Groupie.

"The Poo".

This started off as a practical joke on my brother in law. I found this dog poop dog toy in the Target dollar bin and couldn't resist. After the prank was over, Buddy took ownership of the dog toy. I'm pretty sure its not BPA free.

We call this thing "the poo." A friend was over the other day and Buddy was barking at her. She asked what he wanted and I told her he wanted her to throw the poo. "The poo?".

These are common statements in our house:

"Buddy, go get your poo"
"Where is the poo?"
"Can you throw the poo for Buddy?"

You get the picture. So if you are over at our house, don't be alarmed if we start talking about the poo. Its probably not surprising that Rob and my "pet names" were Poo long before the poo existed.

Entryway.

Our entryway had been pretty much empty for 2.5 years. I wanted an entryway table badly but there were other items that were higher priority so we went without for awhile. I would go online and check websites for entryway tables. I found some I liked but I didn't love the price so it was easy to hold out.

After I stopped working, I started nesting and was obsessed with making the entryway look like someone actually lived in the home. As luck would have it, I found THE entryway table at Pier 1. I was in love. It wasn't something I had in mind but when I saw it, I was in love. I was in love except for the huge crack in the table. They offered it to me for half off. I thought about it for a few days - maybe I could put a runner on it but even at half off, it was still a decent amount of money. I decided I wanted a new one that had no cracks in it. After I made that decision, I found out it was sold out at all my local stores and they were not making any orders because they were back logged or something at the warehouse. I called Santa Cruz and they had 1 in the back - a bit of a drive but it was worth it. I love it so.

Its hefty and solid. Delicious. I was then on a mission to get "stuff" to put on it. I fell in love with a blue vase at Pier 1 and wanted to do something with it. My mom suggested a local florist (Stems). I went in there and loved her work and she made that arrangement for us. The mirror was a Home Goods find. I then wanted something on the other side that was sort of antique/older since the vase and table are so modern. I found that wooden box at Home Goods, I had the little picture frame already (there is a picture of Buddy is in the frame - I'm not quite sure what to put in the frame) and we already had the little candle holder.

I wanted to create some height and while at my in-laws saw some really old books that I thought would look neat. When I was at my mom's I asked her if she had any old books that I can use on the table. I didn't care what the books were, just that they were old looking.

She went to her living room and opened a cabinet and said "what about these?" She opened this book up

How cool is that? I wanted an old looking book and my mom randomly selected one that was given to my grandpa in 1931 by his teacher for perfect attendance that he then gave to me 1985. It just makes it much more special than having some random old book there. So neat, it was meant to be!

I also got this bench from Home Goods so people can take off their shoes and not have to sit on the stairs or perform a balancing act. I love the green, blue and chocolate brown paisley print. The blue ties in with the vase quite well.

The entryway is probably my favorite spaces in our house. I'm not sure what the next project is, I think we're going to stay steady for awhile. I'd love to paint the staircase a dark brown but we got a quote and it was definately not in the budget. Maybe some day!

Fun at Casa de Fruta.

We headed to Casa de Fruta (last week?) with my sister and the girls. I had never been there before. There isn't too much to do but it is cheap. They had a good deli, restaurant and an awesome sweets shop called Casa de Sweets. Just the scent that is in there will bring you back to when you were young. It was pretty great. I'd like to go with Rob sometime, its only a half hour away. Good times! 

 On the carousel - a little blurry and he almost fell off while I took this....oopsie!

S&D Fall Collection

Stella & Dot released their Fall collection on Thursday and it did not disappoint. I know you are probably thinking "FALL?!" we just got started with the summer season! Even though I'm loving the Spring/Summer line, I'm so excited about Fall! I love the Fall season and love holiday parties.

I ordered about 12-14 (can't remember!) pieces. Here are the ones I knew I HAD to have. Love these!

I should be getting them on Tuesday, just in time for some upcoming trunk shows. I'm also getting out of my comfort zone and approached some local businesses and am thrilled to be involved in some upcoming events. So fun! Happy Spring, Summer & Fall to you all!

4th of July Weekend

On Saturday I had my Stella & Dot launch party and it was a huge success! Since it was my launch party, I acted as the hostess so I received the hostess benefits on top of my commission.  Its a good thing because I really needed to get more jewelry for my display. My sponsor loaned me her jewelry for my launch but now I'm on my own for my upcoming trunk shows. I put in a big order yesterday and will put another order in tomorrow when the Fall line is available. I can't wait to see it! I know it will be available at 3:00 PST for stylists to order and I'm assuming you can view it at that time too. You can check it out at www.stelladot.com/alyssawagner

Then on Sunday, we headed to Aptos for some 4th of July fun and returned yesterday.