lately

I just love peonies and these beauties are growing in my backyard! I have two vases full of them and they make my house smell incredible. I think they're just gorgeous.

And I can't believe it's Thursday. This week has absolutely just flown by. I'm not complaining though. I have a much awaited weekend planned. We'll be celebrating my soon to be sister-in-law's bachelorette weekend. It'll be a great friend filled weekend.

Plus this week I got to see my momma! It was a delayed mother's day for us. Although we didn't get to celebrate with the boys, we got to spend the day together which always includes shopping and food. We've been in search of the perfect mother of the groom (and bride) dress for her. I think this may be the hardest dress to find. They need to be the right balance between personality and femininity. The search is still on.

And remember that super secret mother's day gift I told you about? Well, I finished it and gave it to mom when I saw her.

Thanks to my mom's pre-purchased fabric, she finally got her apron. It ended up looking pretty good, which is nice because my sewing skills haven't been fine-tuned in a few years. It was a great feeling to see the project from one pieces of fabric to a completed project. I remember why I enjoyed sewing so much, minus the two or three stitches I ripped out. I plan to make one for myself, as well, sometime in the future. I'd be overly optimistic to say that it'll happen before September though.

My mom taught me how to sew. She and I used to spend many hours in the summer working on sewing projects. I can't say that I loved it when I spend my days inside cutting, pinning and sewing. However, I will say that I am really thankful that my mom made me do it. I guess she knew that it was for my own good. Much to my surprise, I am realizing more and more these days how much my mom did for me that I may not have appreciated at the time, but I sure am glad she did. Turns out, she's been right all along. I'm very thankful for a mother who has had the patience to handle a strong-willed child and who allowed me to be who I am. So, thanks mom for being such a great mom.



High Five for Friday

Today I am linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk. I always love reading her High Five for Friday posts so I thought that this week I would join in the fun!
My top 5 from this week:

1. I finally managed to make it to the local dog park to get a membership for Winnie. We went for the first time yesterday and she loved it! She finally has a place where she can run around and socialize with other dogs. Plus, it's only about a mile from the house! I'm thinkin' we'll be spending a lot of time there in the days to come.

2. Our wedding invitations arrived on Thursday! It makes it so much more real when you actually see it in writing. 112 more days!

3. I have been working on my super secret Mother's Day surprise. Hopefully I manage to get it done before I see my mom this weekend. (PS- don't tell my mom, it's a surprise).

4. I got to spend some much needed time with a dear friend and her so sweet baby boy. Regardless of how long its been since we've seen each other, we can always pick up right where we left off and it's like we were never apart.

5. Have you been outside today? Gorgeous. I am so thankful for this beautiful weather. I even got a little bit of color on my pale Indiana skin this week. 

I am also very excited for what this weekend holds. I'm staying home and can't wait to spend some time there and to get a few projected completed!

Happy Friday!

tuesday tid bit

Who ever said that honestly was the best medicine, probably really liked to take medicine. Or...maybe they didn't have a lot of honest conversations. Regardless of whether or not its good for you doesn't always mean that it tastes good going down (kind of like that cough medicine you took when you were sick).

Let's be honest (no pun intended), but having to be honest can be really tough. Telling people the truth about your situation, about how you're really feeling or whether or not you like their outfit is tough.Yet with honesty, there comes freedom. Freedom from the tangled mess that can come with telling even just a little white lie. I like it when people tell me the truth, at least if I ask for it. So I should give them the respect of being truthful with them.

On a side note...I'm wearing new shoes today.

hello may

Welcome to the month of May. Today is a big day. My big brother turns 27 and finished up his second year of med school. Yay! My future mother in law also has a birthday today. I will be a Mrs. in exactly four months and it's May Day.

Whew. That's a lot of goodness for one day.

In my mind, May also begins a new season, not spring, but wedding season! It is officially upon us, my friends. Pretty soon our weekends will be filled with showers, parties and weddings of friends and family. Now, if you're like me, I love weddings. Love them! But if you don't like weddings then you probably dread this season. From my personal experience, I know one of the most challenging parts of going to a wedding (other than what to wear), is what to get the happy couple for a gift. Ugh, so many options, so many ideas and if you're like me, I'm not satisfied until I find the perfect present; one that represents the couple and how I know them and something that I know they will actually use.

Well thankfully awhile back someone got smart and created the idea of gift registry! Genius, right?!? You can just get couples something that they pick out and you know they'll love. It's the perfect solution to the wedding gift problem. Now, as a soon-to-be bride myself, I truly loved every minute of selecting items for our registry, but I soon became overwhelmed with the amount of options and trying to figure what I wanted my kitchen to look like for the next 10 years. But I used this handy-dandy guide from my dear friend about where to register before I set foot into a store.

Now, I'm going to share a little secret with you. There is this new way of registering. I compare it to Pinterest, but for gift registries. It's called GiftRegistry360.com. Your guests can shop for everything you want from one list, and the bride and groom can select items from any website. Period. So smart!

Here are a few of my favorite items from our GiftRegistry360.com selections:

 Bedding from West Elm

Pillows from West Elm

Too cute Mr. & Mrs. coffee mugs from Etsy

Kate Spade fine china

You can even add man gifts

Now who doesn't love that! Couples are no longer confide to declaring their style and home selection to items within four walls. I will warn you though, just like Pinterest it can become awfully easy to just click the little "Add to Registry" buttonm, so be sure to watch yourself (or have your fiance check up on it). Now, we also registered at two store locations, but I have loved being able to add odds and ends items to this list. I think it represents our personalities the best and these items will be a great addition to helping us make our new home.

If you know a bride-to-be, let her in on the secret or store it in your memory for later. Somethings are just too good to keep to yourself.

Happy May Day!

preparation

Do you think it's actually possible for time to speed up? Ok, maybe not but it sure does feel like it. I'm partially thankful that it has because that means its Friday, but also not so thrilled because I don't like wishing my time away. It's definitely a double edge sword. I can't believe that it's the last weekend in April. This month just flew by. It was so jam packed full of events and goodness, which I am so thankful for, but sometimes those things can make you tired.

As much as I CANNOT wait to be married and to begin a completely new stage of life, I don't want to waste away this season. I know that as soon as its over I'm going to miss this season. I've learned to call it the season of preparation. Preparing to be married. Preparing to live with a boy. Preparing to possibly make some career shifts. Preparing to building our home. There are a lot of firsts and a lot of lasts in this season. There are also a lot of changes.

I have this desire to change everything when I change just one thing. So since I'm getting married, obviously that means we should move and I should get a new job to go along with my new last name. And maybe even get a new style. Ok, not really a new style because I don't have that kind of budget. Regardless, I can get wrapped up in needing to start or change things right now. Once I get my mind on something, I want to do it right away. So this season of preparing should also be considered a season of patience.

My career is an area that I often struggle with being patient. Typically, if there is something that I don't enjoy I am ready to start something different immediately because, obviously that's the easiest answer, to run away, but I'll save that topic for another day. If you were to ask my mom she would probably tell you that I have a new career idea just about every other week. Literally. I always have something that I am wanting to do and it typically has nothing to do with what I am currently doing. I just struggle with the fact that I don't believe my career and my passion are aligned just yet. I so strongly desired to love my work. Don't get me wrong, there are days that I love my work but I want to have passion. I want to have desire.

There is this constant tension in my soul that tells me to do what I am passionate about but the other, more realistic side, tells me that I need to have a better attitude about what I'm doing and there I will find more passion. It's such a difficult place for me. Just like all things, career cannot be your life or where your value lies. Yet, I desire so deeply to leave my mark on this world and to do it with passion.

Most days I sit in this tension of a desire to do what I'm passionate about but face the reality of life, responsibility and what seems reasonable. Although, I am getting closer to taking a leap of faith and discovering that passion, for now I remain in this season of preparation.

Oh, ps...this is just a sneak peak of our engagement session from last weekend. I'm cannot wait to see the rest!

authenticity + thanksgiving

via pinterest

There are those moments. Moments of authenticity. Those moments where regardless of the circumstances, life is hard. There are moments that even though there is nothing going on bad enough to complain about  but that are hard. These are the moments that are so real, so raw, that they remind us that we're human and remind us where we live.

Although most people around us have no idea those moments even occur, they either destroy us or they refine us. And we have the option to decide which they're going to do. Although, a lot of times I would much rather let them destroy me in the moment. To throw a fit or stomp my feet. Yet, once that moment is over, its gets you no where. No where, but feeling worse than you already did.

Or we can choose to be refined. To brave the elements and be shaped for the better. Not usually the feel good option in the short term but we end up being better off because of it. And when those moments occur I find myself asking if this will ever end. Not life, but suffering and hardship. How do we keep moving each day if this is what we have to look forward to.

Hope.

We hold on to hope. Hope that one day all will be rectified. Hope that one day not another tear will fall. Hope in the truth. And until that day comes, we get even smaller moments. Smaller than the moments of authenticity. These are the moments that let us know that all is okay. The colors of a sunset. The smell of freshly cut grass. The sounds of a loved ones voices. The touch of a pillow at the end of a long day. These are the simple breaths that rejuvenate the soul and fill us with hope.

Approach each moment of authenticity with thanksgiving for those moments of hope. That's what keeps us moving.

this season + cake balls

The wedding season has officially kicked off in our family. This weekend marked the first bridal shower for my future sister-in-law. I headed up the planning for the weekend celebration and thanks to the help of my family, the shower was a complete success. And I am so so excited to have Kayli as a part of our family!

One of the biggest hits of the party were the cake balls. If you've never had them, you're definitely missing out. They're bite size and dangerous because its really hard not to have just one. I got the original recipe from the Bakerella website, which she has awesome bakery recipes.

Cake balls are pretty simple to make but do take some pre-planning for time.

Step 1. Bake a cake. Just like you normally would. I used a red velvet box cake.

Step 2: Once the cake has cooled completely. Crumble it up and put it in a bowl.

Step 3: Add one container of frosting. Now, I'm not a big proponent of store bought frosting but it works the best for this recipe because its the right size and consistency. Also, I used cream cheese frosting with the red velvet cake. The consistency of the cake balls works well with these two elements.

Step 4: Mix together the frosting and crumbled cake. Then take about a tablespoon of the mixture and roll it into a ball. Place it on a wax paper covered baking sheet. Once the whole mixture is rolled into cake balls, place them in the refrigerator to chill. (I chilled mine overnight but you can also put them in the freezer if you want to do it all in one day)

Step 5. Once the cake balls are chilled, remove them from the fridge. Next, melt either candy coating or vanilla/chocolate bark in a pan or the microwave. It's best if you don't melt the whole package at the same time. Take smaller portions because the cake tends to turn the bark the same color as the batter (in my case the white bark turned red). Once the bark is melted, dip each cake ball into the bark. I used toothpicks but you can also use a spoon or tongs. Once it's fully coated, place it on wax paper to cool and dry. This is when I added to sprinkles, as well.

Once they are cooled, you can serve them immediately or you can stick them back in the fridge to chill for a bit longer. Serve when ready and enjoy!

They're so so good. And don't sit next to them or you may eat the whole plate. You've been warned.

Lastly, here are a few shots from the lovely bridal shower.