Knot At Your Wedding Party

Today, the ever-so-fabulous Mary Straton from Olive You, Darling is here to talk about an awesome party that she recently hosted at her house for some friends of ours! It was a complete blast, as you’re about to see!

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Make new friends
But keep the old
One is silver and
The other’s gold
(But I bet they all like to talk about fancy dresses)

One of the things I love about being in my thirties is having multiple circles of good friends – childhood and high school friends, college friends, couple friends, friends with kids the same age as my little one…

I’m incredibly fortunate to be a part of a great life group at our church. I know it shouldn’t matter, and it’s what’s on the inside that counts, yada yada yada, but these women are just really CUTE. And fun. And stylish. I mean when the Bible says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another,” who’s to say one friend can’t sharpen another’s style and inspire cuteness? Can I get an “amen?!”

My husband dug our wedding album out the other night, and he must have sensed the internal cartwheel I was doing (I love to reminisce) when I asked if he wanted to look at it together. He shot me down with a simple “no” and flew threw the pages with the speed I have when I’m trying to pretend to care about the football media guide.

That got me thinking – surely some of my friends would like to wax nostalgic about their weddings, too? But I went to the weddings of my childhood friends and college friends? Eureka! I hadn’t attended any of the weddings of the ladies in my life group. Oh, it’s ON now.

I asked the group if they were interested, but truthfully, in my head I was pretty much demanding that we have this party and if I got shot down, I just wouldn’t invite them. Humph. And so the “Knot at Your Wedding” party was born!

Let me first say that I LOVE a theme. In fact, it’s kind of hard for me to not establish one when I’m having friends over. Fajitas on the menu? It’s Cinco de Smith night! “What will our honey bee?” gender reveal? Local bees are working overtime for those recipes. Your birthday boy like Harry Potter? Get outta my way.

I got to work on Smith Wedding: Part Deux (well not really). I embraced the tacky and decorated my house with paper wedding bells, white silk “rose petals” from the dollar store and an armful of white daisies from Walmart. And you gotta have a getaway car! Enter cozy coupe. That redneck wedding reception we’ve all been to just threw up all over my house.

Heaven forbid I miss a chance to use my china and silver, though!

I baked a “wedding” cake, complete with almond-flavored frosting and served little white sweets – Jordan almonds (a Greek tradition!), white chocolate pretzels, white M&Ms, and powdered donut “diamond rings.” And what’s a reception without champagne (and Baptist punch for the buns in the oven)?

My friends arrived heavily laden with huge albums and wearing their veils, shoes and jewelry from their weddings. In between bites of cake and sips of champagne, we oohed and aahed and giggled and blushed at the parts of our wedding we still love and now love to hate. And because we were already thinking it, we voted and awarded prizes for things like “hottest groomsmen” and “best shoes.”

We could have talked and gossiped for hours, but since we’re all grownups now, we had to end the party at a decent hour, but not before everyone left with a Ring Pop. After all, just because I wasn’t there, it doesn’t mean he didn’t put a ring on it!

I hope this inspires you to share an important day with some of your new friends. Get together, serve some snacks, pop some corks and make it happen!

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Mary Straton, thanks again for hosting! It was seriously a blast! And I still can’t get over the fact that I didn’t know who MS’s brother-in-law was until flipping through her wedding album… I’ve known both of them for years and never put 2 and 2 together! Oh, the things you can learn at a Knot At Your Wedding Party…. 🙂

Have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for dropping by! XO!

Anchored

A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of designing some really fun invitations for a very special person– my sweet cousin Missye!

Missye is getting married THIS weekend in DC, which we are SO excited about, and the fact that I got to be a part of one of her showers by way of invitation design was just so fun and meaningful for me!

The theme of the shower was travel, so Missye’s sister Amanda and I bounced ideas back and forth until we decided upon anchors and blue + gold +white as our invitation theme!

I programmed the hand-drawn anchor into my cutting program and got the blue anchors cut. Then I hand painted some paper to be a soft gold and programmed a slightly larger anchor to be cut out of that paper upon which to mount the blue anchor!

I then designed the actual paper invitations and had them printed locally by my sweet friend Jessica!

I then hand-finished the edges with a skinny gold line and applied the anchor to each of the 30 invitations.

It was a process, but I love how they turned out, and more importantly, my cousins loved how they turned out!

I can’t wait to hear the details of the shower this weekend when I get to visit with Missye and Amanda! I know it must’ve been a blast! 🙂

Black + White + Plaid

With the weather around here flopping from warm to cool, then back to warm again, it’s hard to dress appropriately without ending up either freezing or sweating! Elish perfectly shows that that’s when a fabulous lightweight jacket and a look like this makes so much sense! Totally appropriate for this time of year, but can be adapted to whatever temperature the day throws at ya! Elish shares more…

BLACK + WHITE + PLAID

“There are quite a few staples in fashion. I think everyone would agree that black, white, & plaid are a few of them – and this dress combines all three.

A thin, lined dress with great lines and a forgiving shape, this dress is perfection for going day to night and a dream to style.

Collared shirts, statement necklaces, belts…this dress is the perfect backdrop for any stylist or can stand alone for years to come!”

Dress: Marabelle
Blouse: Converse for Target
Coat: Ben Sherman
Boots: Aldo

>>> For more FASHINSPIRATION, click here! <<<

One Seriously Awesome Apartment

I love yellow.
I love 70s style.
I love great interiors.
I love Amy Adams.

That’s why, when we saw American Hustle a few weeks ago, I was absolutely SMITTEN with the apartment that Amy Adams’s character Sydney (or Lady Greensly to some!) lived in…

I was searching for pictures of it and found a really great site called Retro Renovation! On this site, the editor did some great research in getting the scoop behind the design of the homes in the movie. It’s a pretty interesting read, especially if you’ve seen the movie!

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of my favorite pictures from the article… I’m just IN LOVE with this place! I’m a sucker for white painted brick, grasscloth, white upholstery, and yellow accents… So it’s easy to see why this place takes my breath away!

What do you think?! Do you love it as much as I do, or were you more into the style of Jennifer Lawrence’s character’s home? (Pictures of her home are also in the article!)

Check out the original source for the photos above and the story behind the set design (plus more) RIGHT HERE! Hope you enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great one!

Mississippi in White

On A L.A.R.K. has been a great motivator for me to really crank out some stationery and buckle down on getting back on track business wise! In the process of getting inventory together, a few new concepts have sprung forth!

This one, I believe, is one of my new favorites. It’s all shades of cream, white, and gold… So I’m calling it Mississippi in White.

I love the tonality… And the textural contrast! The card paper has a slight gold shimmer to it, and the body of each Mississippi is out of a linen textured cardstock. The paint adds another dimension. I’m just in love! I could see a Mississippi bride getting a few of her super special thank you notes written on a set of these!

These will first be for sale at On A L.A.R.K. and will later be added to the Etsy store! 🙂

Hope all of you are having a fabulous Friday! Enjoy the weekend, and as always, THANK YOU for stopping by!! XO!!

Fashinspiration: Suit Up

In keeping with my tardiness when it comes to getting Fashinspiration posts up… This post is going up a full month later than I had originally planned… Better late than never, I guess?!

Here’s what E says about this adorable suit and how she styled it!

“Recently we had an event at work, welcoming internationally renowned designer Barry Dixon! Everyone was extremely excited and ready to put their best foot forward. I debated a bit on what to wear, but quickly decided to bust out my spring suit.

I mean come on…let’s be serious. How many times can you wear a coordinating white with pink trim spring shorts suit? I have to strike while the iron is hot! While I obviously love a statement outfit, I don’t really consider myself a girly girl. And pink happens to be a color I usually stay away from.

That being said, I wanted to toughen up my ensemble a little. I added a spiked collar necklace and my new favorite heels to shake up the look. A shorts suit really packs a punch for summer and is a fun way to transform work attire from day to night.”

Suit: ASOS
Tank: Target
Necklace: Zara
Shoes: Zara

InstaNYC, Part 2

To continue where we left off with yesterday’s post…. 🙂

This was one of my favorite places to grab a quick, healthy meal when I was in England. SO GLAD they’re now in the U.S.!

We went in ABC Carpet & Home and it was even more amazing than I ever dreamed!! I fell in love with SO much! Like all of this gorgeous white pottery!

Pretty paper at ABC Home

Great little beehive coaster at ABC Home that would be PERFECT in my Lovely Bee office!

I felt like I was standing in the middle of one of the ABC ads! SO PRETTY!

Lunch/Brunch at Bread on Spring Street. THIS is a new favorite restaurant…

Pineapple Jalapeno cocktail at Bread

View of downtown from the harbour

FAO Schweetz, the candy store inside FAO Schwarz… This was trouble!

I happily stumbled upon Madison Square Eats, a little food festival going on one day!

We got to hang out with our cousins who have a place on Long Island. They took us to Lawrence Beach Club for a Memorial Day BBQ! Loved it!

Well, that was a fun trip!! We should do it again sometime! 😉

An extra special thanks to the Brickells, our cousins who live in NYC. They showed us around on Sunday and even let Price play a round of golf with them! They were definitely one of the biggest highlights of the trip!

Overall, we had a grand time and can’t wait to go back! 🙂

White Christmas

I love white.

White is hands down my favorite color! About a fifth of my closet is white, 75% of the walls in my house are Benjamin Moore Linen White, and it’s on my bucket list to have an all white kitchen (hence this pin board) in my house one day. My husband thinks I’m so “blah” for loving white so much, but anyone who has studied lights and prisms knows that white is the presence of all color! (Think about it: White light bent through a prism = the rainbow!) So I consider myself a color lover because of my love for all things white! 😉

All that to say… I’ve been going crazy over white Christmas decorations since it’s that time of year! With so many beautiful “White Christmas” photos floating around, I had to share a few of my faves! I know the styles are all over the map, but just go with me

Let’s have a party!

Love this white-washed wood and the beautiful white deer figurines!

Simple, rustic, and sweet. LOVE!

Love the modern simplicity of this. You can never go wrong with clean lines and a cozy fire!

Does a room get any more inviting?!

Just lovely… What a great little mini tree! (Do I spy a little Scottie just outside the door?!)

This little cottage makes a cold winter day so welcome!

Glammy!

I found this on TheEverygirl’s instagram. Love love love!!

The original sources of all of these photos can be found on this pin board (except the last one, which was found on the Instagram account of TheEverygirl.)

What’s your favorite Christmas color? Or just favorite color in general? I’m in such an inspired mode that I do believe I’m going to make all white Christmas cards to send out from my husband, puppies, and myself this year! Oh yeah!