A Watercolor Week

We've just returned from a little beach vacay! It was some much needed relaxation with some great friends!  You may remember Emelie ( from this post and this one), she and her hilarious husband Clyde joined us on vacation and we had a blast. Clyde's cooking was a nice bonus! The boy can cook.

We biked around Watercolor a good bit....

Ate at the Red Bar .... two nights in a row! Hayden and her man Will were staying just down the road in Rosemary so they joined us for a few dinners! 

Emelie and I teased our husbands for spending some guy time together... 

and I tried, as usual, to get a good shot of the two of us.... 

and we had some serious Herrington vs. McGee challenges playing some intense games of corn hole and ladder ball. 

Nothing like a week at the beach to make you leave the stresses of home behind... 

p.s. Sorry if you follow me on Instagram you probably already saw these shots! 

Porch progress...

When we were working on the inside of our house we always planned to tackle the outside at some point. And although we love the garage door, we know we'd use it a TON more if we have a screened porch. 

This spring we decided to start tackling the outside of the house after our short hiatus from house projects this fall. We've  ( this time we does not actually mean we! Thankfully we've had some hired help for this go around!) moved a lot of dirt around so progress doesn't look very glamourous, but the porch foundation and the exterior patio have been poured. 

want to see?

We also got a walkway poured so you can get to our front door without walking through the grass! We're testing out a few paint colors as you can see on the brick and hope to bid that siding and the metal poles farewell in the near future as well.

A Post Double Decker Post...

I'm slowing recovering after last week's insane schedule.  I was exhausted after Double Decker but have to admit it was a great weekend. I loved seeing a few old friend's I hadn't seen in years ( see Mitchell's post about it here), having my parents here all weekend and at the end of the day standing on stage watching Mavis Staples play to a huge crowd, I felt some serious satisfaction that all our hard work had paid off!

Iron and Wine - Friday's Headliner 

Lew and I watching Mavis from the back corner of the stage...

The crowd for Mavis

the mighty Mavis Staples

next up? We're headed South-- first to West Point, Mississippi to celebrate the wedding of two friends and then we are beach bound for a week! To say I am excited is an understatement!




p.s. check back tomorrow for a post about the next phase of our house redo! 

Weekend Recap via Instagram

I started this post on Sunday and now it is Tuesday! It's festival week and I am swamped, but since I had a few quiet moments I thought I'd finish it. Last weekend we spent relaxing and recouping. I did the relaxing and Lew did the recouping. He's been battling a rough case of poison ivy after deciding that swinging from the vines hanging from a tree in our backyard was not only hysterical but really fun... too bad they were poison ivy vines! To say he was a little uncomfortable might be an understatement. Top that off with a cold and well.... you get the picture. I doubt Tarzan will be making a repeat performance at our house anytime soon. So, while we played it low key I planted some succulents, soaked up some sun on our new patio ( pictures coming soon), took Minnie Lou on a few walks and enjoyed the calm before the storm.

Saturday we ventured out for a little breakfast date to BBB. We can't get enough of their oatmeal pancakes and since the temperatures were in the 40's Saturday morning the coffee was warm and yummy. 

I snagged some local strawberries from the B.T.C Grocery on Friday afternoon, and they are so delicious and sweet. Between that and our CSA veggies we had a pantry full of yummy, fresh and local food. 

 Hope your weekend was just as nice. If you are near Oxford town head on down to the Double Decker this weekend! 

p.s. Are you on Instagram too?  you can follow me at mkherrington

"in conclusion... be Stevie Nicks"

My friend Kat Gordon, the owner of the very delicious Muddy's Bake Shop in my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee sent me an email last week with the subject line that is the title of this post.  The email contained a link to this video. I didn't actually get around to watching until yesterday, but I have since watched it twice and forwarded it several friends.





This young woman is amazing. First of all, she's a sophomore in High School! I was so impressed by not only her message but also her poise, sense of self, confidence and her ability to articulate herself at such a young age is inspiring. Not to mention, I feel like I'm 30 and still figuring it out somedays so for her to be able to so clearly address that at 15 or 16 is beyond impressive to me.

As someone who spent 12 years in all girls school where the messages of empowerment and the idea that you can be (and should be) complex and unique were so frequent that I didn't even realize they were becoming engrained in the fabric of my being. Upon entering college at Ole Miss, which is quite a different place, I was humbled to realize  how unique my education experience had been and what it had done for my development as a person.  I certainly realized what a gift I'd been given!

After all, we don't all fit a mold... you can be very smart and very pretty at the same time... you can like fashion for creative expression and not for just sex appeal. I hope that I always remember to embrace those who are not like yourself and learn from them-- and mostly I certainly hope these lessons are ones I am able to pass down to a daughter of my own someday.

An Avett Brothers kind of day...

The Avett Brothers at Double Decker Festival in 2008

This past weekend I took full advantage of my free time as we approach the Double Decker Festival my life gets crazier and crazier! My countdown to May is officially on.

So, in order to mentally decompress and have a little fun, Mary Straton and I headed down the road to Tupelo, Mississippi for the Avett Brothers concert. It was a fun night of great music and nice to do something a little out of the ordinary! Ohh and before we left Oxford we grabbed some yummy burgers and truffle fries from my favorite dinner spot Snackbar.

I first learned of the Avett Brothers in 2008 when we booked them to play Double Decker and I fell in love with their music immediately. They were also some of the nicest musicians we've had at the fest.

So now that it's Monday (and I'm wishing there had been one more day of the weekend),  I'm listening to the Avett Brothers pandora, and chugging away on some last minute festival details and crossing my fingers that Iron and Wine, Deertick, The Funky Meters, Patterson Hood and Mavis Staples will make this year even more memorable!

my little blog book...

Last week I returned from a conference to find a little package on my desk at work from the ever thoughtful Mary Straton. It was a cute little notebook from J. Crew similar to these.  Mine, however, says  "Blogs I Like and Follow"...

Pretty cute huh? So, what are your favorite blogs that I should make a note of to check out? I'm excited to explore a little and find some new daily reads, as I have to admit I've gotten sort of lazy about exploring all the great sites out there!  Send me your suggestions and favorites!  If I find some good new ones I promise to share.

p.s. You know the best part about the notebook? It is filled with unlined pages! 

Another post about kale...

Disclaimer: I am not turning this into a blog about kale ( Although all posts this week have mentioned kale, I do realize that may not be everyone's most favorite topic).

Above disclaimer in mind, I still had to share this recipe.  My food muse Nishta at Blue Jean Gourmet made me a a pinterest board to help inspire me to cook up all my greens from our CSA ( if you read the Red Jeans post you already knew that).

Well, last night was a transforming moment for me!  I made this...

image and recipe from here.

and it was delightful. Not the "it's good for a leafy green veggie that I don't normally like" kind of good, but the "this is one of the best dinners I've made in a long time kind of good."  The Lewis went back for seconds kind of good.

So, you too should make Kale with Sausage and White Beans and follow the "greens" board.


p.s. In other cooking related news, I also Moroccan White Beans  that were featured on Nishta's blog on a guest post written by my high school classmate Lauren Bernstein who is serving in the peace corp in Morocco with her husband. Their adventures are brave, fascinating and worth reading about on her blog, Life is Calling.

rocking my red jeans...

Yesterday I wore my red jeans to work and felt so spunky all day (well, maybe the hair cut first thing yesterday morning attributed to that fresh feeling too). If we are being honest here, I purchased red jeans on a whim and at a bargain price at my local department store around the holidays to pair with a jingle bell shirt that I wore to a tacky Christmas party with the full intention to never wear them again! Much to my surprise I've pulled them out several times since their holiday debut...

Here are some of my favorite red jean inspiration pics pinterest...

I've found them incredibly easy to match tops with, but if you need a little more inspiration

 try this (also from pinterest) :

p.s. oh and speaking of Pinterest-- if you saw my post on Tuesday about kale and other greens and want some great recipe inspiration, check out the pinterest board that Nishta ( of the wonderfully inspiring Blue Jean Gourmet) created for me full of recipes for those greens. What did we do before Pinterest again?

I made kale chips....

image via smitten kitchen 

true confession: I really dislike a leafy green. The darker and heavier = the more I hate. But since our CSA started back this week and our loot was filled with kale and swiss chard I decided to try again rather than waste fresh veggies. It was much easier last year when Lewis was doing his juice fast-- that really uses up the kale!

I remembered Lauren saying she'd made kale chip and really enjoyed them, so we gave it a whirl. I'll admit, on the first bite I was not impressed but after a few more they were delightfully salty and crispy and certainly scratched my itch for a salty snack.... oh, what I neglected to mention is that we've cut the carbs ( or most of them) out at our house!

as my dad used to say to me as a child, "try it, you'll like it and you'll thank me for it"...


p.s. up next? swiss chard. If you have any suggestions or recipes let me know!

Monday morning miscellany

Would you look at those faces?   That's Minnie Lou and her friend Sippi who has a doggy wheelchair. It's pretty remarkable how well Sippi gets around in it and how Minnie Lou doesn't even notice... It's a good guess I was bribing them with the offer of some type of human food.

I really wish it was still the weekend. We spent a good part of the weekend outside getting ready for our outside re-do which is hopefully starting this week!  We slapped a few tester paint colors on the outside of the house and cleaned out the shed that is getting torn down.  

Also, this weekend marked the start of April which means the end of my sanity for the next 30 days as we approach the Double Decker Arts Festival, so hang with me if the posts are sparse. It has a way of zapping my creative juices. 

What did you do this weekend?

I finally read The Hunger Games

Other possible titles for this post were "I caved" or "How I spent my whole weekend reading 3 books I thought I had no interest in reading"...

So, like almost everyone I know I hit the theaters this weekend to see The Hunger Games movie, but like any good reader, I was not about to see the movie before reading the books. Mary Straton prodded and prodded me until I finally caved and I have to admit I loved the books! Oh, and I read them all in about 3 days time! Maybe I'll blame my lack of blog posts lately on having my nose stuck in a book/ my kindle all weekend.

I was a skeptic at first - I am not really all that info things set in the future, but the story quickly swept me away and I was fired up to go see the girl on fire on the big screen Sunday night.

I'm no movie critic, but as usual, I loved seeing the story come to life on screen, but felt the books were better. This is generally my feeling on books turned movies. The exception to this rule is The Help but that is for another post.

What about you.... have you read them? Did you see the movie?


p.s. for Mary Straton's movie review check our her post on the matter.

BHLDN store in Chicago

As we were out shopping in Chicago we had to stop in the BHLDN store that opened just a few days ago! The dresses were gorgeous and the little details everywhere were a feast for our eyes! It certainly had me wishing it has been an around when I was getting married! 

our train trip to Chicago...

This past weekend 3 of my friends and I headed off for a girls weekend in Chicago. My friend Rochelle and I won the trip at an auction at a conference back in the fall and we gave it to our friends Hayden and Lindsey for Christmas. 

 Hayden used to live in Chicago so she knows all the ropes. What we didn't know was that taking the train might not have been as glamourous and fun as we envisioned! oh well, you live and you learn...guess that is the stuff memories are made of.

We only snapped a few photos ( all of which were on my phone and are not the best quality!) 

 dinner and drinks at Quartino ( my absolute favorite Chicago place )

and we had to squeeze in a little mexican food.... 

although from the documentation all it looks like we did is eat (and we did do our fare share of eating), we did manage to update our wardrobes for spring and spend some hard earned money in Chi town! It is probably my favorite city to visit, and shop it and the company was perfect!

1 Year Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Lewis!  

You keep me on my toes, surprise me often, make me take myself much less seriously and make life really fun! It feels like this year has flown by... and I look forward to many, many more together!

 I love you very much! 

p.s. I just watched our wedding slideshow again and got a little teary! 

last weekend...

Last weekend was one of those great winter ( although it feels like spring) weekends that feels like a weekend is supposed to! It was not hectic, but full with time spent with friends and family and a lot of fun!

I was able to sneak away from work a little early on Friday because my longtime friend Lauren came in town for a visit. We spent a sunny afternoon at the park with her kids and our friend Emelie and her son Knox. It was a sweet time of catching up!

That evening our crew grew by a few men and we cooked out steaks and they chased the little boys (poor Webb isn't in any of the pics I have) around while I stole baby Townes! I'm pretty sure I could have held him for the whole 24 hours they were here!

Although we were sad to see them leave on Saturday morning, I hit the pavement with my friends and co-workers Hayden and Mary Allyn for a 5k! It was a hilly course but we made it in great time ( ignore the clock on the photo- it was for the 1/2 marathoners that started before us!) and felt proud the rest of the day!

Post race Lewis and I soaked up some sun in the front yard with the puppers and then headed to the Square for a little post race lunch (complete with a mimosa for me) on a balcony in downtown Oxford.

     

All in all it was the makings a great weekend, if you ask me!

classroom charts...

I'm over at the Rambling Road blog today sharing about my new obsession... old school house maps and posters. I've snagged this one for my guest bedroom, but we've got some others in our booths! Go check it out...

p.s. sorry for the photo quality, snapped with the trusty iphone! 

Mavis Staples and Wilco Video

This video has me tapping my feet in my office today! Some of these videos of Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Mavis circulated on facebook a few weeks ago, but I found it again when looking for some Mavis Staples videos.  I just love this one though!

Why was I looking for Mavis Staples videos? Well, we announced our Double Decker Festival music line up today (you know, for my real job!)  and I could not be more excited about our headliner, Mavis Staples (oh, and Iron and Wine, Deertick, Charlie Mars, The Funky Meters and lots of other great folks!)

Enjoy some tunes on your Friday.

feelin' valentiney

some flowers from my mister...

and some hearts in my kitchen...

and a few happies for my friends ( yep, those are candles from my sister-in-law amy) 

i'm feeling very valentiney today! 

happy heart day to you! 

domino magazine special edition

whoop! whoop! Yep, that's me hoopin' and hollerin'. Who else can't wait for April 17th? What an exciting surprise....

the big 3-0

Well friends, I officially hit the big 3-0 yesterday. It wasn't marked with any big celebration, as I was battling a cold and feeling a little under the weather!

B.T.C Grocery in Water Valley, Mississippi

Saturday, I did venture out for a fun cooking class with my friend Hayden at the B.T.C Grocery in Water Valley, Mississippi where we learned to make the most delicious artichoke soup ( among other things...) and I  enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Honey Bee Bakery with Lew on Sunday.  Have I ever mentioned that going out for breakfast is one of my most favorite things to do...

His gift of a Kindle was perfectly timed, as I spent a good portion of the weekend on the couch or in bed. And although I never want to see a brick and mortar books stores (and most specifically independent bookstores) close, I'm excited to read on my e-reader too!

To be honest, I can't really decide how I feel about thirty... but it's here so I'm taking the attitude that hopefully the next thirty years will be even better than the first thirty.

Rambling Road Update...

January has been a busy month! A few weeks ago my mom and I headed to Atlanta for a quick buying trip for Rambling Road. We loved getting to visit all the showrooms at market and see what is new, and even squeezed in a quick trip to Scott Antique Market where I picked up several new things for my house (pics to come soon).  Be sure to check out the Rambling Road site to see our new booth space in Sugar Magnolia, we've got about twice as much space and have filled it to the brim with great stuff!

Wishing...

the lovely mary straton smith

Do y'all read Mary Straton's "Wish List Wednesday" posts?! It is one of my favorite reads on Wednesdays as she has a great eye for unique finds and I love seeing what she posts each week.

She even featured my sister-in-law Amy's Etsy creations last week on her Etsy themed post!  If you don't already read them, so check her out!

Want to know my wish today? I wish I were headed to Alt Summit.... I just know it would be major. So inspiring to be around so many creative people (and I feel certain I would be slightly start struck by all my blogger crushes). Oh, maybe someday!

p.s. Did you know Mary Straton convinced me to start this blog? yep, she sure did.

a thank you, a few random thoughts and the civil wars....

First, THANK YOU, thank you, thank you for all the kind comments on the house! I was totally flattered by your responses and it was so fun to hear from people that don't normally comment! Makes this whole blog think feel more like a two way street when I hear back from y'all!

It was a hectic last week and from the looks of it, this one will be about the same. I'm not complaining. You see, last week was one of those work weeks that make me stop and think that  I should not ever complain about my job, because it is really fun! I spent two day in Jackson working and getting a chance to catch up with some "tourism" friends and then spent a few days here in Oxford touring around a film production crew scouting for a potential movie project.  We ate and toured and ate and toured and ate some more and it was really fun! Work projects like that make me get out and experience all the great things about Oxford and remember why we love living in this little town. Now I'm crossing my fingers it comes to here.

This week I am headed to Memphis to see  The Civil Wars in concert with Mary Straton and I am so excited! Stay tuned for a recap...

p.s. you might remember I posted about The Civil Wars here before.

how about that house tour?

Ok, here it is! It's been promised and promised since we moved in in August, but I finally got it together to take some photos and gather the before shots. They don't all match up in exactly, but it will give you a good idea of the before. Also, the before photos must have been reduced at some point because that is as big as I can get them.  So, here we go... come on in.

Kitchen:

We owe Courtney Jones all the credit for helping us design the kitchen layout. 

Kitchen before...

kitchen after... they installed a tile backsplash today! i'll post updated photos soon.

Mudroom/ Butler's Pantry:

Before, this was the end of the house. The laundry and pantry were located in this hallway. We moved the laundry into a storage room, incorporating it into the house.

before...

This picture shows where the washer/dryer would have been. The cabinets in the before picture were on this wall.

after...

Across from the old washer/ dryer location there were these cabinets. We left them, painting them to match our trim and use them as a pantry.

Storage Room/ Laundry Room :

This room was a storage room off the carport that backed up the back hallway. We switched the laundry hook ups and cut a doorway from the hall to incorporate this into our house. 

before...

after...

The washing machine is across from this desk which runs the length of the room, providing a seat for each of us and some storage above. 

Entry :

before...

after...

Den:

The wall that is on the right side of the image below is now gone and the den/ kitchen are basically one large open space.

before...

after...

Dining Area:

before...

after.

I talked about our decision to use a garage door in place of the sliding doors in this post, if you are curious.

Hallway:

before.

The after image is taken from the opposite direction ( looking down the hall from the main living space). For some perspective, the first door on the left is the hall bath.  Across from the hall bath is the front bedroom. The next door on the left is the linen closet, and the last door in the left is the master bedroom. The last door on the right is the back bedroom.

after...

Hall Bath:

before...

after... ( fyi that shower curtain is about to be replaced) 

You may remember that I blogged about our bathroom tile, and the tin in the shower in this post. You can also see the sinks and floor tile in that same post.

Front Bedroom:

before...

after...

 Back Bedroom:

before...

after...

Our Bedroom:

before...

after...

Master Bath:

before...

after....

So there it is! We are working on some plans for the exterior improvement and the screen porch addition and hope to start on those sometime soon! It was a lot of work, and somethings turned out better than we expected ( garage door, hall bath) and some might not be our dream, but are working for now ( laundry room).

 At the end of the day, it is our home and we love it not only for all the hard work we've poured into it, but also because we share it with each other ( and of course minnie lou) because after all "home is where your heart is"... but we'd be lying if we didn't say we love how it turned out!