Andrew. Is the man.

Look what my amazing hubby made me for dinner.  From scratch.  I almost cried when I saw it.  Indian food!!!!

Get Inspired: falling in love with photography again

Everyone gets in artistic ruts.  It's a part of the arts roller coaster.  So what do I do when I get into a low?  I remind myself why I love what I love.  How I got there.  Where I'm going.  

I took these images in the car on the way home from The Biltmore Mansion for fun.  These type of images are what made me fall in love with photography in the first place.  I used to just sit in my car at night at a restaurant or near an intersection and take these over and over again.  I think I'll frame one to remind me of how awesome my job is. :)

The Biltmore Mansion

One of these days, I will give up trying to be an adult.  Let me explain...

Andrew and I didn't get a chance to celebrate Valentine's Day this year.  We wrestled for a while to find something fun to do a few weeks later.  First, we thought a weekend at the beach (too much travel).  Then we thought skiing (too cold).  The only thing we knew we didn't want to do again is what we always do when we have a day off - go to an indoor water park.  We decided we were too old for that stuff.  haha  So instead, we ended up deciding on the opposite extreme - we took a day trip to Biltmore in nearby Asheville North Carolina.  It was my first time seeing the house and grounds.  While it was beautiful, it wasn't really my thing.  About halfway through the house, I was thinking "we could totally be going down a water slide right now.  Instead, I'm looking at paintings of dead people that weren't very interesting."  Sooooo, there you have it.  Inside the mind of an adult who thinks like a child.

They wouldn't let me take pictures inside the house (boo), but I did manage to get a few shots on the grounds.  Pretty.

I would die to do a bridal shoot here.  Any takers?

The most interesting part of the day was while we were waiting for the sun to set to get a good shot of the house.  This was Andrew's reaction to my command: "Look regal or something.  Like you belong in a photo with a mansion."

We are so not adults yet.  Thank God.

On the upside, a day trip to the Biltmore didn't fill our budget for Valentine's Day, so we also went to Cirque Totum.  Which we LOVED.  Andrew wants to be one of the musicians in the show.  I want to be one of the frogs.  Did I mention we acted like kids yet?

From House To Home

I live in a cookie cutter house.  It's a great house! But it's a great, cookie cutter house.  I've put a lot of thought into how I could make this box of a house truly personal to us.  Besides some of the obvious things like adding crown molding and built-ins, I've decided to be a bit more purposeful with any art  I add to our walls.

I love the idea of personal art like family trees, framed heirlooms and even inside jokes when it comes to decorating.  Here's a few examples:

1.  Everyone who knows Andrew knows that he's a bit of a computer nerd.  It's one of my favorite things about him!  When other wives are spending their days hosting football parties for their husbands and all their friends, Andrew and I are playing video games together.  So much more fun!  When I started talking about decorating our new home, Andrew was a bit worried that he wasn't going to be represented well in the house because his interests didn't seem to fit with my love for french antiques.  When you think of computers, you think modern and cold.  But that is exactly opposite of what I want our home to feel like.  I tried to reassure him one evening by buying these amazing jars from Anthropologie in binary code pattern.  It's my style, but his passion.  Needless to say, he LOVED it and has since then given me much more freedom because he knows he won't be left out!

2.  I love old textures and numbers.  But there is absolutely no reason to plaster your walls with numerals if there's no purpose behind it, right?  These numbers made it into our master bedroom decor because they are the numbers of our anniversary.  Not everyone will know that, but when we look at it it will mean something!

3.  Every once in a great while I rummage through my mom's basement (particularly the cellar), find something amazing like this, and then ask her why in the world she isn't displaying it.  "Oh, that old thing? You can HAVE it. It's old."  hahahaha We are so opposite!  This particular find was my grandmother's and I will cherish it always.

That's just three of the ways I'm adding a personal mark on our home.  I can't wait to share more with you. :)  I'd also love love love to hear your ideas on how to make a house a home, so comment away!

Sneak Peek - what I've been up to

Sorry for the lack of posts, peeps!  Wedding season is picking up and on top of that I've had a few personal photo shoots to edit.  Here's a sneak peek of what's coming soon on the Millie Holloman Photography blog!

First up, my baby brother's proposal at the Newport Aquarium.  Scuba divers included.  You don't want to miss this one!

And the gorgeous staff at Freedom House Church.  They made my job so easy.

Hope you enjoyed your little teaser.  I promise to be more diligent with blog posts!!!!

I <3 this: Instagram

I just fell in love with an app. :)  Get Instagram here and get to picture taking!

Amanda's Baby Shower

I recently helped out with the decorations for another friend of mine's baby shower.  Everybody I know is popping out babies!!!  For real, I don't know too many girls my age who are not pregnant or didn't just have a baby.  It's wild.  

I was out of town and didn't get to help with the set-up of the decorations.  The credit for that goes to Amy, the host, April, Fernanda, and Christina.  When I arrived a few minutes before the party started, I just HAD to get a few shots of all their hard work.  Don't you love it?!

It was a brunch themed baby shower.  Love that idea!

3AM the night before the shower, Amanda was admitted into the hospital for possible kidney stones.  So sad.  She was so looking forward to spending time with her favorite girls.  We decided to go ahead with the party, though, to make sure she received the things she needed (presents!) for her baby boy.  When Amy opened us up in prayer, it was a meaningful cry to God for Amanda's well being.

Amy and Christina also made sure to video tape the important moments of the shower.  Every girl got a polaroid of themselves with a decoration and put together a scrapbook for Amanda as one of the activities of the shower.  After we took the decorations down for the day, we brought a few to the maternity ward and set up again in Amanda's hospital room where she opened her presents and looked through the scrapbook.  

Amanda is safe and sound at home now (thank you Jesus!) but was so thankful to be included in the shower even though she couldn't be there in person.  Amanda, if you're reading this, you deserved every bit of this shower and MORE!!!  Hugs to you, friend.  You are a beautiful pregnant lady and will be a wonderful mommy.

DIY tissue paper puffs

I recently helped out a bit with the decor for another baby shower and stumbled on these amazing little decorations from Martha Stewart.

They were pretty inexpensive ($20 for a set of 7) and were very large, so I thought it would be great.  Big bang for your buck.  After opening the package, though, I was kicking myself for buying them instead of just making them.  You still had to assemble everything yourself!  So if you're interested in doing something like this, here's the how-to:

1.  Lay seven sheets of tissue paper on top of each other.  Fold the entire sheet like an accordian.

2.  Cut the ends if desired in a "v" shape or a semi-circle.

3.  Use garden wire to tie a flat loop around the middle.  Use extra wire at the end to make a loop to hang the decoration with.

4.  Laying the tissue paper on a flat surface and spread the folds out.  Starting at one side, separate each piece of tissue paper.  Take your time and be gentle, making sure you don't rip the tissue paper.

I had a coupon to the craft store for 50% off (holla) but could have saved even MORE money if I had known how to do it and just bought a large pack of tissue paper from Wal-mart.  Hopefully this will save you some dough if you decide to take on this project for your wedding, baby shower, or other event.  Happy DIYing!

I *heart* this: air plants and succulents

I have been told over and over again that adding plants to a room brings a necessary living element to an otherwise dead space.  Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Easier said than done.  Traditionally people that say such things have green thumbs!  Or if they aren't garden savvy, they at least have the money to buy a bouquet of flowers from a florist once a week.  Well I don't have a green thumb and I don't have the money to spend on weekly trips to the florist, especially with my high end taste in flora.  So, when air plants and succulents came on the scene, I knew that was the way to go for me!!  They are practically maintenance free and are light on the pocketbook.  Here's a few images I've been saving in my inspiration folder labeled "alive":

This next image is from Etsy's PigeonToeCeramics.  The hanging ceramic pot is a future must for my house.  I can totally see this hanging in my foyer.  What a welcoming site!

Beautiful images from the Centsational Girl blog.  Those vintage sterling silver goblets are to die for!

Inspired yet?  OK if not, this one will put you over the edge for air plants and succulents.  I just know it! This amazingly easy DIY project from Luna-See might just make an appearance in an upcoming blog post of The Barker House.  I am in LOVE.

Do you have air plants or succulents in your home?  If so, I'd LOVE to see them!  Send pics to rachelshouseblog@gmail.com.

finishing the master bedroom

Our plan when we moved into our first new home was to finish decorating one room before starting on another.  That...didn't work.  haha  But I'm determined to be done with the master bedroom before I finish any other room!!!  We only have a little ways to go.  Here's the to do list:

1.  Buy a bed.  I know, I know.  We should already have a bed.  But I can't decide which one to buy!!!  It's a big purchase and I consider it an investment.  I've narrowed it down to these three.  Does anyone have a preference?

Choice "A" is from Pottery Barn.  It's rustic pine and very simple.

Choice "B" is from Restoration Hardware.  It's made of kiln dried hardwood and is dyed to a vintage grey tint.

Choice "C" is also from Restoration Hardware.  The linen is the same texture as our couch, which we love.  The wood is done in the same technique as choice "B".  

So hard to decide, right?!  I love them all and they're all comparable in price.

2.  Lighting.  We're thinking something along the lines of this, but with a darker shade.

3.  Crown Molding.  I am SO ready to get this done.  We need to do two levels of molding like the picture below because of the tray ceiling.  Hopefully when we're finished, our bedroom will look as fantastic as this!

Besides a few more little details like a custom canvas print over the bed and some nick nacks for the side tables, we'll be done!!