.simple pleasures.

easily the most enjoyable of which is finding unshelled pistachios in a bag of pistachios. the ease! the simplicity! the salt-n-peppery glory of those solitary green gems!

or the discovery of the only coasters that won't stick to your glass because of the condensation and then drop heart-stoppingly loud onto your glass coffee table (on sale. beachy. khaki. even. more. awesome.)

...but I have to admit, the simplest of pleasures is definitely walking into an apartment that you love to see. If you venture to the clearance section of the home center in Kohl's, you'll find some awesome stuff from the Seaside (or shore, or line or whatever location they used to make it sound inviting) Collection marked anywhere from 65-80% off!

Check out the sailboat, lighthouse, sand dollars and assorted candles:
A little close-up to show you how versatile those sand dollars are. After I photographed the mantlescape for you, I realized that they would be much more appealing in a trio. I stole the candle from my pineapple lantern to round it out, and I like the look much better - you can see difference in the unlit candle picture vs. the lit candle picture. Check out the cute seashell candle-rest, too!
I also scored some awesome pillows - the two on the left are from the Vera Wang collection - I believe the center one is meant for the bedroom, but it's sooo pretty and such an unassuming shade of dark champagne.
These aren't new, but I wanted to give credit where credit is due...the original inspiration for my pillow obssession was definitely these down-filled beauties from Michelle Obama's favorite big-box store, Target:
Of course, I can't forget my two lovely pineapple finds - first a lantern, and then another candle-holder. I always thought C was a little on the gay side for his love of candles, but if companies make this many different ways to display candles, he can't be the only one that's obssessed with him, can he? can he?Photographed on my leg for posterity...or because the glare off the glass coffee table was obnoxious. Don't you love the Lilly I'm wearing today, too? OBSSESSED with this pattern - love it when she adds reds and blues to the everyday pink and green uniform!Today was C's second day of school. Once again, he missed his first class. While I'm not looking forward to the idea of my 27 year old boyfriend attending classes with 19 year old girls (although I did just turn 22 myself), I am still very proud of him for going back to school!

Last but not least, I 'd like to give a littel shoutout to seaside designs. How beyond adorable is this desktop calendar? I just had to order it to go with our new beachy apartment:
Hmm...I just smelled smoke. Maybe I shouldn't have lit EVERY SINGLE CANDLE I BOUGHT. so pretty, though!