real wedding: keith + michelle.

Since it's technically still summer (August 31), I gave myself permission to post a summer-themed wedding. From this point forward, I'm pretty sure I'll be talking all about fall inspiration, since we've already determined I'm prematurely SO excited for the fall season.

Nestled in the hill setting of Deary, Idaho, these nuptials boast a down-home, personal country feel.  I guess that makes sense, considering they were married on his parents' naturally gorgeous property.

I am personally loving the horsies (yes, horsies), her shortened dress in the front, and the cows that make a subtle appearance (can you spot them?).

Isaiah Eyre Photography was there to capture all of the details!

Cheers.

sunday's thwacks and shout-outs.

Thwack (verb) : to strike with, or as if with, something flat or heavy.

Shout-out (noun) : a public expression of gratitude or recognition.

Thwacks:

1.) You may already be able to deduce this about me, but my closet is organized by season, then by color.  Any surprise there?  Didn't think so.  So, I bought this new sweatshirt that has gray sleeves, but blue everything else.  When I went to put it away in my closet, I was stumped.  Does it go with the grays, or with the blues?

These are the things that bombard my type A mind.  What's a girl to do?

Basically, this is my dream closet.  Some day.

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2.) I was working with an important spreadsheet at work this week, trying to sort it in all different ways, and I was screwing it up left and right.  I was working on it for way longer than I should have, and it kinda ruined my afternoon.  I hate days like that.  BUT, then my friend Becky brought me chocolate.  Which was awesome.

Shout-outs:

1.) On Tuesday evening, I was working feverishly on some Violet Hills stuff on my computer in the backyard, and the husband took it upon himself to clean the entire inside of the house.  He said he always gets to come home to a house cleaned by someone else (yours truly), but I never do... and I deserve to.  Ummmm can you say, keeper?  LOVE HIM.

2.) As I already shared with you, I had a meeting with the editor of Apple Brides on Tuesday.  I shared with her my vision for the photo shoot we'll be doing in a few weeks, and we talked on other vendors we'd like to get involved.  I can't wait to see how it all comes together!

Here's my vision in a mood board:

3.) One of my clients has hired a new and upcoming photographer/videographer in the Spokane-area to do their videography.  I hadn't seen his work until he posted this video of our mutual client on his Facebook page the other day.  I was immediately attracted to his style, so in an effort to help get his name out, I asked him to join me in the Apple Brides shoot.  He accepted, and I'm excited to have him on my team for it!

Morning Coffee from Travis Knight on Vimeo.

Check out his Facebook page, and give him a like! Or visit his site here.

 4.) The husband, pups, and I spent Friday evening and Saturday at Hayden Lake with some of our long-lost friends, Bonnie and Aaron.  It was so much fun to catch up with them - we've missed seeing them often.

Poor Lola trying desperately to get into the boat.

I wake boarded for the first time, and got up on try #3.  I am SO SO sore today, but it was worth it.

Sun in eyes.

Biff.

 The husband also showed his natural talent on the skis.  Seriously can't remember the last time he skied, but he still dominated.  It's kind of annoying how good he is at everything. 

I hope you all had a lovely, family or friend-filled summer weekend too!

Fall is just right around the corner... wink wink.

Cheers.

chicks and bowties.

Why can't chicks wear bow ties in engagement sessions too?

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We look cute and dang sexy in them also.

Cheers.

fall inspiration.

I had a lunch meeting today with the fabulous Rachel from Apple Brides.  We discussed the upcoming inspirational photo shoot she asked me to style, and I am so excited about all of the ideas swarming around in my head.

Since she first asked me about a week ago, I haven't been able to stop thinking about a fall-inspired shoot.  As many of you may already know, I'm prematurely ecstatic for fall.  These are the things I think of most when I think of fall that I plan to work into the shoot...

1.) Rich, classic, solid, yummy clothing.

2.) Back to school - which means books and desks.  And apples for teachers.

3.) Rich and deep colors - I plan to go with a plum, lavender, mauve-ish and pumpkin, burnt, rust-ish orange palette.

4.) Football.

I told Rachel I don't think I can work the football fetish in - and to not worry that I might try!

I put together a mood board for her in an effort to capture the vision I have in my mind, so we can share with the various vendors that get involved to give them an idea of the overall look we're going for.

Top row: flowers | cinnamon candles | book

Middle row: flowers | suitcases | flowers

Bottom row: umbrella bride | apples | books 

What do you think, friends?  

Wanna jump on the prematurely-ecstatic-for-fall bandwagon with me?  

There is plenty of room for you.

Cheers.

sunday's thwacks and shout-outs.

Thwack (verb) : to strike with, or as if with, something flat or heavy.

Shout-out (noun) : a public expression of gratitude or recognition.

Thwacks:

1.) The husband and I went for a morning run before work on Wednesday, aaaaand we locked ourselves out of the house.  He thought he handed me the key, and I thought he had it.  Thankfully, our awesome neighbors have a key to our house, and she works at 8:00 am as well, so she was up for us to (quietly) knock on their door and grab our key from them.  Otherwise, I literally have no idea what we would have done.  Break a window?

2.) I set my alarm for pm instead of am for Friday morning.  Then I was majorly rushed when the husband finally woke me up. Haaate that.

Shout-outs:

1.) This blog right here was on weddinggawker this week.  You can go here to find me, # 13794.  By now I think I've transitioned over to page 2.  Pretty fun and exciting!

2.) Thursday at work I won $50 Starbucks monies!  Best. Win. Ever.  Totes made my day.

3.) The editor of Apple Brides, the most widely known wedding website in Eastern Washington, asked me to help her style a photo shoot in September.  We've been Twitter buddies for the last little while and she graciously wrote this awesome guest post while I was in Italy, so I'm really excited about the opportunity to finally meet her and spend some time with her.  I've been dreaming up a fall-inspired shoot for the last few days - I am so so excited to see it all come together I can't hardly stand it!

4.) The husband, pups, and I went an a fabulous 6-ish mile hike on Thursday in Liberty Lake.  It reminded us so much of Bend, Oregon that we felt right at home!  Lola and Trudy had the best time ever - they were in dog heaven.

My handsome man.

Had to show you the mud boots on Lola.  And the evil eyes.

5.) The husband and I are heading home to Oregon Labor Day weekend to take our family photos with Erich McVey, as previously mentioned a million times.  I purchased these pretty puppies for the shoot (and life in general) and I. Am. In. Lust.

7.) I have this friend that loves her dog as much as I love mine.  Well at least I think she does - she seems like she does.  I've never actually met this friend - but we're FB and blogger buddies... and she went to college with one of my best friends back home.  So we're basically BFF.  Anyhoo, back to the dog - his name is Winston.  And she always takes funny pictures of him, and buys him bow ties and things.  She posted this one on FB recently.  I die.

Cheers.

anniversary cards.

My heart literally leaped in excitement when I saw this idea.  It's great on so many levels it's not even funny.

What you do is place cards in unsealed envelopes and pens on each reception table for your guests to write a message on.  On the front of each envelope, you write different anniversaries, using any range you want (ex: 1 month - 50 years).  Your guests write you a message (and make sure they sign it so you know who it's from when you open it!), stick it back in the envelope, and seal it for you to open it on that respective anniversary.

OMG so great, right?

Check out how Jenna did over here on Northwest Nightingale.

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You can even...

• Design cute instructions to frame on each table as part of your decor, so people know exactly what to do.  

• Have a cute mailbox displayed somewhere in your reception area for people to stick their messages in.

• Do practically anything for the cards. Buy them, make them, buy a design from Etsy and print them... the possibilities are literally endless.

It's a great time filler for any down time your guests have, and I'm positive they will rave about it and talk amongst each other about their messages... a great conversation starter perhaps?

And such a neat thing for you and hubbers to look forward to at each of those anniversaries.

You like?

I LOVE.

Tata for now.

Cheers.

sunday's thwacks and shout-outs.

 Thwack (verb) : to strike with, or as if with, something flat or heavy.

Shout-out (noun) : a public expression of gratitude or recognition.

Thwacks:

1.) As the husband and I have been searching for creative ways to save more monies for VH, we have recently considered moving in with our friends/cousins, Kurt and Les, and putting our house up for rent.  (Have I already told you this?). Within the last few weeks, we have decided to move in a different direction, as another (less stressful, no renting involved!) opportunity has come up for us.  We are SO bummed to not be moving in with them because we were totally looking forward to that adventure with them - we love them lots, and just enjoy being around them!  HOWEVER... side note... please see shout-out #1.

2.) I admit: I went to Starbucks FIVE times this week.  There.  I said it.

3.) I have taken a little break from running the last couple of weeks.  While it has felt amazing to just rest, my body is feeling it!  I feel so much better when I'm running consistently... this workout vacay is over first thing tomorrow morn.  Wish me luck.

4.) Ehhhh so the husband and I spent a butt load of money on cedar boards this week to build 3 giant veggie planter boxes in the weird raised bed area we have in our backyard.  Remember how we built that patio earlier this summer to keep our pups out of the dirt?  Well, we finally decided what to do with that second half of the area.  Not without spending ba-jillion dollars though.  Jeez laweez our dogs are so high maintenance.  Will post pics when we're done!

5.) This is unfortunate.  Why why WHY I ask you?

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Shout-outs:

1.) Sooo Kurt and Les won a brand new Ford F-150 truck at a baseball game a couple of weeks ago!  HA.  The whole story is crazy.  Read about it here. We are so so happy for them - it couldn't have happened to better people!

2.) The husband and I are SO excited to have one of his sister's best friends from back home in Oregon move in with us in September.  She's attending EWU for her graduate degree, and needed a place to stay.  So it worked out perfectly!  She'll be with us for 9 months.  Welcome to the fam, Sam.

You will probably see this cute face in future posts!

3.) The husband, pups and I went out to my boss' lake house on Coeur d'Alene Lake yesterday for some good quality work-people fun.

 
4.) I cannot get off Pinterest lately.  I'm overly obsessed, with things like this:

See my Pinterest page for credits.

5.) I got to meet with my cute friend Sevrina this week over lunch.  It's been awhile since I've seen her - and it's always great to catch up.

6.) I booked another wedding planning gig, and I couldn't be more excited about it!  We had a great first meeting this week, and here's a little taste of what we like.

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And I think it would be soooo cute if they did this, because they love to ride their bikes together.

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 The husband has just a couple of weeks left sans school, so I plan to live it up the rest of August!  Which most likely means being lazy around our house together.  WOOHOO livin' it up!

Cheers.