2011 has been a tremendous year. I wasn’t always willing to admit that during the year itself (ask Jon, he’ll tell you), while other times I was overwhelmed with gratitude and contentment. It was too much to post all the photos and write about it so here are some of the highlights:

• a spontaneous overnight stay in Denver with four incredible friends
• getting a free ticket to Alt Summit a week before the conference (Jon won the husband of the year award for pushing me to go despite my reluctance and intimidation whilst sacrificing work time and enduring the 40 hour round trip drive)
• watching our niece Gianna turn one and watching so many friends welcome their beautiful babies into the world including my sweet cousin’s second baby, Cody
• We moved into a charming duplex just 10 minutes from down town and we love it. Hoosier adores it as well!
• craft nights with Rach & Mols
• discovering the awesomeness that is my favorite store in Dallas – We Are 1976 (if you are a Dallasite, you MUST go!)
• having four days off of work with Jon during Dallas’ “Snowpocalypse,” and cooking fun meals and baking cookies
• two Austin trips and one San Fran trip with college friends
• traveling to Salt Lake, Denver, Iowa, Chicago, Kansas City, New York, LA, and San Francisco
• a four-hour picnic in Central Park (this still warms my heart)
• Jon and I did a 10 day detox diet (shocking considering I am a girl who likes her meat, and third helpings)
• saying goodbye to some dear, dear friends (and quite possibly some of the best people we’ll ever know) as they moved to Ohio (Molly come back!)
• we attended a Mad Men welcome party, a casino night birthday party, two of Kyle Steed’s many fantastic art shows, and Molly, Jon, Jordan and I hosted a little 30th shindig for our favorite Rachel
• Jon will always be a highlight of my year. Not only did he plan some unbelievably stellar dates and thoughtful evenings for us, he also chose to uphold his commitment to love me unconditionally everyday as Christ loves the church, whether I deserved it or not. On a side note, he also started wearing bow ties this year. Score!

Obviously there were lows. Obviously there were struggles, insecurities, arguments and tears. But without hardships, how can we enjoy times of abundance in their entirety? I definitely went through what felt like a long season of discontentment and I can say with joy how grateful I am that the Lord has pulled me out of that and how utterly thankful I am for this year. It is, after all, a year that brings me one step closer to accepting adulthood (did I mention a cable guy came to the door and asked if my parents were home?).

So enough about me, what were some of your highlights in 2011? Struggles? What are you looking forward to in 2012?

This year has had its share of ups and downs as far as creativity goes for me, so I wanted to ensure that our Christmas cards were really something special and a good reflection of our marriage (think really fun and cool and then subtract the cool part) and what the Lord’s done in our life this year. Admittedly, we have two versions of this card because this lovely trifold print doesn’t come too cheaply but please know that we wish we could have mailed it out to everyone (the other version is just our photo and update)!

My two inspirations came from the ever-brilliant Amanda Jane’s “A Year in Review” and Lande and Maze’s chevron save -the-dates. I decided on a bright color palette after receiving comments from friends who enjoyed our colorful Christmas cards from last year. Jon’s favorite part of the card is the map and my favorite part is the “Jon + Viv Heart Food” and the key below the cities we traveled to that show where we drove, flew and danced (walking until you can’t feel your feet is considered dancing right). And I naturally had my theologian husband choose a wonderful quote as the intro to our card:

Praise be to God, and all glory and honor to Him who sent his Son to be our light and our ultimate joy! Hope your Christmas was wonderful!

You don’t want to miss out on the rest of this awesome shoot. Go here to see the rest. (via Pinterest)

 GWG photo by Trevor Hoehne

 source

 warby parker

 source

 source unknown source

sorakeem

gentle pure space

 Sporting my own spectacles (my souvenir from San Francisco) while preparing for the Halloween party we attended Saturday night. I’m a nerd if you can’t tell. Isn’t my husband awesome at tying a bow tie?

8 years ago, a boy had a crush on me.

8 years ago, I had never dated. I never had a boyfriend up until that point. I had never been kissed.

8 years ago I decided I liked said boy as well.

8 years ago today, that boy asked me to be his girlfriend. It wasn’t smooth the way he did it, trust me, but four and a half years later he’d ask me to be his wife and every day since we were freshman in college, I’d be grateful he called me his.

{a favorite photo in our home from when we were “little” 18 and 19 year olds}

Ya know when you walk into a house and you think “wow, this space has such a ‘homey’ feel to it,” meaning the home looks cozy and lived in well? This awesome Copenhagen home featured on Ikea’s home site called Live definitely evoked a “homey” sense to me. What caught my eye immediately was the fantastic settee, and the wall of frames with the pops of blue and citrus in the living room. When I saw the rest of the home (small space, big impact!) I simply had to share. Don’t you love how vibrant the mixed wallpaper prints are? And considering we have an exposed pantry in our current place, I’m inspired by the simple idea of using clear glass jars to make an ordinary pantry look slightly more refined.

What  home idea would you steal from this Denmark home?

Brook Farm General Store in Brooklyn has a beautifully curated online shop that’s totally ringing my hostess bell. Serve guests bread and cheese on a quintessential wooden bread board as they enter, then seat guests in front of a linen placemat with coordinating napkin while I serve the entrees on classic white plates. Even the wooden dog bowl set looks sophisticated, sophisticated enough for Sir Hoosier the Third that is.

What hostess finds are ringing your bell these days?

So after sharing just a few blog posts ago that I’m attempting to jump back in the swing of things (blogging-wise), I’m still finding it hard to find my footing (creatively speaking). Jon and I had dinner with our friend Kyle, who is an accomplished illustrator and Instagram celebrity (seriously, 13k followers, but seriously you want to follow him), and I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to be in the company of another creative, especially one that loves the Lord whole heartedly. I picked his brain on what designing and creating art looks like for him these days and explained the current drought I’m going through. He was encouraging to say the least and I couldn’t help but be inspired by how Kyle sees the world (artistic goggles are so much cooler than beer goggles).

So, I’m searching for my niche. Maybe I could call it my passion? Or maybe, staying to true to this blog’s name, I’m searching to do a variety of things I’ve been excited at trying but too intimidated to jump into. Until I know something more definitive (I’m still really good at eating) I’ll certainly keep you updated.

The above photo was taken on Alcatraz Island during our San Fran trip. My clever husband decided he’d make an invisible doppelganger of himself and I couldn’t resist jumping in. Isn’t he creative? I think so too! Happy Friday y’all!

Here’s one of the souvenirs I picked up while in San Francisco this past August. Our friends were kind enough to make a stop at The Curiosity Shoppe for me to visually feast my eyes on. This set of coasters made the perfect San Fran moment because of its cross stich design, it’s letterpressed, it was only $8 and most importantly it poses uncomfortable questions or remarks that we never quite know how to respond to. They make perfect conversation starters to say the least.

“Any babies yet?” is a frequent question in our current season of life (Hi, Denise!). I honestly don’t mind it, but I thought it made a fitting addition to our new home (plus, we were in need of some additional coasters, no lie).

Happy Friday friends! Here’s hoping you receive lots of awkward questions this weekend and respond to them with effortless poise (because the Lord knows I lack this quality).

(Unfortunately I can’t remember the source for the letterpress coasters. If you know it, please let me know and I’ll update the post! Thanks!)

I’m honored to say Ashley discovered Sarah Seven’s work through a post I shared back in February. When she told me she had purchased a SS, I was practically giddy, but when she mentioned that Lauren Larsen wanted to take photos of her wearing it, I was downright excited. Lauren has a genius idea in the works to take photographs of her clients in both their wedding gown and rehearsal dinner dress. Great idea, right?

The book page wall, a stunning model, a talented photographer and a creative-oozing stylist make for one amazing shoot. Check out the rest of the photos here and more of Lauren Larsen’s work here.