Anyone who has Netflix has watched every single episode of Friends. If you haven't, well then you probably have a life. I myself, do not, and have therefore watched every single episode of Friends .. a few times. It may be cliche, but it is in fact, my favorite show of. all. time.
I undoubtedly share this little obsession with some others around the world, so I designed a fun way to share a laugh with your fellow Friends-loving friends. Check out these fun, printable, folding 4x6 Friends cards! They are sold in a set of 10 on my etsy shop. But, because I love ya, here's a free download for one of my fave moments (although, how can I really choose?!)
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You met the guy. You don't want to admit it, because it is so cliche, but part of you knew the second you met him. You can finally put that wedding Pinterest board to use; the one that you put on "secret" mode because you'd sooner die than allow Becky to steal your color scheme. You probably heard rumblings before you got engaged, but weddings are ridiculously expensive. I was especially lucky to live, and therefore get married, in one of the top wedding destinations in the world: Charleston, SC. Even though the budget my parents gave me was more than generous, it wasn't going to get me far in this town. But have no fear! You can have the wedding of your dreams with any budget. And you don't need some fancy wedding planner to do so (because that sh*t is pricey). Step 1: Prioritize Sit down and make a list of all the things you need to secure and purchase for your wedding: dress, tuxes (or suits!), food, music, photography, invitations, etc. Once you have done that, go down the list and rate them in order of importance. This little exercise will help you see the areas that are most important to you and your betrothed. Figure out your Top 3 and secure those first. These will be your splurge areas. My top 3 were Photographer, Venue, and Food. Step 2: Call on your talented friends Odds are, you roll with a pretty fabulous crew. I just so happened to have a cousin on my husband's side that used to be a florist, a friend of a friend that was in film school, and a co-worker that once worked for a wedding planner. Flowers, videographer, and day-of coordinator - check! Step 3: DIY like a mofo This is where I saved BIG bucks. I designed and printed by own save the dates, invitations, and program. You can purchase one of my custom printable invites here. We bought the flowers at a wholesale flower shop and my cousin-in-law put the arrangements together the day before the wedding. I had a great family friend that made my rustic backdrop dreams come true with doors from Habitat for Humanity. I made the wreaths hanging on them with a glue gun and fake flowers from Michaels. Step 4: The Dress I blame Say Yes to the Dress, but I do not know where it is written that you have to have a designer wedding dress. Not a single time did anyone dig around in my dress to find the tag. I found my dress at David's Bridal, on sale! I wore my mother's vale, which was both special and inexpensive. Step 5: Other Ways to Save Give those distant family friends the axe. Ok, not literally. But seriously, if you haven't spoken to them in years, and especially if you are paying for the wedding yourself, don't feel obligated to invite them! Since my parents were paying for the wedding, we compromised. They invited their distant family friends, but their grown children and S.O.'s were left off the guest list. You pay per head for these things - so let a few roll. Consider a buffet. I don't happen to have a lot of fancy pants friends, so a buffet was always the plan for our wedding. Plus, we got married in a barn and we live in the South - so BBQ and Lowcountry Boil it was! Some may scoff, but I am still hearing about how great our food was 3 years later. Set a booze limit. Of course you want everyone to loosen up and have a good time, but it's not your job to enable their buzz all night long. Give the bartender a monetary limit that would allow the drinkers to have 2 or 3 drinks. Odds are, everyone is heading to a bar after the official wedding festivities wrap anyways. Also, consider beer and wine only to really save some dough. Step 6: Other Tips to Consider Give your squad a break. Bridesmaid's dresses are pretty pricey, especially the ones that aren't hideous. To save my Maid's a buck, I headed to Lowe's and grabbed some paint swatches of acceptable colors for dresses. They each set off to find dresses that flattered them, were inexpensive, and most importantly, that they would actually wear again. Pair it with some nude heels, and we were good to go! #squadgoals Hire a day-of coordinator. For your sanity. My mother and I both agreed that this was the best money we ever spent. I had a co-worker that used to work for a wedding planner. I planned the whole wedding, then gave her a run down a few days before the big day. She had copies of all the vendors and a timeline of the day - and she rocked it! We were able to actually relax and get ready, while she ran around getting sh*t done. MOST IMPORTANTLY, be in the moment. When it is all said and done, you are marrying the love of your life. If you do not feel this way, run. Now. All of this wedding hoopla will not matter when you hop on that plane to a tropical paradise with your husband. It will be the perfect day because you will be surrounded by all the people you love the most, in a dress that you look damn good in, dancing the night away with your best friend. Sit back and revel in it, girlfriend! Unless you have been living under a rock, or just living in the blissful eden that is No Facebook Land, you may have noticed that social media has gone to sh*t.
It has become a non-stop, passive-aggressive, political, propaganda parade (try saying that ten times fast) that, frankly, I can no longer stand. I have always tried to take a Kacey Musgraves approach to the controversial crapola that tends to come with being digital friends with keyboard warriors. That being: "mind your own biscuits and life will be gravy." I quickly adopted this as my mantra. So much so, that I have a print of the creed framed in my kitchen. You can get that bad boy here. That's not to say I don't have opinions. Boyyyyy, do I have opinions. The difference is that I know no one cares. Especially on social media, and especially if I am being so dang nasty about it. Sure, you write this long, thought-out, eloquent tirade about women's rights and equality and race and religion. It's profound, really. But then you put in the "I can't believe someone wouldn't agree to this..." or "prove me wrong" .. or "you can unfriend me if you think otherwise" (will do, thanks for the tip). The sad thing is, these are among the rather mild digs I have seen. The even sadder thing: the hypocrisy. All you have done is isolate your friends. Yes, real friends that you actually enjoy the company of, despite the fact that they are - *gasp* - Democrats. Oh, and your post did zip for the issue at hand. But, let me be clear. I applaud anyone for using that squishy thing inside their heads. Push for change, absolutely. Stand up for what you feel is right. Express yourself! March on, girlfriend! Or do absolutely none of that - that's cool, too. In any case, listen, open your mind, be respectful, embrace differences, and above all else, love thy neighbor. Newsflash: Putting yourself out there is scary. Nay, terrifying.
I have been a dreamer my entire life, which is really just a nice word for "totally oblivious to the outside world and, on occasion, reality". This girl can really get inside her own head. This trait has both helped me and hurt me throughout life. On one hand, I can visualize what I want and how I will get there. These huge, beautiful, elaborate plans for my life. They are awesome, really - you HAVE to see them! But that's just the problem. They stay "up there" because their next-door neighbor is doubt. And man, is he loud. I would get this air of inspiration and motivation to finally take the reins of my life and just go for it! Cue Katy Perry. Then, I would visit a blog, or an Instagram page, an Etsy shop. They all do it better. I am a total fraud. What was I thinking? What would other people think? That is when I started getting little signs. Song lyrics, sermons, testimonies, television shows, blog entries .. heck, even Instagram quotes! People were actually paying me to design for them. Maybe it was God saying "buck up, buttercup" or maybe it was me finally paying attention. Maybe it was both. Suddenly I realized, everyone starts somewhere. And, there is room for me. There is room for you, too! I may not be everyone's cup of tea, but that's okay. At the very least, I can say I went for it. That's not to say that the doubt doesn't still creep in. He's sitting on my shoulder now telling me not to post this. That's when you politely say "STFU" and keep truckin'. It's LOVE.
And it's in the air, y'all. Valentine's Day is just around the corner! I would say I am super pumped, but I am pretty neutral on this topic. I have a tendency to be a fence-rider lately. Could be all the blatant passive aggression on my Facebook feed, but I digress. Although I don't consider Valentine's Day to be controversial, I can understand both sides. One being that it is simply another push to patronize the greeting card industry, and the other being it's a fun holiday, so shut up and eat chocolate. No matter where you sit on the V-day spectrum, I hope you can appreciate some fun printables with pink and red and ooey-gooey hearts! And here's to you finding that can't eat, can't sleep, reach for the stars, over the fence, World Series kind of love. The older I get, the more I realize I am kind of an anomaly. I was born and raised in my hometown, and shock of the century, I came back after college. Not because I didn't have a choice and therefore am living in my mom's basement trying to become an overnight billionaire (don't say the "M" word) - but because I wanted to. Weird, right? Not that I am knocking wanderlust, at all! I surely respect people that pick up and start a new life for themselves in a new and exciting place. Personally, I will always be a Carolina girl!
Lately, I just cannot. I know you have probably heard your resident millennial say this one too many times, but for realz, ya'll. I. CANNOT. Christmas is so close I can taste it (and has been for a month, in my mind), so I am kind of on a mental vacation.
Hazards of a mental vacation are as follows: spacing out; watching hours of RHOBH; short-temperedness; genuine not-giving-a-shit-ness; a slight residential odor due to piles of laundry; impulsive online shopping; etc. Not ideal when you have two weeks left at your full-time job before your actual holiday vacation. In the midst of this mental vacation, though, I have managed to put together some FREEBIES! I was surfing the interweb for a cute Christmas desktop background when, much to my dismay, I couldn't find one! So, I made some. Solving the world's crises one at a time. I am a little obsessed with Christmas. I would happily skip every single other holiday if it meant Christmas could last longer. I was one of those children that seriously mourned Santa Claus. It felt like all the magic was gone! So, like everything else that goes wrong in my life, I dealt with it like an adult in a constructive, healthy way - by playing Christmas music and movies non-stop from mid-October to New Years .. and shopping, a lot. I have dragged my poor husband to TJMaxx, Target and Home Goods at least a dozen times over the last month, rarely leaving empty-handed. It will look like Christmas VOMITED all over my house when it's all said and done, and y'all, I can't wait. Literally, my decorations may be up before Thanksgiving. Go ahead, you can cringe. This year my obsession has been particularly intense because the whole family is coming to my house for breakfast on Christmas morning. My sister will have my new baby niece in tow (family-wide matching pj's have already been discussed). Next year, my parents will probably be in their new house and we will go back to doing festivities at their house. So, I have decided to plan a very fancy and official Christmas morning breakfast. We will finally knock the dust off of Lauren's china, I have Pinterest plans for a beautiful centerpiece, there will be a fire going and the smell of pine in the air, and everyone will have a grand time, damnit! I figured I spent enough money on Christmas decorations over the past few weeks, that I might cut my husband some slack and come up with some affordable decorations. These babies are so easy to download and pop into your existing frames around the house. Spread the Christmas cheer for all to hear (or see)! In a former life (a little over a year ago), I was a radio personality on a local country music station. It was awesome in a lot of ways .. free concert tickets, got to meet a lot of famous people, they sent me on a free trip to Nashville for the CMA's, plus I talked for a living. I do way too much of that already, so why not get paid? All-time favorite famous person I ever met? Had to be Miranda. (Not at all a fan of Luke Bryan, though. Another story for another time.) It is also where I started utilizing my love for graphic design in a professional capacity. Fast forward to now, when I get to mash up my love for country music and graphic design (and self-deprecation). In all seriousness, music is a huge outlet for me. I come from a musically-inclined family, but I never quite got the itch to be musician. My mom signed me up for piano lessons down the street in my neighborhood. She was constantly on me to practice and go to my lessons, but she eventually gave in and let me quit. What can I say ..
So, my sister is SUPER pregnant. She is due at the end of November with my third niece (first kiddo for her and her husband, though). Funny thing is, I wanted so badly for them to have a little boy. Probably because my brother-in-law is a baseball coach, and I just couldn't help but picture this little brown-haired, blue-eyed future pitcher. I had every intention of having that little man wrapped around my finger. But, as soon as I found out it was a little girl, I went nuts. Nuts shopping, that is. I have spent more money on her wardrobe than mine this year. It's earned me the title of: My sis is definitely in her nesting phase. She has always had a knack for interior design as is, so I knew the nursery was going to be perfect. And perfect, it is. If you are going to spend a multitude of sleepless nights rocking a screaming bundle of joy, might as well be in somewhere beautiful. The crib is Bratt Decor and was a Facebook sale group deal. The crib sheet is Rifle Paper Co. The chandelier is Pottery Barn Kids. The side table is from Target. I am happy to say that I have contributed a few little additions to her room, including this "C" covered in flowers. It made the perfect focal point on an otherwise empty wall in my house during her shower last month. She also just informed me that she has chosen two of my prints to frame in baby C's room. Ain't it grand to have a supportive big sister? You can find those prints and more in my Etsy shop.
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CategoriesAboutHello! I'm Jena, a self-taught graphic designer living in a small town just outside of Charleston, SC. Currently, my house is filled with my husband and two fur-children. This blog is the place for me to share life, design, and tail wags.
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February 2017
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