A change of scenery: Naples, Florida

A change of scenery: Naples, Florida

10.21.2015

This weekend we took a quick trip to Naples, Florida to celebrate and honor the life of Derek's grandmother, Grandy, as her soul passes to rest – a truly marvelous woman. Derek's paternal family members are spread out all over the country and I'd yet to meet many of them! It brought me closer to Derek to be able to meet the people he has so many memories with from growing up.

When we had down time before our flight home on Sunday, we ventured out with Derek's parents and sister (side note: have I mentioned how PUMPED I am to be gaining a sister when we get married?!) to downtown Naples and the local beach. As we took a brief but beautiful walk to the beach I was in awe of the beauty of the vegetation. Odd as it is, this was only my third time visiting Florida which seems a little ridiculous as an East coaster, but because of that it's all still very new to me.

The change of scenery from pine and oak filled New England to palm trees everywhere in Florida was giving me major heart eyes. If I'm sounding nuts and like I don't get out much, I promise I do – just not much further than our little upper right corner of the country! The travel phase of our life? Coming soon.

My motto is typically that my favorite color is the lack of color. But green is the exception when it comes to this. As long as its in the form of something natural. With the blackest thumb attached to my hand, it was heaven to be surrounded by not only lush greenery everywhere but so many different textures and scales of it. As autumn settles in up North, it was refreshing and inspiring to jump back to summer for a few days while paying attention to these little details.

These lush sage greens are giving me major wedding inspo for our florals. Consider that a sneak peak ;)

Home is: Londonderry, New Hampshire

Home is: Londonderry, New Hampshire

10.20.2015

My life thus far has been spent primarily in three New England states: Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. I love them all, but I love New Hampshire the most. Not only is it where I spent the most time growing up amidst moving a lot, but to me it's the perfect hybrid between Maine and Massachusetts. It spans from the cold but beautiful sea to the slopes of its gorgeous mountains. I can't imagine anything better.

We recently drove back to Londonderry, my hometown in New Hampshire, for haircuts and apple picking. Yes, I still drive all the way back for hair appointments. I'd say its three quarters because Salon Bogar is truly that good and one quarter the fact that it gives me a steady excuse to always return home. My parents have since moved elsewhere – my father in Maine and my mother on the North Shore close to me, so any excuse to head back to good ol' l-town, I'm there.

Londonderry is known for two things: its abundance of apple orchards and their ginormous and well decorated high school marching band. Though I would love to revisit a Friday football game for a half time show, we were all about the annual apple picking ordeal. While spending thirty bucks on a bag of apples is honestly ridiculous, it would not be fall without putting on our best fall outfits to walk through the orchards picking fruit right from the tree. The past few years we've gone to an orchard on the North Shore. Doing this ritual in my home town this year made it far more special for me.

We plan to spend our Halloween carving pumpkins, eating our favorite pizza, sipping pumpkin beer and watching an old thriller. Derek proclaimed himself the best pumpkin picker, and I'd say he's right about that.

Spending even just a few hours here filled me right up with such comfort. Home has been a lot of (wonderful) places to me, but New Hampshire will always be the one place that gives me that true sense of roots.

Why I've created this blog: a mission statement

Why I've created this blog: a mission statement

10.16.2015

The ol' blog. There are so many fish in the sea when it comes to blogging these days so why am I embarking on joining the blogosphere? Because it's something I've felt passionate about for not just a week or a month or even a few months. It's something that has been this quiet hum in the back of my mind for over a year now. And while I took a stab at it early on, I ultimately was stumbling in not knowing my voice or real purpose and rather ended up getting quite lost in what I was doing. So, I stepped back and let things settle so that over time I'd gain clarity on what it was that I really felt was the right setting for writing.

Life has been a little cray, in the best of ways, this past few years with so many major life changes and shifts. From college, to a professional career, to moving in with Derek at our first condo on our own, to buying a house, renovating a house, adopting a dog, Derek shifting to a new job, getting engaged and now planning a wedding – it's certainly been easy to get lost in the tumble of it all.

Through everything, I silenced the innate thoughts of what I felt I should be doing in terms of writing a blog in order to allow head space to hear in my heart what it was that I wanted. In a sense, these past two formidable years have been the perfect way to find clearly what it is that grounds me and fuels me to the point of sharing it here. When things are stressful and unsettled, that's when I find myself going back to what it is that makes up my core. For me that is the incredible sense of home, family and the importance of loving yourself and those around you fiercely – because I truly believe we're all worthy of such a thing.

With that said, I'm here because I think it's important to not skim over the common day moments that fill up a life well lived. Our feeds are so consumed with the highlights and prettiest moments of everyone's life. But I prefer the sweet spot of reality and how much more beautiful and authentic the little things can be. I'm here to put the common on a pedestal and glorify the everyday. To me, that's as refreshing as it gets, and I hope it is to you as well. :)