Recycled Bouquet

After standing up in my new sister-in-law's wedding, I decided that my bouquet was WAY to pretty to just let it go to waste! I'm not a huge fan of dried flowers either, so I decided to "recycle" the flowers and make some pretty arrangements for our home!

I am still a little amazed at how many arrangements (albeit small) I got from 1 bouquet!


Some of the roses found new homes in Mason jars on the sink!

I put a bunch of the "filler flowers" in a bowl on our coffee table. I love the tiny buds, they are so perfect!

My clear glass teapot also got called into action.

I love these blue bud-vases, it was about time they came out of the china cupboard and made a little debut!

I even put a little arrangement in the bathroom to brighten it up a bit.


I seriously love having fresh flowers around the house! It makes such a huge difference for me, especially in the winter months, to have a little bit of nature around the house!

Some Wedding Pictures...

Josh's brother Ben and his fiance Kat got married last Saturday! It was such a beautiful wedding, we had the most perfect weather!

Josh and I were honored to be the best man and maid (oops, I mean matron!) of honor. Kat let me pick out my own dress. I found it on ebay for $50... Sometimes I just love ebay (other times I don't, but we won't go there now...).

I did my own hair too. Notice the pony-tail. Yup, that's about all I can do folks.

(I just absolutely adore this man).

Here's my lovely MIL setting up the unity candles. BTW- the ceremony was outside on a windy day, so the candles would not light. It was kinda funny, but I made a mental note to tell people who are getting married outside that it might be a better idea to stick with unity sand or something...

A friend of the family made the boutonnieres and bouquets for the wedding. Kat's was the light pink version, and mine had hot pink flowers. Love!

This is my wonderful father-in-law. He probably won't love the fact that I put this picture on here, but it give you a good view of the gazebo that they got married under! Isn't it lovely?

It was such a wonderful wedding! They kept things really simple, which was nice. There was no running around, no yelling, no bride-zilla moments (thanks Kat!). Instead, it was just a wonderful, relaxing day to celebrate the marriage of a wonderful couple!

When life hits you like a Mack-Truck...

Hello, my dear, lovely blogging friends!

As you can see, I've been on an involuntary blogging hiatus. This makes me sad, because I LOVE blogging. But, sometimes it's necessary!

It's necessary right now for several reasons that I would like to share with you:

1) I have a really freakin' busy full-time job. I work for the USDA, primarily hiring and keeping track of cotton inspection employees. It's cotton season right now- so we've been hiring 50-100 people every week! Yowza! So when I'm at work, I'm basically a mad-woman.

2) I've been experiencing some health issues. Stress is an issue for me- when I feel stressed I tend to get sick or have panic attacks. It's gotten to the point where I have had to see a doctor because of anxiety-related issues. So apparently I'm just a mad-woman in general! Hehe.

3) This is actually the EXCITING part of my news. I am in the process of (hopefully) making a career transition to being a music teacher on a part-time basis. This is exciting to me for several reasons (here come the sub-points!)...

a. I will no longer be working full-time.

b. I will be able to actually clean my house once in a while.

c. Less stress = hopefully less panic attacks.

d. I will finally get to do what I LOVE.

e. Hopefully, I will also be able to devote more time to my favorite hobby-

blogging!

So, that's what has been going on in my life recently, and hopefully it explains why I've been a little absent from this space. I'm still going to keep on blogging, just not as frequently as I would like!

Also- I wanted to thank you all for being so wonderful! Blogging has become a huge passsion of mine, and it's primarily because of the awesome friendships that I've developed. Who knew that could be possible? I love communicating with you guys and hearing/seeing your creativity and sharing what inspires me to be creative!

So please accept this digital hug! Thanks for being so awesome!

Things I would love to collect...

For our anniversary this year, J and I decided to not buy each other gifts. Instead, we opted to go to a wonderful B&B and then find something together that would help us remember the weekend!

We came home with this a-dorable set of Jadeite. *SWOON*

I seriously love Jadeite, and I'm thinking I may have to start collecting a few pieces here and there! Some of it can be ridiculously expensive, but I think it would be fun to have a little set of these dishes.

So- my question for you: What do you collect? Or, what would you collect if money was no obstacle?

I would love to hear about it. =)

Featured House #2- The Pratt-Taber Inn

Welcome to the 2nd installment of the "Featured House" series! I'm a huge fan of houses (in case you haven't guessed), and I've always loved touring other peoples homes and seeing their unique style!

Let me tell you, I was absolutely floored when I walked into the Pratt Taber Inn. It was, to put it succinctly, a house-lovers dream come true. Built in the late 1800s, and lovingly restored by the current owner, it was filled to the brim with beautiful details and charm.

Before I get carried away, let's start at the beginning. There are 4 guest rooms total- each named after a season. We stayed in the Summer room:

Be still my heart. Look at all that yellow! I love how Deb (the owner and designer) mixed in some beautiful black framed silhouettes. It gives a new dimension and keeps the florals from becoming overwhelming.

Black is such a powerful color! It makes a huge statement anywhere, and in this room it just added to the simple elegance.

The en suite was decorated with paler shades of yellow offset by black accents as well:

Sadly, I didn't get a picture of the whole claw-foot tub. I was too excited about that honey-comb tile!

I got a couple of pictures of the "Winter" themed room as well:



The main parlor:



The woodwork was so beautiful! I love how she worked with the house and kept the vintage feel with her decor. It felt like you were stepping into another century.


Here's the lovely formal dining room where Deb serves her gourmet breakfasts:



Off the dining room there is a lovely little screened-in porch:



I wish I had some better pictures of the kitchen! It was SO amazing.



I didn't receive any endorsement for featuring this B&B, but I just wanted to share the amazing job Deb did with restoring this place to it's former glory! You can check out more photos (including pics of all the guest rooms!) on her website here. I would recommend staying here to anyone!

The Yard-Less

Someday, I hope to have a yard. Perhaps with a little picket fence around it, or maybe a tall wrought-iron gate.

I will make my hubby lemonade while he mows the grass, and host Summer lunch parties under the shade of trees.

But for now, I am happy that we don't have to water the yard, pick weeds, or shovel snow in the winter season.

Because right now, this little planter of grass is all the yard I have.


And for now, I'm down with that.

A Wonderful Weekend

We had such a wonderful time celebrating our 1st anniversary this weekend! We went to Redwing MN and stayed in a beautiful B&B called the Pratt Taber Inn.

Our room was so perfect! I fell in love with it instantly. My suitcase even matched it to perfection...

I also fell in love with the owner's cat Max. He was so cuddly and sweet! We became the bestest of friends (mainly because he's the 1st cat I've ever met that I'm not allergic to!).

I love my hubby. And I'm glad he puts up with my crazy faces.


I can be normal too. See?


We had wine and cheese every night, it made us feel so chic. Well, it made me feel chic. And a little light-headed.



Did I mention we had cheese? I love cheese!


One of my favorite parts was when we went up to the scenic overlook and watched the sunset. It was absolutely breathtaking! I had no idea this kind of beauty was pretty much in our backyard!



It was 90 degrees + humid every day, so we had to drink lots of water and fan ourselves on the porch like southern belles (whilst watching a parade as well!).


I even got to wear my thrift-store hat.


We got along so well with the other guests and the owner- it was like having a brunch party every day at breakfast! I wish I had pictures of the food to show you- Deb (the owner) was a fabulous cook! She served dessert with breakfast every morning. Need I say more? Seriously, the first morning she brought out ice cream sundaes in crystal champagne glasses. I almost died then and there.

It was the perfect weekend, with my wonderful husband.


p.s. did you enjoy the sneak peek of the beautiful B&B? Well, I was thinking of my blogging buddies and took lots of pictures to share! Deb decorated the place herself, and she is letting me give you a little tour... so stay tuned!