Giveaway: The Vintage Pearl

Can I tell you how tickled pink I was when my sweet sponsors, The Vintage Pearl, contacted me wanting me to do a product review and giveaway?! Firstly, this is my very first of the sort, so I'm a little bit giddy because of that, but also, I have had my eye on a necklace with Fern's inital for probably close to 2 years, even before she was born. They let me pick out my favorite, and let me tell you... I scanned every item they have about four times. No exaggeration.
This is the necklace I chose:

I love it so much! I picked this one because I'm a simple girl, I like the simple things. The pearl is so classy, and the little "F" elegant. This is a necklace I can dress up or down, which I LOVE. (and I can add more initials to it easily in time ;) ) I also love that I got to pick the font, and the type of chain. Every piece is literally made specifically for you.

One thing I noticed while I was desperately trying to narrow down my selections, is that there is literally a piece of jewelry for everybody. Some of my favorites were this piece for adoptive/foster families (like my own mother) to celebrate "gotcha day",  and this one which you can enter any mapping coordinates if you had a special place where you and your honey met, or honeymooned or got married. They carry so much more than necklaces too!

Want one yet? You're in SO MUCH luck. The Vintage Pearl is offering TWO of my very lucky readers $25.00 gift cards to their shop, which you can visit in Edmond or Tulsa (if you're an okie like ourselves), or order online at thevintagepearl.com. All you have to do is log in below with your facebook or email address, and enter as many ways as you feel the need!
This giveaway is open to all readers. TWO winners will be picked on Sept. 30th. We'll notify you after rafflecopter has randomly chosen you and you can get to shoppin'!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

New Seasons.

With this new season, the beautiful weather, early morning breakfast dates in our sweaters, and actually feeling like it's 'ok' to order my coffee hot; come some new changes in lifestyle as well. October is quickly approaching, and with it our wedding. My last name will change, our living situation will change, and Fern of course, who never stops changing.

If you know me at all, you know I don't handle change very well. If things MUST change, I prefer that they do slowly, giving me time to mentally and emotionally prepare. Sometimes, I think, even though I've been given enough time to embrace all of this change, it's a lot all at once. So it still freaks me out. I'm trying my very best to take deep breaths, take one day at a time, and remember to not think of it as change in a "final" way, but to think of it as a "change of season", and welcome it as openly as we have with this long await cooler season of Autumn.

If anyone has any tips or tricks on welcoming change, please feel free to share it with me. I welcome your wisdom!

Koru

I never really knew what I wanted to do, or fully who I was, until I became a mother. Now that I have, my life has changed increasingly. When we had our baby girl we decided to name her Fern. A long treasured name of mine dating back to Charlottes Webb obsessions. More than that, I wanted her name to be something relevant to me. A name that meant something. If you look up the name Fern in any baby book, it's going to tell you that the meaning of Fern is "a green leafy plant" or something of the like. well, obviously. But in Maori culture (native New Zealand, which is where I lived for 18 months and grew the most beautiful bonds) it means so much more. Koru in maori means loop. Koru refers to the spiral shape of a new unfurling silver fern frond. It symbolizes new life, growth, strength, and peace. How completely appropriate. The koru symbol is found on jewelry made of jade and bone throughout new zealand. I was gifted one, by a friend, when I lived there.

Since becoming a mother so many things have come to light for me. I've started knowing myself better, and discovering my calling so much more clearly. Part of that calling and passion I never knew I had, or if I did it was misdirected, has submerged through a new business I've recently launched. Just a small little thing on etsy. May I introduce to you, my shop for babies and children, Moons & Junes, which is now back from vacation mode, with nothing new to show for my absence but my willingness to create again. 

BlogPal: week 2 || Weekend Activities.

This week has been insane. More insane than usual, because I've been putting some final touches on some of my products for a new shop that's opening up here in OKC, called The Hub. You'll want to go check them out. Today is their grand opening! Congratulations, guys!

Due to the business, I'm only just now getting on my computer for the first time this week! Remember my post earlier last week about the BlogPal I have? It's going just swell! This week we decided to pick a post about our weekend activities.

Here I am blogging about my activities from last weekend and it's already THIS weekend. sheesh. get it together, Shayla. I was so excited to share with you my weekend activities, because I had my personal shower Sunday! We're not doing any other types of showers, as we're only registered with Hatch my House, so I was especially excited about this. So excited, even, that I didn't take ONE single photo. Thank goodness my future sister-in-law, Marek, had my back. These photos are from her camera. I wish I had thought to take photos with all of the beautiful people who came.

The lady you'll see in these photos to the left of me is my beautiful matron of honor. She's pretty kickass at her job. My sisters and Marek (who are my other bridesmaids) did the beautiful decorations, and food. I ate way too many taco croissants. If anyone ever wants to know what I want as a gift for my birthday, or christmas, or to say you're sorry, or you love me, or you're thinking of me, or you want me to eat more... taco croissants. from now on. In fact, scratch the registry. I just want a lifetime supply of those babies. 

I'm not really the biggest fan of being the center of attention, but these girls made it so fun; even in the photos, I love that Marek caught all of the silly expressions. This was such a great day. I really felt so much love from everybody who came. I'm a really lucky gal to have so many great ladies in my life.

I also love that this last photo looks like a scene from an old timey sit-com. LUUUUUUUUCY!

Happy Weekend!

Guest Post: Fawn Over Baby

Hi friends! I have a special treat for you this weekend! I've invited a sweet friend, and blog sponsor, Melissa to guest post on the blog today. Her blog is one of my very favorites go, because It's one I can just cruise through and find inspiration after inspiration after inspiration. Meet Melissa!

Hello Moons & Junes fans! My name is Melissa and I blog over at Fawn Over Baby - an inspirational blog about all things baby. I am so happy to be here guest posting on such an AMAZING mommy blog. Shayla is truly a gifted and talented artist and on top of that, (I can tell) a truly WONDERFUL mom to her precious baby girl and fiance to her handsome man!  I look forward to all of the exciting new things that are to come and can't wait to find out all about it here on Moons & Junes!

Ok, so I will try to make myself sound just as interesting...no promises though, lol!
I am a believer in the Bible and in Jesus Christ. I am a military wife to my loving and supportive husband Ryan and a first time mommy to our beautiful 10 month old daugher, McKenzie.

After welcoming our precious baby girl, our life went from being a "me and Ryan world" to being consumed by the daily demands of our new little bundle of joy. It took a lot of getting used to, however, I wouldn't change it for the world. After the haze of the newborn stage wore off, little by little, I found time and excitement in browsing inspirations for McKenzie's future milestone celebrations. Searching the web on all things baby became my guilty pleasure and still is today! I thought I was bad when I was pregnant, obsessively searching for design ideas for McKenzie's nursery. Those days don't hold a candle to, what I like to call, my "daily morning coffee".

I enjoy it so much that my mom suggested I create a blog to share all of my daily findings with others who may not have the time to or just need a little help realizing their vision for their baby's nursery or upcoming 1st birthday party. Shortly after my mom's suggestion, Fawn Over Baby was born.  I already had a large amount of baby related inspirations filed away on my computer just waiting to be shared and now I have just the outlet to do so. Fawn consists of inspirational posts from Nursery design to baby's first cake smash and a little DIY section that I am slowly filling up with projects that I attempt, key word "attempt"! My blog has definitely become one of my daily doses of baby eye-candy and I hope it will be for you as well! :)

These are just a few personal posts I shared on Fawn Over Baby within the past few months.

Our "Farewell Alaska" Family Photo session, photographed by the AMAZING, Mitch Kitter from PropagandaAK!

This teepee is a diy project that I successfully attempted with the help of my sweet husband, Ryan. I'm very proud of this, as it is a "NO-SEW" teepee tutorial that you can find here. 

Thank you so much for allowing me to introduce myself on Moons & Junes today and feel free to stop by Fawn Over Baby anytime! I hope you are inspired by my weekly baby related internet finds as much as I am!

Autumn with my Blog Pal

Hi friends!
I wanted to share something really special that i've recently become apart of! If you've noticed to the right underneath my lovely sponsors, I have a little button that says "I have a BlogPal this month". I encourage you to click that little button and find out what that's about! It's been such a treat! I know most of the bloggers I've become friends with in the short time I've been blogging, all have the same blogging goals in common, and it's not followers, and it's not money or e-fame (although what a treat if those happened too, am I right?) It's growing this beautiful community of women who encourage each other, and love on each other. What a treat that's been for me! So when I ran across this opportunity, I jumped at it!

In short, you sign up for BlogPal, and then you're matched up with another blogger who has signed up! The first week is meant for getting to know each other, the second and third you're given topics to choose from, which you'll both blog about, and the fourth week you send each other a little gift. My blog Pal, Erin from Delightful-E Made, and I decided to blog this week about Autumn! You've gotta hop over to her blog, where she posted the yummiest looking Pumpkin Spice Smoothie. Perfect for right now, when you so desperately want to celebrate Autumn, but like both of us, are just melting away in September. COME ON COLDER WEATHER! How lucky am I to be friends with SO many talented ladies willing to share their recipes with me? Such a treat!

2 years ago this Autumn | 12 weeks pregnant

Isn't it so funny how almost always, people's love for Autumn stems from their love of the autumn flavors? Pumpkin and all the nicest spices. Autumn for me is so special because of the leaves changing, and the crisp air. The clothes and of course the treats, but Autumn is also when we found out we were pregnant with Fern. It's the season we'll be married in. I've made up my very own holiday to celebrate these things, on October 1st. (more on that in another post) 

Since It is so hot still, I feel you sort of need to encourage the autumn in. I, of course, went to my place of employment: Cuppies & Joe, and split an iced pumpkin latte, a carrot cake cupcake, and a gingersnap with Fern. It was absolutely perfect. I can't wait until it gets a tad colder and we can come in for hot coffee and chai and warm our fingers on the mugs.. But until then, the iced versions will do.

Now head on over and make yourself one of Erin's Pumpkin Spice Smoothies and while you're sipping on it, take some time to read these 6 one paragraph stories about autumn that will make you cry pumpkin spice tears. You're welcome. Happy Autumn!

September Favorites: Wedding edition

Since my wedding is NEXT MONTH! I thought it'd be such a great idea to share with you some of my etsy purchases for the wedding in my Etsy Favorites post this month! I've had SUCH a blast looking through etsy to find just the perfect handmade touches for our wedding. I'm so excited to give you a sneak peek of all the little details we've come across. What do you think!?

1. Solitaire Necklace by Petitor

2. Cake Topper by The First Snow

3. Dried Flower Bouquets by Smoky Mountain Woodcrafts

4. Return Address Stamp by Red Cloud Boutique

5.Guest Book by In or Out Media

6. Flower Girl Dress by Maliposha clothes

I love details. 

Meet: Kenzie Ashcraft

Happy Weekend Friends!

I wanted to introduce you today to one of my favorite blogging buddies. Perhaps you've seen her button on my sidebar this week? Kenzie from "The Ashcraft Bunch" has become such a sweet friend since I've begun my blogging journey. Kenzie is a fellow Okie, so we hit it off pretty instantly. ;) I asked Kenzie to share a few words about herself and her blog for me to pass on to you, and after reading it, I realized how similar we really are, and probably how similar we all really are. Meet Kenzie!

"I am a twenty-something wife and mom, current nursing student, and Oklahoma State fan. I love DIY projects, baking, blogging, reading, and spending time with my family. I started blogging in January of 2012 right before we had our daughter. I wanted to document our life in a more personal way for our families to keep up with rather than using facebook. Since then it has turned into so much more! I have met some amazing, encouraging and uplifting women who inspire me daily and have turned into such sweet friendships. I can't wait to see where this little blog takes me in the months and years to come."

 I could seriously copy that nearly word for word and It would be my blogging story as well! No wonder we get along so well. Kenzie is a little farther into blogging than myself, but I aspire to be where she is one day. She's a much more organized  blogger than I am, and she does giveaways! who doesn't just love giveaways! (like this one that is currently running) Plus her little family is just the sweetest. I'm sure most of you are already following Kenzie, but if you're not you should really head on over to "The Ashcraft Bunch" and check her out. 

Organic Apple Rings: by Sweet Lavender Bake Shoppe

Because we're all into buying groceries these days, and eating healthy, (well, healthier) I chose to feature a little recipe by one of my lovely sponsors, Christina, from "Sweet Lavender Bake Shoppe".

The kiddos will not only  l o v e  this yummy treat, but  you're also not loading them with sugar and a bunch of synthetic ingredients, and that's something you can feel good about. Plus, you only need 3 ingredients that you probably already have in the kitchen. That's my kinda cookin'.

The above picture is what they're suppose to look like. Christina did a great job. I totally over baked mine, which you can see in the photos below. They were a little crunchier, and in comparison, don't look near as yummy as Christina's, but Fern (and our room mate Melissa) still ate them! ... all of them! So that really tells you something.

All you need are Gala Apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg. That's IT! Christina's are cored, which look so lovely. I'm lazy and dont have an apple corer, so I just sliced mine and removed the seeds. 

These little Apple Rings were the PERFECT mid-day snack.
I put Fern down for her nap, sliced them, put them in to bake, forgot about them (which wasn't in the directions), and by the time nap time was over, I had a great treat for Fern to wake up to.
She absolutely loved them. I love that I gave her something she loved that was really healthy.
I can't wait to try this again and really perfect the timing.

If you want the full recipe and directions, head over to Christina's Organic Apple Rings post.
While you're there, stay a while and look around. This lady not only has some very unique and fabulous recipes she shares on her blog, but she's also such a sweet lady, with a great eye for design. I'm happy to share her with you.
I'm a big fan of hers, and I know you will be too!