ENGAGEMENTS (PART 3)

AND NOW FOR PART THREE OF OUR ENGAGEMENT PICTURES.... IT WAS SO HARD TO PIC JUST A FEW TO SHOW YOU!!!

BUT THE NEXT MORNING WE GOT UP WITH THE SUNRISE, JUST ENOUGH MAKEUP, FRESHENED UP THE CURLS AND WE HEADED DOWN TO THE CREEK BED, AT ONE OF SP'S FAVORITE CROSSINGS AND CHARLA SNAPPED A FEW MORE MOMENTS OF GOODNESS!!

IT WAS EARLY, BUT THE WATER WAS JUST CHILLED ENOUGH TO MAKE US WAKE UP REAL QUICK:)

I LOVE ALL OF THESE IMAGES SO MUCH!!

SO MUCH SO, THAT I ALREADY HAVE THEM BOUND IN A COFFEE TABLE BOOK :)

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hers: tshirt | kimono | jeans 

his: shirt | jeans

ENGAGEMENTS (PART 2)

THIS IS ACTUALLY WHERE WE STARTED TAKING PICTURES, WHERE WE GOT OUT ALL THE NERVOUS JITTERS, WHERE CHARLA MADE US BOTH FEEL SUPER COMFORTABLE, AND ALSO WHERE I TOTALLY HAD A FREAK-OUT MOMENT AND SQUEALED BECAUSE TAKING THESE PICTURES MADE EVERYTHING FEEL REAL, MADE ME REALIZE, WE'RE GETTING MARRIED!!! EEK!!!

THIS PICTURE MAKES ME FEEL HAPPY, GIDDY AND ALL KINDS OF GOODNESS INSIDE!
I LOVE THAT WE'RE BOTH SMILING FROM EAR TO EAR AND I CAN'NOT WAIT TO TREASURE THIS MOMENT FOREVER!

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hers: earrings | shirt | belt | skirt similar and similar  | boots

his: shirt | jeans | boots 

ENGAGEMENTS (PART 1)

MAYBE IT'S JUST ME, MAYBE BECAUSE THEY TUNRED OUT BETTER THAN WE COULD HAVE EVER HOPPED FOR, BUT I AM OBSESSED WITH OUR ENGAGEMENT PICTURES!

I SEARCHED, SEARCHED AND SEARCHED FOR A PHOTOGRAPHER THAT WOULD WANT TO CAPTURE OUR ENGAGEMENT PICTURES AT THE RANCH, AND THEN ALSO OUR WEDDING DAY...WITH A LIMITED TIME FRAME, IE A SIX MONTH ENGAGEMENT. WHICH, IF YOU LIVE IN TEXAS IS CONSIDERED CRAZY THESE DAYS. A TYPICAL ENGAGEMENT TIME IS 12 TO 18 MONTHS!

THE SEARCHING PAID OFF!!

CHARLA STOREY. YOUR WORK, YOUR ART, YOUR ABILITY TO CHASE LIGHT, MAKE IT WORK, AND MAKE IT ALL SEEM TOTALLY NATURAL IS BEYOND WORDS. 

IF THIS IS HOW THE ENGAGEMENT PICTURES TURNED OUT, I WILL START PREPARING MYSELF NOW OF JUST HOW BEAUTIFUL THE WEDDING DAY PICTURES WILL TURN OUT!

hers: dress || earrings || shoes

his: jeans || sports-coat || shirt

BEFORE & AFTER :: living | dining

I thought I would share with you one of my most favorite projects and spaces... creating a home!
A few years ago I snagged a steal of an apartment in the same neighborhood I was living in at the time. I had been to one of the units in the building before, and knew that if it ever went on the market I would need to do whatever I could to get my hands on it. 

At least once a month I would drive up and down some of my favorite streets and wait for a 'for lease by owner' sign up be in the yard...  and one of those days I got lucky. The sign went in the yard and and very day I met the agent and handed him a deposit check. No time for questions - I knew I wanted it. 

750sqf - open concept, lots of light and even (my favorite part of all) a screened in porch - dreamy!!

so here you have it, a few of the before pictures of the space.
(the true before had dark gray walls in the living and bedroom and a bright red/black combo in the bathroom... I went with softer colors to brighten it up and give it a cleaner feeling!)

Since sharing before & afters of all the rooms at once would be too easy, I'm going to share one at time (there are only 4 before and afters) staring today with the LIVING/DINING ROOM. 

BEFORE

paint color || BM Camouflage

AFTER

I love love love this space! 

When I moved in, the renter before my had the room flip flopped: sofa in front of the windows, and windows covered to avoid a glare on the TV. By changing the layout, I was able to bring more light into the room, create a welcoming entry space (front door it in the back left corner of these pics). 

While I don't love the TV being a focal point of a room, or center of a mantlepiece, I do like having it angled to one side of the room. Plus by adding the giant bull print from my boyfriends ranch to the mantle the room felt like it now had two directions, a living room on one side and a dining room on the other. 

There are so many, what I like to call, treasures in both rooms... it is a collection over time, travel, countless garage, estate sales and junking trips to lots of fun places!

And its a habit that will always be part of me.. my great-grandfather, grandfather and even my mamma all stop(ped) for any 'sale' sign and it's hard to leave without a good treasure or find, it doesn't matter how big or small!

The only thing that was purchased 'new' for this space was the white sofa. I had a big, down-filled sofa for a few years, it was the most comfortable sofa ever... and provided some of the best naps in history! But moving into an older home, means really narrow door frames - you learn something new every day. The movers tried to fit the sofa in through both the front and the back doors, from ever angle you can imagine, but it was just not going to happen. Solution: IKEA Flatpack Sofa for the win! It came in 2 flat boxes, required minimal instructions and with a bottle of wine my sister and I had it assembled in no time. A white sofa is not the best choice, but the whole cover fits in the wash and fits back on perfectly after washing (hang to dry!!)

I would love to tell you where each piece is form- but thats a lot, and most of it is not from a store. So I a made this, to give you the same look and feel:

lamp || sofa || table || print || cowhide || rug || chairs || mirror || bar cart

candle || blanket

chairs || chairs || bench || faux hide || lamp || table || butcher prints

candle || plant 

ENGAGED

I'VE TOTALLY LET THIS BLOG TAKE A BACK SEAT. 
SOMETIMES REAL LIFE, REAL LIFE ACTIVITIES AND EVENTS TAKE THE CENTER STAGE AND MY TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA TAKES THE HIT. IT CAN MEAN ONE OF A FEW THINGS, BUT WHEN THE BLOG IS QUIET, THE REAL LIFE IS BUSY!

AND IN THIS CASE... IN MY REAL LIFE SP PROPOSED!!!
ITS TRUE. AFTER DATING FOR 2.5 YEARS - KNOWING EACH OTHER FOR 5 YEARS, HE POPPED THE QUESTION AND ASKED ME TO SPEND FOREVER WITH HIM! 
I KNEW IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN SOMETIME BEFORE THE END OF THE YEAR, BUT I WAS COMPLETELY SURPRISED ON THE NIGHT HE ASKED ME ... 5.1.15.... 

ALL THE DETAILS ARE LONG.. BUT THE GOODNESS OF THE STORY IS WHAT MAKES IT SO SPECIAL. 
IT WAS JUST THE TWO OF US, RIGHT BEFORE HE ASKED, WHEN HE ASKED AND IMMEDIATELY AFTER HE ASKED!! 

 

 

FOLLOWING THE PROPOSAL WE HEADED TO MY SISTERS AND HER HUSBANDS HOUSE WHERE THEY, ALONG WITH MY MOM, WELCOMED US WITH CHAMPAGNE AND CELEBRATIONS!!

WE CALLED OUR IMMEDIATE FAMILIES BUT SAVED MAKING 'ALL THE CALLS' UNTIL THE NEXT MORNING. IT WAS FUN TO JUST SOAK IT IN, ALTHOUGH IT DIDN'T FEEL REAL FOR QUITE A FEW DAYS!

WE ARE GETTING MARRIED THIS OCTOBER. SO THE COUNTDOWN IS ON!!
HENCE, WHY THE BLOG HAS NOT BEEN GETTING TOO MUCH LOVE AND ATTENTION. 

A SIX MONTH ENGAGEMENT IS QUITE THE WHIRLWIND! I WOULDN'T HAVE IT ANY OTHER WAY AND GETTING TO MARRY THIS SWEET MAN IN LESS THAN 90 DAYS GIVES ME A THOUSAND BUTTERFLIES!!

I WILL DO MY BEST TO HAVE MORE UPDATES FROM NOW ON. 

PICTURES OF THE WONDERFUL FESTIVITIES WILL BE A MUST! 

NEW MOMMY MUST HAVES

exciting announcement:: sp is an uncle for the second time!! this time around to a little baby girl!

his brother and sister in law welcomed a little bundle of perfect joy into the world on tuesday afternoon. sp headed straight to meet them at the hospital and i can hardly stand to see them all this weekend!

since i'm not a mommy and don't have any new mommy advice or recommendations, i asked some of my dear friends they are mommy's what some of the things were they 'had to have' postpartum. 

here's the collection that came together: 

new mommy must haves: 

** epsom salt - 'soothing me time' in the bathtub

** coconut oil - 'natures nipple cream' 

** dry shampoo - ' your next shower' 

** gel breast pads - 'sooth the boobs' - refrigerate and enjoy 

** traditional medicinals - 'more better mommy milk' mothers milk tea & cute mug!

** the mommys favorite wine in mini bottles

** halo sleepsack swaddle - the warm fleece kind 

** 'postpartum padsicles' for you know... (image not pictured- details below) 

here are all the goodies in a cute tote i found at hobby lobby (similar)

complete with leopard tissue paper, the mamma's favorite!!  

as for the padsicles... my inspiration was from visiting a friend just a few hours after she gave birth and the nurse had brought her in a 'frozen diaper' - genius!! i've passed that advice on to all my new mamma friends since the hospital does not just offer these up! so i thought, having something similar at home might be helpful. to save the mamma some time, i found these diy padsicles  on pinterest and will have them in the freezer when she gets home!
(i left out the lavender, figured less fragrances the better)

RED VELVET | | BROWNIE BARS

if your following me on instagram, these might look familiar!
for valenteins this year sp and i had a them: 

red wine

red meat

red velvet

all of which turned out excellent. so good in fact, that i thought i would share the brownie bar recipe with you. no need to add the red food coloring if you just want regular colored brownies:)

i never bake. mainly because i hate following a recipe. 

real talk - its so bad that i've had to throw out a boxed-cake before. told you i'm not good at it. 

but i wanted to make a desert for sp on valentines day, so i followed all of the below steps exactly!

(the only thing i didnt do was use 2 tubes of food coloring, i went with just 1)

this is the recipe i found on pinterest of course!

this girls food pics and chocolate swirls are way more impressive than mine. 

but the taste translated perfectly!!

hope you all had an extra sweet valentines as well. 

x o x o

CANE CHAIR

realtalk: garage sales, antique shopping, vintage finds, estate sales are my weakness.

i am actually really close to putting this bumper sticker on my car: i break for garage sales. 

ok, i'm not quite there, but i do love me some junk. 

like this chair i found below. at an estate sale over a year ago..... ooops!

the real deal is a little pricey (this one, these, or these!) so i thought $30 was a total steal. 

here is her in all her estate sale glory.. in need of some serious tlc.

what the before picture does not have, is the ply-wood seat insert that came with the chair, since the that part was completely non-existent at time of purchase. 

so after a year of 'thinking' about it and taking up storage space in my moms garage, i finally took on this project when the sun was shining and the wind was not blowing (critical for spray paint activities!)

supplies needed: 

you can sand it down if you want, but this one was already pretty rough, so i left that step out. 

spray paint : rust-oleum gloss white enamel

cushion form for the seat - similar here

fabric to cover the cushion  -- i found mine in the 'scrap' bin at the fabric store for $6!!

heavy-duty staple gun 

step one:  remove the ply wood and cut foam down to fit

(cut out corners are close to exact as possible so it will fit back in its place better)

step two: staple fabric to seat (over cushion) as form fitting as possible, folding down the corners neatly. (set this aside until your paint has completely dried)

** i went with a really neutral fabric, white, cream with hints of gold. i figured this part is totally enter-changeable down the road. 

step three: lay cardboard or set chair in alley way to spray paint (away from anything you don't want paint on it... spray paint travels!!)

get into all the corners, nooks and sides of the chair. I went over it 3 times (all one can) and still it think i might have missed a small spot or two. but its vintage and a little character is ok with me!

step four: let paint dry as long as possible. i let it sit over night outside, since there were 3 coats of paint that needed drying. 

step five: slowly and without force fit the seat back into its space. 

ta-da! 

new chair just the way you want it! 

now all its missing it a cute accent pillow and maybe a fuzzy throw over the side!

here is a close up of the fabric i chose. i love it! 

its just enough leopard print and gold for a soft feminine touch:)

ps: ace hardware is totally my go-to place for any crafting, around the house, repair needs. 

if only they had a lumber section i would go there for ALL my hardware store needs. 

this post is NOT sponsored by Ace - but i recommend going there!!

DATE JAR

its been for.ever. since i've last posted here. 

sorry for the radio silence. truly. 

but the holidays happened, then we traveled a little, and then i just needed a break from this little space. 

i'm thinking of going in a little different direction for a while. maybe less posts, maybe more of whats happening on an everyday/real talk basis and more true to who i am!

what better way to kick that off, than with a homemade valentines day crafting session!

a few thursdays ago, over lots of wine, a home-cooked meal and several rolls of washi-tape a good friend and i laughed, talked and made some valentines crafts.  it was so good for the soul :)

coming up with fun, new dates is not exactly easy.. sp and i love to cook a yummy meal at home, go on long adventure walks at the ranch, and visit our local favorite restaurants. but thinking out of the box or trying new things is not something we tend to do. 

soooo.. for my valentines gift to him, i made a 'date jar' .. which after a few glasses of wine, i for some reason tagged it as a 'love jar'- red wine, oops!

supplies:

stickers - dollar section at target

washi tape - collection over time (dollar section at target and cute tape )

ribbon - clearance section at tuesday morning

glass jar - tuesday morning

date idea inspiration - pinterest

free font for the date cards 

a few dollars for the none-free dates

how to:

i  came up with 8 dates, some free and some just a few dollars each (listed below)

printed them off, using this cute font, and cut them to make it just a little cuter!

then washi-taped them each up with fun color combinations

rolled them individually (wish cash if needed) and tied them with ribbon

dropped them in the jar - and had my sweet friend use her amazing handwriting to write on the chalkboard tape she had to tag the jar!

so the next time we cant decide where to go or what to do on a date night, we'll just choose from one of the cute rolls in the jar!

list of fun (almost free dates!): 
go on a walk/hike at nature reserve (free)

play a board game  (free)

make smores in the backyard (free)

one on one basketball fun at local park (free)

redbox movie + watch under fort build by you and me ($1)

frozen yogurt treat ($5)

two-buck chuck to be enjoyed outdoors ($3)

margaritas at our favorite tex-mex place ($6)

happy valentines - get creative!

flowers and chocolates are too expensive this week- try something new!