Five on Friday

Goodness friends I haven't linked up for Five on Friday in such a long time! I'd say it's about time to join the lovely ladies again. Linking up with Christina, Darci, April, and Natasha for my favorites from this week!
{one} Simplifying my life is something I am focusing on this year! Cleaning out my closet was LONG overdo. My process for this was anything I haven't worn in the last month or two months gets donated. I have challenged myself to not buy any new pieces of clothing, my own version of the contentment challenge.

{two} This gorgeous calendar caught my eye in Anthro a few weeks ago. I LOVED the image of the derby on the front and once I saw all the beautiful images it contained I just had to have it. The 2014 Travel America Calendar from Rifle Paper Co. highlights iconic images around our beautiful nation and i jsut so happens that I have only been to the first five places listed... coincidence? Maybe but I cant wait to travel to the other 7!

{three} I am in the beginning stages of my PowerSheets journey and they are nestled in my beautiful Simplified Life Binder, that I talk about here. This process has been a very revealing, brutally honest process. I am working through Lara Casey's Goal Setting Series and.... it's tough. God keeps revealing to me "Fear not for I am with you," Isaiah 41:10. It is so hard to give over control but goodness, I have to just trust that His plans are A MILLION times better than any plans I could every dream up!

{four} A perfect reminder as I begin many new adventures! Print by Mandy Cave Watercolor.

{five} STILL reeling over this experience of a lifetime! If any of y'all follow along you know I love two animals very, very dearly... Newfoundland dogs and manatees. During my Christmas break I had the privilege of swimming with the gentle wild manatees in Crystal River! See all my pictures here :) Warning they are so cute your heart will melt!

Happy Weekend from my manatee friends and I!

Simplified Life Binder

I am such a planner girl. I like my little check boxes, my daily to-do lists, and goal lists. But sometimes the to-do and goal lists tend to blend together. I want my goals to be set apart from my daily tasks of getting cereal or paying a bill. Goals should be something I look forward to, something I build up to not just another check on my to-do lists. I've determined that setting good goals is a really tough, really revealing process. You really have to dig down deep and truly ask yourself how you are doing and what fires up your heart!

In order to make this happen, I asked for a few lovely paper products for Christmas. The first was the Simplified Life Binder Starter Kit by Emily Ley and the second was my very own set of PowerSheets by Lara Casey.

The Simplified Life Binder Starter Kit comes with a binder of your choice, a set of colorful dividers with empowering sayings on them, a tabs notebook, as well as three sheet sets: Spending, To Do, and Grocery List. They are so bright and cheerful! Emily Ley offers many other free printables that can be easily dressed up with pretty tape.

Inside my pretty striped binder is a set of 2014 PowerSheets. 

These are so inspiring! If you want a kick in the tail to get truthful about what fires you up I would highly recommend working through the PowerSheets. You have to make sure you are completely honest with yourself in order to accomplish whatever goals you have!

January Goals

2014, goodness gracious I can not believe it is 2014! This year holds many big changes for my life and as a girl who is not to fond of change that is quite scary. I learned many things in 2013 and one of the most important things I learned was to not try to plan out my future. I know only one person knows the future and I know I am safe in His arms. Before I get into my January goals (2014 goals are in the making), I want to look back on my December Goals.

December Goals:

Design the family Christmas Card this is one of my favorite things! I love paper and sending handwritten mail to family and friends

Practice my calligraphy  calligraphy is very challenging but I am working on practicing for a little while each day

Get a present for an Angel Tree child  my roommate Emily and I got a sweet angel a beautiful Belle princess dress

Build a gingerbread house {or barn}  attended the Southern Weddings gingerbread barn building competition with my roommates see our creation here

Wrap Christmas presents beautifully {no rushing!} as usual ran out of time... maybe next year!

Join Lara for Present December I intend on keeping this going!

Practice Adobe Creative Cloud Programs I am learning my way around Indesign, Photoshop, Lightroom, Muse, and Illustrator

Buy or make 5 darling ornaments to give away  I loved doing this! see the lovely ornament I made here

Slowwwdown, spend meaningful time in the Word I still need to set aside time daily in the word. Wanting to start my day with a candle burning, coffee or tea in hand, journal writing, and bible reading!

Begin to work on my new website design I am SO excited about this! A domain has been purchased and I will start sharing sneak peaks soon

Start working through Lara Casey's PowerSheets  I began my PowerSheet journey on December 29, 2013 and PHEW it is kicking my tail into shape! I am so excited about digging deep in this journey and facing my fears head on.

Buy a stranger Starbucks  This was so much fun! I loved the sneakiness of surprising the family in the minivan behind me that their drinks were taken care of by a stranger!

Craft...something! & post a how to  I made and ornament! See how you can too here

Drive around neighborhoods to see Christmas lights  My family did one better! We drove around James Island Holiday Festival of Lights in Charleston, South Carolina. It was absolutely incredible... I highly recommend this light show and the fireworks on New Years Eve!

Coffee or Cupcake dates with friends over finals week  This goal was a favorite of mine. I loved the sweet time I had with two of my best friends to take a second, slow down and be present in each others lives. You can read about it here

Phew, What a month! Now that January is here and a bright, shiny New Year is in front of us, it makes goals that much more exciting. While my 2014 goals are in production, I will leave you with my goals for January!

January Goals

work through Lara Casey's Goal Setting series

continue working on my personal goals for 2014

be completely transparent and honest while working through my set of PowerSheets

begin working on some lovely paper products

keep practicing Adobe programs

work on my new website, YAY!

DAILY quiet time in The Word and my journal

dance around my room to music daily

go on more friend dates

SIMPLIFY

volunteer and serve at a local charity

continue to BE PRESENT

Happy January friends, I would love to hear some of your goals! May this month be the beginning of a great year :)

Dreamin' Big

I want to become more than just a dreamer. I want to have the courage to step out of the boat onto the waters like Peter did and trust that He won't let me fall. It's fear that keeps me from my dreams. It's fear that makes me want to take the safe route. The Lord calls us to give our fears to Him and to trust His plans for our lives. As scary as that is, it is also incredibly encouraging and exciting! 

Even though I just started this little blog back in August, I am beginning the process of turning the dreams I have for my little space in the cyber-world into reality. The quotes and prints above can be found on Pinterest and they are some of my favorite encouraging words. I adore crafting, styling, decorating, and stationery but as a college student I don't always have the budget or time to do everything I dream. I daily doodle layouts for a new website with a shop where I can share what I love with others. For now, new found love is where you will find me... but someday down the road I'll reach my dreams. Progress not perfection!

I am dreamin' big y'all! 

Southern Weddings Magazine V6 Launch Party

So as I guessed... I was wayyy to excited/nervous to document the Southern Weddings Magazine V6 Launch party like a good blogger should. Needless to say, I didn't even hardly eat any of the amazing food either! Y'all, I was just so incredibly giddy with excitement to even think of doing anything other than, "Oh my goodness that's (fill in name here)!!" The ballroom at the Carolina Inn was sparkling with blue and silver everything! We were given awesome swag bags and they were filled with yet another SWV6 to add to my growing collection.. and there was a photo booth, HOORAY! 

Two of my favorite girls, Emily and Sidney, went with me to the party. We all had so much fun and I am so glad they were there to encourage me to talk to all of the people in the wedding industry I admire!

I had never been inside the lovely Carolina Inn before and it is just so gorgeous! As you can tell below, I was a bit excited:) Aren't those checkered floors to die for?!

 The Southern Weddings gals were looking glamorous in their Lula Kate blue and silver dresses! This picture was taken when they were all gathered around acting so giddy...but Lisa was missing anddd my friend Callie, who works for Nancy Ray Photography, was ready. I put two and two together and just knew gorgeous Lisa had gotten engaged!!! Eeeekkkk :)

 

A week before the Southern Weddings V6 launch, I sent Lara Casey a letter. I have wanted to write her for a while and thank her for all that she has indirectly done in my life. She has inspired me to push past my fears that I am not good enough or that my major stands in the way of my dreams. Her kind words flow over many forms of social media and they have blessed many other lives as well. Her faith in the Lord and her drive to be all that HE has called her to be is truly awe-inspiring.

As the evening wore on, I had yet to make my way up to Lara. She constantly had a line of people surrounding her and I did not want to inhibit her night of celebration in any way. Emily and Sidney kept encouraging me to make my way over to her but I was so nervous! Finally, as the night was coming to a close and Lisa had gotten engaged (YAYYYY!!), I found the courage to make my way over to her. When I introduced myself, I was not expecting any recognition because my name is so common...

However, Lara knew exactly who I was and she was so incredibly thankful for the letter I had sent her. I was shocked. I hope I didn't appear as shocked as I felt but I was so surprised that she remembered a letter from little ole me, a girl she had never met! 

Lara has the absolute kindest heart and I am so thankful that the Lord has placed her in a position where she can share her heart with so many others. Looking back on that night, I can't help but chuckle at how nervous I was to meet some of the sweetest women!

I am still finding blue and silver confetti around my room... Oh my stars! :)

Wedding Wednesdays: Southern Weddings Volume 6

Today my post is dedicated to the lovely, talented ladies of Southern Weddings! On Tuesday, which just so happened to be 11.12.13, they released volume six of the Southern Weddings magazine. Hoorayyy! I can't even explain in words how incredibly beautiful this magazine is. The story behind Lara Casey's creation of Southern Weddings is so humbling and inspirational... but this is so much more than any ole wedding magazine. Southern Weddings is rooted in the true meaning behind a weddings, love, family, traditions and most importantly the Lord. "We Love because He first Loved us." 1 John 4:19

This incredible cover shot is by the talented Ryan Ray and the only thing to make it even better is that they are a real married couple! Ahhh no staged couple here!! Read about the cover on the Southern Weddings Blog. The Song of the South shoot is one of my absolute favorites. It was taken by the Raleigh based Nancy Ray Photography, whose work behind a camera is truly breathtaking.

Y'all one of my favorite bloggers was featured in V6!! Victoria at Happily Ever Strader gave her humbling advice for couples to make decisions as a we rather than an I.

Kate at The Small Things Blog, another Raleigh native, is the lovely lady behind pretty much all of the hair tutorials on Pinterest! I love her advice about not setting people up for failure. This goes for so much more than just married couples!

This spread of dogs in bowties, bows and flowers melts my heart! I love the idea of ALL the family members being there for your special day :)

I can't CONTAIN my excitement for this launch party!! I will be sure to try and remember to take pictures between my gawking at all the people in the wedding industry I adore.

Five on Friday!

Happy Friday! Today has been such a good day and it just keeps getting better and better:) Here are my favorite 5 from this week!

{one} SOUTHERN WEDDINGS VOLUME 6... Yes THE Southern Weddings magazine was released a few days early to some stores!! The official release date is 11/12/13... could they be anymore perfect?! Y'all this magazine and the women who spend countless hours creating it are absolutely incredible. Southern Weddings magazine is a true testament to their hearts and what is so special about the South and marriage... yes I said marriage not a wedding. As soon as I heard a few were being put on shelves early, I ran out to the nearest Barnes and Noble to snag myself a copy. I could not be more excited that I am going to their launch party next week and will finally meet the Southern Weddings gals!! Everyone please look at the real couple on this gorgeous cover... swoon...

{two} Calligraphy... I have wanted to learn handwritten calligraphy for so long now! My handwriting is not picture perfect but I know it just takes practice.

One of my favorite customized notebook companies, May Designs, teamed up with Design Roots, a lovely calligraphy and invitation studio, to create the perfect calligraphy kit! It is called C is for Calligraphy and the kit comes with a practice guide, a pen, one Brause 66 nib, and a little jar of black ink. I ordered mine this morning and can't wait for it to arrive! Order yours {here}

{three} I had the day off work today and got to take my sisters little pug to Lake Johnson. A little stroll turned into a 3 mile jog/walk around the lake...oops! It was just such a beautiful day!!

Mile Two: Ava was not a happy camper at this point

{four} Felt the need to brighten up my phone case! I am loving the green and navy look, its very different from my usual black and white.

{five} My parents are headin' to Raleigh in the morning! I am so excited to see them and go to the flea market and one of Raleigh's many delicious restaurants... also my best friend from high school, who dives for UNCW, will be in Raleigh for a meet versus NCSU! Such a great weekend ahead:)

Wedding Wednesdays: Emily March Photography

I love weddings y'all! They are such joyous occasions... full of life, love, laughter and the Lord. I spend countless hours looking through lovely wedding photography blogs. My goal is to post about the wedding industry every Wednesday. While I am in no way near the point in my life where I would walk down the aisle, I still find such happiness in seeing marriages built on traditions, family and the Lord rather than the extravagance of the wedding.

Every photographer has their own unique style of capturing a couples special day. I had the privilege of being the second photographer at a wedding in September for the lovely Emily March! Through this experience I was able to see the wedding industry in such an incredible light. The passion and joy Emily has behind a camera was so inspirational... Everyone's dream job is out there it is just up to you to go out and create it! 

{via}

Y'all...the wedding I was the second photographer for was just so beautiful...I mean breathtaking! The ceremony was held at the Belk Chapel on Queens University's campus in Charlotte, NC. The church had amazing windows that let in some of the best light I have ever seen...  it also had lovely Carolina blue walls.

Visit Emily March Photography to see the full wedding post!