Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 28-31

I did it.  I completed the Capture December Pinterest Challenge.  Below are days 28-31 (see days 1-9 here, 10-18 here, and 19-27 here).  The challenge was fun and I'm proud of myself for sticking with something.

28. Words - I'm reading Wheat Belly.  It's awesome.  If you haven't read it, you should.
29. Sky View - Sophie loved sitting on Josh's lap at the Haugo Family Christmas.
30. Your Winter Wonderland - Thanks to the awesome blizzard, the oustside of my house looked like this.  Beautiful, isn't it?
31. Fun - Iowa State played in the Liberty Bowl in Memphis. Even though they lost, they are still my favorite team.  Go State!

And herein ends my daily December Instagram updates.

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 19-27

Here's an update to my Capture December Pinterest Challenge (see days 10-18 here and days 1-9 here).  I'm still loving it.  The challenge forces me to take photos of things other than Sophie (however, she still makes cameos in some of my photos).

19. Candy canes - I still haven't made anything with them, but I might dress up a dessert this weekend with them.
20. Tree topper - Thanks to Target's Christmas clearance a few years back, I scored our tree topper.  I love it.
21. Peace - I'm on vacation until January 3...so the alarm is set to "off" until then.
22. Tradition - Water with three lemons - that's how I like to order my water at restaurants.  My mom and sister also subscribe to this...and we all got the same thing when we were out to dinner at El Azteca.
23. Scarf - Sophie scored her festive holiday scarf when she got her haircut last week.  She was a little shy about showing it off.
24. Favorite part of Christmas Eve - Josh and I like to watch a movie together on Christmas Eve (last year we went to the movie theater; this year we stayed in). 
25. Morning - We spent most of Christmas Day on the road (first two hours up to my in-laws' farm, then two more hours up to Minneapolis, then back to the farm).
26. Grateful - My mother-in-law put together a scrapbook for my sister-in-law with all of Kalli's noteworthy photos from her childhood.  Since Kalli is pregnant (with a Kappa legacy!), Pam thought it would be fun for Kalli to have this to share with her little girl.  I love thoughtful gifts like this.
28. Nighttime - I'm in relax mode and enjoying a lovely cup of Amy's Blend Tea from Caribou is a perfect way to end the day.

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 10-18

It's December 20, and I haven't missed a day yet of the Capture December Pinterest Challenge (read my original post here, and days 1-9 here) from A Content Housewife.  Below are days 10-18.  Enjoy!

10. Wrapping paper - a look into my gift wrap box (thanks to awesome prop sales over the years)
11. Green - Chat Packs from my Christmas work party
12. A beautiful sight - Sophie in a Mrs. Claus outfit is truly a beautiful sight!
13. Family - we're planning our Christmas plans...it's a bit hectic
14. Christmas tree - one of the trees in the lobby at work
15. Favorite holiday song - Joy to the World screenshot from wikipedia
16. Outside Christmas lights - Josh and I drove around the neighborhood and found some beautiful lights.
17. Presents - I haven't wrapped anything yet, but I do have these awesome Lisa Frank name tags to put on my presents once they're wrapped.
18. Stockings - I dream of matching stockings, but until our family is complete, I just can't justify them.

Capture December Pinterest Challenge: Days 1-9

I've been faithfully participating in the ACH Blogger Challenge (I mentioned it back here). Below are my pictures from Days 1-9. I like how the Instagram photos fill nicely in this grid from PicFrame. It also makes it easier for you (my reader) to not have to scroll through so many photos (I'm thoughtful like that). It's been fun to try to take a photo each day of a new thing. I take a lot of pictures anyway (iCloud loves me), so this makes it fun to do it for a purpose.

1. Your view today - assembling Christmas cards (they turned out as beautifully as I had thought here)
2. Favorite Holiday movie - Elf (here's a link to my favorite clip)
3. Red - who doesn't love a little Stella and Dot?
4. Joyous - Sophie was yawning and we were both about to go to bed. It was the most joyous part of our day.
5. Today's temperature - the grass is still green here in Des Moines and the temperature was in the 50s
6. Shopping - The Mara Mi line at Target is one of my favorites!
7. Bright - I had a photo shoot and it was supposed to feel like summer...so everything was bright!
8. Ornaments - Wal-Mart saved the day for my ugly sweater party where I scored an awesome snowman shirt and these stunning Christmas tree earrings
9. Something your reading - Real Simple's The Simple List is my favorite part of any magazine and I look forward to it every month (and a cup of Amy's Blend tea from Caribou makes it even better!)

I'm really looking forward to the rest of the month.

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Pinterest Challenge: Capture December

I saw this on Pinterest yesterday, and think it's a challenge I can actually complete.  So, here I go, accepting a Pinterest Challenge.  Lianne from A Content Housewife posted a Photo-A-Day Challenge where you take one photo every day that embodies the month of December.  Seems simple enough, right?  I'm already a lover of Instagram, so I don't think it should be too difficult, however I will have to remember to link to her Twitter hashtag: #ACHdecember. The challenge starts in three days.  I should start practicing now... 

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Cassie's Wedding: Part One

It had been about a year in the making, but Cassie's wedding weekend has officially come and pass.  It was a beautiful day that I was honored to spend with her.  The festivities kicked off on Thursday when we met at the hotel, Best Western Plus in Bloomington, to decorate or the reception.  Then, we got gussied up and drove over to the location where the ceremony would be held, Black Bear Crossings on the Lake in St. Paul.  The weather was perfect - high 80s with a little breeze.  We walked through our roles for the ceremony, and then we were of to the rehearsal dinner at Dixies on Grand in St. Paul.  Also, this was the first time I'd had the opportunity to wear the dress I sewed earlier this summer, so I was happy to sport it!

So happy to celebrate her big day!

Cassie's parents walking her down the aisle

The happy couple at the rehearsal dinner

On the morning of the wedding, I surprised Cassie with a special gift.  A couple weeks back, I found an idea on pinterest where the bridesmaids would write a letter to the bride and present it to her on the morning of her wedding.  Well, I loved the idea, but I decided to take it a step further and invite her parents, grandparents, bridesmaids, personal attendants, and then, the most important person from her day, her future husband, to write her a letter.  I was really pleased with how it all turned out.  I purchased a purple 8"x8" scrapbook at Michael's and formatted all the letters in InDesign to fit inside the clear pages.  Each page included a letter and sometimes a photo or two from someone special to Cassie.  I tried to customize the fonts to correspond with the authors of the letters.  Guessing by the pile of tissues next to her when she was done reading the book, I think it was a hit.

Famous Hands

One of my friends just sent me a link to Pinterest.  It's a photo of my hand grouting a glass mosaic tile backsplash.  It's from a couple years back when I worked on a different magazine.  Funny how things appear out of nowhere.  I found the whole slideshow on how to tile a backsplash.  You should try it (if you haven't already).  If I can do it, you can do it!

It's actually really difficult to hold this pose. I was laying on top of the countertop, and I'm pretty sure I had hand cramps.

I heart Pinterest

I found Pinterest over a year ago.  One of my friends who works at bhg.com suggested I join.  I took her up on her invite.  Now I'm addicted.  I design rooms and small projects for work, so it's a lot easier to keep inspiration images in one place (before I had a million bookmarks and printouts - it was messy).  Now, it's all on one handy little site.  Convenient, isn't it? 

Here are a few of my favorite pins lately...

 This Too Shall Pass 8x10 Print by NanLawson

It's one of the lyrics from Tenth Avenue North's song You Are More.

Delightful Lemon Mousse with Raspberry Sauce

Monogrammed Locket (I love mongrams!)