Travel: If you're ever in Southern California ...

Do make it to Balboa island in Newport beach... It was the cutest little island I ever did see. It was right next to the marina, and had so many cute bungalows and shops.  

 

Because my dad's side of the family is from Trinidad, all the women get nicknamed "island girl." It's one of my favorite nicknames (besides "cakes" from Matthew) so I died when I saw this shop.  If it wasnt filled with children's clothes, I would have been all over it!! 

But I did score this mug at another shop called "the heart of the island." So I was happy. This mug is one of my favorites so far!

Also - do not miss out on a "lookey loo" spot a bit further south, called Javier's. It's down the highway and had the best Cali-Mex.  It was quintessential "OC," and the enchiladas were to die for. 

Over and out - T 

Let's be friends on Snap Chat!

So really quick, I am kind of obsessed with Snap Chat at the moment. It's an app that just makes life a little more fun!

 

If you've never heard of snap chat, you basically send pictures and videos that erase after your friend views them.  My friend and I were sending weight loss 'progress' pictures, and always texting "If you share this, I will kill you" or "delete asap." But now that we have snap chat, no need to worry!! So send away, embarassing photos, funny videos, the possibilities are endless!

 

Of course Kristen said "oh you think they erase them." in which I countered, "since we aren't celebrities, no one will hack our accounts and I think we'll be ok!"

 

Go download the app now! My username is Tessytessio, come find me ya'll!

Converting a Buffet to a Media Unit

Hello and Happy Friday! I'm back from California and catching up on sleep. This post isn't related to my recent trip, but I've been wanting to share this for a couple weeks, so here it is! Our 6 month furniture search has come to an end!

Matthew and I are both bargain shoppers, so finding the perfect piece for under our TV was taking forever.  It was so hard to pull the trigger because we really wanted a buffet piece that we would to convert into a media unit. We also have a distinct theme going on in our open living/dining/kitchen space (Which is very navy and reclaimed wood-ish). Well I finally found something I loved at HomeGoods, and within 5 minutes of seeing it I was telling the salespeople to take it off the floor!

HomeGoods put it on a paid hold, so I had seven days to pick it up, and could return it just as easily. I told Matt if he hated it we could take it back, but we were buying this piece and testing it out no matter what! 

Now onto the conversion process, you need this huge drill bit specifically for drilling the perfect hole. Which we borrowed from our neighbors. 

Voila! We finally have the missing piece to our living room. 

Now, time to tackle the walls and add shelves around it.  Has anybody else used a buffet piece for a media unit? Have a good weekend everybody!