Snaps from the Weekend

Did everyone have a good weekend?? We sure did! We are just embracing this amazing, long anticipated Fall weather! I made pumpkin waffles Saturday morning and we took lil' Olive to the Pumpkin Patch for the first time yesterday =) My mom had a good laugh when I told her we were taking our little pup with her bestie Clementine to pick out some pumpkins. She said I am acting like I have a kid... but in my opinion, this is better, for right now anyway.

We had so much fun walking around looking at Olive size pumpkins and taking pictures on the hay bails. Olive was pretty distracted by everything going on, but she managed to pick one out!

I even carved a little pump for Olive! Every time she goes outside she stopped to smell and lick the top of it, it's so funny. Have you guys carved your pumpkins yet?! What did you carve? I've seen some pretty crazy ones so far!

Life & Biz Update

 Hi friends. Today, I'm writing from a tired, excited, overwhelmed place. I've been writing this blog for about 3 years now. It started out as an assignment for one of my Journalism classes in college and turned into a platform to share my favorite ideas, projects, as well as document my business from conception to where it is today. So, needless to say, it means a lot to me. I feel like my entire life has been documented on this blog. I spend a lot of time planning projects, executing them, working with other vendors to host giveaways and guest posts. Because I love it - not because my blog is my business. I don't make money off my blog. I get joy from doing it and reading your comments and hearing and learning from YOU as well!

With that being said, I'm in the process of moving my business into a beautiful studio (eeek!) shared with some fabulous wedding vendor ladies and I am on cloud 9. This is the space where I will be meeting with clients, holding consults, sharing table mockups, and possibly working on some DIY projects as well. With that said, I have my work cut out for me the next few months...  So, if you enjoy this blog and get some inspiration and/or encouragement from it, let me know! Sometimes when life gets busy, it's nice to know someone is reading and all the time is well spent.

I'm incredibly excited about this new business venture and with many new phases in life, I'm trying to just enjoy this whole process and not get overwhelmed. I think it's so easy for people to get in the mindset of "well, next month everything will be awesome" or "I just want to be here in my business" and always have your head in the future of the hopeful or looking forward state. I just want to BE PRESENT. So what does this have to do with the blog? Well, I'd love to document this whole phase for me and my business... but I also want to keep my readers in mind as well. Based on my Google tracking, some of the highest read posts are my DIY and the few fashion posts (which I will have more of!) and lately, the wedding recaps and photos of my new inventory don't get much traffic. So I don't want to bore you people =)

I will be trying my best to be present in this crazy exciting process, and if you want to hear about the journey, leave me a comment and let me know! And if you've been in a similar situation, I'd love to hear how you have stayed present in the moment! 

Inspiration Round Up

It's 7am on Monday morning, and typically I'm not up this early... I'm not going to lie. Mondays  are usually spend cleaning, organizing, and recovering from a long weekend of events. But today I have breakfast meetings, proposals to present to packaging clients, invoicing, more meetings, and hopefully I'll squeeze a yoga class in there at some point. It's a long busy day, but I'm up early and wide awake because what I do is inspiring to me. The more I work on projects, the more I get inspired with more ideas and new found energy. It can be related to the project or for something totally different. Usually this blog is a platform for me to share with you. But I'd love for this place to be a platform where we can share with each other. I learn so much and grow so much the more I talk with others and hear what inspires them, and what drives them. We all have a story to tell, and I am continually inspired by people's stories. So today, on this beautiful Monday... I'd love to hear what INSPIRES YOU. It can be anything, and can inspire you in anyway. I just want to learn a little bit about you today. So don't be shy, let's inspire each other!

Beach Day!

I know my posts have been a little sparse... I have so many fun DIY's, fashion posts, & wedding sneak peaks to share with you! It's just finding the time to get them on here =) So, here is a little peak into our lives in the meantime. To take a break from the crazy busy season and this awful heat, the mister and I decided to take our little Olive to the beach for the first time! We had no idea how she would react to the enormous ocean, sand, and all the other people and dogs around... and she loved every minute of it! Even when we decided to throw her into the water to see if she could swim haha. Here are a few snaps from my phone of Olive just thoroughly enjoying the day, have a wonderful Monday friends!

1 Year Down...

Many, many more to go! This past weekend, Mr. H and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary. It's just so crazy to think that we've already been married a year. So many people say the first year is the hardest, and to be honest... I think we were just having so much fun, we didn't even realize the year was almost up! I love this man so much and wouldn't be where I am today without him.

He had the whole weekend planned, starting off with couples hot stone massages Saturday morning, then some thrifting, then shopping at the cutest vintage soda shop where I got the BEST lavender lemon soda =) Then, we spent the day in Santa Monica and shopped, went to the beach, and had a delicious brunch. We took a bunch of Polaroids just like we had done years and years before when we were in college.  And that was just Saturday! He had all of Sunday planned as well. I'd say he's a keeper! Here are just a few from our fabulous weekend!

 We spent a lot of our anniversary talking about our wedding and how much we loved it. This is probably one of our favorite parts of our wedding. Our amazing video by Ryan McDuff!

Andy & Emilee Wedding Film from ryan mcduff on Vimeo.

Finding Calm in the Crazy

This past weekend, I had back to back weddings on Sat & Sun in 2 different towns. So despite the potential craziness, Mr. H and I decided we were going to make the most of the weekend. We were headed to Corona for the first wedding, which is where my parents live & is also near my bestie, Lauren. So we saw the fam bam, went thrifting through Old Town Orange and ate at a killer BBQ place, then headed off to Pasadena for wedding #2. Did the whole set up for a super cute travel inspired wedding at the Castle Green, and then headed out to visit with my in-laws and our adorable little nieces so they could meet Olive... then around 10pm went back to pick up the rentals. Phew! That was exhausting just thinking about. Through all the craziness, it was so nice to spend a weekend with family and friends and enjoy the beautiful summer weather. And yesterday, I spent the day by the pool drinking iced tea, and just letting my body relax - just what I needed!

 

What did YOU do this 3 day weekend?? I'd love to hear and see your photos =)

Olive : 16 Weeks

So Olive is now just over 16 weeks old! Last weekend we were finally able to take her outside and boy did she have a blast. Mr. H and I had so much fun with her at the park - just our little family hanging out. Here are a couple of my favorite shots from her playing in the park as well as a fun little video =) Hope you all had a great weekend! Stay tuned for some awesome DIYs as well as a fun new series this week on the blog!

I'm On Instagram!

... finally geez! I'm so excited for this new fun world to be apart of! I'm still learning the ins and outs, but I'd love to follow you! You can find me at Emilee_h - Lately I've been posting new healthy recipes I'm trying and lots of my little Olive. Mr. H thinks I need to tone down the Olive part so I don't annoy my friends haha. So follow me, I'd love to see all your awesome photos!

Here are some of my latest - to give you a taste if you haven't seen them already =) Happy Thursday!

Ecuador Love

Yesterday I had the opportunity of being apart of a truly beautiful experience. A wedding between 2 people: 1 Ecuadorian, 1 SoCal girl, 2 beautiful families, and an amazing community that rallied around the people that they love. I am not much of a crier, but this was such a super emotional wedding for me & I can't quite put my finger on it... but I think it is just being around each of the families and living with them up to the wedding and hearing so much about them and just seeing first hand how much they love each other - it is just what a wedding should be about. So this is just a little sneak peak from the day - it's just a screen shot, hence the random mouse image haha. Hope everyone has a happy Easter!

38 Hours Later

I finally made it to Ecuador! The trip ended up taking about 24 hours longer than expected, but we're here and we had a blast along the way. Here is a snapshot of the only thing I've seen so far haha... But I would say it's pretty awesome! I will hopefully have many more to share, but until then... I will be catching up on sleep =)

Hawaii From My Phone

Hello blog friends! I know I said this was coming waay sooner than now... I feel like I've been playing catchup ever since I got back in February! But since so many of you stopped by during my "Honeymoon Blog Party" I do owe you some photos from my not-so-honeymoon trip - I just can't get over how beautiful the water was, the photos don't even do it justice! The ocean was just so massive - and amazing. Anyways, I explain was happened to mine and Mr. H's trip in this post HERE. But basically, I ended up going with my dear friend from college and we had a girls trip instead. It turned out to be a blast and some much needed girl time! Here are a few snaps from our adventures on the boat & on the islands! Have a great Tuesday!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Wow! I cannot believe I am 25 today. This has been a crazy year - and I cannot wait to see what this year holds for us. 25 is a quarter of a century!! Just nuts. Anyways, for my birthday Mr. H got me the sweetest lil' thing ever. Her name is Olive and she is a doxie mix. And I love her! She is seriously the cutest little puppy and she has consumed our lives. We spend every morning encouraging a 2 pound puppy to go potty and we cheer for her like we've won the lottery. Haha, oh how things change! Here is a little snapshot  & a video of our little girl, and I'm off to spend the day finishing projects and celebrating the day!

 

Valentines Recap

Did everyone have a great day yesterday? I sure did, not the sort of chocolate and flowers sort of day. Just a nice evening spend doing normal things with the person I love. Mr. H and I actually did our little valentines extravaganza this past weekend just doing silly things with each other. We slept in and cuddled (awwww) we made red velvet pancakes, baked TONS of goodies for our friends, saw The Vow, bought each other presents and the Dollar Store and played in the park. Overall a fantastic Valentines if you ask me. Here is just a little photo collage of our weekend from our phones. So, what did you guys do for Valentines??

 

In other news... we added our new sponsors to the blog

<----- right over there to the left! So be sure to check out these 

fabulous vendors! They seriously rock.

 

Post Super Bowl Food Coma

Anyone have a fabulous Super Bowl Sunday? I sure did, and I don't even like football! I honestly don't even know anything about the teams or the sport for that matter, but I had a blast yelling at the players to block and "don't drop the ball!" Half the time I was just reading off a napkin that had football terms on it for decoration =) However, I did have fun making a sweet little treat for the day: Little strawberry footballs! Thanks to my creative friend Christina Dely, I got the idea to make these practically the day before. They were so super easy I just had to share! Just think of the possibilities you can make these for - birthdays for little boys, Monday night football, you can even just add little hearts instead for Valentines Day!

Now, I'm off to recover from my food coma! What did you do for Super Bowl this year?

I'm Back!!!

Hello fabulous friends! I'm happy to announce that I am back to the world of reality and can I just say... 2 weeks feels like forever! I seriously feel like I've been gone a month. However, it is nice to have a tan in February =) Above is one of my favorite photos snapped from my phone during our time in Kauai. I'll be showing you much more photos, so don't you worry.

Just wanted to give you all a reminder about the Blog Party we had going on while I was away. Be sure you get a chance to read all the guests posts and the blogger with the most comments will get free ad space here on the blog - so leave them some love!


Tips for Packing for your Honeymoon by Dean Street Society
Tasteful Favorites by Meghan Christine Photography
Destination Anywhere by Jillian Nicole (NOTE: we recently updated her weblink, so go check that out for the new links!)
Getting The Most from Facebook by Donna Queza Marketing Optimist
DIY Minimalist Makeup by Molly Reynolds Makeup Artist
Achieving Your Goals by Cassie of A Time for Everything
5 Ways to Tap Into Your Creative Style by Purple Meadows Events
Anthro Inspired DIY - by One Handspun Day

New Year, New Plans

It's finally starting to feel back to normal again over here. With the holidays over (as fabulous as they were) and the house starting to be put back together, and all the gingerbread cookies and turkey leftovers are all gone! Now, I'm ready to get back to work and rock and roll, starting with a healthy new outlook on food. I never post about food on here, but I thought I would just share a little personality to the blog today. I have never been a huge fan of veggies. I don't mind the taste, and if they are put in front of me, I'll eat them. But I have never really consciously worked at getting them into my meal planning. Until now. I just really wanted to incorporate them more into our lives and Mr. H felt the exact same way.

So last "a ha" moment was last week, and I'm here to report things are going great! In fact, I even snapped a photo or 2 of my amazing breakfast I had this morning =) I'm sure someone else out there has come up with this before, but I felt pretty proud of myself for thinking, no, I wont eat banana bread, I'll make something w/ veggies!

The details:
toast
2 eggs
tomato
avacado
cilantro

Calling All Bloggers!

Well, it is officially 2012 and I am loving every minute of it. Things are already in motion for a very busy and rewarding year! And one thing in particular that I am beyond excited about is my honeymoon!!! I know what you're thinking, "didn't you get married like 6 months ago?" And you'd be right, I did. But with Mr. H's fire academy and everything, we scheduled our big honeymoon for mid-Jan. A 2 week cruise to... Hawaii!! We've never been on a cruise before so we are just jumping up and down with excitement. With that said, I'm doing some prep work for the 'ol blog while I'm away. A Blog Party!! Gearing up for some fun DIY posts as well as tons of guest bloggers. That's where you come in. My dear friends, readers, and fellow artists - I need your help. I'm looking for everyone, DIY enthusiasts, chefs, writers, photographers, makeup artists, advice givers, health coaches - you name it. I want the last to weeks of January to just be a community of gals sharing their insights to the world - all in one place!

So if this is something you'd be interested in, email me at TastefulTatters@gmail.com to sumbit your request. Please include a link to your blog (if you have one) and your idea or concept for your post. I am so excited to see what you all come up with!!

One more exciting part to this blog party... I'm adding ad spots on the blog for 2012 and the posts with the top 3 number of comments gets free ad space on the blog! How fun is that? So if you get chosen to do a post, I will tell you what day your post will go live and you spread the word and get your friends and networks to comment!

Merry & Bright

Just a little sneak peak of our first Christmas cards Mr. H and I will be sending out this year! This isn't the actual one, but I do love it. And we definitely had fun wrapping ourselves up in those lights. They are actually really hot haha. Hope you guys have a wonderful Friday!

CCLA Recap: On Being Well

This last Sunday I had the opportunity to host yet another Creative Connection USA Event, this time at the ING Direct Cafe (They are THE coolest bank ever!). I cannot say enough how much I just love these ladies. They continue to inspire me in more ways than I could have imagined. And Sunday was no exception. I was feeling majoring under the weather and these girls just encouraged me so much! My favorite part about this meet-up was that we got to hear from Erin from Well in LA share on staying healthy and balanced while running your own business. It was like everything she was saying struck a chord in my life... and I am happy to stay that I have already started making changes in my daily routine. She has a way of taking things that we know we should be doing... but making them seem simple and attainable. If you'd like to learn more about Creative Connection USA, you can check out our Facebook Page here and you can send me your email at la@creativeconnectionusa.com to get on the mailing list.

These are just a few of the many amazing tips that Erin shared with us on Sunday. I decided to focus on these first and I'm happy to report that I am starting off well and ready to feel the difference of a healthy & balanced life!

Snapshots of my life

This last week, week and a half has been completely nuts. Between juggling my 8-5 job which has been more like 7:30-7:30 job along with launching 2 new items for the shoppe and meeting new clients and delivery pieces for Treasures, there has just been little blogging time - I'm so sorry! But I promise I'm planning better and have some fun guest posts planned from our interns soon. They are just so darn cute =) Anyways, to give you a little glimpse of my crazy life lately - with simply photos I captured on my phone... aren't phones awesome these days?? Anyone out there get the new iphone 5 yet?? The wallet & shoes are my latest purchases... I'm in love!