On E-sessions.

(Photo by William Tangorra)

As I've mentioned before, one of the best best best parts of my job is getting to meet so many fun, fabulous people every day. From moms-to-be in to look at birth announcements, to uber-talented wedding vendors to blushing brides, my day is filled with the most wonderful women and men I could hope to work with and for.

Whitney and I so relish the relationships we are forming with our customers and vendors. Many of the people we work with now have become true friends and we're so grateful for that. We stay in touch with so many of them and get to hear all about the updates on their lives as wedding planning continues, babies are born and businesses grow. It's truly wonderful.

One of our lovely brides-to-be, Olivia, was kind enough to send Whit and I the proofs from her recent engagement photo session. She knows we live for this stuff. Thanks, Liv! Her wonderfully-talented photographer, William Tangorra, took some pretty amazing photos. Isn't she gorgeous? Her invitations are going to be pretty nice, too :)


(Three photos above all by William Tangorra)

Looking through Olivia's photos got me thinking about engagement photo sessions. I love the idea of documenting not only the wedding, but all the love and romance of being engaged. I really believe in relishing all the wonderful parts of deciding to spend your life with someone. It's a pretty amazing thing to find a partner in this world that you want to spend life with so why not enjoy each and every part of declaring that love? Love it up, I say!

Some of my favorite e-session shots from my favorite photographers:

(Photo courtesy of Brea McDonald)

Loving this candid snap above from Brea McDonald.

(Photo above and below courtesy of Emilie Inc. Photography)

As always, spectacular, personal and emotion-filled photos above by Emilie Sommer of Emilie Inc. Photography.

(Photo above by Ned Jackson)
A sweet, quiet moment above by Ned Jackson. That couple totally looks like they are thinking about what to do for their invitations. Great news, cute couple, I can help!


(Photo above and below by Shyla)

The amazing Shyla goes incognito to capture an actual engagement! Shyla goes above and beyond (and in camo!) for her art. I'm totally in love with this hot-and-steamy barn engagement session from her. Ohmygosh don't these two just look like characters out of a movie? A really awesome, love-filled movie.

(Photo courtesy of Shyla)

Oooh and Aaah

(All photos courtesy of Linda & Harriett)

I know we've chatted about calendars before, but I just have to reiterate how much I love these Linda & Harriett letterpress wall calendars. They are so super cute, beautifully printed, and the fact that the bottom of each month is a postcard just seals the deal for me.

Our second shipment of calendars arrived today (our first set flew off the shelves!) and this will likely be our last order for the year as they are a limited edition item. So - no pressure - but if you want one of these gorgeous calendars for yourself or to give as a totally fabulous holiday gift, you best get in here!

Also we'd just love to see you! :)

xoxo,

Ham and the Whiz

PS - We're on repeat here at the store today. Two songs I can't stop listening to right now:

1. Need You Now - Lady Antebellum

2. Happy - Leona Lewis

They're heeeeeere!

Perfect timing since we're on the topic of coffee and mugs. For those of you non-designers, Pantone® isthe world-renowned authority on color and is known worldwide as the standard language for accurate color communication, from designer to manufacturer to retailer to customer, across a variety of industries. The PANTONE® MATCHING SYSTEM® was developed in 1963 by Lawrence Herbert in an effort to identify, communicate and match colors in the graphic arts industry. Since that time, the PMS system has reached into fashion, retail, paint and plastics and is like a second language to us designers.

Sam and I are so excited (jumping up and down excited) to have these mugs in-store and are already fighting over which color we get to claim as our own. There are a huge number of PMS colors to choose from, but we had to narrow it down and thus, landed on: 5757, 520, 3272, 130, 179 and 3025 for our first order. I know you're all reaching for your swatch books right now and since I imagine that a good portion of our readers are not design nerds, I have included photos below to showcase our color scheme. Quite lovely, don't you think? We have 6 of each style and they are priced at $12.00 each so get in here and buy one for your boss, co-worker, or in my case, Dad. And how cute would they be as a full set in your kitchen? Sigh. I'm in love!

My very own Pantone tower! This was some pretty extreme merchandizing and I took every precaution necessary. Don't try this at home.

Coffee Hound

Coffee is one of my guilty pleasures. I love a good cup of coffee in the morning and I look forward to my special Friday afternoon latte all week. I like reading my email and easing into the day. I'm a regular at the local coffee shop, Breaking New Grounds. In the summer it's a large coconut iced coffee with extra ice and room for milk and in the winter it's a french vanilla with room for cream.

I do, however, have serious beef with the huge amounts of waste we coffee drinkers produce by throwing away our cardboard, Styrofoam and plastic disposable coffee cups. It's pretty horrific. A few staggering stats (found via Sustainability is Sexy):

- The average large university throws goes through 5,000+ disposable coffee cups a day

- In 2006, disposable coffee cups created 253 million pounds of solid waste

- In a year, the amount of energy used to produce disposable coffee cups used by Starbucks could is equivalent to the amount of energy needed to power 7.7 thousand homes

So, I can't tell you how pumped I was to start selling these totally rad not-a-plastic-cup ceramic coffee mugs! Aren't they amazing?

For $12 you can proudly sip your brew from a fab double-walled ceramic coffee cup with a silicone lid (all dishwasher safe) and save the planet. $12 to save the planet?! I'm thinking these are going to make pretty wonderful holiday gifts for some people.

Hooray!

(Video can be found here)

Remember how I said that Whitney and I have a lot to be thankful for? Well - our giving thanks and celebrating Thanksgiving apparently resonated with a few other people, too! Yesterday we filmed our 3rd TV interview in 3 months! Hooray!

Check it out HERE. Hint: the video is in the right side of the page!!

PS - Have I mentioned recently just how much we love our community? We are just the luckiest girls to live and work in a community so kind, active, supportive, and talented. Thank you! We heart you.

Gobble, gobble!

(Greeting card photo courtesy of Dee & Lala)

I love Thanksgiving. It's maybe my favorite holiday. It's a holiday centered solely around being thankful for what you have and eating a huge amount of food. I can totally get behind those concepts.

Whitney and I have dressed our little windows in Thanksgiving style (come see!) and have been feeling very thankful recently for all our blessings. A few of my most favorite Thanksgiving-y items at the store right now:

These fabulous imprintable flats by Snow & Graham would make lovely invitations for a Thanksgiving dinner party.

One of my favorite parts about the chilly weather is being cozy with a warm blanket, good book, and hot apple cider. These cuddle cider sachets by Chewing the Cud make over 3 gallons of spiced cider!

There is something so special about setting a holiday table complete with hand-written place cards. We've got quite the assortment of fabulous designs to choose from right now!

Oh man, I love Uncooked cards. They are so freakin' funny.

Well, well, well...

This is the best costume I've ever seen. An iPup! Wowza! Thanks CuteOverload; you've done it again!