The husband and I are avid travelers and at least once a week we chat about the places in the world we'd still like to go. Whenever we go to a new city we try to absorb ourselves as much into the culture and little nuances of the place as we can. We love finding off the beaten path restaurants and shops, meeting locals, and sometimes just getting lost.



These maps by Herb Lester Associates are perfect for people looking for something extraordinary when they travel. Aside from having the most stellar covers for a map ever created, these little pocket guides are a great way to see a city without hitting the usual tourist spots.



Check out the full collection here.

One of the immediate wish list items when we bought our house was to repaint the exterior. While it's reddish brown color was probably all the rage in the 70's, it's now a far cry from cool. In fact, it just makes me depressed. The shed is brown. The garage in brown. The decks are brown. Everything is the same shade of brown! I can't even handle it.

I love the look of cool grey or black mixed with cedar wood. We need to redo all of our decks at some point, so I've been using these house as inspiration for what we can do with the house when the clouds start raining money down upon us. Until then, welcome to Brownville.