quick trip to austin

top: calypso st. barths, skirt: forever 21, sunglasses: D&G

Brad and I have, slowly but surely, been decorating our new place to fit both of our styles.

I am picky and, admittedly, have weird taste--but Brad is even pickier, and feels the need to have a say in everything. After talking to my girlfriends, I found that is very unusual. Lucky me...to marry a man that is more worried about how the decor will look in our place than I am. Although we've had some mild turf wars, we've managed well enough to compromise and have ended up with a home that is coming together quite nicely, and that fits both of our styles.

Earlier in the fall we took a quick trip to Austin to pick up a table and chairs

that, at one time, belonged to Brad's grandfather, "Papa". It was very generous of Brad's family to let us use them for our home, although I must admit, that when Brad showed me pictures, I was not easily sold on the idea. This style of chairs and table were originally created by a designer, Saarinen,

and are the tulip chairs. They are very modern and still had the original orange leather cushions.

Hot orange in my home? No. Absolutely not. But, after googling and digging a bit more, I found some beautiful pictures of the tulip table and chairs in more quaint settings, and decided I loved the contrast.

Thus, I "compromised", and we drove to Austin to round our little duck chairs up.

We are still working on repainting them a brighter white, and I had gray cushion covers made. I cannot wait to see the finished product and to complete our dining area.

While in Austin, we decided to sneak in a quick brunch before picking up the table and chairs.

One of my Austin-ite and foodie classmates suggested South Congress Cafe for brunch, namely for their carrot cake french toast. Of course, that was what I ordered, and now I dream of turning

every sweet bread into french toast!  I have yet to make my dreams a reality, but will definitely plan to do so while I'm on my break.

Even though I've been to Austin for years, I have never taken a picture in front of the "I Love You" wall. Yes, I realize it's cheesy-to-the-max and so over-photographed, but it was fun to grab a quick shot with my honey bear so soon before our wedding.

Oh, and might I add, Brad's favorite part of the weekend was wearing his jorts. He is not encouraged to do so in Dallas, but let's keep Austin weird, right?