Mr. & Mrs. Dart-McLean!

Happy Wedding Day!

I love you Big Sister!

Welcome to the Family, Jonah!

And Happy New Year, Everyone!

Vintage Shoot!

My wedding photographer, Sara Gray, did an amazing holiday inspiration shoot! I love it so much I thought I should share it!

(via Sara Gray Photography)

It's Raining Cats and Dogs!

So for those of you that live in Portland, you know what I am taking about. It has been raining like the dickens for the last week and I am probably the only person in Portland that first, doesn't own rain boots, and second, thinks it is a good idea to walk all over Southeast wearing clog slippers. All in all, the slippers are toast and I was freezing for the whole night! (At least I was a bit tipsy, it being my sister's bachelorette and all). But anyways. It has brought me to the point where before I go to the coast where it is also raining like crazy, I need to buy some rain boots. So, I have been looking online and here are some I am going to look for tomorrow.


Tretorn "Skerry" Rain Boot



Keen Coronado Rain Boot

I just want a simple mid-calf black rain boot! Wish me luck!

And I will be back Sunday because my sister is getting married on Friday!!
Be Ready for a pre-written post!

Before and After!

I decided to color coordinate my bookshelf because it was looking really dreary in the office area. 

So Check It Out:

Before:

After:

A few hours well spent.

Happy Sunday! 

Listening to: Top 100 of 1997

The day has finally come...

Merry Christmas!!

Here's a little wreath I made for the season! 

Happy Holidays!

Ah I love These People...

...Engagement/Holiday Party Tonight for my lovely friends, Amanda and Tyler!

Yay!



Wedding Hair

...

For Jessyka and Jonah's wedding I really want a braided up-do. I am not sure that it goes with the style of my dress though! So we'll see! 

Any other hair suggestions?

I need a break...

...So Thursday be here already!!

I am so happy that my winter break from work is coming up starting Thursday. I get seven days off work and they cannot come fast enough. I am so burnt out on my job right now that I need the break to get my mind back into perspective. I cannot wait! Ah!

Times Change...

Today we watched home videos from when we were little and it is so amazing how different life is today than it was in the early 90s. In all the videos we are playing make believe or doing gymnastics and all the adults are aiding us in make believe play. It is crazy how different it is now. SO many parents now a days give their kids interactive electronic games and let them "learn independently" or put on a movie and have them zone out. It is just so crazy how different it is. I wonder if it will affect children as adults?

Will we be less imaginative in the next decade? I wonder...

What Do You Think?

Amazing Earrings...

Found at Ruche.

Happy Friday!

Today is a big day. I got off work early, so I am going to go Christmas shopping! Then all the ladies from my family and Jessyka's in-laws are going to a spa day! I am not entirely sure what this entails but I am pretty sure that manicures and champagne are involved and that works for me! Then... I am going to a holiday cocktail party! I cannot wait! 
Happy Friday, Everyone!

Happy Holiday Crafting!

I am going to attempt to make this wreath tomorrow! 

Wish Me Luck!

Perfect Quotation For Today

From A Trice of Life

I love this. Think of it however you want. 

I know it makes me happy!
Especially on a day, like today, when everything kept irritating me.

You choose to be happy!

So be happy. 

:)

p.s. I love post its.

a little of this, a little of that...

listening to Matt Nathanson Radio

loving this Blouse

enjoying reading my sister's Blog

i want to try all these cookie recipes

Winter Break Reading

 

So, starting today I am on a two month long break from school. So I need to get back into my hobbies: reading and cooking... So in order to do this.. I need your help. 

I need:

Book Suggestions?

Recipes?

Let me know! Thanks so much!

Currently Listening to: "Angel" -Matt Nathanson

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Holiday Favorites

• The tree and other decorations being lit and glittering when you walk down the stairs first thing in the morning.
• How much more often people want to sit around and just talk or play board games instead of watching television.
• That all my siblings are all in the same city.
• All the holiday drinks at coffee shops.
• How everyone just seems so much more cheery... (or really pissed off). Emotions run really high during the holidays.
• How everything is decorated to the nines. Either it be colorful ornaments or white snowflake decor. I love it all.
• Seasonal Beer selection (especially Ebenezer and Sleigher)
• Christmas Carols
• Candy Canes and Christmas cookies
• Christmas themed movies that only come out during December!

I am sure there are many more things I love that I just cannot think of right now... But I love the holidays!

What is your favorite thing about the holidays? 

Listening to: "Sleigh Ride" - Cincinnati Pop Orchestra

Under The Weather

I found out I have strep, so time to watch MTV re-runs and sleep on the couch. Catch ya later...



Happiness Experiment

I have been thinking  lot in the past couple days about my happiness experiment. When I started this blog I was really trying to look at happiness as a vocation not as an emotion or state of being. I have realized that I am a very happy person, but when you are stressed out or working a lot or just kind of stuck in the same day to say rut, you start to be in bad moods more often and get down on yourself.

So, I have decided that when I was doing the happiness experiment, I was indeed a lot happier, in the basic day to say cliche happiness definition. I was smiling more and thinking less about what was stressing me out. So, it is time to do that again. Some things lately that have made me very happy:

• My husband and family of course are always first and foremost when I think of what makes me happy. It is such a blessing that when Erik and I are still in school that we can live at my parents house, it is cute, two married couples rooming together. And, I am counting down the days till all my siblings are home because I am so happy when they are in touching distance of me, where I can read their expressions instead of guessing through a phone call or text. Also, my new family that I have married into, they make me so happy with their dinner parties and beautiful senses of humor.

•  Lately, blogging everyday has helped me to gather my thoughts or more so, show you pictures of my thoughts. It makes me happy to read other people's blogs too. :) It makes me feel more creative and helps me to see how little things do effect other people as well, I read their blogs and feel more connected to the world at large. 

•  Getting along with friends, especially my best girlfriends. All my best girlfriends have all become such beautiful interesting women and they are all in committed loving relationships so it is so fun to talk about life and get together and just laugh. Caitlin, Amanda, Amanda, and Jenny have truly come to be amazing women and I am proud to call them my best friends.

•  Decorating and organizing. I never thought much about it, since I do not like cleaning. But I am actually really good at both these things. I reorganized my mom's craft/sewing area and it looks so great! 

•  Some things that I have stopped doing but made me so happy before, so I must start again: Yoga, Cooking, Reading. I used to do all three on an almost daily basis and with school and work I realized that I let them slip out of my daily routine. I must bring them back. 

Thanks for listening! Happiness Experiment Continues...

Word of the Day Wednesday!

re·lax·a·tion

  [ree-lak-sey-shuhn]  

–noun

1.

abatement or relief from bodily or mental work, effort,application, etc.

2.

an activity or recreation that provides such relief; diversion;entertainment.

3.

a loosening or slackening.

4.

diminution or remission of strictness or severity.

5.

Mathematics . a numerical procedure for solving systems ofequations by successive approximations of the variables.

6.

Physics .

a.

the return of a system undergoing dissipation to aninitial state of equilibrium after being displaced from it.

b.

the approach to steady-state operation of a system thathas undergone dissipation and a change in state or hasbeen subjected to an abrupt periodic disturbance.

Origin: 
1375–1425;  late ME < L relaxātiōn-  (s. of relaxātiō ), equiv. torelaxāt ( us ) (ptp. of relaxāre  to relax; see -ate¹ ) + -iōn- -ion

—Related forms

non·re·lax·a·tion, noun

—Synonyms 
2.  fun, amusement, pleasure. 

Taken From Www.Dictionary.com

What have you been doing to relax lately?

I am about to go watch Giuliana and Bill and Kendra that I have DVRed... :)

Reality TV= Mindless Relaxation.