So there was that one time when we drove up to Rochester to see the Lilac Festival.
And being the good tourists that we are, we of course wanted to get our picture taken in front of a lilac bush right?? That's what you do! So we asked one of our fellow tourists, a kindly looking little old lady with a gray bun on top of her head if she would mind snapping a picture of us. Justin had already picked the spot for her to stand and dialed in all the settings when he handed the Olympus over to her, so she was all good to go. But then....she went to WERK!!
She backed up twenty feet so she "could get the light good." At one point she was standing behind a bush and shouting out for us to get closer to each other. She turned the camera every which way, including once, I'm pretty sure, upside down. She would point the camera at us for entire minutes at a time before snapping a shot, while we stood there with frozen smiles, poking each other & trying our best not to laugh. And then...it got REAL y'all!
Because that was the moment when she asked us to stand IN a lilac bush.
It started off innocently enough, with her directing us to stand on either side of this one little itty bitty bush in the midst of all the huge ones. So we did. And we smiled. Then she said "no, no, no...BACK UP!! Really get INTO the bush! This is going to be so COOL!" So we took a baby step back and a baby step in, still smiling the whole time. "NO! Closer! Really get in there!" At which point this itty bitty little old lady came over and MAN-HANDLED me into a plant. Let me tell you, she may have looked small, but she was strong. Then she backed up to her original spot and said, "Now look at each other! Hold hands in the middle! This is going to be great!" But we just kept smiling until she finally, finally, took the picture.
Then she came over and said, "Now let me show you what I did!" We ooohed and ahhhed the appropriate amount and thanked her profusely for her time as we sent her on her way. But just before she walked away she said, "In case you couldn't tell, I consider myself a bit of a photographer."
So Justin just smiled his Justin-y smile and said, "Yes ma'am, I could totally see that."
Happy Friday friends!
xo
M:)
***And I think it's high time for another birthday giveaway don't you! This week, we'll do a $25 gift card to Yankee Candle so you can get your choice of one their lilac scented ones or something else! Just leave a comment in the box below & we'll announce the winner next week! And....GO!!
Here's a little picture of what life for us looks like right now...
*Last night we sat out on our front porch with a good friend for the first time this year. Spring has finally settled in to stay here in New England, and we've had a week of nearly all warm, sunny days. Last night, the weather could not have been more perfect. We had the warm setting sun with a soft, salty breeze. And everyone was out walking, biking, running just taking it all in. We sat together and shared our now signature cheese board (Robusto cheese, honey covered almonds, dried cranberries, and three types of jam....it's pretty much the closest I ever get to cooking!) and a bottle of one of my favorite red wines: Mirassou. I really love that time of day where we live because the water goes all baby blue, and the sky is splashed in shades of pink, orange and purple. It looks like they're going to be putting the sailboats in this weekend, and I'm already imagining a summer full of days on the front porch & good bottles of wine just like last night.
*If you've been following along on our Facebook page or Twitter, you know that we've started going to a chiropractor. Being a wedding photographer is HARD on the body, and my favorite quote from our first visit was: "You guys are WAY too young to have this much wear & tear!" Awesome. But we sort of knew it was true because we've basically been in pain for-ohhh- five years or so. Headaches, shoulder pain, lower back. And it was getting worse. Three visits in to the chiropractor and I've already seen dramatic improvement to all three. Of course, it requires having moves done on us that I was pretty sure killed people....at least that's what every spy movie I've ever seen tells me. But so far, so good! Still alive! My favorite part of this whole process has been finding out that one of my legs-the right one- is shorter than the other. And here all this time, I thought I just had swagger.
*A couple months ago we took Cooper to the vet for his annual check up and he weighed in at a whopping 90lbs. He is just a pretty BIG dog, so this isn't too over for him, but the vet did want him to lose 5-10 lbs. So we've had him on a strict diet since then. Yesterday we went in for a follow up and the scale hadn't budged at all. Which leads me to believe that he is sneaking downstairs in the middle of the night for pints of Ben & Jerry's. It's the only thing that makes sense!
*Justin is really in to doing yard work. Like REALLY into it. The other day, as he was weed wacking, he stopped for a second, looked up and said, "You know, I must smile the whole time I'm doing yard work. Because every time it's over, my teeth are always dirty." LOL, boys!
* This week was amazing because it officially ushered in May, which is of course my BIRTHDAY MONTH! Justin always likes to tell me, "you get a day, not a month." But I think he secretly likes it too. Because he's helping me put together a pretty crazy scheme for my BIRTHDAY WEEK. Let's just say it involves my version of preppy heaven. Speaking of which, we've started a series on our Instagrams called #jmnewenglandlife that involves all things preppy & new englandy from our day to day life. "Right down to our toes & a pair of topsiders!" If you aren't following along yet, get on it. "And we'll send a thank you note....in cursive!"
Happy Friday y'all!
M:)
**And speaking of preppy awesomeness, how amazing are these socks? Can't wait to share Shannon & Luke's NYC engagement shoot on Monday!
So I don't know what's up with the weather, but it feels like Mother Nature has been playing one big game of Punk'd lately. One day it's 67 degrees when I walk out of the house in a coat & sweater. And the next it's negative 2 below when I walk out in a skirt & sandals. Yesterday we walked out, and it was a blustery 45 degrees in Connecticut. I mean even the cherry blossoms had had little miniature winter coats on. With those fur ear muff things. They were pretty cute.
But this crazy weather hasn't stopped us from breaking out the patio set and getting ready for warmer days ahead. We knew our friends, Liz & Ryan, were coming to hang out for a few days to film us for the Amazing Life Together webinar, so we decided to make a little party out of it. I had a bunch of Pottery Barn gift cards wracked up as gifts from our amazing clients and past workshop attendees (Pottery Barn is totally the way the my heart! And I am seriously continually blown away by the generous hearts that have been brought into our lives!). So we hit up our local store this past weekend, and got all of the table design stuff you see below + our new cushions there. The mercury mason jars, which are my personal favorite, are on sale right now for $10! Word!
My whole plan was to do a table with pink flowers in honor of the cherry blossoms, but there was not a pink flower to be found. I entertained the idea of just stealing them off a local tree, but Justin told me I could get arrested for that. I told him as a once almost lawyer, I was pretty sure that wasn't a thing. But when we drove past the tree, I kid you not, there were police cars parked right beside it! This is my life.
Happy Wednesday y'all!
M:)
This is the now famous Robusto cheese from Whole Foods that we tell EVERYBODY about after our clients Kristen & Stephen introduced us to it. It's ahhh-mazing! Just make sure you get the fig jam to go with it. And honey over almonds + cranberries completes the set.
A little New Zealand sauv blanc was the perfect crisp wine for an especially crisp April day.
Like I said, there were no pink flowers to be found. But ever the improviser, I just grabbed a couple of bunches of baby's breath and shoved them in the jar. They kind of ended up looking like miniature cherry blossom trees. So I was still pretty psyched.
Last week, we snuck away for a few days with some of our closest friends to go wine tasting and just slow things down a little bit. We talked about life....and we talked about living. And how the two aren't always one in the same. When the conversations turned to "What's Next" for us, my answer was exactly that...."living." To take some time to enjoy what we've been working so hard towards. To spend time soaking in the people that matter. To love deeply and with belly laughs.
To breathe in and breathe out.
And to really be alive while we're here.
Because Lord knows when I'm on my death bed, I won't be thinking about how many facebook likes or twitter followers we had.
I'll be thinking about the times just like this.
This Friday & Saturday we are SO excited to be taking part in the Amazing Life Together webinar, along with these two incredible couples and three others! It's going to be an amazing time, talking about putting the first things first and how to keep a marriage strong in the midst of when LIFE gets in the way. If you can tune in live, then you can watch for FREE. But if you can't, then you can go ahead and purchase the recording of both days so you can keep coming back to it again and again.
And what's extra exciting is that we have a FREE recording to give away!! Just leave us a comment below & then also like this post to help us spread the love and we'll be announcing one winner on Thursday! And....GO!!
Do you wanna know what's really funny about that title, is that that song is actually NOT one of my favorite things. It kind of weirds me out really. I mean, whiskers on kittens? What kind of crazy person lists that as one of their favorite things? I think Julie Andrews was just making stuff up at that point. My theory is that she was mad at the directors for making her spin around so many times in that field. So she just started saying stuff- kind of like that Brad Pitt Chanel No. 5 commercial - never dreaming that they'd actually keep it. And that she'd be getting requests to sing it for the rest of her life. Jokes on you Julie Andrews.
But, I digress.
The other day as we were coming out of Target, I randomly started thinking about what some of my favorite things are. This is probably because we are working on a new brand, and asking yourself what things you actually like- what things are actually YOU (as opposed to what things you think you are supposed to like)- is a crucial part of the process. I started thinking about a lot of the trends that come and go, and then some of the things that have remained favorites over time. Those things that become stitched into the fabric of the quirky quilt that makes each of us who we are.
So with that in mind, here are a dozen of my favorite things that help sew together the pieces of me.
Favorite perfume: my tried & true favorite is Dior's J'adore. I first started wearing it my first year of law school, and every time I put it on it reminds me of that first summer I met Justin.
Favorite makeup: When I was in high school & college, I was a total Clinique girl. Now I tend to lean more towards Mac, but really I have stuff from all over. However, my favorite go to eye shadow combination is Jest & Cranberry from MAC. Jest on the lid, cranberry in the crease, perhaps a little Motif under the eyebrow. It's good stuff.
Favorite current tv show: I'm going to be honest, there is a lot of really bad stuff out there right now. I went Hulu surfing a few nights ago, and it was as if tv was dying. That being said, one shining gem that we can't get enough of right now is Nashville. The music, the drama, the inter-weaving storylines. That's just quality programming right there. And those two little girls singing Ho Hey? That's all you need to know to see why we love it! Plus it's about country music, which brings me to....
Favorite kind of music: Country of course! I will say that I like all kinds of music and I am generally loving what's on the radio these days. The new Pink song, Mumford & Sons, Philip Phillips with his weirdly redundant name (said Mary Marantz!!) and anything that involves clapping, syncopation (just learned that word on Google!) or making music with red solo cups. I'm pretty much a fan. But country music will always have my heart. I'm a West Virginia girl after all, and we're practically born with a fiddle playing in our heart. I am especially loving Miss Miranda Lambert lately. "Mama's Broken Heart" is amazing.
Favorite place to shop: No shocker here. I've been a J.Crew devotee since my first day of law school when I bought a gray cardigan to make Elle Woods proud. Since then, their classic preppy goodness just speaks to me. And I find when I shop at their outlet that's luckily nearby us...they speak to me even more! :) But I also really enjoy Brooks Brothers, Tommy Hilfiger, Kate Spade, and Banana Republic.
Favorite movie: Ok, this one is super hard for me because I just love movies in general and watch them every chance I get. There are so many movies that could fill this spot: Gone With the Wind, Steel Magnolias...Super Bad. But when it came right down to it, I had to give the award to a movie that I both love and also fills me with WV pride: October Sky. It's the true story of a young boy (Homer Hickam) who wants to go to college, but, just like so many WV kids in my dad's generation, is told that his place is in the coal mines. So he starts building rockets to win a scholarship. And the rest is NASA, true story, cinematic history. Plus, it has Jake Gyllenhaal in it. I'm just sayin.
Favorite lip gloss: Carmex lip balm. I have tried pretty much every fancy lip gloss known to MAN, and none of them compare to this 79 cent gem that my grandma used to wear.
Favorite Golden Girl: Hands down, Sophia. I think most girls of my generation spend their time asking which Sex & the City girl they would be (for the record, I think I would be a Carrie), but not me. For me, it's all about the GG's. And if I could pick just one to be, it would always be Sophia. But I worry an unusual amount, that instead I would be the Dorothy. :)
Favorite place to eat: Definitely goes to the appropriately named "The Place" in Guilford, CT. You sit on wood stumps You bring your own wine. They have a circus tent in case of rain. And they grill the best lobsters, clams, and corn on the cob on an open fire pit. If Heaven had a restaurant, it would be just like this.
Favorite flower: For my yard- hydrangeas. For bouquets- peonies. For that flower garden I keep meaning to plant: English Roses.
Favorite go to tropical vacation: St. Lucia where we honeymooned. But my bucket list tropical vacation would be Bora Bora.
Favorite guilty pleasure: US Weekly. I've been reading it since college when my grandma accidentally ordered a subscription because she thought it was US World Report. She passed it on to me, and I've been reading it while standing in line at the grocery store ever since.
Happy Monday y'all!
xo
M:)
So tell me! Which Golden Girl would you most likely be? What's your favorite lip gloss? Which movie could you watch over and over?
Life with J&M
