Beauty Find Friday: Beach Home Decor

Since we've enjoyed 100 degree temperatures lately, I've often found myself daydreaming of a beach escape. Here in the desert, the prevailing color scheme is various shades of brown. Interiors are generally beige, cream, or deep colors like burgundy, gold, and dark green. It's not my style at all. I'm a big fan of light, open, bright spaces. My favorite style is a mix of Norwegian, French country, cottage, and with beach house touches.

I've been brainstorming ways to use my collection of seashells, and also ways to bring in subtle beachy style without going crazy with lighthouses and surfboards. For today's Beauty Find Friday, here's some of my favorite beachy decor items I've found on Etsy.

I love the vintage vibe of this hand embroidered hoop art.

I love this octopus pillow!

I had a difficult time picking just one of Clare's paintings from Tastes Orangey.

The copper base of this globe looks modern/industrial to me, which is nice to mix it up a little. 

I know this isn't decor, but isn't it amazing?! Copper Starfish Coral Ring.

These wall hooks fit perfectly with the anchor trend.

This chandelier is a not-so-subtle tribute to the beach! I'm not sure what I'd do with a chandelier like this, but it is pretty cool. 

Happy Friday! I hope you will stop and appreciate beauty wherever you find it this weekend. 

Motherhood, Work, and Grace {Giveaway!}

For Mother's Day, the Wall Street Journal featured an article by Athelia Wooley LeSuer, the founder of Shabby Apple, an online dress boutique that specializes in vintage and retro dresses, on her thoughts and experience running a fashion company and being a mom. 

"I will do my best as an entrepreneur. I will do my best as your mother.
I won’t apologize.

I won’t apologize for being a mother. I won’t apologize for you. When I go to meetings with international buyers, I will carry you on my belly. When you cry, I will politely excuse myself to calm you. The fabric man from Shanghai will be surprised, but he will take me seriously because I take myself seriously."

Shabby Apple

It's a beautiful tribute to her commitment to her baby daughter and to her work, and you can read the full article here.  I do realize that not all moms can take their babies to work with them and hold them during meetings, dance with them during conference calls, and take them to networking parties.

In fact, one of my friends is going back to her job as a special education teacher today after two weeks with her newborn. Relatives are coming to stay with them until school lets out to watch the baby at home, but what about next year? Will she eventually have to choose between her job, which she loves, and staying home with her baby, whom she also loves?

How do your dreams and being a mom intersect? Is balance between work and being a mom actually possible? How do you reconcile the way God has gifted us to serve others out in the workforce, and the way He wired us to nurture and raise precious little people?

These, and similar, questions were on my mind this weekend with all the Mother's Day festivities. I used to feel like if I got pregnant before finishing school or before I had a good job, my life would be over. It's taken some time, but I really don't feel that way anymore. I'm certainly not in a hurry to start a family, but I don't believe it would be the end of the world.

I guess God gives grace for each season of life. To the mom who works and puts her children in day care, God gives grace. To the mom who quits her career to stay home, God gives grace. To the moms who start their own businesses and work from home, God gives grace.

I do admire Athelia's perspective, and I'm always happy to work with companies that share similar values. Shabby Apple is committed to making life better for women worldwide through their work with Accion providing micro financing loans for women to start their own businesses. And this week, they're giving away $50 to one of you lucky readers!

I love my Toe The Line dress from the Set Sail Collection, but I'm also a huge fan over one of their latest Fete De Fleurs Collection, a fantastical floral tea party.

What dress will you choose? Check out the Latest Dresses from Shabby Apple and enter via the Rafflecoper widget below (click over to the blog, email and RSS subscribers). 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Shoppe Rebrand

Almost everyday this week, I've been under the weather. Monday, my (cough) time of month started (cough) (TMI? Sorry!) and I spent the majority of the day in a ball on the couch clinging to my electric heating pad. Tuesday I dealt with horrible heartburn most of the day and night, which resulted in my not getting to bed until 3 am. Wednesday, Brian woke me up at noon when he came home for lunch, and as a result of not having coffee soon enough, I had a migrane most of the day. Then yesterday, I was just a hormonal, exhausted, melodramatic mess, and I couldn't get Photoshop or my printer to do my bidding. That resulted in an afternoon spent flopped on the bed in tears.

But, despite that, I did get a few things accomplished this week. First, I've decided to rebrand Scribbles Shoppe to Bleu Feather Paper Company. My reasoning is that if I were a bride planning to spend a few hundred dollars on hand painted wedding invitations, I probably wouldn't want to spend it at a shop with "Scribbles" in the name. 

So, it's more professional, and it's French, so it's pretty much a win. 

I need your help deciding on a logo. I am not good at making decisions, and I have way too many ideas. I've narrowed it down to these for round one. Which do you like best? Nevermind that the last one isn't spelled right. I just noticed that now. 

Which do you like best? Let me know in the comments!