Springtime Refresh with Mixbook

I’m a professional photographer and I’m a MOM. That means one thing: I LOVE PICTURES. I’ll never forget when I got my first DSLR after graduating college. I had big dreams, but I never really imagined that I would someday be photographing weddings, working with brands, and documenting my OWN children’s lives. That part is one of the most important to me. In 2012 I had my first baby, I blinked, and somehow I now have an almost seven year old and a five and a half year old. The days are sometimes long but the years are incredibly short. Thanks to my camera, and Mixbook, I can freeze so many moments in time and remember my babies in whatever stage I photographed.

I think I heard about Mixbook from another blogger friend of mine, back when she used them for Christmas cards. I loved how they turned out so much and really wanted a new canvas for our living room, so I reached out to them. Not only was their customer service beyond helpful and fast, the quality of the canvas was incredible. I am a huge stickler on quality, Y’all. If I take a blurry photo, that’s one thing, but if my photo is clear and crisp, I fully expect my prints (even large ones) to be too. Mixbook didn’t disappoint! For as long as I can, I will be using this company for my canvas needs (and prints!).

When we first moved into this house, there were a LOT of blank walls. We unpacked boxes and had everything put away in a matter of hours (not even kidding), but I can remember slinking down against the kitchen floor looking into our living room. This big giant wall stared back at me, screaming, “FILL ME WITH PHOTOS!” but I had NO idea where to start. Leave it to my husband to always save the day…he started grabbing picture frames we had and laying out a design right there on the hardwood floor. After we finalized how we wanted it to look, he told me to order prints. Let me tell you…that took a looooong time for me to decide on. I have thousands and thousands and thousands of photos on my hard drive—and I had to narrow it down to like, 20. Ha! Needless to say, we got the job done and as much as we love it, this spring we were itching for a refresh. Our kids have changed so much in the almost 3 years we’ve been here, and a lot of new memories have been formed. “Let’s order some new prints,” I told Ace.

Some of the most important memories that I wanted to have on display were of my horses (I still can’t believe I finally own not one, but TWO), and our pups. Our beautiful Chocolate Lab passed away on April 15th, and we wanted a few more of our favorite photos to hang of him. One of the coolest new additions is the metal print in the very left corner of that top photo (the Christmas one)—we really want this wall to have different textures, colors, and patterns. The metal print is a 20x16 and we chose the flat option (you can also get curved.) Once again the quality is on point, the colors are vivid, and we really love it! (Can I be real for a second? The two Christmas themed photos next to each other messes with my OCD tendency something fierce, buuuuut my husband re-arranged this wall and hung all the new photos on his own? So I really can’t complain.)

The super cute photo of toddler Pierson and Reese kissing on the front steps is one of Mixbook’s poster prints. I love how much variety there is when it comes to printing. You can even get 5x5 prints specifically for printing off your phone; cute square prints to hang anywhere! Beyond this gallery wall, I ordered my mom a calendar for Christmas this year; due to crappy sickness, we couldn’t make the trip to Michigan, but I watched her open it on FaceTime and she absolutely loved it. I also got some 4x6 prints for my classroom gallery wall, and my students love seeing all our family photos, especially the animals :)

It was after our Chocolate Lab passed away that I was finalizing our order, and let me tell you, I did it COMPLETELY wrong. I ordered the wrong sizes, only a few 8x10’s, and my mind was complete fog. The next day Asa checked our Mixbook account and texted, “Babe…did you realize you didn’t order these right?” I figured I had, as it was late at night and I had not been feeling well. I hurriedly reached out to customer support and asked if anything could be done, and guys, they were wonderful. They helped me cancel that order, fix my changes, and everything turned out wonderfully!! We are VERY thankful to Mixbook for helping us have these tangible memories. Y’all should head to their website, they do photo books, calendars, and a variety of cards. (They’re also who we ordered OUR Christmas cards from this year!) As a professional photographer, I will always recommend this company to my clients. You can’t beat their customer service and the quality of whatever it is you choose to order!

*Thank you, Mixbook, for partnering with us for our living room refresh! We love all the photos SO so much!*

Working with Havertys: Let the Shopping Begin!

The time has finally come! I get to share my incredible experience with Havertys and I'm starting with the basics--SHOPPING! I have a LOT of positive things to say, so I guess lucky for me, (and y'all!) I will be spreading these Havertys Furniture posts out throughout the course of the month. Really guys, I am so pumped to share this with you today, I have been itching to show you all the pictures and to tell you just how in love with this brand I honest to God am. 

We moved into our brand new house this past July, and there is quite a bit of extra space here (thank you, Lord!) One of the perks and selling features, was that there is a large bonus room on the second floor, and we knew the second we walked in that we wanted to use it as the family room. Our [very old] sectional would fit perfect, and it would function both as a family room and my office, very much a win win for this mama! Well, if we moved all our furniture, then we would be left with absolutely NOTHING in the main living room, which is a wonderful great room on the first floor. I decided to take a leap and send my look book to Havertys, in an effort to partner with them to help decorate our new house. I have always been a huge fan of their furniture, and I really wanted new pieces that would not only LOOK amazing, but last for a long time. 

As you can imagine, when I began to hear back and the e-mails began to trickle in, I was ELATED. We brainstormed what this would look like, had several phone conferences, and through this all, I have met THE best women (and people!) within Havertys. After hanging up from our first phone call, I said to my husband, "Okay, I love them all already."

Okay though, let's get to the fun [for you] stuff, shall we? The first part of this process was to go TO our local Havertys to get an idea of what we wanted design and comfort wise. My husband came with me, and we had a great Saturday morning shopping and planning. 

The H Designer, Macey, met us there, as well as the store manager. They were so kind to allow us to come a little bit before their doors officially opened, and I can't sing high enough praises about how helpful they were. Right away, I clicked with Macey; she was genuine, funny, and knew WAY more than we did about all things furniture. We had to figure out what was the most practical for us, since we do have two very young kids and FIVE pets, and she was the perfect help. 

Macey talked us through which fabrics would clean the easiest, and described the differences between styles of furniture; such as contemporary, modern, mid-century, etc. One of my design dreams has been to have a navy blue sofa, so she had a few different samples pulled for us based on what I had told the ladies at Havertys. We went and sat on numerous sofas, and I realized as much as I LOVE mid-century modern, a sofa such as that is really not practical for our family at this time. We wanted a sofa that is extra comfortable--you know the type, one where we could spend Saturday mornings lounging on, and one that would not be too difficult to clean. 

Havertys helped with putting together a look book for us, based on the design of our living room, and thank God for that because honestly I didn't really know where to begin prior to all of this. We picked the sofa pretty quickly; all that would need to be changed was the color of fabric [Can you tell based on any of this what color or style I chose? Wink, wink!] We gave some dimensions to Macey and she helped us choose two arm chairs based on the size of those numbers. It was so cool to watch her work and tweak things in her software--and it was especially cool knowing that it was OUR living room she was helping design!! 

One of my non-negotiable's design wise, was creating a living space where the TV was NOT above the fireplace. The way our house was built, it's very obvious that the TV was 'supposed' to go above the mantle, but both my husband and I agreed that wasn't what we wanted. It was a little tricky to configure the space where a console would be against the wall, but Macey made it happen! After we had all of our pieces picked out, the last thing we needed to do was choose colors and fabrics. It was so much looking at all the different swatches, and even MORE fun when I found one that would compliment the pillows I previously bought (that I was kind of building the rest of colors around!) 

It feels incredibly surreal to sit back and think about the many different pieces that went into making all of this a possibility. Coordinating between the local store manager, H designer, childcare on our end so we didn't have our rugrats running ramped through this very nice store, the e-mails, phone calls, gah! There has been SO much poured into making this dream a reality, and I really can't thank Havertys enough. Louisville and surrounding areas, if you haven't yet BEEN to the store on Hurstbourne, you need to change that. They have furniture pieces for every single person, and beautiful sets for all your home needs. And if you didn't know, there are over 120 retail stores throughout sixteen states, and you can ALWAYS purchase online. 

So many of my friends have told me that they have something from Havertys, and whenever I told someone that we were working with them, the feedback was always positive. "Oh I LOVE their furniture!" was the most common response I had, and seriously, I couldn't agree more. 

**If you want to see what we chose, you will just have to stay tuned! There will be another blog post SOON announcing the big reveal, and even after that, I don't think I will ever be quiet about the goodness of this company. And I would love to hear from y'all--what is your dream furniture piece? Anyone else obsessed with bold sofa colors these days?! Leave a comment below and give Havertys some love! And to my friends AT Havertys, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for working with me and helping my design dreams come true!**

Vacationing On the Gulf: Our Summer Kickoff

Last summer, Asa and I planned a trip to Gulfport, Mississippi WITHOUT the kids and looking back, I am completely shocked that it happened. Between the kids' strep throat, fevers, and body rashes; not to mention the MULTIPLE people left in charge switching shifts to care for them, well, I'm in awe. [To the other Glass Family, we completely still owe you for all you did for us that week!!! Holy goodness we are forever grateful!!!] 

Anyway, one of my dear friends Chelcey, hooked us up in a Courtyard Hotel because she has family ties here, and it was everything we needed, and more. A suite with great air conditioning, a giant pool outside, and amazingly friendly staff--not to mention the OCEAN being directly across the street. We had such a sweet time that we knew we'd bring our kids back, if we could. Lo and behold, arrangements were made for this summer, and we've had this trip on the books for months. We drove ten hours from Louisville all the way here, with only two very short stops. Pierson (turns 5 in two weeks) and Reese (3.5) are constantly amazing me with their travel skills!!! Minimal complaining, several naps, good lunches, and lots of movies--we made it! 

So, how's it been? 

It's been GREAT. We stayed in another suite, with two adjoining rooms, and we brought a queen sized air mattress for Reese. Pierson used the pull-out sofa for his bed, and they slept side by side every night. Between hours spent at the pool and beach, our littles one took amazing two hour plus naps EVERY day. Sunshine + water = the BEST nap equation. 

The first night, we walked on over to Shaggy's Restaurant, one of our favorites from last summer because of the atmosphere. It has an amazing deck and patio, and you can hear the waves crashing on the beach right across from you as you eat. Two of our other dinners were spent at Tony's Brick Oven Pizzeria, where the kids were given fresh dough to play with; and Asa and I indulged in freshly cooked pizza and/or pasta. It's definitely our favorite FOOD of the trip, but we love both restaurants. One night we ordered Dominos Pizza to the room and sat in bed in our pajamas, watching a movie and completely vegging out. Figuring out food in a room with no kitchen was a little tricky, but it all completely worked out. Their breakfasts and lunches we were able to do in the room, and of course, all the snacks galore. 

Gulfport is a quiet town, recovering from 2005's Hurricane Katrina. MOST of the town was completely demolished by that storm, including over 40 libraries, and so many other businesses. There are a lot of spaces for sale, that have been empty for SO long. Asa and I daydream about buying one of the newly built craftsman homes here and using it as a vacation rental. With restaurants within walking distance, and our kids being able TO walk the distance, it's been such a fun trip for all of us. I never would have fathomed that our 3 and 4-year old would do SO well being in a brand new place, ten hours from home, sleeping well, and staying in good spirits, but I guess that goes to show you how clueless I am? 

We aren't in another country or traveling around Europe, but we're doing just fine exploring what we have in the U.S and I think we're enjoying every minute! North and South Carolinas this past spring, Michigan often, and now Mississippi as a family--how cool is that?? 

Anyway, here are a few of my favorite pictures. I actually didn't take that many, (I know, you're scoffing), and only used my camera a couple days out of the trip. I had wanted to take *so* many more, but it did rain, a LOT, so I'm in love with what we did get :) I also didn't wash my hair like, the entire time, and now I'm convinced I just need to live on or close to an ocean soooooooo.