Baby Meek is a...

Baby Meek is a... GIRL!!! 

SO incredibly excited we get another niece to love on! Kayla and Will, congratulations! We are so thrilled. Scroll through to the end and see the sweet home video from her gender reveal party.

Showering Madison Claire.

We are expecting the arrival of my niece in just a few short weeks, and I had the privilege of hosting a friends and family shower for sweet Madison. I had so much fun prepping and hosting for this event! We went full-on garden and floral theme. Thanks to Pinterest for the lovely ideas and inspiration. 

I just knew that we had to have a cake made by local baker Katie Bass from Wildflour bakery. She completely knocked it out of the park, and crafted a masterpiece that was not only beautiful but so, so delish. Thank you Katie!

[check out that jam-filled center!]

In addition to the cake, we had immaculately decorated sugar cookies by the very talented Lilie Bakes, who is also local to the Clermont/Cleveland area. These cookies were all the rage and then some! So delicious too. Must-have for your next event!

To prep for the event, I started by making the backdrop out of just a simple dowel rod and sheer curtains from Wal-Mart. I had been browsing for some inspiration, and figured that I wanted to try my hand at making floral hoop wreaths. I completed these with craft supplies from our local Hobby Lobby and Michael's and they turned out so much better than I expected! Not something I'd want to get into for a business, but hey, it was fun! 

I also decided I wanted to create a type of floral mobile to also add to the backdrop. My best friend Beth helped me make these! (Thank you sweet Bethie!) We created these by stringing faux florals (bloom only) along fishing line, tying little loops between each to create space to look like floating florals. This is really a neat project and so simple! I then tied them to the dowel rod and bada-bing, bada-boom. 

For the gift area and backdrop, I tried my hand at creating balloon garland, and it ended up being a super-simple and easy project, minus the time spent blowing up balloons! (Thanks to my sweet fiance for helping me with the large balloons.) Basically all you need is fishing line, a small sewing needle and about 50-60 balloons of varying sizes. I ended up buying several packs of regular sized white, pearl and gold balloons, and then a few white smaller sized, and jumbo-sized as well. You blow them all up to varying sizes, and then just string them along the fishing line! I read that you should measure the space it will be placed, and add on about 3 feet and this seemed to work perfectly. Thanks also to my brother, and dad-to-be for helping me create the perfect backdrop!

We also had sweet baby succulents for everyone to take home as a party favor. I simply took craft paper and cut into squares, then wrapped around the base. Slapped on a sweet jute bow and there ya have it! My dad had some old wooden ladders that I borrowed to create the display.

A huge thanks to my wonderful mother, and extremely talented chef for creating all of the yummy goodies that were provided. It was a huge success, and I can now add 'party planner' to my resume. ;)

Here are some of the photos from the shower. Cannot wait to meet you sweet Madison.

Kitchen remodel.

HI friends! 

I'm back, and sharing a fun summer project we finally got completed: our kitchen remodel! We have been in our house now going on five years, and this was one of the last spaces we really wanted to revamp. I'm so happy with how it all turned out, and we owe Rob a huge thanks for making our dreams into reality. Enjoy some before photos and the beautiful after.

[before] 

[before] 

It's been just a few short weeks since the remodel, but now it is so hard to even imagine what it looked like before! Thanks so much for stopping by :)

A little life update.

HI FRIENDS!

It's been a while since my last post, and I have so much to tell you! It feels so good to be back and documenting all the things. So much has happened in the past year and a half and I wanted to get you up to speed. 

First of all, I hope y'all like the new refreshed look! I felt that a new beginning starts with a fresh new look. I love the classic, simple design. 

Okay, moving on to the first order of business and why I've been so MIA is that I ended up switching jobs.. I don't talk much about my professional career on here, but for two years I worked as an orthopedic physician assistant and absolutely LOVED it! It was my first job out of school, and I learned a lot about perfecting my PA practice. Though it was an incredible opportunity, I felt that I had hit a wall with growth within the two years. Then a new opportunity opened up and I made a big switch to the field of neurology last July. It has been a very steep learning curve, and part of the reason my time is all used up. I'm trying to work on balance and getting back into blogging is so soothing to my soul! It's like my therapy.

On to more EXCITING news..... my best friend and I got ENGAGED!!!!!!! Y'all, seriously he caught me so off guard it was so wonderful. I knew that we were going to be married, but when? We would talk about it from time to time, but his answer was always, "I want you to be surprised." Well buddy, was it ever! It happened back in March this year. I teased him last year and told him he had 365 days (December was the cutoff), as a sort of ultimatum, ha ha. Well Christmas rolls around, and still not engaged, so I kind of just gave up. What I didn't know is that he did actually get a ring around Christmastime. One Saturday in March, the 2nd actually, we had done our typical routine of things.. laundry, dishes, get the house in order after a busy week. We ended up heading to dinner at Tin Lizzy's that night which is not something we typically do, because we love grilling at home. He had been acting pretty normal at this point. He was a little more conversational, though ha. We ended up coming home and watching TV for a little while, and I am pretty early to bed, so I went ahead and got ready to go to sleep. He at this point had sat on the bed and just took my hand and started acting not normal ha ha. He was just looking at me without saying anything and begged me not to go to bed yet. So back downstairs we went. It was then that he started pacing the floor and I knew something was up. He asked me to hold on a second while he went upstairs to 'get something'. It was when he came back down stairs, me in my pjs and wet hair, when he popped open the ring box and words escaped me! I was in utter shock and disbelief. I had waited SEVEN years, y'all. Everything about it was so 'us' and am glad it was so intimate and in our home. I am absolutely gushing over my ring and am so, so blessed I get to spend the rest of my life with this man! He is everything. 

Another HUGE exciting blessing is that my brother got married in October, and is now expecting their first child!! Madison Claire is due on August 11, 2019. I got to host a shower, which is listed in a separate post. It will be the first grand baby in our family! So excited to hold her when she gets here.

Another wonderful blessing on the way is another new addition to the family, as Adam's sister, my soon-to-be SIL, is expecting as well!! We are over the moon excited to find out the gender tomorrow! Stay tuned for photos from the gender reveal.

I've also been working on some fun photography projects this summer. One in particular is with my other soon-to-be SIL, Dana, and her cousin Hannah with their new endeavor: 'You're Not Alone Podcast'. I wanted to just encourage you if you've ever been through something and felt that you were alone in it, this podcast will help you draw inspiration and comfort that there are others out there who have gone through some tough stuff like you. It provides hope and encouragement for those who are in need. I am so excited for the next episode to air! Visit their site to hear more.

Y'all stay tuned. I have some really exciting content coming your way, including travel, wedding planning and more and can't wait to have you follow along!

xoxo

Happy 4th.

Happy Independence Day!