Room Sneak Peak - B Is for Bonnie Designs

As I put the final details on my room, I'm planning on posting little previews of the little projects it took to put it all together. I had most of the furniture from my old place, it was just a matter of the details like wall art.  I really love the way Ralph Lauren mixes traditional looks with pop culture. His old Hollywood pictures are stunning. After almost 4 years of searching my mom and I found similar frames at Home Goods. I did have these 2 solid black frames I had found and while I loved the black accent, I knew I had to find "lighter" prints to keep the contrast and neutral look.   If you follow my pinterest  or tumblr you know that I love quotes and after some etsy searching I found the gold foiled prints {incorporates the slight metallic) of b is for bonnie and knew they were just what I was looking for!

She has so many cute options {and an amazing blog for all you #bossladies out there} but I decided to go with these 2.

They look great in the frames and fit perfectly in this little nook on the side of my bed! So cozy!

                         

Wednesday Wisdom

I saw this on Pinterest and it really hit home for me. It's something I've been working on and really helps when looking at the blessings in your life. I highly suggest taking this online quiz {and encouraging family, friends, co-workers, significant others etc} to as well. It really helps you understand each other better, and the was we express/receive love and appreciate best. Especially with the holiday's approaching and spending time with people you love, but don't always see eye-to-eye with!!

Monday Inspiration

I saw this a while back and thought it was a beautiful explanation of the hardest, but most meaningful kind of love: unconditional.

For love to be unconditional, by definition it must be difficult. 

The purest acts of love are the ones in which we rise above the most selfish aspects of our nature to care for someone. 

True love isn’t just something that feels good. It is a responsibility.

- Daily Kaballah

Wednesday Wisdom

At first glance, this might seem sad. But for a type-A hyper control freak it's really a breath of fresh air. A girlfriend once told me, relative to guys of course, 'have standards not expectations' and it was so profound to me...and applicable to all areas of my life. Yes, not having expectations can be the defense mechanism to not being let down or hurt, but it also allows you to stop and enjoy the moment a little more. You see the good things and appreciate them as opposed to comparing them to what you 'wanted' or how you thought it 'should' be. Having standards just allows you to stay true to yourself at the same time. So stop. Don't have any expectations for today. Just let it happen.

Quote of the Day

So true for me right now. Go make something happen ladies!

It's Almost.....

Summer.
Laid out all day in the park today and read! Can't wait for summer!

Letters of Note

 In the days on a 50% chance of marriages failing I can't help but want to post this everywhere. One of my favorite blogs is Letters of Note. Shaun Usher, the blogger, collects old-school, snail mail letters (one of my favorites) and publishes them. They don't necessarily have to be from anyone particularly special, but his post yesterday was from one of my most favorite people. President Reagan (Governor of California at the time) offers some amazing marriage advice to his son.

Michael Reagan
Manhattan Beach, California
June 1971

Dear Mike:

Enclosed is the item I mentioned (with which goes a torn up IOU). I could stop here but I won't.

You've heard all the jokes that have been rousted around by all the "unhappy marrieds" and cynics. Now, in case no one has suggested it, there is another viewpoint. You have entered into the most meaningful relationship there is in all human life. It can be whatever you decide to make it.

Some men feel their masculinity can only be proven if they play out in their own life all the locker-room stories, smugly confident that what a wife doesn't know won't hurt her. The truth is, somehow, way down inside, without her ever finding lipstick on the collar or catching a man in the flimsy excuse of where he was till three A.M., a wife does know, and with that knowing, some of the magic of this relationship disappears. There are more men griping about marriage who kicked the whole thing away themselves than there can ever be wives deserving of blame. There is an old law of physics that you can only get out of a thing as much as you put in it. The man who puts into the marriage only half of what he owns will get that out. Sure, there will be moments when you will see someone or think back to an earlier time and you will be challenged to see if you can still make the grade, but let me tell you how really great is the challenge of proving your masculinity and charm with one woman for the rest of your life. Any man can find a twerp here and there who will go along with cheating, and it doesn't take all that much manhood. It does take quite a man to remain attractive and to be loved by a woman who has heard him snore, seen him unshaven, tended him while he was sick and washed his dirty underwear. Do that and keep her still feeling a warm glow and you will know some very beautiful music. If you truly love a girl, you shouldn't ever want her to feel, when she sees you greet a secretary or a girl you both know, that humiliation of wondering if she was someone who caused you to be late coming home, nor should you want any other woman to be able to meet your wife and know she was smiling behind her eyes as she looked at her, the woman you love, remembering this was the woman you rejected even momentarily for her favors.

Mike, you know better than many what an unhappy home is and what it can do to others. Now you have a chance to make it come out the way it should. There is no greater happiness for a man than approaching a door at the end of a day knowing someone on the other side of that door is waiting for the sound of his footsteps.

Love,

Dad

P.S. You'll never get in trouble if you say "I love you" at least once a day.

Sources: Letters of Note, Photo: Life Photo Archive