So This is the New Year: A Playlist

Here are 11 Songs to help you ring in the New Year.

I know it's not my usual 17, but there's sort of a time constraint on this one and I only decided to make this playlist last night. Enjoy it.

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

A Very Merry Christmas

We had a very merry Christmas here in Jasper. We stayed in pajamas all day long, watched Christmas movies, ate lots of good food, played with our new presents (and the kitty), and were lazy pretty much the whole time.

I hope your Christmas was equally as wonderful. Happy Holidays.

Foxy

I spotted this A-FREAKING-MAZING fox embroidery this morning on the Feeling Stitchy blog by fionabearclaw and couldn't not re-post it.

This makes me want to stitch sooo bad. Gorgeous, gorgeous work.

25 Before 26

A quarter of a century ago today, I was born.

This week, I made a list of 25 things I want to do before I add another year onto the total. Here's my "25 Before 26" list. Some of the items are quite serious and down to business. Others are just tiny things. Some are really quite silly. I hope to accomplish them all this year.

And in case you can't read my messy handwriting:

1. Buy a sofa.
2. Make a headboard.
3. Open an Etsy shop.
4. Start a record collection (and buy a record player).
5. Finish LDQ & Arrows quilts (and make another!)
6. Find a great rug for the living room.
7. Camping on Cumberland. Take a picture of a wild horse.
8. Make health a priority.
9. Bake a Red Velvet cake.
10. Make a 17 song mixtape playlist for every month.
11. Write a letter every week.
12. Read 20 books that aren't Twilight or Harry Potter.
13. Sew something wearable.
14. Fill the pages of a sketchbook.
15. Mail 5 care packages for no reason
16. Go to a state I've never been to.
17. Make a painting and hang it in our apartment.
18. Design a website.
19. Watch 5 movies in theaters.
    
20. Get a really great haircut.
21. Drink a bottle of wine worth more than $20.
22. give at least 1 trash bag of clothes to Goodwill.
23. Buy Chris something he'd never buy for himself.
24. Eat a whole lobster.
25. Make business cards for myself.

(Wow! My hair looks really red in this picture. I think it was taken a day or two after I dyed it red, though. But it still looks sooo red!)

Our Wedding Weekend, Part II

The Rehearsal Dinner

Be advised- This post is super image heavy. You can click on any of the photos to make them bigger.

All photos were taken by our wonderful friend Robert Wigington and edited by me. Robert has a blog, too. You should check it out.

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So. We got married under a huge old cedar tree completely covered in Spanish moss. Overlooking the river. A more perfect and beautiful place there is not. I promise. We looked all over Georgia.

This is our tree. With our friends and family gathering under it.


The cross of the gazebo was just visible over the minister's head through the trees. You'll get to see a picture of that... I promise.


My Dad, the constant photographer. I really love this picture of him. I think it may be my very favorite.


The Hubs. I think this was before I came out. I accidentally left my engagement ring in my room (oops!) and was a teensy bit late for the rehearsal. Horrible, I know.


Loooook at my tights. I'm pretty obsessed with them. I really love this picture. Those are Callie's hot legs on the left, BTW.


The whoooole wedding party. And pretty much our favorite people in the world.



Cheesin'.


My lovely, wonderful, beautiful bridesmaids.
Lovely Lane Chapel. Probably the prettiest little white chapel in the whole universe. I haven't actually seen them all, but I don't know how any could compare. This was our in-case-of-inclement-weather plan.


Not a bad plan, eh?
The inside is just as beautiful as the outside. Gorgeous wood everywhere.


Photoshopped nearly to death, but I really like it anyway. I think I may have a little addiction to Photoshop.


Speaking of addictions, the moustaches are probably in half of our pictures.


The toilet paper roll bouquet was from the bachelorette party the night before.


Wow. People are probably going to start thinking I really have a huge black moustache.


The head table at dinner in the Ellie Harvey Room. Chris' parents worked SO hard on the Rehearsal dinner and it was so lovely. My Aunt Kathie arranged the flowers... she's like the Yoda of flower arrangin'. Seriously.


One of my favorite games of the weekend was to put random people together and see how the interacted. College friends + high school friends + family = a very strange feeling.


More friends!


Some of Chris' family and some of my second family, The Berry's (Abbie's family).


I really like this picture of my dad and me. I also like that I have a hair tie around my wrist. Nice.


I'm not gonna lie here. This picture is probably of me telling them how awesome it is that my dress had pockets. Kristen doesn't seem impressed.


My aunt Linda (who I call Nina). Her hugs are the best.


And the obligatory feet picture. But seriously. This one is really, really good. (And look at my gold shoes!)

A huuuuuuuge thank you to Robert for agreeing to take pictures kinda last minute. He was a champ and these are pictures that we'll treasure for the rest of our lives.

We still have yet to receive our professional pictures from the actual "Big Day", but we're working on it. Soon, soon, soon!! In the meantime, I may put together a small post on some other wedding-related details like flowers, stationery, etc. And there will certainly be a few pictures of getting ready the day of. Mimosas may have been involved.

Also, if you were at the Rehearsal Dinner and didn't see a picture that you'd like to, (such as one of yourself/your family) let me know and I'll get it to you somehow. Robert took lots and these are just a small sampling.

Aaaannndd... Good night.

Needle, Joetta Maue

I've been crocheting alot recently. I tend to do that. I tend to get into one craft and stay in its little bubble for a while. With fall comes the need for cozy crocheted hats and scarves. Summer is a more appropriate time for embroidery. But sometimes, that logic doesn't work and I just need to put a needle in fabric.

Things like the new NEEDLE Magazine make the need even worse. Needle is a new online (and FREE!) magazine entirely focused on embroidery. It's magical to see what people can do with a needle and thread.You should check it out even if you're not in to needlework. The artistry alone is enough.

One of the articles featured an artist named Joetta Maue. Her work is so incredibly inspiring.

It makes me want to go to Hobby Lobby likerightnow and buy more floss and new needles (even though I just bought some) and get to work. I'm actually starting to toy around with the idea of a big-ish embroidery/fiber arts project. We'll just wait and see how that goes... I don't want to give anything away because it would most likely be a gift.

For now, have a pleasant Wednesday night.

PS... Our Wedding Weekend Part II is coming up very sooooon!

I Want to Go to There.

Sooooooo....... We named our cat Liz Lemon.


"Lemon" for short. "Lemon Drop" for fun. "Lizzy Lemon Pants" because I'm insane.

Why would we name her after Tina Fey's character in 30 Rock? The real question is: Why wouldn't we?

Hello, Kitty!

So.... we got a kitty today. We adopted her from the Humane Society and she's a year old.

She was adopted previously for a year and then when it was time to take her to her yearly checkup at the vet, they decided they didn't want her anymore. So, we gladly decided to bring this pretty girl home. She doesn't have a name yet. We're about 80% sure about what it will be, but we're going to give it another day. She's so sweet and so loving. She's been a little freaked out, though... lots of change today. But now she's ours and we will love her forever. I mean, look at her.... how could you not love those big pretty eyes?

Sigh.

I'll post about her name soon. Promise.

PS... As I type this, she's sitting in my lap purring. Awww.

Gobble Gobble

Thanksgiving break was great. We spent the first half of the week painting our kitchen and the second half of the week hanging out with family. We decided to spend this Turkey Day with Chris' family, since we spent it with mine last year. We spent three nights at his parents' house in Jasper, then went to Atlanta to help Emily (our sister) cover some pillows for her new apartment.

There was good food, good company, and lots of both. There may have been a few games of Mexican Train, too.

I'll try to take some pictures of the apartment soon. We put up all our Christmas decorations when we got back, so our place looks quite festive.

I'm also working on a December playlist that will (hopefully) rock your socks off.

Until then... have a lovely Thursday.

Thankful

This year, I'm thankful for:

1. A husband that I love and who loves me unconditionally in return... even when I'm 12 kinds of crazy.
2. Our small, but happy home... broken washing machine and all.
3. My family, who bent over backwards to help us make our wedding the most special day of our lives.
4. My new family, who have welcomed me so warmly that I feel like they've always been part of my life.
5. Friends that can make me laugh even in the most dire of circumstances.
6. The ability to make ends meet when so many people can't.
7. All my crafting supplies and the ability to use them to make fun things.
8. My phone, so I can always call my grandma and ask her if she thinks a cup and a half of oil in carrot cake is too much, even though that's what the recipe says.
9. Good books that can take away the world for a few hours on a rainy day.
10. You.

What are you thankful for?

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.

Brain Function PostSecret

This is from PostSecret today. I think we all feel like this sometimes. I know I do.


If you don't know about PostSecret, first of all, have you been living under a rock?!
And second, (from Wikipedia) "PostSecret is an ongoing community mail art project, created by Frank Warren, in which people mail their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. Select secrets are then posted on the PostSecret website, or used for PostSecret's books or museum exhibits."

Do yourself a favor and check it out.

Don't Judge Me

I know this will completely decimate my cool points, but....

Tonight, Jessica and I are going to see this:

And we're going to make these:

And we might wear these:

And we will be total 13 year old girls. And we will LOVE IT.

Have a happy Friday night everybody.

Today, I Wish I Could......

Wear these clothes.......
and be in this place......
.... allll day long! But alas, to work I go. Baby clothes won't just sell and monogram themselves, you know.

10 Pretty Things

Sorry it's been so long....

I needed some visual stimulation today, so I thought I'd share. Here are 10 pretty things that I love right now.

1. Audrey Hepburn. I watched Sabrina for the upteenth time recently and I fell in love with her all over again. She really was magical.

2. This engagement photo of my friends Callie & Robert. Seriously, could they be a more gorgeous couple? And two nicer, more fun people you'll never meet. I really, really love them.

3. Cozy Bedrooms. The Hubs and I are desperately trying to make our apartment cute and functional. It's a slow process, but we're getting there. Images like these help to keep the creative juices flowing.

4. Pretty things that fly.

5. Red hair. I want it sooo bad.
6. Pretty hardware. Since I was a little kid, I've been fascinated with knobs and hinges and keyholes and such. Someday I'm going to live in a house with the most beautiful doorknobs.

7. Pictures of sweet words.

8. 80's Fantasy movies. If you haven't seen all of these, you should be ashamed of yourself. They were among my favorites as a kid, and still are.

The Princess Bride, still my favorite movie of all time.

Legend. Tom Cruise before he got weird. Also Tim Curry Plays a very convincing Satan. Wonderful, wonderful movie.

Labyrinth- David Bowie. That's really all you need to know.

9. Colorful Collections

10. The new John Mayer album. Particularly this song. It doesn't officially come out until Tuesday, but I have acquired it a bit early. He did this song with Taylor Swift (who I secretly really like). Listen.

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Image sources:
we heart it, anthropologie, me, google images, etc.