A Little Fun in the Sun with the Fam and Great Friends

Here are a few pictures from our Texas vacation that seems like it was AGES ago.

You can always count on lots of work to ruin some good R & R. Boo!

We usually head down there once a year as my father-in-law has some digs right on the beach.

He's nice enough to let us invite a bunch of our friends down and we usually stay for a week.

This year we started the trip out in Austin.  Some of our friends, Paul & Deborah, moved to Dallas so they were kind enough to drive to Austin for a little rendezvous.  It was great cuz we hadn't met their adorable twins, Reese and Cole, yet.

I should have a ton of pictures of all of the Austin scenes that we took in, but that was hard to do with 4 kiddos in tow.  Next time we have to hire a babysitter for the brood, so we can really enjoy the city.  I have to say that I really liked Austin and would definitely visit there again.  We had some amazing meals at la Barbecue (a food truck where a little band played and you got free beer while you waited for your super yummy BBQ. BBQ and free beer!!) and the Texas Chili Parlor (I had the most amazing chili here that was loaded with chunks of brisket. My mouth is watering thinking about it now).  

Next time we head down to Austin, we'll have to partake in the local music scene and hit up some of the furniture/home goods stores we passed.  I some really interesting pieces, but once again it was too hard to really shop with the 'gang'. lol. Next time!

Story time with hubby and the gang. 

We're missing our little lady Reese from this picture.

Then we headed down to the beach to meet up with some of our favorite Colorado peeps, Adrian, Nicola, Tristan and Eloise.

Here are some pics from South Padre Island.

Da Boys.

Not only were we in the company of one Tristan, but we were lucky enough to have two!

Hayden with big Tristan and little Tristan (great minds...).

South Padre Island Sea Turtle Sanctuary

Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville

Back to the Beach

Look at the little sharks in the shark's mouth. lol.

Love my boys. They are so silly.

In case you didn't know, South Padre is a famous spring break destination. Take a closer look at Tristan's and my glasses. LOL. A framed copy of this picture was one of my Mother's Day gifts. I love it!

Beer and my baby :)

Uncle Adrian telling a tall tale to the boys.  It must be very interesting. Take a look at their faces.

Buddies!

It's hard to get a picture where everyone looks good. This was as close as we could get.

Any fun family getaways planned for the summer?

or trips to exotic destinations sans children (a dream of mine right now)???

xo,

Ris

Where Have I Been?

Hi Hi!!!!!

I'm sure you probably thought I went on a permanent vacation. I know. I know. I missed you too.

Things were cray cray at the office for a while there. I basically got back from vacation (I went on vacation?? I was relaxed and had fun??) and then worked 26 days without a day off. I am not 22 any more and as much as it sucked then to pull that kind of work schedule it is soooooooo much worse now. Not being able to spend my whole weekend with the kiddos and working late nights gets tougher and tougher. That being said, this post will be a short one. I'm still recuperating. lol.

Let's just say I will have some vacation pictures, master bedroom updates and pool progress to report on next week. 

It will be worth the long ass wait. 

I promise.

In the mean time, let's just keep our collective fingers crossed that our pool will look as inviting as these.

Jeff McNamara garden pool house

Phoebe Howard stone pool house

or how about this one?

Hamptons manion image via CocoCozy

Happy to be back in the real world enjoying life with you.

Hope all has been well.

Let me know what's up.

xo,

Ris

Sending You Joy

Hello, hello.

I usually try to keep my posts light and fun, so that you and I can come here to escape for a few minutes from real life, jobs and stress. That being said, it's been a rough week for us over in the old US of A and I just want to comment on it briefly. First of all, I just want to send my thoughts out to anyone affected by the Boston Marathon bombings and the fertilizer explosion in West, Texas.

As someone who lived in New York City during 9-11, I know how terrorism can change your life unalterably.  It's extremely difficult to truly comprehend this unless you actually live through it, so I feel for you Boston.  I really do. Tragedies like this often show us how truly amazing people really are. Their abilities to help others in a time of need renews my faith in mankind. Also, it's ok to be sad and angry and to grieve over these events even if you don't know anyone that was harmed. It's only natural.

In West,Texas most of the people killed were firemen and EMTs. We often forget to be thankful for those that risk their lives, so that we can live safely (yes, police, firemen, soldiers etc. we mean you). We don't say it often enough but, thank you.

Most importantly, this could have happened to any of us. We could have gone to the Marathon to cheer on a friend that was running; our house could have been close to the plant that exploded. Take a little time to remember how lucky we are to still be here with our loved ones close by. We so often focus on the things that don't matter in life. Let's try and remember the things that do.

Enough 'preaching' for today and for a while. I'm sending you happiness and joy today and every day.

... and here are some pictures of my flowering trees and flowers cuz they make me happy and I hope they will make you happy too.

Xo,

Ris

Boys' Bathroom

You must have wondered if I dropped off the face of the planet...

I'm still here. 

The fam and I were lucky enough to spend a little fun in the sun with good friends and family for the last week.  

Nothing like a little fun, sun and r & r to pick up the spirits.

I have to admit that there are quite a few house pictures that I have been holding back from you.

I promise to be more forthcoming.  More pics coming soon of our Master Bedroom, updates to Hayden's room and a design dilemma that is driving me cray cray.

Until then, here are some pictures of the boys' bathroom.

Luckily for us, we made only a few minor adjustments that I think went a long way.

You've heard me say it once and I'll say it again- nothing wrong with this room, but we wanted to add our own splash to the space.  We also thought that the black and white tiles added some fun and were perfect for a little boys' bathroom. We didn't change any of the tiles and only had to do a few minor repairs.

Before pictures:

Zoom in on this oldie but goodie:

First, the boring stuff.  We completed revamped the heating in the entire house. We also added air conditioning.  Some of this is quite interesting, but I'll save it for another post... maybe.  Anyway, this means bye bye ugly eye sore with old world charm.. I mean radiator, hello added floor space.

Now on to the fun stuff.  We got rid of the hideous light fixture. I would show you a picture, but it's not even worth it.

Take my word, it was not cute, at all.

We took what I like to call our lollipop light (the Dolly from La Murrina) that was hanging in the living room of our Brooklyn apartment and hung it here.  We thought the pop of orange went well with the black and white.

(You can see it {here} and {here}.

Hello Tristan (see bottom left hand corner)!

We got rid of the shower curtain and added this cool glass, folding door from our one and only bathroom source... you guessed it.. Porcelanosa. (Hi Aileen!)

The boys' bathroom is actually a pretty good size, but I think this is a great way to make a small bathroom feel much bigger.  I really wanted to get this door for the bathroom in our Brooklyn apartment, which was teeny, but I knew we would be moving soon and didn't want to invest money in something we wouldn't get to enjoy.

It's great too, because you get to actually see the tiles, which were basically completely hidden behind the shower curtain... built-in decoration to the bathroom, hooray!

It is super easy to fold, making access to the kiddos during bath time a cinch.

Adding to the black and white theme, black and white rugs and step stool from Ikea and a very comfy memory foam rug from Bed Bath & Beyond, which makes kneeling during bath time easy on the knees.

More pops of orange were added with towels from Ikea, paired with black (I have white also) towels from Macy's.

This wall is pretty ho hum. Not much going on.  I reused some baskets that were in the boys' nursery. Gasp, they are white, but have... blue and white liners, not black and white or orange! The horror of it all. lol. I'm looking for some art work to hang above the toilet.  I'm thinking 3 cute pieces in orange frames. I'm getting predictable, right?  The search continues.

I have to say the one thing in this bathroom that annoys me on a regular basis is this green laminate counter top.

I just don't get it.

I guess the previous owners were thinking that this green was their orange, their pop of color in the midst of a black and white theme??? Not sure.

Initially, I was going to replace the laminate counter top with a cool black and white granite that looked like a night sky filled with stars. Then I realized a nice new counter top would make the old sinks and hardware, which I'm also not crazy about, look even more old and dated.  So, we decided to wait.  Perhaps when the kiddos are a bit older we can do a vanity, counter top, sink, hardware and mirror re-haul.  Can you tell in my voice (aka my typing) that a part of me is itching to do this NOW?  For now I'm thinking of trying to paint the laminate black, which I saw done on one of my favorite blogs, Little Green Notebook.

I'm a little hesitant because I'm not sure how it will hold up over time if it is exposed to too much water.

Though I bought the paint already, the jury is still out. My dad has a back up plan, so I'll keep you posted.

(If anyone has tried this, please reach out to me.)

Last, but certainly not least, is a little insight into what goes on behind the scenes during my StyleBurbia 'photoshoots'. lol.

Usually, this little guy has an inclination that something is going on. Why has mama disappeared quickly upstairs with the camera in tow?  He has a sixth sense though I try and be sneaky.  So, I'm usually shuffling him around the room so he doesn't appear in all of the shots and saying, "Tristan, can you move over a bit? Tristan, don't touch that. Tristan, I just moved that out of the way, can you please move it back?" etc. etc. You can tell from one of the pictures above that I am not always successful.

Here are some of the out takes:

Enjoy!

And my two favorites: 

Glad to be back.

I missed you.

Hope all is well.

xo,

Ris