Thanksgiving Festivities

We just got home from another lovely Thanksgiving hosted by my older sisters. This is one of my favorite holidays (after Christmas, of course!) because it's so nice to be able to be with your whole family and remember everything you are thankful for. Plus the food is always amazing! I had a wonderful day surrounded by the people I love.

After dinner we thought about doing some Black Friday shopping, but decided there was nothing out there worth crowed stores and pushy people. Today should be about family and being thankful for what you already have. Then you can start the crazy shopping later ;)

Anyway, here are a couple photos I took of tonight, and I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving as well!

Thankful

I am an incredibly lucky person to have all these wonderful things in my life, I am grateful for them every single day, but in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I wanted to give them each an extra thank you!

My fiancé and best friend, Joe. I am so lucky to have already found someone I want to spend my life with. He is the most amazing person I've ever known, and couldn't ask for anyone better. It feels amazing knowing I have this person who loves me as much as I love them, who I can be 100% myself around, and who is my home.

My family. Although we might not always get along, and they sometimes drive me crazy, it's wonderful knowing that they will always have my back and be there for me when I need them. I have a very loving family, and I'm thankful for that.

Nic. I talked about it more here, but I love this little girl so much. She is such an amazing companion and never fails to brighten up my days.

Every day things that not everyone has, and I sometimes take advantage of, like food, clean water, a roof over my head, and warm clothes.

And all the other little things in life I'm thankful for: Friends, blogging, books, my pen pals, Netflix, bows, my crazy niece and nephew, dresses, my iPhone, sunshine, wedding planning, music, tattoos, my camera, equal-marriage rights expanding, animals, Disneyland, grilled cheese sandwiches, bubble baths, my car, technology, frozen yogurt, snow, beaches, art, green apples, holidays, I could go on forever!

What are you thankful for? I hope you all have the happiest of Thanksgivings, Friends! 

Catching Fire, Pregiving, and Nic's Birthday

I really love weekends like this last one when there's a lot of fun stuff going on. 

On Friday, after Joe got off work, he came home and took me out for dinner and a movie. Such a sweet, classic date! After dinner we saw Catching Fire and it was seriously AMAZING. Definitely lived up to The Hunger Games, and definitely left me wanting more. If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend you do!

Then Saturday Joe, my sister Emma, and I went to get pizza with my dad. It was good because I don't usually spend that much time with him. After that we went home to make homemade mac 'n cheese for Pregiving. It's like a "friendsgiving" that a friend of ours hosts every year, and a ton of people come and bring food. It was a lot of fun and great to see so many people get together. 

Sunday was Nic's seventh birthday! There isn't much you can do for a dog on their birthday, so we just made waffles, watched movies and enjoyed the rainy day in. I'm pretty sure she enjoyed it as much as we did ;)

Weekends like this are my favorite! So much fun and so relaxing! Although they do seem to make Mondays a little harder!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, too! And have a merry Monday!

Black and White Self Portraits

Sixteen black and white photos I took of myself.
My own twist on the 30 Day Self Portrait Challenge.
I had so much fun doing this and it really makes you look at yourself in creative ways.
I really encourage you all to try this and would love to see them.
If you do, post the link to it in the comments below:)

Our Instagram Wall

While reading the A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book (which is awesome, by the way) I came across the idea of making a wall display out of Instagram photos. I absolutely love Instagram, and loved the idea of being able to display those photos in other ways than just the app. I printed my favorites out using Printicular, which is super inexpensive. Then just measured out using blue painters tape exactly where they would go, and stuck them using double sided tape. I didn't worry about them being completely perfect because that would probably be close to impossible and would drive me crazy. 

I think it turned out pretty cool! I'm thinking of possibly making a frame to add around the borders, but I also like the idea of always being able to add more, so we'll see!

Sorry about the grainy photos, it's dark out today ;)