Tag: lifestyle

Posted on in Art, fashion, Personal, Photography

DIY Boho Style Dining Room

As a first-time homeowner, my fiance and I spent most of the first few months furnishing rooms and creating a functional space. Now that we are settled in and have our essentials stocked in our pantry, we can play around with color and bohemian style elements! We wanted to start with our dining room since that’s where most people would hang out and gather at our house.

I was initially thinking of painting our wall a dusty pink or blush. I love pink, it makes me happy. But as we flipped through colors on the Home Depot Project Color app, I found this delightful teal shade called “Mermaid Sea.” The richness and darkness of it spoke to me for some reason. AND! It matches the backsplash in our kitchen! Why not be a little matchy-matchy, right?

Here is a before and after photo:

Although we are completely in love with our custom monkeypod dining table (made by local contractor Reality Construction), bench and our vintage rattan chairs, we knew the boring eggshell color didn’t truly bring out the beautiful craftsmanship of our furniture.

Our wall decor consisted of woven and carved artifact collection from around Hawaii, Saipan, Palau and Ghana. I felt they were a perfect compliment to our dining set! We had planned to have an intentionally mismatched gallery wall, but after looking at all the woven art we had, we decided to feature them on our wall.

Right when we finished our accent wall, artwork came in from Argentinian artist Ana Clerici. I had been looking at this one piece for a very long time! It makes me think of home, where fresh fish is the best thing on earth and the colorful dress makes me smile. While it was intended for the dining room, I decided to save this beauty for our living room, since there’s not much color in it at the moment.

You’ll notice other boho elements in our home like rattan and woven baskets. The baskets are a lifesaver when it comes to organizing and storing items that may not fit the vibe of the room but are needed (like snacks, cleaning items, tripods and even XBox controllers). We use them for everything from grocery shopping to beach trips and storage.

And that’s our boho style dining room! It’s now complete! We are always delighted when our family members ask to take photos in front of our wall. I think we accomplished our goal of finding that perfect boho and fun color for the most used room in our home.

Posted on in Personal

My 2018 Goal: A Book Per Month

Image uploaded from iOS (4)

One of my goals this year is to read at least one book every month. I realized I haven’t read anything great in a while and I’ve been out of touch with what’s new and profound in the literary realm. Knowing I’d be really indecisive on selecting books, I reached out to my Facebook friends for recommended titles. Naturally, everyone responded with titles close to their heart! I specifically asked for some diversity, everything from science fiction to self help. My network of old friends, colleagues, past professors, and relatives served up a very diverse list. I’ve combed through the titles that seemed interesting and are somewhat relevant to me.

Here are the top 12 that made my list:

  1. La Sombra del Viento / The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón – This is the first one that I bought. Recommended by my grad school professor, this is really great so far. I bought the Spanish version, thinking I’m up for a challenge, but it’s taking me longer than usual to get through a book. I highly recommend this book (it was suggested to me three times) because I’m only on page 50 and I feel like I’m in a magical world.
  2. Who Thought This Was A Good Idea? by Alyssa Mastromonaco – I’m not going to lie, I peeked through the first ten pages of this once I received it in the mail. The writing style is honest and witty, but I’m forcing myself to finish La Sombra del Viento before I finish this.
  3. Building A Story Brand by Donald Miller – Naturally, my boss gifted me an awesome book that would help me develop my branding and message strategy at work. This was an easy read and Donald puts things into perspective.
  4. Adulting: How to Become a Grown-up in 468 Easy(ish) Steps by Kelly Williams Brown – A crossfit friend recommended this to me. We’re on the same level. I need to learn how to adult!
  5. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – A former classmate recommended this one and I saw that it was highly rated on Amazon. It’s on my list of next books to purchase (or find a copy of at the library).
  6. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini – This title was recommended to me three times! The synopsis and eager recommendations sealed it’s place on my list.
  7. Ready Player One: A Novel by Ernest Cline – I asked for diversity and my crossfit friend served it up. This isn’t a title I’d pick up immediately, but I hear the movie comes out sometime next year. Plus, it looks exciting!
  8. A Tale for the Time Being: A Novel by Ruth Ozeki – I read the reviews on this one and they are phenomenal. I can tell every person was affected by this book, even the poor ratings have quality feedback. On the list it goes…
  9. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō – Ali Wong was onto something. A fellow AIGA board member recommended this title and I remembered Ali’s standup.
  10. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi – A former grad school classmate warned me this is a sad read, but it makes you think about life and death.
  11. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey – Recommended by a former colleague who is always trying to be better at what he does. Such an appropriate title.
  12. Switch On Your Brain: The Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking, and Health by Dr. Caroline Leaf – My younger cousin recommended this, which I am in complete shock that she did. She’s a wildly bold free-thinker and to see her recommend a book that helps center your thoughts and incorporates a spiritual or biblical element shows me how much she’s grown. Perhaps it will help me grow as well.

This list is definitely a great start. I think my Facebook post helped some folks discover new genres and books. A couple of old classmates have even reached out saying they wanted to start a book club. We’ll see how it goes. Feel free to leave your fave titles (and why you recommend them) in the comments!