interior style

my wonderful momma gave me the book Thrifty Chic: Interior Style on a Shoestring by Liz Bauwens & Alexandra Campbell for Christmas. i found it searching around amazon one day & had been wanting it. and now... i cannot put it down. i've read thru the whole thing almost twice and i'm sure i've flipped thru the images at least a dozen times. the photographs [taken by Simon Brown] are absolutely beautiful & i find them so inspiring. the title & cover photo make it seem kind of "shabby chic" but it's SO much more than that. they dive into all sorts of stylings from vintage to modern & country to formal. it's all so classy and feels so effortless.
as i've mentioned in a previous blog our lease is almost up & we'll be moving into a house by & hopefully before the end of january. hopefully today we will hear back on the place we've been waiting for. it's wonderful, old, charming & just perfect. hopefully today...
anyway, i can't wait to style it & i've been in such a mood to hunt for things around our apartment that fit my vision for it. it's going to be a bit of a challenge [that is if we get the house we are hoping for haha] due to the floor plan, but i'm ready. and did i mention i can't wait?
if you need some inspiration for the new year or you just like interior styling photographs check it out. you won't be bummed.

a second christmas

today was an amazing day. it was basically the first day back to normal schedules for our little family after all the holiday craziness that's been happening for the last 6 weeks [mr phipps manages retail, so you can imagine] and i use normal loosely because technically i normally don't work wednesday, but tonight will be the start of four, that's right four, days off together, so i thought working wednesday and 3 hours on thursday would be a great trade!

my loving husband was back with full force! more "i love you"s, texts & sweetness than ever today. which i have to say is probably my favorite gift yet. also, he so thoughtfully recalled that i have been secretly & not so secretly wanting an electronic book. i kinda put it out of my mind since iPhone has a book app, it just felt silly to ask for one with that knowledge. but anyway he remembered & picked one up for me as a surprise!


it's a literati. i really hadn't heard of this one, but i'm sure glad he did because it's amazing. if you're in the market for one read on...
it came with a sturdy yet sleek case & 150 free books. it has a 7' screen and is only 0.5" thick. it's wi-fi, has a full color screen & one-click buy option. there are over 2 million titles available & they now offer magazine & newspaper subscriptions. also,  i guess you can sync documents from your computer to it if you need to get some work done on the go. i am really impressed so far. it's much better than i expected & i've already begun my first read. i'm so stoked to get reading again. thank you to my wonderful husband.

and beyond

so obviously i have some updating to do. it's been a crazy week with lots going on & i've been feeling a bit under the weather, as are so many. that being said today i will share the week through pictures. wednesday, i made mr phipps breakfast in bed [i got to use my new spode christmas tree dip bowls] & we had a date day. it was much needed & really enjoyable. the sky has been quite overcast in our lovely city lately. mr phipps band also played this week at a local bar.



oh! and i found a gingerbread/royal icing recipe. it looks pretty promising. i found it in a cookbook i totally forgot i had [Rose's Christmas Cookies by Rose Levy Beranbaum] it was perfect timing because i was unable to find one & was getting pretty discouraged. i'm really excited to try it out. it will be my goal to get that done next week. once i try it all be sure to share, maybe even with a review of the recipe.



side note from the week: we went to see Disney's Tangled. it was so adorable, and i loved every minute of it. if you are a Disney fan please do yourself a favor & see it.