Project Life 2015 {January}

Hi!

How has your summer been? I took a mini break from most social media stuff (except a few instagrams, because I just love pictures so much!), it was kind of nice to step away for a little bit. And as a result, this summer I ended up almost never being on the computer.

You really would have thought that I would have gotten more things done around here with more free time, but I really really didn't. Would you believe we still aren't fully unpacked? There are a few boxes left in our storage room that have to be looked at, but most of them are full of not essential things (non maternity clothes, fine china...)

Fortunately, I found my scrapbook stuff, or most of it. There are still a few albums that are packed up, but I found my 2015 Project Life album!

But I am really behind on it because its been packed up for so long! My album is only completed through March, but I did just order all of the pictures through July, so I should be able to catch up soon - I hope!

{Week 1}

{Week 2}

{Week 3}

{Week 4}

{Week 5}

It was fun to go back and look at these layouts. Its been so long since I've opened this album, and so much has changed since January - back then we were living in Albany, looking at homes up there and just hoping that we'd have a baby on the way soon. And now we are in Chicago, back in an apartment, and best of all, expecting our first child in November!

Its still crazy to me how quickly things changed this year!

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December Daily 2014 {Day 2}

Happy Wednesday!

I'm so excited, I am going to look at more houses today. Our house in Louisiana hasn't sold yet, so we aren't ready to put in an offer in New York, but I am really enjoying looking at all kinds of houses in all the different towns around here. I figure by the time we are ready to put in an offer on a house, I'll know what all of our options are!

I just keep my fingers crossed that I don't find a "perfect" house, because I would want to buy it right away, and that's not an option right now!

But I'm sure it will be fun, and I should have some interesting pictures to share tomorrow!

Yesterday I took a ton of pictures!

Waiting to cross the bridge on the way to the grocery store | Cold weather + an advisory for an ice storm | Blogging in the morning | Writing up a menu + grocery list | And buying groceries | One of our Nativity scenes, this one is near the tree | Finally getting the empty boxes off the dining room table | Setting up the advent wreath

After I was done grocery shopping and decorating, I was playing with my camera and taking pictures of the tree. I decided to try out this tutorial.

The pictures reminded me of looking at the tree without my glasses on - something I love to do, and something I'm always trying to convince AJ is pretty. He doesn't wear glasses and can never understand what I mean when I try to describe what anything without glasses looks like!

"I've tried to explain to AJ (who has perfect vision) why the tree looks so beautiful without your glasses on. He never got it, until I found a tutorial showing how to take photos like this. He was shocked that this is my world without my glasses!"

Do you wear glasses? Do you love to look at the tree without them like I do?

I'm linking up my Day 2 with Ali Edwards again today. And the rest of my album pages are here: Day 1 (and by rest, I mean the other one...because its only Day 2!)

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December Daily 2014 {Day 1}

Good morning! How was your Thanksgiving?

Our Thanksgiving weekend was fun, but the two weeks before...craziness!

Can you do me a favor? The next time I decide to move cross country and host a major holiday two weeks later, please remind me how crazy it was to unpack and shop and cook and get the house ready at the same time!

But really, without the deadline of hosting guests for a holiday, I seriously doubt we would have gotten everything unpacked and organized so quickly. So maybe I should always plan a big party right after a move so we have to get everything done?

Of course, the house is in upheaval again as we pull out all of the Christmas decor and try to figure out where it all fits in our new apartment!

And its time to begin another one of my favorite holiday traditions - December Daily. Like previous years, this will be my only digital project of the year.

I'm using Shutterfly again, because it is just so easy! Every morning I upload the pictures from the day before {or I upload my iphone pictures directly from their app - so easy!} I add the pages to the book one at a time, and by the end of the month, my book is done and ready to order!

I'll be sharing a bit about our days + my layouts here. It might be daily, it might not...I guess I'll just have to see how it works out! But I will be linking up with Ali Edwards.

And so, its on to Day 1!

It was a pretty normal December day. A little baking, watching food network by the tree.

We started our advent calendars. They are a wonderful tradition in my family. Every year, my aunt buys us all a chocolate advent calendar. It is one of my favorite December things, and I can't imagine starting off a Christmas season morning without that little piece of chocolate!

A little out of the ordinary today, AJ came home for lunch. He called around 1:15, he'd forgotten his lunch and since we live just 10 minutes away, he decided to come eat here. It was so fun to see him for a bit in the middle of the day!

Of all those stories today, I decided to start off December Daily with the peanut butter oatmeal cookies I was making. Which is nothing new really. 2011 and 2012 started off similarly, talking about cookies and baking...and 2013 started with another favorite holiday treat!

"It seems December Daily always starts with something baked. The start of this month, bringing out the Christmas decorations, watching our favorite Christmas movies {Home Alone | Christmas Vacation}, the cold weather, it all makes me want to fill the kitchen with flour and sugar and vanilla.
I tried a new recipe this time - peanut butter oatmeal cookies. I'm calling them "breakfast cookies", but just so I don't feel bad eating them in the morning!"

It feels awesome to start this project. How are you documenting your Christmas season?

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Moving Day

Hey guys!

Just popping in to say that there won't be a Project Life post today because it's moving day!

This is the fastest move turn around we've ever done - two weeks from the day we found out we were moving to the day we got in the car. It's been a hectic two weeks, but we're in the car and headed north!

I'll be updating on Instagram #newyorkstateofmind if you want to follow along on this crazy three day drive!

Otherwise I'll be back on Tuesday Thursday with a Chicago scrapbook layout and on Wednesday Friday with a mini recap of our tip!!

Have a great weekend :)

Update + Some Around the House Decorations

Hi everyone!

How are you?! I know I've disappeared without any real explanation for a few weeks now. Things here were a little crazy, and I had to put away the computer + kindle fire + iphone for a little bit. Basically, anything that could get me on google had to be limited.

Let me explain why.

I had a little medical scare this summer. Not the whole fainting in church-wearing heart monitors for a ridiculously long time-finding out everything is okay scare. Another one. Its been a fun summer. (Actually, despite all this, it has been a fun summer!)

In a nut shell, I had to have a biopsy done on a tiny little lump. Fortunately, the results came back benign. Unfortunately, the tiny little lump still needs to be removed completely just to be sure its all okay. Which is actual real surgery. On Friday.

And that's why I needed to be away from google. As soon as I found out what type of lump it was, I started googling everything I could think of. I'd try to write a blog post, or answer emails, or go to bloglovin, and the next thing I knew, I'd have 85 tabs open about this instead. And I was driving myself crazy. So I just took a break from the internet all together.

And it helped.

But I missed all my blogging friends. So I've been on the internet for 17 minutes now, and not one thing has been googled, so I think I'm good to go! Right?!

While I was taking my internet break, I did a whole bunch of other things to keep myself busy though.

hanging out in New York | finally finishing our bar area with a picture collage and large mirror | making a set of shelves for the foyer | changing up the mantle from 4th of July to summer | wine tasting | seeing the Brooklyn Cyclones for the first time | {not pictured} remembering my snap.scrap.share post for Julie (although it took me over an hour longer to write than it should have thanks to google...)

Okay, I'm off to go clean up the house while I've got this great burst of energy, since that kind of didn't happen during my internet break either ;)

I'll be back on Friday with a Project Life layout and then next week I will resume my Tuesday layout + Friday Project Life + random projects and things from around the house when I have them to share on Wednesday schedule!

Yay!

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Summer List 2014 {Update}

Every year, I write a summer list of fun things I want to do. Some years it works out great, and others it doesn't. But for the first time, I thought I'd check in about halfway through the summer and see how it is all going!

read three new books | so far I've only read two books that were entirely new to me - Outliers and Paris
go to the beach | Harbor Island, South Carolina...and I'm in New York right now. Although its raining, so we haven't gone to the beach yet, just the vineyards, the pool, and the outlets!
shop at the farmer's market | we finally checked out the one in Baton Rouge - and got about a zillion jalepenos for just $1!
make pesto | I did, with this recipe, but I forgot to take a picture :(
have a picnic | does our indoors one count?
take a picture every day | thanks to #100happydays on instagram, I've actually kept up with this one!
go to a concert | Bayou Country Superfest!
take a road trip | we drove all the way to South Carolina and back, hitting Atlanta and Savannah along the way!

And still left to do before Labor Day...

go for a bike ride | make coronoa cupcakes | finish wedding photo book | 

make s'mores | grill a pizza | do a summer puzzle

I can do this...right?

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Struffoli {Scrapbook Layout}

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I am seriously shocked about how quickly summer is flying by! School starts one month from yesterday...well, for the students. School for teachers starts even earlier!

I've still got a lot to do on my summer list, but I do have an update for you tomorrow about how its going so far :)

During that marathon scrapping week earlier this summer, I made this layout too.

Last Christmas, AJ and I went to my Nonni's house to make struffoli. Struffoli are honey covered fried dough pieces, covered in sprinkles. We only make them at Christmas, and I look forward to them all year long. After we left, AJ showed me that he snapped some pictures of us while we were cooking, and I knew that I'd have to turn those pictures into a scrapbook layout!

I was so glad that he was able to get these pictures when I wasn't looking!

Well, I'm off to go scrap some more. My "to scrap" list is still way too long for school being so very close to starting! What are you up to today?

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The Party Ends + Continues at the Hotel {Wedding Recaps}

We'd gotten married, we'd taken pictures, we'd danced (and danced and danced!) and we'd cut the cake.

And before we knew it, the party was ending.







Our photographer was taking the last picture of the night.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Our DJ was playing our last song.


Our limo was leaving Stewart Manor Country Club.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But we weren't going to let the reception ending stop our party.

My parents organized a little after party at the hotel. After going up to our beautifully decorated room to drop off our luggage (and ditch the heels I'd been wearing all night long!) AJ and I headed back downstairs to hang out with our guests for a little bit.

guest photograph
this is the only one I could find of the after party!

And before we knew it, it was time to go to bed so we could get up in the morning to head here.

Can you believe it? Its over! These recaps seem to have flown by just as quickly as our actual wedding did!

I do have one more little thing to share with you next week, but then its time to move on to something else. Just like real life I guess, hahaha!

I hope you enjoyed these recaps as much as I've enjoyed sharing them with you :)

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Summer List {2014}

Hello Summer!

Well, summer's officially starting tomorrow at noon. And if we are going by the weather, summer's been here since April. Yay Louisiana... 

The past few summers, I've created a list of things to do before school starts - and sometimes I even throw in a list for fall.

I usually wait until after the last day of school to post my list. But I am so so ready for it to be today (and I accidentally wrote it as today in my day planner!) and tomorrow's only a half day, so I decided to just post it now!

Sometimes they work out great {fall 2013} And I end up with lots of fun pages in my Project Life album {summer 2012} And other times, it doesn't work out so well {summer 2013}

But that's okay, because I still love making a new list every summer, even if we start school with none of it being done!

I already know that a few of things this will happen {road trip | beach} and some have already happened {concert} But there are a few I know probably won't be perfect {take a picture every day} but that isn't going to stop me from trying!

What's on your summer agenda this year?

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Cake + Pie Bar + Almost Taking Out My Cousin with the Bouquet {Wedding Recaps}

The night was quickly coming to an end (sadly!) But we still had a few things left to do before dancing the night away.

And one of those things was cutting the cake.

We were really excited about the cake, because it was a chocolate cake with a white chocolate mousse filling and was supposed to taste like Devil Dogs from Drake's Cakes. Of course, the only bite of cake we had was the one we fed each other. There's always the frozen top layer we will have in a few months, I guess!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

We had a really hard time cutting the cake. They asked AJ (the lefty) to put his right hand on the knife and me (the righty) to use my left. The theory was that AJ would actually cut the cake and I would just have my hand there looking cute. Except neither one of us could cut with the opposite hand, so it ended up being the tiniest, wonkiest piece of cake ever cut! Which is why we can't stop laughing in that top picture!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But just in case someone didn't like cake, we also had a pie bar. We had such a hard time choosing our second dessert option - torn between apple crisp (because it was fall) and cheesecake (because its my favorite). But then our venue coordinator suggested a pie bar. And we loved it! From what I hear, the pie tasted very good, although we didn't really get any of that either! Man, I really failed at the "make sure you eat at your wedding" advice!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Where I really needed advice was on how to throw a bouquet at the group of girls and not at the table next to them! At the last second, I was told I had to throw over my shoulder, and not above my head (because of the beams up there!)

Yeah...I could have definitely used some practice with that!

Did you have any throwing mishaps at your wedding? And did you get to actually eat your cake? I'm still sad that I didn't!

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And We Danced {Wedding Recaps}

Once we were introduced, danced and toasted, it was time for the real fun to begin.

And so, in no particular order in chronological order, here are the pictures of the dancing, the laughing, the singing and the partying!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

 Yes, we fist pumped. AJ's from Jersey...it was bound to happen.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And we line danced. Electric Slide and Cotton Eyed Joe. Cotton Eyed Joe was the only song I took my shoes off for. Of course, Allie will tell you that "took them off" is an understatement. I kicked them off across the reception hall, sending them flying towards the head table, right between the legs of a waitress!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

 Even Nonni got in on the on dancing action!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And there were shots, and singing...

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And lots more dancing (and maybe a short time that I didn't wear my jacket. I got super overheated after the shoe-kicking-jumping-up-and-down-for-four-minutes that was the Cotton Eyed Joe!)

Before we knew it, it was time to cut the cake, throw the bouquet, eat pie and dance some more! But all that has to wait for another post (or two or three!)

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Wedding License {Scrapbook Layout}

Hi everyone!

It seems I took an unintended blogging break last week.

I was on Spring Break and my parents came to visit. We went to Mississippi, shopped, ate and spent lots of time outside.

But now they are back in New York, and I'm back at school, and getting back to blogging!

This layout, featuring lots and lots of Bella Blvd papers + a Project Life Wedding Mini kit card, is about a very very crazy day in New York.

Because AJ and I were getting married back home, but very very far away from where we were living, we had to pack a lot of things into short trips. On this particular day, we had to get our marriage license, have our final meeting with our wedding venue and meet with the priest preforming our wedding ceremony. All before Labor Day weekend started!

I think the journaling explains the hectic day really well :)

"August 30, 2013 was a crazy day. It would be our last chance to do any in person meetings before wedding week! We started off the day by getting lost on our way to the Nassau County Clerks Office to get our marriage license. Once we found it though, everything wen smoothly! Then we headed to Dunkin Donuts for a quick bite to eat. There people there thought it was our wedding day because of our clothes - white lace dress (me) + suit (AJ. We are + drove up to Stewart Manor Country Club to meet with June and Mom. We made our final menu choices (including a quesadilla station for cocktail hour + a pie bar for dessert!), chose our cake (chocolate w/ white chocolate mousse filling) and picked our table linens (napkins that exactly match our bridesmaids dresses - yes please!). Unfortunately, the meeting ran late. We had to leave Mom to finalize the table set up so we could go to St. Rose. We were super late due to traffic on the Southern State. I think Fr. Ken was mad, but he warmed up to us. We went through our ceremony choices, then headed home to go out east."

Fortunately, we got everything done, and had a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Which is more than I can say for this week. We had a wonderful time, but I definitely didn't get everything done!

How was your Easter or spring break? What did you do?

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Reception Decor: Centerpieces + Table Numbers {Wedding Recaps}

So you already know that I went crazy with burlap at the reception

But that wasn't the only thing we decorated with.

I also went a little crazy with mason jars.

Seriously, I have no idea how James, our maitre'd, understood everything I wanted for this wedding. I dropped off boxes and boxes of burlap and mason jars and chalkboards and a tree with three pages of hand written notes and he managed to make it look exactly like I imagined.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

I really didn't want flowers for our centerpieces. I had my heart set on mason jars filled with candles. And we used them everywhere. On the tables, in the bathroom, on the fireplaces. I loved how it made the room seem so romantic.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Of course, the table numbers needed a little bit of burlap too. These were so easy - a bit of burlap, some paint, a stencil and $1 frames from Michael's. But they added a perfect pop of color to the room. We made them in three colors - this orange, a darker, more metallic rust and brown.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

We also found a lot of fun things from Pinterest for the tables. This "thank you" was one of the first things I pinned for the wedding. We printed it on the back of our menus, so one would be placed at every seat.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

The I Spy cards came from Pinterest too. We really wanted people to instagram pictures from the wedding, and thought this would be a fun way for people who weren't sure what to photograph to get in on the action!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And these pumpkins...these pumpkins were one of my favorite crafts. Of course, I found the idea on Pinterest. They didn't just decorate the gift table, but their other appearance is a surprise for later :)

Is Pinterest one of your go to sources of inspiration too? Leave me your Pinterest profile name - I'm always looking for new people to follow!

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Reception Decor: Burlap Banners {Wedding Recaps}

For me, one of the most exciting things about wedding planning was the decor.

I had a really specific idea in mind for our reception decor, and it involved burlap banners.

Fortunately, before our engagement photo shoot, I perfected my technique for creating no sew burlap bunting.

And you know I put that good use for the wedding!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Basically, you need:

• burlap
• felt
• marker
• iron on bonding 
• twine
• iron + ironing board
• kitchen towel
• stencil
• acrylic paint + paint brush

Once upon a time, I created a tutorial with pictures. This is just an updated version of it.

1. Trace a bunting shape onto your felt + cut it out.
2. Lay one felt bunting piece on your ironing board. Place a strip of Stitch Witchery along each side of the triangle.
3. Now is a great time to add the twine so it is “sewn” into the bunting. Just lay a piece across the top of your bunting. Be sure to leave enough to tie your bunting on one side, and enough to add the other bunting pieces on the other.
4. Carefully place a piece of burlap on top of the bunting. Be careful not to knock off the Stitch Witchery or twine! Iron as directed.
5. Cut out your bunting using the felt as a guide. Be very very very careful not to cut the twine!
6.  Repeat until all of your pieces are cut out. Just keep lining them up along the same piece of twine, and when you get to the end. Trim so you have enough to tie your bunting on this side too.
7. Stencil on your phrase with the acrylic paint + sponge brush.
8. And then use the bunting everywhere you possibly can think of!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Like for the card box. This Michael's crate got a coat of dark orange paint on the outside + two dowels + a banner for a quick and easy (and inexpensive!) card box!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

You can add burlap to the head table. Yeah, I know its backwards...but AJ is a lefty, so we sat "backwards" at our reception so we weren't banging into each other the whole time we tried to eat!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And of course a fireplace needs a touch of burlap bunting. And the extra burlap fabric is perfect wrapped around potted mums, with a fall themed ribbon.

Do you ever create your own buntings or banners? What do you use them for?

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First Dance + Toasts {Wedding Recaps}

After we were all introduced, it was time for the first dance.

We chose "God Gave Me You" by Blake Shelton for our first dance. And we also used it for our wedding highlight video. We really love that song!

And now, every time I hear it, I think of our wedding day.

We even heard it while we were driving to the showing where we found our house!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

After the first dance, we had the toasts. We had toasts from my matron of honor, AJ's best man, and my dad. They all did an amazing job.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But I did have one question - were AJ and I supposed to drink the champagne with everyone else? We weren't sure, because we were the ones being toasted, so do we toast to ourselves? What do you think?

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Shower Flowers {Scrapbook Layout}

Happy Tuesday!

This was a crazy, but fun, weekend. One of my closest friends was married in California! I loved seeing our friends, meeting her family and celebrating her and her new husband.

And in addition to all that fabulousness, it was the first time I'd ever been to the West Coast so I got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time (that is a layout waiting to happen!)

Unfortunately, AJ couldn't attend the wedding because of work. During a two week span every year called "turnaround" he has to work every day - even weekends! - and he cannot take any days off. Of course, the wedding fell during those two weeks! He was really upset to have missed the wedding, and we definitely missed him there. But in a silver lining - I was super proud of myself for traveling to all the way to Orange County on my own!

Speaking of things AJ couldn't attend, I still have one layout from my bridal shower that I haven't shared (the others are here, here and here!)

I'm not sure why, but it was very important to me that AJ have flowers delivered to my bridal shower. I was so excited when he did, so they got their very own layout!

Just like I did for all of the other layouts, I used the Bella Blvd Engaged at Last line, but I also added in some Project Life cards from the Clementine kit for a little color. They matched the card from the florist so well that I couldn't help but add them!

Were there any little things that you really wanted at your bridal shower, like my flowers? Did you get them?

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Wedding Party Intros {Wedding Recaps}

AJ had a really cool idea for the wedding party introductions.

He wanted to use a different song for each pair. And he wanted to match each song up to something that meant something to him and each groomsman.

And since almost all of the cool wedding stuff is about the girls, I thought this was a great way to give the boys something cool too!

We ended up not doing separate songs for the parents and grandparents. I'm not sure why...we had songs picked...but I think it was late in the wedding planning process, and it just didn't happen.

So here are the songs we would have chosen:

Grandmothers: I Love You and Bushel and a Peck
AJ's Dad + Aunt: I Can't Dance
My parents: Stuck Like Glue

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And since we actually did play different songs for the wedding party. Here are there songs!

Josh and Kerry: Kokomo

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

James and Ali: Killa Cam (I tried to find the clean version...but I couldn't. If you are at work/around kids/just don't like hear curse words I wouldn't click it!)

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

 Jim and Sarah: The Joker

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

 Tommy and Allie: Total Eclipse of the Heart

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

 Mike and Liz: There is No I in Team

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And then it was time for us to walk in! We walked in to The World, and now every time I hear it I think about our wedding.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

PS. I love that picture on the bottom left, because you can see my dad patting AJ on the shoulder as he walks by. I love that :)

What song did you walk into for your wedding?

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