Road Trip to Louisiana

First of all, I just want to say thank you for everyone's love and support throughout all of 'The Story of Us' posts... it was truly delightful to share our story, and I love that you guys enjoyed it too! It was nostalgic and fun to put together!

During the 4 days those were posted, we were actually on a trip to Louisiana to visit our friend Katelyn! We spent two of the days on the road and two visiting. It was the first time James and I had left the state together! It was so nice to get away for a while.

Our trip up there was much longer than planned b/c we got lost twice! Ha ha, and its a straight shot up there! We got lost for 45 minutes in a PARKING LOT trying to find a starbucks, how silly is that??? Needless to say, we were super frustrated by the time we actually found it!

Anyway, the first day spent there, we took a little walk around their neighborhood and Leena rode in her wagon with her bunny :) I found a Texas sign and made James take a pic under it!

Katelyn wore her teddy bear shirt 'Isabel'
Leena was a mix of happy and grumpy on the ride
James got her to giggle though, she loves him
Katelyn made an amazing tent for us over the couch bed. Made from strips of fabric around a hoop at the top, and she hung star lights and butterflies in it, it was so magical.
The next day we went New Orleans... James got us around everywhere on the whole trip with his new phone's GPS, he is so pround of it.
We got our picture in front Blue Dog, the one spot I wanted to go to. They got a super nice new location across the street, its all big sparkly!
We went to Cafe DuMonde, and I finally got to try a beignet and REAL cafe du monde coffee. I had already had two regular mornings cups of coffee and a latte on the way their... but I couldnt resist. I thought I was going to be sick when I stood up, but it was SOOOO GOOOOODDDD!!!
Leena loved it too, although she only took one tiny bite of the beignet and really just kept dipping her finger in the sugar :)
me and my cup of coffee! and the crazy wind blowing my earrings!
James is such a stud.
Katelyn and Leena :)
I took lots of pretty pics of the buildings, my favorite part of the French Quarter is the buildings and their textures. I could spend all day long photographing doors and cracks, geez.







The morning we left Leena got sad and watched us take off out the window. It was heart breaking. We love her so much.
On the way home, James gave me one of my anniversary gifts, Willie Nelson's new box set! I was so happy. We listened to all four discs from the border of Texas, all the way home. It was glorious and made the trip so very special, since the day we were driving home was our 3 year anniversary. We were so sweet to each other the whole way home, it made me forget I was in the car for so long.
And now James has the travel bug and wants to go everywhere!

PEACE,
Laura

Katelyn and Leena

I am still slowly editing photos from Katelyn's trip to our house. Here is a cute one of her and her bright red hair!

And this was little Leena in the car saying by to James at HEB. Can you see why he fell in love with her? She was blowing him kisses and giggling at him... so precious.
We miss these girls!

PEACE,
Laura

Katelyn & Leena visit Violet Bella - Part I

Im back!

For the past week my friend Katelyn and her little girl Leena stayed with us at our house. I have been good friends with Katelyn for the past year online, and this was our first in person meet! We were both very excited and a bit nervous I think :) They got in super late the night before this. We helped unpack the car and then sat around chatting for a bit before we all went to bed.

The next morning I got to show Leena Violet dog pen, the garden and such. Pretty much first thing in the morning Leena asks for some kind of fruit, it is so cute. She had a peach this morning. This was on our way out to the post office.

Ha ha, she was making a funny face, but still so cute with her peach and her purse.
Katelyn and Leena both helped watert the garden.
I love Katelyn's hair red, it fits her so well. She wore her PPP dress :)
Leena became fascinated with the dirt and rocks, and I showed her what ant lions are, they had no idea about them! Leena destroyed an entire colony of them in a matter of seconds! And they all had rebuilt their tunnels by morning!
Leena's red boots. This girl wears these everywhere and with everything, so cute!
I picked my first green beans!
Leena learned how to open and close Violet's gate, which she loved doing pretty much the whole trip.
She also discoverd Violet's bed and decided to make it her own!!! We went to Goodwill earlier that day and Katelyn got her that little granny square quilt!
That night we went to the Wine and Cheese bar and Leena decided to really warm up to me, it was precious. There was noone else in the place, so we actually got to sit inside b/c there wasnt a bunch of ciggarette smoke or loud people, it was very nice. Our friend Alyssa hung out with us and Katelyn got to meet Jonny and my dad! A nice little visit.
Katelyn brought us some homeade blueberry syrup that she made and OMG it was to die for! She made it from berries she had hand picked. James and I both LOVED it!
She showed me how to make her oatmeal pancakes which were equally good and topped it off with ripe peaches, oh gosh, I wish I had more now!
Leena played outside for a bit while James mowed the yard.
She undressed this babydoll of mine everyday, it was so funny. She has a thing with being naked. There was one moment she tried taking my shirt off!
I am just in love with her little face, voice, personality, the way she talks, etc. In love.
That night we made veggie sushi rolls.

They turned out so yummy we made them again the next day.

Many many many more photos to come, so be prepared for this weeks blogging to be all about Katelyn and Leena.

Katelyn is an awesome photographer, go check out her work here and here.

PEACE,
Laura

Texas meets Louisiana

So very excited, this beautiful girl below is on her way right now, driving from Louisiana to Texas to come meet me and stay with us for a week! Her and her little one Leena. After becoming very very good friends online for a year now, we finally get to meet in person! I think we are both nervous and excited as heck!

We plan on hooping, making hoops, bbqing, chilling, garage saleing , goodwilling (yes, that is a word in my vocabulary), healthy food making, playing with leena, and generally just hanging out and talking. So you prob wont see much of me on here for the next week! Maybe though :)

We will take tons of pics and video I am sure of it! We have a few photo shoots planned anyway.

She is one of my number supporters of Violet Bella, here are just 3 shots of so many that I have of her in my clothes!!!

Her pillow case top...
Her fun cartoon top...
and her patchwork top, just a few of many! I love this photo of her and her daughter, so beautiful.
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Last week I was asked by a friend and fellow photographer, Laura Evans to do a guest post on "inspiration" on her blog while she is away in France...

you can read what I have to say about the subject here.
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Last sunday I had my good friend Jen come over and give me a hand with some things with my business. Not only was it majorly productive and helpful for me, it was fun and delightful just to have her around. I adore this girl so much, she is like none other. She is an amazing baker, who bakes everything in an easy bake oven! She usually can only bake 6 cookies at a time, yes, I said 6!!! So I let her use my oven while she was here and she busted out the most amazing batch of oatmeal cookies while she was here! Which has inspired me, I just made a batch of my own from scratch, and only hopeful they will turn out half as good as hers...
Then I showed her how to make homeade pizza dough. When Jonny got off work, he came over and shared it with us, along with some awesome Red Stripe. Then some guitar jamming commenced and some amazing conversations.

And this crazy rainbow has seriously been showing up on my ceiling a few times! This is not a figment of your imagination, it was really there!!!
I wore my PPP dress the other day and snapped a few pics for Shauna. I love the way it looks with the peacock feather headband I got from a friend.

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And here are a few new goodies still in the shop. A new teddy bear shirt, I had missed these!
A new floral jumper
A new tshirt slip dress
And here is one of the most beautiful girls Ive ever laid eyes on wearing Violet Bella. I think this tshirt mini dress was simply made for her. It looks so amazing on her! And she says she loves it! Makes my heart so happy!!!
Time for the next batch of cookies, and some serious resting for a bit before company gets here!

PEACE,
Laura