City Escapes - Oklahoma City, and a Giveaway

Today's City Escape post is by one of the most fashionable and stylish couples in the blog world. Jeremy and Kathleen from Jeremy and Kathleen and J&K: what we wear put together a fabulous tour of their incredible cultural city through their eyes. Take a look for your self, I still can't get over the spectacular modern home. Who would have thought, Oklahoma was home to so many different styles of Architecture.... and yes guys, you're definitely cool. I'm definitely sold on this City and I can't wait to visit one day. Now, could you transport a home just like yours to Miami for me to live in.


I hope you'll enjoy this virtual tour of Oklahoma City!



Thanks Yansy for choosing Oklahoma City as one of your City Escape features. I am approaching this article not as a tourist guide highlighting the typical "go-to" places but what I love about OKC on a very personal level.

First off, I love Oklahoma City. I grew up in the suburbs just south of Oklahoma City and had this preconceived notion that OKC was kind of dirty and lacked refinement. But after graduating college I landed an art director/design job at an advertising agency in historical Bricktown, the heart of OKC, and I quickly realized that Oklahoma City has a lot of culture and character to offer. I was still making a 30 minute (1 hour in rush hour traffic) commute both ways from the suburbs. I eventually left the safety net of the suburbs and moved to a duplex in an urban historical neighborhood 3 minutes from my job. It took living in OKC to really appreciate the pulse of this city.

So here are little pieces of OKC that I have fallen in love with:


OKC Farmers Market
{Insert farmers market pic}
Every Sunday my husband and I hit up the Oklahoma City Farmers Market for locally grown and imported produce. There are a few stands open every day of the week - even in the winter. This building holds events year round such as the Girly Show {Link to:http://www.thegirlieshow.net/about.php}, a yearly art show event featuring badass female artists from around OKC.


Buildings with Character
I think it's the buildings that don't get a lot of attention - that are peppered throughout a city - that really make up a city landscape. Here are some of my favorites.


201 E Main
This building is located down the block from my office and in the early morning light the colors just POP.


Vacuum Repair Shop
I adore this Hoover shop. Everything from the beat up signage to the boarded up door ooze personality - the kind of character you don't get from new-builds. Buildings like this make me nostalgic for an era I never experienced.


Import Wholesale Supermarket
I think this storefront, that could be considered an eyesore, is just fabulous. It is a vibrant little patch in the middle of the crazy quilt that is 23rd street in OKC.

Bricktown
Mercantile Building, Bricktown
This rainy-day shot was captured of my office (an old warehouse built in 1919) located in Bricktown, OKC. Just a decade ago this area of town was considered seedy and dangerous but with the help of a few development projects and businesses like the one I work at moving into this area it has been revitalized.


Graffiti
I know landlords probably hate it but I love graffiti. We don't have the most refined graffiti artists here in Oklahoma City - but this tag definitely caught my eye. This kind of "I was here" statement is not found in the 'burbs and I think it definitely has it's place in a real city.


The Boulevard Cafeteria
My dad takes me to lunch here about once a week and it is one of my favorite places in Oklahoma City - and would you look at that signage!?

Oklahoma City is Home
Oklahoma City houses some modern homes (see we're cool!) and historical mansions - full of character and life.
The place I call home.
I plan on traveling the world but will always be happy to settle back down in the roots of my home in Oklahoma City.

I hope you enjoyed my little slice of Oklahoma City life!

Kathleen
jeremyandkathleen.blogspot.com

Thanks again, Yansy!

Thanks again guys for your lovely tour. When I find myself in your city, I will be calling you guys for some delish vegetarian dishes.
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I promised you a giveaway and I shall deliver. It took me a while to come up with something that you wonderful ladies can enjoy as well as find useful. One of you lucky ladies will have the chance to win a set of four fabulous placemats by Simply Envogue, a set of four napkins by the Premium Hotel Collection and a milk glass dish from my private collection. I put this giveaway together in the spirit of the coming up holidays. The winner will be chosen by random.org. For a chance to enter twice, write a post on your blog with a link to this post and make sure to let me know, I will then allow you to enter a second time. Good Luck to all of you, the winner will be announced on Tuesday, September 15th.


I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and make some time to explore your city!



P.S If you are interested in participating in The City Escapes Series, please send me an email.


xo,

Yansy

An Anniversary and a sneak peek!

To say that I'm floating today is an understatement. Today is our (Bobby and I) four year anniversary, and I couldn't be happier. I plan for today to be full of pampering, including a couples massage and yummy food. He still makes me weak at the knees every time I see him, after four years he continues to get the car door for me, carries all of the groceries and heavy shopping bags (that used to kill me, since I'm Ms. Independent, now I just embrace it) and still supports (although he doesn't understand it) my love for designer shoes and throw pillows. Love, Thank you for making me laugh everyday. You have spoiled me, and I wouldn't have it any other way.



To say that I'm a lucky girl, will be another understatement. Bobby, I'm so grateful to have you in my life. Thank you for loving my family like they were yours, for Jade and Tazer, for surprising me with dates to our favorite restaurants, for always allowing me to pick the movie, even though its probably going to be a chick flick and your going to hate it. Thank you for sharing my love of travel and trying different foods, for never complaining of the change of plans at the last minute by moi, for always sticking to my travel itineraries, and for always consulting with me before making a major decision. Thank you for putting up with me every time "that time of the month swings by", I know I'm not easy to deal with. Thank you for always supporting me in all of my endeavors, including going back to school even though you knew I was going to be a thousand times more stressed out than before. Thank you for always supporting me, although you don't always understand it, my crazy home projects in the middle of the night and for never complaining to coming home to a mess of paint, which half of the time you end up cleaning up. And last but not least, Thank you for your unconditional love and support, for your sweet text messages, and for always telling me that I'm beautiful inside and out.

(In case you were wondering who Jade and Tazer were)

I want you to know that you're my hero, for how loving, caring, and unselfish you are. You're the love of my life and I feel lucky to have you by my side!



A Credenza Revival

Here is the very anticipated sneak peek. I hope you'll like it. Thanks to all of you for your suggestions. I'm so glad I went with the white paint instead of the black or the gray.


The Before:




And the after:
P.S. I have to have Bobby attach the door that covers the three drawers in the middle. I will show you the finished piece after we move.

P.P.S. Stay tuned for a new City Escapes series tomorrow, and a fantastic Giveaway. I'll be celebrating my 100th post. A short week full of anniversaries, how lucky am I!

I'm sorry if I misspelled anything, I only had 20 mins to put this post together.


xo,

Yansy

Stopping by to say Hello!

Sorry guys! Things are a bit crazy right now. We're moving, so packing has been in the horizon for the past few days, as well as painting. Yes, you heard me painting. Would you like to know what I've been painting for the last couple of days? Stay tune, I will give you a sneak peek tomorrow.

I hope you're having a fabulous short week.



xo,


Yansy

Brightening up your day!

Here are a couple of images from Country Living to brighten up your day.


I hope you're having a fabulous long weekend!

For the love of Anthro!

An Anthro store just opened near me inside The Aventura Mall, and I'm happy to report that I was able to score most of the items on my wish list. The minute I stepped in, I was so inspired by so many of the vignettes that I wanted to share some of them with you.

I know these Ostriches are a bit out of the ordinary but I found them inspiring and super cute.



This open shelf cabinet is part of what makes their design so attainable. This is super simple to recreate and it can be inexpensive if you can find a similar cabinet at your nearest thrift store. All you would need is some fabulous blue paint and voila! The perfect setting for your fabulous dishes.
I love the idea of these canisters. They were being used to display pillows but how fantastic would they look in a bathroom for towels.

I'm a huge fan of framing fabulous fabric and displaying it as art. As you can see here, I did something in a smaller scale at our home. How fantastic is this quilt? I love the idea of using it in an all white room, the perfect way to bring color into any room.

How phenomenal does this look? I love it and I want it, now. Unfortunately, the fabulous farm table underneath it is not showing on the picture.

OK, this has got to be my favorite image. I just adore the idea of having an old french armoire without the doors to display all of your favorite linens and apothecary.

I had to take a picture of this. Those mirrors are fantastic, and right underneath are cotton blossoms. How cute is that? I love the cotton blossom idea for a table setting.


I hope you all got to enjoy these images as much as I did.

Have a wonderful Labor Day Weekend!

P.S. The City Escapes series will be back next week. If you are interested in participating in series, please send me an email.

xo,

Yansy