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Growing up in Connecticut, I was always *very* familiar withe Lilly Pulitzer — let’s face it, I have a dozen of her dresses hanging in my closet right now!  But as my personal style has moved slightly away from the typical Connecticut-preppy (or, frankly, Texas-preppy) style, I might have actually been surprised if you’d have told my that a Lilly Pulitzer item would be one of my favorite pieces in my closet!

But how could you resist this romper?  It could go everywhere from a country club dinner to a New York city brunch, to a Texas day of doing just about anything.  I’ve basically been wearing it nonstop — it’s the perfect combination of cool-preppy with casual style!

Gifted Lilly Pulitzer Coleen romper and Ashley Wedges, Miu Miu bag, Forever 21 and Ben Amun bracelet, Kate Spade necklace.

It’s funny how when you’re so used to sharing what’s going on in your life over the internet, it can feel really strange when you have to hold something back.  For the last few weeks, there’s been something I haven’t been able to tell you — being painfully superstitious, I didn’t want to say anything until we were certain. 

But… we bought a house!

One of the reasons that Chad and I moved to Houston was the amazingly beautiful houses that you can buy for the same price here as, oh, say, a junior one bedroom in the far reaches of Brooklyn.  After the bar exam, we pretty much devoted every weekend to stopping by open houses, scouring real estate websites and eventually… found our dream house!

Now, keep your fingers crossed for us, because although most of the big steps are past us, we don’t have the keys just yet.  But I’m so excited to show it to you guys as soon as we’re settled in!  (I’m going to have my own separate shoe closet, if you can believe it!)

For now, though, I’m focusing on decorating.  Like many couples, Chad’s and my furniture is sort of a mish-mash of things I bought, things he bought, things my parents bought us, and a lot of it is old enough that my taste has changed pretty substantially since we picked it out.  (You can see some of it on Glitter Guide’s feature on our NY apartment a few months ago!)

But now that we’re increasing our living space by a lot, I figure it’s the right time to settle on a design style.  My gut is leaning toward contemporary, but I’m a sucker for odd and eclectic pieces — I want everything to feel like it makes sense together, but not get too bogged down in a single theme or style.  So in that vein, I’ve been picking up some pieces I love over the last few weeks, and wanted to share them with you guys! 

Wish us luck — I am so excited!!!

Clockwise, from top left: (1) Bookshelf, $111 from Target, for our front entryway; (2) Paper Mache Rhino head, $68 from Anthropologie, for our family room; (3) Runner (Rug), $99 from Gilt Home, for our front hallway; (4) Union Jack Barstools, $148 for both from Overstock.com, for our bar area; (5) Ceramic Elephant, $99 from Z Gallerie, for our living room; (6) Space Chair, $790 from Modani, for our living room or bedroom; (7) Vase, $69 from Gilt Home, for our front hallway.

I sort of lost track of the seasons this year, so it was funny to see that spring vegetables like asparagus and rhubarb (soon!) were suddenly available in our grocery store, when I’ve been feeling like it’s been summer for about the past 11 months.  But that little reminder that the rest of the world is just starting spring made me focus on some yummy seasonal recipes!

This is actually part 1 — after eating about half the asparagus in this batch, I took the rest and transformed it into an equally delicious recipe that I’ll share with you guys next week.  Healthy and perfect for springtime!

Simple Roasted Asparagus

INGREDIENTS:
1 pound of asparagus, ends trimmed
3 tbsp olive oil
Sea salt
Ground pepper
1 tsp garlic powder

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Toss asparagus with olive oil, sea salt, garlic powder and freshly ground pepper, and place it in a roasting pan.  Roast the asparagus for 15-20 minutes, turning the asparagus once, until the asparagus is cooked through and crispy on the edges.  Remove the asparagus, set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Serve with roasted aioli or just plain!