Little Reminders

Good morning! It's a beautiful but chilly morning here in Florida. This year we have had the warmest winter I can even remember, with about five straight weeks with highs in the upper 70's, low 80's. So bizarre. I know one day I will be sorry I complained, but I have my cute winter clothes sitting in the closet that miss being worn, and the weeks are slipping away before we have permanent hotness. Florida, be merciful! Bring back the cold more often!

Anyways, I have just been really encouraged the past couple of days. My wonderful roomie and friend (and also bridesmaid!) had several of us over yesterday to her family's house and a community dinner to celebrate the life of her younger brother, who passed away a year ago today. I can't even imagine how this feels, and it makes me cry when I think about how I would deal with losing my own little brother. There is way too much to say about that. But I left the dinner service encouraged by the life he and his friend lived before God took them home. Their living testimonies to Christ, as well as their great senses of humor and personalities, very clearly live on and push people to know God more and have fun while serving Him wholeheartedly.

I am so glad that we can both mourn and celebrate at the same time. It is not an immediate place at which to arrive, but when it happens, it is beautiful. We all need reminders every day of who we really are and what we were meant to be. Which is why I think of ways to infiltrate my daily life with little reminders like these.

I encourage you to use somewhere like the lock screen on your phone or iPod as an advertisement space for truth. You look at it SEVERAL times a day. Even if you don't read the words every single time, you know what it says when you see it, and those very words will jump out at you and make you stop in your tracks when you need to remember them. Fill your everyday life with truth, even in the littlest ways.

This is my lock screen for my iPod touch. It gets the important message across, that we only find salvation in God's grace. Our good works aren't good enough to save us, but our bad works aren't enough to erase God's bountiful, endless forgiveness and redemption. There is nothing we can do to earn it on our own or destroy it on our own. All it takes is the personal choice by faith to say, "Yes, Lord, You love me and created me for relationship with You and others. I am not meant to do life alone, and I can't be made new by my own efforts. I want to know You and spend eternity with You, because You are perfectly good and full of light, and provide wisdom and love through Your Spirit to push me on through my life on earth. I want to arrive home at the end of it before Your throne to spend forever loving the only, amazing God."

Serious Sunday is now over, haha. Not really! We can be serious but happy at the same time. Have a wonderful day, I pray the best for you!

- Lara

Favorite Ladies

Good evening, folks! Tonight is another night spent doing wedding work for me, which is really not so bad at all. I am loving having my creative touch in different things, from what I mail out to what will be sitting on the tables and chairs and hanging on the walls. No one will have exactly what I do! It's the best having an original!

This is something that I don't mind sharing, though, because it's only meant for a select few to see. In weddings, most brides choose to ask some close friends and family to stand beside them at the altar as bridesmaids. It's so hard to pick sometimes (at least it was for me!) I have no sisters or girl cousins to ask, and it was ALL based on friends. And I have so many who are pretty much equally close! But I made that difficult decision and cut down to 4 of my best friends. And then came the fun part!

Bridesmaid cards!!!!

What girliness you can't use on your wedding invitations -- my husband-to-be is decidedly not pink -- you get to unleash for one glorious moment on your ladies. And I jumped into that big puddle of pink and rolled around in it. But anyways. :) That first side of the card is a freebie, and the second can be changed up to fit the occasion! Pretty nice, if I do say so myself.

Now, I should get back to the hard part. But it's looking pretty spiffy so far. Have a sweet weekend!

Brief V-Day Additions

Hey, y'all! Just flying along through my last semester of college here... what a scary thought! It's already pretty much February, which I just can't believe. Between class, graduation plans, and wedding plans, I am a crazy lady these days!

In my spare moments when I am thirsty for a break, though, I am loving some sweet colors and ideas for Valentine's Day cards. You can do them up as girly or as universal as you want, it depends on your particular Valentine's inclinations. :) Mine is already on a crusade against my pink/flowery/sparkly things entering our future home, so let's just say he has boundaries when it comes to frilliness. But, without shame, I will embrace my feminine ways and hang onto my girly stuff as long as humanly possible!

Yes, cute things, you are perfectly fine by me. And these could be so much more offensively pink power. Definitely feeling the bokeh effect on the second one right now. I might just have to make that my personal thank you card or stationery style.

Maybe more lovey dovey cards are in the making, maybe not. It just depends on how crazy things get up in here. But the next time I need a brain break, you know where I'll be!

- Lara

There Were Bells

Well, howdy, y'all! Things have been crazy around here... and gosh, do I have news for you!

I will be needing to print some wedding invites of my own now. :)

That's right, I'm engaged!!! I can still barely believe it, and it's been two weeks! I'm so excited. The funny thing is, what very little wedding planning I have done has been a pain. It's so hard to find somewhere in Orlando that is cheap but pretty to have a wedding or a reception at. I've been slaving over this for hours and hours each day to so little avail. Is it weird that I already kind of wish I was just getting eloped? Haha!

Nah, it will be so much fun once I can get to the thing that I like best: making things that are pretty! I'm much more excited about finding things in the colors Darin and I like, figuring out how to make the whole thing schmancy without spending too much money. (We are two poor college students, after all. Although he just got an awesome full-time job, so he'll be super busy but saving up the dough!)

I just wanted to give you guys a taste of what is to come...

This is rather tentative, I really wanted a lighter peach in there somewhere. And I think it's my computer screen, but that middle yellow keeps looking green when I take a minute away from it. Maybe a 6 color palette isn't too psycho. Well, either way, this is what we're working with for a bright, relaxed July wedding! It's one of the easier things for me to decide on right now. I might go insane with all the other things, haha.

No matter what, though, it's just one day of your life. The days that follow it are SO much more significant and define us, and I'm thrilled to be spending them with a God-desiring man who also cracks me up every day and does what he thinks is right. Love at first sight if I ever saw it!

Anyways, I'll keep doing stuff when I get the chance, but I hope you had a great holiday and are finding refreshment and hope in the Lord!

- Lara

Rock That Chevron

Hot pink. It's a zesty, fun, unabashedly girly color. I used to hate pink pretty passionately but am now a completely different woman. It's very hard to explain. But today, I can appreciate a healthy dose of pink every now and then!

And TRY and tell me chevron isn't the best pattern ever these days! I was actually inspired by a super cute shirt at Old Navy I saw today when I was out Christmas shopping with my mom. It's on sale, by the way, so if you're into this kind of thing, you will only be about $7 poorer. Just sayin'.

In fact, it even looks cute in yellow...

Any who, hope you're getting everything done that you need to this Christmas season and are able to enjoy its true meaning at the same time! Maybe print out some thank you cards for your sweet friends and family for just being who they are. :)

- Lara

Oh You Fancy, Huh?

Some people are fancy people. They are swirly, curly, diamonds & pearls, champagne, and roses... or at least they are on the inside. When it's up to them to throw a big bash, they order swan ice sculptures and set out the silky tablecloths.

Some people, on the other hand, are no-frills. They are straight lines, black & white, martinis, and minimalists. They are likelier to throw a downtown party with a lot less glitz and a lot more fashion in form. Still sophisticated, still modern, but a lot less concerned with being too romantic and flowery.

There are people whose wedding invitations will have silver ribbons and an Edwardian cursive writing, and there are people who aim to impress in a different way.

This design didn't begin today, actually. It is a variation on one that I made a couple of months ago for my boyfriend's birthday. I got a two photo frame and put a pic of us on the top and filled the bottom part with this design. It looks different from the following design in a few ways but that it an original and will not be duplicated. :)

If you know me, you might see a resemblance with these silhouettes... haha!

What a sexy font! To some it might seem plain, but to me, it is fresh. I think the faces and the heart are fun, especially if someone were to have the front of their invitations refer to scripture. It's a balance of a beautiful truth about what love is really founded on with a reminder that the wedding will be anything but grave. I am really liking it! I think I will save a few things for the future... hmmmm. :)

Well, Star Wars IV is beginning to get good again. (Thanks Spike TV!) Back to what I do best -- nerding out a little bit on my Saturday nights! Sweet dreams, friends!

- Lara

Christmas Time Is Here!: Part Trois

Have I really nothing better to do?! Well, without any rambling, let me just get to Suite #2 of my Christmas cards...

The first one looks like an ad almost, which is kind of why I like it so much. Lots of bright red and bold fonts. This is great for people who aren't about the swirly cursive cards, which can sometimes communicate mushiness or femininity I think. Plain and simple, and could even just be "virtual Christmas cards" one can post on a website, blog, or whatever is that one's little heart desires.

You might see me around here again today. But hopefully I will find something more important to do!

- Lara