(impromptu) golden hour family pictures

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jarman is on his last week of winter break and i never want him to go back to school. the first couple of weeks it was rainy and cold (even snowed in temecula in case you didn't hear), but this week has been so nice. we have already been to the beach twice. on monday we went with my mom and sisters and ended up taking some family pictures. i really wanted to hire a photographer to take pictures for us when jay was born, but it didn't work out. so i just make people take lots of pictures of us when we get the chance! if i had planned on doing these pics i probably would have done my hair, maybe worn a bit more make up and coordinated our outfits a little more. but i kind of love how they turned out- they have a soft, ethereal feel. looking at them makes me feel warm and cozy inside. it was jay's first beach day we captured it perfectly.

christmas decor tour / bobette's winter wonderland

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i know, i know. many of the things i blog about are things that my awesome mom has done. maybe i'm just trying to ride her coattails, whatever. her stuff is amazing and needs to be shared. i have invited her to just partner with me on the blog and write her own posts, but she is too lazy/technologically-challenged/proud to do so. so i'm going to continue sharing her projects.

her christmas decor this year has a super fresh and organic feeling with lots of metallics and greenery. Enjoy!

introducing jay dodger jarman!

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we had a baby!! he is now 2 weeks old and we are still figuring out the whole newborn thing- but we are way too obsessed with him. jay was born on saturday, november 29th at 2:37 am after a 28 hour induction. i'm working on writing up his birth story- but the version i have written down is way too long and detailed. i'll post a pared down version soon! 

jay is probably the cutest and squishiest baby ever. he was 8 lbs 6 oz- way bigger than expected. he is actually a really good baby for the most part- he sleeps 4-6 hours every night. he does have his fussy times in the evenings- but from what i've heard its normal (as a new mom i'm pretty much worried and freaked out by everything he does so i've been asking my mom and google lots of fun newborn questions). we are cuddling on the couch right now actually. i'm hoping to get all of the blog posts that i have photographed up this week- but who knows if that will happen when all i want to do is kiss my baby's face! here are some iphone pics of his first week of life. i'm trying to get better about taking pictures of him with my real camera. don't worry- there will be no shortage of pictures of this guy!

entertaining / our thanksgiving tablesetting 2014!

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so the carpenter family thanksgiving this year might be a little sad. it will be the first year we are doing it with no family coming in to town- typically we have like a thousand kids running around and twenty people in the kitchen. this year there are going to be six of us- not even our whole family is here (syd is still on her mission). we decided to go super fancy with our tablesetting. we went with a mixed metals theme, and threw in some color with the greenery and flowers.

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we started with this awesome brass edged mirror that bobette found at a thrift store (it's mostly covered though). she also recently got the rose gold flatware on sale at target. hence the mixed metals! we are so in love with the geometric napkin holders from west elm.

we also got a few of these vases from west elm- is anyone else as obsessed with rose gold as i am???

bobette made little geometric wreath out of triangle instruments from the dollar bin at target.

i designed menus that we placed in ornament place card holders that we've had forever. we seriously can't get enough geometrics!

and of course we had to throw some greenery on there. bobette knocked on a neighbors door to clip some of his jacaranda tree. that's dedication!

we hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving!!