April Favorites

Here's a few of my favorite items from April that i've found myself constantly reaching for and absolutely loving.

^ Steve Madden Ballet Flats (& similar here) - I got these as a Christmas present and have been WAITING to wear them (which i've done all month as you can tell) I love the color of the leather, the cute stud details and bonus, they are so comfortable!

^ Floral Print Scarf - (similar here) - I love accessorizing with scarves, and this is the perfect piece to transition from winter to spring. It's also super versatile and has hints of mint :)

^ Loft striped shirt - I got this adorable tee on clearance for $11 at Loft. Surprisingly I love the bright yellow and neutral stripes, and the cute zipper detail in the back. This is quickly becoming my favorite shirt to wear to work.

^ Origins charcoal face mask - I desperately needed a face mask that would help clear up my skin and this fit the bill. It dries super fast (like less than 5 minutes fast, score!) and left my skin feeling ah-mazing.

^ Washi Tape (here & here) I jumped feet first into the washi tape craze and I love it! It is such a fun way to dress up packages, letters, and just about anything. I may also have a DIY Washi tape magnet plan in the works as well...

^ Vaseline Cocoa Butter Lip Balm -  This is something that I bought on a whim while at the store and I am OBSESSED with it! I have never found anything that makes my lips feel so soft. I've also found that I don't need to apply it as often as other lip balms either.

^Elf Shine Eraser - Best $1 ever spent. In this weird warm/cold weather thing going on my face has been going back and forth between dry and oily, so this is the perfect thing to throw in my bag and use to blot away shine.

Happy Monday!

Happy Monday! To help liven up the start of a new week, I decided to post a few things that i've had my eye on.

West Elm Owl Mug// Stella & Dot on the Mark Necklace // B&W Travel Set // Kate Spade Saturday Wallet

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How about you? Anything that you've been craving?

Office Filing Cabinet DIY

So a few posts back I mentioned that I was working on a little DIY project to change our bold little office filing cabinet into something that looked a little more modern (and better fit into my new color scheme)

Here's what you'll need: 

^ 2 cans of interior/exterior primer - I chose Valspar brand.

^ 2 cans of whatever color spray paint you'd like - I chose Valspar Color Radiance in Mirage
*While my mint spray paint had primer in it, I recommend taking the time to use primer beforehand (especially when covering over a dark color like I was)

^ A well ventilated area 

While I had an area set up and the spray paint ready to go, I decided to tackle a few other items. I quickly painted a few hinges so that all of our doors match, and iron candle holders for our patio area. There's nothing like multi tasking...

I decided not to paint the inside of the cabinet (why bother, no one will see it, why put more strain on my finger) or paint the inside of the drawers. I'm planning on lining them with a fun and funky patterned paper eventually - but for now, they'll stay red.

Follow the directions on the spray paint - I allowed about 10 minutes in between each coat of primer and the mint paint. And about an hour in between the primer and the mint. I also allowed about 3 hours before I brought it inside. Even though the top may feel dry, it can still be a bit tacky so I waited a full day before putting the hardware back on, filling the drawers and putting items on top of it.

Andddd.. here's the final product! Ta-Da! I think the light color gives it a much more modern look and is perfectly in line with the mint trend (which i'm obsessed with) An awesome makeover for about $12!

Happy Saturday!

Weekly Inspiration

I have a thing for motivational and inspirational quotes - they are plastered all over my office wall, in frames throughout my home and the background on my laptop. They help me remember whats important, help motivate me, and just generally make me feel better about life.

So i'm thinking as a weekly series i'll post my favorite inspiration of the week :)

Birchbox Limited Edition Home: From the Garden Review

I had a Birchbox subscription for a few months and while I still love getting monthly subscription boxes (I'm still subscribed to Julep!) I had to cancel my Birchbox awhile ago because I had more beauty product samples then I knew what to do with, and even though it is only $10/month, I was getting major anxiety about spending the money because I had no idea what I was getting.

Enter.....Birchbox limited edition boxes! They released their new home collection box full of goodies to help welcome spring, and because I could see what I was getting before I ordered, I was 100% on board. It cost $32 which is definitely more than their usual monthly box, but you are getting full sized items that are worth about $89, so for me, it was a no brainer.

Below is a breakdown of a few items that I LOVED getting in this box and will absolutely get use out of:

^The Birchbox shopping list notepad - I've already used it to plan out my grocery lists :)
^ An adorable Core Radish knife - this will automatically make me smile while i'm prepping our fresh spring and summer veggies for dinner.
^ A LAFCO candle - This was available in three scents (I got fig) and while I was hoping for the mint scent, this will make the perfect addition to our guest bedroom dresser. It even has a cute book of matches attached to the top!
^ A reusable Baggu bag  (I got 'Papaya')  - Again, this was available in multiple colors and I was hoping for a printed bag, but this will be perfect to throw in my bag when i'm heading over to my town's local farmers market.
^ Tocca hand cream - This is truly the gem of the box and the biggest bang for your buck (retail for this is $20 by itself.) I got the 'Cleopatra' scent which is a super light grapefruit/cucumber smell. This is absolutely perfect to keep on the windowsill over our sink to encourage me to moisturize my hands :)

^ Sarabeths baby jars of jam (I got Strawberry Raspberry + Peach Apricot) - Pat will love for his english muffins in the morning, and the baby jars are so easy to transport.
^ Also included in the box was grow me mini herbs set & L'occitane Eau De Toilette fragrance which will be given away to friends and family.

Overall, I give this box a huge thumbs up. What I received for the price point is phenomenal. I will definitely be keeping my eye out for other limited edition Birchbox boxes.

My heart will always be in Boston

                    

I've recently moved to D.C. from Boston where I went to college and lived for almost 8 years. It was time for Pat and I to relocate and start our adult lives where jobs were in our fields - I don't regret moving here at all. It just doesn't feel like home quite yet. So after hearing about the bombings at the Boston Marathon earlier today, i'm in utter shock and feel like my city was just attacked. I went to work today missing Boston and wishing more than anything that I was back in the bean. I tried to explain to my co-workers about how awesome Marathon Monday is and the merriment and festivities that go with it. Come to find out - someone has tried to tarnish an amazing day of celebration with something awful. After about a half hour of texting my friends to make sure they were all safe (they are) - I settled in to see how everyone else was faring. My heart is so heavy for all the families and friends who are affected by this event. 

In this trying time, I think it's so so important to remember the good in people. Especially in the police officers, EMT's and other first responders who were literally attacking the gates and fences to get to those hurt by the bombs, and by the runners and spectators rushing to the hospitals to give blood. While one person acted with hate today, so many more acted out of compassion and goodwill. As president Obama said in his speech earlier today "Boston is a tough and resilient town, and so are it's people" I couldn't agree more - I know that this will only make everyone there that I love stronger. So let's band together to take care of others. 

An Easy Weeknight Recipe

After this past week in DC hitting the mid 80's (which I love! reminds me of Florida) the last thing I wanted to do when I got home is make a hot dinner. Enter lettuce wraps. This is one of my go to recipes in the summer time and takes about 20 minutes to make which equals the perfect weeknight meal. 

Ingredients: 

^Butter/Boston bib lettuce 

^Cabbage (I mix mine with a little spicy ranch style dressing)

^Cucumber mango salsa (super easy, I just use cucumber, mango, red onion, lime juice and cilantro)

^Grilled chicken

^Avocado

^ Optional: white wine (I love: Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc) 

It's pretty much an assemble as you go like tacos and the best part is that it's gluten free! 

Weekend Recap

Monday again! Why is it the weekends always fly by? Being a homeowner now, it feels like there is a never ending list of things that need to get done and there's definitely not enough hours in the day to do them!

This weekend flew by in a blur of small house projects -

^ Replacing our tacky gold builders grade door knobs with black knobs for a more custom look.
^ A fun storage cabinet upgrade with a little spray paint (A DIY tutorial will be up later this week)
^ Pats closet to tool storage remodel.

One of the concessions of the house that we bought was that it didn't have a basement man space for Pat's tools to live. So my compromise was giving up the 2nd bedroom (what we call the office) closet to him to do what he wishes. This weekend after 3 separate trips to Lowe's he had all of the necessary pieces to complete it.

I think it came out awesome! When we go to sell the house, it will definitely stir up some conversation during showings :)

Seeing as all work and no play makes you mean, we took some time out to check out the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Tidal Basin. Being new to the DC area it was something that I had never experienced and had to check out. Unfortunately the trees weren't at peak when we were there, but the weather was lovely and made for an awesome afternoon.

I hope that you all had a great weekend! 

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Welcome to District Delight!

  I’ve been toying with the idea of starting a blog for a while now and once Pat and I purchased our first home and I had a million ideas and tons of news to share, it just seemed like the right time to take the plunge.

I’m planning on using this space as a creative outlet, to share photos with my out of state family and to document the transition of our first house to a home.

You can expect to see the details of our lives together – recipes, DIY projects, our home décor and house updates and some of my ramblings and musings along the way. 

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