milano/cinci.

Thank you so much for the love with the branding work I did for t & s hughes photography!  I SO appreciate your kind words and encouragement :)

We had a truly wonderful time in Cincinnati.  Milano's show was wonderful and I am so thankful to have been able to be a part of the beginning of their tour.  SO many of our sweet and wonderful (and super supportive) friends in Cinci came to check them out and say 'hello'.  It was awesome.  We were in Cinci from Wednesday-Sunday and then yesterday Dan and I headed back to Woodstock, IL for a little day trip to one of our favorite antique malls and our favorite apple orchard!  Then...we saw Shara for free at Millenium Park last night.  She performed with the CYSO (Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra).  it. was. amazing.  I'll be recapping yesterdays events with photos/videos this week :)  For now, here is some Milano fun: 

alissaaaa :)

some of "Saturnalia"

lovely merch!!

coffee training...hrmm...

Job creeped up on the couch with Justin while he was asleep.  it was a BEAUTIFUL moment :)

so much SASS.

Catch them LIVE from NY today at 2pm EST HERE or if you're lucky, 

in your state in the next couple of days as they finish their tour. 

We were also able to spend some time with these beautiful folks at melt (deliciousness):

I will say though, that even though we had a really lovely time in Cinci/in Woodstock yesterday, I am SO happy to be sitting at my computer this morning, getting back to work.  I think 6 random days off was just a little too much for both of us.  Plus, I have a stupid cold!  Again.  I feel like I can't stop getting them...OH!  GOOOOD NEWS!  Dan got into Trinity!  WOO!  :) :) :)

Happy Tuesday!!

monday shares.

Wow.  Blog titles are getting harder and harder.  Perhaps I'll forgo titles like some fo my favorite blog ladies do?  Doubt it.  I feel like I need titles to organize.  Maybe they'll just stop making sense...that might be fun!

Yesterday we had a really beautiful time with our wonderful (and crazy talented) friends who just made it back to the states from Iceland (via Italy, via Belgium).  We get to see them again when we head to Cinci later this week to see folks and watch our worlds collide with these guys starting their summer tour there!  So excited.  So so excited.

I have two fun things to share with you today!

1. this girl (kimbra) has PIPES.  seriously.  I'm quite mesmerized by her voice and beauty (she's 21!  does that make you feel any different about how she sings?!  wow.  crazy.)...wondering when her soon to be released (in australia & NZ) album will make it to the states.

2. here is a beautiful august desktop calendar for you from Rebekka Seale (who is an incredible artist!).

milano in cincinnati...

SO...my amazingly talented Chicago friends are headed to our hometown Cincinnati on August 4th to kick off their summer tour!!  I am thrilled to see our two worlds collide a little bit :) I would LOVE for you to take this time to watch this incredible acoustic video from Cornerstone (a recent festival they played) and if you'd like to know a little bit more about them here is an article/interview from Filter Magazine that featured them as a "Discover the Undiscovered" band.  Find out more about show dates/the tour (and lisssten to music!) HERE.

photos by Derik Strattan

a cincinnati weekend.

We have been overdue for a while with a visit to Cincinnati.  So, we headed back!  Spent some much needed time with family, by the pool (my skin is finally showing signs of summer....it took a while!), with friends, and eating our favorite foods.  Here's some evidence of it all:

Dan giving me sideballs on the drive down.

typical Job!

Jenny & baby Theo :)

tree frog :) :) :)

a bug.  a very strange, fuzzy, white bug.  that I accidentally killed :(

an AMAZING restaurant called Boca.  my in-laws treated us to a VERY special dinner!!

our friend Chase was our server & he sent a treat from the kitchen...

watermelon & avocado gazpacho!

my first course.  sweet corn & mascarpone filled house made pasta.

my pork.  so tender & juicy.

mama-in-law's sea bass....beautiful!

and my favorite part...DESSERT!  blueberry almond cake...

a lovely creme brulee!

my cheesecake.  SO creamy.  the best I've ever had!

and...this is how we hydrate Job on our road trips.  ice in a cup!

Can't wait to be back in Cinci a month from today to have our two worlds collide!!

THESE GUYS are playing at one of our favorite places in the Nati!  YAY :)

inspired by: BHLDN.

I hope you had a lovely V-day!  There is always lots of love to be spread around...

Dan and I had a lovely time in Cincinnati.  We spent some quality time with family and a few special friends, and saw some faces and embraced some bodies that had not been seen or embraced in a looong time!  It was a beautiful time of reuniting.

If you haven't heard of or checked out BHLDN yet, you must!!  It is Anthropologie's new wedding line which includes lots of different things that are wedding related and has plans to include even more (so that at a point they can essentially be a one-stop spot for planning and everything you need for your wedding!).  I have actually been pleasantly surprised by many of the prices.  Even though almost everything would have been out of budget for us, in comparison to Anthro's prices, BHLDN seems like a good deal!

Here are some of my favorite pieces:

(1) greenbow lace gown $600 (!!!!)

(2) unabashedly gloves $60

(3) pleated fantasy gown $3,600

(4) pom pom shoe clips $25 (!!) I know this could be a pretty easy DIY, but these are so elegantly made and they are actually a great price!

(5) tulle era dress $2,600 (my favorite...ohhh how I like this!)

valentine's day freebie reminder!

Daniel, Job and myself are headed to Cincinnati for the weekend.  His parents both have February birthdays so we're going to hang with them and celebrate those.  I just wanted to make sure you printed out some free valentine's day postcards/cards!  I suppose for this year it's sort of your last chance to use them...

I wanted to leave you with some reminiscent photos of smaller Job.  Ohhh my do I miss those days!  What a goober...

Have a beautiful weekend, friends!

kristen & daniel (our wedding!!).

Finally, our photos are out!!  Oh my...I want to describe our celebration with you a little bit, so here goes:

Dan and I got engaged in March of 2009 and after some deliberation with family, friends, and each other, we decided on a December wedding.  We had a budget of $7,000 which at first sounded like a very large sum-until we realized some of the costs of the different things that normally go into a wedding (especially when the guest list reached about 300!).  In all areas though, I feel we were able to cut down costs quite a bit.  I really liked the idea of doing a lot of things ourselves, which also greatly cut down costs!!  Our two very close friends got married in June of the same year and had a combined ceremony-reception, where, when the guests arrived they actually headed straight to their tables where they would later be enjoying brunch.  We really liked that concept and the fact that it could tone formality down quite a bit.  We also decided on having an early wedding (it helped with things like: cost, still having at least an hour or two to enjoy our wedding day together after everything was cleaned up, and...avoiding dancing!  Yeah, there it is...we're not into dancing!).  We decided on December 19th, 2009 at St. Elizabeth's, a big and beautiful old Catholic church that is now owned by the Vineyard.

After figuring out those big details everything else just had to come together slowly and in its time.  After seeing this lovely tutorial/DIY idea we decided on fabric flowers.  I purchased fabric for my dress with the help of my friend Beth at an amazing warehouse near Minneapolis.  We decided on having Spicy Pickle and homemade organic soups for lunch, with Izze's to drink of course (Spicy Pickle even let Dan create his own sandwich...which was gobbled up before we got to try one!)!  Espresso Guild catered the tea and La Terza coffee which was delicious.  We had a very original cake made by Take the Cake.  I've never been a huge fan of normal cakes (growing up I always requested cookie cake, ice cream cake, or dirt cake!!) so I called them to see if they might be able to create some kind of tiered cake that was cookie like.  It was hard to explain and I wasn't really even sure what I was asking for but we settled on a 3-tier cake, each tier made up of 3 layers: blondie brownie with raspberry swirl, buttercream connecting that to a chocolate layer of cookie/brownie, and then ganache connecting that to another blondie layer.  Oh my, it was SO delicious (and not to mention, under $400 for two!!).  I created the paper goods which later resulted in...homeseed!!  I did not expect to enjoy that portion of the process so much, but I really did.  We had some very dear friends do the music (I walked down the isle to sigur ros :D) and scripture readings, some more dear friends help with serving the food, a dear friend officiate, and two other very dear friends take the lovely photos below!  

A lot of how we were able to have a wedding as big as ours was with the budget at hand, was thanks to our beautiful community.  So many of our friends and family were willing to help (everyone asked me through our engagement how they could help!).  One of the most beautiful expressions of this willingness to help and sacrifice self was when 3 days before our wedding I slammed my finger in the car door.  I still had a fair bit of my dress to finish, the flowers for bouquets/tables/boutonnieres had not really been started, tags needed to be tied to the guest gifts...and more!!  It was awful, I was so afraid of what was going to happen...but, my wonderful bridesmaids, now mother-in-law, aunts, and cousins took care of the flowers and my mom drove over two hours to rescue my dress!  It was incredible.  So was watching the church get set-up (again, all of these beautiful people are to thank).  It was just an amazing thing to behold-the support, love, and friendship that was surrounding us and our future marriage.  I am so thankful.

One of my favorite memories from the day was of my incredibly peaceful morning.  Some family and friends along with all of the bridesmaids and I stayed right next door at the old convent which has been turned into a wonderful retreat center.  I woke up a couple of hours before any of my bridesmaids and went downstairs to coffee and bagels that were ready to be enjoyed.  I took a long shower and was able to take my time getting ready, not feeling rushed at all (which was amazing, I'm not the most relaxed person when it comes to time).  It was so fun too, to be getting ready with four ladies that mean a whole lot to me.  And then...it SNOWED!  I was so hoping for snow.  It was beautiful.

Well, I think that will do for now, I suppose that wasn't really a little description!  Enjoy!!

Happy eleven months Roger Daniel :)

I hope you liked those!  Here are some of my personal favorites.  Maybe we can call them bloopers?  Just look at the progression of body movement and facial expressions, amazing!  The photos we took with the bridal party might be my favorites... 

 And in these two, I really like how disheveled we look...:)

Thanks for looking, and friends and family-thank you, thank you, thank you for your endless and sacrificial love and support.

venue: St. Elizabeth's

dress: me and my momma!

bridesmaids dresses: Calvin Klein

paper goods: homeseed

coffee: Espresso Guild and La Terza

food: Spicy Pickle and Consumme Soup

photography: Cameron Huntington and Sarah Greco Elam

rings (only the bands, engagement is heirloom!): silverwoods

burlap table numbers/banner: funkyshique

paper goods/rings photography: Joe Lieske

cakes: Take the Cake

flowers/boutonnieres: everyone!

ps...If you have any questions about anything or if you'd like help/ideas for more inexpensive ideas, shoot me an email or leave a comment!