CSN Stores Giveaway!

Happy Monday, friends! I'm really excited, because I have an awesome giveaway for you guys today from the generous folks at CSN Stores. CSN Stores has over 200 online shops where you can find everything from a funky end table, great handbags and accessories, and tons of useful kitchen items.

The giveaway winner will receive a $75 gift certificate to use at any of CSN's 200+ websites. Lucky you!

Here are a few things I'm loving from their sites...


...cozy striped bedding by DwellStudio...


...these beautiful bags and boots in toasty shades of brown, perfect for fall...


...and bunches of home decor inspiration in pops of mint and mustard...

How would you spend your $75?

To enter the giveaway, simply leave a comment on this post.

I'd love to hear what you would buy with your gift certificate, but if you aren't sure yet, you can just say hello or tell me how your day is going. Any comment will do. Make sure to include your contact info in case you win, too. Good luck!

I will announce the randomly selected winner on Friday October 8, so check back then to see if you've won.

*CSN Stores only ships to the US and Canada. The contest winner must live in one of these two countries.


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This is Francine. One of my very best friends. Sorority sister. Former college roommate. Will be a bridesmaid in my wedding. I love this girl to death. And I would do anything to help her out.

Francine is doing something truly amazing. She has been training for months to run the Women’s Nike Marathon in San Francisco on October 17 as a member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training. She has also been working her butt off to raise money for LLS to support blood cancer patients and their families. She has already raised over $2500, which is awesome, but she will only be able to run in the race with her Team if she reaches her fundraising goal of $3500. After seeing how hard she’s worked, both with the physical training and her awesome fundraising efforts, I want to do everything I can to help her reach her goal.

You can read more and donate securely on her fundraising page. Even $1 will help. If you can’t afford to donate, please consider sharing this post on Twitter or Facebook and maybe someone else will see it who can. Thank you, my dears, you are seriously the best!

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I am currently a bit obsessed with photographing spiders. I'm proud of myself for getting over the creepy factor and getting up close enough to appreciate their beautiful webs and the interesting creatures themselves. I don't remember ever seeing such big spiders in Houston when I was growing up, but they seem to be all over my yard now in Tulsa. The bottom two photos are from Kansas, where I found several hanging out in a barn, sheltered from the crazy wind. As long as they're not hanging out in my bed, I think they're pretty fascinating. How about you?


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...one pretty space I keep coming back to look at over and over again...


[via design*sponge]


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I think I've just found my new favorite shop on Etsy.

I love every single print thewheatfield has listed.

Illustrator Katie Daisy is originally a country girl, and her love of nature really shines through in her work. I've seen her gorgeous ampersand floating around the web, but never knew where it came from. I'm so happy to have found its home along with so many other beauties in the same vibrant colors. Her maps and hand lettering won me over instantly.

more from Katie:
on Etsy
on Flickr
on Facebook

[all images via thewheatfield]


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My grandpa is awesome.

And incredibly computer savvy.

One of his first retirement projects was to scan and organize all of his old photos and slides onto his computer. This was no small feat. He has a lot of photos from his military travels, of our family, from his childhood.

Thanks to him, I now have an amazing collection of vintage family photographs on my computer.

I love that when I feel a little homesick, or miss my grandma, or just want to laugh at our many awkward family photos that span from the 30s to the 90s, I just have to open up iPhoto and there they are.

Thanks Grandpa!

P.S. Aren't my aunt and uncle adorable?


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Have you ever seen such a lovely trailer park?

I love that each one is a different color. And it even has landscaping.

According to the photo description on Flickr, this is actually theater decor in Amsterdamse Bos.

But I think it's more fun to imagine this is a stylish little community of caravans.

I wonder what they look like on the inside.

[photo by Elmer Kroese]


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Quite possibly the best wallpaper I have ever seen.

Find it here.

[via design*sponge]


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Remember that other exciting business I mentioned this morning?

And how I said that life has been a little crazy lately...



That's because...




WE'RE ENGAGED!



Although I was kind of expecting it going into the trip [and apparently so was everyone else who knows us!] I had kind of given up on it happening after the first day or so. And I was ok with that. I was determined to have an great time either way. I guessed that he probably didn't want to travel so far with a precious piece of jewelry and risk losing it or spoiling the surprise. I'd waited three and a half years already. If this wasn't the time, no big deal.

By our last night, I had honestly forgotten all about a proposal. I was giddy from our day of snorkeling and the fun luau we went to that night. I was surprisingly awake, after crashing pretty early the previous nights. [I blame the time difference. And the pina coladas.]

Even after our friends and family had been asking non-stop and hinting at Hawaii, after I had thought for sure it would happen there, he still managed to catch me completely off guard and surprise me.

The proposal was very simple and sweet. Just the two of us in our condo on the last night we were there.

In the end, it was all perfect. The boy. The ring. The proposal. The whole trip. I couldn't ask for more.

It was only 10pm in Maui, so 3am in Texas. Randy told me to just wait for morning, but I couldn't. I called my mom immediately. She was still up! Waiting for my call, she said. But not really. Or was she? Either way, she was thrilled. IS thrilled.

I called my little brother and sister in the morning [they chose to sleep through my 3am phone calls...] and also a few close friends.

We decided to wait and tell Randy's family in person, since we would see them the next weekend. It was a little tricky, but also fun, keeping it a secret from them for a week. It was worth it to be able to tell them in person.

They are so excited for us too! I love that I get a niece and two nephews with this marriage deal, and a couple of big brothers and a sister-in-law too. I adore his whole family already and they have always been so accepting from the first time I met them.



As much as I've been anticipating this and dreaming about my wedding, it's weird to finally BE in wedding planning mode.

We originally wanted to get married this coming spring in Randy's tiny hometown in Kansas.

Until I realized there is no airport anywhere near it.

And hotels are few and far between.

I love the idea of a DIY farm wedding in the middle of nowhere, but that was not going to work for my completely out of town family and all of our friends.

As for a spring wedding...

Enter: Brother with a fully booked spring baseball schedule. Cousins with college final exams in April. Two college graduations in the family in May. And another family wedding in June.

Sooo... July it is.

In Tulsa.

I've toured five venues in the past week, and I'm so excited I think I've found the one! I'm taking Randy to see it on Thursday. I'll share more on that when we know for sure.

I'll try not to overload this blog with too much wedding-related stuff.

But I'm so happy to finally share the news with you guys.



If you do want to check out my wedding inspiration, go here.

If you have any wedding planning tips or advice I'm all ears! Also any links to great resources or inspiration sites are be much appreciated. Share it all in the comments, my dears.



Fiance! [I'm still getting used to that word!]



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Life has been kind of crazy since we got back from vacation.

We already had a lot of catching up to do, and then my laptop screen decided to die on me last week!

But I realize it could have been something much worse and I'm so very thankful it was only the screen.

I actually took advantage of my time without my Mac baby [yes, I am that attached to the thing] and took care of some other exciting business I will share with you later today.

This week I'm trying to remember this peaceful island scenery to help myself relax.

Gorgeous, no?









I took all of these photos from our helicopter tour of West Maui and Molokai. I've always wanted to take a helicopter ride and this was the perfect place to do it. It was definitely one of the best things we did in Hawaii.


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I'm baaaack!

Maui was absolutely incredible. I cannot imagine a more beautiful vacation.

I have so much I want to share with you guys once I get caught up on life and my body figures out what time zone I'm in. My jet lag and missed night of sleep from our overnight plane ride [minus five hours of time change] are seriously kicking in right now.

I'll be back with more details soon...

Until then, I've posted a few pictures on Flickr and will add more as I get to them!


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