family pics in the park

 

 

 

  The hour leading up to this quick photo shoot in downtown charleston was a disaster in every possible sense.

We woke up late, had 20 minutes to get ready, had 3 outfit changes, 4 total meltdowns from Charlotte about said outfit changes, 0 breakfasts eaten, no time to do anyone's hair, make up done in the speeding car, and maybe or maybe not one leg shaved only in the front.

But 20 years from now when we look at the pictures I don't think that's what we'll remember about that day.

 (all pictures taken by amazing photographer and friend Kimmie, of Zoom Photography. When she's not holding babies and spreading love in Africa, she's here locally in Charleston if anyone has need of her talents.)

Leaving on a Jet Plane

 

Well, I'm headed out West friends. I know you're crying in your cornflakes because it means I won't be posting very much. Wait...that's no different than normal. 

I keep meaning to come here and talk to you but the living of life has just gotten in the way of writing about life.

The dessert table I was putting together and decorating for a wedding...done.

A really large presentation for a design client...done. And maybe when I get back I'll have word that they're ready to get started!

So where am I off to?

 

The smalls and I are flying out to california to celebrate my grandparent's 30th wedding anniversary.

Wes has to stay behind and work, so it's going to be a 'girl's only' trip...with my mom joining us from virginia. I am beyond excited to go back to where a large piece of my heart lives.

I'll get to see aunts and uncles, cousins, cousin's kids to play with my girls, and of course my grandparents...who don't know even know we're coming! 

And even if I didn't know a soul in SoCal, I would get on the plane to go there just because the weather is going to be THIS:

75°F

76°

77°

79°

81°

79°

77°

78°

77°

77°

See you later gators!					xoxox

Of weddings and such...

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start!

We've wrapped up our time out of town where my husband was getting treatment...(you can read about that here) and drove back home Friday. He wasn't able to get the results we were hoping for, so he'll be commuting back and forth for yet another week. A bummer, but hopefully this third week will start to show results. 

We got back to our house with just a few hours to spare to get ready for a wedding rehearsal dinner. Wes was a groomsman for two dear friends, Jennifer and Brian.

We had a private room in the back of a great restaurant here in Charleston called Zen Asian Fusion.

They have fantastic sushi. 

Or so say the sushi eaters. I don't do things that swim. Or float. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that everything non-fishy is delish.

 It's really not impressive from the outside, but the inside is pretty swanky with a lounge type vibe. 

***************************

Saturday was the wedding and even though it was a bit of a monsoon, the sweet bride was all the sunshine we needed! Aren't her bridal portraits gorgeous?!

They put such thought into the details...they even hired babysitters and had a separate room set up at the reception location for kids to play. They bought toys, games, movies and even had the caterers do a mini food table in the room with PB&J, chicken nuggets, fruit and kid friendly deserts. Such an awesome thing to do for guests with kids...we were able to relax and have fun knowing the girls were having a good time too.

She changed into a sweet little blue number halfway through...

They had a photo booth. Ridiculous fun. Enough said.

 With some besties : )

With the fam...Charlotte loved it. Poor Juliette was exhausted 

and failed to see the humor in the situation.

Rats! I held the 'love' sign backwards.

pimps and sailors. that's how we roll.

A jolly little weekend. 

See you tomorrow with an Etsy roundup of a-d-o-r-a-b-l-e baby goods.

xoxo

I never thought I'd say....

I love it when you kiss...

other girls :)

You are an amazing, kind, patient-to-the-moon-and-back, 

father and husband to this motley pack of women.

Love you forever and ever {plus 6 whole days, says Charlotte}

Happy Father's Day

xoxo

An organized house...needless or necessity?

So I would definitely consider myself a lover of well organized spaces. I can't get enough books, magazines or pictures like this...

via

porn. straight porn for me, people.

Notice I did not say "keeper of always well organized spaces".
I try. But with a husband, a toddler, and a newly-crawling 8 month old {in order of messiness}...things aren't perfect. And although I would love to have my home look like a magazine all the time, I know that's not realistic. And even if it were, I don't want a home so pristine looking that friends and family feel like they can't relax in it.

But...BUT...I still believe that having a clean, organized house will help you to be less stressed, less frantic, and just enjoy being at home more.
You may completely disagree, but this..

and this...

...annoy me. a lot. 


Seeking unrealistic perfection in your home is ridiculous and exhausting. But I don't think there's anything wrong with striving to keep a good amount of order and neatness in my home, or that it has to be done at the expense of my family and kids.

I know for a fact that both myself and my husband are more relaxed when we're watching t.v. at night in a picked-up living room. There may be stray cheerios tucked in the seat cushions and hand prints on the screen, but the toys are tossed into a basket that hides them, the rug got a quick vacuum, and it just feels...better.

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Even my 3-year old Charlotte seems to play for longer and enjoy herself more when her playroom is decently organized, and every bin and basket isn't tossed upside down on the floor with toys everywhere.

If you remember the day The Key was lost, that stupid missing car key led me to clean out, throw away and organize a bunch of spaces in the house that sorely needed it. And it feels SO GOOD to know my junk drawer has been downgraded to more of a 'random odds and ends' drawer and I know exactly what's in there. And I don't have to spend 20 minutes looking for my chapstick because I finally dealt with the drawers in the bathroom.

via

I'm not obsessive about it {mostly}and before I did all that cleaning I wasn't laying awake at night thinking about how awful our bedroom closet was. In fact, our dirty, messy bathroom vanity drawers have been irking my for months, but not obviously enough for me to stop watching Real Housewives of OC and go do something about it! {work that couture, Alexis. work it}
But for me it's kind of like when you have something coming up {like a deadline, or a meeting, or a trip} and you didn't realize how much is was causing you stress until that thing is over and done with.

Right now there is a pile of laundry the size of mt. rushmore in my kitchen waiting to be folded and the sink is full of dishes. And I've ignored them and gone about my day and done all the same things I normally do. But I know when the clothes get put away and the sink is empty I'll feel way better about it.

via

I'll feel better about everything in general, actually. I don't know why, but when my house is messy I feel more stressed about other things too...small things annoy me more, I get in arguments about dumb things with my husband, and I start to feel like my whole life is a bit off-kilter.

All in all, I guess what I'm saying is that I do think it's possibly to be organized, even with kids and a busy schedule. {and being organized will help take some of the stress out of that schedule!}

via

I am by no means an expert, and there are plenty of areas in my house that I'm not exactly opening up the drawer/closet/room and showing off to company. I actually want to challenge myself this summer to get even more organized. To really figure out what systems work for my family, cut down on needless junk, cut back on spending by living with less {hello, 10 different kinds of shampoo hiding out under my sink, nice to meet you}, and overall just trying to have more simple, easy, organized days and less crazy, messy, stressed ones.

Over the next couple of weeks I'm going to be sharing some of my favorite easy, practical ideas for keeping a bit of order in your home.  I'll let you know which ones are working out for my own family and some before and afters {hopefully!}of cluttery spaces I want to tackle this summer.

What is the one room or space you wish you had the time / energy / motivation to clean and organize???