Fall Has Come!

With the temperature dropping drastically around Johnson City, I have definitely felt the arrival of the next wonderful season. Fall. 

Mulled wine. Apple Festivals. The smell of burning wood. Sweaters & scarves. Pumpkin bread. Candles that make your house smell like apples. Candy corn. Shorter days. Hocus Pocus (classic!).

And for some reason, this year, Fall is Ella Fitzgerald. I've been listening to her Best of the Song Books.

Watch her singing Misty 

I finally found something to put in these centerpieces, and they scream autumn!

These little buds are growing all over the city, like a weed. They're Goldenrod. I am pretty impressed with myself for guessing that that's what they were...then I googled it to be sure! They're beautiful.

And the start of fall is also so exciting because it's my Mom's Birthday! Finn gave a little shout out...Happy Birthday Mawma!

And nothing gets me more excited for the turning weather than being able to share it with a tiny little person, experiencing it all for the first time! I am loving this book and have read it to Finn a few times already...

It's about a bear who gets sad when the leaves keep falling off the trees. He tries to fix it and glue them back on, but eventually he scoops them all up and makes a bed with them in a cave where he sleeps all through the winter.

And my first craft project since becoming a momma...The start to my Halloween wreath! 

I plan on adding either some wordage that's Halloween related, or a few teensy pumpkins. 

Hopefully it'll get done before Halloween gets here, but then again, I am consumed with mommyhood. And I'm reading the Hunger Games series. Woops!

Three Weeks of Motherhood Down

Finn arrived smack dab on his due date, August 15th at 5:33pm in the evening. We couldn't be more thrilled...and impressed with his punctuality! Everything about the delivery went as well as it could, and after about 17 hours of anxious waiting followed by the hardest 45 minute workout of my life, Jeffrey Finn was here!!

The past three weeks have been a whirlwind of learning Finn while Steven and I try to figure out what being parents looks like. 

These days I have to plan when to go to the bathroom, there are random bits of food crusted to our kitchen sink, a master bedroom halfway painted, front porch plants wilting in the September heat, dog hair collecting in every corner, I forget to brush my teeth, am lucky to take a shower, I wash bottles constantly, can't shake this baby talk thing (like I didn't already struggle with that)....and life couldn't be more imperfectly perfect with our new addition.

We love you Finn and can't wait to do more life with you!

Our Wedding Decor

This time of year is most definitely the thick of wedding season! Steven and I have been to two weddings in the past few weeks and we know someone getting married every weekend in June! All of these wedding showers, ceremonies, and receptions have got me thinking back to our wedding last April 10th.


I think planning for my wedding marked the beginning of my love for DIY projects, and looking back, that occasion really encompassed my style...I kept using words like simple, muted(with splashes of color), antique, and rustic to describe what I envisioned for the wedding, and I still tend to follow that route.
So, here's to feeling great about months of planning and projects completed and for a wonderful first year of marriage! 
I hope you enjoy this peak into a part of my history!

To decorate the entry table at the reception site, I used a square piece of fabric cut with pinking shears, a few famed pictures, and our initials stuck to old vintage books for added color and stability. The floral arrangement behind was brought over from the ceremony.

For every table we had a square of patterned fabric, cut with pinking shears and laid on top of a white table cloth. Then we added log slabs to the center with mason jar candles. Some tables had alstroemeria in vases, while others had potted herbs and other plants.

The tables also had fabric puffs scattered on top, which you can barely make out on the bottom right of this photo above, tutorial found here.

Each candle sat atop gray sand inside the jar, then the jar had thin strips of patterned fabric tied around the lip. We collected jars for months! Some of the cutest were olive, pepperoncini, and mustard jars-they made for more unique sizes and shapes. Depending on the size, the jar either got a tealight or pillar candle.

They looked beautiful lit up at night! 

On one side of the tent we hung italian street lights, while on the opposite side we hung pennant banners.

These pennant banners were so easy to make! I used this tutorial. It did take me a long while to complete them though, because I made so many of them!

Rosemary was a theme in the wedding, I wanted it to be everywhere!

When I first started thinking of flowers, roses were the last thing on my mind...I thought they were overdone and predictable. I had my heart set on peonies, but, they wouldn't be in season for another month or so and that means $$$! Well, my florist was amazing, and she made me realize that there are endless types of roses. I loved these! They were so soft and full and a brilliant champagne color. They looked simple and "antiqued"...if that makes sense. The bouquets were decked with greenery and full of aromatic rosemary (straight from the florist's backyard) and the groomsmen just wore sprigs of the herb for boutonnieres. 

There was so much rosemary bundled up on the ends of the first few pews that the smell filled up the whole sanctuary, it was lovely!

All I knew I wanted in our wedding cake was simplicity, rosemary, and the two adorable blue birds I found on etsy.

Steven's Aunt Susan made our cake, and it not only looked marvelous, but it tasted even better!

Thanks for letting me reminisce for a little while!