race for the cure! //love loop

picture from John Alexander Photography

What a fun, exhausting, and rewarding weekend! My mom enlisted me to help her with the Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure. She came up with the idea of the Love Loop, and she needed all the help she could get. 

This is pretty much the absolute worst time for me because I have so much to do to finish this semester at school, but we somehow made it work! First things first: I had to make my tutu! Making them is not hard, just time consuming. If you can make a knot, you can make a tutu. I made mine with all slipknots. Seeing how long it took me to make mine, (probably 1 hr), my mom ran her tulle through the sewing machine, bunching it as it was sewn. Her method was so much quicker, but her tutu is also not as poofy as mine! 

Friday was packet pickup day, and Brooke and I were stationed in the Jepson. We had the job of forcing convincing people to fill out a butterfly with who they were fighting for and make a donation. It was a little rough in the beginning, with people ignoring us, but we eventually took on a new sales tactic. I would corral them over the the table, sometimes running after them as they are walking out of the door, and then we could talk them into anything. After a few hours of this, we were getting really into. It became a game for us and we were getting competitive. All for a good cause, right?! 

The butterflies were hung in Ellis Square and could be seen by everyone in the race on Saturday. This became the Love Loop. People could walk around the square and reflect on all of the butterflies. It is shocking to see how breast cancer affects so many of us. If it hasn't happened to you personally, it has probably happened to someone you know and love. People could also walk around the Love Loop and find the butterfly that they wrote. They were also encouraged to bring in pictures of people affected by the disease and hang them up, as well. 

This is almost all of our team: maKEITHappen!

It was so sweet to have so much of our family together to honor Nana and Aunt Lisa. We were the top 7th team and we raised $8499! That is incredible! Participating and fundraising for Susan G. Komen is something that is very important to us, and we will continue year after year.

Volunteering for the Race For The Cure was such an amazing experience. I am so thankful that I decided to help, even with my crazy workload. It was so inspiring. I absolutely loved meeting all of these sweet women that are battling the disease and seeing their beautiful smiles. They are warriors and they are incredible. I love that I was a part of something that helps them feel like they are not alone. We are all in this together. 

For my Nana and Aunt Lisa♥

don't mess with texas!

Last week we got to spend some good ol' quality time with our amazing friends in Texas! Kellan and Shelby (or Shellan and Kelby if you've had a few drinks) moved out to Dallas last year and we were pretty bummed about it, but at least they live in a cool city that we can come visit and have a blast in.

First stop, the Stockyards in Fort Worth, to see the Cattle Drive. I loved the speckled ones!

Texas is all about the food, right? So we HAD to get a Whataburger. It was mandatory, and we were not let down. Damn, these things are good! 

One day, we ventured over to the Bishop Arts District and I was in love. Quaint little stores mixed in with local restaurants = heaven. I could have spent all 4 days here and been a happy camper!

Society was definitely my favorite shop. It was so tiny, but packed with so many goodies! I wanted everything. 

Back to more food! Kellan's favorite bbq restaurant in Grapevine was a hit. Their mac 'n' cheese wasn't even fair. Everything was perfect. And they had Cheerwine, in a glass bottle, so Bradley was happy! 

On Friday we drove to Austin. It's a great city to visit regardless, (my mom and I went in 2013 for Quiltcon!) but my brother just moved there 3 weeks ago, so I especially wanted to go! And this weekend happened to be SXSW, so it was perfect timing!

First Stop in Austin was Home Slice Pizza. So good! I need another bite of Shelby's eggplant pizza!

And then we got cupcakes, because they're my favorite, and who turns down a cupcake? We came across the cupcake truck that mom and I visited in 2013, Hey Cupcake. They were even better than I remember. I got lemon with strawberry frosting. Amazing.

And we crammed in some time at Room Service Vintage to see if we could find anything that we just had to have! Unfortunately all the stuff I loved was huge, and wouldn't fit in my carryon- like this couch! I was obsessed. 

Making this post showed me how much stuff I don't have pictures of! Shelby and Kellan kept us so busy the entire time! I guess it's good that I actually enjoyed the time there instead of worrying about a certain shot. We had so much fun and definitely want to come back. Thanks so much to my best friend for having us!!

wonky corners quilt

After making the little scrappy quilt, I was inspired to make another quilt with scraps. I decided to do some wonky corners, and I am in love!! This is definitely one of my favorites. I love how each triangle is a different size, and placed at a different angle. That makes the piecing process so much more fun. You don't have to worry about getting every one to look the same. It also allows you to use many more scraps.

I'm still working on this one, of course! I'm always starting something new between quilts. But, I did manage to get it quilted! I actually tried many different options for the quilting, but they just weren't right. Lots of seam ripping!

I ended up with straight line quilting, an all time love, and I'm so happy with it! It's clean and simple and really lets the focus be on the fabrics, which is my favorite part! Now, I just have to get this baby bound. 

oh, what fun

Putting cards in the tree is something that my Nana used to do every christmas morning. It was such a surprise to see these in the tree, and made it feel like Nana was still with us.

Mom also busted out the dancing Santa. My Nana had one but it died a few years ago. Amazingly enough, my mom found one on ebay. Man, we love this thing!!

After we had Christmas at my mom's, we traveled to North Carolina to see Bradley's dad and my dad. Stell was, surprisingly, a great travel bud!

She loved riding in the front with us, and pouted when we kicked her to the back!

We can't wait for New Years! We have some pretty amazing friends coming in town, and we are so excited to see them and enjoy some time at the beach house!

she's growing up!

Our sweet girl is growing like a weed! It makes me kind of sad knowing that she used to be so tiny, but she's still so freaking cute. We don't even know what to do with her!

Clearly not a morning person, just like her momma!

rockin' around the christmas tree

This year Bradley and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary. I made him this book on our first anniversary of 100 reasons why I love him. We couldn't believe it had already been 5 years since I gave this to him. It was fun to look back on those reasons and see the ones that were still the same and the ones that have changed. Following in last years tradition, we decorated our christmas tree on our anniversary. It's become one of my favorites things, and it is such a sweet way to kick off the season!

And you see what happens? He actually made it longer than I thought!

And every post needs a sweet photo of this cutie pie! Ahh we just love her so much! 

Don't you just love this time of year?