precious.

so, earlier this month i had the privilege of photographing one of my dearest friends, stephanie, with her husband & their baby … who is currently still dwelling inside of her belly. ; )

please just take a gander at this absolutely stunning mommy-to-be!

finches!

so, we received a finch feeder as a sweet gift at one of our wedding showers — & i have LOVED seeing these precious little birds gather outside of our kitchen window! they are so beautiful, & sometimes quite funny … they tend to compete & chirp at each new arriving muncher, & sometimes i may or may not imagine the ‘conversations’ they’re having with each other…

( ..too weird? maybe… : )

this one makes me laugh a little… : )

…’bout time?

so, i know i’m still technically a ‘newly wed’ (going on 6 months, baby!) … but i’ve noticed lately that having been married for 5 months is already feeling quite different from being married for, say, 1 month.

i realize that that is most likely a “duh” statement for most … &  i could probably go on for a long while about the numerous things that have changed – &  the many, many levels on which these changes have taken place… but all i really wanted to do was give my explanation (AKA excuse) for taking so very long to update this blog(!).

adjusting to married life has been great; but an adjustment, indeed. i hope to post more frequently, & i THINK i’ll be able to, now that we’re somewhat used to our new life-schedules. : )

… but since i’ve taken this long, i figure i’ll start my catching up with some fun shots from “our first christmas” : )

the hubs was a great sport this past christmas! he is accustomed to spending the holidays with his immediate fam of 4, quietly nestled up in their vacation home on the beautiful lake jocassee.

my family, on the other hand, considers staying in one place (especially HOME), during the holidays as just…not…the holidays. we are known for visiting at least 4 different towns/groups of family in the short duration of our time off in order to celebrate christmas with any & everyone we possibly can(!). we are super close to our grandparents/aunts/uncles/cousins… & absolutely LOVE any time we get to spend with them. : )

all that being said, i reiterate, my dear sweet new husband was SUCH a great sport. : )

since we were gone a good bit, & i guess for the sake of saving money as well, we actually did not purchase a real ‘christmas tree.’  our decor for this first christmas was all DIY. i used some things i already had, & also found some little things to alter & make our own. it was a very sweet first christmas season as a wife, in our own home (slash on the road : ), & i treasure the memories already.  hope you enjoy the pics. : )

this wreath is super easy to make: just purchase a styrofoam wreath at any crafts store, & wrap yarn in the color of your choice loosely around the wreath … i chose to add some little bells in the process — you could add buttons, felt, beads … whatever your heart desires. i found the big bell, that’s hanging in the middle, in the dollar section at target. : ) … & i used left over burlap from our wedding decor to hang the wreath (from a wreath hanger hung backwards inside our house).

these are a mix of found/repurposed & purchased jars that we also used in our wedding decor — i just put yarn &/or mini-ornaments in them (mini-ornaments also found at target).

so, my friend liz & i had quite a fun ‘crafty-day’ during which we went to a local park & picked up some choice sticks (& pine-cones!) which we brought home & spray painted in order to make our own little christmas tree centerpieces : )

we just bunched them together with a rubber band, stuck them into some floral foam, & decorated our containers. this is just a vase i already had .. &  i have a TON of buttons left over from our wedding decor —   i just superglued a few of them together to make the little front piece on my vase.  i then simply wrapped yarn around the vase (super glued in a couple spots) … hung some mini-ornaments & buttons from my gold-spray painted sticks, filled the vase  with some crinkle paper, & VOILA! : )

our local crafts store had these huge empty glass ornaments that i put some yarn in as part of the table decor…

i found these adorable cable-knit stockings at target! i also found the metal snowflake ornaments there, & i found some natural wood letters at a crafts store. i painted the letters red, & strung all the pieces together with twine. (if you’re wondering about the orange paper flowers — they used to be pink, for our wedding decor, but i spray painted them a burnt orange to go in our home … so they just acted as ornament holders for the season ; ) OH, & the fleur-de-lis stocking hangers were a gift from my dear sweet mommy!

… annnnd some presents, of course! : ) … kraft-paperish wrapping paper, yarn, bells, burlap, twine, etc, etc …

for one of our family gift-swap games, i made some beverage i.d.’s & included some chick-fil-a love as well.  …. gotta represent! ; )

all-in-all, it was a great christmas season … celebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, & also his wonderful gift of creativity! in my book, there’s not much that i can think of that compares to creating with my Creator. : )

maybe i’m not so weird after all…

orrr….maybe i’m just not alone. ; )

our house:

annnnd CHAIRS on design*sponge!