alabama shakes

Tonight, I'm helping a friend with some of her wedding decorations and then Ryno and I are going to an art show this weekend. Also, my dad will be coming in town this weekend to visit and help with some home repairs. I'm hoping to have a chance to gain some more home repair knowledge from him during this visit. I believe he will be changing out some faucet fixtures, so I may try to follow along with the process.

I listen to a local radio show, and the main host mentioned he has what he calls Pinterest Sundays with his girlfriend. They select recipes from Pinterest and make them for Sunday dinner. Then they decide whether it was a failure or success. I have tried a couple of recipes on Pinterest, but I thought it could be fun to make a weekly adventure out of it.

For the Friday Music bit, I thought I would share a band from Decatur, AL called Alabama Shakes. They were recently here for SXSW, but we unfortunately weren't able to see them. Hopefully, they will be back in Austin soon. Ryno and I were so excited to see a band so close to where we lived in Huntsville having so much success. We only wish we had known of them when we still lived there. Enjoy!

I put my new shoes on

One of my mom's favorite stories to tell about me as a kid is how when I was about four years old I learned what high heels were and became fairly obsessed with them. Of course, I couldn't wear them at that time, but I loved to compliment my mom's friends on their shoes and apparently did so often. It's remained a running joke in our family that I can always find a new pair of shoes that I would love to add to my collection. So today I thought I would share a few of my new obsessions. They are all from Madewell; I absolutely love their summer collection!

the holepunch sidewalk skimmer

the jolie shoe clip

the streetside sandal

San Antonio Gardens

At the start of last week, I thought I would plan a weekend day trip for Ryno and me. I decided we would finally go to the San Antonio Zoo, and I asked friends for restaurant suggestions in the area. I mentioned my plan to him Thursday, and he was on board for a short, fun trip to see more of San Antonio. The drive down was easy and we quickly arrived at our destination. However, the phone GPS turned out not to be as clever as we thought. When it chimed to say we arrived at our destination we were in the middle of a residential street Northwest of downtown. After I insisted that Ryno drive around the block to ensure it wasn't just hidden in the neighborhood somewhere, we pulled out our phones and looked more closely at the map. It was at this point that we found the marker for the San Antonio Zoo Northeast of downtown, so we had to jump back on the interstate and headed back the other direction. Once we finally arrived at the park, we waited in traffic for almost an hour driving slowly through the park passing completely full parking lots. By the time we made it to the road infront of the zoo gates Ryno and I agreed we needed to pick another activity for the day and plan better the next time we wanted to make the trip.

the zoo is the block of green to the right, not the A marker

The alternative plan we agreed upon was the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. It was in close proximity to the zoo and we were correct in assuming it would be less crowded. Overall, the gardens weren't as large as I remembered, Ryno was quick to point out I was smaller when I was five. I would say they only had a handful of true gardens and the other areas represented the different regions of Texas and the landscapes in each. I think our favorite part was probably the shrubs that were blooming with very yellow pods.

wide open spaces

We were listening to Dixie Chicks Pandora at work this week and it was so good! I forgot how much I loved some of the country artists that showed up on their station such as Shania Twain and Sugarland. I hadn't listened to any of it in awhile and as soon as Wide Open Spaces played I was immediately taken back to my senior year of high school. I listened to that song constantly; it was my mantra when I was deciding to leave my small hometown and move to Atlanta for school. Basically, the Dixie Chicks and the tv show Felicity had quite a hand in my college selection. I wanted a large city that was completely new to me, so I would always have things to explore and people to meet. It ended up turning out really well. I absolutely love Atlanta and had so much fun making friends while I was there. Also, it's where I met Ryno!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

cherry blossoms

No surprise, I have some wedding projects still needing to be wrapped up this weekend. I am looking forward spending some time on them, and I'll definitely share photos as I complete projects. Until then, all the wedding inspiration hunting I have been doing made me think back to when I was planning our wedding 5 years ago...gosh, time has flown by! I thought I would share some snippets of the wedding invitation and response card I designed. I knew I wanted letterpress invites that referenced the cherry blossoms that were blooming in Virginia when we were married. I wasn't able to find anything as simple as I wanted, so I designed them myself and sent the file to PaperSource to be printed. They did a great job printing the invitation, and I really loved the paper choices. I did a simple one color coral print on cream paper. In the end Ryno did the addressing of the envelopes, because my handwriting is tragic and calligraphy wasn't in our budget. I loved how they turned out, and I was happy that we both took part in the process.

friends with kids

Have you seen Friends with Kids? Ryno and I went on Monday, the theaters were empty now that SXSW has wrapped up. We enjoyed Friends with Kids; it was funny with a strong enough story to keep it interesting. Also, the cast is amazing and apparently all friends too, so it's fun to read about their time on the set. While the movie didn't touch on those who choose not to have children, the movie was apparently inspired by Jennifer Westfeldt & John Hamm's personal experience of being a couple without kids among their friends who are parents.

photo via IMDB

lady bird

This weekend Ryno surprised me with a trip to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin. I went last year the weekend following the only rain we really saw that spring and it was pretty disappointing. This year was the complete opposite. The wildflowers bloomed early and they are everywhere. We had a lot of fun walking around the different gardens and checking out the native plants. The bluebonnets were by far my favorite, which is no surprise to those who know me. They have always been my favorite flower, and it was so fun getting to show them off to Ryno. Also, I may have forced him into a few photos with the bluebonnets...

Sunday we joined a friend downtown to catch the last of the music portion of SXSW. We found a couple of bars that still had band line-ups. We didn't realize it but the bands are on thirty minute rotations, which is helpful if you want to catch a lot of music in a few hours.

springing forward

I've been listening to a lot of Willie Nelson at work lately, and it makes me want to go on a road trip. My dad always played "On The Road Again," during family road trips. Now I associate those songs with summer car trips. Ryno and I have talked a lot about exploring other cities in Texas, and now that the summer is approaching I think I will start to seriously research some fun day trips for us to take. I will let you know what I find.

I will be absent the rest of the week due to the wedding projects I am working on for friends. April is quickly approaching, and I have a lot to wrap up before then. Have a great rest of your week!

source

leave me like you found me

Over the weekend Ryno and I went to the premier of his friend, Adele's film, Leave Me Like You Found Me. Lucky for us, the film was premiering here at SXSW and Adele, who wrote and directed the film, was able to get us tickets to see the opening at The Ritz Theater. It was so exciting to see her film and to be there for the q&a that followed. She talked about how the location for the film was inspired by a camping trip to the Sequoia Forest with her dad. We also went to the after party that was held at The Ginger Man. Ryno grew up with Adele, so it gave him a chance to catch up with her parents and for me to meet them.

If you have a chance to see the film, I definitely recommend it. They shot the entire film in two weeks and it was really beautiful. Also, the story was something I think everyone that has been in a relationship can relate to in some way.

ps- I wish I had taken more photos, but these are during the q&a. In the first shot Adele is standing between the two actors on the right and the crew on the left.

SXSW

Tonight, we are going to a SXSW movie premier for a movie produced by one of Ryno's friends from back home. She now lives in California and traveled to Austin this week with her boyfriend to attend the premier and the SXSW festivities. They were nice enough to get two passes for Ryno and me to attend the premier as well. We are so excited to see her film at one of our favorite theaters, The Ritz, in Austin.

I found this SXSW Film promo for some Kickstarter movies and thought it would be fun to share here today.


SXSW Film Festival Preview from Kickstarter on Vimeo.

honey, thank you

I love these honey favors from this lovely Vancouver wedding. I especially think the "Thank You" label is a wise choice. For our wedding we used picture frame place cards, which doubled as the wedding favor. Unfortunately, no one realized the frames were the favor, so most were left on the tables. It made me regret that we didn't just do a sweets favor table, which were all the rage five years ago. I think local honey would be a sweet treat no matter where you get married and these cork jars are so cute!

keep calm and carry on

Have you seen this enchanting video telling the history of the "Keep Calm & Carry On" poster? I found it via this post on Apartment Therapy. The story mentions how some people have grown tired of the phrase popping up on pretty much everything you can imagine. While I still very much enjoy "Keep Calm & Carry On" I find the spin offs of it much less enjoyable. If you enjoy the original phrase too, watch the video below to hear the story of how it came to be and where it resurfaced. The story has a cute British bookstore in the mix!

sullivan owen

I just came across Sullivan Owen, a floral and event designer, here. I had to visit her blog to see what other amazing floral creations she has made. I am absolutely in love with her bridal floral hairpieces. When I visited BHLDN last weekend with two of my friends that are soon-to-be-brides, I attempted to convince Lisa that she definitely needed a headpiece for her reception. However, now I am thinking she needs a floral hairpiece instead. It would be lovely in her hair, which is always perfectly styled!

images via Sullivan Owen

Carnations

I have a few friends getting married this year and next, and I've offered to help find inspiration for their events. Most recently my friend LB and I talked flowers. Today, I came across this post from Ruffled and really loved the use of Carnations. As a January baby Carnations were often given to me on my birthday and for the longest time I wished for a different birthday flower. I think it was a classic example of wanting what you don't have. Now that I'm older they still aren't my favorite flower, but I don't dislike them the way I did when I was a kid. The way the Carnations are styled by Hana Style Design is ultra feminine and really beautiful in my opinion. Having experienced how expensive flowers can be I think Carnations could be a great solution to a beautiful bouquet on a budget.

photos by DiFiore Photography

falling behind

Things have been falling behind for me lately. Ryno and I have had a lot going on and it seems like the spring is only going to continue picking up pace. We have a lot of visitors coming over the next few weeks, and I have some projects to complete for friends too. The long and short of it is I feel like things have been a bit light here for the past couple weeks. I am going to make a better effort to be up-to-date here, because this is definitely one of my favorite daily activities. I love coming here to share and create a collection of my inspirations.

Speaking of inspirations, I had an amazing weekend. I finally had a chance to visit BHLDN, the Anthropologie wedding brand. The store space was really beautiful and my friends and I had fun looking through all the little extras available there. The day trip to Houston on Saturday was all about finding a wedding dress for a friend. We came back empty handed, but narrowed down a few styles that would work best. 

 

Then Sunday was the 84th annual Kite Day. We had so much fun flying our Disney cartoon kites even though they weren't the most impressive or best flying kites out there. My friend, T, and I agreed next year we needed to get serious about making our own kites. Although, I think I may not wait a whole year, it could be a fun summer project too!