Memorial Weekend...

I hope you all had a FABTASTIC 3-day weekend...mine was spent in the great outdoors...

On Saturday evening we set up camp along the Upper Owens River...and on Sunday morning my MIL & I enjoyed the beautiful scenery from the comfort of our trailer while the boys tenaciously braved wind and snow to fish for the night's meal.  My 7-yr-old, Phillip, quickly caught his day's limit and when his dad wasn't so lucky he insisted, "Do you want me to just do it for you?!"...lol...I guess I have a little angler on my hands! 

Vintage trailer by Laurent Nivalle via 60designwebpick.com
Smores by Blackbird Bakery via Pinterest
Campfire by EllyBeth
Owens River courtesy of ME
Trout via thecountryfucker
Red Wellies via Lisa Roy
Necessities by cork grips

my only sunshine...

My little sister came down to visit for a couple days before her due date in June...so we took a few maternity photos to document her growing belly (and baby) before she pops.


Here is my fave of the day...doesn't pregnancy look so good on her?!

...I just can't wait to bundle that little bambino up like a burrito and smother her with butterfly kisses!

xoxo

WEDnesday...where did you go?

Apologies for the lack of wedding related material yesterday...the time just seemed to slip away from me.  Well anyways, here it is...a little later than promised, but hopefully worth the wait!

This one is titled "A Farm Fresh Fete"...

I created this inspiration board ages ago at Style Me Pretty, the ultimate online wedding resource with uber amounts of superlicious real life weddings that are chock-full of originality...the bummer here being that I no longer have all the proper info to credit the creative peeps who are responsible for these beautiful images (so if you happen to know who is, please drop me a note).  The one image I was able to track down is the tablescape by amorology via Style Me Pretty...isn't she lovely?

Happy Over-the-Hump day!

A Sweet Morning Treat...

I am so excited to announce that I have received a sweet morning treat in my inbox today...

nooo...not these delectable little donut delights from Butterfly Food pinned by Joy Cho...but, FINALLY an invite from the up and coming PINTEREST community, a place to share collections of things you LOVE!

I am so happy I could do a cartwheel! 

Summer lovin...

The recent warming has got me to daydreaming about summer...more specifically, summer nights (since it's the only truely bearable time of day during the season in my neck of the woods)...when the perfect dinner is served on the patio, with the smell of BBQ in the air, just waiting til the sun dips below the horizon to lounge firepit-side sipping ice-cold vodka tonics with just a hint of lime, watching the kids collecting fireflies in Ball Jars (well, not really...we don't have fireflies here...but a girl can daydream right?) before nodding off to sleep under the stars...

And then, suddenly I'm startled back to my reality...which is that my backyard is still a barren wasteland of dirt, tumbleweeds, and dog doo...

Hence, I'm hoping to get some time this weekend to work on a couple projects back there...so I compiled some inspiration just to keep me motivated!

Photo credits:  Succulents in Woolly Pocket via LA in Bloom , Hammock via http://www.housetohome.co.uk/, Bird Melamine Plate via West Elm, Southwest Getaway via Sunset, Reclaimed Wood table via Sunset, Mason Jar Chandelier via BootsNGus

HAPPY WEEKEND!

I've got a color craving...

Silk Shrug @ bonzie
Yellow Bird @ wooagentur by anne-li karlsson
Chevron Pillow @ Luxury Monograms
Donut Seeds @ Jason Fulford
Flower Arrangement @ SchueLove
Painted Spoons @ Creatively Christy

Be sure to follow the link to Creatively Christy for a super-easy and fun way to update your old (perhaps mismatched) flatware into custom colored/MOD-ified treasures!  Seriously...aren't they spectacular???

Wednesdays are going to be all about WEDDINGS...

why?  Because I like them!

And...at the top of my list to share with you today is my beautiful sister's Paso Robles vineyard wedding.

Who:  Allison Marie Gibbons + Jonathan Jordan
When: April 24, 2010
Where:  Eagle Castle Winery, Paso Robles, Ca
How:  It began with a breathtaking ceremony among the vines, then a rooftop cocktail hour at sunset, and an elegant sit-down dinner, followed by outdoor dancing-the-night-away. 

The passed appetizers were updated classics such as garlic fries + watermelon with a balsamic/parmesan drizzle.

Many of the little details such as the gold birch branches embellished with crystals were handcrafted by the bride (she's so talented!)

          The bride provided donuts and mini-quilted-jam-jars of milk as a midnight snack...yummm!

                                          Photos courtesy of Beth Armsheimer & Danielle Honea

 A special thanks goes out to all the wonderful people who made this happen!:
Ceremony + Reception Venue/Food:  Eagle Castle Winery / Flowers:  Adornments Flowers / Photography:  Beth Armsheimer + Danielle Honea / Cake: Christine's Cake Creations / Cake Topper: courtesy of moi / Invitations + Paper Goods: handmade by the bride / Bride's Dress:  Casablanca Bridal / Bridesmaids Dresses:  Jim Hjelm Occasions / Groom's + Groomsmens Attire:  rented from Down the Aisle

It's days like these...

that make me yearn for places like this...

THE ACE HOTEL + SWIM CLUB, Palm Springs...is a converted mid-century modern hotel with 180 vintage furniture-filled rooms (some with private patios/fireplaces/gardens/turntables and retro vinyls) surrounding the uber-cool Swim Club where you can lounge poolside sipping a boozey sno-cone from the Short Bus bar, or wait until dark to cozy up on the Stargazer deck and take in the views...and with rooms starting at just $99...say no more, I'm totally there...well, soon...hopefully :)

Photo Credits from top left: Jessica Schwartzberg for Travel + Leisure, Kelly Wilkinson of MakeGrowGather, Paul Costello for Sunset.com, Lou Mora, and Generic Surplus + Arkitip + Ace Hotel's mesh pool shoes via highsnobiety.com

...the beginning

having a background in Art History I had often heard the term “prolific” used to describe an artist (think Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Picasso) and just assumed that the word could be used interchangeably with “important, meaningful, or influential” until one day, I decided I would actually look it up…And do you know what that damn Microsoft Office Dictionary said?!

pro*lif*ic—1: highly productive, producing works frequently and in large quantities

Whhhaaat?  You mean, you have to actually DO something (as opposed to just thinking, dreaming, or talking about it)???

I’m still not quite sure why this discovery had such a pronounced effect on me, but you know what else I found when I scrolled down to the Thesaurus?  The word “creative.”  Again (synonym)…huh???  So, naturally, I clicked on it.

cre*a*tive—1:  able to create or produce things

And it’s with this particular interpretation of the word that I read the above quote, so that in my head it looked more like this: 

“To live a creative/productive/prolific life, we must lose our fear of being wrong.”

Sooo…against all my fears, worries, and doubts…I hereby embrace imperfection and embark on this little blog journey in pursuit of the creative life!

PS—You can come with me if you want to  :)

PSS—this beautiful print is available at HELLOCHERIE  by Amanda Cherie ...check it out!