Noteworthy Instagrams

I’ve had at least one photo shoot booked each week for about a month now, and due to the continuous photo editing, taking photos from my every day life with the “big girl camera” has become a little less enticing. I looove taking and editing pictures, but sometimes it’s nice to just snap an Instagram shot instead, ya feel me? A little less work.

There have been lots of projects going on around here, most notably the completion of our master bedroom decor, which took a mere two and a half years. I can’t wait to officially unveil the room (with photos from the big girl camera), but for now, here’s a little peek into what’s been going down. I came home from a shoot on Saturday morning and Matthew “surprised” me with the white ram as the latest addition to our gallery wall. Le sigh. (it is pretty though…)

The next photo is a shot from the kitchen dining nook, where we finally (just this weekend) found a great antique cabinet and shelf to fill the space. I can’t wait to find more antique doo-dads for inside the cabinet!

The cursory pup shots…

And last but not least, Matthew also surprised me with some new Potter paraphernalia this weekend, to include a Gryffindor scarf, a Platform 9 3/4 plaque, a framed Diagon Alley map, and J.K. Rowling’s supplemental HP books, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Needless to say, I was beside myself. It was like Christmas in June! Clear evidence that A) my husband really loves me a lot and/or B) he's coming up with more creative ways to get laid these days.

Happy Tuesday! :)

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Best of Instagram, week 12

Hey, are you guys watching all the Titanic specials going on this weekend?  Matthew and I have been watching them on and off, and my terror of all things water related is pretty much nailed in now.  Cruise ships, tsunamis, flying over the ocean, wading out farther than knee deep at the beach, jellyfish… all the stuff of my nightmares, I kid you not.  This is not helping.

Anyway, here’s best of Instagram this week.  Feel free to link up with your own pictures below! :)

1. Pizza at Home Slice.  Best I’ve ever had, by a long shot!
2. Yellow dress, red lips.

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3. & 4. A morning out at Boggy Creek Farm.

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5. New shoes from Target
6. SoCo, Austin

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 7. & 8. Best muffins everrrr from Central Market

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 9. Favorite time of the day
10. Chocolate dream pie!

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11. Found this photo in a drawer and smiled.  And then cried. A lot.
12. My beautiful grandma stirring up some Hungarian Beef and Cabbage… recipe coming soon!

Happy Sunday!

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Easter thoughts + Instagram Dump (B.O.I. Week 11)

Happy Easter, my friends… how was your weekend? Restful, I hope. Ours was eventful, as you may have already caught wind of in yesterday’s post? Oy!  And I should also add that the giraffe was not the only shipment to arrive from Africa.  My house really is a zoo now…  I could charge admission just to visit.

Anyway, this morning we had a lovely brunch at my mom’s, where we enjoyed a feast of pancakes, eggs, sausage, melon, and coffee cake, alongside some good conversation and, of course, the cursory Easter peeps.  We paid our respects to Edd at the beautiful wooden urn that contains his ashes, and there was something strangely comforting about that.  His presence is still felt.  I couldn’t help but think back to my Easter post last year, and when I looked it up, the tears flowed.  That smile on Edd’s face!  Damn his staggering ability to be happy, right up through the end. It makes me feel deeply ashamed of my own pathetic ability to have a consistently shitty attitude.  For real.

Grace.  We talked a little today about how the grace with which Edd handled his disease was truly astounding, and though watching someone suffer like Edd did can certainly cause you to have some issues with your God and your faith, the grace… it’s hard to attribute it to anything but God working within him, despite the cancer. 

We also talked about how suffering has a purpose, and that’s to strip you of every single thing that’s not important, leaving only what is.  Of course, it’s still hard to embrace suffering—damn near impossible.  But it’s also near impossible to ignore the beauty I saw in the love and caring and stripped-down-ness of my mom and Edd’s relationship.

Just food for thought. 

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After a short sabbatical, I am back on board with Best of Instagram! Here’s a few recent pictures… (username jenniSOML on Instagram)

1. A new favorite dress from Ruche and a lovely bracelet by Miss Jenna!
2. My outfit for Easter today. Necklace by Stella & Dot.

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3. This tea is supposed to help my PMS.  We’ll see. (nailpolish here in “now you sea me”)
4. Beautiful tulips from the incredibly kind Kristin. :)

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5. Gracie and the water hose. More obsessed Gracie photos here.
6. Tuckered out. :)

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7. Spooning!
8. Keeping watch.

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9. I have named it Martin.
10. Never thought I’d see the day I put one of these in my office, but it actually looks pretty darn cool.

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11. Flowers clipped from the yard to keep me company while I work.
12. Cosmetics.

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13. My loves.
14. New favorite necklace courtesy of my blestie (blog bestie, not sure who coined that) Megan.  Its official name is the “Edinburgh,” but I have renamed it the “Edd-inburgh.”  :)  Tonight’s the last night to get a major discount in the Across The Pond shop, so get on that!

Add your links below, if you’d like!

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Best of Instagram, week 10

Hello loves!  I TOTALLY dropped the ball on my Best of Instagram post last week, but we’re back at it this Sunday! :)  Here are a few fun phone pictures from the last couple weeks… link up below if you’d like!

1. An incredibly sweet reader sent my mom and Edd a Chili’s giftcard, and here they were about to order. :) 
2. A few pictures from our couple’s shoot—more to come next week!!

3. Does this really need a caption?
4. Kicking off Matthew’s spring break right!

5. Seriously?!  A pet poop picker-upper service?!
6. Sweet lil’ baby girl.

 
7, 8, 9, & 10. Scenes from happy hour with a few lovely bloggers around town!  WAY too much fun! In bottom left picture, from left: Nikol, Brittany, Mallorie, Amanda, Ruthie, Leah, Ketrin, and Shalyn! :) Love you girls!

Happy Sunday!!

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Best of Instagram, Week 9

1. Received a bonus Birchbox in the mail this week!
2. In the makeup mirror. 

3. & 4. Went back to Commons Ford Park for a perfect afternoon.

5. & 6. Sleeping Beauty.

7. & 8. Cooper being Cooper.

 
9. I’m obsessed with the little Matthew pictures I found this week.
10. Also quite intrigued by this Earl GREEN tea I bought.  The flavor is definitely different, but it smells so similar!

Have a happy Sunday :)

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Best of Instagram, week 8

Happy Sunday everyone!  Thanks for all your input on the stripes vs. plaid debate on Friday… I had to laugh about how passionately people felt on both sides of the argument!  In the end, I wound up having him change halfway, so at some point we’ll have to have a vote about which looked nicer in the photos! ;)

Instagram was an afterthought for me this week.  I only took a handful of pictures on my phone because I was too busy drooling all over my new Canon.  I’ll try to be better next week!  But here are a few choice Insta-shots.  Leave your link below!

The reason my Best of Instagram today is sparse (and my new reason for living).

The dress.

A man sized scoop.

    Cooper chillaxin’.

Hey what’s up mom.

Out to brunch this morning.

Happy Sunday :)

PS – I’m using a new link-up tool today—I had no idea the other one would turn into a paid account after 30 days!   You have 50 characters in the “name” slot, so fill it with whatever you’d like!

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Best of Instagram, week 7

Happy Sunday everyone!  Hope you’re having a nice long weekend (IF you’re having a long weekend).  Matthew is off school tomorrow, so I have a husband for a whole extra day this week! :P 

We’re working on some projects today, so I’ll get right to “Best of Instagram.”  Here are my favorite photos from the week (leave your link below!):

1. A dozen roses from my Valentine.
2. Heart shaped macaroon from Walton’s.

3. Sometimes I eat a really healthy breakfast.
4. Sometimes I don’t.

5. I’m a REAL boy.
6. Having a rough day.

7. Found a Gracie ball on the guest bed.
8. This was mid-week—now all that’s left is the bottom part.  Aren’t Kongs supposed to be indestructible?!

 
9. Seemed like the appropriate nail color on this rainy week (L’oreal “Raven’s Strength” with shimmer and bling for the ring finger. Bracelet by Lee La La!)
10. This happened last night.  And I think it seemed even cheesier off the big screen. But I still loved it.

Happy Sunday… :)

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Best of Instagram, week 6

I am currently in a place they call No Internet Land (AKA the ranch), so this post was pre-prepared and my Best of Instagram today actually won’t include the weekend (when most of the fun happens!).  But there were definitely some highlights to the week, and here they are. Leave your link below!

1. The re-creation of our first date. A happy night.
2. Amaretto creme brulee. Mind. Blown.

3. Starting over (Harry Potter). Oh so much happiness these books bring me. Pure imagination.
4. My coffee maker broke, and it was tragic, and then I fixed it, and all was well. (shown with my favorite creamer. mmmm…)

 
5. Met sweet friend Allison and baby Davis for breakfast-lunch. A bright spot in my week! (are you reading her blog? girlfriend is hilarious.)
6. Delish Bacado Omelette from Another Broken Egg.

7. & 8. These two light up my life. Obviously.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! :)

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Best of Instagram, week 5

It’s been a weird weekend.  This is one of those circumstances where shit is going on in REAL life that is simply too sensitive to blog about—the things that make life imperfect, the things that hurt, the things that can’t always be captured in words and pictures.  Do you know what I mean?  One thing I don’t ever want to do here is paint a picture of perfection that doesn’t match my reality, so that’s why I’m telling you that NEWS FLASH: life is hard sometimes.  It’s not always puppies and rainbows, and for anyone else who’s going through some hard stuff, I just want you to know that it’s OK.  We’re all in this together.  You’ll do the right thing, and you’ll be OK.

One of my biggest pet peeves in social media is when others (whether on Facebook, Twitter, or blogs) are cryptic and vague, and here I am being cryptic and vague.  So for that I apologize.  All I can say is that everything really is OK—no one is about to go jump off a cliff or slit their wrists or anything, but I think that sometimes the fibers of life that can be so beautifully intertwined can also become maddeningly knotted.  It’s like when your jewelry all sloshes around in a suitcase for a while and then you find it in a big tangled mess that has to be carefully undone.  I don’t know about you, but sometimes untangling those chains just makes me feel a little like screaming and crying and punching someone in the liver all at once.

But it will be OK. Life is beautiful, and life is good. Even when it’s not.

Now here’s my week in Instagram.  :)  Link up below!

1. Chamomile-vanilla tea… good for the soul.
2. The disaster that was our bedroom while I was filling frames.  I’m fairly certain that this gallery wall will be the death of me (literally—I almost fell off the ladder trying to reach the frames at the top).

3 & 4. On a dinner blate with Ruthie Hart… have you ever laughed AND cried AND felt like the person you just met has been your BFF your whole life?  Me either.  Until this past Wednesday night.  Ruthie, I just adore you and had so much fun at dinner! :)

5. Cupcakes for Matthew’s birthday (which is today!).  I used a cheap Wilson decorating kit with bags and metal tips for the icing, and they turned out SO pretty!
6. Tomato-Basil Parmesan soup… HEAVEN. (but NOT healthy)

7. Something I wore + Gracie face. :)
8. My sweet baby boy. (and his precious ball)

 
9 & 10. Dinner last night for Matthew’s birthday…such a nice evening. :)

Happy Sunday, my friends! It’s gonna be a good week.

 

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Best of Instagram, Week 4

Did this weekend FLY by for anyone else? It sure did for us.  We’re about to enjoy another lazy Sunday afternoon of movies and muffins and maybe monopoly (whoa, did you catch that unintentional alliteration?), but first—here is my week in iPhone pictures.  Leave your link below, if you’d like! (there it is again.)

1. Cooper prefers to be belly-up.
2. Gracie and her shiny lip.

3 & 4. This week’s nail color: Zoya “Megan” and Victoria’s Secret “Crystal Shimmer.”

5 & 6. An organized office—finally! It feels good.

7. Me and my red wellies were prepared for that puddle.
8. DSLR 1 class from Chimpsy!  Very helpful and informative.

9 & 10. More of my sweet babies.

11 & 12.  Is it just me, or is it even harder to spend money when you have a gift card?  I went out to spend both my Madewell and Pottery Barn gift cards this week, and I had even more buyer’s anxiety than normal. How silly.

 

13. Trailer eats in Austin.  Passed by this one in photography class and couldn’t help but snap a picture.
14. Dinner at Moonshine last night… one of our favorite restaurants here in Austin.

 

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

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