A Little Love Shack. DIY.

A Little Love Shack. DIY.

Few blogs are as consistently inspiring to me as Design Sponge.
I was over there getting my daily fill a bit ago when I came across the mother of all romantic-DIY-Valentine's Ideas.
A. Love. Fort.

Yes you read right. There, in front of my face, lay one of my greatest fantasies come true.
An adult fort, eclectic, fun and just plain super-cool looking. I was brought back to the days when I would drape blankets across the dining room chairs and make a fort under the dining room table. It was so fun--on the rare occasions my mom was willing to sacrifice her dining room table for my whimsical games.

A plan immediately began to form in my mind. The bf and I are on the tightest of budgets right now trying to save money for fun in Paris. This love-fort seemed the perfect solution: sweet, different, and most importantly free!
Now the original version is pretty professional, meaning it involves hanging a dowel with hooks into your wall.

As you guessed I couldn't do that. It would break my "takes-under-20-minutes" rule of DIY.
But I realized that I could do something similar by just arranging a few pieces of furniture in our giant bedroom nook. I knew there was a reason I buy so many blankets and pillows!

Check out the before and after.  I just used that tall standing lamp as my center "support" pole for my tent, and stretched a sheet over it, and closed it between our nook's two side windows. (I opened the windows, stuck the sheet edge underneath, and closed the window down on it to hold it up!) I stuck my little "stove" heater in there and turned it to " display flames" only, so it looked like a real fire (but no heat)


The bf loved it surprisingly enough (what little boy doesn't love a good fort?). And our bedroom nook is perfectly placed to watch our bedroom T.V. so we snuggled, watched Netflix movies, and ate some chocolate covered strawberries. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone looking for a sweet simple Valentine's gesture.

Our bedroom with the my fort's support pole. Aka the lamp :)

Based on the above picture you should have an idea of the scale of this, the upper right of this picture is our left window frame.

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope yours is super sweet. I'm off to enjoy some home cooked Filet Mignon made by the bf (best V-day present, EVER)

If You Ever Leave Me, I Plan on Going with You

If You Ever Leave Me, I Plan on Going with You

This is what I wrote on the inside of my boyfriend's Valentine. I found that quote somewhere (in my hours of searching for online inspiration) and I thought it was just great. It's also very true and I do not mind if this makes me a creepy stalker. Much to my relief I haven't been pushed to that extremity yet and I was able to enjoy Valentine's Day with my boyfriend instead of following him. I even mustered up a plan for Valentine's Day that I could get on board with; a plan that didn't involve pink & red hearts, chocolates, champagne or roses illuminated by candlelight.

How, pray tell, did we manage to celebrate without such V-Day staples? We went on a picnic to the beautiful Shoreline Park. This park runs parallel to the coast line downtown. We had a hard time choosing because apparently Santa Barbara is just a treasure trove for park lovers. I definitely know how I will be spending my Sundays from now on. We settled on Shoreline because Sunday was gorgeous and relaxing at a park while staring at the waves sounded too good to pass up.

I packed up my new picnic tote bag similar to this one with goodies. . .

We stopped at the awesome C'est Cheese for sandwiches & drinks. . .

We parked the car, opened the wine & proceeded to have a ridiculously relaxing & nice time.

  We got a really great spot right by the cliffs  & the entryway to the beach below (kind of the only one like it).The only downside was this creepy guy who was literally looking through bushes & stuff right by us for a little bit. We thought he may be treasure hunting? I don't know. lol

Like I said it was a gorgeous day. This is the view from the picnic table. . .

 Off to the left there must have been some sort of sailing event look at all the sailboats out!

 One of the best parts (besides the wine I brought) was the copious amounts of dog watching to be had. We both agreed that dog watching is infinitesimally better than people watching.

 I just could not get over what a pretty view we had.

  It was such a great day, and that was only half of it!
I would definitely suggest a picnic as a great way to celebrate any event for any age group. We saw parents with their toddlers & teenagers, plenty of couples young and old, and that lone creeper by the bushes :) With all the crazy things that we can do now you kind of forget how great simple things can be. 
Valentine's Evening exploits to be posted ASAP.

San Valetin

San Valetin

I'm in a relationship. I love my boyfriend. On a regular basis I eat chocolate and drink champagne. Then why do I feel like a cat with my head shoved into a paper heart right now whenever I see a Valentine's Day post? Hmm. I need to gain some enthusiasm and inspiration, and quick. Only 6 days to go. . .

Courtesy of White & Wander

A Little Lamb Chop for my Valentine

A Little Lamb Chop for my Valentine

I'm thinking of making lamb for Valentine's Day. I've never made it before but I hear its yummy. I was thinking of this recipe, but I can't decide. A week to go, any ideas?

Courtesy of Everything Fabulous & Vogue China.