Nuptual musings and daydreams.

A sneak peek into my brain and what its waves are churning around as of late.

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To veil or not to veil?

Twenty-three different categories of lists. And many a list within those lists.

Naked cakes! Bridal shower cakes! Buttercream cakes! Crepe cakes or cake-cakes?

Tweaking and fussing about our theme a hundred and one times.

Wanting to shout from the mountain peaks but keeping most things under wraps -- I choose not to make my Pinterest boards public! (Throws some kind of mood in the air.)

The gym, again and again. For those bridal arms and dress-worthy tush.

Thinking of every and all things needed to be done but wanting to watch Grey's/Friends/Dexter instead. Many times watching Grey's/Friends/Dexter instead.

Stares intently at one another. Let's just run off barefoot to the mountain's forests and get eloped amongst the sun beams and tall, tall trees. Quiet, just us, with wise mother nature. Eyes become wild with feat. Daydream some. Then continue planning our day, squeezing hands, cracking jokes, pretending we aren't subtly nervous but in an eager way. 

I am so excited.

Busy, busy.

01. A bit of a red lip for my Seahawks champs!
02. Quiet nights in, laughing and spending good, good time.
03. Caught him asleep on the couch one night, just like that.

04. A date at our new favorite Mediterranean spot.

Aw man. I really can't kick this busy thing can I.

I had thought, perhaps, the holidays were the culprit of keeping me very occupied, and they were in the loveliest of ways, but one good thing transitions into another like water. I am up to my ears in wedding details and plans, envelopes and color swatches, stamps and flowers and lists! Lists in abundance -- scratched out, checked off, beautifully messy lists. Good thing they're my favorite way to go about detailing. It's quite fun, now that we've got the big decisions out of the way.

See, for weeks I didn't know that was up, some absent thing seeming off and tonight, as I sit on my couch sipping coffee from our shiny new Keurig v2.0 (faaaaancy) I've got it, I think. All this talk of wanting to create and giving myself more space and time to do so, doesn't count if all I do is think about it making it happen. Thoughts aren't things actually, unless you make them so. And these swirling around in all that head space should be things because oh are they lovely.

One of my favorite thoughts are of my art journal. Which I think I'll dash off to work on now. I hope your Sunday was as lazily productive as mine!

Fit for a Maid.

Over the long weekend, I asked my four best ladies to be by my side at the altar and through the wonderful journey this year will bring. My heart is so, so full knowing I have them all. My beautiful, kindhearted, precious sister is my Maid of Honor and my lovely sister-in-law + two dearest friends are bridesmaids.

I am just so excited. This is all so special to me. I'm not quite sure how to get the words from inside onto this post right now. So I have shared with you the little invitation boxes I put together for them. I poured all the bits and pieces of me into these and they turned out just how I imagined.

P.S. //  I found the dress of my absolute dreams. It was the second one I tried on and you know all that stuff you hear -- about just knowing when it's the one? All of that is real.

July 31, 2015

July 31st is a good day for an anniversary. A day we will secretly plan surprises for over the years -- breakfast foods, funny socks, and hikes for the occasion. And what an occasion it will be! A day we will slowly open our eyes to the morning sun and say happy x-years! And do something us-fashioned like high-five with our feet. Then we'll grab coffee and do all of our favorite things -- elated just to be in each others' company, blessed to be able to spend the time. You and me and me and you.

In one year, we will be married. We will be married. On this day, as lovely as today, three hundred sixty five days from right now. It will be a grand year of getting everything ready to say our vows in front of everyone we hold so close. In a garden we chose ourselves. Intimate, precious, a celebration.

I'm so ready for our lives. I'm so ready for our stories -- tucked away in held hands, heard in little feet padding a cross wooden floors, felt in new traditions. The crows feet from years of belly laughs. Triumphs and challenges and adventure. I am so ready. 

Today, the countdown begins. I can't wait to see you in that suit, honey -- I'm going to look my prettiest for you.

Tiny pieces of lately.

The absolute best cookies and cream ice cream treat I have ever tasted, my niece turned nine -- nine? howwhy? Enjoyed a moment at the zoo where I embodied the bird lady from Marry Poppins in her abundantly mysterious, feathered glory. Handmade flower girl invitation treasures for my nieces and they gushed and laughed and said yes! But as long as I don't have to see you guys kiss! Suddenly needed many things from the Bath and Body Works Semi-Annual sale, which, correct me if I've gone awry, just happened a couple months ago. Oh yes I just need these 3-wick candles and foaming soaps! For smells and clean mitts! And finally treated thine eyes to the lovely flora and greens that usually come 'round in early summer.

Have a safe and sound 4th of July weekend darlings!

Busy bee.

Goodness. It feels like it's been quite some time because it has been quite some time. How is the warmth of summer's grand entrance here already? How has the solstice come and gone without lingering long enough for me to say hello? These recent weekends have been filled to the brim with tiny road trips, venue scouring, more Starbucks trips than ideal, overplayed mix CDs, thrifting, and the world of diy bridal party invitations -- which are turning out lovely if I say so myself.

But! We have found our wedding venue! And it is perfectly stunning and we just knew. July 31, 2015 -- our official day becoming Mr. and Mrs. The date just sounds perfect. It looks perfect. We have decided to keep the location hush-hush because it's an exciting secret to keep with family and close friends for just a little while longer. No peeking my sweet friends. We'll announce it soon enough.

Oh and I musn't leave out the adventure that transpired this weekend. My dear friend Alyssa captured our engagement photos in a hand-holding, palm-sweating, stomach-churning experience atop the second highest railway arch in the states. 347 foot drop right off the edge. Wood pieces with suspicious give. I was barefoot and only made it halfway across. It was terrifying in all the best possible ways. We managed to get some gems there and then pulled over to any interesting place we could spot to shoot the rest. Thank you for risking your life with us Alyssa! We are very lucky to have her, indeed. Alyssa and I shared a couple of delicious cranberry ginger ale spritzers mid shoot, which sauced things up nicely for the rest of the day. That surely contributed to my silly charisma and flushed face during the last leg of the shoot and will undoubtedly show up on film.

Daniel, my darling, you are marrying quite the handful.

Us.

A candid from Memorial Day weekend. I love this one of him.

I think it's about time I tell you about my person. A brilliant human doing this thing called life with me. Several people have asked about our story and I think I put it off for so long because nothing I could ever type would live up to how this man makes me feel.

I met him in junior high and we flirted as much as awkward teenagers knew how to. He would be quite the gentleman and walk me to gym class every day after he'd copy my social studies homework. We'd exchange this awkward one-armed hug before we parted ways. He always held his binder off to the side. He always wore his Adidas sneakers and sported popped collars. Years, separate high schools, different people happened and it wasn't until a random afternoon in late spring I called him up. It was the end of 11th grade and warmer than usual in June. He was outside air drying from his post football practice shower. Whether it was curiosity, boredom, or an impulse, finding his name on my bulky Nokia phone was the best thing I've done. Nearly 7 years later, I'm marrying that nerd boy who pulled at my hair and copied my homework. He is my person and I have never been more sure of anything in my life.

We work because we are a hundred percent ourselves and we accept each other. One Direction often appears in mix CDs, we're health nuts and foodies at the same time. We both have passions for something; my writing and photography, his career and fitness. We both love nothing more than to spend quality time doing everything and nothing. We also know our own flaws and we make a conscious effort not to unload them on one another. We believe in patience and honesty and having conversations instead of letting adverse emotions overcome our words. We give each other grief all the time and joke around and the amount we still flirt hasn't changed a bit. And he has the best arms to snuggle with. The absolute best. I'm an arms and hands kind of girl; good arms are serious business and hands show hard work. His hands are rough and I love every callus. 

What we have is just so easy. It's always been easy with him. He is my oxygen when everything around me often becomes suffocating. He is the most gentle, kind, understanding man I have ever been blessed to meet. His light visibly radiates from his pores. 

Time and time again I have been asked how I knew he's the one. It wasn't some monumental moment where sparrows appeared in the branches of the trees and started to sing as we kissed in a warm embrace with cheesy background music. I knew he was the one when the butterflies didn't go away. I knew he was the one after I talked to him on the phone for 4+ hours as we watched YouTube videos at the same time. I knew it a couple nights ago when we literally could not stop laughing at some obscene thing I did. I knew as I held his head in one hand and a bucket in the other when he was so sick in the hospital as he puked out 2 liters of bile and I knew it on the last loop of the roller coaster we rode 7 times in Disneyland. I knew as I Googled hiccup remedies and tried them for hours because he couldn't stop hiccuping. I know each and every time he pulls the Forrest Gump when he blinks in pictures and when he plays with my hair and when we disagree and when we agree. How do you know ice cream will be delicious or that the moon will be up there in the night sky regardless if it's clear or if it's tucked away behind the clouds. I just know.

I know all the time.

Bits, pieces, and visions.

I have found so much comfort thrifting and decorating these days. Keeping my mind occupied has never failed to be the best medicine for worry and rumination. It has been such a treasure to put on my favorite songs and create like my soul is so inclined to do. It is in these moments I feel like my best self.

I like to find items with pasts and stories rubbed deep in the opaque glass, chipped paint layers, and tattered frames. Especially the frames. Whose lover's precious face was behind this glass before mine?

These are a few of my favorite nooks around my room. I'm also doing this as inspiration for our wedding and playing with different textures and colors to fit our antiqued garden theme. Anytime I prepare for an exciting project or adventure, I always manifest tell-tale signs in little areas of my life. I do things with purpose even without realizing it. 

I have always been that way.