Hello, Beautiful!

Let’s talk about the major Insta love ya’ll have been kind enough to throw my way lately, shall we?

She Remembered Who She Was – And the Game Changed

I am so excited about the way this blog has grown during the last few months! I launched Weddings & Wanderlust on March 15th with 702 follower friends I hoped wouldn’t be too annoyed with me for suddenly blowing up their timeline.

Now, four months later, the blog’s following has MORE THAN DOUBLED in size . . . that’s almost 900 NEW follower friends, and I couldn’t be more thrilled that you’re all along for this ride with me. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU – from the very bottom of my heart – for following my Instagram and Blog.

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I created Weddings & Wanderlust because creativity truly drives me. I went to law school because I am passionate about justice and knowing one’s rights under the law, and because I wanted to be able to afford my own horse stable one day. (Yes. Really.) I love working as a corporate attorney and wouldn’t trade it for the world, but that’s just not the only who I am. As challenging and incredible as it is to get to do what I do on a daily basis, that’s not all I can do.

“Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist.” – Pablo Picasso

I have to remember who I was before the world got a hold of me and tried to shape me into who I should be.

Intellect and intelligence are important, but creativity is like intelligence getting to have a bit of fun. Seeing something in the store or in my mind (or, lesbehonest, on Pinterest!) and deciding I could make that instead of buying it gives me such a rush. Imagining something that doesn’t exist and then deciding I could create that fills me with courage and confidence.

Sharing is Caring – Sharing Our Creativity is Like Sharing a Piece of Our Souls With the World

You see, creativity is the way I share my soul with the world.

Every time I create something for the Blog or my Etsy Page – each recipe, outfit, photo shoot, or product partnership – a little piece of my heart goes into that project. Adding these passions in on top of a day job, a marriage, and FOUR fur babies can be challenging, but I get so excited when I think about making things, ya’ll . . . I figure whatever we’re meant to do, we should just go ahead and do it now because the surrounding conditions will always be impossible.

Creativity has long been a beloved hobby of mine that has slowly become a way of life. I’ve found that it’s contagious, too, which is quite lovely. I love playing with the evening light and camera settings with my blogging and photography friend, Cindy. We feed off of each other’s energy and get so excited about the smallest photographic details . . . I always leave our hangs with all the feels.

I also recently tried sewing with my coworker Traci, and believe me . . . I was so nervous when I showed up to her gorgeous King’s Mountain farm! I truly didn’t think that 2 yards of Wonder Woman flannel fabric from WalMart and a $2 pattern could yield an actual functional pair of pajama pants, but let me tell you . . . two hours later I was driving home in the comfiest pair of pj’s I’ve ever owned . . . made by yours truly!

I mean, to be perfectly honest, it took me that entire two hours to understand why I was sewing the fabric right side to right side – AKA inside out! – but I sure as heck was sewing it.

Talk about a whole new feeling of self love when you accomplish something like successfully clothing yourself for the first time. (I know, I know . . . I’m way too stoked that I can cook, clean, and make clothes, and I’m basically one log cabin building sesh away from being a colonist.)

But I’m hooked to that feeling . . . that “I (actually) did it!” moment.

And that brings me back to my favorite passion . . . photography. Whether I’m looking for the right light or or positioning my clients, there is nothing that compares to the feeling you get when successfully capture a beautiful moment in time for someone else.

That collaborative connection you feel when you’re creating magic with others is contagious . . . it is meant to be shared with the world, to be passed on.

It’s All About Finding the Calm in the Chaos

So let me drop the “A-word” on ya’ll real quick: Anxiety. Something a lot of us deal with, and maybe not necessarily very well. That feeling like you’ve just missed a step while walking down the stairs, and your stomach lurches . . . but for much longer.

I first started experiencing anxiety during law school. I was in a new educational environment and wasn’t sure how I’d measure up to the other students around me. Thomas and I were struggling to make ends meet while praying we could keep up – and keep our scholarships – and it really hit me just how much of my future was riding on every waking moment of those intense three years.

Hands-down, anxiety hit me the hardest during the three solid months of Bar Exam study that came right after law school graduation. I’d finished law school, but I knew that $220,000.00 item being “checked off the list” just wasn’t enough; nothing like knowing your entire ability to become an attorney all comes down to the way random people you’ve never even met before grade you on ONE TEST.

Fast forward to passing the Bar Exam, getting a job, getting married, and then immediately having an unexpected spine surgery . . . I now realize that there’s always going to be something challenging to go through in life . . . Apparently, this is “adulting.” Life will probably always throw reasons to feel anxious my way, so the best thing I can do is channel that energy into all things positive.

“The best use of imagination is creativity. The worst use of imagination is anxiety.” -Deepak Chopra

The creative process itself helps me channel all my thoughts because it’s like a cycle of self-love every time. What I mean by that is . . .

Typically, when I start a project – let’s call it a canvas – I’m thinking to myself, “This is awesome!” I’m sketching out what I want to draw lightly in pencil imagining all of the possibilities. Then . . . as I start painting . . . I begin thinking, “This is tricky.” Then the paint does exactly what I don’t need to do, and I think, “Uh-oh. This might actually be crap.”

As I start to work through the problem areas on my canvas, of course, I try to remain positive. “There ARE no mistakes, nobody knows what this was supposed to be but ME,” I tell myself, just like I would during ballet performances. After all, nobody in the audience knew the dance. It’s usually right around this point in the process that I make a mistake it seems there’s no coming back from, and the thought hits me: “Okay, THIS isn’t crap. I’M crap.”

But it never fails that with a little concentration and the will to keep trying, something magical happens. I don’t even realize it’s happening, but before I even know it I am completely lost to the therapeutic focus that takes over my mind. “The canvas – and the world that will see it – can have all of me . . . the good and the bad,” I tell myself as I push through. Pretty soon after I lose myself in concentration, I start seeing the project completely differently. “This MIGHT be okay,” I think to myself as my mind works faster than my eyes can process.

By the time I’m adding my final touches to the canvas, my original thought has fully transformed from “This is awesome!” to “I’M awesome!”

There is so much beauty in harnessing doubt and deciding not to be afraid. May we all live a life that is driven by curiosity and creativity, not by anxiety or fear.

Do What Lights You Up – “Here Goes Nothing!” Could be the Beginning of EVERYTHING

I started this beloved little blog of mine to create a positive space filled with inspiration and all things lovely. Whether you find it in my imagery, quotes, recipes, thoughts, crafts, or the Kim Kardashian and Kristen Wiig GIFs I like to sprinkle in, I hope you leave my Instagram and Blog with a smile. I hope that something here at Weddings & Wanderlust inspires you, empowers you, and brings you joy.

After all, empowered women empower women.
Let’s root for each other and watch each other grow.

Behind the Blog – 8 Things You Didn’t Know About Me

*Matthew McConahey voice*
Alright, alright, alright.

Now that I’ve reintroduced the blog and what this creative space is all about, I want to celebrate our 872 NEW FOLLOWERS by sharing a EIGHT fun things you don’t know about ME . . . . .

I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but I’m completely obsessed with the History Channel show “Ancient Aliens.” There are a ton of seasons on Netflix right now if you’re in need of a major binge sesh . . . I’m talking episodes for days. But you’ve been warned: some of the thoughts, ideas, and proposals on this show are out there . . . I mean, REALLY out there. I like “Ancient Aliens” because it gets me thinking, even if I don’t agree with the commentators.
My husband and I have ultra-creepy “twin moments” All. The. Time. We’ll turn to each other and wink at the same, say the exact same sentence at the same time, or start singing the same line of the same song at the same time. Out of nowhere, too. It’s so strange, and we do it all the time.
I have 8 tattoos, and each and every one of them means something special to me. I’ve gotten two of them with my best friend Chloe, and those nights – from Blue Plum Festival in Johnson City to Bar Review in Chicago – are probably my two favorite experiences.
I love the way my best friend Randi-Carole smells and always have. She used to douse us in her perfume before we’d leave for any college party, and I always felt so special getting to share her signature scent with her. Even her body washes and lotions smell the BEST . . . above anything I would pick out on my own. If I could smell like any person in the world at all times, it would be you, RC. I know that’s weird.
I will eat a cherry tomato – or really any kind of tomato – right off the vine, and in the heat of the day. I’m obsessed with the way sunshine tastes in a tomato.
Hummingbirds are a special symbol to me. They remind me of my mom and her stepmom, my Nana, who passed away fairly recently. Growing up, my mom had hummingbird feeders sprinkled everywhere around our house, throughout our walkways and gardens. Hummingbirds were always flitting around, and I loved when my mom would excitedly point them out to me. About five minutes before my mom called to tell me Nana passed away – while I was outside walking my pups – a hummingbird flew closely around me. I was completely mesmerized by how close it was flying near me despite our three giant dogs, and suddenly I felt completely at peace. And when I got back inside, I got the call.
I am convinced that the postal service workers in our area legitimately don’t even attempt to deliver our packages. USPS and UPS both have sent me text message delivery attempt notifications . . . while Thomas and I have been at home, sitting in the living room, quietly talking to each other, or maybe watching TV at a normal volume (because we live in an apartment). We have three big puppers that hear all kinds of activity we somehow don’t ALL THE TIME, and they’re sure to let us know by barking. It’s so frustrating to casually check outside the door to see if the delivery truck is in the neighborhood to find a delivery attempt tag on your door . . . when you were inside waiting for the package.
We named our new kitten Belle after the character from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” a movie I grew up completely in love with. But I already posted about that on Instagram. The little-known part is that when I was a little girl I would actually carry around my dad’s heavy books I was way too young to read on errands with my mom. Don’t ask me why, but there I was, walking around a busy mall or grocery store with my nose in a book pretending to be my favorite Disney Princess.

Thanks again for following along with the blog! And a special thanks to the beautiful woman behind these photos, my girl Cindy, of Cindy Lauren Photography and Waterhouse Studios.