a cheerful farewell.

hello my dears. yes indeedy. this sweet stack of pastel children's novels was by far my proudest thrift store prize of the summer.now it's time for a bit of true blue honesty and a complete subject change. the last few months have been tough. i've been struggling to find a balance, as we all do from time to time. i've been contemplating + praying about this for the last 5 months and i've made a big decision.

i am saying farewell to this little blog of mine.

with slightly slumped shoulders and a bittersweetly beating heart, i am choosing to move forward and focus not on the things i cannot accomplish, but to rejoice in what i can. you know the feeling? when you're doing 100,000 things and only doing them 50% well? i am over that. life is so, so full and i simply need to prioritize what truly, truly matters...like faith, family, home, career, and time to just relax and be in between. this blog has been a super important piece, or more appropriately a collection of pieces of my life for the past 4 years. then at some indefinable point, it became more than just a little hobby and more of a nagging responsibility, at which point the joy began to seep out and the guilt began to seep in.

this blog has carried me through so many amazing life transitions!! like moving away from the heartland, a san francisco adventure, a surprise pregnancy, a spring chicken, and a grateful passage to motherhood. which brought us back to the midwest where God led jeff to start his own tiny little photo business on the side, which quickly grew into something more. we also cozied into our very first home with a craft room for moi and a yard for the boy to flourish.

and all along, i have been so immensely blessed to meet so many beautiful friends with similar passions and enormous, Jesus-loving hearts, many of whom have challenged me to survey my own. this blogosphere is one powerful network. i have been inspired again and again and again. i've been challenged to be more authentic, more creative, more intentional; more appreciative. i gained confidence to throw parties for perfect strangers. i found utter joy in sharing my favorite little craft projects and recipes with you. i even have a little family record of birthdays, holidays, and everything wonderful that happens in between. heck, i eventually even learned how to take a decent photo.

now that we've shared some fond memories and dried our my tears, are you ready to hear the silver lining? good. because there is one.........i am jumping into this photog biz of ours wholeheartedly. i think i may have something to contribute, the foremost of which is my time. last spring i received a golden piece of advice, from an ahh-mazing mentor & colleague: make your business personal. make your blog personal.

at first this did not sit well with me at all. this is my blog, my gig...and our photo stuff is our photo stuff. that's just how it was gonna be. but after letting the whole thing marinade for awhile, God helped me realize that i'd been pretty selfish and how this whole thing made perfect, amazing sense. that's when we got serious about a re-brand/re-design, making way for this whole new chapter. it's been a long time coming.long story short, Living the Swell Life lives on (right here). i have big dreams, big plans to compose a manageable one post per week on something personal, something creative, or something inspiring amid our busy business business. funny how i am so completely at peace, yet completely spazzing about its reincarnation, and my our pretty new space. cheers to new beginnings; to wearing a photographer hat.

and no celebration would be complete without an invitation to the party. pretty please join me? hop on over, update your link, and enter a super lovely new camera strap cover giveaway
(i crafted a whole bunch, just for you)!!

see you on the flip side. but first. just one more of a coy little boy, because i love him so. so. so:

i need to make heart cookies.

the other day, a little bit bored, g stated "i need to make heart cookies." (lately almost everything has been a dire need around here. we are working on sorting out the difference between needs and wants.) but i totally caved to this one. i needed to make heart cookies too. g helped with every step of the process and i must say, he is becoming quite handy with a rolling pin. once iced and sprinkled, we tied a bunch of them up into a pretty little package and mailed them to my grandma. we lost my grandpa a couple weeks ago and we figured it might be a fun way to brighten her day.
p.s. yes--those are big boy underpants in photo #2. potty training is underway. please pray.

look at the size of this thing!

hello there. it has been forever. i really hadn't intended to take a summer blog-cation...it just sort of fell to the bottom of the list--and i haven't quite mustered the energy to bounce back.

we've been busy.

i say that every time. last night, after a slightly-more-eruptive-than-usual meltdown, jeff insisted that i stop working too hard and that in order to preserve my sanity (read: and his!) i should just blog for a little bit today. so here i am! yay!
lately we've been crossing all sorts of things off of the summer bucket list:

1. harvesting the garden. to be precise, i snagged 1 barely ripe tomato & 3 bell peppers off our plants before an army of blasted, dirty squirrels destroyed and consumed everything. boo. i guess they need to eat sometimes too--and can't afford the luxury of a grocery store like i can.
2. getting way way better veggies from the farmer's market. our neighbor stopped by with this cabbage last night. it. is. enormous! we can't seem to stop chuckling about it. at this point, all i could think to do with it was take a picture...i don't know how to even begin to eat it.
3. tossing a blanket in the grass and reading/ipading the afternoon away
4. playdates at the pool
5. dining al fresco both on our backyard deck & at a few neighborhood cafes
6. road trips x2
7. evenings at the park
8. s'mores

some pretty white things

It is the last few minutes of Friday, and I just realized I had a very important winner to share!!

The big House 8810 giveaway winner...

Congrats Jen!!

Email me at swell.life(at)gmail(dot)com for all of the deets!! Hooray for you!!

In other news, Jeff is really, really good to me. I've been working too much lately, and the other day while running errands at the grocery store, he had the inspiration to get me flowers. Of course they probably only had crazily-dyed daisies and horrible wilting roses to pick from...so he had the class & thoughtfulness to bring me a simple bunch of baby's breath. And I love it--all white and whimsical in a little bowl on my mantel. I feel like baby's breath got a bad wrap in the 90s. But I really think it's back, and it's beautiful (when not paired with red roses). Yay!

And that's not all. He also just surprised me with one of these fancy new contraptions: I mean completely blew me away. Woot!!!! At first I was a little taken-aback about the small investment, but I really do think it is complete amazing-ness...We've already been finding free books, snapping little photos, and checking the HD weather forecast before stepping out the door. Tonight I even set it in G's room on the piano solo Pandora station to help him fall asleep! I can't believe that I already can't live without it. I've never before owned something that is actually app-worthy, so I am in need of advice.

What are the best apps!?

giveaway: house 8810

Today I am excited to share a new shop + a giveaway with you! A very warm welcome to a swell new sponsor, the lovely shop House 8810. I'm here to say that this online boutique is a must-stop. They stock a really darling selection of nostalgic + vintage inspired goodies at fab prices. Just about everything you need (over never knew how much you needed) to make your abode the coolest & cutest digs on the block.
Today House 8810 is giving away a $40.00 shopping spree, which can be used on any item, items in their shop!

A girl sure would be lucky to get her hands on this one...In case you need any more convincing, here's a little visual on how I would spend $40:

Very berry napkin for my collection $5 |Red race car for my boy $14.95 | Classic Compendium of games for my entertainment $16 | Wooden folding ruler for my crafting $ 4

*****

How about you? Would you like to go shopping!? Enter once, twice, 3 or 4 times! {Sorry friends abroad, this giveaway is open to U.S. residents only.}

1. Visit House 8810 & leave a comment sharing an item you love.

2. Leave another comment telling me what awesomeness you have planned on your summer vacation(s).

3. Share a link to this giveaway on your social media of choice, and leave an additional comment telling where!

4. Start following House 8810's

blog /facebook/and/or/twitter
...then leave a 4th comment if you did so!

Winner will be randomly selected & announced on Friday 7/15!!

Happy Monday friends!!

picket fence gals

Yesterday my super crafty friend Amanda & I took an impromptu mini-road trip to check out the Picket Fence Gals vintage sale in Lindstrom, MN. Lindstrom is the most adorable little Scandinavian town, with a tea kettle water tower and the yummiest little main-street bakery. Right along the main drag, you'll find the Picket Fence Gals are nestled in a big, white, old, and adorable Victorian house. Once a month (Wed-Sun), twenty-something awesome antique vendors pool their goodies and open their doors for a giant sale of vintage items. They are constantly updating their displays and the treasures are all new every month!
I was so excited to spend an afternoon here! So many fresh ideas and finds. I came home kicking myself for not buying a piece or two...All part of the adventure! However, I did not return empty-handed. I could not resist the small minty-green metal tray, children's book with orange illustrations in the inside cover, and this little wooden octopus puzzle (which I doubt is very vintage at all--but cute, nevertheless).
Happy weekend friends! This poor little blog has been on the back burner for far too long! Am planning a little giveaway + some photos of our most recent road trip next week.

i'm ready to rock the bob.

I plopped down in my adorable, sweet, and pregnant new stylist's swivel chair this afternoon and blurted out, "I'm ready to rock the bob." Not sure where that came from, except that I've been totally jonesing for some short hair ever since I saw this. I had absolutely no reservations--I was ready for something cute and fun and new and super cool for summer. When we got to the part where she cut my bangs, she asked if I wanted straight bangs. I replied "sure, since we're already going crazy."

And I love. Looove. It fell a little flat before I could get these pictures, but I think my new hair and I are going to be friends. I haven't tried styling it on my own yet, but that dear stylist assured me it's going to be all wash-and-wear from this day forward and I should style it only if I want to look extra sleek.

I've been super sick all week As in, more-sick-than-I-can-ever-remember. I lost my voice for 3 whole days and did not answer my phone or leave the house, because I was literally mute! Thankfully it was all rain and drear, so I don't think I missed much in the outdoor world. Indoors, Graham had a rave and I sat on the couch, thinking about the 1,000 things I wish I could get done.

So today, it felt amazing to get out of the house. Just being back in civilization has me feeling incredibly better. And a fun new haircut has officially brought me though my summer slump. Yay!

a shout out to some dads i know.

this pic pretty much sums up the sweetness in this day.
i love that g wants to do everything just like daddy...like playing camera.
(although i will admit that i lied and told him there was candy in the viewfinder of that camera...just so he would look and i could take this pic... naughty, i know.)
and i love that he could say "happy father's day" to jeff this morning.
we celebrated with burgers + a bike ride. oh, and naps. naps for all 3 of us.
jeff and g are so adorable together. i love these boys.
i am so blessed to have these boys and that they have each other.

and even though we couldn't hang with my dad or jeff's dad today, i think they are pretty amazing too.

i love my dad because he is the picture of selflessness. my grandpa's health is failing big time lately and my dad has been taking care of him every single day for the last 2 months, in order to keep him out of the hospital/nursing home. and somehow he continues to juggle his 1,000 other responsibilities. there doesn't seem to be an end to his giving and he never ever complains about it. i think that is awesome and a tough act to follow.

there are some really amazing dads in my life.

diy wedding boutonnieres

It has been forever since I've posted about anything even remotely creative around here and so I've been chomping at the bit to unveil this latest little project... My dear creative, free-spirited friend Amy just married an equally awesome boy named D. She is hands down one of my craftiest friends (oh my, just wait til you see her handmade doily wedding dress!) I was completely honored (and crazy-nervous) when she asked me to make boutonnieres for all of the wedding boys, using things like feathers and non-living notions. The result was a pretty eclectic mix of things that suited her bright, beautiful vintage wedding quite well, if I do say so myself.

feathers: BearyBox
photos: yours truly
based on this great tutorial!

it is summer

...Ahem. Is this thing still on? Hello! I am back from my world-class disappearing act. The last few weeks have really spiraled out of control with non-stop places to go, things to do, and people to see. I'm trying super hard not to feel guilty for the complete lack of blogging, as life has been overflowing with some hard work and a whole lot of summertime playing.

It is summer! And it is officially our busy photog season...We've shot 5 weddings in the last 3 weeks!! Plus we hit the road for a week and went to visit G's cousins in Colorado. My sil Katie is a way better blogger than I--so go here if you want to see some of our trip pics, and of us snuggling with our suuuper sugary new baby niece!

Just before our big road trip, we squeezed in a gardening day. I let Graham just go nuts playing in the dirt and helping me fill all of the pots with soil. He is 116% boy--he LOVED getting filthy! By the time we were done, I almost didn't recognize him; my little mud man. Afterwards, it took Jeff 30 minutes to rinse him off in the shower! Here's hoping that our little pots bring forth a tomato or two...