From open faced portabella sandwiches complete with a pesto mayo and caramelized onions to apple walnut and cream cheese danishes, La Boulangerie French Bakery, located at 4600 Magazine St. has it all. The impact of the aroma that hit us when we walked in was only trumped by the first bite of the apricot preserve danish that we bought. I was in heaven. I LIVE for starting my Saturdays by walking down the street for early morning coffee, a yummy (and fattening) breakfast, with a good book to read...and lots of people to watch. La Boulangerie is perfect for all.
If you're in New Orleans this weekend (and near the 46 hundred block of Magazine) I cannot recommend this place enough. In fact, let me know if you go - I have a to-go order I'll need you to pick up for me!
Because of our work with designing invites, stationary, etc, we have so much stuff on the topic: paper sample books, inspiration pieces, magazines, and examples from our work to show clients. To keep all of this straight, Beau bought this cool hanging organizer that is perfect for holding/displaying everything. I love it for a few reasons. 1) Everything is easy to see b/c it's open baskets. 2) The long, vertical shape if perfect for the awkward wall space between two windows 3) It's easy to pull off the wall if I ever need to take it somewhere.
To make it more unique and DIYish, Beau made little tags and using The Mended Nest Font, printed out the different sections' names: Paper Samples, Inspiration, Invitations, and Miscellaneous. Then he attached them to the organizer using wire. Simple. Easy. Cheap.
These are the LSU Lakes, my home away from home. You can find me here almost everyday right after work running the 4.2 mile pathway. The same goes for Saturday and Sunday mornings. If I'm not running them, chances are I'm walking them with Duke and Cooper giving them a little exercise. I cannot be here enough.
As you can see from the pictures, the Lakes are absolutely beautiful. I am at total peace at 8:00am on a Saturday Spring morning when I'm here, taking in the views of the Lake and the stunning homes that surround them. Obviously, I'm not the only one who enjoys running here. Especially Saturday mornings, the Lakes can be packed, but it doesn't take away from the serenity the the Lakes offer.
If you're in the Baton Rouge area and enjoy walking/running, I cannot highly enough recommend visiting the Lakes. You'll fall in love just like me.
There was a moment in time when I thought for SURE that Mest was going to end up moving in with us in 25 years when we're all 50ish after she gave up looking for love. This may seem like a dig, but I don't mean it like that at ALL. Megan is wonderful and has SO MUCH to offer, but for some reason she just wasn't meeting the right guy (their loss). Well..that all changed when she met Chris, her now-finacee. Not to be weird, but Chris is the bomb.com (yeah, I said it). He's great for Megan: thoughtful, kind, funny,...and he's helping us with our back yard! We're so happy for the both of them. If you're reading, we love y'all!
Now - what do you think about the Save the Date that Beau created? Megan and Beau came up with the idea of creating a postcard instead of making a typical Save the Date (I want to shorten that to "STD", buttt....). Now only would this save a little extra cash by not having to buy envelopes, but it's also a more unique option that we haven't seen too often. The rest of the wedding paper will be more formal, but they decided to keep it fun with the Save the Date.
If you're interested in a quote for custom design work for your wedding/party/graduation/etc., please email us at TheMendedNest.com!
Happy Monday! These are some pictures from our Sunday morning and afternoon when we went down to New Orleans for Beau's niece, Caroline's christening. First, we all went to Mass, and immediately after was the Baptism. The church, St. Francis Xavier, was absolutely beautiful and the ceremony was so wonderful and intimate (as you can see in the pictures above).
Afterwards, all 50 (light exaggeration) of us went to eat at Mandina's on St. Charles. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snap any pics of my turtle soup or messy-but-delicious-as-hell roast beef poboy OR Beau's sweet Italian sausage poboy...because I was too busy stuffing my face. If you haven't been to Mendina's then GO!!
As always, we had such a great time with Beau's families. We love them all and are so blessed to be part of such wonderful people. BTW - how cute is Isabel (above)?!
Last night I was literally forced asked twice to go out to the bars, so I eventually gave in, but I just don't understand why I can't just say no! Don't get me wrong - I had a great time as always, and the people I was with were so much fun. It's just...when I'm waking up late for work, in DIRE need of the Blood Mary and greasy breakfast foods (above), and have so many things rushing through my head that I end up just standing in one spot for ten minutes not knowing where to start. (danes, clean up, get dressed, COFFEE, blog, etc.)
Here's to a relaxed, get-in-my-pajamas kind of Friday. *clink*
Side note - I feel like I should say that I didn't ACTUALLY have this this morning. This is what I wanted, but in reality I had orange juice, coffee, and oatmeal with fresh banana mixed in. Booooring...
Aaaand here we have it! Finally, I was able to finish the desk last night (that I posted about two days ago). What do you think?
I chose two colors for the whole thing: Annie Sloan's Versailles and Country Grey. I used Versailles for most of the desk, saving Country Gray for the trim at the bottom, hand drawn diamonds on top, and for the pulls. To add a little funkiness, I added the gold wax to outline the diamonds, and I LOOVE it.
This desk is FOR SALE, so if you're interested in the price, please email us at TheMendedNest@gmail.com!
How much do you hate me for not posting the "after" pictures from the desk I've been working on...as promised in yesterday? I tried finishing it last night, but I'm just not loving the outcome, so I'm going to do a little more work tonight.
Now - for today's post. This is a mock up of an invite for a "Friendsgiving" dinner party. I know we're no where near Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share this with you now to give you some ideas for upcoming parties you may be having: Easter, Summer, Graduation, Birthday, etc.
This is a completely custom design, and I am in love with it. I think these types of invites (where it's a lot of text in different fonts) are super fun, exciting, and vibrant.
As always, if you're interested in any type of custom invite, please email us at TheMendedNest@gmail.com!
Hello!
I apologize for not posting yesterday. The St. Patty's day weekend got the best of me, and there was no way I was getting up before absolutely necessary yesterday morning. Now - on to the good stuff...
This is an office desk that my good friend/sort of business partner, Chad picked up from just outside Baton Rouge. It's a solid oak desk that was trapped in the early 90's. It just needed (the furniture equivalent of) a little Juvederm® and Botox®, so as soon as he brought it over I got to work. I decided to use my favorite color for the majority of the desk - Annie Sloan's Versailles. Then, instead of making a border around the top like I've done for previous pieces, I decided to to a diamond pattern. I think I got a little lucky because I really only measured the middle diamond, and it just so happened that the outside two fit perfectly.
So this is the paint BEFORE the waxing. I'll post the final product tomorrow (as soon as I finish it). Get excited though - it's looking GREAT so far!
The Creole Creamery! I have to tell you, this hit the spot as we were in New Orleans just finishing up the best fried chicken in the city...according to the Food Network. (sound weird, but I'll explain in a later Friday Finds post) We visited the Uptown location of The Creole Creamery since Taylor lived right around the corner (and we were staying there).
I loved this place. It was typical New Orleans - kind of hole in the wall, nothing too fancy, cash only, and totally delicious. Per suggestion, I got the flavor, Nectar...something-or-other. It was sweet, simple, with a very mild flavor. On the other hand, I also tasted the flavor, Red Velvet Cake. Holy Sh Moly!! with chunks of REAL red velvet cake, it was bold and exciting. I was in heaven.
Check the out. Scroll across the this to check out their website!
Well, this is the house on Magazine St. I keep mentioning when I post about our New Orleans weekends. More often than not, it's where we sleep when we're down there. It's beautiful - located right in the Garden District/Uptown (I can't REALLY tell the difference) on Magazine St., I can't tell which part I like better: the house or the neighborhood.
With it's 100ft. ceilings (seriously - they're so high), original hardwood floors, and stunning windows, this house is incredible to be in. I just feel so fancy. Furthermore, Taylor and his mom, Kim have done a great job decorating, if I do say so myself. My favorite parts: the pops of color. Generally, I'm afraid of color, so maybe I should be taking notes? Best part (and this has totally happened - no lie) people will stop you as you're coming out/walking in and say, "OMG - is this the house from House Hunters?". How cool is that?!
