August Recap

Boy has this been one crazy month! I'm finally in a calm place and I'm ready for all the pre-wedding travel and big day festivities. To recap this month I thought I'd share some of the highlights.

Ryan and I had a great time at Floyd Fest X and you can see all of the highlights here, here, here and here. It was a great three days at the end of July after a hard week leading up to the event.

You got to see a lot about Ryan and my upcoming nuptials. Some of the highlights being the invitations, the burlap table runners, and a secret project using scrap fabric.

The Bachelorette getwaya was so much fun! I love my bridesmaids too much for all they did. You can see our wild adventure here, here and here.

I shared my first ever/sort of style post. I'm pretty proud of myself for putting these pics out there. Good or not it's a positive change I'm working on making.

And of course food. I love to eat and I definitely don't shy away from showing you. Here are this month's food posts both brunch and unrelated. Here, here, and here.

Last Fruits

As Summer comes to a close our little garden is starting to dry up and our summer fruits are few and far between. In memory of the little garden I have a couple of pictures to share so that it will live on in all our memories.

I'm proud of what our container garden yielded for our eating pleasure. We had cayenne peppers, tomatoes, green bell peppers, yellow squash and zucchini. Sadly the squash died out quickly due to a bug epedemic. I have plans to show you pictures of our cayenne peppers later next week, they were involved in a special project. It was fun to have fresh produce to cook with and it kept our costs down. I'm definitely looking forward to next year's gardening adventures. big kiss, bekuh

An attempt at a style post

I'm a huge fan of a lot of blogs and one of the things I love most is that the blog world has almost completely removed the need for me to purchase fashion magazines. Almost. There are so many great fashion tips, beautiful ensembles and clear images that scream wear me! buy me! look like me! I've been so inspired as of late that I did a kind of embarrassing thing...I made an attempt to self shoot my first ever my-style post.

It didn't go well and the proof is below.

 The last picture makes me chuckle the most; I just look so serious. At least I can laugh at myself, right? Two things I need to buy before I make my second attempt: a good camera and a tripod.

Top: Vintage

Skirt: JCrew

Shoes: Old Navy

Bloglovin

I've been slowly tweaking some layout issues on the blog and I realized I've not shared some really cool tools that you, as a reader can use. First you can look through my flikr account and see both the pictures I've shared on the blog and some that I haven't (I'll be adding Pinterest too). Also,you can follow me in a variety of ways...

On the far right of this page is a column with all kinds of links, to facebook, to Bloglovin, and to a RSS feed. All of these are great resources if you'd like to continue to read Secondhand Sundays on a daily basis.

I found after many, many hours of clicking individual blog links this amazing website called Bloglovin. It's a great resource for Bloggers and the person who just likes to read blogs. You can "follow" all of your favorite bloggers by simply setting up an acount and clicking "follow" on their bloglovin profile. I highly recommend this to everyone- including you. Try it out and tell me what you think. big kiss, bekuh

Blueberry-butter French Toast

Instead of our usual Sunday brunch at a local spot we decided to have a brunch at home with french toast covered in homemade blueberry butter. I used the same basic principles found in the strawberry butter I shared before, here. Ryan also picked up a yummy pack of organic bacon from the Roanoke Co-op. I didn't think bacon could be more delicious than it already is until tasting that applewood smoked heaven. I definitely recommend organic and local whenever possible for taste alone.

For the Blueberry Butter- Puree a half cup of blueberries, add a stick of butter and powdered sugar to taste and blend until almost smooth. So easy but makes a huge impact.

Weekly Obsessions

So I want to try a new series of posts called "weekly obssessions," to give you, the reader, a chance to glimpse into my sources of inspiration or wishlists. There won't be any particular theme to the posts just pictures and a sentence description of who, what, where or why I like these images. I'll keep it fairly straight forward and give you 5-10 images to ponder and click through. I'd love feed back on these posts as we progress so let me know what you think!

Shirley MacLaine in "What a Way to Go!" A fantastically silly movie that is a key inspiration for me in what Katie and I are dreaming up. I want to steal every look in this movie- or at least a piece of each look. You'll probably see a lot more from this movie in the future.

I love this playful ad by Hanes, I think this could serve as inspiration for future photo shoots. I'd love to be a not so quiet sensation.

Lee Krasner is best known as Jackson Pollock's wife but she's an incredible artist in her own right and I'd argue that Jackson Pollock received a lot of instruction from her and not the other way around. Her brave and strong compositions are so energetic and she is sensual without being sexual.

I've been listening a lot to Happiest Lion this week. A new music find via With Lavendar and Lace. It may not be everyone's taste but it's made my work-week happier. It's a little bit indie, a little singer-song writer and oh so easy to listen to.

I'm in love with the Cinnamon Shoe-gar Wedge from Modcloth. I don't know what else to say but love, love, love.

Well that's what I've got this week for Weekly Obsessions. Check back next Sunday for more artists, musicians, clothes and inspiration from every source I can think of.  big kiss, bekuh

Bits and Pieces

It's Friday- at last. This week has been a roller coaster of emotions and lists and all those little bits of life that stick to you like gum on the bottom of your shoe. I'm starting to feel like the ride may be over and I can stop screaming now.

I did have some highlights this week I'd like to share. I finished printing out the wedding programs, had a trial updo that didn't go well but at least now we know what not to do, and I met up with Katie to start dreaming up a plan for the future. Our ideas are in their infancy so I can't share too much now but it's going to be big; super big! I'm so excited to have a place to share all this dreaming and the bits and pieces of life that are sometimes more interesting than the big stuff. big kiss, bekuh

A Glimpse into the Wedding decor

I'm trying not to give too much away about the wedding plans and details as we're drawing really close to the actual day and I have to have something to share afterwards! But I did want to show you a little sneak peak at a project I've completed for the big day. Almost all of the decorative elements for the wedding were made from small pieces of floral fabric. Do I have you wondering what on earth that means? Do you want to know more?

 I'll be sharing a simple DIY on this after the wedding when I can show off what it is exactly. I think you'll be shocked by the effect and the ease of which it was made. Just an update to say plans are moving fast and I can honestly say I'm getting excited. Thanks to Lauren for letting me vent yesterday and Ryan for being a prince without those two my head may have exploded by now. big kiss, bekuh

City Bliss

There's a new(ish) coffee shop in Roanoke called City Bliss and I'm a little obsessed with supporting them. We've had a local chain called Mill Mountain downtown for years but it's good to have a variety of places to choose from and City Bliss has that indie, one-off feel that we desperately need in the downtown scene. It's fresh, run by young people and serves some drinks that are hard to come by like bubble tea...yum.

I visit City Bliss at least once a week and my two favorites for summer have been their iced coffee and of course bubble tea. I recommend them to everyone and as a bonus they have live music on the weekends, free wifi and a cool loft space to hang out in. I'm hoping City Bliss will be a new staple in the small business community. big kiss, bekuh

On NOT being perfect

I'm not perfect. I think sometimes, when I read other blogs, I get the sense that the creators have got it all together and that for some odd reason they have a super power I'm missing the gene for. I want their genes! I think that most often those bloggers don't want to share the struggles they have because readers like happy stories and happy endings. Real life doesn't always work out that way or it may take a really long time to get to the happy parts. I want to have an honest voice and present myself in an honest way to the world.

As the days grow shorter between leaving for work related travel and coming back to the wedding I'm starting to feel anxious about EVERYTHING! I really want to be as cool as a cucumber but let's get real I'm planning 7 weeks of travel, the biggest party of my life, and trying to juggle family, friends, and my best friend I can't wait to marry. No one ever said life was going to be easy but it would have been nice if someone had told me it was going to be this hard at times. I'm sorry if this sounds like a broken record but it's my reality and I struggle with it constantly, to the point of losing sleep over it.

All that being said I'm trying to be upbeat about where I'm at, and understanding when people don't get how stressful all of this is. I'm trying to be a good _____ (fill in the blank) and be a master at multi-tasking. I'm a busy worker bee and like a bee I need to not stop until everything that needs to be done is done. I could really use a deep tissue massage and a king size chocolate bar in the mean time.

Wedding Showers

Today I'm attending my second Bridal Shower and I'm soooo excited about it. Two of my very good friends, Lauren and Christine graciously offered to host the shower in Ryan and my honor and I'm so thankful for them. In light of that I realized I never posted pictures from the first shower! My Mom's bestie "Aunt Judy," threw a super sweet shower for Ryan and I a couple of weeks ago and we got A LOT of great items. Here are some highlights.

Aunt Judy made a pretty awesome spread of fruit, veggies and her famous chocolate muffins. She also had these AMAZING M&Ms made for us. They have our name on them! I've been eating the leftovers since the shower.

Ryan's Mom and Dad got us the luggage. You can see more of mine here and here I think that the picture above is the first one I've ever taken with her and it turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

 

My Grandmother came all the way from Ohio to be at the shower and that meant the world to me. We got to spend some time together and even went to brunch with ryan before the shower. It was really special to have so much family around me.

My sister does the most amazing job at wrapping presents. She got a special crafty bone for that sort of thing. I love this picture of Sarah and I with our Mom. We don't often get one where we all look so nice.

Thank you to Ashley for taking all of these photos, it certainly captures memories that will last a lifetime. big kiss, bekuh

The Night Affair

So in the evening we did a couple of things, we went out for sushi and then went to a place called Rapture where we spent the last bit of our evening dancing and making positive fools of our selves. It was sooo worth it.

Is there any words for this, does there need to be? Excellent adventure, Alicia, Ashley, Lauren and Sarah are the best Bridesmaids EVER! Love you guys. big kiss, bekuh

Charlottesville Bachelorette Getaway

So I've at last edited the photos from my amazing bachelorette weekend. My stinky point-and-shoot camera didn't capture the moments as brilliantly as I'd hoped but here are a few of the highlights.

We'll start with early in the day first and then later on today I'll post again with the evening shots.

My sister found the quaintest little b&b for all of us to stay in super close to the downtown mall. We had half the place all to ourselves! We immediately began to nosh on some yummy snacks that my sister had packed in her "feed" bags. Poor Alicia had bus issues so we decided to hunker down and wait for her arrival before we took to the road and began our winery trekk.

As part of the welcome at the b&b they gave each of us a complimentary glass of wine and we sat out on the porch and enjoyed the park view and cool breeze. It was a magical start don't you think? big kiss, bekuh