Trip of a lifetime!

Well, here I am.
On the biggest adventure of my life. I've decided that my blog will become a short journal of my trip - and, for some artistic flair, pictures will be added later. I can't help but have the feeling that I will return from this trip a different person. I'm excited about it! New places, new people, new food. I love it.

My brother, Stan, and I arrived in Europe today! Berlin, Germany to be exact. Our first stop. We're staying with a friend of ours and her apartment is BEAUTIFUL! Pictures to come.

This post is short because I have a serious case of the jet lags. Off to sleep. Watch for more!

Ashten's room!

Another one of the exciting happenings of the weekend was going to Abilene to help Ashten decorate her bedroom.

Ashten and I started talking about decorating her room when I went to visit my sister, Rebecca, two weeks ago. We did some serious brainstorming and I left her with instructions to pick out a paint color and have her room painted by this weekend (her walls were actually a stark white color to begin with).

As you already know, I get very excited about things like this. I guess since I don't have a house yet. (and probably won't for a while!) I LOVE to help other people decorate.

I drove in early Saturday morning and we set to work, sale shopping, picture hanging and room arranging. She and her husband did a great job with the paint - the color was stunning!

Here is a before and after picture of her room.
Isn't it lovely?

We did the WHOLE thing for under $140.

Could her puppies get any more adorable?
They were little models for me while I took pictures.

The room is great! From smelling the yummy candles to seeing the sheer curtains catch the breeze and the cheerful blue color on the walls - it is so lively and peaceful at the same time!

Asten, I had so much fun working on this with you!
p.s. tell Dustin thanks again for all his help!

Laura's Birthday Hoedown!

Here are some pictures of Lou-lou's Birthday Hoedown! She had around 60 guests at her party, and I think all of them had a blast boot-scootin' and hay-ridin'.

Here are most of her guests! Instead of presents, she asked that they bring a donation for The Arc of Dallas, a non profit serving individuals with disabilities. She was able to raise $270 for the charity! Thanks everyone!

Here they are about to leave for the hay ride. We didn't know how many people were coming until...well..they got there! They were a little smooshed, but we were happy to have enough room!

Mmm! The massive candy bowls. This was a hit.

One of Laura's friends volunteered to make cupcakes for the party. Look how cute they are! Thanks Anna lauren!

Some of the decor. I never have time to take as many pictures as I want to at parties like this, since I'm usually busy hostessing. We put these boots up in the trees and mixed lights in. They looked great!

Daniel and I gave a quick two-stepping lesson to all Laura's friends. I was nervous that the kids wouldn't appreciate it, but here they are - dancing away! It made me so proud. Mom and Dad even got a dance in!

AND here she is!
The woman of the hour. Laura and Chrissy posing on the saddle we brought in. That big "Howdy" sign was the first thing guests saw when they walked out the back door.

So now the big question is:

What will we do next year for Laura's birthday party?

Can't wait!

What a week!

I always love it when people ask me to help them with creative projects...no matter what it is! There's a certain lack of confidence that comes with being creative, I think. Volunteering to do a project is scary because - what if they hate it? But if someone asks you to do it they trust you. Ahh, what a great feeling!

Anyways.

Here are two things I've gotten to make this week:

Grace Kelso's support card

Grace asked me to take pictures for her support card this past weekend, so we went on a picture-taking trip around downtown. Oh my goodness we got some great shots! It was so hard to narrow it down, but here are Grace's final pics...no pun intended. (and a few honorable mentions)

Front of card (above)

Back of card (below)
Honorable mention:

Laura's Birthday Invitation
Lou-Lou is having a Birthday Hoedown this weekend. This was the invitation that she passed out at school. We had a lightning photoshoot this weekend and came up with this idea! She is so sweet and asked her friends to bring a donation to The Arc of Dallas instead of a present. Get ready for more pictures of the party on Monday! We've been decorating like crazy.

So if those two aren't enough fun for one week:
Tonight is Laura's Birthday Hoedown, complete with hillbilly names, a hayride and dance lessons.
Saturday, bright and early, I'm driving down to Abilene to decorate Ashten's bedroom. I can't wait!

Watch for more pictures on Monday!

Fun, quirky and relaxing!

Here is another bedroom redo!

My oldest sister, Emily, and I talked about this for months before I could finally go to Austin! She already had a great paint color picked out, and we put our heads together for the rest. She wanted a fun, quirky but still relaxing look. Here's the result!

I love this canopy! We looked at lots of different ways to do it, but this was our favorite design. Emily is a great seamstress and whipped this out in no time!

Another angle. Look at the cute pillows Em picked out! I really like the curtains, too, but didn't get a very good picture of them. Whoops!
I had such a great time doing this with her!

Note

This shadow box has been sitting empty in my room for about a year, and every time my sister comes over she tells me that I should put something in it. I guess I've been waiting for the "perfect" little cute paper to pin in it...just haven't found it.

Then one weekend my sister came again, and when I got back from work I walked in to find this. A cute little note from her was in it! Perfect. I don't think I'll ever change it. I love it!

Amazing Race!

We're really going to do it!
Yes we are!

My cousin, Grace, and I have been talking about trying out for the Amazing Race for about 4 years, but we've been too young. FINALLY we have a chance to audition! We're heading up to Chicago on April 23 to audition live.

I can't wait!
Click the image above to see more about it!

We're both PR majors, so we decided to launch a campaign to encourage casting directors to pick us. We need your help though! Please follow our blog, twitter and facebook accounts and we'll keep you updated on our status. Tell your friends too!

Lets see if we can get on the show!

Easter party!

Yesterday we had an Easter/Birthday party for my grandparents and aunt. All (well, most) of our cousins came and we had a fun cook-out on our porch. It was so fun! This is a picture of some of the decorations. It was such a pretty day outside!!!
...have I mentioned that I can't wait for -consistent- warm weather?

Here is another shot of the porch before the party.
My mom loves to garden, so we always have lots of pretty plants!

The fire pit!
Lots of fun marshmallow roastings happen here.
I'm on a search for one of these...

Okay, and I just had to post this one. Haha!
Here are me and a few of my siblings (before the party), about to go on an egg hunt. None of the nieces and nephews could come this year, so we had to hunt the eggs for them!

Don't always believe what you see!

Photoshop is probably one of my favorite things. I mean, you can take marks off peoples faces and crop out random strangers from your favorite vacation photos...or even put your friend's faces on top of other peoples!!! The possibilities are endless.
Here are some "before" and "after" pics.

Before:
After:
Before:

After:
What can I say? Don't believe everything you see!

Bedroom redo!

I get so excited when people ask me to do artistic things for them...like decorating, in this case.

When my sister decided that it was time to buy new furniture and re-decorate her bedroom I jumped on the opportunity to help out! I love making rooms welcoming and comfortable.
She found a picture that she loved in a magazine, so we used it for inspiration.


Rebecca has always loved anything red, white and blue, so naturally we used those colors.
I took that picture (over the chair) of Becca and Mike on their vacation last year! They're so cute.

This is Becca's night stand. There's her hubby, Mike, in the picture, and we found this great bronze c-130 look alike - Mikes plane!

Love!

I love taking bridal portraits.
Spring is so fun because there are lots of brides to take pictures of.
Here are some bridals shots I took of one of my beautiful friends!
I just love her veil! It was so much fun to play with.

Baby Art!

Ta-da!
Here it is Ashleigh!
The finished product that will be delivered the same day as little Isabella.
I can't wait to meet your sweet little girl! :)

Meaning

I found a picture that looks similar to this in my new favorite catalog, West Elm. (Thanks to Kaci Jill for showing it to me. I love it!) I really like how it looks, but there just wasn't much meaning to it. What's so special about sticking random letters together? Then I had the idea to use the letters that make up all the names of my family members. Here is the result! 10 first names and 1 last name. Can you find them? There's a pattern.

Plus, I decided that decorating with meaningful things makes me happy!

Spring!

I can't even begin to express how happy I am that spring is here!
Soon there will be no more cold!

I can't wait.

A few weeks ago I bought this little geranium for my porch.
Isn't it cute?
We just have a little, tiny porch at our apartment but I love sitting out on it when the weather is pretty. Especially with friends.

Welcome Spring!!!!

Baby Room!

Here is a project I'm about to start for Ashleigh's baby room.

Canvas and fabric ready to go.
I can't wait to get started!!!

Color Scheme Designer!

I've decided to take this blog in a new direction.

Besides putting up my favorite pictures I'm going to share neat links that I find.
School basically has me on internet/social network overload, so here I can post it, share it and save it for later.

First up:

Check out this great tool! Color Scheme Designer 3.
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
It's way too much fun to play with!

I think brides are so beautiful!

Here are some pictures of a recent photo shoot.

Gingerbread House

My nieces made a gingerbread house over the Christmas break.
I think they at more candy than they put on the house!

Brown Eyed Girl

This is one of my sisters.
Look how the light makes her brown eyes stand out!!!