It’s a typical Tuesday evening in the bleak suburban dreary, lifeless midwest Novembery autumn, and I’m staring at a blinking cursor desperately hoping that inspiration will strike. That all of a sudden I will write with a fury, words pouring out of me in violent waves of prose and poignancy. But it doesn’t. It hasn’t. The cursor is still blinking. I promised myself I would blog more regularly once the new brand was launched and I had a pretty new home to house all of my…me. But I haven’t. Not really. I haven’t started the columns I’ve been hoping to start (fashion! design! featured creatives!). I haven’t been curating hip, design-centric things for the new home, or even sharing that process. I just haven’t really been. Life is just sort of happening, and I guess I’m busy out there living it. Which is sort of the point if you think about it....
american beauty | my life on film
There are moments in my life where I suddenly feel as though I’m trapped inside American Beauty. Moments when I look outside my window and I’m caught breathless and forced to stop and see. In those moments I’m taken aback by all the beauty in the world – the beauty that is so often left unseen – and I marvel in it. I breathe it deep and close my eyes as it fills each cell with its magic. In the next instant I blink my eyes back open, turn off my hazards, and drive back onto the road. My day resumes the tenor of casual nonchalance, the phone rings, and I’m snapped back into tedium. But on rare occasions, I find a way to hold on a little longer to the fleeting beauty that is everything in life. When I’m really lucky, the stars align, a fog rolls in, and I find a...
derrek + jenn + the day stella met the boy she’s going to marry
This family is my family. These insanely awesome people are forever imprinted on my heart and are the kind of friends that everyone should have. Loving. Honest. Hilarious. Derrek + Jenn are incredible creatives and they make beautiful photographs. Derrek is likely the best wedding cinematographer around (he shot our Vow Renewal), and although he lives in Florida I recommend him to every single one of my couples. They came to Minnesota in September to shoot a wedding, and we spent a few fleeting days laughing, ugly cat sweater shopping, cards against humanity playing, shooting, dreaming, and sushi eating. Our time was together was far too short, but I am thankful for their visit, their friendship, and the fact that they live in a warm climate, a winter is upon us and February might just be a perfect time to make a trip south…...
lessons in self esteem | the trouble with raising daughters
I remember exactly how I felt when DRL and I found out the baby I was gestating was, in fact, a girl. I was surprised – I thought for sure I would be that darling petite woman with sons who towered above her – and I was excited. Beyond excited, in fact. When the husby and I decided to increase our family from three to four, I desperately hoped for another little girl, and we were blessed with Stella. Their infancies were fleeting and miraculous – and DRL and I tried to savor every. single. moment. Fast forward 3.6 years. It’s morning, and I’m helping Elena get dressed for school. I’m trying to put her in a darling french-bulldog-with-a-neon-mustache Zara sweatshirt when mutiny ensues. She starts screaming and crying and she throws herself on her bed in a fit of tears and sorrow and frustration too insurmountable to describe with...
