Dreams of Joining the Circus

Christopher Waltz, Robert Pattinson, and Reese Witherspoon 
in Water for Elephants

As a child, I visited the circus each and every year it came to town. My sister and I knew that once those circus promotional commercials hit TV, our dad would make a trip to the ticket office to purchase the family tickets. Seeing the animals, clowns and high-flying trapeze artists captured my attention and imagination.

More recently, my childhood love for the circus was ignited again by the movie, “Water for Elephants”, based on the New York Times #1 best-selling book. As result, the circus become my topic of choice when assigned to write a post for the work blog. Do you love too the circus?  I welcome you to visit the Saybrook blog to see how the circus becomes big business when it comes to public relations.

  

Could I still fulfill my dream of joining the circus?   Maybe... just as a public relations professional or trapeze girl stand-in.

Speaking of the circus, I have noticed this is a big trend for baby showers. Here are a couple of spunky circus  ideas to incorporate into your next shower:

Ideas from Hostess {with the Mostess}

More Ideas from the Hostess {with the Mostess}

Ideas from Popsicles and Paint

Ideas from Bachmanville

Love these ideas? Me too! I think the circus may just be the theme of the next shower I plan. If you want more circus, don't forget to check out my article, Engaging in the Greatest Show on Earth... the Circus, of Course!, on the Saybrook blog. 

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God Bless America

God Bless America

The Land That I Love

God Bless America's Soldiers!  

Special thanks to all those serving and who have served in the military.

My dad served in Vietnam. I'm especially thinking of him today!

(He is pictured below on the right)

This last picture has clearly been through a lot.

In addition, I thought I would share these patriotic chocolate covered strawberries.

What a perfect treat for the holiday weekend!

Click here for the recipe. 

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Design Inspiration - Living Rooms I Love

Here is a couple of photos that inspire me to head to IKEA, Home Goods, Target.... wherever they sell fabulous, affordable home interior items... in order to create these inviting living rooms.

Notice the hues in these photos. 

The pops of color in each of these rooms keeps the palette engaging and visually stimulating.  

Enjoy!

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*What a spectacular living room! 

The large windows open to the porch. 

Can we say AMAZING?

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Flip Flops & Summertime

Raise your hand if flip flops are a staple for your summertime experience? Yes, most of us own numerous pairs of flip flops, not to mention numerous pairs of Old Navy ($2.50 a pair) flip flops. 

I came across this flip flop tutorial on Lady Crafter 14 today and thought I would give it a spin. I started with a plain pair of flips flops currently residing in my closet and some material I had left over from another project.  

A little while later, I have these beauties! 

This tutorial was so easy and quick. I think they will make fabulous presents this summer.

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Let's kick off summer!

Hello, my friends!

I know I've been MIA. It has been a busy life lately. For that, I apologize. I promise to find more time to blog.

Well let's catch up, shall we?

As you know, my sister just got married last weekend.  It was a beautiful wedding held on her husband's family horse farm.  You can view pictures here. Now that her festivities are over, it is time to move on to the wedding festivities of my friends, Nicole and Julia, both getting married this fall. In addition to weddings, my life has also been filled with numerous baby showers and birthday celebrations. It's a good life though.  No complaints... Just this full schedule does not leave much blogging time. 

While it has been rainy in Kentucky most days this spring, today is full of gorgeous sunshine and 80 degree temperatures. It makes me so excited for summer.  In turn, I thought I would share this wreath tutorial with you.  Sarah, from This Crazy, Blessed Life, posted a tutorial on this adorable wreath she created for her sister-in-law. I feel in love! It is totally "Simply Sarah Sarah" so I thought I would share it with you.

To create this, you will need the following materials:

Wreath Form
Fabric to cover wreath
Fabric Strips to make Rosettes
Piece of Cardboard
Hot Glue Gun

Click here for the full tutorial from This Crazy Blessed Life.

Enjoy the final product!

I think this would be a wonderful wedding gift for all the newly married couples in my life!  This makes me want to head to Hobby Lobby today to purchase supplies.

I hope your day is also full of sunshine and warm temperatures.  Happy Saturday!

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My Sister's Horse Farm Wedding

My sister's wedding day finally arrived!  I wanted to share pictures of her special day. I am so excited for her and her new husband, Jason.  Even though it rained most of the day, the sun came out just in time for the ceremony making the rest of the evening perfect. 

Below you find a collection of photos highlighting special moments and details from her wedding day.

{My sister and I}

{My sister with my step mom, step sister, and her daughters, Kira and Avery}

{My step mom designed the beautiful bouquets}

{Mr. and Mrs. Thomas}

{Special wedding guest who totally tried to eat my flowers}

{Signs I created to match the wedding invitations}

{A country picnic touch at the buffet}

{Photos featuring generations of weddings from my father's side}

Now the countdown has begun to my next bridesmaid adventure... 194 days until I get to walk down the aisle Simply Sarah Style again.

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Wordless Wednesday

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My Mom, the Bombshell

Happy Mother's Day to my favorite woman in this world! This is my mom rocking evening wear and a swimsuit in the local beauty pageant. So glamorous! I think she looks stunning.

She was first runner up that year, but will always be No. 1 in my heart!

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Walking Down the Aisle Simply Sarah Style

It is officially one week until my baby sister, Nikki, gets married! I am beyond excited for her and for the big celebration .  Weddings have always been one of my favorite events to plan and attend.  In fact, I majored in PR because that was the outlet to take if one aspired to be a wedding planner. Once entering the PR classes, I realized every other girl there wanted to be a wedding planner as well.  I quickly learned there is much more to PR than just planning events.  Now I have a career in PR doing a variety of tasks, not just event planning. Now that my sister is getting married, the the girl who wanted nothing more than to plan weddings comes out again.

My sister is getting married on a family farm next Sunday.  This is the perfect setting for the bride and groom-to-be who met because of their love of horses. Both  have careers in the equine industry so the farm was very fitting.  I just wrapped their wedding gift and am swooning over how the presentation turned out... very country chic! The top of the present features personalized spoons I ordered from Etsy.

(Spoons read "Happily Ever After" and "Nikki & Jason")

Writing this post made me think back to all the other weddings I have been in over the years.  Thus far, I have been a junior bridesmaid once (no pictures handy) and a bridesmaid five times (Nikki's wedding makes it six). Here is a trip down memory lane. It's awesome to see what different brides create using various color schemes.  Enjoy!

Courtney's Wedding 

November 2007

Shawna's Wedding 

June 2008

Megan's Wedding

July 2008

Brittany's Wedding

May 2009

Megan's Wedding

July 2009

As May 14th, Nikki's big day approaches, I will count down some of my favorite weddings looks, decor, and  cakes.  Stay tuned for the wedding fabulousity to begin! 

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