The transition of Reese's room from nursery to toddler/little girl room was bound to take place since I would need the crib for baby girl #2, but I didn't expect to have to start making the change before her second birthday. When Reese started climbing out of her crib last May, we transitioned the crib to a toddler bed knowing it was a temporary fix. Fast forward a couple months, and I was excited to find this bed on craigslist for $20 and quickly transformed it into a look-alike Oeuf bed. Since then, our active girl has used nap time to knock over her bookcase, tear up her books, push the rocking chair upside down, pull the curtain rods out of the wall, and most recently chip the paint off the newly painted bed frame with anything hard she can find. So what you are seeing below, is Reese's room as I would like it to be 24/7, but it is most definitely not. For us, nap time means taking her bookcase out of the room with all the books and any hard objects. While I still can hear her jumping off the bench and bed (and a little voice counting before the big jump) during "nap time", at least I feel that I've done everything to keep her from getting hurt (and everything ruined). I'm hoping the room as it is below is in our near future though:)….

Below you can see the DIY barn wood shelf I made last year….

Another stop at my favorite market in Indy...

Playing tour guide for one of my dearest friends- Reese loved the extra attention (and extra pair of arms):

Indianapolis in the Fall

A short trip to Chicago with my friend and exploring new sites….such as the stunning Bahai House of Worship

 Lunch at Plein Air Cafe (still dreaming about that vanilla steamed milk)

Finally got to see Harper Memorial Library at University of Chicago, a must see in my book

Connor and I set out to find Indiana's prettiest Fall colors, and I think we found them

Remnants from a fun night with friends (R's painted pumpkin and homemade peppermint marshmallows)

I had every intention of getting this post up this morning, but here I am on a Friday night with my feet propped up on a pillow,  feeling extra pregnant, and realizing I'm twelve hours late with this post. Such is life, right? I used to be an all or nothing kind of gal….work out for an hour or not work out at all, have a perfect meal for dinner or not cook, or have a perfect room to share or not work on it at all. The older I get though, the more ok I am with the in-between…or with what is simply "my momentary best". I'm sure a lot of that has to do with my newer role as a mother, but I'm grateful for this growth and that it's ok to have a blog and not be a perfect blogger. On that note, I give you my Friday favorites.

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This stunning bedroom (that window!) from Domino Mag

This simple (and beautiful) bathroom

and these links:

Life has been busy as of late….and the best kind of busy- exploring (both local and non local) with my family and playing hostess for a dear friend. While I love my little creative space on the internet, I love the people in my life more….which brings me to today's post. The idea of transforming our home into a cozy Autumnal space for memories to be made with my family  is such an appealing one, yet decorating for seasons is not my strong suit. Aside from buying pumpkins, I find myself wanting to invest in things that we can use year round rather than just a few months out of the year, and then of course I always seem to hit a roadblock in finding pretty Fall decor that is also my aesthetic. Not this year though…I've decided to start small and am finding loads of inspiration everywhere.  

I recently came across Jen Smith's home via Domino and fell so in love with her dining room. It's perfectly imperfect, if there is such a thing. I'm just as awestruck by gorgeous decked out NYC lofts as the next person,  but the older I get the more I find myself inspired by design that is functional and attainable….relatable to my life. This home is just that, while achieving beautiful and unique design. Be sure to check out the rest of Jen's home. 

Every year for the past five years , we have done a Fall trip with my cousin and her husband. Not only is it a yearly highlight for us, but it's always exciting to choose a new location to explore together. We've done Seattle and the San Juan Islands, Quebec, northern NY, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and then this past year we decided on Mackinac Island, MI. Mackinac Island is unique in that there are no cars allowed on the island, so the main means of transportation on the island is bikes and horse drawn carriages. Mackinac Island is dotted with beautiful Victorian hotels and B&B's. We opted to not stay on the island so that we could explore other parts of Michigan as well.  I'm so glad we did! We rented a house from AirBnB that was right on Lake Huron, and every night we enjoyed a bonfire by the water with the most magnificent night sky.   

It took some convincing on the guys part, but we toured the island on tandem bikes.  The hilarity that ensued was one of our favorite memories from the weekend. Let's just say that it's way more difficult to balance than it looks, and we only seemed to handle it well at high speeds (it doesn't help that I was thirty weeks pregnant).  There was a very close incident involving a horse.

The Grand Hotel! It had the most beautiful grounds.

Aside from the horses, this little one could not stop talking about the water.

We spent a lot of our evenings behind the house by the bonfire. It was a huge highlight, and Reese loved exploring the woods.

Hope you are all gearing up for a wonderful weekend! After just getting back from a fun getaway in Michigan, we are looking forward to a low-key weekend at home, and the rainy forecast predicts a cozy one at that. Who knows- we might just be crazy and throw in some potty training to the mix (i.e. wish me luck!). Here are some of my recent favorites and I'll be back Monday to share some of our Michigan pictures...

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This cozy bedroom (and the entire home for that matter)

 and these links: