Oh, and...

I almost forgot to post another little update last week! It may not be the most exciting thing to just anyone, but it is for me. Check out this handy shelf we grabbed at Target for the bathroom, which Dan put up for me on New Years Eve while we were waiting for our guests to arrive.

(The bathroom is teal - not sure why it's showing so straight-blue here)

I love that we now have somewhere besides our main towel bar to keep hand towels, which I used to only put out when we were having parties. The black and white fabric box is from the Liberty of London for Target line and houses a bunch of my little daily beauty products like eye makeup remover and dry shampoo. The little vase was on clearance at West Elm ages ago for something like $3 and now holds my makeup brushes and a "lollipop" of ponytail holders from Bridget. Up top is a pretty smelling candle and a jar that is now full of cotton balls. And let's not forget to point out my hair straightener that hangs perfectly from the bar out of the way, instead of sitting on the sink to cool off every morning like it used to (thus ending up there all day because I would rush out the door before it was cool enough to put away). It's the little things. Unfortunately for OCD me, the shelf had to be hung slightly off center above the toilet because of the random capped off electrical box on the wall (behind my makeup brushes in the photo above), but I'm dealing.

I think if I'm talking about bathroom updates my new-ish lovely shower curtain is also worth noting, don't you?

We picked the curtain up at Target shortly after we decided to register for all gray and white towels for the wedding, which definitely would not match the brown patterned curtain that used to be there. The lighter gray color here helps the room feel less overwhelming, and as you may have noticed above - matches my hand towels, which I can assure you makes me endlessly happy.

We've also added one of those toilet paper extra-roll things (super technical term there for you) that was a nice change from the store-bought pack of extra rolls we used to have just sitting on the floor, and a teeny little hamper (wedding gift from Kevin and Erica) that I (try to) throw my pjs in every morning when I jump in the shower. Dan understandably HATES when I leave my clothes in a pile behind the bathroom door, so the hamper was a welcome addition. :)

In other news, I am in love. With a couch.

Two of my work buddies recently purchased this beauty from a store called Roy's here in Chicago, and I am dying to be the third person around here to call it mine. I dragged Dan to see it over the long weekend and after looking at a bunch of other stores and outlets we're mostly on the same page that it's the best we've seen... but at $800 it's not really an easy thing for our teeny budget minds to grasp. I've been told a million times that $800 is "a great price!!!" for a couch, but I'm still experiencing a little sticker shock as that is a LOT of money! Thankfully, while we agree that our current couch could definitely use replacing, we don't have to buy a new one right now and can afford to wait for a sale to come up at the store. 

If we do decide to bite the bullet on the couch, we will have to make the decision on which fabric we want it in out of at least 100 options. The fact that you get to choose your fabric for no additional cost really drew me to Roy's, as we'd like to find something that not only fits our style but is Louie-friendly. Truth be told - I'd like to train Louie to NOT go on the couch if we get a new one, but we'll tackle that when we come to it.

I really love this gray "heather" fabric that's pretty heavy-duty, has some texture and almost has a little bit of a salt-and-pepper look to it. I think the different colors and dimensions in the fabric would help hide Louie's hair a bit (not to mention the dirt that he inevitably tracks in the house).

Dan pointed out that the texture doesn't have a super tight weave, and therefore may snag more easily (say, from Louie's nails), so we may go a different route for the fabric if we decide to buy this specific couch.

We're continuing to make amazing progress in the office and I can't wait to share photos of it soon! For now, I'm heading out to dinner in a bit to celebrate my mom's birthday with her and Manda. Happy birthday Mom - Love you lots!!