THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED! Congratulations to our randomly-selected winner, RachelC!

Y’all know I’m the last person to breeze right past Thanksgiving on the way to Christmas (I believe my opinions on appropriate holiday music start times are well-documented). However, it is definitely true that preparing in advance makes the season itself so much more enjoyable… which is why Christmas cards have been on my mind! I LOVED sending out our first photo cards last year, and am looking forward to doing so again. Sadly, I don’t think it’s socially acceptable to use another wedding photo, so 2013 will have a hard time beating 2012. But I’m willing to give it a try! We are of course using Minted again, and here are the top five designs we’re considering:

We’re still deciding on a photo, but big thanks to our friends Graham and Meredith for these happy options!

1. Hand-Painted Branches | 2. Merry Scriptmas | 3. A Wonderful Life | 4. Merry and Bright Script | 5. Classic Merry

As usual, I’m loving the script and hand-lettered options! This year, I especially appreciated the ability to move almost every design element around in Minted’s software — it was so helpful when working with our photos. They also have some amazing foil-pressed options (I love this one, but it wasn’t a good fit with our photos) and lots of die-cut shapes.

Now for the extra-fun part: I have a $200 Minted gift certificate to give away!! To enter, just comment below with either your favorite option from our Christmas card finalists, or the Minted design you’d most like to order for your family! (Or both!) I’ll randomly choose a winner next Monday!

Minted has graciously gifted us our Christmas cards, but I chose to write this post, and the opinions are my own! I have loved everything about Minted — especially their crowd-sourced designs — for many years, and I love sharing what they’re up to with y’all.

Whew!! October sure ended with a bang — just this week we hosted two friends overnight, had two more friends over for dinner, attended small group, had five more friends over for pumpkin carving and soup, and then participated in what was basically a neighborhood block party last night for Halloween. We had 109 trick or treaters!!

I am excited for November — we have much to be grateful for, not the least of which is my all-time favorite meal at the end of the month :)

How did I do on my October goals? Let’s see…

— Refinish dining room table. So. I did not complete this goal. However, I did make progress! We decided to buy a hand sander instead of rent one. I thought they’d have the one we wanted at our local store, but since we had to order it online, I missed the day I had set aside to work on this project. The sander is now in my possession, and I’m planning to tackle this to do this weekend!
— Volunteer at our church’s ham biscuit booth at the State Fair. Check! So fun.
— Deck out our mantel and front steps with fall goodness. Check! It’s hard to keep mums alive.
— Photograph and post about how + why I use my planner. Let’s call this one tabled. And hold me to it — I’m planning a series of three posts for the week of November 11th.
— Finalize and print our household maintenance tracker. Check! This will be covered in the planner posts, too.

On to November!

— Refinish dining room table :)
— Prepare for Christmas — specifically our cards and our gift giving. More about both of these topics soon.
— Organize our miscellaneous paperwork (it’s kind of been a mess since our move)
— Plan a Thanksgiving celebration a deux — John and I will be on our own for the first time!

I would love to hear what you all have planned for this month!

Though it’s been more than a month since I got home from Engage, I’m not going to let the time lapsed stop me from writing about it. Because the Gala on the last night? It was truly a once-in-a-lifetme experience.

Start with a particular point in history when, between Downton Abbey and the Great Gatsby movie, 20’s style has never been more in vogue.

Add in the majestic Biltmore Estate, the largest privately owned house in America. Make sure it has a stupendous view.

Choose a picture-perfect summer day.

Invite a crowd that reinvents the idea of a costume party. Fringe and sequins and feathers, oh my!

Serve the most delicious food, arrange for stunning decor, bring in pitch-perfect period jazz music.

And a fire breather, just for good measure. Yes, seriously.

Now add in one gal who adores Downton Abbey, whose second favorite book of all time is The Great Gatsby, and who leaps at any excuse to dress up.

There. That is a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Quite literally, almost: I had the chance to chat with one of the gals who works in the Biltmore catering office, and she said that they usually only do two events per year on the South Lawn — and that she had never seen anything like this one. Until time travel is possible, I think this is the closest I will ever come to experiencing another era, and I am just tickled that I got to do so.

Hope you enjoyed the peek!

All photos by Allan Zepeda, Jeremie Barlow, and Carla Ten Eyck & Andrew Henderson except second and group photo near bottom

Growing up, my favorite part of Easter was Pysanka eggs. From my birth until a few years ago, my grandmother painstakingly made all of her grandchildren a new design each year, and I loved (and still love) to look at the eggs each year when we take them out of their crates. They’re so delicate that it’s impossible to ship them and challenging to travel with them, so my whole collection is at home in Connecticut right now and unable to be shared with you all. Some day! Until then, I’m inspired by these five marvelous and modern techniques…

From top to bottom: watercolor Easter eggs by Spoon Fork Bacon; gilded Easter eggs via HGTV; neon dip-dyed Easter eggs by Merriment Events via Oh Joy (photo by Katie Stoops); golden marbled Easter eggs by SheKnows; speckled Easter eggs by Sandy Toes and Popsicles

Which one is your favorite?