a hurricane in pictures

friday:

Did some "necessities" shopping to take to my parents'

(where we bunked for the weekend).

Twizzlers & avocado = mine.

Everything else = his.

I wasn't going to do much storm prep besides take the wreath off the door & clean out the fridge...

But I got antsy when I got home from work,

& ended up pulling everything off perimeter walls & the back porch.

ps. i love my mugs.

On the drive over to my parents'

I got sentimental over not seeing the sun for x amount of hours.

I'M EMOTIONAL. WHAT.

We basically watched the news all night + Galaxy Quest (yessuhhh)

& by bedtime, the dogs were in some sort of storm's-a-brewin' tizzy.

We slept with both dogs on our air mattress.

(Because they love us most.)

saturday:

Good morning, Irene!

The backyard + cow pasture

Dad fired up some crepes...

Jared busted out his omelette skills.

& we feasted.

Eating, watching/laughing at our local news coverage, watching Harry Potter movies 

& hanging out with my family + our friend Tiffany (& her pup, Lucy) made for quite the enjoyable hurricane. 

We never lost power for more than a few minutes.

 My parents' house sustained very little damage.

Our apartment was practically untouched.

God is good, all deh time.

Plus, I totally got flowers out of the whole deal.

I believe his exact words were, "I got you Happy-Hurricane! flowers!"

I'll take it ;)

xo, kelsey

a starbucks fairytale

Once upon a time,

there was a girl who loved everything cake batter 

who married a boy that worked at Starbucks, where he made delicious drinks.

& then one day, he made her a cake batter frappuccino.

& they lived happily ever after.

*please excuse the photobooth flip

& my chipped off nail polish.

It's a nervous habit.

The nail polish chipping, that is.

cozy & rainy

1. Super cuddly puppy as the wind picked up last night

2. Rain, leaves & branches on the back deck

Jared & I are at my parents for the duration of sweet, darling Irene,

& it's been... honestly, pretty relaxing so far.

& now, since I typed that, I'm going to wait for the power to go out.

What are you doing on this hurricane-y Saturday?

we all agree

xo, everyone

don't be mean, irene.

At the oceanfront, June 2006

I bet you were crossing your fingers for one of the first pictures ever taken of Jared & I.

Our first pictures together are actually from my high school graduation,

but I'm not sure the internet is ready for those photos just yet.

Start crossing those fingers now for that sneak peek ;)

I started to convince myself that things were slowing down & summer adventures were coming to a close,

but thought(?) a bit too soon.

Hurricane Irene is heading our way, & everyone is gearing up for a hurricane-y weekend.

For us, this means making space in my parents' garage so my little Cabrio doesn't float away,

& settling in until we can all emerge from our burrows & start clean-up.

Maybe it's just that southern VA isn't affected annually by earthquakes, swamp fires & hurricanes (oh-my),

but this little wife is feeling a little the-world-is-ending-y,
& I'm fighting the MUSTHAVEBABYNOW feelings that are overtaking my ovaries.
[Quick, someone get this girl a kitten.]

Power loss is imminent, so I'm not sure how active I'll be around these parts,

(although how amazing would it be if we didn't lose power & I spent 48 stormy hours blogging & Pintrest-ing)...

But please please please! 

Stay safe, everyone... from Flawduh to Jersey!

In the mean time, I'm going back to devising recipes using uncooked pasta noodles, cream of tartar, vanilla extract & popcorn kernels.

Heeeey, pantry!

xo, kelsey

an afternoon with Shirley

The wedding went wonderfully, & we are so happy for our brother & brand new sister.

The newest Bethunes are now honeymooning in Mexico,

& we are in full blown "recovery mode" today, which has involved: 

-sleeping in later than I'm willing to admit
-a trip to the bank, like real adults
-tossing the unwanted bachelor party leftovers that made their way into my fridge

-sitting on the couch folding the clean laundry that has overtaken our apartment over the weekend
-drinking Shirley Temples because I'm on a ginger ale kick

-watching Phantom of the Opera, circa. 2004 on HBO 

-whining about how awful it is, even though neither of us has changed the channel yet
-planning for dinner on our porch because, HELLO beautiful weather!

With coordinating duties taking over, I neglected to take any photos of the weekend.
I'll be back with a more organized plan. 

Promise ;)

xo, kelsey

lately: phone photos

Words cannot describe how much of a whirlwind last week was.

Summer must be coming to a close ;)

& as this coming week begins in 2 short hours, we are entering wedding week for Jared's brother & our future sister-in-law, Alex - Happy!!!

Jared is in full Best Man mode, and I'm switching into wedding coordinator gear, so in the meantime!

Enjoy photos of life according to my iphone android.
*sigh*

xo, kelsey

in the chaos

It's a busy, busy week around here.

Our church is in the middle of our VBS program, which has been in the evening for the last two years.

 I lead the music, Jared writes/directs/acts in the skit, then usually teaches a class.

 It's always fun & fulfilling, but it's a beast of a week going straight from work

 to jumping around & singing at 100% energy for 3 hours.

Driving home last night, we both noticed the sky at the same moment in our separate cars.

He pointed, then gave me the sunset, like he has for the past 5 years, & I smiled like a little girl.

It's just good that in the chaos that sometimes strikes,

there are beautiful constants in my life...

Like beautiful sunsets & a handsome man to lasso it for me.

museum day with the coulombs

1.    Being cultured, for free!

2.    Jared and photo-crasher Amelia

3.    Pattern inspirations from Africa

4.    Tristan Lowe's "Mocha Dick" - I sorta wanted to take it home with us. 

5.    Pantone mugs? Be still my beating heart. 

{I'm trying to look past the horrible photo quality... The phone isn't quite cutting it these days.}

Amelia & Andrew,

thank-you for letting us infiltrate your day off.

We love you & your city, 

& we won't ever get enough adventures with the Coulombs.

xo, kelsey

carytown burgers

Amelia & Andrew got married at the end of May,

(see the beautiful photos on Korie's blog here)

& we have all EAGERLY anticipated hanging out as married folk ever since.

With a super busy summer of work, events, internships and school,

it seemed like we'd never figure our schedules out...

But as four (of five) kindred spirits (we missed you, Allison!)

we pulled strings & made a Richmond Monday happen.

Um, we pretty much just ate & talked & laughed & then ate some more.

But can you blame us when we're in a city with eats like Carytown Burgers?

Bring on the California Burger.

xo, kelsey

G+E at the beach

From last week's beach date with Gretchen and Evan.

It's been awhile since the days that Gretch & I spent every waking moment together,

& I just adore seeing my high school partner in crime love her babe & her hubby with everything she's got.

Growing up ain't so bad.

In fact, it seems like there's just more people to love harder now.

xo, kelsey