I know I'm a little slow, but...

...I finally bought a bed.  I posted about making a decision months ago and even with all of your amazing comments on which one you would choose, I still couldn't make up my mind.  I know I know.  I'm so slow!  But Andrew and I went to Southpark yesterday and walked into Pottery Barn then Restoration Hardware to compare each bed in person.  And the final choice was {drumroll puhlease}...

Ta da!  The finish is a little less cherry looking than the first image and a little less country looking than this next picture below.  Not sure why we can't get a good picture on their website!

We picked this bed not because we liked it the best, but because we thought it had the most longevity and we liked it best for our room scheme.  The dark wood is going to look amazing against my crisp white bed linens and cheery yellow side tables!

I can't wait to get this amazing piece for our bedroom!!!  We've been married for almost eight years now and this will be the first bed we've ever had.  I KNOW I KNOW!  We're slow! haha  I'll be sure to post pics when the bed finally comes in.  Which will be some time in late June - it's backordered.  Go figure.

succulent garden

If you listen real hard, you might just hear me squealing with glee over my very first succulent garden.  :)  I'm not ashamed to say that I'm so proud of myself for making this happen!  Don't you LOVE it?!

best $$$ we ever spent

Andrew's mother and I just spent twelve hours fixing up the flower bed in the front yard two days ago.  Here's the before:

Overgrown knockout roses and dull bushes were what the builders left us.  And I don't know if you can tell from that second picture, but our soil was pretty much just a rock bed with leftover pine needles.  Twelve hours of digging, $500 worth of materials, the killing of three snakes, blistered hands and plenty of sore muscles later gives us the after:

Thank you.  Thank you very much.  {taking a bow} We LOVE the new improvements to our flower bed, especially the super colorful bushes called kaleidoscope something.  They'll grow to be really big, so I can't wait to see them in a few years!  We aren't done with our yard by any means but we have officially moved up a few notches from our previous state of worst yard on the block.  My next project is to find a really cool vintage piece or something fun to fill with succulents.  Specifically string of pearls.  What do you think?

I want this in my backyard, but I don't think my HOA will approve ;)

Family Tree - me

When I thought of what to do for my part of the family tree project, I knew I wanted to show a few different sides of me.  The photographer had to be showcased, of course, but it definitely was not going to be the focus.  Those of you who have only known me for a few years know me as "the photographer" but before that I was known as "Rachel".  And that's it.

I also wanted to show my crafty side, some of my favorite things, and some of my favorite people.  Here's what I came up with.

The linen background is one of my favorite fabrics.  Yellow is my favorite color.  The bird cross stitch shows my crafty side.  The coral glass beads are a souvenir from my recent trip to Ghana and show my love of nature inspired design but not necessarily nature itself.  The locket includes a few picture I've taken of my favorite two people in the world - Andrew and Emma.  And yes, I said people when I referred to my dog.

Two down, ten to go.  These will eventually go in my hall archway displayed kind of like this inspiration picture.

I have a feeling the final product will look even better than the inspiration.  What do you think?

Book List

Hello, my name is Rachel and I'm a bookaholic.  And proud of it.

Things I've been reading lately:

The Hunger Games Series - Suzanne Collins

The Glass Castle - Jeannette Walls

A Million Little Pieces - James Frey

Same Kind of Different as Me - Ron Hall

Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling

Macbeth - Shakespeare

On my list to read soon:

Water For Elephants - Sara Gruen

Bossypants - Tiny Fey

Heaven Is For Real - Todd Burpo

Pride and Prejudice (again) - Jane Austin

The Power of Your Words - Robert Morris

Any other suggestions?  I love memoirs, fiction, you name it.  I think I need a library in our next house. :)

never say never

For those of you wondering, no I don't have Bieber fever.  I crack me up. ;)

I've been thinking about my mom a lot recently.  She's retiring at the end of this school year and I'm very much looking forward to more visits from her!!  While I have always loved her very much, we haven't always seen eye to eye.  You see, she's an extremist and I'm all about balance.  I'll give you an example:

My favorite color is yellow, for those of you who have never read my blog and don't know me.  When I decided to do my bedroom in yellow, I did not paint the walls yellow and buy yellow carpeting.  hahahahaha  Thank God, right?!  Instead, I used very neutral colors to balance out pops of subtle yellows throughout the room.  I think it looks quite balanced in a cheery way.

In contrast, my mom's favorite color is purple.  While I was just a little tike, my mom decided to re-do her bedroom in all purple.  When I say purple, I mean PURPLE.  Purple everything.  Purple walls, purple carpeting, purple bedspread, purple wallpaper border, silk purple flowers on the wall as decoration.  Sigh.  Seeing that room made me hate the color purple. haha  The only other color she added to the room?  Brass.

Did I mention we are different?

For years, I made fun of that room.  I made fun of that color.  I said I would NEVER bring purple into my house.  Aaand here comes the title...

Never say never.

Fifteen years later and purple is one of my favorite colors.  Gasp!  While I still won't plaster my walls floors and furniture in the same color, I've decided to bring some color into the house in honor of my eccentric and wonderful mom.  Here is my mom's section of the family tree for my hallway.  I love the way it turned out and it SCREAMS my mom's personality in a playful and beautiful way.

Love you, mom!

Each of my family members will get a framed piece of art to represent them in my hallway, if you didn't already gather that from recent posts.  My mom loves things symmetrical, is a perfectionist, loves purple, and is a choir director.  This image says this without screaming it.  I can't wait to show you the other ones I'm working on!

from brunch to vow renewal

It's no secret that I love a good punch of yellow, but something you may not know is that Andrew and I eloped.  Don't stop reading because you think that last sentence made no sense! haha  The two subjects do have something in common, I promise!  Stick with me.  I was reading the lovely Coco + Kelley blog the other day when I happened upon this lovely dose of inspiration called From Fantasy to Fete: Citrus Brunch.  Here's a few images from the post:

Gorgeous, right?!  The idea is an upscale casual spring brunch, but when I saw these images my mind went directly to our elopement.  Still confused?  OK I'll break it down for you.  Andrew and I have been married for almost eight years.  We were very young when we got married and decided not to go into debt for a wedding.  Instead we eloped to Jamaica.  I have no regrets about this decision whatsoever, BUT I always had it in the back of my mind that we would do a reception of some sort with friends and family after things settled down.  Nothing fancy, just enough to get people together to celebrate.  Fast forward almost 8 years and we still haven't done this!  

A ten year vow renewal seems like the perfect answer.  If I was to start planning for something like that right now, I would probably rent a beach house on Bald Head Island for the weekend and invite friends/family to join us on the back deck to enjoy brunch.  The decorations would look something similar to this. :)

See, there's a method to my madness. :P