asheville.

Last weekend we took a trip to Asheville with friends.

Below are a few highlights of our trip:

• I made a friend (who happened to be a 160 lb dog) while partaking in a wine tasting at the Misty Creek Winery.
• We attended the Alive after Five Event in Downtown Asheville and I had the opportunity to try out several local brews and eat the best organic pizza I have ever had.  Check these guys out: Rolling Stone Pizza Company.
• We rafted on the Nantahala River - our 4th time!  We had so much fun, even though the water was unusually cold.
• At the end of our trip I saw a beautiful butterfly, up close and personal.

Throughout the weekend I laughed a lot.  Laughter really is - good for the soul!

peach cobbler

I absolutely LOVE peach cobbler.

I LOVE the way it tastes, the way it smells, how it reminds me of Fourth of Julys spent with my family, and, most of all, all of the love that goes into making it.

I had high hopes of baking my very own peach cobbler this past 4th of July to share with my husband, of course.  Unexpectedly, I met my fate with the illness bug all over the Independence Holiday.  Fortunately for me, I can make cobblers, or anything for that matter, most anytime.  Anytime, this time, was last weekend when I decided to take the leap in honor of my father-in-law's birthday.

On Wednesday afternoon during lunch, I ventured downstairs from my office building to the downtown farmers' market to claim a crate of oversized peaches.  Since the peaches were not quite ripe by Thursday evening, I took the farmer's advice and placed all of the peaches into a brown paper bag to expedite the ripening process.  I was excited to find a bag of juicy peaches when I arrived home Friday afternoon.  Since the recipe for one cobbler only called for a total of two cups of peaches, I quickly realized that this bag of peaches could produce much more than one cobbler.  How exciting!

When I pondered what to do with another cobbler, I immediately thought of my husband and his co-workers who had spent the entire week working endless hours to prepare for the upcoming week's conference.  I started peeling right away and luckily finished both of the cobblers in time to deliver the first to his office along with a half gallon of vanilla ice cream to help power the team through Friday afternoon.  The second I delivered as an unconventional birthday dessert later Friday evening while visiting my in-laws.  Fortunately for me, after a celebratory dinner out I was able to enjoy the savory goodness of cobbler that I had look forward to so much.

dig in.

road trip [as seen in black+white]

During a recent road trip, destined to celebrate my dad's birthday, my sister was kind enough to drive while I experimented with my camera in the backseat. What started as a session intended to re-familarize myself with with my camera and callibrate my creative focus turned into an opportunity to document the experience of our journey.  Although I did not take care to photograph every detail of our trip, including the many snacks consumed along our journey, looking at these photos transports me back to the promise of that Friday afternoon.  Most everyone can relate to a similar experience and the emotions aroused by a car stuffed to the brim with snacks for sustenance, a navigation device clutched in one hand, and upbeat songs cued back to back.  For me, the anticipation and excitement of getting away for a weekend to enjoy the simple pleasures of life - like quiet morning walks, coffee on the porch, and watching the sunset - is worth remembering.  May we never get too busy to remember the good times, too.

For those of you with a vacation in your future, breathe it in and savor every minute.

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macaron favors {make love happen}

I love to fly and travel and go.  I get all anxious about arriving at the airport fully prepared and generally have butterflies in my stomach..the good kind, though.  I love knowing that I am about to encounter a completely new experience.  I suppose this is the benefit of always traveling for pleasure.

Part of my personal flight preparation involves acquiring the largest bottle of water known to Man, tucking my iPhone in the designated side pocket of my purse, scribbling my flight information on a piece of scrap paper for good measure, and last, but not least, purchasing a MAGAZINE.  I absolutely love an excuse to buy a magazine and as far as I am concerned, traveling provides the perfect excuse.  For me, acquiring a new (indulgent) magazine is exhilarating.

During the trip to my friend Caroline's wedding seemed like the perfect opportunity to pick up the latest edition of Martha Stewart Weddings.  This edition focuses on Do-It yourself style, which is exactly what I love!  After flipping through all of the incredible imagery, I was inspired.  I thought, "When will I have the opportunity to create favor bags?"  Then I had an epiphany - I didn't need an occassion to create favor bags; why not make them just because and give them away to friends just to brighten their day?!

Now, I have always loved macarons.  They are beautiful, well balanced and perfectly scrumptious.  In my eyes, Macarons are to the cookie world like Anemones are to the flower world; they're the best.  SO I decided to create favor bags and fill them with macarons.  I purchased these minature macarons from Madleine Macaron (and by the way, they had the coolest "LOVE MACARONS" ice pack).  For those of you who think I may have mis-typed "macaron" instead of  "macaroon", read about the difference here; I had to!

A few of my favorite things are the color orange, glassine bags, and playful fonts, all of which I decided to use for this project.  Within the week, I began designing the paper pendant for the favor bags.  I asked myself, "What do I want to say on the pendant message?"  I reflected on my recent experience at Making Things Happen and then it clicked, "I want to MAKE LOVE HAPPEN!"  I want to spread the love to my friends at an unexpected time and so, I did.  I designed a variety of pendants with this very message in hopes that they, too, would pass it on!

A note of caution: Macarons must be refrigerated and so delivery of the favors was limited to the local crew.  Fret not though, you just might come home to your own treat one day soon.  This post is intended to inspire you to MAKE LOVE HAPPEN and pay it forward for someone else.  You never know what an impact you'll have on others.  You won't regret it!

I promise.

xoxo.

{caroline + mark} wed!

Last weekend, I had the pleasure of joining forces with Ms. Anna Martin to serve as Maids of Honor at the wedding of our dear friend Caroline.  Caroline is the sweetest friend a person could have, so I wanted only the best for her on her big day!  The whole weekend was so much fun and I really enjoyed meeting all of Caroline and Mark's friends!  It is truly a blessing when your friends' friends are such incredible people.  I feel better knowing that Caroline has such a supportive group of people routing for her and her new marriage.

I am certain that Caroline was the calmest bride I have ever seen.  Even when her hair stylist texted on the morning of the wedding to say that she could not make it, Caroline kept a positive attitude and did not utter one negative word.  She inspires me to be a better person and I am honored to call her my friend.

While I was not able to photograph every aspect of the weekend, I tried my best to make the most of any opportunity to take photos of the venue and Caroline.  My favorite part of the venue were the larger-than-life weeping willow trees.  I found myself staring at them for minutes on end.  The weather was perfect all weekend, surprisingly moderate for Atlanta in June, which delightfully complimented their outdoor ceremony. Following their nuptials, we all enjoyed refreshing sangria in the garden and later relocated indoors to the ballroom for southern cuisine, cupcakes, and lots of dancing!

Best wishes to you both - Caroline + Mark!