Nautical Valentines

Octopus from Paper Source

Whale from Paper Source

Whales from Night Owl Paper Goods

Seahorse love from Etsy

4 different nautical designs from Etsy

Float my boat from Etsy

Float my boat (with hearts) from Etsy

I used these a few years ago-so cute!

Seahorse photo valentines from Etsy (this seller also has starfish, whales, and octopus designs)

The love boat from Etsy

Love you a ton whale from Etsy

Lobster from Etsy

Anchor love from Etsy

Dreamboat from Etsy

Lobster from Sugar Paper (nautical and a Friends reference)

Nautical Photo of the week: Baby Shower!

This week I am featuring the nautical baby shower of reader Allie. Allie lives in Wisconsin right now, so she couldn't be farther from the coast BUT she still loves all things nautical and coastal!

Nautical diaper cake!

I love this cake! How cute is the little anchor on the sail?

There are little crabs in the "sand" cups

Mama to be!

Part of the "Ahoy! It's a Boy!" banner

Beacon Mills: For Your Nautical Kitchen

I absolutely love finding unique nautical products to share with my readers. Patrick from Beacon Mills emailed me about the nautical salt, pepper, and spice mills he makes (by hand!) for the nautical kitchen. Each one is hand crafted and totally unique. You can shop Beacon Mills on Etsy

Lighthouse Pepper Mill and Beacon Salt Shaker Combo Set

Lighthouse Pepper Mill of RedHeart and Holly

Lighthouse Sea Salt Shaker in Black Walnut

Lighthouse Pepper Mill

Lighthouse Tea Light Holder

Vineyard Vines nautical new arrivals

Anchor sweater

Doesn't this just scream nautical by nature?

And there's a matching dress for little girls!

Anchor tunic

Pool coverup, cute with shorts, dress it up with jeans-the possibilities are endless!

Striped dress

Love love love the colors in this dress

Whale shorts

I have these in navy with pink whales but I think I need the pink now too ;)

Anchor clutch

Regatta headband

Weekend Recap

Today I am doing absolutely nothing. I am still in my pajamas and glasses. I haven't showered. I am relaxing, blogging, watching tv. After two busy weeks and a fun filled Friday and Saturday I am ready to have a lazy Sunday.

Thursday night I spent the night at my sister's. We watched Easy A (why can't Penn Badgley always look that good?!) and I got to see Baby Nautical. I had this urge to check my email in the middle of the night. I did and saw that I had an email from my boss. She was at the ER with a broken arm! Yikes! Friday was rough. It's going to be an adjustment for everyone-you don't realize how much you do with both arms/hands. H is pretty independent at least.

Friday night I went on a blind date. I decided that 2013 I am going to include more about my personal life on the blog. I won't be doing weekend recaps every week but I am aiming to do at least one a month now. After my date I had drinks with two nanny friends at Bar Lubitsch in West Hollywood.

Saturday I slept in (finally) and then ran errands all day. I caught up on Pretty Little Liars, answered emails, and drafted some blog posts.

Saturday night was Brooke's birthday dinner at Chin Chin in Brentwood. Leeann, A, and I carpooled.

After dinner we went for drinks at the Wellesbourne. Fun fact: the Italian restaurant that my family went to for years and years (30+ I think), Anna's, closed and the Wellesbourne replaced it. I had been curious to see this bar because it totally transformed the space. The bar was PACKED. It took forever to get drinks but I thought it was a pretty fun bar. The bartenders all wear bow ties so bonus points for that!

My anchor neckalce c/o Posh Locket (I'll be doing a separate post on Posh Locket later)

I can't believe I didn't get a photo with Brooke, the birthday girl! Hopefully she will do a recap over at her blog.

How are your weekend? 

 Did you see any movies? Start decorating for Valentine's Day?

Busy Busy

I feel like I blinked and January was almost over! February 1 is next week. Soon it will be time for H's 3rd birthday (!), Valentine's Day, my Oscar party, and Baby Nautical's 1st birthday (time is flying by). Between the preschool search and potty training work is crazy (in a good way). I think I have read the book Everyone Poops a million times now.

New shows are starting up and I am of course making my DVR work overtime. What new shows are you watching? I have recorded the Carrie Diaries, Deception, and the Following. I can't wait for Cult next week. I miss Matt Davis on the Vampire Diaries.

And this time of year everyone is debuting their spring and summer lines. I am seeing nautical everywhere! I can't keep up! If you see something nautical don't forget to email me and I will feature your find in my reader submission post.

I had Monday off (a pleasant surprise) and I keep getting my days mixed up. I thought today was Friday. This weekend I will be catching up on tv and hopefully relaxing a bit!

Next week I will be back to my regular blogging schedule (for once I didn't schedule posts in advance this week) with my valentine's day decorations, a nautical baby shower, and nautical valentines from Etsy

Favorites

Have you browsed my Favorites page? I started it when I first began blogging to keep track of websites I liked and it has grown and grown! I finally went through each and every link a few weeks ago to make sure the link was working, the site was still in business, etc. They are NOT sponsors. These are sites I shop (with my own money) and I want to recommend them to my readers.

Current categories include:
Monogrammed gifts, clothing and accessories
Preppy Clothing and Accessories
Stationery
Home/furniture/decorating
Wedding

What other categories would you like to see?

Jac o' lyn Murphy

Today I am featuring Jac o'lyn Murphy, custom paper goods and accessories from Alexis of Jac o'lyn Murphy (the shop name comes from combining her children's names). You can find Alexis' blog here and Etsy shop here

Mini wooden sailboats "ahoy it's a boy!"

Personalized sailboat set

Water bottle labels

Mermaid cupcake toppers (available in other colors)

Sailor bracelets (Alexis is based out of San Francisco so she uses these colors for her SF teams. If you want different colors message her for custom bracelets)

America's Cup

My Inauguration Experience 4 Years Ago

I thought it would be fun to repost the photos I shared 4 years ago (seems like just yesterday!). At the time I was interning at the federal courthouse (Prettyman Courthouse) which was right on the parade route. I, along with 3 friends, slept overnight in the cafeteria to secure our amazing (inside) viewing spot. It was especially cold that year so we were very lucky to be inside. It was an experience I will never forget!

Here's what I wrote 4 years ago!

And so it begins (I think these first few photos were taken around 1 AM)

I took this photo from the street (looking inside at K and M):

One of my favorite photos (do you see the Capitol in the background??):

Sunrise:

J trying to sleep in the cafeteria:

8 AM the crowds start pouring in!

Gosh it was nice being all warm inside ;)

This is when they found a suspicious bag. Within seconds they had cleared the area:

Oops someone just apparently didn't notice dropping their PURSE!

Snipers on the roof!

I had a strange fascination with the crazy amount of portapotties:

My fav uniform:

Bush leaving:

Huge thanks to K for letting me borrow these 2 photos. I decided to take videos of the actual parade/procession and borrow K's amazing photos.

BIDEN! (click to make the photo bigger)

Obama and family (click to make the photo bigger)

(Obama is on the left, his wife to the right, and the girls are riding backwards-Malia is waving on the left)