Author: Staci

Staci blogs about travel at TheVoyageer.com.

Life, Lately

Happy St Paddy’s Day, everyone! This post has nothing do to with today’s pseudo holiday but I figured I would at least mention it. Hope you all find a pot of gold or a four-leaf clover somewhere today! Has it been a month since my last post? I’m so sorry, you guys! I have a lot of things swirling around in my head but no time to put pen to paper fingers to keyboard and squeak out a blog post for you all.

I got a new gig–it’s an honest-to-goodness desk job, Monday through Friday, PTO, the works. I’ve worked two weeks and I really like my coworkers and my office. The super old building is covered inside with pressed tin: the walls and the ceiling, and the bathroom too! I steal moments to gaze up at it, I’m sure my coworkers think I’m bonkers.

photo 1

I haven’t quite left the old gig yet which lends to my blog silence. Playing the balancing act has been doable the past two weeks but I sure am tired. The extra money will help out since…

We’re really getting serious about buying a house. Well, a condo. It is so scary to type out for the world to read! It’s one thing to think about it, tour places, stash away money, draw out budgets and dream about decorating the inside, but it’s another thing to make the announcement to people knowing that home-buying has been a rocky road for many in the past five years.

I have some good posts outlined in my head but I haven’t been able to write and photograph for them. I do want to make it a priority though especially with the prospect of a new home. I hope you keep me accountable! When someone says to me “I hope to see a post from you soon,” or “I’ve started following you,” it’s just the right nudge I need to sit down and create!

Paris shirt

Thanks, guys. I’ll be back later this week!

My Wooly Valentine

Last Friday night. It was destiny. We were headed over to North Park, one of our favorite neighborhoods, to meet some friends but first I wanted to stop by West Elm to see if they had anything good in their clearance section. I was thinking of desktop organization or a good deal on some kitchen stuff (typical… the obsession with kitchen stuff continues). Well, yes, I will say they had a great bargain in the clearance section. A HUGE pile or rugs they had been using in-store to anchor their show “rooms.”

With minor convincing/begging, a new member of the family came home with us.

West Elm Kasbah Rug

For only $99 I made it home with a rug. And not some skinny little flat-weave rug, either. A wooly mammoth, a 5×8 shaggy Moroccan-inspired (India-made) Kasbah rug. You may know Morocco has a special place in my heart since it’s where I did my 6-week study abroad program in 2009. Because of this, the Kasbah and the Souk rugs have been a couple favorites from West Elm for a while now, and this score was too good to pass up! I may or may not have logged some time laying on it and whispering “my preciousss…”

West Elm Kasbah Rug

West Elm Kasbah Rug

The original price was $499. Since they had it out on the ground for a little while (one of the associates implied it had been a week or less), it was marked down with the rest of the display rugs at $99. I’ll save you the math, that is a fifth of the price! 80% off is music to my ears! Especially when I wouldn’t have had it in me to buy one at full price, ever.

It has replaced our flat-weave cotton Zebra rug (which was constantly rolling up, getting lumpy, etc) in the living area. I like that wool is natural and that I don’t have to worry about weird plastic VOCs in my living area. I love the way it covers up the boring apartment-brown carpet. I love, love, looooove how it looks with our vintage coffee table. I can’t wait for it to become staple in my home’s “look” in different rooms and with different pieces of furniture as time goes by.

Prettiest Baking Cookbooks

As much time as I spend in the kitchen, baking is not my strong point. When I have people over, I take care of the appetizers, salads, dinner, etc. but leave dessert as my default answer to the question, “Is there anything I can bring?” (If nobody asks, I usually have some ice cream tucked in the freezer for a backup).

These cookbooks almost make me want to turn into a baker. Almost. Is it weird to want to hoard cookbooks to flip through like picture books? That is, instead of ever making anything from one of them?

Prettiest Cookbooks

1. Williams-Sonoma Dessert of the Day Cookbook
2. Bouchon Bakery
3. The Beekman 1802 Heirloom Dessert Cookbook
4. The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book

Any recommendations? Do you think the main reason I’m drawn to these cookbooks are the pies on the cover? Yeah, me too…