What I read in 2013

As you (may or may not) know, one of the things on my 30 before 30 list is to make a list of (at least) 30 books, and read them. I really didn't think this was a very easy task for me, and I didn't believe in myself enough to get it done. I hadn't read in YEARS, truly, and with Fern and online classes I just thought- no way.. totally unattainable.
However, I really made it a priority, and (with a little help from audio books) I'm so ecstatic to share with you, the list of books I've gone through this past year since making my list:

(all photos are mine unless otherwise stated at the bottom of this post)

1.Wildwood by Colin Meloy
2. Under Wildwood by Colin Meloy
These books are wonderful children's novels written by my main man himself, Colin Meloy of The Decemberists. His awesome wife, Carson Ellis does all of the incredible illustrations. You may have seen her work before in some of Lemony Snicket's books. 

3. The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Steadman
One of my favorite books I've read this year. I mean, do NOT read this book without a box of tissues in hand, but seriously. wow. I love a book that makes you question what you think you believe. This book will rip your heart out. I love it. 

4. The Book Thief by Mark Zusak
One of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. Narrated by death, the descriptions and details in the book are almost other worldly. I'm anxious to see if the movie (coming out soon) will do any justice at all to the book, or just make me really angry. 

5. The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake by Aimee Bender
I love Aimee Bender. I have several books on my list by her that I have yet to get to. All in all, this was a great book. One thing I just couldn't get passed, though... Chocolate Frosting on Lemon Cake! It came really close to ruining the whole book for me. I'm glad I didn't put it down when I came across the chocolate frosting, near the beginning of the book, because Aimee is such a great writer, I was able to overcome this terrible clash of flavors and read on. Sorry if chocolate frosting on lemon cake is your favorite. I'll try not to let that get in the way of our friendship. 

6. The Girl Who Stopped Swimming by Joshilyn Jackson
A bit ghostly, but not creepy. More of a mystery story. I really enjoyed reading this one. I really enjoy reading everything, though. I'm a terrible critic. 

7. The Language of Flowers by Vanessa Diffenbaugh
Love. love. love love love ... love love love. I hear there's a flower dictionary you can get to go along with this book. Which is on my wishlist. It made me so interested in flowers and their meanings. read this book, and read it now. 

8. The Sugar Queen by Sarah Addison Allen
It's no secret that Sarah is my favorite author. I've read and own all of her other books. This one was probably my least favorite of the group, but still a cute little read. Sarah can really do no wrong. I recommend ALL of her books. Go get the collection. (There's a new one coming out in February! hooray! You'll see it on the list next year.) They've all got such sweet southern characters and so much charm, with just a hint of magic. but not harry potter magic.... for like.. fantastical magic. Just read them, you'll know what I mean. 

9. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger
This is the same author who wrote "The Time Travelers Wife" (LOVED IT). But this book is NOTHING like The Time Travelers Wife. I still enjoyed it, it just wasn't what I thought it would be. I was warned it would be pretty creepy, and it was.. but it was one of those books that doesn't creep you out until after you're done reading it and you're awake at night thinking about the details of the finished book you just read. Then you're like.. "gahh.. wahaaat? geeezz. omg." you know?

10. The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I have never cried harder in my life than the way I cried reading this book....
Do you get what I'm telling you? 
No real life event in my entire life, has affected my emotions the way this piece of teen fiction has.
It. was. WONDERFUL. 
(again, they're making a movie of this book, that will probably ruin it for me, and that bratty girl that played in "The Secret Life of the American Teenager" is playing the main character's part which I hate so much, but I read a review from John Green saying he loves her playing Hazel, so I guess I'll give it a chance, but my expectations are low.) 


So, I get that those "reviews" tell you pretty much nothing about the actual books, and only about how they made me feel... but that's surely enough to go on, right? I'm not a book critic. What do you want from me?

Have you guys read any of these? What did you think?


Photos credit (via Instagram): 
The Book Thief - @petaldew
The Language of Flowers- @katetatem
The Sugar Queen- @kristineghia
The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake- @_fahh_

Hello Tillie

You guys.
I'm so excited to introduce you to my beautiful, wonderful, magnificent, friend Tillie.
You may remember Tillie from this previous post I did about Paleo.
Here's the story behind how I know this wonderful human being:
You may recall that years ago, I lived in New Zealand. Tillie the Great is from the equally great country of New Zealand. You would THINK that would be how we became friends. You're right, in a round about way- but not as obviously as you would think. Tillie didn't live in my city, but we had some of the same friends. You know the way social networking works. We knew of each other and may have met a few times, but we got close over a year after I moved back to the states, when Tillie, and her friend Rosie, were doing a drive through tour across the states. They stopped in to stay with Tristan and I, and the rest is history. Instant friends. I couldn't resist her charms. This lady is so giving, so inspiring, and has such a vision of beauty. I haven't SEEN my sweet friend since she left on her way to continue her stateside road trip, but we've kept very close ever since. I've loved keeping up with her (new since I last saw her) Paleo diet, her new love and their VERY NEW great adventure of moving to Australia together, and just the genuine joy her daily happenings bring via her blog.

You're actually, probably familiar with Tillie's design work without even knowing it. Tillie created my Moons & Junes logo, designed my wedding invitations, and also designed the "thank you" postcards we're working on to send to everybody who contributed to our wedding in one way or another.
To say the least- I really like this girl's style.

So many of you are wonderful friends I've met through this blogging community. That's the main reason I'm excited to share Tillie with you. I just know that you'll love her as much as I do, and I know that most of you are in this for the relationship building part. Let me just give you a freebee- this girl is gold. I encourage all of you to hop on over to her part of the blogging universe and drop a little hello!

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Fern's Christmas

holy. moley. 

I am SO EXCITED FOR CHRISTMAS! So, This year we went with the "want/need/wear/read" theme. I like this theme because, not only does it create a variety of gifts (not just toys), but I feel like in the future she won't be so inclined to expect sooo much for Christmas. I feel like so many children have this feeling of entitlement, and Christmas is the time to get what I want. I just want her to know that we give her gifts because we love her, not because she's earned them, and also that Christmas isn't JUST for getting stuff. 

With that said, I still totally got her more than 4 things. Let's review shall we? 

Want: Biggie sweatshirt by PassiveJuiceMotel (also a "wear", but T and I really wanted it. So therefore, it qualifies as want. 

Need: Navy polka dot lunchbox by Old Navy (we're growing out of the diaper bag ::tear::)

Wear: Oasis Mocs by Faas, and mustard tribal headband by Baby Jules Boutique

Read: Lawrence: a hedgehog who wanted to fly byMaryanne Wainman illustrated by Jess Koehn , Anna Karenina: a fashion primer by Baby Lit

are you dying, right now? 

I can't wait for Christmas!! 

Snow Globe DIY: Cheap and Easy.

Dare I post two DIY's in a row? Well, if we're being real (and we always are) I am not very organized this time of year, so yeah man. We're doin it!
If you (like me) wait until the last minute to get your kids teachers gifts, or more specifically, you forget until the night before the last day of school that you need to get your kid's teachers a gift: This is the DIY for you.
quick, cheap, easy.

my favorite words.

oh, and add adorable in there too. That's a good one.

For this DIY you'll need:

-Jars with lids that screw on securely- (you can get fancy and go to Hobby Lobby to choose from their huge variety of jars (no canning lids, they'll leak.) OR. Baby food jars are the tops. Cheap, and you may have them in your house already. The jars I used were leftovers from our wedding. We have so many jars.
-Photos- You can zip down to CVS or Walgreens to print some off for super cheap, if you don't already have some you'd like to use. You can even connect to facebook to snag some off of there, or directly from your phone via their photo kiosks. The size of your photo will depend on the size of your jar. You'll need 2 photos per jar. Mine were wallet sized, and I still trimmed them a bit.
-Glitter- I used white confetti glitter, but hey, it's your snowglobe- go crazy.
-Glycerine- I read that you can also get this in any drugstore pharmacy section. Well, not at the CVS I went to, so I opted out of the glycerine. It's purpose is to make the glitter float down a little slower.
-Water- from the tap is dandy.
-Packing Tape- for waterproofing your photos.


Here's what you'll do:

1. You're going to use two photos per jar. They'll be connected in a circle. You'll just need to measure to see if you'll need to trim them a bit. You want to make sure they'll fit in your jar.

2. Using your clear packing tape, "waterproof" your photos by covering both front and back. Then Trim the sides.

3. Connect your photos (with clear [packing] tape) so that they make a ring, photo side out. (this is so no matter which way you turn your snowglobe you'll see that snazzy little photo

4. Pour glitter in jar. Just Enough to fill the bottom, plus a shake more. You don't want to over-do it.

5. Put your photo ring in the jar upside down.

6. Fill the jar halfway with water.

7. If you're using glycerine, add about a cap full

8. Fill the jar the rest of the way.

9. Close the lid tightly and shake it a few times to make sure there's no leaking.

10. turn your jar upside down, and VIOALA! your very own snowglobe!


** You may need to settle the glitter a bit, it tends to stick to the photo initially.
*** You may also want to spray paint the jar lid. I sprayed mine gold, because how could I not? This is a fancy little touch, but not totally neccesary. I also wrote Fern's name and the year on the top of the lid for keepsake purposes.


let me know if you have any questions about this DIY, I'm not very good at giving instructions. I'd be happy to explain further or add more photos if my ramblings only make sense in my own head.

Also, I'd love for you to let me know if you end up making one of these beauties! I' really wanna see!

DIY Christmas Ornaments

Every year, much like our October 1st tradition, we have a December 1st tradition. It's to go and buy one new ornament each for our Christmas tree. This year, instead of our usual shopping trip, since we're on this crazy saving budget- We're making our own ornaments.
All you need for this easy DIY is:
* clear glass (we opted for plastic) globe ornaments (you can find these almost anywhere. I bought a box of 4 at hobby lobby)
* whatever you have in your house to fill it with. (whatever you can find to fill them or wrap them in! The whole point is working with what you have as to not spend too much. We're all budget friendly here.

Here are a few special ornaments we made this year:

For these ornaments I used:

1. felt! Just scallops and scallops of felt. easy peasy. Overlapped, and tied off at the top with a sweet little bit of twine. I found these sweet little gold leaf sequins I bought months ago for another project, and snuck them in for just a fleck of gold. You know, I love my gold.

2. Dried flowers! I took some of the dried flowers from my wedding bouquet, and snipped a few. It's the perfect way to commemorate our first year as a married couple! You could add a wine cork from your wedding, lace, anything that will fit inside to make it special.

3. yarn. pretty self explanitory.

4. glitter! I'm considering buying a white paint pen to write on this one, and the last. You could write anything about the holidays. "joy", "merry & bright", "2013",  "glad tidings" are a few little phrases I'm considering. I haven't quite made my mind up yet.