Gosh, its been awhile since we’ve done one of these! In Seattle we are having a stretch of insanely beautiful weather, and while I haven’t been at my computer pinning a ton, I have been feeling inspired and I thought I’d pass some of that inspiration along. These are my five favorite recent pins:

This palette for summer entertaining (with the added bonus of being able to reuse for the wedding)

This rope tub from the Container Store. Patio ice bucket, blankets for outdoor movie night (can you tell I’m feeling summer in my core)

A simple but INSANELY beautiful arrangement of garden lilacs. From Martha, of course.

My friend Lexy painted these votives. I just bought a couple similar ones from Target to play with for colorful centerpieces, and I may DIY the rest with this technique so cut down on costs. (Lexy also just found out she’s having a baby GIRL. Go leave congrats!)

DYING over this Canned with Love Stamp. Want to put it on my birthday list, but I will have already canned so many things before August, I’m not sure I can wait.

You can find me on Pinterest here and D on pinterest here. Leave your pinterest link in the comments, we’d love to be friends!

The garden is beginning.  We have compost tilled in, some seeds planted outdoors, and seeds growing like crazy inside.  Seattle summer begins a bit later than some other places, so nights are still too cool for some things.  This generally means that Bri and I have not used our dining room table to eat at in a few weeks…..

The {plant} babies are growing!  The other day I told my small group girls that I could not wait to eat my plant babies.  Although several of them only heard “eat my babies” which caused 15 minutes of hysterical laughter about cannibalism.

Salads, here we come!

Look at the babies:

Three things we think are invaluable to growing inside:

1.  Grow Bulb:  Did you know we have many hours of clouds in the spring?  So, we took out our normal bulb in the dining room and replaced it with this grow light.

2.  Warming Mat:  This guy sits under the trays and warms the dirt!

3.  Fancy Soil from Sky Nursery.  Its organic and specially mixed for growing seeds indoors in flats.  Plus, when you heat it with the warming mat, it makes your house smell like very healthy and wet compost.  YUM!

How are your babies looking?  What are you planting this year?  Anything you love growing from seed?

What is better than a sunny weekend stroll around Ballard? For those of you that are not locals, Ballard is a neighborhood in Seattle, know for great food, funky shopping, and its Nordic Heritage.

When B and I learned that a new store was moving in, we jumped at the chance to head over and check it out.

Ballard Consignment hides treasures behind the bright red storefront.  I mistakenly assumed this would be like any other antique store in town.  wrong!

The place is huge! Over 8,000 sf, on two floors.   The shop was full of amazing items from every decade.  Best of all, unlike other shops I have been in where I feel like one wrong move will cause an avalanche, this place was SO well organized.  Furniture, lamps, housewares, and rugs were all set up in small rooms throughout, showcasing each piece.

When we stopped by a few things caught our attention, including this saturn lamp B was in love with!

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Since we love this shop, we thought you might too!  Especially you locals on the hunt for vintage!  B and I were excited when the owners offered you readers a special discount coupon. Just right click, save the coupon, and print it out! It’s good all year and their inventory rotates quickly.  Stop by!  If you do, Comment and let us know what made its way home with you!

Its Monday, and the day of my next big test (send an extra prayer if you’ve got room in your queue), but I thought I’d pop in with a couple little wedding tidbits that are floating around my mind today:

First – my Blogger Bride is starting over at Engaged and Inspired tomorrow. I’ll be sharing stories and inspiration every Tuesday from now until the wedding, so thats where most wedding stuff will live. I’ll give updates here when those go up but would love for you to follow along there as well. Tomorrow is just an introduction to say “hi!”

Second - this article from A Practical Wedding on long distance relationships and wedding planning is SO SPOT ON. If you’re in a long distance relationship and needing encouragement, or you want to imagine what its like for Erik and I to plan a wedding from 3,000 miles away, this pretty much hits it perfectly.

Third – These fun photos from the Wedlocks event that my bridesmaid Dana and I went to this weekend. Loved the neon hair stuff photobooth backdrop. I picked up a bunch of cards for day-of hair and makeup, but if you have any recommendations local to Seattle, I’d love to hear them.

There are so so SO many things that feel heavy as of late.  It’s in those moments I find myself needing to refocus.

Instead of the loss, the fear and the doubt, I chose to refocus on that for which I am truly grateful.  It’s beyond elegant words or ways to explain.  Truly it feels like the greatest thanks needs to be given simply for life.  It is a gift, each moment, each day and each experience.

My sister instagramed this picture on Monday {photo credit to k!}.  It looks like a perfectly brilliant day – to run and to cheer each other on.  Shortly afterwards, and only a few blocks from this picture, lives ended.  There don’t seem to be words to articulate the loss in Boston.  All I can say is how grateful I am that my sister is safe, that my prayers are with those who still ache, and life is just to short to let it run by without expressing gratitude for each day.