So I'm moving into a House next week.

 Craigslist. Etsy. Pinterest. DIY. It's all the rage. And it's all we women want to do these days, am I right or am I right?? Crafting, re-working that old furniture into something new but antique looking, using Mason jars for flowers, ladders as shelves, repainted frames as jewelry hangers! Shabby Chic is all the rage and I for one am totally on board! I can't tell you how much I LOVE using the most random things from around the house to decorate my space. Especially if it consists of using mason jars. I have been 100% roped in. I use mason jars for everything. You name it: I drink my water from them, I put my flowers in them, I put jewelry in them.. everything (eventually I will put candles in them for outdoor lighting, can't wait for that project come next week!).

I'm moving into a HOUSE next week with 5 other girls... you might think I'm crazy but I promise I'm not. We're going to have a blast. And it's going to be FUN. I have been trying to decide on a color scheme for my room for months now. My room has wood paneling and I have a wooden bed, interesting. So, you can imagine how THRILLED I was when I found the dresser that was going to go perfectly in my room!! One of those old-made-new dressers that was painted grey and blue with pretty lightly colored wooden knobs. I want to show you how I am using my dresser and how I'm going to decorate my room. Thanks to The Wild Rose in Tanytown, MD I was able to put together something that I think I am definitely going to get used to... and very quickly.

 

 My sister, mom and I love dried flowers. Anytime we get flowers that will dry well, we keep them. These are dried up roses from my sisters WEDDING three summers ago!! Not only is it a great memory, but they are absolutely beautiful. Notice the cake platter and the old medicine jar...this is only the start!

This sign was one of the first things I saw when I walked into the Wild Rose store. Chalk. Flower written on it. Very rustic-farm like sign and I wanted it. How often do you go into stores like this?? I don't often, so I took advantage of my time and bought the sign. I LOVE it. I just need to buy some chalk now. 

 

And can we talk about THIS sign?? It's all about the shoes, seriously. I don't normally buy into the "Keep Calm and.." signs, but this one was telling a different story. My mom always says, "The shoes make the outfit." When I saw this sign my mom and I just looked at each other. It went immediately on the list of Must-Have's for the day.

Old Medicine jars. They are the perfect size for earrings!! Perfect size and they keep them all in one place. I am all about using space efficiently and all about jars. This little jar fits right in with the other glass pieces I used.

Notice the mason jar I am using for my necklaces! Easy to see them, easy to pull them right out, and super cute too. Can you see the obsession with mason jars now? Seriously though, perfect use. The mason jar on the right is a beautiful tinted blue, different than all of the mason jars I have. You can learn how to tint your mason jars here! (PS, I buy my mason jars from Joann Fabrics, but you can really buy them anywhere).

Candles. Fresh,
sweet
aroma.
Another love of mine.
This candle is a little different than one I normally would get,
but it just has that summer scent,
like a fresh garden.
I propped it on top of the top tier of a cake platter.

I can't wait to decorate my new room in the house! I was thrilled to find a neutral colored dresser that I can do a lot with in a room that will need a lot of color. I am also excited that it's a place I can be really creative with and add my favorite things (like mason jars, flowers, candles, and chalk!). Sometimes it's just the small things that matter.

- Kimmie

It's that time of year again...

PROM season!! Yes folks, we are here again believe it or not. When every weekend you cannot get a dinner reservation between the hours of 7 and 9, or you walk into a nail salon (ladies, you know..) and the pedicure chairs are filled with High School girls, or you walk into a hair salon and up-do's and curls are all you see! The long, sequined, open-backed dresses come out from storage and the guys strategically plan their moves for asking their dates to Prom.

I LOVED Prom. Any excuse to dress-up, get my hair and nails done, and a reason get out of school early to get all of those things done... I was there. This past weekend was Courtland High School's Prom. For those of you who know, or might not know and are hearing this for the first time, I lead YoungLife at Courtland High School in Virginia. This year, a lot of the kids who come to YoungLife at Courtland were going to prom and we (as leaders) got the privilege of seeing them with their dates and taking pictures with them. It was a BLAST. And of course I eat this stuff up. People dressed up, with dates... it's all so sweet.  

I was so excited that I got to see Ali before she went to left for the night. Ali is hilarious and BEAUTIFUL. She and I could spend hours driving around and talking, or going out for a meal and talking. Always talking. Always laughing. Always having a good time. Thanks for letting me come Al:) You looked stunning...

BEAUTIFUL beautiful beautiful! That's all I can say. Love the sequins on her dress and she did her hair HERSELF. She didn't even get it done - sooo impressed! Good job Al.

I also got to hang out with Jacob and his date Caitlin before they went to dinner in Downtown Fredericksburg. They opted to go by themselves to dinner instead of going with a big group so we had a lot of time before their dinner to play around with the camera. For both of them, this was their senior prom.

Let me tell you... Jacob and Caitlin looked SO adorable. Baby pink flowers. Baby pink dress. Baby pink classy bow-tie thanks to Southern Ties, and two great people. Here are some of our pictures... I had SO much fun with them and they were really good at following my lead. They were naturals at this.

Most girls spend most of their money on shoes and the dress for Prom Night... Caitlin decided to do something a little different. She was smart and wore nude flats that went perfectly with her dress AND she was comfortable the whole night. Smart.

 

 And then they had to go to dinner, they were getting hungry - after all the smiling, all the preparation, all the PLANNING that goes into Prom Night it was time to eat and that concluded our time together. I would do it again in a heart beat.

I love Prom. I love laughter. I love seeing people have a good time. AND I love seeing people dressed up.

Enjoy these pictures!!

-Kimmie

I just love the Wrights...

I love Cliff. I love Laura. I love Levi, Cliff and Laura's dog. But I REALLY love Keller, all 20 inches of him. Keller Benjamin Wright, born on April 2: Cliff and Laura's newest addition to the family. WOW, they have a baby! New babies are such a breath of fresh air. For weeks Laura and I have been trying and trying to find a time that would fit with both of our schedules so we could get some new born baby pictures of her sweet boy Keller and their new and bigger family. Things have just been super crazy between my exam schedule (YES, it is summer for me now!!) and Laura recovering from having a BABY only a month ago! So we finally found a time and it was perfect. We were both hoping for good weather, and that is exactly what we got - not too sunny, not too cloudy. Just in between. And Keller was in a great mood, he was smiling. And moving around and being absolutely adorable. Imagine a one month old smiling - I'm telling you, seeing a one month old baby smile will just make your heart explode. 


Our shoot went very smoothly today, we went outside, took some shots of the little guy by himself and then Laura had a few requests so we got to those afterwards. She wanted to get pictures of Keller's little feet with Cliff's hands, because she loves Keller's feet. Aside from family shots, Laura just wanted some close-ups of Keller. And I was definitely not opposed to that... I couldn't get enough of him!! We had so much fun today.. I'm a beyond thankful for Cliff and Laura and so excited that I get to share in this precious gift that is THEIRS, this precious little guy who is more loved than any other baby I have ever known. Ever...


... So of course I am going to share the pictures with you... I hope you enjoy this sweet little man as much as I did today!!

His eyes are so blue... they are beautiful!

Don't they just look so happy??! I love it.

So sweet... definitely a favorite!

Definitely, DEFINITELY a favorite. Both of their hands plus Keller's feet. 

Look at those sparkling eyes!!

Laura & Cliff were such a blast to hang out with, thanks guys for letting me play with Keller for a little and snap some shots of you & your new family:) can't wait for more as he gets older!


- Kimmie