happy weekend

One more week of my school's summer session means one more week until every day feels like a weekend. Until then, here are some ways I'm savoring these two sweet days off:

{my new breakfast obsession: peanut buttered french toast}

{impulse buys on a recent trip to target}

resources

As I have mentioned before, I love love love interior design. It is one of my favorite hobbies, and when I don't have a project going on, I like to keep up on trends and get new ideas from design books and magazines. I would highly recommend my three favorites below (all available on Amazon), which I could page through over and over again and still find inspiration.

nailed it

Having my nails done makes me feel put-together and adds a little color to my often-neutral ensembles. I own more nail polish than one girl should, but I just can't bring myself to pare down my collection. Nails are a great, non-committal way to add a little trendy vibe in since they can be changed almost as easily as your outfit. And speaking of trends, as you can see from the photos below, I'm a big fan of an accent nail (or two). I usually use it as a way to incorporate a broader color palette or add just a dash of a bold color that might be overwhelming on all ten nails.

 {OPI's most honorable red + extra-va-vaganza}

 {essie's sand tropez + loose glitter + sinful's rise and shine}

{OPI's you don't know jacques + essie's tart deco}

fireworks

Today is a day to celebrate all things American, and may I suggest we start with choice of outfit? Then pull out your sparklers and show off your patriotism! Happy Fourth!

{STARS: cut 25 star-print silk dress}

{STRIPES: j.crew dree dress in deck stripe}

{FULL-ON FLAG: topshop american flag shorts}

discover

I finally got a chance to sit down with West Elm's newest catalog a couple of days ago and what I found completely delighted the interior-design-lover in me. Some of their newest items were inspired by a trip to South Africa and the artists the company discovered there. I always find wonderful things at West Elm, but here are a few of the items from this collection in particular that I'm coveting:

{kuba crescent bench} 

{traditional masai choker decoration}

{source bench}