photo shoot

As I mentioned few weeks ago, our sweet and very talented friend, Mikey of Beacon Photo, wanted to take our portraits for no reason! He was busy planning a wedding (just got married 2 weeks ago!!) but we went with him out to my favorite boating dock and took some fun pictures. They turned out AMAZING! Mikey is so talented, and we are so privileged to have him take our pictures.


Here are a few from the day!

Aren't they great!? He was so happy to find a new spot to take pictures in Savannah, there is something wonderful about this little docking area! Seriously, you should check out Beacon Photo if you're in Savannah, even if you're not, he travels! Mikey is so good at what he does, telling us to stand up straight, fix my hair, look a certain way... Thank you so so much, Mikey! We are so happy with how they turned out!

Friendly

This weekend we had some dear friends come visit us! Ben and Leah, and their two children, Elisha and Genevieve have been living in Scotland for the past 2 years while Ben earned his PhD. Leah and the kids tagged along for life in another culture, and I think they got it! The kids have picked up using Scottish words and inflections, its adorable! Leah is charming and she was a faithful blogger while they were away, writing down their adventures and she is also multi-talented and started getting into photography! And I say that lightly, because her pictures are amazing!

We have known the Walls for almost 10 years! We met them back in our youth group days, and we have been so blessed by their friendship! They were such an influential part of our teen to adult years, spending time with us and pouring into our lives when it is most malleable. We were lucky enough to have premarital counseling with them, and Ben officiated our wedding! Since then, we've been in small groups, taken vacations, eaten a lot of lilly's, played bored games, and grown together. We really love these people, their family, generosity and love. It had been a long 2 years with them in another country, glad they're stateside now :)

Thankful for this girl!

She looks like a who!

six year olds...

Love this family!

cute kids eating candy at our favorite place, The Paris Market!

Necklace Exchange

This year, I got to be a part of something really cool!  The great necklace exchange!
I read about this fun idea on fashion loves people's blog! They always have really great taste and fashion advice and tips and the latest on whats in.


So, how it works: I filled out a form with my info, my blog, my pinterest, and any other site or blog that may describe me or my interests and tastes. Then, all that information got sent to somebody, who will make a necklace for me, based on what they've seen I like and am interested in! And I got an email with the same information about somebody else and make them a necklace! We weren't required to follow any type suggestions or restrictions, we could be totally creative, so it could be totally random what will show up at my house!! Such a fun idea, right!?


I'm not much into making necklaces, but I make earrings pretty frequently, so I figured I could give a necklace a try! My "match" in this project is the dull diamond  - they have an online store where they SELL NECKLACES!! Uh, intimidating!! Once I let Matt convince me I could make something worth while, or at least something, I got to brainstorming. I got a lot of inspiration from their blog, it's full of fun, quirky, bright and asymmetrical pieces that aren't too serious. I like that. The colors had me most, I love looking at something with bright vivid colors, there is just so much personality in that. The part I had a hard time with was getting away from perfect symmetry. In my brain, all things good are symmetrical. Noses, shoes, cars, eyes, babies, rainbows, beds, cupcakes... all equal and even. Sure, I didn't have to make it asymmetrical for them, but I thought it would be a growing experience and besides, it wasn't for me. The whole time I had to really remember I was making something for their taste, not mine.  


So, here is what I have been working on!

 I decided to use embroidery thread to wrap some

 beads to stick with their playful style.

 Wrapping of the bead....

Keeping it asymmetrical! 

All finished! (after this photo i did end up wrapping

some thread around the chain to the right of the big 

bead to match the opposite bead) Hope they like it! It's

nothing that I would have ever dreamed up without

inspiration from their blog!

Ready to send it off!

The deadline for mailing is today - so it has been sent, and I'm waiting to receive mine! I can't wait to find out who had me, and what they came up with! (I'll def. post a pic when I get it!!) Also, its such a fun way to find other bloggers with similar interests, I'm looking forward to connecting with some new people!

away we go

We're off to visit some of Matt's extended family South Carolina! We are going to celebrate Christmas a week early with some special people. I always love this time to spend with his family all under one roof, especially his younger cousins, they're so fun. I think we're both looking forward to a yummy meal as well, they always know how to cook it up, southern style! This is the one time of year I get to have his grandmothers AMAZING pecan pie, yum!!
Hope you have a great weekend!


image via

birthday

I mentioned I would post about my birthday here, and about a month late, here it is! I have the most fabulous friends [and husband] who threw me a surprise party. Totally didn't expect it, well done to them, because I am always suspecting something! I actually ran out of the house screaming when I saw people inside. It was so much fun, dinner, games, a whale cake, nature themed, a perfect way to welcome 25!

Thanks friends!!

PS. look at Matt, he is so proud of not moving once during these pictures... :)