Another Birthday!

A big birthday shoutout goes out to my dad!

Happy Birthday, Dad! Wish I were in Austin {and going to Z Tejas ...} with you to celebrate! Love you!

Me and Dad before a football game last fall. 

Random Thursday - Pictures, bags and BBQ

It's that time again!

• Did you guys see the moon last night? It was amazing. As we were coming home from dinner, we noticed that the moon was huge and still really low behind some thin, wispy clouds. John was super eager to get the tripod out and try to get some cool shots of the moon. {Can I just say that I hate setting up, but love the reward of getting a good shot as a result of taking the time to set up?} Anyway, below is one of the cooler shots we got. It's been super windy here, and we used a really slow shutter speed, which made the trees really soft. Below is the original and then I grayscaled the picture and did a little extra stuff to it in Photoshop. I think it turned out really cool {and a little creepy ...}.

And, one more that John took of a car driving down our street. It might be the coolest SOOC pic we got last night.

• I'm a preferred customer with Coach. Oh, you are too? Yeah, I'm pretty sure if you've bought a Coach bag, you're a preferred customer. Anyway, they've enticed me with 25% off if I go into the store. I've been jonesing over a couple of bags for a really long time. 

Audrey in black -- $398 {$298.50 after the 25% discount}

Madison Op-Art Sateen Audrey -- $358 {$268.50 after the 25% discount}

I really prefer the top bag because I need a black bag {hello, how do I not have a basic black bag?? It's really a travesty ...} and I don't really want the Cs all over it. I'm not so sure that J will go for it. Anyone want to distract him while I make the trek to the Coach store?

• We went to Tulsa last weekend for a BBQ benefit for a fraternity brother of John's who has cancer. Greg is just 31 and has been battling tumors for several years. He and his wife have twins {John and Samantha} and he has a hospital bed in the living room that's now been converted into his personal room. Anyway, some of their really good friends put together a BBQ with a wine pull {that was my first experience with that} and a silent auction and they raised A LOT of money for the family. Anyway, I got like one picture all weekend and it's not even that great. But I loved seeing so many people {they think there were around 250 people there!} show up to support the family. If praying is your thing, please say a little prayer for he and his family.

Link Love

• Velocity Art & Design
I  just stumbled upon this site, and after only looking at the pillows they sell, I'm planning to check back often. And, as an added bonus, it looks like the majority {if not all} of the pillows are on sale!

• Henry Road
I found this site today also. I get a Popsugar Daily email every day and today one of the exciting things going on was a sale on this site. Again, I'd never been on there, but they had some great pillows {noticing a pattern yet?} and some really cool furniture.

• Lonny Magazine
This is a strictly online magazine that {I think} comes out every other month. This thing has lots of inspiration. I love pretty much all of the spaces they showcase and they have a bunch of good links to websites and blogs in there. And, I use a lot of their ads and page layouts as inspirations for my work.

• Outblush/Uncrate
These are sister brother websites with all kinds of things. Outblush has clothes, gadgets, bags, makeup, jewelry and all kinds of other great things. Uncrate has all that kind of stuff for guys -- and some people think the guy's site is better than the girl's, but I'm not sure I agree. There are always several things that peak my interest.

• Jessica Hische
Like a couple of the other links, I just found this, and I'm couldn't be much more excited. I've been on the hunt for some design sites/blogs and this one is really cool! Just like Jessica, I love different fonts and she does a "dropcap of the day." So great!

These are the ones I can think of {or found ...} at the moment. I'm going to keep looking for more. There's this really awesome dress website I saw mentioned on a couple other blogs, but I cannot, for the life of me, remember what it was called. Ugh, I'm going to work on that ...

What websites do you frequent??

Random Thursday

•I saw on Saturday that Cynthia Vincent was debuting her line for Target on Sunday. My plan was to hit up Tarjay the day it came out, but that just didn't happen. So, then on Wednesday, after a quick photoshoot, I wanted to check out the goods. Can you believe that in a little over 3 days that the entire section was pretty much picked over? {Yes...} Wow!

I was in luck, though, there was still a pair of the cute wedges left in my size, so I snagged 'em. I almost got the cute flats {like Christine} but they made my big toe look way too long {I've been sensitive to that ever since this guy called me out for having the longest big toe he'd ever seen...thanks for that, dude.}.

sorry for the midgy picture, it's all i could pull off of the Target website

•More Target news -- Zac Posen for Target starts this Sunday. Uhh, two words: yes, please. Check out a sneak peak here.

•Congrats to Sam Bradford, Gerald McCoy and Trent Williams {all loyal Sooners} on being selected in the first round of the NFL draft tonight. Ahem, they went 1, 3 and 4. 

Yay Sam!!!

•The OKC Thunder are in the playoffs and on Sunday I went with some friends to a new pub in OKC to watch the first game in their series with the Lakers. It's called RePUBlic Gastropub. The food was pretty good -- I had the pulled chicken melt with a serrano honey mustard sauce that was HOT. I think it's definitely worth going back to, but maybe not to watch a game -- or if that's the plan, we're definitely waiting a little longer so they can get the service kinks worked out. Anyway, my food was really good and B got the fish and chips, which looked bomb. If you're in the OKC area, check it out.

•Ok, this is super random, but if I were to have my rehearsal dinner all over again, I think I would have worn white {hello, the only time anyone can really wear white to any kind of wedding event is when you're the bride} -- I wore a plum velvet dress from Juicy that I still really love. Anyway, I was on Shopbop the other day and found the most gorg dress. And, even though I've been married for a while, I kinda wish I could go back in time and wear this dress -- or stay in the present and find a good reason to purchase it. Any ideas?

Aja Strapless dress by ADAM, $276 {on sale}

I looove the ruching and the length. Ugh! Swoon!! If only it came in black. 

A Doctah, a doctah, she's marrying a doctah!

Wow, sorry about my hiatus -- I keep wanting to post, but considering I haven't been wanting to take the time to put together an interesting post, I've put off posting {can I say post anymore in one sentence?}.

Anyway, last weekend we went to the wedding of one of J's fraternity brothers, Brandon. He and Namali met in medical school and we were so excited to see them get married!

The wedding party waiting on Mr. and Mrs. Pierson to finally be introduced. {love their logo!}

The first dance.

more first dance -- they looked really great on the dance floor

great idea!

bouquet toss {and Namali had -- obviously -- changed into this beautiful saree}

The Carsons and us {uhh, sorry that Josh is randomly in a shadow, don't know what happened...}

The Piersons and the Sigma Chis

The Piersons!!!

We had a great time at Brandon and Namali's wedding and we're really excited that they'll be doing the residencies in OKC!!

PS -- anyone know what movie the post title is from? 

Can I take your picture?

J and I went to a one day photography workshop on Thursday.

At first, the guy was moving super slow and I was really wondering how we were going to last until 4 if it was going to be this boring the whole time. But, by the time our lunch break rolled around, he had finally touched on something we've had trouble with: lighting.

Needless to say, after lunch the time flew by and we learned quite a bit of good stuff.

And, going to that workshop really got us excited about taking more pictures. So, we decided we would {finally} go out to dinner to celebrate my birthday {a month ago} and we'd leave a little early to take some pictures around the OU campus.

Instead of getting directly on the campus, we stopped at the natural history museum and took some pics of the buffalo statue that's out front.

Here are a couple of the better pics that we snapped.

I took this one.

And, J took this one. I love that the face of the buffalo is only partially lit.

I have to admit, I was annoyed when we were taking pics, because John's were way better than mine. But, I just happened to snap that top pic right before we left, and after a little help in photoshop, I really love it. We're thinking of adding it to our gallery wall {when we finally get around to getting it done!}

La Dolce Vita FLOR Giveaway

Have you ever checked out La Dolce Vita? It's this great home decor blog by Paloma, based in Houston. She always has great features and great room ideas!

Right now, LDV is doing a giveaway.

Have you ever heard of FLOR? They are rug tiles that you can put together for custom sizes. They come in many different styles and patterns. Paloma showed us the Lattice pattern in the cinnabar/bisque combination.

I've been getting these catalogs for a while. I usually look through them and see plenty of things I like, but I've always been a bit wary of the fact that you have to put them together. Plus, I've always been unsure of the quality.

Looks like my worrying has been over nothing, because Paloma said hers was great and Brooklyn Limestone {another home decor blog} put the faux bois Flor in her "box room."

So, now I'm sold!

Head over to LDV and enter in her giveaway, but fair warning, I plan on winning!

Heavy

That post title says it all {and makes me think of this}. This probably won't be my most upbeat post ever, so if you're not in the mood ... you might think of skipping this one. And, if not, well ... I warned you!

I haven't had much experience with death. My dad's parents both died about 7 or 8 years ago {my grandfather passed away when I was a senior in high school, and my grandmother passed away when I was a sophomore in college}. And, I think since I was so selfish and into what was going on in my life, I have never really understood, or rather, wanted to understand and comprehend death and how to deal with it.

My mom's dad {Popi -- pronounced Popee} was recently moved into a nursing home and since then, has not been doing well. I've had a hard time dealing with this and not until I saw him on Friday afternoon did I fully understand what was going on.

J and I had been to Austin at the end of February and we saw him then. He had to go to the hospital on that Friday and we saw him there on Saturday. He was sitting up and talking and he'd read his usual newspapers. All in all, he was mostly the same Popi as usual {although he'd been, admittedly, slowing down lately and had lost weight}.

Anyway, when I saw Popi this past Friday, he was not the man I remember. In my opinion, he was a shell of himself. He was on oxygen, in bed and couldn't really talk. I was a bit shocked, and it was hard for me to see him like that. Luckily, on Saturday we were able to let him know that Brian {my brother who lives in Colorado} and I were both in town to see him. And, on Sunday, Brian was able to play an adorable video that his two kiddos had made for Popi. It made me smile and tear up at the same time. Popi even smiled a little when he heard Hunter and Hannah. It made me so happy!

When I left yesterday morning to drive back to Oklahoma, it was hard for me to keep myself composed enough to really drive home. And, when I got home, I had myself a good cry. And, John said something that has really hit home: As sad as I am, Popi wouldn't want me to be a wreck over all of this. He has led a great life, has been married to an amazing woman in my grandmother, Mia, and has two fabulous daughters.

One of the best memories I have of Popi is when he and my dad walked me down the aisle at my wedding. That's something that, no doubt, I will cherish for the rest of my life.

Ok, so back to death -- I feel like this is my first real experience with losing someone that I feel like I can't deal with losing. And, I hate that I feel that way for two reasons: 1. When my dad's parents died, I should have felt that way, and I still really regret that we weren't as close to them as we have been to Mia and Popi, and 2. I don't want to feel that way and then feel so sad about it. Popi wouldn't want that.

And, I feel like since I haven't ever dealt with this, I think I haven't always been the most compassionate about someone losing their life. And, that, makes me really feel guilty. Just being honest, here. I probably shouldn't feel like that, because I can only do the best that I can, but I'm just telling the truth, here, and you can bet that in the future, I'll do things differently.

Ok, enough of that. I'll leave you with a family picture we took over Thanksgiving -- I'm so glad we took this. I have a bunch of other pics of Popi, but they have to be scanned, and that's not really feasible at the moment, so hopefully I'll post more really soon.

FriDee

As in ... Friday. I hate it when people say fridee, or thursdee or sundee. It's day, people. Come on!

Anyway, I've hit the road for Austin, while J is holdin down the fort in good ole Oklahoma. It's just short weekend trip, but I'm excited to see my family, and my brother from CO is going to be in town, too!

On to the real reason I'm posting. With Spring here for {what seems like} good, I'm on the hunt for some cute new Spring clothes, and whether or not they actually end up in closet is a whole other story. Here are a couple things I can't get off my mind:

Liquid Sunshine dress from here {$55}

Ruffle Strap Minidress by Thread Social, from here {$520 ... ouch} Oh, and I keep seeing this dress everywhere. I saw it on another blog, on shopbop and then at a local store -- we photographed it for their next ad. And, it's just as gorgeous in person. 

Zora Skirt from here {$34}

Old Town Bandstand Dress from here {$38}

Chinese Laundry Sweet Caroline flats from here {$39}

Liberty of London Keyhole Tank from here {$19.99}

As you can tell, I'm into prints and anything in bright colors {and unlike other Oklahomans, I am not averse to orange!}.

Is there anything you just have to have for Spring?

Happy Birthday Gracie

With only about an hour and a half left, I have to say Happy Birthday to my Mother-in-Law, Gracie.

Gracie is on the left {duh...}

Wish I could have been there to celebrate! 

I Have a Confession to Make

So, you know how I ran my first half marathon? Yeah, well, I've been basking in pride at accomplishing my goal, that my expensive running shoes haven't touched pavement since March 28.

Whoops!

And, can I also mention that I've been eating like I was during training {minus the actual training}? Do you know what that means? My pre-race flat-ish stomach is no longer flat-ish, so much as rounding back out.

Whoops ... again!

But, J and I have decided that he {we} are going to do the Couch to 5K training.

Our little town does a 4th of July run every year, and we both want to run it. {We want to actually run it, unlike a couple of years ago when we signed up and woke up early the morning of, but J got "scared" because there might be storms...}. J wants to get back in shape and I think I'd like to maybe work on shaving a little time off of my usual pace.

from here

I'd run with Miley and her boyfriend, but they're so much deeper than the average person/couple and their runs are probably way more spiritual than what I'm used to ... {I know, what?!}

Happy Monday friends!

Happy Easter!

from here

Take Me Out to the Ballgame

The weather was gorgeous today, and we had tickets to the OU baseball game, against those nasty Longhorns {just kidding ... kinda}. Although the game didn't end up in our favor, it was great to be outside and enjoying a baseball game.

I love baseball -- good people watching, good snacks and {when it's not NCAA} cold beer!

We had great seats -- to watch the Sooners lose {sadface}

J going gangsta in an attempt to shield his ears and neck from the sun.

Oh, and we put together the Target bookshelf {with no incidences or fights!} that I bought and I can't.wait to get some baskets and get it in the bedroom {and finally get rid of those nasty plastic drawers!}.

Happy Saturday and {tomorrow} Happy Easter!

Gallery Wall

We've lived in our house for almost four years, and even though it's far from a finished product, I feel pretty good about some spots in our house.

A couple of "problem areas" in my mind are the master bedroom and the wall above our couch in the living room -- both of which I want to fill with a gallery wall.

Let's start with the living room.

During Christmas we moved the furniture around to accommodate our tree and since then, we've left it as is. But, this leaves the wall over the couch empty. We had plans to hang a mirror {that we got about 2 years ago}, but it's proved to be more of a hassle than not. We'll hang it eventually, but maybe we'll find somewhere else for it. What I really want to do is use the space for a gallery wall. 

Here's a picture of the wall above the couch {notice the scratches on the wall and screw anchored to the wall? Those are remnants from failed attempts at hanging the mirror}. 

And, here's a picture of two walls in our bedroom. {Please excuse all of our bedroom -- its pretty much the one room that I've done nothing with.}

I'd like to either do a gallery wall across from the bed or above the bed, in lieu of a headboard or anything of that kind. And, just to ease your mind, I bought the bookcase I mentioned in this post, and I have a side table that I need to paint black and we'll be well on our way to having a normal master bedroom. Ha! Oh, and there's a mirror that I want to get form Wal-Mart {gasp!} that I want to get to replace that cheap full-length one leaning against the wall. 

Here is some gallery wall inspiration:

from here

from here

from here

I know there are other pictures of gallery walls out there, but I'm kind of sick of searching and I think you get the idea. As we keep working on it, I'll keep you posted!