Hi, I'm Baxter!

Hi, I’m Baxter! I am a three and a half year old German shorthaired pointer (GSP). Two months ago today I was adopted from the Foothills Animal Shelter by the Lackores. Prior to arriving at the shelter I went by the name Magnum and lived in rural Kansas with a GSP breeder, who raised hunting dogs. It’s debatable whether I was a real hunting dog but I certainly love pointing at birds, squirrels and small dogs and using my big nose to take in all the scents. 

I first met the Lackores on Valentine’s day when they came to look for a dog. I saw them walk by a few times and next thing I knew we were in a visitation condo and they were throwing the ball for me. I was loving up all their attention and tried to be on my best behavior. They thought it was cute that I jumped up to hug them. Turns out they went home that night and talked to some family and friends and did some research on my breed (like watching this video). 

I guess my hugs paid off because the next day I was sporting a new collar and heading out of the shelter with my new parents! They kept mentioning someone named Baxter and I was a little confused but then I realized that was ME they were referring to! I feel much more like a Baxter than a Magnum, so I'm ok with the name change.  Now a days I also go by Bax Dog or BD for short (like my tail!).

The past two months have been a roller coaster of excitement! I have loved settling into my new house. I am pretty free to roam in the upstairs when my parents are home and love the spacious backyard. I was quickly banned from the downstairs on my own because I thought I could use it as a bathroom…that plush carpet sure feels like grass to these paws!

We live really close to some open space and I just looooove going for runs there. Have you seen all those birds and deer? Well, next time I’ll point them out to you! Oh and the smells, mmm mmm mmmm.  I equally love going to the dog park on the hill. I cannot get enough of chasing all those tennis balls. My parents tell me I’m the fastest dog at the park! 

As much as I love running and playing, I really love my dog bed. There is nothing better at the beginning, middle and end of each day than stretching out to take a nap! Just typing this makes me want to curl up and take a snooze. 

The hardest part of this new situation has been while my parents are at work. I get pretty bored, and anxious that they’ve forgotten all about me, so I find projects to surprise them when they get home. Unfortunately it seems like they are disappointed when they come home to my surprises. So I started a class where I get to eat a lot of treats and apparently I will improve my bad behaviors. I can’t wait to make my parents real proud!  

Although I'm not always the best at expressing it, I am really thankful I was adopted by the Lackores. I think I'm a pretty sweet addition to their family!

Phew – my paws are tired from all this typing but it’s sure been fun. I hope to share more of my adventures and misadventures with you soon!

Woof, Baxter

Stephanie's Baby Shower

Two weeks ago I co-hosted a baby shower for my dear friend, Stephanie! She is due with her first baby - a girl - in a few short weeks. Doesn't she look fabulous?

I'm sharing all the lovely details of her baby shower on Inspired Honey Bee. You can view the post right here! 

All this year I'll be a monthly contributor on Inspired Honey Bee. You can read January here (valentine cards), February here (gift I made for Stephanie's baby girl).

Homeowners

Shortly after returning from our honeymoon, B and I met with a realtor and began a house hunt. After two months of looking at ok homes, a friend told us about a cute house in her neighborhood.

I took this photo while I waited outside on our first visit. The red door and all around curb appeal had me hopeful and the inside did not disappoint! After a second visit, and a look at a few comparable homes, we decided to make an offer.

 

After loads of paper work, inspections and other legal logistics...we became homeowners!! 

The past month has looked like this:

sold - first pic on our front porch - first home purchase W&D

B packing humor - moving day! - our front porch gnome

getting cable (pretty big deal) - first of many home depot trips - B shoveling for the neighbors (what a guy!)

And we couldn't be happier! 

 

Married

Five weeks ago we created a new chapter in this five year love story: Married. One a scale of one to 10, I'd rate the day an 11. It was truly the best day ever; more than I could have ever hoped for and certainly more than I'd planned for.

I'm a sucker for love, happy people and a good party. Turns out it's even more amazing when it's your happy friends, family and HUSBAND.

Lots more photos, thoughts and DIY projects to come. In the meantime, check out the photos Part 1 and Part 2 from our talented photographers - Chowen Photography - who we are lucky to now call friends. 

XO,
Mrs Lackore 

Pinterest-a-thon: Upcycled Corks and Bottles

Hi friends! Today I am guest posting on the Inspired Honey Bee's monthly Pinterest-a-thon. This month I tackled some projects that have been a few years in the making. We've collected wine corks for nearly two years. I wasn't exactly sure what's I'd use them for, until Pinterest came along! To learn more about the projects and what we plan to use them for, read my guest post here!

Want to join the party too? Link your Pinterest inspired projects right here!

Disclaimer: this little project of ours is not sponsored by Pinterest. We're just really obsessed. Like really!

S*** Brides Say

In case of your Wednesday is in need of some humor...how about some wedding humor: 

Shit Brides Say (I didn't feel right putting that as the title!).

I am guilty of: 

- Pinning!

- Just DIY it

This is a good reminder to laugh and not take life or this whole wedding thing TOO seriously.

Also hilarious, check out: Shit Yogis Say

Pinterest-a-thon: Craft Studio

Hi friends, welcome to my craft studio!! That's right, I have my very own CRAFT STUDIO! Ok, maybe that's an over exaggeration, but I do have a clean, organized, happy place to work on projects now. 

I was primarily inspired by Inspired Honey Bee 's craft studio, after spending lots of time in there. I also found lots great ideas on Pinterest. I'm sharing all the details today on IHB as part of her January Pinterest-a-thon. Hop on over and check it out! 

Want to join the party too? Link your Pinterest inspired projects right here!

Disclaimer: this little project of ours is not sponsored by Pinterest. We're just really obsessed. Like really!

Bridesmaid Style

Pretty early on in the planning process I started researching bridesmaid dresses. I found that I was drawn to the mismatched dresses within a shade. I love how they're coordinated but also show each bridesmaid's individual style. Here are just a few of the pictures I fell in love with:

1|2|3

Although I had talked to all my 'maids about the idea, I decided to make a little something they could use as a guide for shopping. I found these purple large tags on sale at Paper Source. They were begging to be used for a fun wedding project. On the front side of the card I used the collage of photos above.

On the backside of the cards I used paint chips (cut into circles) to make a scale of gray as a shopping guide. I also included a few suggestions for clarity. I finished the cards off gray twine.

To date, four girls have picked their dresses and I LOVE how the look is coming together! 

Of course you can't look at bridesmaid dresses without looking at shoes! To complete the look, I want the girls and myself to wear TOMS wedges. Since the ceremony will be on grass, wedges are perfectly comfortable for standing and dancing into the night. It makes me happy to think each girl will get a pair of wedges and a child without shoes will get a pair too. I also really, really love that TOMS created pewter sequin wedges  (bottom right).

1|2|3|4

 Last but not least, to REALLY complete the look will be my favorite ladies standing by my side looking absolutely fabulous in their shades of gray!! I'm still working on jewelry, but will probably wait until all of the girls have their dresses. Suggestions welcome!

Engaged? Check!

Photographer? Check!

Venue? Check!

Engagement photos? Check!

Popping the other question (will you be my bridesmaid?)? Check!

Wedding dress? Check!

Wedding Colors & Inspiration Board? Check!

Save Our date postcards, Officiant, ceremony music, day-of coordinator, florist and caterer? Check!

Bridesmaid style? CHECK!

Wedding update: 6 months to go!

When we got engaged I had the great idea only I would update the blog on a regular basis with our plans. Well then life happened and I've barely shared any updates. So, at last, in honor of the 6 month mark until our big day (which was actually 10 days ago), here is a wedding update...

Save Our Date Postcards
From the beginning I knew I wanted to send out postcards to save our wedding date. They're an affordable option, both in postage and paper, plus a great opportunity to use engagement photos. I did extensive research on Minted and Wedding Paper Divas and kept coming back to this postcard. I loved the date blocks and the word choice: save our date, however the layout and colors weren't working with the photo we wanted to use. I did what any crafty gal would do and decided to make the postcards myself! Here's the end result:

I used Picasa and Picnik photo programs and had the postcards printed through Zazzle. Not only was I able to get the exact look I wanted, I cut the cost by .20/card! Putting them into the mail was really fun, but not as much as the pictures and messages that rolled in as family and friends received them. I can only imagine the excitement when we get to the invites!!


Our VIPs
Over the past few months we've confirmed a few Very Important People to help make our day extra special and run smoothly. As I've mentioned a few times, it's important to us that this day be a reflection of our journey and involve the people and things we love most. So far I feel like this has come true, including the following...

Officiant: As you'll remember, Brian and I met at a wedding (read full story here). In celebration of where it all began, we asked the father of the bride from that wedding to marry us! He gave a heart warming and funny toast at their wedding and is a loving and caring husband, father and friend. We are thrilled he agreed to marry us!

Ceremony musician: My uncle is an amazing guitarist. Last Thanksgiving he showed Brian and I his guitar room and even demonstrated all the gadgets. When we started talking about random wedding ideas, we both agree it would be so great to have Uncle Eddie play at our wedding. We are grateful he said yes! He is also known to tell A LOT of jokes (good and bad), so who knows he might play guitar and do stand-up comedy.

Day-of coordinator: When putting together our budget I made sure to figure in a day-of coordinator. Having done wedding planning, I knew I needed to have someone else to take care of the day-of details and logistics so I can focus on other things...like getting married. I called my friend Arlaina who I met working at the AHA, although she is now an event planner for the convention center. She was honored I asked her to do it and will do such an amazing job and have fun too. At the time I asked her, I was also job searching and she connected me to my current position! I am forever grateful. We've already agreed that I'll return the day-of favor for her (when the time comes).



Florist: In September during the creative challenge, I made bouquets and boutineers for fun. I had though for a split second it would be fun to do my own flowers, but making those reaffirmed my decision to hire a professional so that, same as above, I can focus on getting married. Layna's good friend Katie did all the flowers for her wedding (see here and here) and did an amazing job! I am so thankful she's agreed to do our wedding too! We've met once so far and it was probably one of the most fun conversations I've had during this planning. I'm excited to see what she puts together, I know it will be beautiful! 
 
Caterer: I knew who I wanted to hire from the beginning. As I explained here

I worked for a catering company so it was pretty hard for me to look elsewhere. I did look at pricing and menus at a few other caters but ended up going with my fav: Catering by Design. I know from first hand experience their event service is top notch, not to mention their food is really good (aka not your typically chicken buffet). I have been happy with their ability to work within our budget to create a delicious menu, using local ingredients when possible. We'll be having a tasting in the next month or so which I am super excited for!

I really am going to try and share the details on a more regular basis around here. They're fun to write and it helps me share the details more widely. I already have a few posts ready to go, so check back again next Wednesday for more Lack-gert wedding updates! July 2...here we come!

Engaged? Check!

Photographer? Check!

Venue? Check!

Engagement photos? Check!

Popping the other question (will you be my bridesmaid?)? Check!

Wedding dress? Check!

Wedding Colors & Inspiration Board? Check!

Save Our date postcards, Officiant, ceremony music, day-of coordinator, florist and caterer? CHECK!

Best of 2011

2011 was a big year for us: engaged, new jobs and a move to Colorado all sandwiched between a million memories, everyday life, adventures and celebrations. Inspired this post on one of my favorite blogs, I put together my own best of 2011!

engaged

adventures in joshua tree

popping the other question

B2B

City Love

Hittin' the Road

BIG news.

Jay-Oh-Bee

Wedding Season

This past year five of my favorite women got married. I could not pick a best and that's because they were all amazing on their own. I'm so happy to have witnessed these celebrations!

Melissa & Parker

Jeremy & Debbie

Sara & Andy

Sarah & Derek

Dave & Layna

  Had to share one more wedding photo, because this is one of my very favorites. ever.

First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes...

BEST new people to join the world in 2011!!

{Georgia, Lucas, Phelan, Calder, Brynlee, Asher, Dylan,  Luke, Ryder}

I am incredibly grateful for another happy and healthy year. Here's to you, 2012!! I have a feeling its going to be another good GREAT year!!

Pinterest-a-thon: Rein-beers

At the office we are doing a holiday "secret elf" exchange. I drew a guy's name, which has been a tad challenging because I have only met him once. I've tried my very best to get thoughtful, manly stuff while sticking to the strict $15 budget. 

Today is the big elf reveal and I could not, for the life of me, think of what to give as a final gift. That's when I realized, just because I have a guy doesn't mean I can't still do something a little crafty. You know how much I love making gift 6 packs (see birthday, baby), so this rein-beer 6 pack seemed like a fun and festive idea!

Pinterest Inspiration

After confirming he drinks alcohol and that my idea wasn't too lame or inappropriate for the office (since I am the new girl and all), I purchased the supplies to make my very own 6 pack of rein-beers!

It was SO EASY to put together and cost me approximately $12.

Supplies:

6 pack of beverages - I went with New Belgium Trippel

Brown pipe cleaners

Small multi-colored pom-poms
Wiggley eyes
Wrapping paper
Glue and scissors

 1. Unload the beers. Wrap the base of the 6 pack box or leave it plain, especially if the beer is a winter ale!

2. Wrap pipe cleaner around bottle top and make bunny ears. Kink into desired antler shape. Add an extra piece of pipe clear if you want larger antlers.

3. Glue on googly eyes.

4.Glue on a small pom-pom nose. I used one red pom-pom for Rudolph and brown for the rest. Ta-da: rein-beer!

I put them all back into the box their sleigh and attached a Santa gift tag. Hello - someone's gotta be a designated driver.

 

Since you cannot buy wiggley eyes, pom-poms or pipe cleaners individually AND this was so fun, I will be making more of these rein-beer 6 packs in the future!

Pinterest-a-thon: Snowman Ornament

Last but certainly not least, today is my final guest post for the week written by Adriane! I met Adriane during the conference but did not get a chance to get to know her until we were back in the office. She's super sweet, funny, also a CSU ram (lots of rammies in our Boulder office) and works out at 24 hr Fitness so we've taken a few classes together. Thanks for sharing your project, Adriane!

Pin-spiraiton

 Every Christmas we get my Mom a snowman ornament – so this year I decided to make mine! My project was inspired by this pin, originally see on Craft Goodies.

After an hour-long trip to Michael’s, in which I spent way more than I needed to on Christmas decorations, I came home with Styrofoam balls, yarn, wire, buttons, and burlap.

I started out by wrapping three Styrofoam balls in yarn (takes longer than you’d think), and glued them together to create the body. The original post used black furniture tacks for the buttons, but I rebelled and chose the genius route of hot-gluing – wait for it – four buttons to the body. I then used 20 gauge wire to makes the arms and hat, and cut a burlap scarf to complete the project!

Pinterest-a-thon: Ruffled Pillow

Today is my second guest post this week written by Jen! Jen is a Meeting Planner and has been the primary person to train me in my new role. I shadowed her the entire week at the conference and we traveled together to Boston, Miami and Tampa for site visits. I feel so lucky to be learning from her, as she is amazing at her job. In addition to all the work and travel time we've spent together she also includes me in social activities. In short: she rocks and I'm grateful! Thank you for sharing your project, Jen!

Having totally fallen in love with the diy ruffled pillow I knew it was exactly what I wanted to create when I was challenged to actually follow up on a pin and create something myself! Since the original pin only included a series of pictures for instructions I hit the web to find some additional instructions and landed on ruffle pillow {by Jess} from Floral Showers. I combined the two with my ultimate vision and created exactly what I wanted.

The tutorial suggested using an extra large t-shirt and stuffing, instead I purchased one yard of beautiful blue/gray striped taffeta and two 16” x 16” pillow forms.

Step 1: Slice that fabric

Taffeta has a tendency to fray, and since I was concerned with the inside seams of the pillow falling apart I decided that I would sew French seams for all my interior seams. Since French seams would need more seam allowance I cut the front of my pillow at 17” x 17” and wanting the back of the pillow to be an envelope, I cut two back pieces that would overlap, 12” x 17” and 9” x 17”. My rotary cutter made it extremely easy to slice nine 1.75” x 25” strips which would become the ruffles. The ruffle strips need to be cut considerably longer than the final pillow size as they will become shorter once ruffled.

Step 2: Sew those ruffles

To create the ruffles I sewed a basting stitch (long stitch) down the center of each strip. I then laid each strip on the pillow front and tacked them down by sewing ¼” seam through the top of each strip.

Begin to ruffle!

This was the best part of the project! To create the ruffles I simply pulled the bobbin thread causing the strips to scrunch up until they were 17” long (be sure to hold the threads at the opposite end from where your pulling and don’t pull too hard). I then went back to the sewing machine and sewed each of the strips down their center onto the front of the pillow. If your original basting seam is showing you can easily pull the threads out, making the pillow top look cleaner.

To complete my ruffle pillow I laid the two back pieces of the pillow so that they overlapped (to create the envelope) and then laid the ruffled top on top of them so that the wrong sides of the fabric were against each other. I then sewed the front to the back around the perimeter using ¼” seam allowance, be sure not to sew the ruffles down (Part 1 of the French seam). I then turned the pillow inside out and again sewed around the perimeter of the pillow using ¼” seam allowance (Part 2 of the French seam). Once again I turned the pillow right side out and I had a ruffled pillow cover! To finish I just put the pillow forms into the pillow cover using the envelope opening in the back.

front - ruffles!

back - envelope

Hardest part of the entire project was dealing with my
poorly trained cat that not only continually jumped on the
table, but also attacked fabric as it came out the backside of
the sewing machine. Good thing she's cute!