Eleanor "Ellie" Pearl Lyke

Thrilled to announce that we are expecting another beautiful niece! My sister and brother-in-law are due right around New Year's Eve with Eleanor "Ellie" Pearl Lyke. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.

I was honored to take these birth announcement photos for them, as well.
 We can't wait to meet you, Ellie!

Sunday Dinner

Last Sunday my parent's hosted a wonderful Sunday dinner filled with lots of laughter and quality time. In true Sandy fashion, my mom cooked for 2 days to prepare for the occasion.

I'll let the pictures do the talking, but I have to explain that my mom's braised beef short ribs over homemade polenta topped with a port wine and mushroom reduction are last meal on earth worthy. My brother-in-law described them as coming from the inside of an asteroid sent from god, whatever that means.

A big thank you to the woman that holds us all together, we love you, Mama!

*I just realized that my sister and I are not in any of these photos, we were probably too busy feasting!

Guest Room Makeover

Jake and I have been hard at work this weekend with house projects. Jake cleaned out the horror that was our garage. We still want to work on organizing and would like to put in shelving, but for now I am very happy with the improvement.

We also redecorated one of our guest rooms. When we moved into our house we put most of our energy into getting our bedroom decorated, and spent a little bit of money and time on our other guest room - but we left this guest room totally untouched. Rather than leave the room empty, we used some old bedding and curtains that were handed down to us... Lets just say it was not our taste.

My goal was to make this room light and airy, welcoming for guests and relaxing - a breath of fresh air, if you will. With a small budget (less than $300) Jake and I headed to Ikea to see how far we could stretch our money. And stretch it we did!

Without further ado, our guest room makeover...

For those of you that would like the breakdown; the artwork above the bed, bedding, window treatments, plant, tray and candles are from Ikea. The green pillow, sheets and bud vase are from Homegoods and the bed skirt is from Target.

There are still a few things that I would like to add as finishing touches. I really want to utilize the wall space around the TV by creating a huge floor to ceiling gallery wall with photos of our friends and family. I'd also love an upholstered headboard with nailhead trim and a chandelier, kind of like the ones below.

As the daughter of an interior designer, I feel like I am constantly wanting to change things around here. Is there an area of your home that you are itching to makeover?

Wanderlust

I've always had a deep love for travel. There's nothing that brings me back to life quite like being in a new and unfamiliar place. I've been daydreaming about taking an excursion, just my husband and I. Someplace different.

We want to have several destinations on our trip with a nice balance of city and wilderness. Right now, I'm loving the thought of touring the Pacific Northwest and Canada. We could start in Seattle, head to Vancouver and maybe just maybe end in Banff in Alberta, Canada.

For inspiration, some of my favorite travel inspired pins as of late are below.

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Do you have any exciting travel plans coming up?

How about some Pacific Northwest suggestions for me?

The Huffington Post Kitchen Daily Feature

Some exciting news, a recipe from No Place Lyke Home is featured today on The Huffington Post Kitchen Daily! The recipe featured is one of my favorite easy summer dishes, cilantro lime salmon, you can find the original recipe posted here.

If you made your way over from The Huffington Post, welcome! If you are a reader of No Place Lyke Home and would like to check out the feature on The Huffington Post Kitchen Daily click here.

One Year Old

Today marks Penelope's first birthday. Yesterday we celebrated by spending way too much money on party supplies and torturing Penny with various hats and birthday dresses.

Penelope might be the most rambunctious animal to ever walk this earth. She is always in to something, and more often than not can be found biting at our heals or humping one of our legs. Beyond her wild nature, she is such a loyal animal. She is a daddy's girl who has a thing for snuggling and loves nothing more than our attention.

When those eyes look up at us (you know the ones I'm talking about - pictured on the bottom right) we are rendered powerless... And she knows it. As a woman, I have to give her props for knowing how to work what she's got!

Happy birthday to our little fur ball!

Thoughts on Negativity

Lately I have felt pulled in 1,000 different directions. I spend a lot of time worrying about the areas of my life that could use more of my attention, more of me.

Even though I know it is wrong, I always seem to let the negative voices take over. You know the voices that I am referring to, right? The ones that tell you that your best is not good enough. The ones that hold on to the negative and hurtful things that others say about you, but are quick to forget a genuine compliment from a friend.

Just when I think that I have everything under control the voices start to creep in.

Why is it that we are able to offer forgiveness and understanding to others but not to ourselves? Aren't we deserving of the same level of empathy that we would extend to a friend or loved one?
 

If you have been feeling at all like I have lately, promise me that you will try to be kind to yourself. I've come to realize how difficult it is to give fully to others, to nurture relationships that matter, without first nurturing oneself.

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