i traveled up to columbus this weekend with this girl, mia. a good friend from high school. in high school we spent most days together, but since college we haven't stayed in touch. but it didn't take much to feel like close friends again. it was so fun to drive up with her and spend all saturday enjoying columbus. 

we had jeni's icecream, which is a must in columbus, we also went to easton, an outdoor shopping mall and ate at northstar which is another favorite. (we were too busy eating and fully enjoying this that the only pictures i took weren't that good, and were mostly meant to send to jordan!) 

my favorite part of the trip was definitely seeing these two girls. 

it was a big surprise to see nicki, one of my closest friends. she just got back from a trip to africa and i didn't get a chance to see her before she left. it was so good to do a little catching up, hugging and a lot of dancing. 

and on to the wedding, which was beautiful...

leigh has been such a great friend to me through so many years and it was such a blessing to be able to see her marry ben. i need to post the pictures leigh took at our wedding -- she is so talented. and look at her, she was such a beautiful bride. 

i wish i had more of the decorations and such, it was gorgeous. i will eventually get better of taking actual photographs of my mental ones. 

here's a snapshot of nicki and i at the photobooth, ha!

this is the result of painting outside in the sweltering heat. 

we made what we call fancy cut-offs. 

we took an old t-shirt, cut the sleeves and neck off, made a deep v in the back for a racerback and cut off some fabric off the bottom to tie the back together. (this is demonstrated in the third picture- we made a knot a couple inches above where the cut ended and wrapped it around until it was a couple of inches to the top and made a knot and cut off excess fabric. we played around with how much we cut or how far we wrapped around the fabric, these are the basics but you want to make it to fit how you would like it!so, go ahead and make a summer t-shirt to paint furniture, or other things that involve getting dirty and being underneath the sun. 

watch out world, i now have an awesome camera

my grandpa had some connections. they said to take what we wanted. and we did.

all in all. it was tough work. we got there early that morning and didn't get back until mid afternoon. but      it was pretty fun. i am thankful for a family that doesn't mind getting their hands a little dirty and risk bee stings (i forgot how terrible they are!) we spent the rest of the day at my grandparents putting together a little something for jordan, because we couldn't forget about him.

brandon and i found this guy in the garage, what a great find! we cleaned him up and he's looking extra sharp. what do you think he would look like as a chalkboard? 

brandon and i picked up a couple of pallets. we are going to break them a part and make a bookshelf... well at least that's the plan now. we are also going this friday to pick up some barnwood! so, this little guy might be pushed aside if we don't do anything with him until then.

i also started training for a half-marathon this fall. yikes!

last week i worked on quite a few design projects. just for fun and for experience. i want to create a little something for places that mean something to me. i hope to add some of these to my portfolio. here is one i finished. a little queen city inspiration. i love the city of cincinnati and hopefully i will be able to do some more exploring these next weeks. and go to a reds game! 

let me know if you would like me to send this to you! i want to turn this into a postcard to send to those cincinnati lovers i know.