Good Morning, friends!

Holy heavens, do I ever miss blogging! It’s going to happen again. Eventually. This forever lingers on the back burners of my mind.

“You should really be blogging more.”

“Geez Bailey, why haven’t you posted more wedding & engagement awesomesauce lately?”

“Why are you taking slightly-over-a-day to respond to emails instead of your usual 12 hours or less?”

Don’t worry. None of these questions are coming from friends. Or even clients. Nope, they’re all coming from inside my perfectionist little pea brain.

So right now, I’m trying to cultivate more patience with myself. And keep reminding that inner voice that, “HEY! You are planning a pretty awesome wedding. And it’s happening in less than three weeks. And you guys are not about traditional. Everything is intentional, authentic, perfectly fitting for you two. It’s not a cookie cutter affair. So everything takes more time, more energy, more love. You’re going to be exhausted. And you need to be patient with yourself.”

One thing my soul truly needs: more therapy time with my camera. More earth. More nature. More this:

In other news, it has been bustling over at the flower shop with Mother’s Day, prom, and big milestones (we were voted runner-up for MN’s Best Flower Shop). Although I’m only pouring my heart into flowers a few days a week, it has been so busy-busy!

A couple of weeks ago, the wedding season kicked off with Shayne & Ryan’s gorgeous wedding-in-the-woods. As I steadily work through their images, I find myself giddy with excitement!

In this season, I already see a shift. A shift in my art, my skill, my approach. This work is lighting my heart ON FIRE!

Even if your head is clouded with doubt, remember: you CAN create the images you dream of! It takes work & purposeful change, but you can do it! Here is one image of Shayne & her maids that totally has my heart.

In other random news, we bought a car this weekend! Perfect timing, right? With a wedding just around the corner…ha! It had to happen, though. Poor dear Turquoise Jeep has been strugglin’. Big time. But we’ll miss his vibrant quirks. Sorta.

To my dear couples, and brides in particular: Reality check. It does get crazy. Engaged people are some of the busiest folks I know: planning a wedding, working a job (or two or three), finishing school, maybe owning a business, managing the feelings of fam & friends, and just figuring life out. Being tugged in a million directions, with no real control over the little things.

A note to you (& to self!): Don’t sweat the small details. Let ‘em roll like water off a duck’s back. Be totally in it for the ride, but don’t expect to steer the whole time.

And most of all? Savor every moment.

Image by Gina Zeidler (our inspiring wedding photographer).

XOXO,

A quick micro-blog post for this Octobery weekend!

Life has been busy lately. Crazy busy. Like, back-to-back double-header wedding weekends busy. 

New changes are kicking in: my yard is layered in crunchy leaves, my soul is fueled by a new job in a creative environment, and my heart is patiently awaiting immigration progress. For those new to this blog, my husband-to-be is a Brit and we are currently navigating the murky waters of the immigration process.

Deep breath: it will all work out.

I am the sort of person who sets her mind to something and can’t be derailed. I get a rush from making things happen, especially when my abilities are questioned.

“Exactly how are you going to do that?”

Watch and see.

So, the sky is misting this morning, the yellow maple leaves hang sparse on the neighbor’s tree outside my office window. Hoping for a few rays of sun to emerge. A drive up the North Shore sounds good for the soul today, along with some chai tea.

After this post, I’ll head to the kitchen and rouse the kettle (the electric kettle, that is). This baby is my favorite kitchen appliance, if I can have one. Everyone on the British Isle has an electric kettle, and I don’t understand why they didn’t make the leap across the pond with Harry Potter and the Ghostly Beatles. In my humble opinion, everyone in America should have an electric kettle. And that’s my campaign for today.

I’m off to brew a cuppa.

XOXO,

Four years ago today, I met my now-fiancé at an all boys summer camp where we both worked. He came from England, I from the Upper Midwest. You betcha.

One year ago today, we exchanged our three-year anniversary gifts. Both were wrapped in small brown boxes. When we opened them, we each found a piece of custom engraved sterling silver jewelry.

Now, here comes the twilight zone part. A few weeks earlier, he and I had independently contacted Allison Cecil of Monkeys Always Look about our respective gifts. My fiancé and I were 100% clueless about this freaky coincidence until our anniversary day.

He designed a heart necklace made of sterling silver, etched with a birch bark pattern, and engraved with the exact coordinates of our first kiss.

I designed a ring made of sterling silver, also etched with a birch bark pattern, and engraved with our initials on the outside, with our anniversary date carved on the inside.

Spooky, right?

We found Allison (Monkeys Always Look) on Etsy. There are over 800,000 shop owners on Etsy. We both (unknowingly) chose the same jewelry maker, and she created wonderful pieces that will stay with us forever. 

If you’re looking for something personal and beautifully crafted for your significant other (i.e. wedding rings) check out Allison’s work. She’s fantastic.

Monkeys Always Look :: Etsy Shop

Monkeys Always Look :: Website

By the way, that location (a peaceful strip of sand on the south shore of Lake Superior) would turn out to be our proposal spot the coming New Year’s Eve.

XOXO,

So, my fiancé teaches climbing. Last fall, he schooled me in the ways of the wall. 

Let’s get one thing straight: I am a selectively adventurous woman. I’ll go trekking in the Himalayas, but I won’t strap on a pair of downhill skis to save my life. I’ll start my own business in the midst of a recession, but I get shy about cliff-jumping. And until last October, I was mildly petrified of the whole climbing thing.

When I was a wee 11 year-old, my class went on a field trip to a local outdoor education center. Being the middle school fashionista that I was, I wore highly inappropriate footwear for our climbing wall lesson: a pair of black leather ankle-high dress boots.

Turns out, I flopped around that indoor rock wall like a guppy. Seriously, I was a hot mess in a harness. Of course, knowing nothing about climbing, and having next to no guidance from the so-called “instructors,” I wrote it off as a failure.

These days, I’m wiser. It was just a mix of bad shoes and bad instruction.

But that memory formed a massive psychological hurdle for me as I started my climbing adventures. I wasn’t worried about having bad technique; I was worried about totally freezing up. And being completely neglected because of my inability. 

I needed two things: a good teacher, and good equipment.

 Guess what? I got both. And it’s made all the difference.

I still get stuck. I still struggle. I still flounder. But I get to the top, by some route. Even if it doesn’t look too pretty. Even if I stop to rest every few feet.

I get there, eventually.

XOXO,

Confession: I love assigning myself homework (just call me Super Nerd).

This morning, I built a small pile of items: a scruffy yet cute pair of summer sandals, two pairs of pearl earrings, a bottle of blush pink perfume, a set of red cufflinks, a vintage map, and a terrifically old-school radio. I then embarked on a wedding details creative challenge.

Here are the results:

It’s official: I am gloriously excited for wedding season. Woot!

 XOXO,