Living for Pretty

Celebrating all things pretty, happy and inspiring. From renovation stories, to recipes, decorating, parties and little life lessons, you’ll find a little bit of everything here.

5 Things to do in San Antonio

First, let me say, San Antonio surprised me. I have never thought much about Texas, in my mind it just seemed, too big, too hot and too boring. But that has changed – I’d visit San Antonio again in a heartbeat. There is so much history to soak up, great architecture to take in and the nicest people

Where I stayed: The Menger Hotel, a pretty, Instagram-worthy, historic and supposedly, haunted hotel.

Cathedral of San Fernando

The Cathedral is in ‘the center of San Antonio,” which makes this a quick hit on a lunch or break. It is the oldest standing church building in Texas, and is simply an exquisite sight.

King William Historic District

If you love old homes and real estate really gets you going, take a walk through the King William historic district. There’s close to 25 blocks of historic mansions.

La Villita Historic Arts Village

This was one of San Antonio’s first established villages. Its buildings are small and quaint with quiet, clean streets. You’ll find artist shops, galleries, and a sweet little church.

The River Walk 

The river walk has restaurants and shopping galore. Once the sun goes down, it felt a little bit like vegas with the drinking. I would be a little nervous drinking and walking along in case I misstepped and took a tumble! Whether during the day or evening, this place has a ton to offer, and it’s always complemented with a river view. 

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The Alamo

The Alamo is a must-see. This is a little bit of history I knew of, but didn’t know about. 

The Hotel

Last but not least, a few pretty photos from The Menger Hotel. The wallpaper was enough to make me starry eyed.

Amsterdam in Love

Last fall we took our first big leap into international travel. Billy had just finished training for a regional airline and had a week before work would begin. It was also our five year wedding anniversary as well as our 10 year dating anniversary. Did the stars align? Yes. Did I work really hard to make them align? Yes.

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Master Bedroom Coffee Station

What’s the one thing that makes your morning instantly better? Coffee. It’s the reason a lot of us are able to roll out of bed in the morning. But in our house the time between eyes open and coffee in my mouth was just too long.

We have been long time french press coffee people. The coffee is delicious, it’s one less countertop appliance sitting out, and I managed to score a beautiful silverplated gem from an online auction that ‘sparked joy’ whenever I looked at it.

But since we moved into the new house the french press coffee joy has turned just a touch sour. Because french press coffee is a process.

  • First you heat up the water on the stove.
  • Then you pour water into the french press.
  • Then you wait 3-4 minutes.
  • Then you press.
  • THEN you enjoy.

This was all good and fine when our kitchen was located in between our master bedroom and our bathroom. It was natural to incorporate the french press coffee process into our morning flow–inbetween showering, dressing and primping.

Now in our new home the kitchen is a set of stairs and three rooms away. And having to consistently go back down the stairs for each step in the process grew tiresome. Then the solution came to me after watching Architectural Digest’s Open Door videos of Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s house.

The home’s interior designer, Peter Gurski, calls this the gentleman’s cabinet. It’s got one very important, not-to-be-overlooked feature: a coffee station.

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15 Free Art Downloads

With the holiday un-decorating commencing, the bells and garlands come down and the everyday decor goes up. The change of the seasons is the perfect time for a refresh, but with the Christmas budget hangover I know I’m not the only one feeling the lack of cheer in my bank account.

Luckily, the Metropolitan Museum has a lot of their collection available to use, download, share and create upon. Below are just a few of their 406,000 images of artworks that have caught my eye. Click through to learn more about the the piece and download.

The Third Duke of Dorset’s Hunter with a Groom and a Dog
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Pretty Spending – Spending down your FSA dollars

We’re taking a slight departure today from our normally scheduled programming to talk about something that doesn’t seem that sexy off the bat–FSA Accounts. A Flexible Spending Account, or FSA, is a special account that allows you to set aside part of your pre-tax wages to pay for certain healthcare expenses for you and your family.

They are a great way to cover routine medical expenses. Because they’re pretax you’re saving anywhere between 12-24% (or whatever tax bracket you’re in).  Eligible expenses include prescriptions, contact lenses and over-the-counter products.

But most of the time these accounts are spend-it-or-lose-it by the end of the year and sometimes you’re left with a small lump of money you’re scratching your head with. If you’re in this boat and have a balance left, there are a few over-the-counter items you can spend this money on that makes this really fun.

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British Kitchen Inspiration and my Inset Cabinet Infatuation

I’ve recently fallen so hard for Devol, a British kitchen company with jaw-dropping, drool-worthy kitchens. Their work is modern, merged with that heritage, been-here-for-100-years look. I love the saturated colors and the workmanship you can see from across the room.

These kitchens have me infatuated with inset cabinetry. They make me want to bring them flowers and whisper sweet nothings in their ears. For those of you who don’t know (and I didn’t even know the name of it before Devol), inset cabinetry is when the cabinet doors close flush with the cabinet bases. You see this a lot in old built-ins. Nowadays when most kitchens are bought from Ikea and come in cardboard boxes, we see overlay cabinets 95% of the time. (Absolute no hate on Ikea kitchens, I love them dearly too and used them in our last kitchen.)

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