j.crew blogger event

last week i was invited to a fall preview of the newly remodeled j.crew store on the country club plaza hosted by michelle of Second Street East.  it was an event for local bloggers to take a sneak peek at the new trends for fall and snatch up some wardrobe staples for the cooler months ahead.  and seriously, with this heat, anything that makes fall weather seem like more of a possibility is alright by me.

now let's get a few things straight here people.  i love fall.  i love fashion.  i love fall fashion.  and i love me some j.crew.  i get unreasonably excited about clothing - especially when we can begin discussing outfits that pair well with my other fall time obsession: boots.

but we can get into that therapy session at another time...

some of the trends that are carrying over into the fall that i will be sporting include polka dots, neon & chambray.  in addition, there were some great examples of looks i love on other people, but can't seem to pull off for myself including: brightly colored cords & peplum tops.  i can however get on board with all the fancy jewels that accompanied several of the looks on display.

here is a quick look at what j.crew has in store for the cooler months plus some of the lovely kc bloggers taking part in the fun:

me with the lovely ladies of edit kc

the fabulous emmy ray of paper muse press 

and of course no event is complete without delicious food so local favorite gram & dun was on hand to ensure no fashionista was shopping on an empty stomach.

if you haven't been to gram & dun you should check them out.  they are the relatively new kids on the block occupying the most primo patio property on the plaza.  (the old baja 600 for all you old schoolers).  shout out to one of our go-to faves for local dining! and thanks to j.crew for welcoming local bloggers to this private event!

are you a j.crew fan?  what fall trends are you most excited about this year?  and since we are talking about cooler weather, where is your go-to place for the best patio dining?

more fashion fun? click here to see a daily rundown of my favorite looks from the past year.

national picnic month

did you know that july is national picnic month?  i really didn't either, but i figured it out this past mothers' day when we took part in a picnic project at the nelson atkins museum of art.  you might remember from an earlier post that it looked a little something like this:

in celebration of national picnic month, the nelson invited the community back once the project was complete, to help create the world's largest picnic on their grounds.  so we packed a lunch from one of our favorite spots - the mixx- and headed there to locate our blanket, dine with the city, check out some of the outdoor exhibits, do a little crafting and watch the always adorable stone lion puppets put on a show:

i don't really know how happenin' the 'burbs are, but i can attest that living in the city and within walking distance to places like the nelson is among the top reasons we love kc and love our 'hood.  there is never a shortage of quality entertainment and educational opportunities that the nelson - and others - offer nearby.  best of all, many of the events are almost always free.  it was an absolute scorcher of a day but totally worth checking out.

have you been to the nelson lately?  tell us about it.  we'd like to hear what you love about it and what some of your other favorite places are in kansas city!

the secret room

if you frequent our blog and happened to catch our little feature in ink magazine earlier this month, (the same one that reappeared sunday in the kansas city star), you may have noticed several projects around the house that we have yet to highlight.  because of the timing of things, the reveal on many of these projects happened before we had a chance to detail them for you... so we thought we would go back in time a little and talk about a few of them.

first up:   alex's secret room.  we started talking about the facelift that was happening in this post, but didn't go into a lot of details.  if you caught that post and guessed that we were working on the little closet under the stairs - you were correct!

now, let's get one thing out of the way:  we feel really bad about how long it took us to get to this project.  mainly because we eyed this little nook as the perfect playroom/secret hideaway nearly three years ago when we bought the house and alex was quite a bit shorter.  we knew that with a few hours work we could turn it into a pretty kick-ass clubhouse for people under 4 foot tall.

since then, it has mainly served as the space in the house where all vacuums, outdoor toys, winter coats and other cold weather paraphernalia go to hibernate.  but we finally got our act together and made something happen in this virtually unused-for-anything-awesome space.

here is a quick look at the before:

and the difference a little paint, some fluffy carpet, some repurposed paper decor and a few adorbs details can make:

i mean, winter coats and roller skates, you're cool and all, but you do not deserve a space this rad.  i would have eaten every last vegetable on my plate and thought twice about cutting down the neighbor's rose bush to make a parade float - had there been any chance of attaining a secret hideout like this when i was seven. 

it's the perfect spot for reading, chalk-boarding and dreaming up all the things we want to be when we grow up.  it's also another testament to the simplicity and power of a little paint.  paint people - you gotta try it.  it is the easiest and most affordable way to transform a room, a space or a piece of furniture.  

the secret is out.  she loves it.  we love it.  and we're glad we finally got around to making it complete.

did you have a secret hideout when you were a kid?  tell us about it...

feed me: the classic cookie

if you haven't been to the classic cookie in waldo for brunch yet, you're crazy and totally missing out.
if you haven't been to the classic cookie for brunch and then selfishly convinced someone in your party to order off the lunch menu - for the free basket of muffins & cookies that comes with lunch- then you're super crazy and i'm not sure i can ever dine out with you.

seriously, it's adorable - in a restaurant-y kind of way.  i wake up on sundays now and all i can think about is coffee and a waffle.  check out the classic cookie and order my personal fave - the belgian waffle (with fruit!) and you can thank me later.  with cookies.  or muffins.  or waffles.  
whatever - i'm not picky. 

see more of our favorite local spots to dine here and read some restaurant etiquette tips from local station kcur here.

blogger events

a couple of weeks ago, i attended my first ever kc blogger meetup event.  it involved saks off fifth, free $25 gift certificates, food, sangria & local kansas city bloggers.  

everything about it sounded fantastic, and then i got there and this insane yellow maxi skirt practically jumped off the rack and into my arms slapping me silly with markdown after markdown and i finally agreed to bring her home with me.  it was love at first twirl around the fitting room. 

(find a similar one here, here & here)

it was my first blogger event and actually the first time i've been to a saks off fifth - i thought it was a great opportunity to meet other area bloggers and shop, of course.

the next event is this sunday at Madewell (!!!) followed by a private fall sneak peek event at J.Crew (double !!!) later this month.  and just like that, blogging has become a lot more interesting... and expensive.

you don't have to be a blogger to take part in the Madewell event - it is open to the public.  if you're in the area, join us on sunday at Madewell - and if you see me twirling around the fitting room, come say hi!

special thanks to the kc blogger meetup group for including me in on the fun! xoxo

ink magazine

a couple of days after the psa was shot in our home (more on that here), we sprang into action completing several house projects that had been put on hold because of it and because of, well, life in general.  we had good reason to get some things done - a date with ink magazine was just a week away. 

the timing was perfect.  the reporter and photog were in and out of the house in a little over an hour and two weeks later - on the morning of our one year wedding anniversary - our article hit newsstands around town and on the web. 

below are a few shots from the spread.  but you can check out the entire interview and see all the awesome pics they took here.  shout out to @Sarah_Gish & @kcjennhack of ink magazine / the kansas city star. 

we thought the piece turned out great and hope you like it too.  you may even notice several projects we completed last summer (the third floor!) that we haven't yet discussed on the blog - so stay tuned.  we'll be back with updates on some of those soon.

we've come a long ways since the beginning - take a look at the before & in progress pictures here. 

photos from ink kc magazine.  see more pics and the interview by clicking here.