I’m a little swamped at the moment, which is why I haven’t updated much these past few days, but I assure you I do have things in the works! In the meantime, please check out the latest Real Wedding post I wrote for 100 Layer Cake! It is totally gorgeous!
Hello, weekend! It’s only been five days, but my how I’ve missed you so. Today, we’re brunching with some friends and heading to the theatre in our 3D glasses to see what Toy Story 3 is all about. I haven’t even seen the sequel, but something tells me I’ll be alright. Perhaps we’ll get a little sunny beach action on Sunday. As for you, just sit back and enjoy this fine bunch of links I’ve wrangled for you this week!
If you like home decor, Florida, fluffy furniture, taking vacations, eating key lime pie, well-lit rooms or even just think one of those things MAY be neat, you need to take a look at this incredible Key West vacation home. I would die to live there.
Fed Up With School Lunch is a blog that features photos of what public schools are really feeding kids these days. Let’s just say my cats eat better. Except for the restaurant tacos on the first page, those look pretty alright.
A group is recreating the bible on film – 31,173 different people saying 31,173 different pieces of scripture from the Bible. Cool idea, but would you watch this?
June is Adopt A Cat Month, according to my favorite animal rescue non-profit, Kitten Rescue. Buy some mega cute jewelry and 50% will be donated to ASPCA, my other favorite!! Eee cats & jewelry yes. For bonus points, check out your local shelter – your new furry friend could be waiting for you.
What Really Spoils Our Children? John Robbins is a super smart cookie, I’ve read a couple of his books. Read this article, if only for the sweet poem inside.
Pet penguins = awesome. Pet penguins wearing stuffed animal backpacks = the best thing in life. (P.S. KitsuneNoir is my friend Bobby’s super cool art/culture/design blog. You’ll read it if you know what’s good for you!)
You wouldn’t have to ask me twice to wear this pretty diamond horseshoe ring.
13 Things Worth Knowing About Super Mario
“Lollipop Bling” has to be the best name for a fragrance I’ve ever come across. Kudos, Mariah.
Can we go back to the old days of getting excited over neon-colored erasers shaped like unicorns, hearts and pandas that actually don’t erase worth a crap?
Now that’s a deck chair.
Billionaires Set Out to Change the Face of Philanthropy. This is a pretty inspirational story. The group of high-rollers includes Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Oprah and David Rockefeller, each who are on a mission to get every billionaire in America to pledge 50% of their wealth to charity. This would mean a potential $600 billion for charity! Buffett alone has already pledged to give 99% of his wealth. Let’s just pray the benefiting organizations aren’t greedy squander-ers.
After all this time, I am still totally in love with Amy Poehler’s web show, Smart Girls At The Party, for which she recently won a Webby award for.
What your email address says about you. Hahaha…. I’d have to say this is 92% true. What do you think? And while we’re at it, eight websites you need to stop building. AMEN!! And I say this as a person who works for one of the largest social media websites! Also, this is why I don’t eat pigs. Can I just sum this up by saying I love The Oatmeal? Ty
Now that I’m married, I can freely gush over other people’s weddings without worry that I should “totally use that idea.” Here are a few that were recently featured on my girl Amanda’s blog: pink garden, gold country, vintage books
This New Yorker cartoon is an accurate representation of Julian and I at home:
Ahahaha, just kidding. How funny is internet fame, though? Like where does it really get you, 99% of the time?
Someone made a “How Deep Is This Hole?” app based on Julian’s hilarious video One Bad App that mocks Apple’s iPhone app approval process. Lols. Actual video below.
AAAAAAND finally – this is pretty stinking incredible. And you thought YOU were talented. P.S. I love how he’s wearing a full white tuxedo.
For all of you who have been bugging me about posting wedding photos, I’m sorry but you’ll have to wait. I could post some of the ones my family and friends have tagged on Facebook, but I prefer to wait until our incredible photographer Jason Connel is done with his magic official photos to really share them with the world.
But, to hold you over, check out these adorbs engagement photos he shot for us just a couple days before the wedding in Hillsboro Village, Nashville. That’s right, you can totally wait until your wedding is hours away before taking engagement pics. 
They’re a little small on the blog, but you can click to enlarge.
Don’t we look so happy and relaxed? And just think, moments before the shoot I was on the verge of tears/a nervous breakdown.
One of my favorites.
This was my idea 
Awkward moment: the girls who owned these bikes came to get them as we were posing with them… oops!
Fido!
This really happened… one of Julian’s fans recognized him while we were shooting. I am used to playing “fan photographer” by now.
Which one is your favorite?!
Okay, just one actual wedding photo for fun:
Jason is Houston-based, but travels often, so if you’re in the market for a fantabulous photog, definitely give him a holler. He’s talented and will make you laugh during those awkward photos. You won’t be disappointed!
I’m thinking of becoming one of those ladies who drinks coffee through a straw, because I seem to be unable to have my morning coffee without spilling (or splattering) it all over my white shirt. Hi!
It’s been a long time since I’ve written, but boy am I glad to be back. I am now officially married – Mrs. Julian Smith, or rather, Mrs. Sarah Smith. Though I haven’t even tackled the whole name changing thing yet… one thing at a time. So far, married life is just divine, and I sure got a good one!
Our wedding was perfection, our honeymoon beautiful (and exhausting), and I’ll have photos of these events as time goes on and we get settled back into everyday life here in LA. Those few weeks we were gone felt like an eternity with all the traveling and time changing. We had seven flights in three weeks – LA to Nashville to LA to Paris to Berlin to New York to Nashville to LA. I’m telling you, I’ve never been so happy to be in this city and in my own bed, which is WAY better than hotel beds. I am also welcoming the sunshine with wiiiide open arms after two weeks of overcast skies and wool coats in Paris and Berlin.
This is my very un-thought-through “welcome me back” post, before I dive back into posting all the things I’ve been dying to share with you. Thanks to anyone who is still reading this after my hiatus…
You know that feeling when you’re standing on your tippy toes in water up to your chin just trying to be still and keep your nose pointed upward so you can breathe? That’s kind of how I feel right now trying to balance all this wedding planning stuff (logistics, details, decisions, my feelings, other people’s feelings).
This weekend, however, I’m going to do my best to just PUSH it all aside and enjoy myself because I’m flying back to Virginia for two very momentous occasions!
Numero uno, my first ever wedding dress fitting! As some of you know, my Grandmother and Mother are making my wedding dress by hand and though we’ve done a fair share of stitching, priority-mailing, pinning, and priority-mailing back, I still haven’t had a wedding dress on my body yet. Tomorrow that will change.
And then on Sunday, I get to hang out with some of my favorite girls at my bridal shower! My best friend since childhood Tabatha is having it on the gigantic wrap-around porch on the back of her Mom’s house so I’m hoping for endless sunshine.
PLUS, I’m picking up our wedding bands and my newly-resized engagement ring from the jeweler tonight – ahh! A fun-filled, wedding-wonderful weekend WITHOUT living in fear that my ring will come flying off my hand at any given moment? STUPENDOUS!
There are two small kinks in my weekend plans, however. A red-eye flight tonight and a VERY early east-to-west flight on Monday morning – those are the worst because despite waking up at 1am Pacific time, you still land in time to go work a full day. Blech.
Anyways – here’s hoping you all have as lovely a weekend as I’m sure to have. xoxo!
And I’ll be MARRIED! I’ll be a WIFE. With a HUSBAND. A hot, funny, sweet husband, but still – a husband. How crazy is that? What a year this is going to be.
Leave me comments with all the best things to do and places to go in Paris!
image via etc
Be still, my heart! The Pioneer Woman is holding a contest for the best cat photos. It’s pretty much the best thing I’ve seen online all week… if you are a cat lover like me, you’ll want to check out these photos. And these. And these and these. I wish I had some better photos to submit of Scout & Pep!
I love everything about this whimsical and playful wedding! From the Tim Walker-esque parade, to the colors (magenta and navy), to the stage, to the vintage photo booth. I am so jealous. But mine will be super fabulous, too.
The way men see colors vs. the way women see color. Hilarious… and true!
A Mystery Science Theatre 3000 haiku. I recently fell in love with this show thanks to Julian, though my Dad has been a fan since the beginning of time.
Leave it to BestWeekEver.tv writer Michelle Collins to provide the most hilarious Oscar awards recap, ever. She said all the things us less-witty-people wanted to say.
How to Organize Huge Copywriting Projects: A cute, clever and believe it or not, practical way to organize your data & thoughts before jumping into a big copywriting project. I love the image of index cards and clothespins.
OH EM GEE – if you haven’t laughed yet today, take a look at these squirrels playing astronaut with coconuts on their heads. Now close your eyes and be thankful that such things exist. There are no words.
5 Rules For A Better Life: I love this! Among my faves: “Don’t compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about” and “Life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum.”
A 26 Gigapixel panorama of Paris. Thankfully, I’ll be able to explore the city on foot in exactly two months from today, but if you aren’t so lucky, feast your eyes on all 2,346 of these photos, which add up to a high-resolution panoramic view of Paris.
The Sex and the City Guide to Blogging: As Julie Roads points out, if SATC premiered in 2010, Carrie would have been a blogger. This article takes dating advice dished out by Ms. Bradshaw and applies it to the current blogging industry. Not nearly as silly as it sounds – read it!
The cutest robot I have ever seen, in my entire life. Made out of a matchbox and other recycled items. A-dorable!
L’Oreal has a new ammonia-free hair dye system called INOA. Supposedly, it allows you to dye your hair without all the yucky damaging side effects. It does cost about 15% more, and is being tested in about 200 salons. I’d love to see how this pans out. I am obsessed with pastel hair right now.
How To Make Homemade Bubble Bath – a nice little tutorial! Way cheaper than you’d think.
This dress from Marc by Marc Jacobs – at $600, it’s a bit out of my price range, but I love it so. When will I learn to sew?
- Too funny.
How have I never seen this video? It is supremely incredible – look at those sequins and trailing lights! Spectacular!
Kudos to this creative and geeky couple, Darino and Niko, for making a video game wedding invitation. The Mario Brothers-esque game requires viewers to complete the game to get the invitation.
The gamer-geek appropriate packaging for the game:
Very adorable, but I don’t think I could get away with sending something like this. For starters, I think half of my friends are too lazy and/or busy to play a game just to get info about my wedding, and the last time I checked, none of my Grandparents knew what 1337 meant.
via Offbeat Bride
Well this is the worst news ever. Anthropologie, only my favorite store in the entire world, is launching a wedding brand next Spring – a full YEAR after my wedding. It feels like just yesterday (oh wait, it was) that I was whining about how Anthropologie didn’t have wedding registry services. Anyway – this is great news for future brides, who will be able to take advantage of their whimsical wedding gowns, bridesmaid dresses, jewelry, invitations, lingerie, decorations and gifts. Basically everything you’d ever need to have the most awesome wedding ever.
Great move on their part – this is going to be WILDLY successful. But no Anthropologie wedding gown will EVER measure up to the masterpiece my Mother and Grandmother are currently cooking up – it’s going to be incredible, I tell you!!!!
via Fashionista
What a week it has been – I feel like I have had new life breathed into me! Maybe it’s the fact that Spring is juuuust around the corner (get here NOW), or perhaps it’s exciting new ventures that await me. Whatever it is – I have so many terrific things to share and rejoice about. First things first, my new wallpaper (new as of Friday, anyway) is truly amazing:
and most of all…..
What are you loving right now?!
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