The holidays are upon us friends. They are right around the corner and they aren’t stopping for coffee! Even if it feels like we’ve got plenty of time, we all know that come November, we are going to be sitting here wondering how is it already Thanksgiving again.

Every single year, I tell myself I am going to get my butt in gear early so that I can actually enjoy the holiday and use my time efficiently.

Last year, Kacee from Life with Lipstick On hosted a gorgeous luncheon for Friendsgiving and we got to help by providing her some lovely details.

We designed some custom name cards in the shape of maple leaves. I love this new font we’ve been using so much lately. Our maple leaf escort cards are perfect for any fall type gathering and the personal touch makes your guests feel appreciated.

We also did these thanksgiving themed stir sticks for their cocktails or champagne. These have been very popular for a few years now and the wooden stir sticks along with this gorgeous coastal palette just tie everything together perfectly.

Kacee’s clean and crisp styles make this light and fresh friendsgiving palette just so inviting. The food fare was simple family style dishes with a thanksgiving flavor and the company was just as lovely! It’s so important to take a little time to appreciate your closest friends during such a busy and stressful time of year.

The food was light and easy so that she could spend more time with her guests. A variety of salads and flatbreads all with fall flavors served family style sounds so refreshing and so delicious.

Do you have friendsgiving traditions with your friends? Is it casual or traditional? There are plenty of ways you can celebrate the season of thanksgiving, maybe try something new this year!

Maple leaf place cards: Delovely Details

Thanksgiving stir sticks: Delovely Details

Production & styling: Kacee from Life with Lipstick On

We recently found a random morning where we had nothing planned and the weather was looking reasonable to spend a day outdoors. Lately it’s been in the high eighties and so the idea of some cooler weather had us itching to spend some time enjoying some fresh air.
Drew and I both have been apple picking as kids, and it must’ve had an impact on us because we were both so eager to take Evelyn apple picking. Everything fell into place perfectly. We had a free morning, on a cool day, in the fall, for some pickin’.

It was really hard to find out which apple farm to visit. There are a ton of farms, all with different amenities in addition to apple picking. There was also some drama surrounding some of the apple farms last year and after we double checked to make sure we weren’t going to any farms involved, we decided on Los Rios Rancho and are so grateful we did! They had several different types of apples to pick, handy guides located throughout their huge orchards, you could pick other types of fruits and even pumpkins. Across the street they had a grocery store, bakery, restaurant, petting zoo, horse rides, and a big park. Easily could fill up an entire day.

Having now been apple picking with a toddler, here are a few of my top tips if you are visiting an apple orchard.

1. Try and go on a cool day. We were able to spend hours in the orchards because the weather was so perfect. It was crisp and cool like a real fall day which is very hard to come by in Southern California. I am so grateful we waited for this weather, a week prior it had almost reached 100 degrees and I can’t imagine that being fun at all. Hiking through the orchards, picking apples, and chasing a toddler was exhausting and it was nice to at least have the cooler temperatures to balance it all out a bit. These apple trees don’t offer shade, so if it is sunny, be prepared. Lots of sunscreen, hats, and water!

2. Don’t wear your good shoes. I was super naive in thinking how “farm” like things were going to be. It was a real functioning apple orchard and my Tieks (albeit comfy) and Evelyn’s favorite Old Soles shoes took a massive beating. Wear your crummy shoes, jeans you aren’t attached too, and if you have a toddler, a lot of wet wipes. Evelyn tripped a lot on weeds, apples that had fallen, and hoses. She got filthy. Sap from the trees made her sticky. When I would pick her up, her muddy shoes would rub on my jeans and jacket and so I ended up filthy as well. So wear the grubby clothes.

3. Bring a change of shoes! On top of bringing wet wipes to wipe hands and faces, bring a pair of shoes for the car home. Regardless of the weather, there is a lot of dirt. For us, with the fog and rain, it was muddy. But even on a sunny day, your are going to end up dusty. To avoid tracking too much into the car, I wish I would have brought everyone an extra pair of shoes.

4. Get there early! Especially if the weather is cooler. I didn’t know what to expect so we got there very early since Evelyn still really needs her midday nap. So we got there around 9:15 AM when the orchard opened up at 9 AM. When we got there, we might have been the 15th family to arrive. We left around 11 AM and by then there were probably over 80 families. It was packed and parking was insane. So if you go during summer, get there early when weather is cooler and sun is lower. And if it is a cool day, go early because everyone and their mother is going to be there.

5. Make bathroom arrangements for littles! So we are still sort of potty training. She’s doing great but I’m not ready to trust her in an portable toilet. These are functional farms so most of them don’t have regular bathrooms to use. I brought Evelyn her portable potty and home girl just used it in the back of my hatchback. It’s not ideal but I felt much better about it and we made it through the whole day with no accidents.

6. Bring snacks! You are not allowed to eat apples while in the orchard, although Evelyn broke that rule when I wasn’t looking for .2 seconds. She had a blast and it wore her out and she got a really big appetite. We had some snacks luckily but if we didn’t have those, she would’ve gotten hangry. A tired and hangry toddler is the worst combo.

7. Bring your camera! I had no idea what to expect from this adventure. In my head, I kinda thought Evelyn would get tired of the whole thing rather quickly which is why we went to someplace that had other offerings than just picking apples. However, she loved picking apples and running through the orchards. I thought we may get 20 minutes from her and we did almost 2 hours! She was having such fun, and she was so obliging with all the pictures I was taking of her. We all had the best time being outside and enjoying each other’s company.

I love doing things like this as a family. At the end of the day, it’s just the three of us. We are our whole world and I love that we can do these adventures together and I pray that they bring us all closer.

Location: Los Rios Rancho - Oak Glen, California

Evelyn’s Jacket: Old Navy

Evelyn’s Bow: Little Poppy Co.

Evelyn’s Jeans: Cat and Jack

Evelyn’s Shoes: Old Sole Shoes

How are we doing?

That was a question that we’ve dodged for a long time, basically for four years. If you aren’t aware, our house burned down almost four years ago this September. It was one of the most important events of our lives because it changed everything in an hour. Our life was completely turned upside down and we were frankly terrified.

Drew and I are, to a fault, overly optimistic people. We live to help others and we were never comfortable with letting others help us. The physical and mental toll was bigger than we ever wanted to let on to our friends and family. We held a lot of our struggles in and kept to ourselves. People would ask us “how are you guys doing?” and we used our stock “We’re doing fine, just so grateful no one got hurt” answer. Part of that was true too. We are so grateful that no one got physically hurt, but we were hurt. We were dealing with the pain of loosing 90% of our belongings, our home, our lives, and we were also dealing with PTSD.

Last pictures we took inside of our home before it was demoed and rebuilt.

Right after the fire, we did go to therapy to handle all of the stress, anxiety, and depression that came along with loosing most of what we owned during an very scary experience. It definitely helped and I’m grateful we made that decision to go, but the biggest healer was always going to be time.

We have made progress, we are healing and we are taking our time doing it. There are some things we are not ready to talk about, they are just triggers for us. We are grateful to everyone who is understanding of that and respects that. However, we kept everything bottled up for so long, that I haven’t felt like “myself” for awhile and after some soul searching, I’ve realized it was because I’ve locked off this huge aspect of my life and therefore a huge part of myself. So in an effort to move forward, feel more comfortable with myself, and show you the real side of the pretty Instagram feeds…I’m talking about this not so pretty aspect of my life.

I’m so grateful to the few family members and close friends who were aware of our struggles and regularly checked in on us. Even the small inquiries meant so much to Drew and I, they definitely helped us knowing that someone was thinking of us.

Lastly, I have to thank Drew. The night of the fire, our lives changed drastically. I feel like most marriages either crumble under all of the stress and devastation or they become stronger and more resilient. I’m blessed that we held on to each other, we prayed together, and through that our love grew. Though I never wanted to be in this position, I’m beyond grateful that I had Drew standing by my side through it all.

So, how are we doing?

We are doing okay! Four years is a long time, and we have been blessed in so many ways. Including our daughter who came into our lives 2 years ago. It’s a process and there are some days where it’s just heavier than other days. Luckily, they are fewer and farther in between. But there is always a bit of a gut wrench when we see photos of our old house, pictures of us in some of our favorite clothes or some of our favorite possessions that we lost, or when we go to reach for a tool that we’ve forgotten we no longer have. They are things, and replaceable. Absolutely! We realize how blessed we are that we are all okay and no one was hurt! Thank God! Please do not misunderstand that! However, the reality of the situation is occasionally we miss our old life and we struggle with all the emotions with that.

It’s all a process and we are doing our best to move forward. I plan to talk more about what the process looked like, the lessons we’ve learned, and the positives of the whole situation. This was a beginning, putting it out there and updating everyone with “how we are doing”.

But thanks for asking!