Week & End

47973f8e4e7597b1289a1ad1324f3c20Happy Saturday, all! How is your weekend going so far? The weather is so blissful here, which means we’re spending lots of time outside. We’re taking our highly anticipated coffee brewing class this afternoon (so excited!) and then meeting friends for Dallas’s best barbecue and, for dessert, ice-cold beers. Tomorrow I’m having brunch with girlfriends and trying this recipe. So much loveliness!

Have a great weekend, and enjoy some fun links from around the web!

I think these produce tips for storing, cleaning and using fruits & vegetables are super helpful! I need to print out this list and keep it handy in my pantry.

It’s that time of year: Christmas gift-hunting season! I love, love, love buying gifts for my favorite people – I like dreaming up perfect present ideas, hunting down deals, writing cards, the whole she-bang. But sometimes less is more (and by that, I mean spending less = more), so this recipe for homemade cookie butter looks like the perfect and cost-effective addition to my holiday gift list. Wouldn’t it be a great treat for loved ones, hostesses, and coworkers alike?

This has been all over the world wide web this week so it’s probably not news, but I am obsessed with the Madewell x Sézane collaboration that debuted on Tuesday. I want every single piece in the collection, especially this, thisthis, and these.

In case you missed it, our wedding was featured on Style Me Pretty on Wednesday and our favorite date nights were featured on Southern Weddings yesterday! I’m so very thankful for these fun opportunities to share the photos that we’ll cherish forever.

Okay, this 1-minute coffee cake in a mug looks like the coziest (and easiest!) way to indulge in a fall breakfast. I plan to make both the regular and pumpkin versions of this treat soon and very soon.

Image via Silver blonde

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Our Wedding on Style Me Pretty

rj15I am so excited to share that our wedding is being featured on Style Me Pretty today! Style Me Pretty is a major blog that showcases weddings from all over the world, helping brides gather inspiration and find vendors while also highlighting amazing work done by photographers, videographers, and planners worldwide. So it’s such an honor to have our special day featured on this fabulous site! Plus, it’s super fun to revisit all of our beautiful images and relive all of the gloriousness from our wedding day.

rachelandjamesWED113As you know, we love Heather more than we can say, so we’re thrilled that her gorgeous images are splashed all over Style Me Pretty’s site today. She posted some extra pictures on her blog, too. And we love that Patrick’s video was posted there for the world to see! Hop on over to take a peek at the feature – we couldn’t be more excited about how it turned out!

rj6-copy11008rj8 rj171 110461105811047 rj251 rj27 rachelandjamesWED2201 rachelandjamesWED225 rachelandjamesWED226P.S. I got to share my thoughts about our wedding process – you can check them out on the Style Me Pretty post, and you can take a sneak peek at some of my sentiments here!

James & I knew that we wanted a wedding that reflected our love for each other, our families, and our friends. We wanted our day to showcase our passions for our faith, our community, our relationship, our style, and our loves for great food, delicious drinks, awesome music, and gorgeous florals. We knew that we wanted to host a celebration not only of ourselves and of our marriage but also of the people who supported us along the way, both individually and as a couple.

We decided that we wanted to get married and have our reception outdoors and options in Dallas, where we live, felt limited. We ventured to Austin on the recommendation of our close friend & super talented photographer, Heather Hawkins, who was booked to shoot a wedding at Le San Michele, a venue located in Buda. We fell in love with the way Le San Michele combined a sense of sprawling European-style gardens with Texas foliage, where beautiful plants like succulents and bluebonnets and cacti were growing freely around the property. We loved that the venue owners had outfitted the space with plenty of amazing lighting and beautiful decor, and we appreciated that we could bring in any vendors of our choosing to help us on our special day.

Through yet another connection, we were introduced to The Nouveau Romantics. We cannot say enough good things about working with Liz and Hannah – they made our dreams become a reality. They helped us craft the ceremony and reception that we wanted, and we loved that they are a one-stop shop, a place where we could work together on everything paper, floral, and event-related, creating a really streamlined effect for our wedding as a whole. From succulent-filled bouquets and margaritas during cocktail hour to farm-style tables and family-style food service, Liz and Hannah helped us make selections that felt innately us, choices that reflected our relationship and the party we wanted to host for the people we love most in the world.

Head on over to Style Me Pretty for more!

Images via Heather Hawkins

Week & End

10:17:14 - Houndstooth Coffee

Happy Friday, friends! Today has been a good day, one that started out with an early morning yoga class and an impromptu pit-stop at Houndstooth Coffee (pictured above – I think a calligraphy-ed version of their tagline about coffee & people would look great as a framed print), continuing on with lots of items checked off of my to-do list and burrito bowls with one of our sweet volunteers in our office. The weather is perfect and I’m listening to the Bittersweet audiobook for the thousandth time and I’m so thrilled that it’s the weekend. There is hardly anything on the agenda, except lots of rest, pedicures with girlfriends, reading good books, taking Callie on lots of walks, and whipping up several batches of tortilla soup.

Enjoy your weekend as well as some fun posts from around the interwebs!

Our wedding is going to be featured on Style Me Pretty on Wednesday! I am so, so, so excited! I’ll be sure to share the link here when the post goes live.

Speaking of weddings, my sweet friend Blair got engaged a few weeks ago and her proposal was captured by a local news photographer, who then sought out Blair’s fiancé so the whole world could read their story. It is so, so sweet, and the pictures are fantastic!

After I finish the tortilla soup I plan to make this weekend, I want to try this crock pot pumpkin chili recipe that Becca passed along. Doesn’t it look so seasonally delicious?

My most recent post went live on Darling Magazine’s blog last week and it’s about three books that can help propel you to greatness. Check out this list and let me know what you think – do you have any titles to add?

I though this was a fun article: “The Perfect Wine for Runners’ Favorite Foods.” I want to try a Sangiovese with my next steak and some Sancerre the next time we go out for sushi!

Week & End

Succulents Desktop

Three cheers for Friday! We are headed to the ranch this weekend and I’m looking forward to quiet time, lots of reading and plenty of naps in the hammock, delicious home cooking, and fresh air. Happy Father’s Day to all of the amazing dads out there, especially mine! Now for some links around the web…

The image above is one of the newest free computer desktop backgrounds via designlovefest’s monthly Dress Your Tech posts. I love the cute little succulents, don’t you? You can download the image here.

This week we found out that our wedding is going to be featured on Style Me Pretty! We are so excited & honored to have Heather’s glorious images of our special day showcased on such a well-known and respected site. I’ll let you know when the post goes live – so fun!

I love enjoying a glass of fizzy, refreshing (and healthy!) kombucha (this brand is my favorite), especially on a hot summer day. Mixing it with Texas-based Tito’s Vodka is something I wish I would have thought of myself, as I love the idea of adding a little kick to my kombucha for a special treat. I definitely need to make this cocktail asap.

Our book club totally copied Joanna Goddard – we are going to read this book over the summer and see the film adaptation of the novel (starring Tina Fey, Rose Byrne, Jane Fonda, Jason Bateman & Adam Driver) when it comes out in September. I always love the thrill of starting a new book, and I’m especially excited about this one. Do you have any other good summer book recommendations?

Last week my parents, James & I booked a family trip to Los Angeles to visit Andrew, who recently moved back to the Best Coast to start a new job. We’re thinking of staying at this neat hotel, which is located close to Andrew’s apartment, and I can’t wait to try new restaurants, breathe in the ocean air, and spend time with my sweet family.