Monday Blues - Blue Gingham from Daytime to Happy Hour

Outfit Details:

Scarf (sold out), other scarves shown below

Happy Monday! We got back from California on Friday and have been attempting to catch up on sleep ever since! We spent almost 2 full weeks on the west coast and we had the best time! When we travel and try to see a lot of one state, we like to hop around rather than staying put in one city for a week.

California was absolutely beautiful. The weather was perfect! It was warm during the day and with a cool breeze at night. I kept laughing at the fact that I was able to wear jeans with a jacket in the middle of summer! In Atlanta, it gets so hot and unbearably humid it's hard going outside in just a tank top and shorts.

While in Sausalito, we stopped at a cute flower market called Nancy Ann's. They have everything. I built an arrangement to match my outfit, took it inside and had them wrap it for me. Even while traveling, I love to have fresh flowers around. It makes the hotel room feel more homey.

I've been buying some new pieces for the summer and have recently been swooning over the gingham trend. I just love all of the soft pastels and how easy they are to match with other items in my closet. My favorite things to wear in the summer are light and airy tops that are breathable. I found this particular top by Rebecca Minkoff at a Nordstrom Rack while we were in La Jolla.

This top is so lightweight, it almost feels like you're wearing nothing. It's tight around the chest so it doesn't gape open and breezy at the bottom so you can eat as much as you want in it. ;)

 

As for accessories this summer, I have been sticking to tropical/straw bags and using my new favorite purse by Kate Spade. It matches just about anything I put on and carries more than what I need.

I always love one solid pair of sunglasses as my staple and I tend to go for tortoise shell because they look good with my skin tone.

When we were in LA, we found the best little restaurant right outside Hollywood to stop off for a little bite and cocktails called Edendale. I am an absolute sucker for cheese, so when I saw a cheese board on the menu, I immediately ordered it. 

Now THIS is what you call a cheese board. They did not skimp on the meat or other accouterments. They topped our board with dried figs, little pickles, various shaved meats, a few cheeses and fresh cut herbs.

This blue top is so versatile. It looks great tucked in or as I am wearing it here. I think it is a classic and can be worn for years to come because gingham, like a good cheese board, never truly goes out of style.

My Skincare Routine

 I would categorize my skin as dry, so I am always seeking out ways to keep it hydrated. In this summer heat and humidity, I needed to allow my skin to breathe, which meant hydration without an oily base.  My mother turned me onto L'Occitane products years ago, and I have always loved their skincare. Recently, I discovered their Aqua Reotier collection and decided to give it a try because it is  a non oil-based product with intense hydration. 

Unlike other beauty products, this one started working for me instantly. Most noticeably with my skin's firmness and hydration. I use the five-step collection in the morning, and the moisture lasts with me throughout the entire day. I start by cleansing my face with the water gel cleanser, and then apply the moisture prep. After, I follow with the ultra-thirst quenching cream, which smells divine. A little bit goes a long way so a container should last you quite a while. Once I've moisturized with the cream, I come back over my face with the moisturizing gel and allow it to soak into my skin. 

The mist is one of my favorite products from this collection because it is great to have on-the-go to achieve a dewey look with or without my makeup. All of these products smell heavenly, and I get complimented on the fragrance.

My skin feels so radiant from using these products and is giving me the confidence to go out without makeup which is a long-held goal of mine. My skin not only looks great but it feels extremely soft - just what I was looking for.

Thanks to L'Occitane for sponsoring this post.

Our Wedding: Old Hollywood Meets Southern Opulence

 In honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I would share our wedding day with you all!

Garrett and I had been dating for four years when he proposed. He got down on one knee at Canoe in Atlanta, a beautiful river-front restaurant on the Chattahoochie. Once we were engaged, I started planning the very next day.

 I desperately wanted to get married that summer, and with it being only 9 months away, I felt behind just getting started. My mother came into town that week and we started shopping venues. Originally I wanted an outdoor wedding (thank goodness we didn't because it rained on our wedding day).
I found a gorgeous spot an hour north of the city that was perfect. I kept my mind open, however to other options. One day, I had a venue in Buckhead cancel my appointment a few minutes before I was to arrive. I pulled into a parking lot and started making calls to visit another venue that could meet on such short notice. That's when "the one" fell into my lap. The gorgeous, 4-story, castle-esque Women's Club of Atlanta in Midtown welcomed me with open arms and gave me a tour within the hour. Walking through the space, I realized that everything I had desired in a location was met. It had a gorgeous bridal suite, a room for kids to stay in during the wedding, charming grooms suite, grand pianos on two floors, and arched windows in the ballroom. I was in love. So much so, I wrote a check for my deposit right then and there.

I planned my entire wedding without the help of family or a planner and it was exhausting.  We invited 250 guests and had 200 at our wedding. Planning a wedding this size takes a lot of work and a decent chunk of change. My budget was relatively small compared to the industry standard, but I stretched every dollar I could to pull off a glamorous wedding.

In order to save money:

•  I created my own centerpieces and purchased my flowers from a wholesaler (savings of $5,000)
• I purchased inexpensive wine from Trader Joe's and relabeled them with our custom label (savings of $2,000)
• We purchased a keg instead of individual bottles and served the beer in glassware provided by the caterer (savings of $400)
• Instead of getting carried away with our invitations, I ordered them through Vistaprint and received free envelopes with my order (savings of $1,500)
• I DIYed several elements of our details including signage around the room, our bar menu, rehearsal dinner invitations, groomsmen and bridesmaid gifts, and so much more. (savings of around $1,000)
• Instead of a band, I hired a piano player and saxophone player (savings of $7,000)
• Instead of a DJ for the after-party, I hired a DJ ahead of time to make a mix for me which only cost me $150! (savings of $1,300)

One of my favorite elements of our wedding was our cake! I wanted it to be a statement piece, and that is was! Sitting at 5 feet tall, it was extremely intricate and carefully planned between my cake baker and myself. I created the poetry for the bottom of the cake in photoshop and using her edible printer, we were able to have delicate script on the cake which was absolutely gorgeous and such a sweet detail that I still get teary-eyed reading. We incorporated our flowers into the design as well as our initials, and to keep things looking polished, I asked for gold jewelry-looking "drips" throughout.

Another element that wasn't photographed that I loved from our wedding was our champagne cocktails. We named them the "East Cobb Snob" and the "Buckhead Betty" (it's an Atlanta thing). The Snob was a champagne cocktail with a splash of St. Germaine and the Betty was a champagne cocktail topped with cotton candy on a pearl-ended cocktail stirrer. In the bar area, I played classic old Hollywood movies on the back wall to keep the theme alive. Scattered throughout the house were quotes from Fitzgerald (one of my favorite authors), sitting in pretty gold frames.

A special moment happened while we cut our cake. One of Garrett's groomsmen sat down at the piano and started playing the prettiest music while we tried to cut the cake without toppling it over! It was so unexpected and beautiful, it will always stay as a special moment in my mind.

You can see all of the details of our wedding below:

We started off our morning getting out hair done at DryBar

I used a cartoon artist on Etsy to create this cute caracture of us for our sign

I DIYed this bar cart by purchasing old cigar boxes from a local shop and ordered custom matches

I had a florist construct these precious kissing balls for our flowers girls using mums and a champagne ribbon.

Orchids are my favorite flower! I wanted to keep things simple and elegant by only using white orchids. I loved the way the gold chivari chairs made all of our decor pop!

The flower girls wore blush pink dresses with crystal accents...isn't she adorable?!

For the groomsmen, I purchased cut crystal lowball glasses from HomeGoods, and placed an airplane bottle of nice bourbon and a cigar in each. This way the boys get to have a drink without going overboard!

Tip: if you buy them in a pack instead of individually, they are much less expensive!

My nephew came to see me before I walked down the aisle!!

The bridesmaid dresses were blush pink with beautiful open backs. I wanted their dresses to look like a gown they could actually wear again!

For the guys, I selected ivory suit jackets with black slacks, bow ties, and vests. It just screamed old Hollywood to me!

For my bouquet, I attached small frames with pictures of loved ones we lost so they could be there in spirit. When I showed my Grandmother the image of my grandpa she started crying because she was so touched I included him. I loved being able to honor them without drawing a lot of attention.

My "something borrowed" was my sister's veil. It matched my dress perfectly.

For our first dance as husband and wife, we played You Are the Best Thing by Ray Lamontagne.

Three generations

I loved the saxophone player! He was such a hit!

Carlton's Cakes in Atlanta made this gorgeous masterpiece!

Some of the poetry I selected for my cake. I did a montage of different pieces from Fitzgerald.

Scariest moment of my life right here, folks. My husband wouldn't touch it because he thought he would tip it over!

Garrett's groomsmen playing for us while we cut the cake and did our toast!

Because we used a historic venue, several send-offs were off limits to use, including sparklers. Instead, I purchased dried rose petals on Etsy and used old sheet music wrapped into a cone to hold them. I love how the images turned out using the petals!

It's so fun to go down memory lane and look at images from the day I said yes to my soulmate. If you have any questions about where I purchased items, how to save money for your own wedding, or simply want to tell me what you think, please let me know in the comments!

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Snow Day in Atlanta

Is there anything better than a snow day?! I'm sure the people tuning in from the north certainly think there is, but living in the south we know a) we get to get off work early, and b) it won't last for more than a few days. I woke up Friday morning, and looked out the window to find small patches of snow around our road. I instantly went outside to get pictures thinking that it was all just a flurry! 

Little did I know, it was going to last all weekend and snow for almost 12 hours straight.

I did what anyone would do in this situation...I tried to stay outside all day to embrace this seldom opportunity. My husband and I were lucky to hit the grocery store first thing that morning. We all know how people in Atlanta react about snow, thanks to the "snowmageddon" of 2014. We wanted to make sure we grabbed the necessities before there was nothing left but energy drinks and canned meat. Necessities like all of the ingredients to make s'mores...and some prosecco....and hot cocoa.  What can I say, I live through cheap marketing ploys that get me to buy "snow food." I will say, the marketing worked and I wasn't disappointed with our frivolous grocery dash. 

One good thing about having a wood-burning fireplace and a fire pit is that you are never short on firewood. We bought a cord of firewood to entertain guests with right before Thanksgiving, and it saved us over the weekend. The first night of our snow storm, the lights were flickering and the heat kept shutting off. My mind instantly imagined my husband and I building a fort in front of the fireplace with hot cocoa to stay warm. Am I the only one with these childish fantasies?  Just me? I blame too much TV as a child.

The next day, we woke up to a full 8 inches of snow outside. I know some of you are laughing, but that is a BIG deal in the south. Our DOT doesn't have the resources on-hand to handle snow like this, and need to know ahead of time to be prepared to handle the roads. Not to mention, most of the people who live here aren't used to driving in these conditions. My husband luckily has a pretty sturdy truck with big tires, so we went riding around where we felt the conditions would be safe. We couldn't believe the amount of vehicles that were abandoned on the sides of the road! They were in neighborhoods, several people had to abandon at the bottom of steep hills, not to mention all the luxury vehicles that had clearly slid off the road into ditches. It was crazy. 

Once we made it back home, I made us some hot cocoa with my favorite ingredient: roasted marshmallows. We couldn't get our fire pit to light because of all moisture, so I used a quick and easy back-up plan: my kitchen torch. I love getting creative with add-ons for hot cocoa! Sometimes I will add a peppermint stick, or sometimes I'll add some peppermint schnapps ;). Any way you mix it, my husband and I love cocoa because we had it on our first anniversary together at the Atlanta Botanical Garden's Christmas light show. It's still a fun memory looking back, when we hid in the bathroom to pour schnapps into our drinks before we walked around to tour the garden.

We had such an amazing weekend, playing in the snow. We may not have a white Christmas this year, but I'm happy we got to experience a little taste of winter and all of the magic it has to offer. 

Christmas Tree Farm

This year as our first year as a married couple, I was dying to get some great pictures for a Christmas card. Call me corny, but I just love traditional family photos. While most newly married couples use their wedding photos as a Christmas card photo, I wanted something more seasonally appropriate than our summer wedding, so I started doing some research on ideas. Turns out only 30 minutes from our home is a cut-your-own-tree farm! We have a faux tree at home, but I decided visiting the farm would make for some great-looking Christmas photos.

I was so shocked how much fun the farm was! There were miles upon miles of trees, baby lambs and sheep, tractor hayrides, and artisanal foodie finds! We drove up with my brother and sister-in-law and my little nephew.

They sold honey, jams, banana bread and salsa. We tried a little bit of everything. Their pepper jelly was unreal! Have you ever tried pepper jam? It's amazing on top of a block cream cheese with crackers....and how cute are these festive cloth toppers on each jar?

We first tried some quirky ideas for pictures....you can see how well that turned out, ha!

For future reference, scarfs are not recommended in photos where you are on someone's shoulders. Not to mention I was scared for my life climbing on his shoulders with only the ground or the trees to break my fall! After several failed attempts at getting the perfect Christmas card photo, we decided on a simple smile, side-by-side along the rows of trees. I'd say it's a pretty good start for what I hope to be our new annual tradition.