An Engagement Photo Session for Amanda and Jordan.

When my friends asked me to take their engagement photos, I was absolutely flattered. I've been taking photos for years, and playing around with my own editing style, but it was always for my own family's photos and, obviously, this little blog of mine. But I very gladly said yes, and I am so pleased with how their session turned out! We spent some time frolicking around Serenbe Farms and I had such a great time capturing their chemistry and obvious love for one another.

Thanks for letting me capture the spirit of your relationship, Amanda and Jordan! I know you have many beautiful decades of blissful marriage ahead of you!

Shop My Stella and Dot Trunk Show for Mother's Day!

Last week I hosted a little trunk show at my house, showcasing the spring line of Stella and Dot jewelry and accessories! I wanted to share some of my favorite pieces with you and invite you to shop my party, because S+D is offering my friends some specials right now (be sure to scroll below to shop my links and use my special code). With Mother's Day coming up, I wanted to extend the invite to you, all of my online/out of town peeps, to treat your mama (and perhaps yourself) to something special.

Here is the direct link to my online soiree :)

Nolita Small Crossbody Bag with Raffia Fringe - $69

City Slim Clutch - $49

To be completely honest, I was surprised when my friend (and Stella and Dot stylist) Jordan began setting out the jewelry in my dining room for display. Everything was so much prettier in person - so much more delicate, expensive-looking and more quality than I had expected. I'm used to seeing the Stella and Dot gear online, but seeing (and wearing!) it in person really sold me on the quality of the products. And the other element that surprised me was the way that the jewelry is designed. Almost every single necklace is made so that it can be worn in 2 or three different ways, where you can add or remove layers to change the look of the necklace, or wrap around your wrist and wear as a bracelet, etc. Several of the necklaces are multi-sided, so they are gold on one side and silver on the other. I wasn't really expecting everything to be so versatile - even many of the bags contained a matching clutch! A lot of bang for the buck, in my opinion.

Zoe Lariat Necklace in Gold - $98

Alila Gold Lace Cuff - $98

Unique Signature Engravable Momento Locket - $89

Freya Fringe Necklace - $118

Alright, drum roll please... Stella and Dot is offering my friends 50% off the items below when you spend $50 or more shopping my party! This is a great deal that is only available to party-goers, but since you practically joined the party via this post (!!! virtual party for the win!), the deal applies to you! To take advantage of this special, make sure to type my name "Kristen Hale" as the hostess when you get to the check out page. Happy shopping, friends! I hope you find something great for that special mama in your life :)

Icon Convertible Watch

Riviera Tote

Cleopatra Studs

City Slim Clutch

Brynn Lariat Necklace

P.S. - Since apparently I'm oozing with deals today, I wanted to remind you that Le Tote is offering my friends 20% off the first month's subscription box to rent/buy/wear garments and accessories using code OYKRISTEN. You can read more about my wondrous, laundry-free experience with Le Tote here.

Right now is my favorite.

I can't tell you the number of times I hear from people, "Enjoy every moment, it will be over in the blink of an eye!" I'm sure you've heard it, too. I hear it all the time when I'm chasing after my toddler, and passersby (who are already beyond the raising-toddlers-phase of their life) always seem to ooh and ahh over the wonder of raising young babes. Half the time I want to roll my eyes at them, because I'm usually working with exhaustion, a smattering of stains across my clothes ("Mommy, mud!!! Wheeeeee!"), and dealing with the defiantly fun word "NOOOOOO" that cannot be contained on my child's lips. When I see someone nod knowingly in my direction and prod with obnoxious tenderness, "Treasure every moment", as if the experience is an angelic and precious excursion into the Heavens above, I usually have to hold my tongue from being like, "treasure WHAT?"

But you know what. Those annoying people are right.

I went into Everett's bedroom last night to take a peek at him before I got into bed myself. He looked so big. I don't know what it is about when he sleeps, but he always looks older and somehow wiser to me from the slumbering position. He's got a protruding belly and socks on his feet and is surrounding by a zillion stuff animal (his "babies"), and somehow this is always the moment I can see into the future on his behalf. I see him in high school playing sports, I see him graduating and going off to college, I can see him becoming a man and being a gracious, thoughtful adult. I can see him as a father and a husband and he's so good at it and it just makes me want to cry. I know, heavy moment for just peeking in on his crib slumber with a crowd of stuffed animals. But I promise I can see and feel that his future is big and bright.

I think God lets us mamas have glimpses into the future like this because he knows it gives us the ammo to keep going. On the day-to-day basis, I can't always see the trajectory of how my being a good parent is really helping shape him. I don't know if the way I'm disciplining really works, I don't know if he's learning enough from me, I don't know if he's absorbing the gratitude for this gift of life enough from watching my experience. I don't if what I'm doing is enough! But when I think about what I do know about my son, and I'm reminded of the big, beautiful person he is becoming and that his future is brighter than the sun and he can accomplish anything in his heart, I am able to regroup. It gives me a serene sense of focus and ability.

I'm so lucky to have Everett. It's such a privilege to be fostering his precious soul and teaching him all the good things I know in life. But you know what? He's teaching me so much too. He is hilarious and good-hearted and sensitive and yet still so strong. And his opinions are so big now, I am daily laughing out loud at his strong convictions.

Everett loves wearing tank tops and that baseball cap, will ONLY wear that one pair of Nike tennis shoes (I have to keep cleaning mud off them daily), and refuses to eat vegetables if he can see them. Pizza is good in his book. He loves coloring and watching Elmo and dancing with Mommy around the kitchen while I fumble the tune to "Once Upon a Dream". He loves "making" me waffles in his playhouse outside, he hates it when his pants ride up, and needs to play ball everyday. It doesn't matter what kind of ball, he doesn't discriminate. But he has to throw a football, kick a soccer ball or make mommy play basketball (because he can't shoot high enough to actually make a basket, I've got to get him a little rim of his own!) every single day. He is ALL boy. He naps so well (finally!) loves the color green and is the chattiest person in our family. The other night he woke up in the middle of the night, and just had to tell me about the woodpecker outside. He really wanted me to set up a bath outside, near the trees, so that woodpecker could get a bath just like Everett. He was so upset, he HAD to let me know this information, at 1:45am. Side note - we have a woodpecker that I yell at every day to get off my house, and Everett has become fascinated by him. And he says woodpecker like "pa-pep-perrr", it's the funniest thing to hear.

This child. He's a handful of energy and fun and thought and hilariousness. The people are right - treasuring every moment is what I need to be doing. Because right now, he is what I'm doing. And right now with him is my favorite.

Wrestling with Dreams & Failure.

I've tried to write this post before. Many times before. I can never quite wrap this subject up with a pretty bow, so I usually step away from the topic. I don't want to write something that is lacking a resolution. Anyone else feel like that? Like there are ongoing elements in your life that need a resolution? And you know they need a resolution, yet you can't seem to muster it? I've been living without answers to some of these questions for years. This subject of dreams and failure, this is a tough one for me.

I am such a dreamer. I identify so well with dreaming big and loud. I haven't always been this way to quite this degree, but my husband has unearthed it and drawn it out of me more and more. We love dreaming about the future. We love dreaming without any restraints. We often pour ourselves a glass of something (coffee! wine! sparkling water!) and think of all the things we could do to change our world. We talk about business ideas, we discuss how to improve our lifestyle, ways to make mundane things more efficient, all sorts of endeavors that we would like to try out and explore. We dream about everything, from the minuscule to the major.

Not all of our dreams come true. We don't have endless time, money, talent or resources to make all our dreams come true, but we still allow ourselves to dream it. Because the thing is, if you can't dream it, then you certainly won't ever see that dream come true. But sometimes if you let yourself dream something big, you will see the evolution of that dream over time as it turns into something really impacting.

I'm still obviously mid-dream on so many things, but I want to shed a bit of revelation that I've come to about one of my own personal dreams.

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Since I was a little girl, I always wanted to be an actress. It's the first dream I ever remember having. My parents were ridiculously supportive, so I had no limit to my pursuit. When I was 11 I was selected for a theatrical apprenticeship program that you had to be 16 and older to even be considered. The director told my parents she just believed in me. So my desire for the craft was fed and cultivated by a great many people who rallied their support around me. I participated in school and community theaters, and as my love for acting grew I even switched schools my junior year of high school so I could focus more on performing arts. I did not get every part I auditioned for. There was a time when I auditioned for the lead role of Snow White, and was given an ample amount of reassurance from the director that I would be selected, only to have my hopes dashed when I was notified that I would instead be playing the walking, talking Magic Mirror. Oh, the horror. I was eating humble pie. I had to work through some bitterness toward the gal who actually won the part of Snow White. It's really hard when someone gets something you really wanted, and then they end up being really really good at what they do. I learned that you can't win 'em all, especially in the acting realm. But to be honest, I got most parts I auditioned for. By the time I was in high school, my amazing drama teacher Miss Karrie coached me an incessant amount and gave me the opportunity to play extremely mature and challenging roles. I was a lucky one. And I had some promise.

In college I did not pursue theater as a major, because, well, nothing against theater majors, but I just didn't want to be so niche-focused and rule out other potential job possibilities for the future. I settled nicely into a communication program and instead took acting classes at the Professional Actors Studio Atlanta where I worked on material alongside professional actors and participated in showcases for casting directors and producers. It was an incredible growth opportunity, and with that growth I gained more confidence to put myself out there. I began auditioning for professional roles and getting some traction. I worked on music videos, corporate industrials (training videos for airlines and brands) and short films. Flash forward to a continuation of this journey, where I continued pursuing acting when my husband as I moved to Boston and finally, the pinnacle of all dreams, to New York City. I kept auditioning and kept getting great parts in short films and industrials. In New York, I landed two talent agents and a manager and I was getting sent out weekly on auditions. I was participating in showcases and meeting tons of people and even got into a training program where I was working with industry professionals weekly. I was busy. And I was having the time of my life. I was incredibly uncomfortable and challenged every single day, but it was the good kind of discomfort. The kind where I really felt like I was living, because I was making myself vulnerable in audition rooms every day. A few months into my stint in NYC, I found out I was pregnant. To say I was shocked it was understatement. I was in such a good rhythm, so I kept auditioning, but it definitely made things more challenging. I remember going in for a birth control audition, and the commercial was going to be shot a few months later, which called for me to be in a bikini, and I remember praying I wouldn't get the job. Obviously there was no way I was going to be 6 months pregnant in a bathing suit advertising the pill! Oh gosh. The memories are really flooding back now. By the time I was pregnant enough for it to show, I was tired all the time and wishing I was back home, near my family. My husband and I packed our bags and did just that, relocating back to Atlanta 8 weeks before my son Everett was born. We literally closed that chapter of our life.

I have had a lot of time to wonder about that chapter. What was it all for? Did I fail because I didn't "make it big" during the time when I had the opportunity to try? Should I have stayed up there and tried harder? Should I still be trying now? Do I want to be auditioning now? Do I still want to be an actress?

Did I fail??

I've wrestled for a few years with these questions. And honestly, nothing has really given me peace except for the measure of time I've had to let questions fade in their intensity. Only since the emotional charge has lessened, have I been able to have softened conversations with myself that aren't so harsh. Isn't it silly that we can be harsh with ourselves? It's really no way to live. Time has been the gift of this whole scenario. It's allowed me to talk myself through everything, to tell myself and believe myself that it wasn't all for nothing. Of course I wasn't a failure. Of course my journey had great purpose.

Friends, the only thing that helped me, really helped me, is time.

Time has given me more perspective, more energy, and more kindness. It's helped me recognize that my training as an actress - the vulnerability and the thick skin I developed via lots of rejection and the tenacity of going after it - those characteristics haven't left the building. They have made me who I am, shaped the way I approach challenges, and given me the confidence to try again. Failure doesn't have to be scary, because you don't really fail if you never stop trying. Listen, I'm not saying that I don't have disappointment. But I'm saying that disappointment is no longer the only feeling I have associated with this particular dream. I finally have a sense of pride, of ownership and gratitude for that season of my life. I don't have all the answers, but time has let me finish asking myself questions before jumping to conclusions about failure and hopelessness. I'm not scared of failure, but I also don't think I failed. I didn't always believe that, so time has really been my friend in showing me that truth.

I know that I could go back to that life if I wanted to. There is a growing amount of film opportunities here, with a huge new movie studio down the street (yes, Marvel is basically camped out in my hometown right now), but you know? I feel such a sense of peace with what I'm doing. I love being home with my son. I love writing. I love blogging. This venture has opened up so many unexpected, fun opportunities, and I am happily exploring and learning. I'm grateful to you, my friend, for reading, for recognizing my voice and letting me share with you. This has actually been a surprise dream (that I didn't know I had!) come true.

My friend Blake once said that dreams are like seeds. He explained that we are given lots and lots of seeds, and we should sow all the ones we want to to see grow. But he also postulated that perhaps, its not meant for all the seeds to grow. Some will grow partially and some will grow all the way. I really identify with that he said, because my dream has been a long-time-coming seed that I've sown carefully. For a long time. Perhaps it will keep growing. Perhaps it's done. I'm grateful that time has passed since I was in NYC, and with that time the pressure has passed, too. Time has been the most gracious kind of host, who has encouraged me to let go of the self-induced pressure. So that dream - it's still there. But it's not hard on me anymore. It's sort of shelved for now, not because I'm sad about it or desperate to go back to it. Its there because its still a part of me, and one day it might be an active part of me again.

---

Do you have something in your life, a previous pursuit or dream, whose memory haunts you? Even a little tiny bit? It can be hard to relive the experiences. It can be hard to have a level-headed kind of perspective. But I encourage you to give that experience a second glance. Can you pull out the gold from that memory, and pinpoint something sweet that is still serving a positive purpose in your life today? I bet if you give yourself lots of grace to overlook your so called "disappointments" with how that dream turned out, you could find a silver lining. I dare you to do it. Your little heart needs some positive closure just like everyone else. Just like me.

I want you to know that your dreams matter, they have a voice in your life, and they are part of you. Sometimes its okay to let a dream go. Maybe it will keep growing. Maybe not. Maybe it will lend all its lessons learned to a new dream.

Friends, this one dream has made me who I am. And it a lot of ways, it's still happening in me. Permission is granted for it to be what it is in my journey. :)
 

DIY Outdoor Flowering Pot (for under $40!)

I have this thing with flowers. And shrubs. And trees.

Landscape hasn't always been a passion. It's a new thing. I want everything in my back yard flowering and fruiting and color booming. Last fall, I tried my first attempt at planting a round of autumn vegetables, and it went pretty well. But I learned so much (mostly - not to be scared of the foods you grow because you see the bugs on them. That struggle is real.) I've been preparing the grounds for my spring installment, which we are working on next weekend, woop woop. But in the meantime, I wanted to have something beautiful to stare at like NOW. Because when you plant seeds, it takes months before you can really enjoy the blooms. They take foreverrrrrr to grow. I'm a bit impatient to see the fruits of my labor (who isn't, really?), so in the midst of sprinkling different seeds around my yard, I decided to create my own outdoor container. You know the pretty ones you see in the store for like $150+? I didn't want to spend that. But I wanted to HAVE that.

This container is great for people who don't have tons of full sun in their back yard. If your back porch gets full sun, then you can enjoy the bodacious full-sun blooms really close up. The showy, wonderstruck, magical romantic flowers. In case you didn't know, all the best flowers are the sunny ones. So here you have it. My outdoor flower container, for under $40. P.S. - this would make the most amazingly thoughtful Mother's Day gift, like EVER. So keep that in mind :)

Tools Needed:
- Large container pot (I used a 30-gallon pot from my mom's garage - thanks Mom!)
- Potting soil
- Trowel
- Plant Food - My friend at Pike's said I could use this. I LOVE this stuff.

Flowers:
- 1 Sunflower
- 3 Dahlia bulbs (dinnerplate variety)
- 3 Moss Roses
- 2 Vinca
- 1 Dianthus

Cost Breakdown:
$17.98 for the flowers (Home Depot)
$21.18 for the bulbs + soil (Pikes Nursery - I used this soil for 3-4 other small garden pots, too)
FREE - container

How To:
1. Fill the container about 3/4 full with potting soil. If you're fancy, you can mix in some sand or gravel to assist with with drainage. But only if you're fancy.

2. Sprinkle the flower food on top of the soil.

3. Place your dahlia bulbs in the soil, with the eyes facing up. If you're unfamiliar with bulbs (like I was!), check out this video on how to determine an eye from a foot. Just kidding. A little gardening humor for you. I sense that no one is laughing.

4. Make sure the dahlias are planted toward the back of the pot, because you will want these to tower above the rest once they bloom. FYI dinnerplate dahlias can grow up to five feet tall and have blooms the size of a child's face. Bam. Need that in my life.

5. Now layer in the rest of the flowers. I put the sunflowers in the middle of the pot, then the dianthus and vincas on either side, then filled in the front of the pot with the moss roses.

6. Fill in the rest of the space with soil.

7. Water really good. Soak those babies.

For Maintenance:
To keep this container healthy and gorgeous for as long as possible, I will water daily (sunflowers need a ton of agua), and probably shake some good high-phosphorus fertilizer (again, for the sunflowers) as needed. As the moss roses shrivel, I will pinch of the spent blooms to encourage re-blooming. They should hang out with me for a while. I might have to replace some of the flowers if they get past their flowering season, but the dahlias will bloom in mid-summer and keep doing their thing late into the fall.

Enjoy immediately! That's what I love most about this flowering container. I can sit outside on my porch and drink the coffee and enjoy this beauty now while I await my seeds and vegetables. I am so looking forward to seeing these flowers continue to bloom throughout the season. This container gives me a lot of bang for my buck! Let me know if you give this DIY a try!