how i've missed this

y'all, how my heart has missed this! i realized quickly once i had to step away from blogging that i am actually quite passionate about blogging. i love writing. i love beautiful images. i love recording life's little nuances and happenings. i love the blogging community. i am inspired here.

so. goodness. lots to catch you up on!

1. ArtQuiver closed. sad day.
2. received beautiful painting from ArtQuiver closing. happy day.
3. got a new job at an events planning firm. woo woo!
4. became briefly overwhelmed by new job, new schedule, and soon-to-be new life. boo hoo!
5. got back on the horse and decided to woman-up to the big bad world.
6. our venue accidentally double booked our wedding. (yes, yes less than a month before the big day)
7. crisis ensued. flexed my muscles, waited patiently (sorta) and...
8. got the venue! wedding back on!
9. .... oops forgot i was supposed to be training for a half marathon.
10. had bachelorette party and had way too much fun. perhaps some photos will make it to this here blog.
11. ran ten miles (i'm still alive!). threw up in front lawn... (i'm still alive!)

so i'm headed to philly this weekend with my two best friends to run the half marathon (they're hoping to make great times. i'm hoping to finish! but hey, i'll be proud of that accomplishment). anyone have any rockin' things to do while we're there?

next up, wedding details to fill you in on! so close, loves!

my sister, m, and i saw sanders in concert a couple of months ago. i love this song. if you have the chance to see him live ever, i highly recommend it. it wasn't just music; it was an experience.

sweet bridesmaid gifts

one of my favorite parts of the wedding celebration is the bridal party. all of your best girlfriends in one place at one time, dressed fabulously, dancing the night away. and since most of my bridesmaids are far (as in far side of the world! hello, readers in italy and africa!), i am especially excited for my wedding weekend. just the opportunity to share a meal, toast our friendships, and share in the blessing of the wedding ceremony together - i can hardly wait.

each of my friends is a beautiful, trusted lifelong friend. i plan to honor each of them in her own unique way with a small gift. though i can't reveal what i decided to get each of my maids, i thought i'd share some ideas for you brides!

this fashion print is just so sweet. and this etsy artist will custom draw portraits for you in the image of your dear friends!

floral clutch, packable perfume, floral hairpin, eyelashes, lip glaze, hair bow, rings, cloth bag

i love these sweet clutches that you can fill with fun little accessories. bonus: you can be certain no maid is found without a stylish bag with all her essentials - lip gloss, blotting papers, tissues, mints, etc!


this print is simple but beautiful. i love it!

do any of you brides have any other ideas? i'd love to hear them!

cup of the day

happy thursday! we've almost made it to the weekend. i had a fabulous morning meeting with lucy of Lucy O Photography! lucy has been doing a 'cup of the day' series of photos in which she photographs local cville folks drinking their morning brew (a mocha in my case! i know... not technically coffee but the whipped cream was irresistible). i met lucy at Mudhouse. i was a little nervous to be in front of a camera so early in the morning but it was actually really fun (look at how beautifully the photo turned out - that's not me; it's all lucy's photog skills!). i can hardly believe lucy and i haven't met before as we have so many friends and interests in common. i totally spent almost the entire time we were together picking her brain for cville wedding tips - she had a ton!

if you're a bride in need of a photographer, check out lucy. she is incredibly warm and will certainly put you at ease (bonus: she was just a bride herself a few months ago! congrats, lucy!).

some love

happy valentine's day! here's to hoping your day, whether romantic or not, is a bit brighter. it's 65 and sunny in charlottesville, and that fact alone is enough to make me feel loved.

have you written any valentines? as much as i love receiving them, i think i love writing them even more. this year, i bought some cards from rifle paper co. and last night i set to work writing small notes of love and gratitude to some key people in my life: sisters, mom, soon to be mom-in-law, co-worker, friend, and of course m. it's good to remember how blessed i am.

have any fun v-day plans?

pretty books + sweet friends

(sparkles and pretending)

i'm getting married on the 11th of june. i have the most amazing friends and sisters (and, therefore, bridesmaids). so, on the 11th of every month, i receive a sweet surprise in the mail: a small gift and a very thoughtful note from one of the women i most love in the world. if you are one of those women, take note: i love you! whichever one of you came up with this grand scheme to make me feel like the luckiest bride: you've done it. i am the luckiest bride.

they know me too well. so far, there has been somewhat of a trend: books. and not just any books but the newly covered, gorgeously gorgeous penguin classics. just look at them. i love them. i can't wait to read pride & prejudice recovered. or the odyssey (or at least parts of it...) recovered. or a christmas carol recovered. they are going to look so pretty on my bookshelf (once i get a bookshelf that is).

of course, what means more to me than the gifts are the notes. handwritten notes are the best, y'all. and, typed notes are a close second - especially if your bridesmaid is in Africa or Italy currently. whenever i get them, they totally make my day. even if it's just a simple hello.

if you're feeling writerly today, i implore you: do it. write a note. they're the best.

thank you!

i can't tell you all how much this little blog has come to mean to me. after college, i craved a creative outlet, and i've been so thankful for a place to store ideas and process life. what's more - i've been incredibly thankful for all of you. i have been really encouraged and inspired by all of you readers. though i have not met many of you, i have cherished sharing a connection, however small, with each of you. and i do hope to meet many more of you if our paths should cross someday! so thank you for stopping by and making my day. your comments are always such a pleasure to read. you can keep up with all future posts by becoming a follower at right. thank you for being here, friends!

if you haven't introduced yourself, i'd love to hear from you! what would you like to hear more about? i really appreciate that you're here as i continue to discover my voice and what exactly this blog is about.

happy one year, t & f

have you been over to tulips & flightsuits yet? today is the one year anniversary for mary's blog. congrats, mary! i follow numerous blogs, but t & f is one of my daily must-reads. mary curates a fabulous blog about the home, being a navy wife, travel, and newlywed life. but what really makes mary's blog one of my favorites is the fact that her writing is so personal; it's as if you were sitting across from mary at your favorite coffeeshop, chatting over a mocha and a croissant.

so head over to t & f and tell mary hi!

poms and stamps

last weekend, i invited some girls over for brunch, mimosas, and crafting! now that the wedding is just five months away (!), it seemed high time to put some action into all those diy plans i'd made. the craft party was a wonderful success, and i couldn't have asked to share it with more lovely friends!

i spent the friday before the party preparing. my sister (and fabulous MOH) and i headed out to get all the essentials: ingredients for brunch, champagne, orange juice, fabric, a movie, and chocolate (ok, the chocolate and the movie were for us).

we set out all the crafting supplies:
1. tissue paper (i had bought the paper in bulk from this paper mart)
2. pipe cleaners, scissors, tape, pencils
3. cards (in one of our wedding colors! a total score from the Michael's sale bins)
4. thank you stamp (i splurged! thank you, ampersandity!) and ink pads
5. fabric (in various prints and textures, all in our wedding colors, from JoAnn's)

and then we turned on some music and went to work in the kitchen. we made this delicious egg strata (though we used 8 eggs, tore all the bread into bite size chunks and sauteed all the veggies beforehand). we made it the night before, so the next day all i had to do was pop it in the oven (along with some cinnamon rolls!). and finally collapsed on the couch to watch this movie (which was actually pretty good!). i LOVE time with my sister. we had a blast.


(that picture wasn't taken while we were making egg strata... though we have been known to strut around the kitchen in the dead of winter in our bathing suits. i love our matching freckles!)

the crafting party turned out beautifully! i had made poms earlier in the year for a party (pre-engagement), so i did a quick tutorial on pom-making since we'll be using a lot of them at the wedding. all the girls quickly became pom-making pros and set to work. my good friend natalie, known for her wordsmith skills, added stamping to her skill set and stamped ALL of my thank you notes. and maureen began to craft our fabric wedding banner.

the egg strata was a big hit, the mimosas were delicious, and the conversation was sweet. i'm so excited to see all of the diy decor coming together. i've had this vision growing in my mind since september, and it's going to be all the more beautiful knowing so many friends contributed to the finished product! i feel very loved.














thank you so much to all my beautiful friends who helped! i'm so sorry i didn't get photos of all of you but your presence was much appreciated. i wish i could post all of the finished products, but some things will have to be left until the wedding.

bone-deep honesty

natalie posted about this article in the curator on friday, and i thought it was too good to not repost.

do any of you journal? i remember getting my first diary as a birthday present when i was seven. it was one of the first presents i received that made me feel very grown up. it was a precious moments (remember those?) diary with a cartoon little girl on the cover. i cherished that little book. i remember feeling so important, like i must have significant things to say if someone had thought to give me an actual book in which to write them down. looking back on what i wrote is pretty comical, but i'm thankful for it nonetheless. it instilled in me a great love of writing and a practice of processing my thoughts externally - something i've learned that i need in order to understand what i am actually doing in my life and what i think of what i am doing. that may sound pretty egocentric, but i think the practice of understanding and evaluating my life actually allows for me to be more focused on others.

i love lindsay's quest to write in her journal fearlessly, to allow herself to be the imperfect version of herself on paper and to enjoy the freedom of writing. in her article, lindsay quotes luci shaw, and i think her remark is right on.

"Though we are often moving too fast to notice it, there is in each of us a profound need to be still, to be alone, to reflect, to meditate, to contemplate, to wait, to reach a kind of bone-deep honesty with our own souls.”

bone-deep honesty. i'm letting that one sit with me a while.

i'm back!

whew! can you believe the holidays are over? i hope yours were restful and cheery. i had the best time at home, having a slow week full of family, some wedding planning, and my first bridal shower! now that i'm back, it seems i've hit the ground running and all that r&r has fallen by the wayside.

does this happen to you? it's like all week i got plenty of sleep, worked out every day, ate delicious meals, read a lot, lounged, wondering just how in the world i would fill up all the hours in the day. and then bam! vacation is over, and i'm wondering just how in the world i'll have time to work, eat, plan a wedding, work out so i fit into my wedding dress, and maybe sleep. and why, oh why did i not get more done during vacation? but that is what vacation is for, i guess. a reprieve from the constant roar of accomplishment.

so here are the very few non-accomplishments i checked off my list while i was gone:

1. painted my nails the most glittery gold (see above photo). it chipped off after 4 days, leaving my fingers in a sorry state of post-christmas hoopla. but i still enjoyed looking at them, like the sweetly sad feeling you get when you see all the wrapping paper balled up in the trash around noon on christmas.

2. listened to a new friend talk about the life he left in mexico, his love of painting, and how he once won a singing contest in front of 300 strangers. this might have been the most meaningful conversation i had all christmas season, and it happened when i volunteered with my church at an event for the homeless.

3. watched old home videos. oh my goodness. i haven't laughed that hard in a long time. my parents were strenuously committed to documenting all of their young daughters' lives on camera, and the result is pure entertainment. as the oldest, i exhausted myself in front of the camera, coming up with anything, anything to bring the attention back to myself (as my sisters would say, oh how things have changed). hilarious.

4. made these no-bake cookies (my grandma was famous for them around our house).

5. saw this movie. i highly recommend it. colin firth is amazing, and this story warms my heart.

6. read a lot of this book. a must read. it's changing the way i think. more thoughts on it to come.

would love to hear how your holidays were!

featured on united with love

i'm so excited to announce that some of our engagement pictures were featured on United With Love, a blog about weddings in the DC area! i've been shy to post these pictures but since they are already exposed to the greater web world, i thought i'd share them with you.

the post where our pictures appear is one in which our talented, amazing engagement photographer, eric kelley, and his wife, lora elaine (my makeup and hair stylist) share some tips about what to wear for engagement sessions! i'm incredibly flattered that they chose our photos to showcase their work. m and i have been so blessed to call eric and lora friends, and i just about fell over when they offered to take some photos of us around town. both of them are insanely talented and have gorgeous websites. i loved working with them because they are both laid back and made the shoot comfortable and fun, but above all, they are incredibly committed to their craft - which comes through in the photos.



ah, isn't m handsome in his suspenders? he was a great sport for the shoot. i can't wait to marry him!

i highly recommend eric and lora for your engagement or wedding photos! but book early - these two are in high demand! and check out United With Love. the post has some great advice for looking good on camera.

missing friends

last night, i did something i normally don't like to do. i ate mexican food. i know, i know - mexican is the best thing ever. but... i'm sorry. i fail to see the appeal. beans, rice, cheese, ground beef, maybe some salsa. and then, and maybe i'm alone in this one, after a few hours your stomach begins to throw a tantrum like a child on the floor of the candy aisle. not my fave. but last night, i ate mexican.

i ate mexican because of friendship.

one of my very best friends, beth, was in town for a single night from africa, and she loves mexican. so to charlottesville's continental divide we went. and it was so good. not the food. but the friendship.

beth is one of those rare people whose convictions infuse her life with a consuming passion. she is inspiring to be around because she lives exactly according to what she believes to be true. which is why she gave up everything to seek a life of service in zambia. beth is part of a team called Special Hope. their mission is to address and alleviate the inequities which orphans with disabilities face. in africa (and often in most parts of the world), these children have no voice and are often forgotten, mistreated, and misunderstood. beth is going to change that.

i miss my friend dearly. i will probably never get to call her up for an impromptu coffee date or bike over to her house to watch gilmore girls on repeat. she won't be standing next to me as i say 'i do' or when the rest of the bridesmaids and i celebrate on the dancefloor. and the normal things that sustain friendships - hugs, laughs, shared prayers - may be rare occurrences as an ocean will separate us for the foreseeable future. but i am so thankful to call a woman like her friend at all. and to know that she is exactly where she needs to be. that's worth a thousand mexican meals.

if you are not familiar with Special Hope, please check out their website and consider supporting their cause!