Last Week (or Two) in Instagram

Every night a few minutes after I head to bed, Hux comes in and chills out on my torso for 5-20 minutes, getting some attention and drooling on me. Every night. It's one of my favorite times of day. / Bully Hill wine- this is my new favorite!  / I made some Funfetti cookies. / Hux chilling at the window. 

Delicious pineapple popsicle with chunks of pineapple. / D being weird under the chair. / a huge beetle stuck in the pot. / spray-painting some more!

Hanging out in the backyard. / new sandals, I love. 

D getting cuddly with Kyle; so cute. / new read. / YUM. Cucumber on bread I picked up in Finland for sure. / second option earrings for the wedding- but I think I will likely go with these; they are gorgeous.

I wrapped up bridesmaids gifts! / Hux panting outside haha! / Texas sun. / napping Hux.

Freezing bananas for "ice cream." / bottles lined up. /  D trying to get down from her hiding spot. / jars & straws.

a couple more kitty pictures. 

You can follow along @mrssmcp. But be warned, it is mostly pictures of cats. :)

S.

Thursday Thoughts (8)

{one} Kitties. Huxley was sleeping on Kyle's backpack that he takes when he's on the motorcycle. Huxley also slept on Kyle's laptop that day. I guess he missed him.

watching the world through the window

{two} Don't these look delicious? Riesling strawberry slushie. We should probably make some this summer. I've already got the straws...

{three} On Tuesday I randomly decided to actually make an effort at drinking that 8 glasses of water they say you're supposed to drink every day. On a normal day I maybe drink, 2? Tuesday went well. Yesterday I had a bad migraine and felt nauseous until about 4 or 5 in the evening, which I thought was really dumb the day after I was about as hydrated as I've ever been, but I managed 4 glasses. I've had 6 so far today, slight headache. I have to add a little lemon or lime juice sometimes because it gets pretty darn boring chugging water all day.

{four} Getting a new header and button design from Joelle! I'm excited to see what she comes up with! I need my header to be pretty simple and not too personalized, or else I feel the need to change it all the time. I want something that is nice, clean, and fun, and I'm sure she will make it happen!

{five} The upcoming Great Gatsby movie... looks pretty cool.

via

{six} Kyle has a four day weekend for the holiday! We were thinking of going to Sea World in San Antonio, but it will probably be crazy busy, and I don't like people that much. (said the social work student...hahahoho)

{seven} My biology class is over in a few days. The last week is just a group project. I volunteered to put it all together in a powerpoint, because I like making powerpoints and don't trust other people to make them nice, so I don't mind the extra work, so long as they all have their parts to me by Saturday as agreed. This online class has been...super easy and mostly boring, but oh well. Last time I will say that about any class for a while, I imagine!

{eight} Today I am very very excited and looking forward to wedding week! I can't wait to get into the farm and start setting everything up. I've got all this stuff in boxes and packaging and I want to see it out and unwrapped! Also I will be seeing so many people so soon, some I haven't seen in a couple years, some in five years, some in ten years- not since I moved from California to PA!

{nine} My good friend from high school, Kendall, got married last weekend! What a beautiful shot! I can't wait to hear about her wedding when I'm back up in PA for ours (we're having ours at the same location, too!) Congrats to Mr. and Mrs. Feather! :) Kendall wrote a guest post about her flowers, you can find here.

Paper Heart Photography

{ten} Whale bookends. That's all.

S.

Wednesday Wedding - Make it Personal

The good and bad thing about wedding planning is that there is a lot, a TON of inspiration and advice out there. Early in my planning, I needed it. I had only been to two weddings and was not the girl who had envisioned her wedding day from a young age and knew what I wanted.  I shared some wedding websites here many months ago, but for the last several months I've hardly used any sites (except for Joelle, and Pinterest of course!). Once you get into the swing of things, the ideas just keep coming into your head, and it is important to focus more on what you really want the day to look like. It is important to remember that you can and should really do what you want and define things how you want to. You don't have to use burlap and wood to make a "rustic" wedding. You don't have to be either rustic or modern or futuristic or whatever theme. Or you can be, and not everything has to fit. I would say ours is rustic romantic outdoorsy metallicy lacey flowery fun and jars/bottle-y. And a little glittery. Also dotty. Oh, and also nobody is getting married. 


For example- my gold and silver spray painted plastic animals down there? I don't think there's  a theme for that one (unless your wedding is at a zoo, and ours certainly is not, but that would be super awesome). That goes back to a broad inside joke from being silly with friends years ago and making up "stories" with toy animals at my house ("Cracklewood River," a touching and psychotic love story of violence and quiet reflection for the ages). Also animals are just cool. Simple and random as that. You don't have to have a limited color palette or send save the dates. More important than following along any rules is making your wedding personal and about you, however you choose to do so. For me, the look and feel developed along the way. I am three weeks away and still playing around with some ideas. A friend recently commented on the blog that from the looks of it, ours was shaping up to be one of the most personalized weddings she has seen! I was pretty happy to hear that (thanks Steph!). I have tried to do and make as much as I can myself, usually with some help from Etsy vendors when my crafting talents do not stretch as far as my imagination.

{above} I just came up with this idea today! Also, husband, we need to drink more wine so I can make more.

{above} for some reason the silver paint gave me trouble and wouldn't dry, but I finally redid them and they are all done now! Cracklewood River part 2, anyone?

S. 

Mandatory Fun

Yesterday was another mandatory "fun" Army day, where this time we went to Stillhouse Hollow lake (where Kyle and I went camping) and had a bbq. The thing with mandatory fun as the Army does it is that most people do not have that much fun because they would rather be somewhere else, and you have to sit around until you are released at 4pm, while everyone complains and talks about how they do not like the Army. And sometimes they play volleyball. I asked if anybody likes being in the Army, and it seems you only might like it if you are at Sergeant rank or higher. Maybe. I certainly do not understand why the Army works the way it does, why it seems so so much time is wasted instead of, you know, effectively training and preparing our soldiers before sending them off to war. There is such a lack of organization and communication, and it is frustrating for everyone involved. On the other side, it is a reliable job. Anyway, here's some pictures from the scenery at the lake. 

 Kyle is quite talented at skipping rocks. 

S. 

Friend Feature

Today I want to introduce you to two of my favorite bloggers around, Joelle of Something Charming and Elizabeth at Love is the Adventure. Be sure to pay them both a visit!

Meet Joelle!

Tell us about you and your blog!

Something Charming is my little corner of the internet where I share the things I find lovely in life. I'm a wedding planner, so Wednesdays are always dedicated to weddings, but I also love to post about style, design, writing, and my life.

If you had to have something tattooed on your body, what would it be?

My grandparents each spoke a different language growing up (English, Swedish, Tagalog, and Spanish), so I would get something tattooed in each of their native languages. It's a thought I've had for a while now, but I am too afraid of pain to actually go through with it!

blog . twitter . facebook . 


Meet Elizabeth!

Tell us about you and your blog!

Hi, I'm Elizabeth and I blog over at Love is the Adventure. Kyle and I got married when we were really young and this blog started as a way of exploring God's hand in our marriage as we've gone through some really challenging stuff like moving far away from our families, surviving college and graduate school, and Kyle being diagnosed with PTSD. I'm a big believer that romance is in the little everyday things and that you don't have to have a lot of money or live somewhere exotic to have an adventurer's heart. So my challenge to myself is to try something new any time I have the chance. I blog about love and relationships, apartment living, grad school, road trips, books, and thrifting...and other stuff, too. Thanks so much, Sarah, for having me!

If you had to have something tattooed on your body, what would it be?

If I had to have something tattooed on my body...I've had a couple tattoo ideas for awhile but I sort of want to keep them a secret until I make up my mind! I do love tattoos of poetry...Kyle has an amazing tattoo of the constellation Orion in honor of his brother Orion who passed away.

 What is on your summer reading list?

My summer reading list: I'm reading for my candidacy exams this summer so I have literally about 200 books on that reading list but if I can somehow squeeze in some fun ones...Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs and An Abundance of Katherines by John Green.

blog. twitter. 

S. 

Thursday Thoughts (7)

{one} Kitty cats outside. They are such spazzes. They came inside and got muddy prints all over.

{two} Every now and then I just remember or am reminded that the Olympics are this summer, and that makes me really happy. If you didn't know, I love the Olympics. So much. Summer and Winter. I wrote my college application essay about the Olympics. There is nothing greater than the opening ceremonies.

{three} Less than one month until the wedding! I am so so excited to see everyone!

{four} I love this sentiment from a Keep Calm Gallery print, titled "Rules of Friendship." It is simple, basic, and true.

{five} I finally finished reading The Help (I needed to slow down with a book, after speeding through The Hunger Games). It was really good, and the movie was definitely a great adaptation. It got me thinking that not too long ago, my life would have been very different, as a half-black half-white woman I would have been an outcast, and my current relationship would have been illegal. Crazy. Too bad people in this country are still crazy.

{six} I watched a PBS show last night (Bones of Turkana) about the Leakeys (a super famous name in anthropology) and their discoveries at Lake Turkana in Africa, finding Australopithecus, homo habilis and all sorts of cool remains of our ancient ancestors. Ah, so cool. It makes me miss my anthropology classes, science and discovery of human origins, bones. We came upon a skeleton of a creature hiking up to our camping spot last weekend; I kind of wanted to take it home and take a closer look at it. Anyway, if I ever end up a teacher, I think I would most enjoy teaching a human origins class. It would be so much fun, and I could get bones and skulls and go on a field trip to the zoo.  I can always teach my own future kiddos, though! :)

{seven} Apparently this exists. We must try some. (Thanks Jilli!)

{eight} Liam Neeson is the coolest.

{nine} I had been doubting my choice in wedding earrings for a little while, unsure how they would go with my yet-to-be-worked-out hairstyle, and feeling like they may be too bulky at the top, especially as I have multiple piercings in each ear. I love the earrings, but I didn't want to end up stuck with something that didn't really work or that I thought didn't look right in the end, so I found another pair. The earrings are lighter, delicate and gold made to look incredibly like lace, and I am in love with the matching cuff bracelet. I am sure between my two options I will be ready to go on the day!

{ten} I had about an hour long chat with the DJ planner today this afternoon. I felt kind of dumb because she would ask "whats your first dance song?" and I didn't have one, and "are you doing the bouquet/garter toss?" and I didn't know, and that happened a few more times, but it was all OK if I didn't know everything yet. The meeting was both stressful and really helpful, so ultimately good, and I think they will be a lot of fun keeping the party going. So, now we need to pick a first dance song. But, we have an entrance song, and cake cutting song (such a thing exists, I now know). I keep being told by vendors that on the day I am supposed to be stress free, relax and have fun, but I don't know how that happens! Maybe by starting the day with mimosas...

S. 

Dreaming of Baby

I can't help it. I know I know I know. I know. Oh I know. I've just wanted to be a mom since forever (and had a running list of baby names in my head, too), and things are almost aligned so that that can happen. It doesn't help that babies and kids not in short supply in the Army community (or blogging world, it seems). And that one of my best friends is equally anticipating baby time (but also locked into grad school for the next two years). And then Pinterest makes the day dreaming so easy, so so easy. So, I think about it from time to time. My Klout for some reason says I am influential about babies (an achievement, I guess? considering I do not have one). And one night apparently I was talking in my sleep, something about a baby. Nothing wrong with that. My family used to say growing up that I was for sure going to get married and have maybe seven children (We only want three, I think). Anyway, timing is not quite right yet (grad school), but I am dreaming of the future, filled with little ones and no sleep and spit up cute things all over. A girl can dream (and talk out loud in her sleep), can't she?

{I think I would have love love loved this little mouse house idea when I was little. So clever.} 

images
Pillows by Poppy

Whale onesie

Striped Sweater Blazer

Moose Hat

Dinosaur Pattern

Grey Nursery

Creature Mug

Red Sandals

S.