family room

we moved into our townhouse in fall of 2009 from a two-bedroom 650-square-foot apartment. we had a few furniture pieces but many of them were dwarfed by the bigger rooms in our new place. my original tactic for decorating was "tackle the whole house now" since i wanted every room pieced together perfectly right away! you know that feeling. so i shopped at my favorite stores and looked for good deals, only to get home and not actually have a place for things.
i couldn't seem to make the magic happen.

so... enter kirsten this spring. i was hesitant to hire someone because i didn't want to spend money on ideas and a decorator, and then not be able to buy the furniture and accessories. one of the great things about kirsten is that she let me have as much control as i wanted. the more i handled, the less she charged.

she helped a lot at the beginning. she sent 50 fabric images to me and had me rank them, we talked about overall style, decided on the room layout, and how to add curtains--all the big things. once a few of the fabrics were selected and we had layouts for the rooms, i went to work and found multiples of furniture pieces for the room. i would throw a bunch of links in an email, like five coffee tables i liked for instance, and she helped me narrow it down and explained why one or two were better than the others.

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photography by jessica kettle

one of my favorite things about the room is how it lights up at night. the lamps warm the room and make it feel so cozy!

i absolutely love what kirsten helped me create and i would use her again in a second! the biggest headache? the picture wall. number of returned items? one, a solid blue rug that was too green. total months to complete? 6. best bargain? the wall clock. biggest splurge? the coffee table.

here is a source list if you're interested:

rugs | williams-sonoma home
ikat chairs | csn stores
couch | ashley furniture
coffee table | crate & barrel
table lamps | homegoods
side tables | kohl's
mirror table | west elm
frames & books | thrifted
tv stand | target
floor lamp | amazon, robert abbey
gold poufs | ebay
wallpaper | walls, veneto: printers guild production
clock | ebay
curtains | wilmington

randomonium

things are feeling very black and white as my days get busier with accounting during this insane-work-all-hours-of-the-night season. i have so many lovely and not so lovely thoughts to share. it's been too long.

february is not my month for sticking to new year's resolutions. i know i'm only one month out, whoops! i baked a batch of bread and forgot to add the salt. it wasn't until a day later when i made a toast that i noticed the lack of salt. so now i salt my bread before eating it and think to myself awesome job genious. ahh - it would have been so simple to add a teaspoon of salt to the dough before i cooked it. i told you i joined book club. i've made it to just one meeting and read a total of one chapter in one book. eeek! this is not supposed to be happening.

kristyne is living with us and she is my saving grace. it is so fantastic to have someone around the house at night while the mr. works long hours. we cook and eat dinner together, laugh at our favorite reality tv shows, and chat about boys/work/school. our routine is really so awesome. bless her.

my eyes are healed and i feel like i've witnessed a miracle every morning when i reach for my glasses and realize i don't need them anymore. the doctor says i see 20/20 in each eye individually and he's hopeful my eyes improve a little from there. laser eyes rock.

saturday morning at the early hour of 5 am, i was driving a car of young women to the temple. feeling a little delirious as anyone does at that insane hour, i saw the empty and dark state street as my own highway to the temple. the girls and i were chit chatting while music played quietly behind our voices when BAM! we passed a hidden police car facing state street. i held my breath for five seconds while i watched the car inch onto my highway. sure enough he flipped on his lights and my heart sunk. 44 in a 35, he told me while requesting my license and registration. i obliged and told him i was indeed going too fast. he asked where a group of girls in dresses were going at such an early hour, and i didn't know how to respond. i think i actually said, "we're going downtown (pause - thinking do i play the temple card) to the temple." he walked back to his car with flashing lights and returned only to hand over my license and registration and tell me the speed limit from where i was all the way to the temple was 35. i rolled up my window feeling giddy (good job playing the temple card - someone was looking out for us) and made the girls promise me no testimonies in sacrament about the time sis. lish was speeding and got pulled over.

my list of things to do once i plow through busy season continues to grow. i'm gearing up for another paint job and think my bedroom might be the place. between a fresh coat of colored paint and some bold patterned draperies (maybe something like these or these), i think it would make a fantastic post-busy-season recovery room. i'm also so ancy to create a little flower bed near my patio, but i suppose it will be covered in snow for another month or so.

happy tuesday and you're a champ if you read more than a paragraph of my ramblings.

weekend recap and a suit story

jared wore his suit to church today!
background on that: he looks extra handsome in his suit, and
he usually opts for a more comfortable dress pant with shirt sans jacket
despite my weekly efforts and pleas.
we made it all the way to church, walked into the chapel and found a seat,
and another 15 minutes passed before i realized my handsome church date was wearing a really attractive suit!
i looked over and whispered to him words of praise.

now we're bundled up on the couch listening to music. not too much on our minds, and
a yummy japanese dinner cooked by the neighbors will be served in an hour.

this time of year is so hard for me. our jobs roar like a wild fire and demand so much of us.
life loses balance so quickly, and i turn into a stress bomb ticking and tocking day and night.
fortunately, the mr. stays composed and handles it like a champ.
it is the profession we chose (why?), and in a sense it does get easier and we get more accustomed to the lifestyle, but it's still my least favorite season of the year.
i rely so much on weekends to fulfill the weekday void and lift me up.

this weekend really was so lovely.

friday night we shopped gateway and spoiled ourselves with cafe rio.
saturday i painted my nails red, rolled MAC's "russian red" on my lips and
headed outside with sparkly heart props to take valentine pictures with the mr.
more on that later, but here's a quick preview.

and today i was surprised with my favorite suit-wearing date at church.

yellow & navy

shannon and i threw a baby shower for my neighbor valerie.
valerie and i work together in young womens and have been friends since i moved in fall of '09.
she's a quick walk from my front door when i am baking goodies
and realize i need just one more egg.
you know that friend.

pregnant women in my neighborhood are popping up as fast as flowers in springtime.
seriously i'm quickly feeling outnumbered.
i've been to so many showers and bought too many carter's outfits that all look the same
so i've started giving handmade gifts.
i sewed a set of bibs for valerie and paired them with some baby spoons.
i oo-ed and aw-ed over them for the entire two weeks i spent sewing them.

and now, the yellow & navy shower:

shannon + valerie || me + valerie:

we served soups & salad with shannon's yummy sour dough bread
& my daily cracked light wheat bread:

presents galore:

the ladies:

lemon bar favors to go along with the yellow & navy theme:

weekend recap

friday night the mr. and i went out on a date. he was in a great mood from finishing a really busy week at work and golfing friday with his buddies & co-workers (they are one in the same). i took friday off and went to the new target in slc (bless you) and did a whole lot of nothing. it was beautiful. in the afternoon i found a new lemon chicken & pasta recipe and got to it. it's my favorite to cook dinner for jared when i have the day off or i'm at home working. i lurve it! turns out the recipe was nasty or i didn't know how to cook it (could be the latter). i was bummed. jared used 50 shakes of salt and pepper and assured me it was good as he finished off his plate (bless him).

the mr. had been wanting to see the social network so after dinner we drove to gateway and buried ourselves in the seats at the theatre. i wasn't not wanting to go, but i made sure we saw life as we know it last weekend before seeing the facebook movie and i've pushed for lots of other dates in the last three weeks since the movie came out. bad idea! i should have listened to him on this one. the social network was nothing short of fascinating! the story behind the harvard student mark zuckerberg and the invention of facebook blew my mind.

the rest of the weekend was history. we ate chocolate molten cakes with ice cream and raspberries and mom made a deliciously large turkey dinner sunday, 10-courses or something. and we mixed up another batch of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies too. if we keep going like this, we will need to roll ourselves to holiday parties! we watched football and movies and cuddled on the couch. i thought about what i could give to jared for our 3-year anniversary next week. and i even started thinking about christmas gifts. i know i'm about 2 months too early, but what's a girl to do.

and here we are on another monday morning... i wish you a lovely week!

mi famiglia

we celebrated mom's birthday in august and surprised her with this photo shoot.

us chipman's don't get the camera out a lot, and so it's pretty remarkable to have a family picture with me and zach as marrieds and cole wearing a size bigger than 2T. seriously, our last shoot was when i was in high school. we we're due to get dressed up and in front of the lens.

here are my favorites from the shoot.

a black tie event

six months out of the year my job can be gruesome and exhausting and require long hours and can be easy to complain about. (like i just did.) but the other six months of the year can be delightful and energizing with plenty of vacations and downtime. we're in a stretch of those good months now.

i got a double holiday this last weekend, so 4 days to spend sleeping in without my computer in tow. then i got back to work on tuesday to spend the rest of the week... one afternoon at the zoo, a half day at the partner's country club, and one evening at a black tie event.


the black tie event is one of the most impressive and motivating evenings i've experienced. ernst & young sponsored the program--"entrepreneur of the year"--to recognize the bright minds behind successful local businesses. it was held at the salt palace and started as a cocktail hour, and then turned into dinner and an awards ceremony with a structure like the grammy awards (take me seriously here) only slc business style. bruce lindsay mc'd the event, and as winners from each of the categories were announced they walked up to the stage to receive a trophy and give a quick hoorah about the company and their background. so fascinating!


todd pedersen from apx alarm won in a category, and told about being one of 10 kids growing up and being sent to a boy's school. he said that nobody thought he would live to 18. another winner talked about convincing her parent's to mortgage their home so she could get capital to start her business. i sat in fascination.

mr. & mrs. chipman

my brother is married! it feels so weird writing this. the lovebirds tied the knot saturday at the mt. timpanogos temple with family and friends. they spent the day smooching and lost in each other's words. the two opted out of the traditional reception for a formal dinner at chef's table in provo.

grandma toasted to a beautiful life of happiness
i told haley the "10 things she should know about zach" & haley's brothers did the same for zach
dad's welcomed the spouses to the fam
zach stood to thank everyone for coming and professed his love for his new wife

ahhh... all of the mooshy, gooshy love stories we tell. i love my brother and new sis.

lovebirds

zach + haley
01.16.10

my brother proposed to haley last weekend, and i'm pretty happy for both of them! they make the perfect pair! they are totally in love and oblivious to everyone around them, and they talk and look at each other and smile just like 2 lovebirds. oh, and this puts another girl in the family. YEA!

congrats!

come visit me please

last week we packed our belongings and made the long awaited move to salt lake. between the budget truck, lots of family, and our new neighbors, our move was relatively pain free and all over within a day. WOO! and now we have a new place to call home and work together to feel like our perfect little house.


we're still a bit buried in boxes, but we're getting settled in. on our first night sleeping at our new place, we finished watching a boise state game late and then started looking for a box with our bathroom goods--toothpaste, contact solution, face wash, etc. after a long failed search, we decided to forget the bathroom box and just put our tired feet to rest. jared turned the lights out, and we had about 15 street lights and building lights glaring through our uncovered windows right into our eyes. luckily we were both tired enough that it didn't matter, but you forget about the little things like window coverings and living in the city with lights.

and since our first night i've counted our windows--27 large see-through glass windows for the whole world to creepily watch my every move. not cool! i get really weirded out at night. we've taped some blankets and sheets to some windows for now, but something a little more long term is in the making.


we totally survived a really long day. a huge thank you to everyone who helped! and now... we just need some visitors. mHm.