The Mister and I have recently celebrated our 6 month anniversary. Can you believe it? It’s been such a fun time together. You know how everyone says that the first year is the hardest? If this is the hardest year, then I’m in for a treat. It’s been pretty blissful so far; we’ve been so blessed.

Umba Box has been keeping me plenty busy the last few months. It’s such a wonderful feeling to own your own company; it’s so rewarding. I definitely work so much harder these days, but you know what? It doesn’t feel like work.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with his parents who came to DC for a few days. I cooked my first official holiday meal, and dangit, I should have taken pictures of it. We went fairly traditional, but tried to make things a little healthier (except for the brussels sprouts seared in bacon fat), yet still tasty.

While they were here, we took a half hour drive from DC to Annapolis, MD. We also took our new pup, Latte, with us. We rescued her from the Humane Society a few weeks ago, and she’s just about the cutest thing ever (she snores during naps!). Annapolis is a gorgeous town, nestled between two rivers (maybe one river and one creek?), near the Chesapeake Bay.

I’ve got a lot of nervous energy this morning. It’s quite a big day for me. I am currently on a bus to the Big Apple to be in the “tech section” of the audience for The Martha Show. I’ll be live tweeting and blogging this afternoon, reporting all of the fun things that will be airing on the show. I’ve long-loved Martha, so it’s such a thrill to be picked to do this. I’ll let you know when the episode goes live, but if you want to follow along today, be sure to follow me on Twitter!

Additionally, my newest project Umba Box (edit: link fixed) launched this morning! Umba Box is a unique monthly subscription service that finds the best of the best in the handmade world and sends it to subscribers each month. As popular handmade sites continue to grow (not naming names, but rhymes with Betsy!), I’ve had to spend increasingly more and more time searching for products that wow-ed me. Umba Box does the scouring for you. All you have to do it subscribe for $26/month, and wait for your handmade goodies to arrive in your mailbox each month.

The Hubs and I were at Ikea last week picking up some organizational items. It feels like I’ve bought so many, but somehow I still feel disorganized. While wandering, I saw a few cute succulents that I wanted to add a little life to our living room. I got it home and was bored with the plain pot,s so I decided to spruce it up a bit. I had some recycled sari rope (the shop appears to be currently sold out) that was just screaming to be used in a DIY. So I busted out the hot glue gun and got to work. Here’s how it turned out:

That’s it for now! Happy Monday, loves!

I’m not ready to do a full blown house tour yet (a few more pillows left to fluff and stuff, you know), but I did want to share some pics of the process of our house tiny condo turning into our home. In one word, I want it to feel:

Zanzibar looks pretty cozy in her new window hammock, don’t you think?

[all photos by Stamp 48]

Sorry for the lack of posts.

This was keeping me occupied. Regular posts start back up tomorrow!

After a long season of Lent, Easter finally arrived!

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your ancestors, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. 1 Peter 1:18-19

To celebrate, Justin and I joined some friends for an Easter brunch at Whitney’s. As always, the spread was amazing. Breakfast foods of every kind laid on the table, just waiting to be put on a guest’s plate. Then there were cupcakes. Cupcakes for brunch? Why not. We contributed some fruit skewers, but let’s be honest, cupcakes are better (ahem, not better for you).

After brunch and a brief Easter nap, it was time to remember the Resurrection with my church family. The setting was stunning and everyone was encouraged to bring fresh flowers to decorate the alter. It was lovely and springy, and just made me feel

alive.

The Lord is risen; He is risen indeed!

[all photos by Stamp 48]

Here are a few shots of Zanzibar (ZZ for short) in action. Last year, I started fostering ZZ from the Humane Society as a 3-week old kitten, and just couldn’t part with her.

[she's meow-ing, not hissing. seriously. she's a nice cat]

Saying that I’m uber-excited to go to Italy for our honeymoon in June would be putting it mildly. I’m bursting at the seems, as is The Fiancé. We’ve just booked a villa in the hills of Chianti for 3 nights, then we’ll drive to Venice for the rest of our adventure.

My jaw dropped when I saw these photos. We somehow managed to snag a ridiculous deal on the place, so I don’t even feel guilty about how luxurious it looks. Oh la la! I can’t wait to give you all a full photo tour upon our return.

[all photos by La Selva Giardino del Belvedere]

It’s 8 AM (ok, sometimes 8:45 AM) and I’m trying to rush out the door to work (but not for long!), and 9 times out of 10 I think to myself “Gah! Why don’t I have anything to wear!?” Besides the fact that I sometimes don’t have anything clean to wear, I do have plenty. More than plenty.

To remedy this, I’ve been inspired by Kendi Everyday to shop my own closet, buy less (i.e. nothing), and get creative with my outfits for 30 days.

The Rules:

1. I’ve picked 30 pieces of clothing from my closet (cami’s, tights, leggings, workout clothes, etc. don’t count).
2. Mix each piece over 30 days to create different outfits.
3. Don’t buy any clothes for 30 days.

Here is what I’ve picked and I will be wearing for the next 30 days:

Wow. So it’s been a week since I’ve posted a blog. Life has gotten cray-zee. I know you know the feeling, so I won’t make too many apologies.

But let me explain.

I just submitted my resignation notice to my full-time job effective early April. Yes, I know. You’re thinking, “What?! But what are you going to do?!”

[via flickr commons]

I’ve always wanted to start my own business since the founding of Sweeties Cookie Co. in my elementary school days. It turns out that having a full time job, planning a wedding, and spending time with my fiancé and friends is incredibly difficult. And draining. There are certainly many people who can pull it off. But why do it if I don’t have to. Justin has been incredibly supportive and encouraged me to give my dreams a go. So I’m doing it!

I still haven’t answered your questions.

What I’m doing

I will be ramping up my clients for Stamp 48. Pretty soon, you will see new and fun ways that I’m going to use my crazy mad skillz (I have to hype it up a little, right?) to help Y-O-U. But it’s not quite ready for the big unveil. If you click on the services link, you won’t find much, so don’t bother looking. Seriously. Blank page. But not for long. (I’m going to look on Google Analytics to see how many of you didn’t listen to me. Tsk tsk, lovely readers!) I’ll let you know when things get really rolling!

But before the big unveil, I would LOVE your input on services that you would like to see me offer. Making tepees for your nephew? Creating handmade glittered pine cones? Writing stories for your cat? The possibilities are endless. But those probably aren’t on the top of your list. If they are, contact me. We should be friends.Would you be so kind as to fill out this little survey telling me what you’re most interested in?

Lauren

nce upon a time, there was a girl who was realizing that she has fallen hard for all things pretty. For bright colors, for ruffles, for elegant patterns, and for blogs. Oh my my, she loved blogs. She could blog all day (but doesn’t. dang day-job). Read blogs all night. Pinterest was one of her biggest weaknesses. Some of her friends didn’t quite understand her fascination with it all, but that didn’t really bother her. She just kept on blogging.

~~~

he then ran across a site called Daily Drop Cap, a project by Jessica Hische, who is just a wonderful illustrator & designer. This made the memories of childhood fairy tales, except in a much more modern way. And the best part: each drop cap letter is available to be used for free! How very generous. The blogging fool mentioned above knows that she shouldn’t really use 2 drop caps in one post, but she just couldn’t help herself. They’re just so pretty. Go take a gander for yourself here.

That is all. Thank you for humoring her by actually reading this far.