things first I am engaged!!!  It was such a surprise. I mean I felt strongly that it would happen eventually but not on New Year’s! Quick back story, Joe and I met two years ago on New Year’s. I had gone to a friend’s NYE party and after midnight I went with my best friend “Rogue Bird” and her husband “Preservation Man” to a local restaurant/bar because they were insistent on having their single friend go out somewhere else where there was a larger possibility of meeting another single person.  Well, lo and behold, we get to the now closed (insert sads ) Solstice where we ran into a friend who was dating Joe’s friend at the time. We got introduced through everyone’s intoxicated matchmaking efforts and we have been together ever since. Even though, Joe’s big line that night was “You should check out my MySpace page. It’s really cool.” No joke,  that’s what he said. I remember thinking okaaayyyy…. But, as lame as that line might sound…I guess you could say it worked. After viewing said MySpace page and pictures of Joe in a Speedo and a banana costume, I was hooked. I mean seriously, how can you not be attracted to a man who can rock a Speedo at a pool party and proudly don a banana costume. His apparent confidence and obvious sense of humor was quite appealing. And, not to mention his incredible dance moves that I would get to witness later but I digress…

So back to this past New Year’s Eve, we had a small group of friends together that night at Rogue Bird and Preservation Man’s house for dinner. We gathered together in the living room to watch Dick Clark count down to the New Year. Clock strikes midnight. Everyone says “Happy New Year”! I turn to Joe to get my New Year’s kiss and then turn back to the group, oblivious to the fact that I am about to get the biggest surprise of my life. I glance back to my left and whoa….holy crap, Joe is on his knee, pulling out a ring. I scream “What are you doing? OMG!” Preservation Man yells “What the…” Clearly, I and everyone else was surprised. I could barely make a sentence. Joe responded with “So…is that a yes?” And long story short, of course I said yes and from that moment on I walked around with the biggest grin on my face the rest of the night, and the rest of the week and well it’s on my face right now just thinking about it. Such happiness. So much love…okay I’ll stop being mushy.

Which means now Mimi enjoys walking around saying “My fiancé….” and flashing her ring. So obnoxious… I know.  I am also craving all things wedding style but not the typical dreamy, princess wedding fluff. Not me at all. I am totally into DIY style that reflects me and “My fiance’s” (hee hee) personalities. There are so many inspiring weddings in the blogosphere.  I have an abundant amount of ideas and need to start building my inspiration boards soon. Rogue Bird and I went out a week after the engagement and bought a stack of the obligatory Bride magazines, grabbed a bottle of red wine and tore through them. It was incredibly enjoyable to laugh at the insanely ugly wedding dresses and cheesy bedazzled t-shirts and crap that is marketed to the newly engaged. It’s the best entertainment.

The Happy Couple

Note to my friends and family: there will be no sequin, bedazzled “Bride or Bride-to-Be” hats or clothing so please refrain from making such purchases. Thank you. XOXO Mimi