Category Archives: Life In Atlanta

Personal & Handmade Holiday Gifts

14th December 2014

It seems every holiday season, for as long as I can remember, I have had a mile long to-do list of DIY Christmas gifts. When I discovered Etsy, it was if a whole new world of inspiration and even more perfectly designed crafts was opened to me (you mean I can buy this in exchange for my feeble Pinterest fail?).

Flash forward a few years, and the combination of a few evenings of craftiness with friends, perusing Etsy shops and local favorite Atlanta boutiques makes Christmas shopping seems a lot less daunting – even with ten days to go.

Here are a few of the gifts on my list for events past and present, including a few that made appearances in our wedding.

handmade holiday

/1/Linen Laid & Felt Journal. Shop owner Katie is a friend from college, now living in Nashville. We were thrilled to have one of her books in our wedding this November. /2/ 2015 Calendar from The Postman’s Knock. Since beginning calligraphy myself about a year ago, Lindsey has been one of my favorite to follow on Instagram. /3/ Gold Bar Necklace from Edor. I’ve ordered from this shop twice now for friends, I just love the small bar with a monogram or name as a personal gift you can wear every day. /4/ Not quite a gift (maybe for yourself), but I can’t get enough of these tulle skirts from Kellie Falconer. Paired with a sweater, they make a great Christmas party or NYE look. Despite protests from my now husband, I rocked an ivory skirt for our rehearsal dinner.

I’ll follow up with where I land on the actual crafts, but for now, these seem like great places to start.

PS looking for last minutes gift ideas in Atlanta and don’t have time for shipping? Here are a few of my go-to local Atlanta shops.

/1/ Krog Street Market /2/ Sugarboo & Co /3/ Kudzu Antiques

If you’re a small business owner, check out Kabbage’s Holiday Planning page, full of tips for the season. Kabbage is an online provider of small business loans and serves as a resource for entrepreneurs to thrive in their local communities. While the contents of this post are in no way intentionally connected to Kabbage, their model is one I very much respect.

Rock Hopping The Hooch

2nd August 2014

There are few things I love more than spending summer afternoons along the river. While I didn’t capture a single photo on last weekend’s canoeing adventure with Shoot the Hooch, (though my phone would have survived as we didn’t tip that thing once) I did snap a few on our most recent trek across the Chattahoochee thanks to my Nathan Shadow Pack a few weekends ago.

Who needs a pool when you have views like these?

While Atlanta may not have the mountains of some of my other metro loves (ahem Denver), living with beautiful adventures like these just a fifteen minute drive away is quite the perk.

Having a fiancé that knows the river like the back of his hand as a perk, makes spending a Sunday afternoon simply hopping from one rock, as far as our Chacos would take us even sweeter.

Bliss, it looks like Vida would most certainly agree.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, Summer, don’t leave.

Sipping tea with the bride to be

25th March 2014

Hosting friends and family over might just be my favorite part of this whole living in a space larger than an apartment thing, so when my best friend since middle school asked if I would be interested in hosting her bridal shower, I’m certain I squealed with a yes.

I’ve known Kristen since the sixth grade and we’ve always been quite the girly duo, so a tea party seemed like the perfect excuse to wear big hats and drink frilly things – all while surrounded by some of her favorite people.

While we didn’t drink any actual hot tea, it just didn’t seem fitting to have a bridal shower we made do with Arnold Palmers and a fun champagne cocktail that also happened to be insanely easy to make.

Thanks to the occasion and C Wonder, I finally had an excuse to purchase a cute little tea pot I’d had my eye on for quite some time, because if there’s anything that makes tea taste even better, it’s a decorative tea pot.

I simply cannot wait for this little lady’s big day in just more than five weeks – FIVE. Thankful doesn’t begin to describe how much love I share for her, Rian and the friendship we’ve been able to share over the years.

In the theme of something sweet, here’s the recipe to the “Blushing Bride” cocktail, which seemed to be quite a hit for a spring afternoon.