Luckily, the University Alumnae Club is serious about rounding up Hawks living in LA.We had an early 7 am wake up call for the 9:05 kick off (darn Pacific time!). Matt enthusiastically zip tied our Hawk flag to our fence while playing the fight song on repeat. I’m sure our neighbors adore us.

We hit the road on our cruisers for the 5 block ride to Barney’s Beanery aka Hawkeye Heaven. The Hawks were lined around the block! It was so fun to see everyone representing in their Black and Gold.

We pulled up a seat with some fellow Hawkeye transplants while enjoying drink specials and watching the team add a W to their roster.

We’ll definitely be back to cheer on our team! Do you have a special place you watch your favorite team pummel their opponent? Or do you prefer to tailgate in the comfort of your own home?

True Random Number Generator Result: 7 Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Here are some items that caught our eye this time.

Fun, modern linen napkins.

Beach towel for 2!

I still can’t get enough of these pillows!

This is just a sample of all of the fun things they have!

So here’s how to win:

Prize: $25 gift certificate from CSN Stores

Ships to: USA and Canada

How to enter: Leave a comment with “Pick Me” in it. Please include your email address in your comment.

Details: Contest closes on Friday, July 16th at 9 am Pacific Time. Winner will be chosen randomly.

It’s a massive collection of all kinds of art. They have an impressive permanent collection and also have tons of different traveling exhibits. I loved seeing all of the art but the actual location was just awesome. There is a huge garden and great views. The view from the top is fantastic but unfortunately we has some smog clouding the view.

I loved the garden! It’s massive. On a nice day you can picnic here. We’ll definitely be back for that adventure.

I tried to be all creative and get some “artsy” pictures of the buildings and flowers. I don’t think I’ll be going pro anytime soon.

Have you done anything artsy lately? Do tell.

Paint All Night Studios-great artwork at great prices. I love the colors in this print.

Bicycle Paintings-The name of the shop tells the story. I love this one.

Tim Irving’s Photography- I love how his prints look so vintage. This one just makes me happy.

The Rusty Cricket (I found this shop via Just Beachy) retro beach prints for a teeny tiny price. I have my eye on the one below.

So, do you have any fabulous finds you want to share with me? Do you want to see your shop up here in lights? Just send me an email!

Did you miss my last list of Etsy favorites? Find it here!

For all of you I’m-at-the-office-so-I-can’t-watch-videos this is what happened. The office looked like this.

I magically put together this fancy pants chair from Tar-jay, and now it looks like this.

That’s it in a nutshell, minus the circus music. You’re welcome.

First up: Beach Houses by Jim Hemp

This book is small (only 67 pages) but packed with coastal cottage pictures. I loved that you could definitely still used most of their suggestions, even though the book was printed 10 years ago.

Doesn’t that look so crisp? Love the slip covers and of course the view!

One accessory suggestion had us chuckling though. “The simplest route to a cozy atmosphere is applying a patterned wallpaper border atop the walls to simulate crown molding. Look for patterns associated with the sea through images and colors.” I bet homeowners everywhere are cursing this bit of 90s advice!

The second book we were given was Safari Style. This book was full of beautiful inspiration photos.

I wouldn’t mind a vacation like that!

I love the seashell prints in this photo. I’ve even hunted down some look alikes on vintageprintables.com. We’re happy to report that these books have found a happy home on our bookshelf. Have you found any fun decorating books or magazines lately? Vintage or not?

We decided to stock up our pantry on the deliciousness but holy batman. There were 3, I repeat 3 twelve packs available at our local grocer. Same story everywhere we go. PS-sorry about the photo quality. This was snapped using a razor phone. Remember those? They’re like the Zach Morris phone of 2006.

Now, anytime I see more than 3 available I snatch them up. Seriously, 4 rows of Coke? Is that necessary?

I’m just looking for some equal opportunity shelf space here people. Hopefully Pepsi Co hears my cry on inequality and stocks our local stores. Or you know, gives me a lifetime supply for my tireless dedication to their delicious beverage. Whatever they decide.

*Ahem, for all you non-DMD guzzling gals out there. It’s Diet Mountain Dew. But you knew that, right?

Thanks again to our giveaway sponsor: CSN Stores

In other news, we took our pups to the dog beach for the first time. They loved it. The water was a little chilly but the weather was perfect. My Mom gave them bikinis as going away gifts so we suited them up and had a photo shoot. For your viewing pleasure, I present dogs in bikinis…

Have a great weekend!

Here are some ways we’re sneaking storage into our space.

The coffee table has extra storage for remotes and magazines. It’s a repurposed piano bench that works perfectly in our small space.

Our pantry is pulling double duty as a microwave cart. We were worried where the microwave would live once we got here (I’m not sure what that says about us!). We used to keep it in our pantry at our last house and thankfully that worked here too! It definitely helps keeps our small amount of counterspace free.

Do you have any sneaky storage at your place? Feel free to share your tips!