inspired.

This past Sunday I went to The Big Crafty in Asheville with my friend Cara and sister-in-law Elizabeth.  We had a great time, and I snagged these two awesome shoe prints from Suzanne and Edgar from An Open Sketchbook.  The red shoes represent me since I have loved red shoes for years and wore them on my wedding day!  The sneakers represent my athletic hunk husband.  He is always sporting trendy athletic shoes in an array of colors.

I think we are going to hang them in our bedroom across from our bed on a collage wall that we are wanting to do.

The artists behind An Open Sketchbook are a husband and wife duo. They are too cute and have twin baby boys that you can read all about on their blog too. How fun is that? You should also check out their etsy shop because they have a BOGO sale, and that is how I snagged these beauties for half the price!
This limited edition print pictured below called A Downtown Affair caught my eye at the show and is definitely on my wishlist.  Hint hint to my husband :)

Today I am taking care of a sick little one, and after work I am going straight to our membership class for Grace Church!  We are so happy to have found the church we feel like God has for us and are excited to get involved! 

I hope you are having a wonderful week!  

aperture vision.

As I have mentioned before, I work for a wedding photographer here and there on the weekends.  It has been such a fun experience, and I have learned so much about photography from him.  If you are looking for a wedding photographer you should definitely check out Aperture Vision's website and blog.  You can also now follow him on twitter to keep up with all the new stuff!

Here are just a few of the lovelies he took at my wedding!  I am so happy with them, and I will post more here and there.  He definitely captured our love for each other!

 

a dear friend.

Sunday evening someone very dear to my family went home to be with the Lord. She was a wonderful and sweet lady who was always an encouragement to those around her.  I have many fond memories of spending the night at her house when I was a little girl, going to the lovely parties she would host, getting wedding planning advice from her, and going out searching for the perfect spot for my wedding. She will be missed greatly by so many. 

dream kitchen.

I am totally in love with my apartment.  The layout of it and the easy access to the pool combined with the wonderful people that work here have really made it a great place to live!  Will and I picked our particular apartment because the layout of it made it feel less apartment-y and more like a house with its long hallway.  With that said there is one thing that I would change with the layout and that is a more spacious kitchen!  I guess most apartments aren't really known for their fabulous kitchens!  Being that I love cooking and baking, I like to dream about the type of kitchen we will have someday in a house. Here are some that have caught my eye on the internet.

Pretty color combo.

breakfast nook

Fun table and chairs

I bet the best biscuits could be made in this colorful beauty!

Need I say more than this one says on it's own? I would live in this kitchen.

For now though I am content to just dream about how I will decorate my kitchen one day.  Although I have to move the trashcan to open the fridge or the oven and can't have the fridge and the oven open at the same time, I think the little kitchen I have now is serving us quite well.  We have made up some yummy dishes in there, and I will always look back fondly on our first apartment!  Please just don't open our cabinets.... Yes, I think small kitchen storage and organization needs to be a post in the near future....

summer reads.

I am starting to compile a list of books I would like to read this summer.  Since Will got me a kindle for Christmas, I am motivated to start reading more.  I used to love reading but sadly have recently found myself watching more netflix and hulu than reading and learning through books.  I figured doing a post on what I want to read will keep me more accountable to actually do it so here it goes...

1. Christ-Centered Worship by Brian Chappel- I have been wanting to do a study on what the Bible says about worship and what our worship should be like.  I think this book will be a great starting point for that study.

2. All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot (and possibly the next two after this All Things Bright and Beautiful and All Things Wise and Wonderful)- A sweet friend of mine recommended this series.  She is an avid reader, and I know I can always ask her for book suggestions!

3. Financial Peace Revisited by Dave Ramsey - Will has been telling me I should read this book so we are on the same page with our finances and where we want to be.

4. Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis -Another recommendation by my sweet hubby!  He talks about this book all the time :)

5. Love That Lasts by Gary & Betsy Ricucci -Thought this looked like a good read for us newlyweds!

Any other recommendations would be greatly appreciated.  I am serious about putting my kindle to good use!  

the newlywed's grill.

Last week Will and I decided we wanted to grill hamburgers.  We were horrified to find when we got home with our charcoal and hamburger patties that the grill outside our apartment was already in use.  I remembered I had bought this cute little aqua grill from the sale aisle at Walmart a few years back so I dug it out of our storage closet, and we put it to use!  Now this is what a newlywed cookout looks like.

And boy were those burgers with blue cheese in them DELICIOUS!

Have a happy week! 

baby owl.

The Baby Bee turned two on Wednesday.  When I started this job I thought that the younger the baby the better, but I have realized in this case that the older she gets the more fun she is and the more bonded we become.  It is so exciting for me to see her growing up and all the things she is learning, and it is awesome to be able to have little conversations with her and have her understand and respond back with sentences!

For her birthday I made her this little owl using vintage fabric and felt.  I really enjoyed making it, and it was a good easy project to get used to my new sewing machine on.  I combined machine stitching with some hand stitched details (which you can't see in this picture...boo), and I really think it turned out pretty cute for being such a simple design!  I am looking forward to trying to make more little animals for gifts.  I love the idea of all the fabric combo possibilities!

Today I am off work while the Baby Bee is out of town again with her parents.  I am going to get some cleaning done and hopefully get together with my sister and friend for some crafting!

Happy Friday!

i'm back!

I know I have been missing on here for over a week!  I have definitely been lazy with posting.  The good news is that I have been up to all sorts of fun things that I can share on here over the next week!

Other then some one-on-one training here and there, Will is done coaching until the fall so that means I get my husband back in the evenings!  We have been enjoying the extra time together by going downtown for coffee dates and people watching.  We just love downtown Greenville.  It really is a nice city and a great place to live!  It is growing so much, and they keep making more improvements and building more things.  Since I have lived here my whole life I have really been able to see the transformation from what it used to be to what it is now.

In other news, last week I had off while the baby bee was at the beach with her family so I hosted a little pool party with a couple of friends who weren't working either.  It's always nice to have some time with the girls!  Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures, but I think you get the idea!  

Today is way too chilly for swimming, but I am looking forward to spending some time with my sweetie tonight!  I am thinking since I didn't plan a meal or go grocery shopping we will have to go on a dinner date.  Hehe I'm sneaky!

take me out to the ballgame

On Memorial Day Will and I went to a baseball game downtown with some new friends from a church we have been visiting.  Afterwards we did a cookout and played some corn-hole.  We had a great time and are looking forward to hanging out with this group more in the future!  

My brother Jeff and his wife Kelly were there!

Will out on the field helping friend Ben out with a game.

 Isn't she lovely?

My love :)

Not pictured: getting rained on at the game and running for shelter, shout-out from the announcer at the game to the people from Grace Church, my mad corn-hole skills (ok so maybe I am exaggerating and I really stink at it), awesome burgers.

We are excited that our new friends Ben and Joanna that just got married live only a couple of minutes from us. Hopefully we will have some time this summer to hang out with them!

Joanna and Ben

i am so blessed.

As I am sitting here reading my favorite blogs this morning, I get to look over and see this. Every day I get to wake up and see this face.  I just keep thinking of how blessed I am to know him, be loved by him, and be his wife!  I hope this isn't too sappy for a Monday morning, but it is a holiday.... And I just can't help myself!

P.S. I am hoping he doesn't mind I took this.....

i often dream of hawaii.

Hubby and I are working on a collage wall for our bedroom today.  I was looking through our honeymoon pictures trying to decide which ones to print and thought I would share a couple! I will definitely be posting more later.

Isn't this mother and child enchanting?

I'm off to make some grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, and then we are going to get out and enjoy some sunshine!

10 things that make me terribly happy

I went back to the beginning of the the Rockstar Diaries blog the other day and have been enjoying reading and dreaming of city living.  I was inspired by this post to do my own list of 10 things that make me happy.  Here it goes...

1. my red saltwater sandals

2. coconut shrimp that we had in Hawaii

3. breakfast dates

4. this quilt my sister made me for a wedding present

5. all the pretty hydrangeas blooming around town (and my mom for letting me clip this off hers!)

6. Dillard's Farms red velvet ice cream and coconut ice cream- best combo ever!

7. my kitchenaid mixer

8. my newfound love for doing wedding flowers

9. my husband's hair and how everyone says it makes him look like a millionaire

10. wearing a vintage scarf in my hair

Hope you are enjoying your long weekend!