Monday Musings

BACK TO MOVEMENT
I FINALLY (I feel this deserves all caps because it’s been over 6 months) started exercising again and it feels really good. I started with Melissa Wood’s beginner flows, which are a little more gentle.

I ordered this ruffled sports bra in lilac last week to “celebrate” my resumption of movement and I absolutely love it. I wear a medium and it fits TTS.

Why did I take such a long break? I kind of always do. Q4 is a very busy time for me with blogging and I felt so worn down from the pandemic and managing my anxiety that movement took a backseat.

It shouldn’t have, because movement helps the mind as much as the body, but I felt called to focus on other things and knew I’d come back to my workouts when I felt like I needed them again. I realize this sounds odd, but the one thing that has been a hallmark of my decade-long fitness journey is inconsistency, so really, I’m right on time. Shop my workout outfit below, here.

THE INTAGLIOS
I LOVE framed Intaglios – they look so beautiful in any home. I found these ones that are totally customizable and framed them myself, hanging them with 3M picture hanging strips. You can shop the Intaglios, frames & more here.

SCALLOPED DUVET COVER
I ordered this Matouk scalloped duvet cover for our bedroom last week. It’s admittedly a splurge, even at $100 off. I love the two-toned scallop detailing and plan to have a custom king bolster in a blue and white fabric (I borrowed the Les Touches one from Harper’s bedroom!) I’m looking at fabrics from Schumacher, Colefax & Fowler and more. I still love our Greek Key bedding from Ballard, but wanted to freshen the space up a bit! Shop our bedroom here.

TARGET FINDS
I know y’all love a good Target find and here are a few recent loves:

• Ruffle sleeve top (size down – I’m wearing a small but need XS) – prefer it in black as the white is a bit sheer
• Gingham top (size small/TTS) – adore this color, the smocking and ruffle detail
• Pink dress (size small/TTS) – meant to fit billowy – too short on my 5’10 frame, but love the color, style texture & sleeve length. Also cute as a slim cover-up.
• I also got new Golden Goose sneakers. Yes, they’re ridiculous but I adore them. I wear a 41 and they’re loose on me, which is what I want with this brand as they’re known to be a “stiffer” shoe. They’re my most comfortable sneakers and I think part of the reason is because I did size up in them. My Adidas and other sneakers don’t compare.

THE ROUND DNING TABLE SAGA
If you missed the “round plastic table” saga on my Instagram stories, I ordered a 60 inch round folding plastic table on Feb. 20th. The short story is that I’m never getting that table. The long story is that I made customer service calls to four separate companies with the continued hope of procuring the table when it said it had shipped/was coming to me, but none of the collective minutes (or maybe hours) I spent on the phone led to me actually being able to acquire said table. So, I gave up, ordered this one and it’s set to arrive early this week (TBD).

Why order a plastic round table? Well, I spent a pretty penny on our last RH salvaged wood dining table and after a year, I just knew the space called for a larger table. Honestly, were it not for the pandemic, I’m not sure I would have cared, but being home all the time led me to realize that we did truly need a 60 inch round (the previous was 48).

I didn’t want to make another expensive mistake, so I ordered a 60 inch plastic round table to test in the space for a few weeks before we make a final decision. In the meantime, we have a 6 ft. long rectangle folding table in the space and I moved it around our house last week “just to see,” and Kevin was adamant it not be anywhere but where the round table was. If you know Kevin, he is laid back and does.not.care about these matters at all, so the fact that he was so vehemently opposed to my “just to see” table setup told me quite a bit. I knew it was wrong, but I had to see it with my own eyes before it was put into the official “elimination as a possibility” category.

I’m going to see how the 60 inch round fits and then will contemplate possibly (this is a very very light “possibly”) getting the riviera bench (which matches our chairs) to sit where the windows are and offer extra seating at the table.

A little know tidbit is that when this house was under construction, I had talked to our builder about creating a built-in bench in that dining area. It was roughly planned out but I decided to forgo it at the last minute. I just “had a feeling.” I’m glad we didn’t do it, but I like the idea of potentially. adding a non-fixed bench to the backside of the table near the windows. Or we may just get more chairs – I’m a visual person and have to see things in my space.

Not that this table saga needs to be any longer, but our intention had always been to buy a 60-inch table. We had what I call a “visual mishap” at RH when we ordered our table, which is what led us to order the 48 inch. When in-store to see the color of the wood in person, we saw our table on display in the 60 inch size and though “my God, that is massive, we cannot have a table that large” and signed the dotted line for the 48 inch. What we didn’t realize at the time is that the display table was actually their 72 inch round and that was all the more evident when the 48 inch table was delivered and I frantically texted my design-minded friends being like…is this too small? We all knew the answer was yes, but the hassle to return it felt like a lot at the time and I thought to myself “we will hardly use that table anyway.” And then March 2020 rolled around and was all “welcome to your new office, this 48 inch round dining table,” and that’s when the true consequences of my decision really hit me.

So here we are, with not one, but soon-to-be two plastic tables in varying shapes. All because I failed to recognize that the massive table right in front of us at the RH store was, in fact, the 72 inch model and not the 60 inch we had planned for.

So, take it from me and don’t assume you know measurements, no matter how many times you’ve handled a tape measure at home (or IKEA).

Have a wonderful week – and thank you for reading my unnecessarily long diatribe about our dining room table that I inexplicably was able to write multiple paragraphs about. There is no going back. Happy Monday!