Archive for July, 2009

SeaBreaze Point | Disney Boardwalk | Florida

From Chicago to Orlando they came. With purple and pink flower petals. With a quick hello from Donald and Daisy Duck. A violinist was playing songs from my childhood on repeat and I found myself humming, “A whole new world…” as I heard the shutter clicks and I realized how much I wanted to watch the movie, Aladdin. Too bad I only have it on VHS. We don’t have a VHS player. (Do they still make VHS players?)

Seriously though, when I think of my childhood, I think of Disney movies. I had (have) them memorized. Prince Charming (Or Prince Eric, he was my favorite) and a doe-eyed girl. A damsel in distress or a strong-willed princess (Work it Jasmine!) Disney was a big part of my formative years. So it’s fun, now, to see it come full circle. From imaginary childhood worlds, to this romantic and magical day when two new friends become one and we get to capture it for the ages. One day, their grandchildren will look through these images. They will laugh at how old the fashions look and will say “Grandma, you were hot!” and they’ll giggle. A little girl will swoon and say “Grandpa, it’s soooo romantic!” And then maybe they’ll ask to watch Cinderella, because Disney is now on their brains. And a new generation of dreamers and lovers of love will begin to grow.

Donald cracks me up in this one…






Mouse shoes by Marc Jacobs

Ceremony: SeaBreaze Point, Disney Boardwalk
Coordinator: Amy Riendeau with Disney’s Fairy Tale Weddings
Reception: Bluezoo Restaurant
Gown: Jasmin Bridal, House of Brides, Chicago
Hair & Makeup: Patricia LeJeune

Hello loves! It’s Friday and Nate and I couldn’t be more excited! We get to see Nate’s family this weekend to celebrate his Dad’s 60th birthday and he’s been talking about it all week. He loves getting to go home to St. Augustine and see his parents, sister, and nephews more than anything. I know part of him wishes he lived closer to them so he could see them all the time, especially the boys. He loves his nephews so much and would literally quit his job and stay at home playing xbox and volleyball with them all day, every day if he could. He’s gonna be such a cute dad one day. I digress…

It’s Friday and I’m excited to bring you volume 2 of Five Senses Friday. (I’m really starting to like these). Basically, 5 Senses Friday is just a summary of the best things from the day or the week. I jumped on the bandwagon after seeing it on Modish, who got the idea from Abby Try Again. ;)

touching:
The bubbly blanket separating the lava hot laptop from the skin of my legs. This is day 2 of working in the living room. After 3 14-hour days in the office I needed a change of space. Sue me. (No don’t actually, I don’t want to deal with that crap.)

seeing:
An overnight bag, open but unpacked. New clothes, shoes, and accessories (What? Target had a big sale. Don’t judge me.) are making it hard to decide what to pack. It kind of like when you go grocery shopping when you’re hungry and then you get home and can’t decide what to eat because just want to eat everything.

tasting:
Corn risotto with fresh grated parmesan cheese and melted goat cheese. Eating in season is something I’m trying to get better at, which means that I can’t just limit our veggie intake to zucchini in our pasta. The other day Publix had this corn risotto recipe as a sample (since their corn section overfloweth.) and Nate and I loved it. I’ve added a few of my own personal touches (hello cheese!) And yes, you may all now begin to refer to me as the “domestic goddess” because this stuff is that good.

Fresh Corn Risotto with Parm and Goat Cheese
4 ears fresh corn
1 32 oz box organic veggie broth
1 c. arborio rice
1 c. diced onions
2 tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. dried basil
2 tbs. fresh grated parmesan
1/8 c. crumbled goat cheese
Salt + pepper

1. Remove the husks and silks from the corn. Slice downward to cut off the corn kernels. Place the corn in a large microwavable bowl along with the veggie broth, onions, rice, butter, and basil
2. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Stir.
3. Cook 10-15 more minutes, until rice and veggies are tender.
4. Stir in cheeses and salt and pepper to taste. The rice will thicken as it stands. Serve warm.

hearing:
The documentary The Business of Being Born playing via Netflix on the TV while I work. It’s amazing. Every woman should watch it. It was really interesting. Nate watched it with me and we just kept looking at each other and musing, “I didn’t know that. Oh my gosh, that looks so peaceful! That makes sense.” And no, I’m not pregnant.

smelling:
Coffee. I just started a new pot and the warm scent is filling the space. “2nd pot?” you ask? Why yes, it is. Because the new Italian Sweet Cream creamer we got is just that good.

Happy Friday everyone! Happy weekend! Best wishes to all the photographers out there capturing weddings this weekend and to the brides and grooms saying the big “I DO”. We’ll be thinking fond thoughts of you while we relax with our family and play Killer Uno! (That’s totally a lie. The thinking about work part, not the Uno part.)

Leave us a little note to see when we get back to the office! :)

Love and weekends,
Becka & Nate

“You’ve got to get out of the house and do something.” Nate and I have the same argument every few weeks. It’s cyclical. Because so is my patience. While I love owning my own business, running the show, and getting to make my own schedule, most the time it seems that my schedule ends up being: work from when you wake up till 2am. And that’s no good. When we are coming down from the busiest time of year, it’s a necessity for me to be working that much, there’s just that much to do. But all that work and a lack of play makes me a grouchy girl and Nate has to deal with the full force of my cabin fever every evening when he gets home. I think it’s the struggle of every work from home business owner. It’s tough to get outside of the 4 walls of your office. It’s tough to maintain relationships with people who can’t understand why you haven’t left your iMac in 14 hours. “Just say that business hours are over.” They suggest. They don’t understand.

So when my dear new friend, Trisha Hay, the creative genius behind Trisha Hay Design and the author of Black White Bliss told me that she wanted to have a young professionals get together, I was all about the idea. As far as I knew, there wasn’t any sort of get together like this in town. Most the networking groups are filled with older, very established business owners and the entire meeting is solely for getting your name out there amongst the others. A vision developed for something less “What can you do for me?” and something more “We’re in this together”.

Anna Bond, of Rifle Design, hosted the first meeting at her soon-to-be open to the public studio in Winter Park. Nick of Mama’s Sauce print shop provided some amazing baked goods from Davis Bakery and gave us a tour of the Mama’s Sauce back of house, showing us all how intricate of a process letter press printing really is. And he ran a short run of these adorable little cards designed by Anna:

Other young professionals in attendance included:
Sarah and Lisa of Orange Blossom Ink
Fiona of Anavi Ink
Grace of Grace Edmands Calligraphy
Ashley of Ashley Brooke Designs
Monica of BoomBox Bindery

I was so excited to get to see some of my friends from the Blogging Bootcamp again. We’re becoming quite the little bunch :)

After the get together ended a few of us spent the next few hours chatting over Gurtzberry about business, life, and Robert Pattinson. I had such a fantastic time and I’m so thankful that I’ve gotten to know some of these young women better recently. It’s such a wonderful feeling to sit down with someone and have them completely understand what you’re going through. Starting a business is a crazy rollercoaster ride. And making new creative, business-savvy friends who understand it all is priceless.