Festival Internationale

Sorry its been so long since my last post! Things have been crazy around here lately and are about to get even crazier! Wednesday April 22nd is the kickoff of Festival Internationale de Louisiane 2009! Festival Internationale is an annual visual & performing arts festival held in downtown Lafayette, LA and it celebrates the French cultural heritage of southern Louisiana (a combo of French, African, Caribbean, & Hispanic cultures). Over 300,000 people attend the 5 day free, outdoor festival and are treated to some of the worlds greatest performing, visual, & culinary artists. Festival Internationale weekend has always been a favorite of mine (it's right up there with Mardi Gras) and for the past 4 years Festival Internationale has been one of the most highly anticipated events of the year me. You see, I work at Antler's, a restaurant/bar located in the heart of downtown Lafayette. Antler's is a family run business (my mom's best friend is my boss' sister) and we are known for our daily plate lunch specials (especially the smothered porkchops), the great live music we feature after Downtown Alive each Friday, and our southern hospitality. While the weekend of Festival Internationale is often physically, emotionally, & mentally draining (think 5 straight 16 hour days spent on your feet, running the length of a 50 ft. bar while mixing drinks and being upbeat & energetic for the customers the entire time) it is also the time of year where we all come together as a "family" (whether we have the same last name or not) in order to "make it happen." It is from this time each year that most of my memories about Antler's come from... laughing, dancing, & singing with my girls behind the bar, doing shots of Patron with my boss to kickoff Festival and WooWoo's to wind it up, laughing at Julie & my Mom fall off their barstools... the list goes on and on. Even though the hours are long and sleep is basically non-existant Festival Internationale remains one of the highlights of my year and I am definitely gonna miss it when its gone. Happy Festival!!!

"Antler's Band"

My "Family"

Me & My Girls

Antler's at Night

A Packed House

Inspiring Blog

A few days ago I was killing time surfing the web and I came across a VERY inspiring website, Snippet & Ink. Its a blog devoted to wedding inspiration and I fell in love immediately!!! If my boyfriend knew I spent the next hour and a half pouring over this blog and dreaming of what my wedding day will be like he would probably tuck tail and run!!! But, like many "little girls" out there, I have dreamt of my wedding day since I got my first Bridal Barbie and this blog makes it easy to fantasize. Not only does it offer great inspiration for your wedding day but it also offers great inspiration in the form of the many Inspiration Boards that are posted on the site. When looking at the Inspiration Boards I found myself thinking "Wow! That would be a great color scheme for a room!" Here are some of my faves....

Board #327: Spring Watercolor

Board #341: Mustard & Blue

Board #298: Emerald & Aquamarine

Board #250: Aqua & Poppy

Freaking Out A Bit

Ok, so I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Habitually Chic, just now and she posted an excerpt from Page 6 about how ever since Conde Nast publishing decided it was going to discontinue Domino magazine several fan sites of the magazine have sprung up on the internet. She then wrote that there are rumors that Allure magazine may be next! WTF???? I am so upset right now! I know its probably really petty & I should probably be worried about something more important, but oh well, I don't care, I'm a magazine addict & this is very upsetting to me!!!! First Domino & now possibly Allure!!! I'm sick right now! What do they expect me to read? The backs of my shampoo & conditioner bottles? This is just absolutely ridiculous! I was upset when I first found out about Domino going under because it was my favorite home decor magazine and featured beautiful, livable interiors for real people, unlike some home-design magazines whose rooms are stuffy & showroom-esque. And now I find out they may pull Allure from the shelves too!!! I've been reading Allure since I was 18!!! If there is anything I love more than interior design its make-up! I am just disgusted right now. They can't take away my Allure too! They just can't!!

Lovely Lavender

Hey! I hope everyone's Valentine's weekend was wonderful! Mine was bittersweet... My boyfriend and I live about an hour away from each other and since I had to work on Valentine's Day I wasn't going to be able to visit him this weekend. I decided I would be a "good girlfriend" and told him if he wanted to he could go deep sea fishing with his friends instead of coming to see me, since I had to work on Valentine's anyway. I was upset I wasn't going to see him but I figured "I'm not going to make him miserable by asking him to drive in just to come to work with me..." I really think I have the best boyfriend in the world because Saturday morning I woke up to a text message that said, "Cupid's here. Come outside." Sure enough, I walked outside and he was standing there with roses & candy! He's my heart!!! I mean seriously, any other 26 year old man from South Louisiana would've been long gone on his fishing trip! He got major brownie points for that one! Anyway, its Sunday night and he's already left to go back home :( and I'm sitting here thinking about how every time I think I've got him pegged and that he's just another "Typical Guy," he goes and does something unexpected & romantic. I saw the first pic tacked up on my inspiration board and thought to myself, "That's how I feel right now." I decided I would share it with y'all along with some beautiful pics of lavender rooms & things. Enjoy!

Lavender Inspiration
I think I originally got this pic from the blog {this is glamorous}

Another pic on my inspiration board of the inside of a seashell

A beautiful lavender bedroom from Living etc. Very Romantic!

Living room in shades of Lavender

I just love this fireplace!

This mirror from Horchow is so romantic. It makes me think of a fairytale princess...

I have an entire folder on my computer with nothing but pictures of chairs & this one is one of my faves!!! Its so ethereal & dream-like... like the inside of a bubble.

Some of My Favorite Rooms

Hey! For my first post I thought I'd share some pictures of my favorite rooms with y'all. I've been copying pics from the Internet and saving them to Microsoft OneNote (best thing ever!) for a little over a year now, so I'm really sorry but I don't have any references for where I got the pics from but I'm sure most of them came from Domino.com. I'm sorry!!! Anyway, these are just a few of my favorites and hopefully one day I will be as talented as the designers who have designed these rooms.

I absolutely adore this bedroom! Its so elegant, soft, & romantic and very French!

Love this office! Its so chic! Very Breakfast at Tiffany's!!!

This room is so elegant but the leopard bench seat with pink pillows makes it funky & original.