Celebrations

Happy Thanksgiving!!

in ,
hahahadrawing from an email my dad sent me

I'll be out of the office today and tomorrow, but I wanted to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know between the cooking, and the traveling, and the possible personality clashes within families, and the cleaning, and the napping, and the parades etc. we all sometimes forget what this day is truly about- being thankful.

And I for one, have so much to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for my husband. He's not only my best friend, but he's my confidant and support system. He always encourages me, talks with me, and loves me for who I am. Having him to share my life with makes me so thankful everyday, and I hope I show it enough!

I'm thankful for my family, who despite all of our quirks still is always there whenever I need them. Speaking of family, today's my sisters birthday!!! Happy Birthday!!!!!! I'm super thankful for her too :)

I'm thankful for my friends- both those who are close and those who are far away, those who I've known for a long time and those I've only recently met, and of course, those of you I have met through this blog. I've loved getting to know each of you!

I'm thankful for getting to wake up and do what I love every single day. I absolutely love my job, and the more I look around, the more I realize how special and rare that actually is.

And while I have a ton of other "thank yous" I could write, there has been one in particular that has been on my mind lately. One of my college professors- my painting professor to be exact- made such a huge impact on my life and I've never told him that. I still run into him almost every time I am in Athens, and we catch up for a little while, but I really want to tell him how important he was in helping me become who I am today. He encouraged me to follow my heart and be an artist, even though that really is one of the hardest things to do. He told me the people who loved me would eventually come around and accept my choice, but that I had to live my dream and not those of others. He let me take chances and inspired me to really push myself and find what I truly loved. Without him, I would have never had the courage to decide to be a painter and create a business that revolves solely around that love.

And every time I see him an overwhelming respect, love and appreciation takes hold of me for all that he gave to me without even knowing. I think I'll write him a letter later today letting him know how much I appreciate what he did for me. I think everyone deserves to hear when they have made a difference in someone else's life and I don't know what I am waiting for.

Do you have anyone like that in your life? Have you said "thank you?" I hope so.

Well now it is time to go eat turkey, celebrate my sister's birthday and then pick out a Christmas tree with the family!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! (and thank you for taking the time to read what I have to say :) )

Combining Traditions

in , ,

I got to see one of my good friends yesterday (and meet her beautiful new puppy) and had a blast talking and rearranging/styling bookshelves (I'm being 100% honest when I say I love that kind of stuff). Being mid November, the topic of celebrating the holidays with our families quickly came up.

Being newlyweds, this is the first time we've both actually had to decide "where to be" and"who to be with" for the holidays and it's kind of hard. We both have traditions with our parents and siblings that we want to continue, but at the same time we also really want to start our own traditions as well. Of course, we also want this without creating tension or hurt feelings.

And that is really really hard to do that.

Have any of y'all felt this way?

I know personally, J and I come from very close knit families and we both love each others families. Luckily for us, our families like each other as well so we don't have to worry about everyone coming together, but the issue for me lies in how do you honor your past traditions while still leaving room for new ones? And whose home town do you start those traditions?

Take this example. The day after Thanksgiving my family of 4 (read small and close) goes and picks up our Christmas tree. We then lug it in the door (and by we, I mean my dad and my sister. I'm more of the help Mom move stuff out of the way/ hold the door open kind of person :)) and then decorate it.

This is what we did every year for, well almost ever. But things change. First change, we always got our Christmas tree from the same place and now that place no longer exists. Second change, my sister and I have gotten older. She usually travels after Thanksgiving dinner since she actually can take a mini vacation from the firm and this past year- due to work- was the very first year I wasn't with my parents. I had to work the day before and the day after, so it wasn't really possible to drive to them and then back home in the same day, so instead I spent it with my aunt and uncle and two cousins who live like 30 minutes away. It was great to be with them, but weird to be without my parents and sister.

As for Christmas, J and I were in Costa Rica on our honeymoon so that in itself was different. Wonderful and relaxing, but we both thought it was a little strange to be next to a pool on Christmas day (still remember how excited my family was that we called. haha like we wouldn't call on Christmas...)

So now it is the first year that we are actually having to "mesh our family traditions."

Luckily this year hasn't really posed too many issues which is great, but it has brought up how difficult it will be when we move away after he graduates. His parents are retiring to Florida, my parents will still be in my hometown and our siblings will most likely both be in Atlanta. Combine that with the fact that J will have to work at least a 1/2 day on either Thanksgiving or Christmas (I mean, people still get sick on the holidays!) it is bound to be a little difficult to work out.

So how do y'all do it? What traditions have you kept? What about ones you've created?

Anyhow, now that I've brought on a "heavy thinking post" I'll wish everyone a happy weekend! I hope it is both beautiful and filled with joy! Happy Friday!!

"See you" Monday!

Halloween Wrap Up

in ,

Sorry for skipping out yesterday- time just ran away from me! The costumes got a dress rehearsal (pre-halloween costume party) Tuesday night and were a HUGE success. As over the top as it might be, there is something very cool about wearing a sparkly dress and now I am hooked. I'll share pictures next week.

With Halloween tomorrow, everyone seems to be posting unique invites, tablescapes etc etc. and I thought I would show you some of my favorites from the past few days:

I love the string around the finger invite. Really creeps me out, but super original. The skeleton one is just fun- plus I really like black envelopes. Oh and look at that bar setup! I think dry ice would be a cool addition to bring in some fog!

all three from martha stewart via ritzy bee

I need to make these. I love apples and I love candy so I don't think anything can hold me back :) Aren't the black ones so Snow White-ish?!

and lastly, if you're going to have a wedding the day after Halloween, why not go all out. See here for the gorgeous pictures and don't forget to look at the vintage Halloween wedding Style Me Pretty just posted!

Halloween Preview

in

I've been getting into the fall spirit the past few days by decorating, buying pumpkins etc and now that J and I have decided (finally) what to be for Halloween (a magician and a magician's assistant), I thought I would go ahead and start making our costumes. We both don't like having costumes that everyone else already has or that can easily be picked up as a costume shop, so normally I make at least one of our costumes.

Some of our previous costumes:
as little red riding hood and the big bad wolf (as grandma of course) and then our all time favorite, Calvin and Hobbes.
I painted the costumes to look exactly like the cartoon and they rocked...

This year, I headed over to a vintage store to look around for things that could be cut up and re-worked when I found this.

and it fit perfectly.

It was meant to be! It is the perfect dress for a magician's assistant, and even better... I didn't have to sew anything for mine!

*just a side note, while super over the top and flashy, I kind of love this dress and am already trying to think of ways to actually wear this out. Maybe with a black boyfriend blazer and killer heels...

Tomorrow I'll start working on my feathered head piece, J's cape, top hat, and wand and hopefully find a little white rabbit stuffed animal. Wish me luck!!

Happy Birthday Daddy!

in ,
the outside of the box

and the inside (minus the message of course :) )
all images via courtney khail stationery

As promised, I said I would show you what my Dad received in the mail as his "card" so here it is! (It was also wrapped up in kraft present so it would be like opening a present :) )

I really liked how the one for L turned out, so using a specialty box I had in my art closet (it was covered in white fabric and had a magnet that held it closed) I decided to create a "party-in-a-box" for my Dad too! He means so much to me and I wanted him to know J and I were thinking about him even though we couldn't be with him :)

So if you're reading this Daddy, Happy Birthday!!! I love you so much and hope today was wonderful!!

Birthday Party in a Box

in , ,

It just so happens that one of my great friends happens to have the same birthday as J.

Now this is both wonderful and not so wonderful. The wonderful side is that I will never ever forget her birthday- it's set in my memory. The not so wonderful side is that I don't get to celebrate with her on her birthday (well unless we did a huge double birthday, but personally, I don't like how that takes away from the specialness of each birthday person.) So in order to kind of get to celebrate with her on her actual birthday this year, I made her a party in a box. Have no clue what I am talking about? Well here is the finished product:

(kind of hard to tell, but two of the presents, one of the garlands and the birthday banner are actually raised from the back of the box)

After writing a message inside the box top, I slyly delivered it to her house. Oh and by slyly, I mean looking like an absolute creepier running up to her front door, sliding the box through her mail slot without clanking around too much, and running really quickly back to my car as her neighbor- who happened to be pruning his hedges at the exact moment of the "drop and run"- stared at me like I was a crazy woman). Either way, all the running and funny looks were well worth it when I got her call later that afternoon saying thanks! It made me even happier to know I got it to her on time since she then told me she was staying in to take care of her husband who was in bed sick with the flu. (And given that L is actually a nurse, I know he's being well taken care of!) Anyhow, I thought I'd share her "party" with y'all and wish her a happy (belated) birthday on the blog. Happy Birthday, L!!

Happy birthday, sweetie. You rock.

in , ,
via here

It's my husband's birthday!!! He is absolutely wonderful and I can't wait to start celebrating once he's back from class.

Now I have to run decorate the apartment and pick up his ice cream cake* from Ben & Jerry's before he comes home! See you all tomorrow :)

*I'm baking his cake for this weekend's festivities, (a football inspired two tiered concoction to not only celebrate J's birthday but also celebrate the long awaited beginning of the UGA football season- yes we are those fans) but for actual birthdays (as in the day of) we have a tradition of buying each other ice cream cakes since they are our favorite kind of cakes!

Monday Inspiration #1

in , , ,
one love photo via twig and thistle

How is it already the middle of August? I can't believe how quickly time flies. In just a few months the leaves will change, we'll be huddled around bon fires, and thankfully, it will start to cool down! Fall has always been my favorite season (how could it not? Cute clothes, Thanksgiving, crisp air and college football!) so I thought I would post something to get you in the mood for autumn. And how beautiful is that ceiling of lights? Maybe it's just me, but there is always something magical about cafe lights.

Hope everyone is having a fantastic day!

Dining Outside

in , ,

I love to eat outside.

My childhood memories are filled with images of my mom fixing my sister and I picnic lunches to eat in our backyard, watching from our outdoor dinner table as my dad shucked fresh grilled corn, and then of course all of us eating grilled chicken wings at my best friend A's house after a long day of swimming.

Even today, that love for eating outside remains. J and I love to sit on our porch (when it starts to get cooler) and eat dinner together. (We even have a chandelier hanging above our table so we can eat by candlelight!) With all that said, today I thought I would share a board inspired by outdoor dinner parties. I love everything about them- from the homemade desserts made from fresh berries, to the bright jersey dresses all the girls dress up in and of course eating at a picnic table with citronella candles burning all around. Nothing is too fussy- centerpieces are made up of collections of wild flowers or herbs found in your garden or backyard, and the napkins can just be simple cotton tea towels. The best part is that this is the exact type of party that doesn't need a special occasion or cost a lot of money- just fire up the grill, invite some friends over and remember the bug spray!

row 1:flowers via design sponge, table scape via hip hostess
row 2: escort cards via, dress via martha stewart weddings, dessert via santa barbara wedding chic
row 3: photo via i am a greedy girl, ice cream with love spoons via grey likes weddings