Friday Favorites

Happy weekend, kiddos.

The recent snow is making me long for Marinha beach in Portugal. Apparently it's the best in the world. Sold!

This weekend, I really want to make this! I already have the wood-burning tools so let me know if you want to join! :)

OMG. My heart cannot handle how cute this baby otter is!

Swooning over these rings - they remind me of the ocean.

I just watched this awesome episode of CNN's "Inside Man" about medical tourism. Very fascinating!

Been feeling very nostalgic lately (could have been induced by my recent decision to read my old LiveJournal posts...cringe) so this quote really resonates. I truly believe that real connections live on forever...

xo

Featured Shop: Diamonds Are Evil

Last year, J bought me these awesome wooden, laser-cut earrings online.
I always get a lot of compliments on them (what can I say - J's got great taste :D )!

While in Austin, TX, we spent some time walking around an open-air market off of South Congress Street (Sarah mentioned that they have puppies at the market so I was enticed)! As I casually passed a booth, the man in the booth commented on my appearance (I don't remember exactly what he said, but it was kind) so I turned back to check out his booth. Turns out the guy was Michael, co-founder and designer of Diamonds Are Evil, which is who made the very earrings I was wearing!
Such a small world, isn't it?

It's such a great thing to meet the people behind handmade items and I love supporting small business!
With that being said, make sure to check out their shop! Here are some of my favorite pieces (although my earrings are my favorite):

xo

Featured Artist: Cat Coquillette

It's been a while since I've looked into buying art. To be honest, I have so many great pieces that I've yet to hang in my house so first things first, right? However, I just got moved into an office at work (complete with awful florescent lighting) so I've been trying to make it feel more cozy and lively.

With that being said, Cat Coquillette's bright artwork is seemingly perfect to fit the bill. 

Here are some of my favorite pieces... 

Maybe it's just me, but I've been really into gold print lately!

To check out more of Cat's work, go here. 

♥

Weekly Tiny Home: It Takes A Village

This is one of my favorite tiny home finds in a while! 

A few old friends came together and built a tiny home community made up of 4 homes (each are 400 square foot) and there’s a 1,500 square foot common area that includes the kitchen and living room area with entertainment.

They built this community outside of Austin, TX and made each building using various sustainable features.

I would love to have a similar layout on a large piece of land one day. 

Tiny home commune sounds perfect!

What are your thoughts?

xo

Weekend Recap

It's already been a crazy week - between work and prepping for Thanksgiving.

Last weekend already feels like ancient history!

I started off the weekend in my favorite way at Zumba Toning.

My girl, Kim, is always such an inspiration and helps keep me accountable!

On Saturday, J headed up to Asheville for a bachelor weekend. I took Townes on a long walk in the neighborhood and the weather was perfect!

Beth and I went to the Indie Craft Experience at the Georgia Freight Depot. It's always so much fun, but it is a little overwhelming! I got to see my favorite lady, Jen, and my good friends, Johnny and Ray, who both had their own booths!

After we bought a few items, we went out to Thai for dinner. Green tea and curry was the perfect meal for a chilly night!

On Sunday, Townes and I took it easy since it was raining all day. I watched a bunch of movies: Songcatcher, Always Woodstock, and Wish I Was Here were a few. Townes was so sweet and cuddled up next to me all day and wasn't happy with me when I made him walk in the rain (which got worse halfway into the walk so we had to run home).

When J got home, we ordered in pizza and just enjoyed the night together.

xo

Weekend Recap: Wedding Shower Edition

 Happy Monday!

Today is very overcast and rainy so I'm missing the sunshine from last week! I took this shot from my office window...I love the red leaves!

On Friday, a few friends from work and I went to White Oak Kitchen. Their veggie plate was awesome and the decor was super cute.

 On Friday night, I basically prepped for the wedding shower and ran some errands. 

On Saturday morning, I woke up really early to get a head start on the food prep and set up for Beth and Doug's wedding shower. I made some vegan pumpkin cupcakes (although I did add some dark chocolate to half of the cupcakes so they weren't all vegan), cornbread muffins (with fresh jalapenos from our garden in some of them).

 We had a huge spread of food! We had meat chili, vegan chili, chili fixings (cheese, sour cream, fritos, crackers, avocado, and lots of hot sauces), cornbread muffins, pretzels with hummus, veggie platter, cupcakes, vegan oatmeal cookies, brownies, cheese plate with crackers, dates with raspberries, fruit salad, hot apple cider (with rum to spike it with), and lots of alcohol (wine and beer)! I can safely say that no one left hungry!

 We had tables and chairs set up outside, but this time, most people stayed indoors. Thankfully it wasn't too cold and we did have the fire pit burning all day! Townes had a blast with the kids and was so good with the little ones - he was quite the hit at the party! :)

PS - Aren't Beth and her sister, Maggie, the cutest?

 I managed to get Beth to pose for a few photos (which is hard to get)! It was so great meeting Doug's family and friends and seeing everyone come together. I can't wait for their wedding - there will be lots of dancing, needless to say!

After Beth and Doug opened the gifts, people started to head home. J + I cleaned the house up and then I was exhausted. Apparently I wasn't the only one...

Hopefully Beth and Doug had a great shower! Maggie and I put on a pretty good party if I do say so myself; however, I am officially on a party throwing hiatus! For a little while at least! :)

 The rest of the weekend was super chill and filled with lots of movies. 

I watched "The Painted Veil," "Begin Again," and then fell asleep watching "Contiki." 

Hope you had a cozy, fun weekend!

It's crazy that it's the last full work week before Thanksgiving - this year is flying by!

xo