Hotel des Balances, Lucerne Switzerland

I often get asked what is one of my favorite cities? My answer is always the same: Lucerne Switzerland. I absolutely fell in love with the charm and beauty of the city, as well as my husband. It was at the end of a week long road trip through Switzerland and Lucerne was one of our last stops. I remember just looking at him and knowing, he was the man I was going to marry. Of course the backdrop of the beautiful city didn’t hurt!

We decided to stay at Hotel des Balances which was one of the best decisions I have made. From the moment we pulled up it was so extraordinarily beautiful that it was hard to not fall in love. Upon checking-in I knew this hotel was going to be an amazing experience. We booked a room overlooking the river and the Chapel Bridge which was absolutely perfect for a first timer to Lucerne. The hotel itself is situated between the fish and wine markets and a perfect location for any site seeing or walking tours you want to do. We personally spent the days walking the streets, popping in different eateries, and sitting on the benches watching the water. It is a simple city but the beauty and calmness is definitely something to experience. I always recommend traveling to Lucerne if you are in Switzerland and if you can, stay at Hotel des Balances. From the staff, to the rooms, to the eateries – you will not be disappointed.

images via hotel des balances, my own, and panoramio

Artisan Inspired :: Architect Barbara Bestor

scroll to the bottom of this post to see more images of Barbara's work

read more about my girl crush, Barbara Bestor

all images via Barbara's website

The hubs and I share a mutual love for modern yet cozy homes. He actually has an incredible eye for architecture, design, and spacing. We could walk into a place and he sees all of the angles, lighting, and spacing, what could be better and what he would do to change it. I have a pile of napkins from restaurants where he has designed our future home while waiting on our food. He really has a gift! When we walk the dog we like to take her to different parts of Dallas so we can see all different types of homes and pick out our favorites. We love to find the ones from the 60’s that would make “a perfect modern home.” We always fall in love with the same homes which have similar qualities: clean lines, minimal design, modern touches, architecturally interesting.

Being that I love modern and unique homes, I have a total girl crush on architect Barbara Bestor. There are certain times in your life when you stumble upon designers, photographers, fashion, architecture where you look at the piece and go, “That is me. That is me in one piece/project.” I had that moment over Barbara’s work. She has completed some of the most amazing contemporary designs I have ever seen. Her work on the Beachwood Cafe was awarded the Top Most Important Projects in LA. And her designs in offices like Beats by Dre and Nasty Gal are 100% award winning as well. But, it is her work on residential that has my heart palpitating. More narrowly focused – her work on the Toro Canyon House. Which up until this time has only been my imagination dream home, she turned it into reality. The spacing, design, and structure are breathtaking! She believes in architecture as a form of pop culture and it shows. Her spaces are complete works of art. Barbara has the unique ability to make each piece of her work cohesive yet entirely different. She is truly a genius! Living by the motto that we should all “experience strange beauty everyday” she continues to prove herself to be one of the greats! I just hope one day I can afford for her to carry out that “napkin dream home.”

// shop the modern home look //

accent chair

lounge chair

couch

dresser

console table + benches

accent pieces

art

Discovering The City You Live In

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photos shot by Krystal Schlegel

I must admit – Dallas is exciting me lately. With new restaurants popping up left and right, a renovation of our parks, and finding out about new exhibits it almost feels like there is, “too much to do with not enough time.” I know this is isn’t the truth as there is plenty of time but I can’t help but get giddy at the future of Dallas. These snaps were from my time at the Goss Michael Foundation a few weeks ago with my friend Krystal, but since then I have learned of another really exciting new gallery, Lab Art. I will bring you more on that space later but really, I am just so happy there are new and different things to do around Dallas.

I spent all of last Friday planning a trip to Europe I will be taking with the hubs and my best friend. I am beyond excited about the trip but to be honest, I have never planned a trip on my own. Yup, I said it! I have always relied on other people to plan the trip. If you read this site you know I am not a planner and I am 100% laissez-faire when it comes to travel. However, after taking my bestie Molly abroad on my own last year, I realized I needed to change if I was going to bring anyone else back. Not that we didn’t have the best time ever but it helps things to run smoother to have certain items planned out ahead of time. That being said, I have learned planning is not for the weak of heart. Maybe that is why I have never done it? One thing that planning this trip has showed me is to find the best places in a town you have to research, more research, and then plan. Since I am known to get “frustrated” with Dallas, I decided to have this same mentality for the city I live in. I sat there and googled “things to do in Dallas” and spent the next hour researching as if it were a city I had never visited before. It was shocking! I realized that on the list of, “100 things to do in Dallas,” I had only done about half. I have lived in this city for almost ten years and I have only experience 50% of the things the city has to offer? That was pretty pathetic but also very exciting as I have a lot to look forward to.

That being said, I have a new lease on life in Dallas and it is invigorating. Thanks to actually forcing myself to plan a trip I realized that I need to do the same for the place I live. If you are getting bored or uninspired with your city as I was, “plan a trip to your city.” I promise you will discover an oasis of things you have yet to complete. And maybe that is exactly what you need to get out of your rut!

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