Our First Look

For our wedding day, we decided to see each other before hand. Not only did we want to eliminate the stress related to that, we also wanted to spend a private moment together before all of the craziness ensued. Our photographer caught our moment, and it truly was beautiful. [Photography by Kristen Hamm Photography]

This moment was special to us both. Before we saw each other, David's groomsmen came over to tell me that David was so nervous. It was so cute seeing him nervous, because that never happens! If you are planning to see your groom before the wedding, I highly recommend doing a first look. You both still get that private, awe-inspiring moment that you'll remember forever.
 

Yellow and Grey Guest Bedroom

Since I showed y'all the first finished guest bedroom, I figured I could show y'all the second (and final) finished guest bedroom.  I've seen so many ideas of combining yellow and grey, it inspired me to use these colors in this room.  Everything in this room is not new, but new to us.  I love to go estate sale shopping on the weekends; I always find awesome deals on the most random things.  One weekend, I purchased the entire bedroom set used in this room for only $40.  When I bought it, the whole set was this horrible, dull yellow.  I purchased some spray paint and went to town.  They turned out great!  The bed frame and the dresser are painted flat black, while the nightstand is painted yellow.  Just the perfect pop of color that this room needed.

The only thing that I am not happy with in this room is the wood trim.  It clashes with the colors of this room a lot, more so than in the orange and brown room.  I want to paint it white in the entire house, but I'm on the fence about it.  In one hand, it would definitely modernize the entire house.  On the other hand, it is real wood and I would be taking away from the integrity of the house.  What do you think? Paint it or leave it?
 

Orange Guest Bedroom

When we first bought our home, it was pretty much a blank slate.  We've been working extremely hard to get it to exactly how we want it, but it's a long and expensive process.  One of the easiest rooms to do in our house were the guest bedrooms.  Today, I'm going to show the end result to what we call our orange bedroom.  Everything in this room is used, from our old apartment in Detroit.

 

We're not afraid of using bold colors, obviously!  David wanted to paint the whole room orange, but I thought that would just be way too much bold color so we settled on an accent wall.  I love the color, it matches everything else in the room so perfectly.  I'm very happy with the way this turned out.

  

Honoring A Lost Life

A few days after coming home from our honeymoon, David's mom (Judi) suffered a massive stroke.  The doctors said that there was nothing they could do, so we prepared to say goodbye to such a beautiful and amazing woman.  She had been battling stage four cancer since January, and we all believe that she was just tired of fighting.  This was, by far, the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my entire life.

David always said that I was exactly like his mother, so he wanted me to use my crafting skills in some way to honor her.  Judi loved scrapbooking, just as much as I do, so I decided to make two shadow boxes dedicated to her life.  I had fun picking out the items that would go into the shadow boxes.  Anything that reminded me of her, I knew I had to find a place for it.  She was a teacher, a mother, a bowler, a golfer, a Disney lover, and a crafter.  She had the most vibrant personality that you would ever meet in your life.

Here's how they turned out:

I love them.  I have them hanging over my desk in our office.  I use them as motivation while I'm doing my schoolwork.  She was a teacher for thirty years, and I can only hope that I will be half the teacher and woman that she was.  Love you and miss you Judi.
 

My Bridal Shower

My bridal shower was held at the Clarion Hotel here in our town.  We looked at multiple places, but the Clarion offered everything that I wanted at a reasonable price.  We booked a room that held about 40 guests.  We chose a buffet style brunch and of course we had mimosas!  Three of my bridesmaids decorated the entire room for me, and they did a wonderful job.  The centerpieces looked even better than I had imagined.  For the favors, one of my bridesmaids made homemade chocolate molds in wedding themed shapes (they were a huge hit).  Here are some pictures from my event:

The table settings and centerpieces.

My mother-in-law, me, and my mom. Beautiful women.

Dessert table with cupcakes.

Recipe cards and game instructions.

My bridal shower turned out beautiful.  I am so lucky to have such caring people in my life that could make this happen.  Thank you, you know who you are.
 

Fall Themed Front Porch

Fall is my favorite season of them all. I love sweaters, apple cider, baking, Halloween, the color change of the leaves, EVERYTHING!! I enjoy decorating according to the season, so I went out and purchased some items to spruce up our front porch. 

Most of everything that I bought was on sale or clearance.  I got the pumpkins for $5 each at Walmart.  They were cheaper than any of the nurseries in our town.  The mums were purchased two weeks ago from a trip to a local cider mill.  I got them both for $12, which is a steal because they are full and beautiful.  The orange pots were purchased at Michaels for $2 each (they were on clearance from the summer).  All of the other items (tombstones, garland, scarecrows, etc) were purchased from the Dollar Tree.  Believe it or not, they actually have a ton of holiday themed items.