kate 2 year pictures

2 year old.  Balloons.  What more do you need in life?  She had more fun running through Mainstraus Village in Covington with those balloons than anything else I can think of!  Vonnie, yet again, did an amazing job at capturing my 2 year old little balloon loving lady!

my 29th year bucket list

Birthdays. Aren't they funny? When you are younger you can't wait to be older and when you get to where you *think* you want to be, all you want to do is go back! I will say that I'm pretty comfortable in my skin these days and the number that comes along with it. Most of my friends have or are about to hit the big 3-OH, so I've had some time to do a little observing of life after your 20's. I will say that I'm blessed to have such amazing friends that have taken on 30 with so much grace! I had heard rumblings (not from my group of friends, but others) that they were really dreading turning 30 and were having a hard time coping with it. I wondered why? Is it because maybe they aren't doing what they thought they would be doing or hadn't achieved goals they thought they would by 30? When you put it that way, maybe it is hard to swallow. I will be the first to say that the job I have now is not ANYTHING like what I'd ever imagined doing, but you know what...it's not all bad. I had envisioned a life of NYC, tiny studio apartment, traveling like crazy for some cut-throat job hoping to build an empire of my own. That was my 20-something dream. Now it sounds like a nightmare.

Instead my 20's went something like this:

Had the BEST 21st birthday party ever. Seriously, I still look back and pictures and laugh...
Graduated from college at 21 with a degree in Apparel Design and Merchandising
Had already been working retail for several years and was completely burnt out and couldn't imagine a life like that
Landed my first "real" job at a law firm being a legal assistant working real 40 hour weeks and riding the bus to downtown, although I had/have no idea what I'm doing...just keep typing. I knew I could do that.
Was still dating my college sweetheart
By age 22 was engaged to said college sweetheart (December after graduation)
Got married to said college sweetheart (6 months later)
The next day I turned 23
We bought our first house
Had a TON of great parties and memories
Decorated, did yard work, did nothing and slept until noon on the weekends
At age 26 I found out I was going to be a mommy
At age 26 almost 27, I became a mommy
At age 28 we rented out our house and moved in with my parents while our dream house is being built
At age 28 (almost 29) I realize, you know what? It's been a pretty awesome decade.

I'm not mourning the last year of my 20's, I'm going to embrace it with everything I've got!

So, here comes the bucket list. I'm not going to look back on my 20's and think about what my life would have been like had I ever ended up in NYC instead of with the love of my life and then the other love of my life that came 4 years later. But, I do want to make the MOST out of this last year of my 20's and make it one I'll ALWAYS remember! Cheers to promising myself a totally legen....wait for it....dary year!

Leslie's 29th Year Bucket List

Walk/Run a 5K

Go to the Kentucky Derby...big hat, fancy dress, in the stands

Explore the Bourbon Trail (this may be on my husband's bucket list more than mine, but that's okay :)

Ride the Megabus to Chicago

**Learn how to just accept a compliment and not feel like I always have to explain myself or downplay it.**

Get my hands on a 8mm film camera

Complete 10 things that I pinned to my DIY board on Pinterest. And prove that I did it by blogging about it!

This may seem completely self-indulgent and a little vain of myself, but I want to have some portraits taken...of me...just me.  One day I know I'll be thankful to look back on them.  I'm in the best shape of my life, I've had a baby and on my way to 30.  I'll think of this as my Senior pictures.  Like 29 is my Senior Year of high school again and I'm about to graduate to the 30 somethings.  

Read 5 new books. (I'll  take suggestions too!)

Try a yoga class

Write more handwritten letters instead of emails. I mean who doesn't love getting mail?

Get out and hit up some local farmer's markets.  Between the ones in town and the huge one at Findlay Market, I have NO excuses not to go!  

Search for some peace

And to put the cherry on top of my 29th year (which I know is in another 364 days) I want all of my friends to celebrate my 30th with a super duper fun GLAMPING trip!  Let's break out the real silverware, real plates, fancy glasses and get our glamorous camping on!

Don't worry, I already have a Pinterest board starting for the glamping trip :)

It's a start, and certainly not complete. I'm also going to make a promise to myself to keep up with my blogging and hopefully blog about all of the items on my bucket list!

thanks for playing!

6 new Pinterest members! 

Kamryn R.
Clare Contemplates Madeleine's Musings
Tracey1217
Amy (Amy Crane Designs)
Julie W.
Tina R.

Please email me at leslie_hartman82@hotmail.com with your email address so I can send your Pinterest invites right over!  Happy pinning :)

if you need me, i'll be pinning

 

Have you heard about Pinterest? Oh, LORD, how I love Pinterest!!! It has quickly become my absolute go-to place to find inspiration for pretty much anything at all. I'll try to quickly explain the awesomeness that is Pinterest.

Pinterest is a website.
You sign up and become a member of the Pinterest community.
Once you are a member (you have to have been invited or you request an invite) you create "boards".
Your boards can be named whatever you want them to be. (i.e. For the Home, Party Ideas, DIY, Style Board, Recipes to Try, etc.)
If you are surfing the internet and come across something you like and want to remember for later, you "pin" the item to whatever board you want it to go to.

For example....I'm shopping online at Kate Spade (I wish, but this is just an example) and I see a handbag I can't live without, or at least I want to just remember that I can't live without it. Maybe I have to wait until payday or to win the lottery, but I want to remember EXACTLY where it was. The OLD way, I would add it to my Favorites list in your internet. My favorites were getting out of control and there was no way to organize them. NOW, I use my little button that I downloaded from Pinterest and all I have to do is click that button and then the nice people at Pinterest ask what board I would like to assign that item to. I chose to put it on my Style pinboard. The picture of the handbag is now pinned to my Style pinboard along with the exact link to take me back to the website once I've fallen into a pile of cash and can afford the bag. Now that I've pinned that to my Style pinboard other Pinterest users who follow my boards can also see what I'm pining over. Maybe one of my Pinterest friends feels like they will need a matching bag. Easy enough, all they have to do is re-pin my pin to their boards and now they have a way of remembering the awesomeness that is that bag.


Here is a screen shot of my boards!

Pinterest is seriously the greatest invention since the internet. The wealth of ideas and inspiration is almost overwhelming. It has been SO much fun to gather ideas for our new house, things to make and things to dream about. Like I said previously, people who belong can follow your boards if they like what you pin and want to keep getting updates on things you pin. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when I got the notification that COUNTRY LIVING was following ME!!!!!  Not that it means they are going to ask me to quit my job and come and work for them (although I think they should) but how cool is it that they are also seeing the things I pin and can take a little inspiration from me!

Now, here's the fun part! It's been awhile since I've done a giveaway, and this is a quick easy one :) I have 6 INVITATIONS to join Pinterest that I would love to give to you!  (You do have to be invited to join Pinterest by a member or request and invitation which can take awhile.)  All you have to do to enter is leave a comment on the blog or on FB and tell me your plans for the summer. I will pick at random (using Random.org) 6 lucky folks to send Pinterest invites to. As soon as you receive the invite, you can start pinning away! I will accept entries beginning now and will close at 9:00 am on June 17, 2011. Happy Pinning!

shopping resources

These insanely talented vendors helped me put together quite possibly the best derby party ever! 

A few links to DIYs:
http://jarofvintagebuttons.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-equestrian-ribbon-invites.html
http://jarofvintagebuttons.blogspot.com/2011/03/diy-cupcake-stands.html
http://jarofvintagebuttons.blogspot.com/2011/04/diy-treat-buckets.html

Shopping Resources:
Styling: lil ol' me http://www.jarofvintagebuttons.blogspot.com/ <----- you are HERE!
Photography: Sophia Blue Photography - http://lalaphotospot.shutterfly.com (Photo journal)
Flowers: The Secret Garden http://secretgardenky.com/
Tie Napkins: http://www.modernlola.com/
Cupcakes on stands: Abby Girl Sweets http://www.abbygirlsweets.com/
Kate's tutu: http://www.dearlillie.com/
Horse and horseshoe tags: http://www.etsy.com/shop/modernSCRAPYARD

Inspiration for cake, homemade lollipops and repurposing Starbucks glasses into milk glasses: Jess from Pen n Paperflowers http://penandpaperflowers.blogspot.com/.

Lots of random inspiration from Pinterest! http://pinterest.com/leslielm/

oh......WOW!

I'm beyond humbled that Apartment Therapy's ohdeedoh.com featured Kate's birthday party yesterday on their website! Go check it out! Click on the picture below for the story!

kate's 2nd derby birthday party

They are finally here!!! The pictures from Kate's birthday party FAR exceeded my expectations! They are beautiful if I will say so myself :) Vonnie did an outstanding job once again!!! I still have pictures to post of our attempt to have Kate sit in a homemade hot air balloon from her 2 year photo shoot we did a few weeks after this party :)

Warning: This post is going to be long...and super picturery. In the next few posts I'll post some more details on party prep, vendors and shopping resources. Enjoy!!!