Our First Family Photos

 I recently won a $50 gift card for Canvas Pop from Apartment Therapy and I figured it was the perfect excuse to take our first ever family photo. I loved that they had square canvases, and lots of photo style options to decided from. We chose a 12x12" canvas and the shot above as our final photo. But, this post would be really boring if I didn't include all the in between fun we had shooting!

 First we took some test shots against two different backgrounds and tested lighting and settings until making our decision to use the fence as our back drop. I loved the little bit of back lighting we had against the fence, it created a nice little glow for our images.

Because Nellie is still being trained and not exactly the best behaved dog, yet, we did a couple of pictures just the two of us in case none of the ones with her worked out. I loved both of the images above but I was determined to get one we liked with Nellie because she is part of our family after all.

When we did finally bring Nellie out silliness ensued, and I captured a couple of images of her jumping on Ryan. It made an amazing .gif to share; Ryan's face is priceless.

On Ryan: shirt-Tommy Hilfiger :: pants- Levis 514 :: belt- thrifted :: 

shoe- ASOS :: sunglasses- the Greenhouse

On Bekuh: dress- Anthropologie via Ebay :: shoes- Urban Outfitter

To be honest a majority of the images with Nellie were just terrible but I did like the image we decided on and the outtakes made us both giggle. The one below is especially awkward. Happy wednesday friends. big kiss, bekuh 

Somedays are Polka Dot Days

I love when the outfit fairies sprinkle a little magic dust on my barren closet and somehow amongst the shabby cast offs a golden nugget appears. That's what happened when I pulled out this coral cropped jacket and polka dot dress totally by accident. 

serendipity. kiss meet. dumb luck. happy accident. 

Add a couple of Heidi braids, wintery tights, and a well worn pair of suede boots and what you have is a sunshiney happy me.

The dress twirls as all good dresses should and looks so dainty that I've managed to dress it up, dress it down, wear it to work, wear it to play, wear it to bed (ok maybe not to bed).

Outfit Details:

Dress// Urban Outfitters

Jacket// JCrew Warehouse Store

Tights// HUE

Boots// Vintage

Ryan was kind enough to take these pictures for me, even though he was feeling under the weather, and I snapped two of him being pitiful. He's pretty great, as if I haven't mentioned that a million times. wink wink. big kiss, bekuh

Crowds at Weddings

A good friend of ours, Thomas, recently got married to a sweet little lady named Ashley and Ryan and I had the honor of attending said nuptials. It was one of those gorgeous winter weddings, with fires blazing in fireplaces and couples bundled up close. Though I couldn't take pictures during the ceremony (bad seating) we did get to snap a couple of pictures with friends before and afterwards.

I got to wear my brand new Red Velvet, Rosemary Velvet Bow. Katie got it for me for Christmas and it couldn't have come at a better time! I want to wear it with everything.

These lovely ladies are Caroline and Christine, two good friends who always make ordinary occasions inexplicably wonderful. Not that this was an ordinary occasion, but I felt like the deserved an introduction.

Thomas and Ashley gave out chocolate mustaches as favors and so Ryan doubled-stached it for the afternoon. The handle bar mustache was my favorite.

We had a great afternoon and couldn't be happier for the beautiful couple. Our first wedding as married couple, we can check that one off the list. Fun! big kiss, bekuh

Girl in the Red Coat

What does one wear on their first Christmas tree hunt? A red coat of course! I couldn't help but share this brilliant red coat with you, it's by far one of my favorite closet essentials. I love wearing it on rainy days and sunny days and every day in between. I love the contrast of this jacket amongst all the green of the trees.

We had so much fun wandering through the trees searching for the perfect fir; it was one of those magical newlywed moments I'll always cherish. 

Coat: Thrifted

Jeans: Delia's

Moccasins: Minnetonka

T-shirt & Sunglasses: Anthropologie

Do you have a poppy colored something you just can't live without? big kiss, bekuh

My Closet: Holiday Clothes

I'm notorious for planning out my holiday outfits months before hand, down to the underwear, but this year I just didn't have time. I'm glad because I ended up wearing a favorite dress that my dear friend Katie gave me and I was comfy all day long. While the turkey was in the oven Ryan, and I ran outside and snapped these pics of the ensemble to share with you.

Dress: Gift from Katie, vintage

Tights: HUE

Boots: Clarks

Necklace: Gift from Ryan, CatBird

Belt: JCrew

The weather has been so perfect in Virginia the last couple of weeks, I'm happy for an extended fall. big kiss, bekuh

What to wear in Mexico

I packed loads of cute things to wear on the honeymoon but sadly we didn't get many pictures of that. What we did get a lot of pictures of was my lounge-around clothes. You know the clothes you wear over a bathing suit or just to walk along the beach nothing special. Luckily I really liked one of the outfits and decided to share the pictorial highlights of this with you.

I love that the first picture caught me during one of my silly faces, this rarely makes it to the blog. I don't know why I take myself so seriously? I thought the vintage skirt I made into a mini perfectly captured the Mexican Riviera even if it was a bit touristy and cliche to wear.

Tank top: Forever 21

Skirt: Vintage (shortened)

Necklace: Catbird

Sandals: Piperlime

Sunglasses: Urban Outfitters

Going to the...Court House

Ryan and I arrived home safely from our honeymoon adventures late Sunday evening and though it was tough to leave such a special time together behind we were both a little anxious to get back to friends and our lives at home. I will definitely be sharing more of the honeymoon later, but today something totally different.

As I thumb through stacks of photos between pre-wedding decorating, court house "paper work," and the honeymoon in Cancun I stumbled across these beauties and it made me all misty-eyed.

Though Ryan and I consider October 1st our official wedding day, full of love, sentimental vows, friends and family we had to get the legal stuff out of the way earlier in the week. On the Thursday before the beautiful wedding ceremony at Windward Ryan and I filled out some paperwork, went through all the bureaucratic motions and dressed for the occasion. I love that on the sidewalk outside the courthouse someone had written in chalk, "Don't Worry, Be Happy, Really Happy!" I fit our feelings exactly.  big kiss, bekuh

PS- I will be sharing wedding photos very soon. I promise.