An Urban Cottage on This City Girl!

Check me out today on This City Girl, where I'm guest posting on Spring Fashion! I absolutely love all of the shoes and fun skirts that are out there for Spring. Can Winter leave us already? I'm ready to bare my legs again!

A New Addition to Our Living Room

Lucky me - after hours of racing around Ravenswood and one trivia contest later, I scored the eco-friendly Arhaus chair courtesy of House Beautiful's Pink Chair Giveaway! Happens to be the I took home one of the few chairs that is not to be pink {I loved all of the chairs, but I'm sure Nate is happy}. I may have to put a pink pillow on it in honor of the event ...

Check out the new addition to our family room and look who has already made herself quite comfortable!

Arhaus Club Accent Chair

I'm heading out to Arhaus today from 6-8 to meet the House Beautiful team and the designer of this chair. Festivities begin at 6! Thanks House Beautiful for a crazy day and a beautiful chair!

Rumor has it they are dropping downtown & in the Loop today ...

Enough to Make Me Tweet

For those of you who know me well, Twitter has always freaked me out. For some reason I have no problem divulging the ins and outs of my personal life on this blog, but the thought of people knowing what I'm doing at any given moment has me running for the hills.

So what's big enough to make me join the tweeting world, you ask? House Beautiful's Pink Chair Giveaway is the culprit. Yesterday, fellow blogger Alex posted of this event that will be taking place in Chicago this weekend. House Beautiful will be dropping PINK chairs all over the city this weekend and finders keepers! My obsession with pink has grown immensely over the last couple of months and I'm determined to come out a winner this weekend. Go to Alex's blog to learn more. The chair selection sounds fabulous!

Thanks House Beautiful for making me put on my big girl panties and sign up for Twitter. By this evening, An Urban Cottage blog will be ready to tweet!

{Source: Things That Sparkle}

Boutique Hotels in Paris

This weekend Nate and I started our registry. Our honeymoon registry that is. We are using Traveler's Joy to help us register for a honeymoon to Paris and the French Riviera. Heaven. If you read the blog, you know I'd pack up and move to France in a heart beat if it weren't for family and friends.

While searching for hotels for our trip, I stumbled upon Tablet, a resource full of luxury, boutique hotels. I figure Nate and I deserve some sexy pads during our stay in France. After all, it is our honeymoon! Here are some of my favorite Parisian hotels ... would love to stay in one of these.

Hotel Le Six- 41 Rooms 

I love the sitting area with the pink and gold chairs. Can I take them home, please?

Madison Hotel - 50 Rooms

Again, adorable sitting areas and fresh pops of colors in the suites!

Le Petit Paris - 20 Rooms

I'll stay in the sea foam green room ...

Artus Hotel - 27 Rooms

What an amazing bathroom?!

How could you not want to stay at one of these adorable places. J'adore! I'll be back with some amazing hotels located in the French Riviera sooner rather than later.

{source: Tablet Hotels}

My bed is naked!

You may remember this post where I shared my plans for our bedroom. Since then, minor progress has been made. Ok, really minor. Our gray faux fur throw arrived shortly after I posted and I have since removed the old headboard. While this doesn't seem like much, I've never been without a headboard. I'm considering this progress as I'm making room for the new.

I know ... I've barely changed a thing. And the room feels naked without the headboard!

I've made a little more progress ... although there is nothing to show for it yet. A friend, Lauren, is making me a headboard and I've selected the model. Although I was originally set on a tufted headboard, I decided against it. We own pin-tucked bedding and didn't think it would look right with a tufted option. Instead I decided on this nailhead, wingback beauty.

I'm geeked. She is custom order so I have to be patient and wait my turn. I'm trying my hardest to channel every bit of patience in me. Isn't she worth the wait? Better yet, Lauren sent me some fabric choices ...

I told her I absolutely had to have plush, velvy and she pulled through. Look at the selection I laid out on my dining table {so may options}!

Here is where I feel like I've taken a step back. Originally I was set on a purple or pink headboard and Kelly Wearstler Bengal Bazaar pillows {remember?}. Now my brain is spinning and I can't make a decision! Here are some options I've put together. With the amount of time I have, I'm likely to try every combination.

Please help - I'm like a fat kid at the candy store and want it all!

Party Dress

I looked at our Save the Dates the other day and realized that Nate and I have 4 weddings in 7 weeks. Wow, that is a lot of weddings! Naturally, I started to think about my wardrobe for all of them. I found this dress on J. Crew on sale for $100. Do you think I should buy it? I'm loving the big bow!

While I really like the light pink, the grey is the only one left in my size. I figure the grey is probably more versatile anyway. And that the pink might be too light to wear to weddings. Don't want to look like I'm wearing white!

The Home Behind Cupcakes & Cashmere

Lifestyle blogger Emily Schuman wows me with her amazing, one-of-a-kind wardrobe and mouthwatering dessert recipes {I swear this girl has given me a sweet tooth}. Her blog Cupcakes and Cashmere is one of my daily must-reads. Just yesterday she posted that her home was featured on Apartment Therapy. Emily had shared bits and pieces of her home on her blog, but nothing to the magnitude of her Apartment Therapy feature. A few things I'm eyeing ...

First, her super girlie office. She posted about her pale pink walls when she first moved-in and I became instantly jealous. Apparently, the older I get, the girlier I get. Doesn't hurt that is furnished with thick gold frames, lucite, an adorable settee and a clothing rack. I want it ... please.

I'm also in love with this reclaimed wood dining room table that truly captures the rawness of the wood. Emily and her fiance picked the wood out themselves and had the table made. One of my best friends is currently in the market for a farmhouse dining table, but I would urge her to do what Emily did. It has so much character and is just so darn cool.

Also jealous of her closet. Not sure if it is because she a) has a window in her closet b) has a fabulous yellow chair c) owns a ridiculous shoe collection. Take. your. pick.

The rest of Emily's home is filled with charming details as well from dog statues and chalkboards to bowls filled with vintage jewelry and a bar cart. In short, the girl has got some style. But we all knew that anyway!

The reason why I love Emily's apartment is that it is so unique. She mixes modern with vintage in a very approachable way, which is something I'm aiming to do in my home. Nothing is boring and everything lends to conversation. She seems to not care what others think and loves to break conventional rules. Love it.

Valentine's Bouquet & Plans

As much as I loved pulling together a gift guide for Valentine's day, Nate and I are not getting each other gifts. We have a wedding in less than 8 months ... and have something special on our agenda for today. After work, we are going to go pick out our wedding bands {or at least get started}. We are going back to Dimend Scaasi as they did such a great job on my engagement ring.

When we are done with the jeweler, we are heading home for a seafood feast at our apartment. Yesterday we placed our order at Dirk's for Jonah Crab Claws, Tuna Tartar, Shrimp Cocktail and Oysters - yum! We also stopped by A New Leaf, where the two of us made a Valentine's inspired floral arrangement of ranaculus, tomato red roses, purple stock and eucalyptus. It's pink, purple and red and so much more interesting than your dozen red roses. Aren't they beautiful?

We also picked up a bottle of champagne to chill for tonight. So excited to use the new champagne glasses gifted to us by Vera Wang {when I purchased my wedding dress}!

Happy Valentine's Day!