Road Trip

Last weekend I took a trip down to Georgetown and Austin to see the progress on the dentist office, do a bit of shopping, and take a much needed "vacation". Driving around Austin, I couldn't help but notice all of the gorgeous, historic, and extremely unique homes tucked away in their own little neighborhoods. One of these in particular was a neighborhood called Pemberton Heights, "one of central Austin's best keep secrets" apparently. I didn't know there could be so many lovely houses in just one place. I had a fantastic tour guide, a former resident of Austin (my boyfriend Ben) who took me to some of his favorite houses in the area.

They ranged from the outrageous...


to the magnificent...

The "castle" as we came to name it, was one of the most charming houses I have ever seen (what you could see of it). It looked like it came right out of a fairy tale.

I'm sure the person who lived there thought I was a complete nut trying to get a good picture of "the castle". I should have knocked on the door and invited myself in for a cup o tea!

Just to verify how pricey these are, I took a flyer from one of the smaller houses that was for sale (not pictured) and it was almost 2 mill! Fairytale indeed!

I love this ones awning..

Now for the shopping part...we took a drive down to the San Marcos outlets on Sunday because I was destined to see how the Pottery Barn/West Elm/WS Home, Restoration Hardware, and Crate and Barrell outlets were. I came with all my fabric swatches, prepared to leave with the jetta piled to the roof and strangely enough after all of the anticipation, I didn't leave with a thing! Although the girl I was with said it was "very picked over". I thought they were pretty great outlet stores but I think since I was on a search for really specific items, there was a slim chance I was going to find exactly what I was looking for at an outlet.

All furniture at PB/WS Home/West Elm was actually 50% off! I was amazed at some of the prices.

Remember this x bench from WS Home? Sleek and chic at the outlet- 1/2 off!

I spy the Gibson leather Armchair from WS Home...

They had a few decent drapes from West Elm and Pottery Barn that I recognized from the stores...

I think this little turquoise chair from Pottery Barn Kids is adorable!

This chair was 1/2 off- only $400

The Anabel Armchair from Pottery Barn in black and white...normally $1,000- 1/2 off that!

There it was, my previous dream desk from Pottery Barn (was too expensive at the regular store for me so I got an exact replica at World Market instead last Christmas) This Bedford Project Table set is $1,099 at Pottery Barn now but at the outlet it was only $400

My favorite piece of furniture is the chair...and wow did this place have chairs! West Elm, WS Home, Pottery Barn, there were so many chairs there that I recognized from seeing them at the store- some as little as $60 a chair

Lauren and I have both expressed our love for this WS Home greek key chair before, but I must say that I like it in the darker brown leather better- you can see the darker version here

I am in chair heaven!

Lots and lots of bedding too...I then start to see similar bedding to the one I just got at RH, and start second guessing myself!

I have always loved these lux jewelry boxes from West Elm- very tempting! I love the yellow color

Velvet lounger

All in all a productive trip- can't wait to make another trek out to the outlet in the fall! (or...maybe late summer :)