Introducing Baby Jameson!

“You were born with potential

You were born with goodness and trust

You were born with ideals and dreams

You were born with greatness

You were born with wings

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t

You have wings

Learn to use them and fly.”

~ Rumi

At 7:32am on Wednesday, November 28, we welcomed Jameson Walter Meinhardt into our little family!  He arrived at a hearty 9 pounds 15.1 ounces and 21.5 inches, which means that all the newborn sized clothes we had for him didn’t even stand a chance!  Although we’re a little blurry-eyed from lack of sleep, the whole family is adjusting well and ever so happy that he’s here!

I have a few blog posts planned in the next few weeks, but will otherwise be back to work full-time on January 1.  I’m still checking emails though, so feel free to email me at kristy@kristymeinhardtweddings.com if you need anything.

Wishing everyone a joyful holiday season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing everyone a very happy Thanksgiving and start of the holiday season!  It’s early in the morning on Thanksgiving Day and, as I write this, I’m still pregnant.  I’m pretty tired, but extremely grateful to have my husband at home and my in-laws in town.  They’ve all been a huge help!  I’m also thankful that I had the time and energy this week to do our grocery shopping for today’s meal, plan out our table, put together a cute pumpkin centerpiece (that’s it pictured above) and even bake a few pies.  All things I love about this time of year!  (Side note: I pinned a great recipe on Pinterest from A Beautiful Mess for a brownie pecan pie and I can’t WAIT to taste it!  I’ll let you know if it’s good, but really…how could it not be?!)

After David and I got married, Thanksgiving quickly became “our” holiday in the Meinhardt home.  He’s a fire fighter and works his fair share of holidays, but we try to take vacation around Thanksgiving every year to visit our family since they all live out of town and start some family traditions of our own.  I thought I’d share one tradition that I started a few years ago…our “I am thankful for” cards.

Happy Anniversary Neal & Lynn!

I’m a day and a half late on this one, but I couldn’t go without wishing Neal and Lynn a very happy one-year anniversary!  Last year, on 11-11-11, they tied the knot in a beautiful ceremony on the patio at Hotel De Anza in downtown San Jose, with an elegant dinner reception following at Paolo’s Restaurant, and I was honored that they let me help in the planning.

DIY Painted Bottle Centerpieces

If you ever visit my home, you will probably notice that I almost always have fresh cut flowers around the house.  I try to shop our local farmer’s market every week, but if I’m short on time, I will pick up a bunch at the store or even just cut a few blooms from our yard to put in a bud vase.  Anything to have fresh flowers in the house.  So, when I saw this pin for DIY bottle centerpieces, I knew this was something I needed to try.

The Next Few Months

My growing family

As I get closer to d-day in this pregnancy (I’m due Nov. 28, but I honestly feel like I could pop any day!), I wanted to write a short post on what my plans are and what you can expect from me over the next few months.

• I plan to slow down for “maternity leave” beginning Nov. 1 to give me time to focus on the final preparations for this little guy’s arrival.  After the baby comes, I will devote the month of December to my family.  (For some reason, I must like the craziness of having holiday babies.  In addition to welcoming our new arrival around Thanksgiving, my daughter’s third birthday is a few days before Christmas.  I’m sure that won’t be stressful in the coming years!)
• Although I won’t be as available as I usually am starting next month, I will still check email and voicemail on a regular basis.  If you contact me, I maybe won’t be as quick to respond, but you can still expect a reply as soon as I can possibly get to it.  Should be within a few days max.
• I’ll continue to be present within my social media networks as much as possible, including on my Facebook page, Pinterest, Instagram and here on the blog.  And as soon as I have a picture of the most handsome boy in the universe, know that it will be posted across them all!
• Baring any unexpected difficulties, I plan to be back in full-force on January 1.

I’m of course a planner at heart so I’m finding the “not-knowing” a little frustrating, even the second time around.  If you need to contact me, please still do.  I promise to get back in touch with you as soon as I possibly can.  And if you’re among the lucky couples getting engaged this holiday season, congrats!  I can’t wait to talk with you about your wedding!

Happy Anniversary Steve and Kim!

Photo credit: Octavia Hunter

Steve and Kim were married on October 11, 2009 at Elliston Vineyards in Sunol, CA.  I honestly feel that Kim was a wedding planner in a former life and I knew from the moment I met her that we were a perfect fit!  Every detail of her wedding was so well thought out, from the Vermont chocolate favors (Steve is from Vermont), to the sweet lavender heart wreath hanging on the tree leading up to the ceremony, to the “fortune” bouquet of lottery tickets and good luck charms which strategically broke apart as it was tossed so that each girl got something.  (I must give partial credit for that idea to her DJ, Kevin from Fantasy Sound!)

Weekend Crafting Inspiration: Yarn Wrapped Bottles

I’ve missed a few weeks of my Weekend Crafting Inspiration (sorry about that), but I’m hopefully making it up to you with this super easy, super fun craft idea!  I found this tutorial for yarn wrapped bottles on Wedding Chicks.  I decided it was a must-do because 1) the bottles are too cute, 2) I can always use a few more bud vases and 3) I go through a yarn-buying phase, where I think I have time to pick up knitting again, at least once a year.  So…I have yarn coming out of my ears!

My “365 Days of Gratitude Project” on Instagram

This past July, I celebrated my 39^th birthday (I know, yikes!) and I decided to honor the last year of my thirties by starting a gratitude project that I had seen on Pinterest.  This is something I’ve wanted to do for a while now; I just needed to create the time.

For the project, I’m using my Instagram account to take a picture of something I’m grateful for each day for an entire year.   When I first saw the idea, I knew it would be a good way to force myself to take a step back and say thank you on a daily basis, since I truly believe that when you show gratitude for the abundance of greatness that’s already in your life, you just draw more of the same into your experiences.  Plus I just like the idea of having a collection of pictures that represent all the things I love the most at the end of the year.  Maybe I’ll do a book…

Weekend Crafting Inspiration: Fabric Flower Pins

Ever have a project that starts off so easy and ends with a frustrated crafter about to go out of her mind?  That was the last couple days for me!  Earlier this week, I started playing with some fabric scraps I had lying around and was inspired to make fabric flowers.  I found this tutorial from Lil Blue Boo for a fabric flower headband and stayed up far too late making just the flowers!  (So much fun!)

Weekend Crafting Inspiration: Rope Monograms or Words

The weekend is here (hooray!) so it’s time for some more weekend crafting inspiration.  I found this project almost a year ago on Green Wedding Shoes (see original post here).  As with last week’s project on paper baskets, this one is also versatile and can apply to weddings and events, or just to every day life.  You’ll notice that I modified the original tutorial somewhat by making a monogram instead of rope words.  I did this mostly because I love monograms, especially for weddings.  I feel like they’re a symbol of the family that you’re building and they fit perfectly in your home after the wedding is over.