You paint, I'll write.

I had the most wonderful Thanksgiving getaway ever. After such a wonderful time with my brother home I could barely handle the thought of him leaving. So instead of coping in the correct manner, Greg and I finished all our work early and headed to Jersey for a whole week. Basically I needed to runaway.

So here is our trip via instagram, enjoy.

after we got my brother on the plane, we packed the car and headed out.

Sunday was perfect filled with friends allll day, I sat and sewed in Lin's kitchen while she baked all day, it was perfect.

Monday Greg had to help his dad on a job, so I went and spent the day with Amy. MUCH NEEDED! I love her so.

Marrying into a Finnish family means sometimes you receive beautiful cards in which you cannot read a single word.

Getting some soup and waiting to meet the new love of my life...

THERE SHE IS! this beauty is my new love, totally functional. I will be sewing on this for manyyyy years to come.

thanksgiving! SO thankful to get to live this beautiful life.

The night of thanksgiving we went to see the Muppets!! It was FANTASTIC. I almost cried from sheer bliss, if you knew me you would know my Muppet love runs very deep.

My baby brother got engaged! to the most lovely lady! Finally sisters after all these years. This growing family fills me with so much joy!

Somedays were just lazy and that was perfect.

Somedays were filled with friends and those days were perfect too.

Our very last night we had a second Thanksgiving with our friends. Lin was amazing, she did such a lovely job. I made pumpkin cookies and just aided in emotional support the whole day.

Do you spy my fall garland? hehe:)

It was honestly perfect, the whole time shared with my second home. I miss everyone already, and cannot wait until the next time we are all together again. I promise to start some real posts again soon, one week left of school, then five weeks of restoring my life. I cannot wait to have time for people, sleep, and things I actually enjoy doing again. Hang in there with me.

xoxo j

he's home.

Sorry for my absence.

This happened over the weekend and I cannot express my happiness.

That's right my brother is home on leave.

Seeing him again was the most peace I have felt in quite sometime, I do not have the right words to truly articulate what this reunion brought for us all, just know it was many wonderful things. We only get one week with him then he is off his second to see that pretty southern belle of his, so I am taking advantage of every possible moment with him.

HE'S HOME! HE'S HOME! MY BABY BROTHER IS SAFE AT HOME!

from my very thankful, joyful heart,

xo j

DIY: Fall Garland

So as I've mentioned I have so much back blog to catch up, if you remember I mentioned I had a super awesome craft date with my two of my favorites a few weeks ago and I did this DIY while I was there. This is THE EASIEST garland you could ever make and it looks super festive and lovely hanging in your home. Also it is very low on mess so the kids could easily help out.

You only need three things to make this pretty garland.

1. scissors

2. scrap fabric- you do not need to buy "seasonal" or "holiday specific" fabric, its the way you put the colors together that will make it look a certain way.

3. twine, yarn, string, anything that can hold a little weight once its hung.

1. first you will need to cut up your fabric, the length is really up to your discretion, I like mine a little longer. I will warn you, if you think you have enough, just keep cutting, it takes a good amount of fabric to even fill a smaller garland.

2. knot your fabric strips to your twine or yarn, if you feel the pieces are too long feel free to double knot them.

3. hang and enjoy! Yes, its that simple and your home will be warm and inviting for the holiday season.

I have more DIYs that I will be posting, and my head is BUZZING with wedding DIYs to share with you also. This is going to be a super fun season, I can already tell.

more soon,

xo j

ps Lindsey Finelli I hope you like this because when I made it I automatically thought it should be hanging in your apartment. I have no where to put it so I'm mailing it to you. xo

falling slowing.

OK so I'm back.

Sorry to leave you for that mini break, I was just walking on clouds and could not concesntrate on anything. I couldn't leave the clouds completely so I just keep one in my pocket now, hopefully allowing me to function in everyday life.

I have so many back posts to get up here, so I should be busy.

But this weekend Greg and I got to spend an entire day with our two favorite littles and together we knocked another thing off fall-to-do list.

Playing in a leaf pile, yippie!!

We usually go on a leaf collecting date because I press my favorites every year to use for crafts, it was supposed to be on his birthday but ya know he had to go and propose and everything;)

So the kids also helped me with my collecting.

We were with the kids for about 9 hours. It was honestly magical. Greg played soccer while I made lunch, we carved pumpkins, played in the leaves and took them to a community fall festival. We love them so much.

With everything that's going on I am falling more and more in love with the season. It will be over in the blink of an eye so I am trying to truly treasure each day of it.

xoxo j

she may be young but she only likes old things.

Well life has been a whirlwind to say the least.

Monday was Greg's birthday! And I was so excited ready to give him the absolute best birthday ever.

I had a list of surprises I did not share with him until that morning.

But let me tell you I was the one who ended up getting surprised because on our walk this happened....

Yup. I'm engaged.

I had absolutely no idea. If you know me you know when I get nervous I tend to just talk more to try and ease my awkwardness so as soon as he got on his knee I started panicing coninually saying, "is this real?", "is this real?". Greg then said "babe, you have to let me talk". So I shut up and he said, "I know you had all these things planned for my birthday but all I really want is to be with you for the rest of my life." (I started crying) and then he said "Jess, I'm keeping you forever." Then we both cried a lot. Even his accomplice, my good friend Bethany, was crying while she shot all these beautiful pictures.

If you noticed the last thing on the list was to go out to dinner which I had obviously planned to be a birthday dinner, but happily turned into a mini engagement dinner. It was pure bliss to be holding the hand of my future husband and recounting the day with some of our favorite people.

(really I am so thankful you all were there to share this with us)

I am now in the process of planning a magical day which will be the start of a new adventure with my best friend. I hope you are ready for my journey into a very handmade wedding, I am really excited to share this whole process with you.

Love wins, I've always believed it,

xo j