We booked an April trip to London last week! I looked up flight prices on a lark and found round-trip tickets from Chicago for just $581 per person — which isn’t much more than a domestic flight! Plus, I had $500 in travel credits on my Capital One Venture card, bringing our combined ticket price to $662.  It felt indulgent to add a European trip to our calendar so soon after purchasing a house (even at such a great price), but it’s really fun to have something to look forward to and there’s plenty of time to save up money for spending abroad. Let me know what we need to add to our must-do list! We’re such planners that we already have a Google Map started for the adventure! We’ll be there for ten days, so we can add a day trip, too. (Paris is tempting for a daylong jaunt, but since neither one us has been before, I’m afraid we’ll feel like it wasn’t nearly enough time.)

Weekend Reading:

• Grace put together a list of blogging tips.
• White ankle boots are perfectly mod.
• Diptyque just released a New York candle.
• Costume designers share tips to organize your closet.
• Cj Hendry’s work looks like photographs of blobs of paint, but they’re actually colored pencil drawings.
• Food styling tips to make your salad photographs look more appetizing.
• Make fish tacos this weekend.
• I’m obsessed with the sleeves on this sweater.
• The interesting history of Kotex pads.
• 80 of the best online furniture shops.

Five Under $50:

• Use code DRESSITUP to save $50 on these sandals, bringing the price down to $48. I bought the acorn color, which should be perfect for summer-to-fall transitional outfits.
• The prettiest gold fringe earrings.
• Pink ankle-length pants are the work staple you didn’t know you needed.
• A flattering wrap dress that’s perfect for the weekend.
• A floral blouse with an interesting twist detail at the neckline.

Earlier This Week:

• I want the coat, the velvet platforms, and the faux pearl-encrusted bag. (At least the price point of the latter is reasonable.)
• Style steals under $50 and under $100!
• Five things we learned buying a house in an aggressive sellers’ market, and what we went through to snag our house.

photo via

I just got word that our floors are done! However, we don’t have a key to the only entrance to our house that doesn’t have hardwood floors in front of it, so we need to wait until tomorrow to go in through the front and see how everything turned out. I can’t wait! Part of me is nervous that I picked the wrong stain and I won’t be crazy about the floors in person — which, itself, is crazy; I’m sure they’re gorgeous. On a less exciting note, we got word from our insurance company that we have some work to do on the house in the next month. My walk-in closet has a door that leads to the roof of the kitchen addition. (You can see it in this post.) We were planning to have a contractor look at it — eventually — to make sure the roof is structurally sound enough to build a balcony overlooking our backyard. It looks like we need to expedite our plans! Our insurance company is requiring that we put in a railing now because it’s a safety hazard. I completely get it, but it’s such an annoying surprise to have to deal with right now. Part of me wants to go with a cheap fix to satisfy the insurance company, but I’d rather just spend money once and put it toward building a balcony that we’ll actually use and enjoy.

Weekend Reading:

• This budget-conscious dress reminds me of the striped pieces DVF did this season.
• Beyoncé shared the first photo of her twins in the most Beyoncé way ever.
• H&M recently announced its latest designer collaboration. I love the teaser clip!
• I probably should have mentioned this before Prime Day, but did you know that you can head to smile.amazon.com and choose a charity to support with every purchase? You can learn more about it here. (I support the Great Lakes Bengal Rescue. We’re hoping to get another Bengal after we move into our house so that Bacon has a buddy to play with, although we’ll probably shell out the money for a kitten. Cat-induced asthma be damned.)
• Do you have fashion regrets?
• Mustard is quickly becoming the new hot color. (I’ve actually been daydreaming about these in the marigold color rather than the fuchsia hue that captured bloggers’ hearts.)
• Gucci is launching a home decor line.
• Christina shared her struggle with adult acne and some of the products she found successful in treating it.
• Still on the lookout for the perfect bar cart? This one looks like a luxe estate find.
• I thought milkshakes were off the table now that I’m lactose intolerant. Not anymore! Check out this non-dairy version!

Five Under $50:

• This polka dot blouse would be so cute tucked into an a-line skirt.
• I love the striped pattern on this swingy tank top.
• Kenneth Jay Lane’s version of the ball drop earrings that everyone is loving this season finally went on sale.
• Metallic straps lend a chic touch to espadrille sandals.
• This floral dress is a romantic option for a summer wedding.

ICYMI:

• Sharing some photos of our painting progress around the house!
• How to shop the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale without a brand credit or debit card.
• Five home items worth the hype at the aforementioned sale. (Plus, links to two of the most awful things available.)
• Rounding up the perfect fall wish list. (I need to own that bag!)
• Spotted this gorgeous artwork tucked away in a Milwaukee alley last weekend.

Well, I certainly didn’t expect to take a week-long hiatus from the blog! We spent just about every waking hour Saturday through Wednesday painting the house, did additional painting Thursday evening, and again Friday afternoon. We’re going to swing by the house this morning to do some small touch-up work and then clean up the house so that we’re ready for the floor guy at 7 a.m. on Monday, and then we’re off to Summerfest in Milwaukee for the night! There’s still plenty more to paint (upstairs hallway, all the trim upstairs, and doors), but we need a break and floor refinishing couldn’t have come at a better time. I can’t tell you how excited we are to spend the next week relaxing, not inhaling paint fumes, and getting a good start on packing up the apartment. Plus, I miss having time to blog! We’ll have another Curated Couple post up soon with photos of our painting progress.

Weekend Reading:

• I just love this dress on Lydia.
• Hey, Gilmore Girls fans, Scott Patterson is developing his own brand of coffee. We’re thisclose to basically being at Luke’s Diner.
• With sales falling flat thanks to the Greek yogurt craze, Yoplait had to learn to manufacture authenticity with its latest effort: French yogurt.
• And, it seems that Yoplait might be on to something given the billion-dollar industry around the “French girl.”
• Exercise leggings with pockets! Finally!
• Did you know there was a Dior cookbook?!
• Catharine Becket has any bauble-lover’s dream job as a jewelry specialist at Sotheby’s.
• The latest earrings to capture my fancy.
• Ceiling fans don’t have to be ugly.
• There’s a new theory (with possible photographic evidence) that Amelia Earhart may have survived.

Five Under $50:

• A pair of earrings that combine classic hoops with trendy thread-wrapped balls.
• I’m all about swingy camisoles on hot days.
• A chambray shift dress with a flattering shape.
• A vintage-inspired souvenir scarf.
• The latest book on my must-have list.

 

I’m taking a bit of a blog hiatus while we get some more work done in the house over the weekend. My parents are coming to Madison this weekend to help paint and tackle a handful of other projects in the house for us (like changing all of the outlets and switches to white, teaching us to take door handles completely apart so we can try to get the paint off of the brass hardware, and repairing the rope in one of our sash windows). It seems like everywhere we look, there’s another project looming. It’s hard to keep it all in perspective and remember that all we really need to get done this weekend is paint the rooms with hardwood floors — and if we don’t, then we just cover the newly finished floors and take extra care in keeping them pristine. In any case, I probably won’t be back on the blog until Wednesday or Thursday of next week. I extended the holiday weekend through July 5 and took a few days  of PTO at work in order to dedicate time to the house. If your curious about the progress, I’ll be adding snapshots to the Instagram story over on @curatedcouple! (We put one coat of paint on our wood paneling — er, “vertical shiplap” — in the office last night and it already looks better than I imagined! We’re going all white in that room with the walls and trim, which was going be the case with the wood paneled master bedroom, too. It looks gorgeous, but I’m going to add a deep peacock blue or navy accent wall in the bedroom to break up the monotony.)

Weekend Reading:

• Have you tried Noosa Yoghurt yet? I’m all about yogurt in the morning and this has quickly become my favorite brand. (#NotSponsored)
• These pencil shaving earrings are more for admiring than buying (unless you have $9k floating around). They’re so unique!
• Paper straws are great for an Instagram, but not so much actually sipping on a cocktail.
• There’s an extra 30% off sale items at Anthro this weekend! As you’d expect, I’m scouring the home section. I just love the colors of this serving platter.
• African American girls are viewed as less innocent as their white counterparts as early as five years old.
• Thirteen summer wedding trends to avoid.
• If you’re color shy, here are a few ideas to add a bit of pigment to your home.
• I’ve been itching to go to D.C. over Labor Day weekend if our budget can swing it, and I’d love to see the exhibit on Marlene Dietrich at the National Portrait Gallery. This piece touches on her androgynous appeal.
• This dress would look so cute with a pair of casual slide sandals and oversize earrings (love these!).
• Sip on pineapple rum punch this weekend. Best of all, you only need three ingredients!
• Nail art usually borders on tacky, but this Independence Day manicure is ultra chic!

Five under $50:

• These raffia earrings are the perfect way to add a bit of color to your summer wardrobe.
• The painterly stripes on this tank top are so good. Tuck it into a fit-and-flare skirt.
• The metal ring handle on this bag makes it look more expensive than it is.
• Pretty embroidery elevates a simple sundress.
• Get in on the circle beach towel trend!

ICYMI:

• We’ve made a lot of progress on the house already! Peek into some of our rooms and see where things are at over here. (The fun stuff like decorating seems so far away right now!)
• I managed to buy only two things this month.
• Baubles on a budget.