visits with friends and family!

Eeeep...you can call me blog slacker. Go ahead, say it...because it's true. haha. I've been a blog slacker lately.

This month has seriously FLOWN by already! I can't believe we're already nearing the end of June. We've had lots of fun things going on this month...lots of photo sessions...lots of grilling out...lots of friends and family coming to visit us.

Here's a little of what we've been up to this month...

On Memorial Day weekend (which I guess technically was last month, but oh well) our very good friends Thorne and Laura (who just recently got married!) came and visited us. We had an amazing time hanging out with them, taking them to some of our favorite Nashville spots (which always seem to center around food...) such as The Pancake Pantry, Baja Burrito, and Sweet CeCe's. And, of course, on Memorial Day we had ourselves a little cookout.

Mmmmm....I'm pretty sure grilling out is one of my absolute favorite things about summer!

The next weekend, my wonderful friend Bree came and visited me for a couple days! Ah, it was so great having her here. We talked for hours over coffee, went shopping, watched a chick flick, and made cheese dip. It was the perfect girly weekend.

And then last weekend my family came to Nashville! It was so great having them here (everyone got to come except for Miranda...she had to work, and we missed her.) It was an amazing visit. One exciting thing that we did was go to the Nashville Zoo! I'll share more on that later, because this post is nearing novel length as it is.

June has been an amazing month and I'm so thankful we've had the chance to spend so much time with people we love.

How has your month been so far? Doesn't summertime just seem like the perfect time to visit with friends and family? I love it!

thorne + laura are married! (wedding invite design, video, random pics, etc.)

This blog is a little show & tell of sorts. I'm sharing lots of little things in this one blog post, so bear with me. :)

This past weekend husband and I had the joy of being in two of our best friends' wedding. Thorne and Laura have been in our lives since the beginning of our college years...first, separately...and then, together. We've had so many fun memories with them and they're both very very dear to our hearts. And, I must mention that my claim to fame is that I was the first to predict their like, then love, and togetherness for each other. :) I remind Jonathan of that often, because he didn't believe me at first.

Here is a little slideshow I put together as a surprise for them for the rehearsal dinner. It highlights lots of fun moments from their friendship, dating, and then engagement years.

*sniff* my how our little Thornie and Laura have grown and blossomed.

Next up, I believe it's about time for me to show you the wedding invitations that I designed for our dear friends. I knew that I would have fun with this design, because Laura said she wanted something whimsical, fun, and incorporated a big oak tree.

So, this is what I came up with...

The front of the invitation:

The back of the invitation:

The front of the RSVP card:

The back of the RSVP card:

For Thorne + Laura's wedding gift, I knew I had to do something a little crafty for them. So, I made this little gift bag to put their present in.

I made it just by drawing the letters freehand on a canvas bag with a felt tip fabric marker. The font I used on the bag is also one of the fonts that I used on their invitation design. The little flower pin on the bag was made from stitching pieces of felt together.

As for the wedding weekend itself...I didn't take many pictures...My DSLR wasn't taken out at any point, and any shots that were captured were with my little point-and-shoot powershot. At first I felt really guilty about this...but then I realized that it was nice to just be a bridesmaid and do my bridesmaid duties and enjoy this celebration with our friends. :) They hired a professional photographer to get the professional photographs...and I could just relax.

Now, here are some quick snapshots that I did manage to get last weekend.

After the rehearsal, rehearsal dinner, and setting up things at the reception site, us girls all went to Waffle House for Vanilla Cokes and a game of Nertz (for my northern friends, this game is like Dutch Blitz only played with normal cards.)

Lauren and Jennifer...I don't know what was happening here. haha!

Amanda and Laura--the BRIDE! :)

Me and Bethany!

We're holding up two fingers because this is the second picture we've ever taken together (yes, we're counting)...not because we're hippies. :)

And here is me with my sweetie at the reception.

He looks so good in a tux!

It really was such a wonderful weekend spent with so many of our best friends. I have to admit, I was pretty sad to leave them...makes me wish we all still lived closer. But I know we're all where we are for a reason...and it makes our visits even that much more special. :)

Congratulations, Thorne + Laura! We love you both so much, and are so happy that you're so in love and get to spend the rest of your lives together.

giving our friends the grand tour of Nashvegas.

This past weekend some of our bestest friends from college (Thorne, Laura, and Lauren) came to visit us here in Nashville. It was so great having them here and getting to hang out non-stop for a few days while showing them around our new city.

During the course of their stay we took them to some of our favorite spots to eat (because really...the best part about visiting a new city is discovering new restaurants!) We went to: Urban Flats, Sweet CeCe's, Baja Burrito, and Demos'. Our tummies were happy, yes indeedy!

As we were driving through downtown on Saturday, we noticed a large sign outside the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum that said "FREE ADMISSION today only!" So, we just had to stop in and say hello to all the old country music memorabilia. Even though we aren't the biggest fans of country music, it was still very cool seeing a such big part of American history (and Jonathan enjoyed taking pictures of all the records, hatch show prints, and guitars.) :)

While we were together, of course I had to make sure we got some group photos! We're building memories, people!

It really was so great having them here. We're oh-so-thankful for the wonderful people God has brought into our lives.

I hope you all are having a fantabulous week so far! :)

sneak peek: jennifer + brian (brother and sister duo)

Yesterday afternoon I had the privilege of getting to photograph this brother + sister duo. Jennifer and I are friends from college, and I was so excited when she asked if I could do a session with her and her brother (you can see her first session with me here.)

The weather around here has been less than desirable lately, so we were hoping and praying that the rain would hold off for us and enough sun would shine through those clouds in order to make this happen...and by golly, it did!

Jennifer + Brian are surprising their mom and dad with these photos for Christmas, and I am so happy to help them with that surprise (no worries, their parents don't read blogs...so this post won't ruin it.) I think this Christmas gift idea is perfect!

Here's a sneak peek from the session:

hehe, Jennifer + Brian's dad has a mustache, so we thought it would be fun to incorporate these mustachios on a stick! :) For the tutorial on how to make these click here.

thorne and laura are engaged!

Two of our best friends got engaged last night! Thorne and Laura are two of our best buds from college, they were both in our wedding, and we got to watch them go from friends to in love and now they're getting married!

I was so happy to get to be there for the proposal to snap some pictures and celebrate with them on this momentous occasion (husband was working, so he sadly wasn't able to come). The sun faded fast, so the images aren't the best ever in photo quality due to lack of lighting...but they capture the moment which is what really matters. :)

Thorne set up candles along the rocks of the Ocoee river. This is where Thorne first told Laura that he liked her, so this place has special meaning to them.


Our friend Russell came to play the guitar and provided a nice ambiance to the evening.



Thorne did such a great job picking out the ring! This ring is definitely perfect for Laura. He also had it placed in a frog prince ring box, which was such a nice touch (Laura has had a love for frog princes since before they started dating).

Here she is!

YAY!!!!!

Just in case you are wondering, she said yes! :) Afterwards all of us who were there helping went out with the newly engaged couple to celebrate over burgers at Five Guys.

Love them.

Yay! Friends forever. :)

We are SO very excited for them and the future that God has in store for their lives. Also, I'm pretty excited that I get to help my dear friend with wedding planning and festivities!

YAY for love!

we are officially Nashvillains.

Well, folks...we are now officially Nashvillains. We have lived in our new house for a total of 3 days now, and have been loving it!

We are oh-so-thankful for our friends and family who came out to help us move in Cleveland and in Nashville (my family and our dear friends Thorne and Laura helped us on both ends!) We seriously couldn't have made this move without you guys...so, thanks a bunch.

We are still settling in and making our new house a home. I must say, unpacking is way more fun than packing. When we're settled in a little more, I'll snap some photos of the inside of our house...but until then, here's the outside.

In other news, Jonathan started his new job today. I'm very excited for him, and can't wait to hear all about his first day over dinner! I must say, Max and I have missed him today. I've gotten used to both husband and I working from home...so his absence during the day will take some getting used to.

Thanks again to all of you for your happy thoughts, prayers, and well wishes for us during this time of transition. :)