5 Sources of Inspiration from 2017 Holiday Season

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Happy New Year!

Before I fully commit to 2018, there are a few things that came out of the 2017 holiday season that can only be described as just plain delightful!

In this post, I’m sharing five things that I found to be surprisingly inspirational this past month.

MUST-SEE Saturday Night Live Skit, Welcome to Hell

Trashin’ Through the Snow

PO16702762-frontBoth the phrase and this sweatshirt, which is the newest addition to my holiday wardrobe.

The sweatshirt was a fundraiser to support the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore, the geniuses behind the Trash Wheel Family.

I’ll detail my love for both Mr. and Professor Trashwheel in a separate post, but for now, here’s a short intro if you’re interested.

Lego Advent Calendars

I’ve mentioned Heidi from Casa Pena Designs in the past, but we’re going to be working together more strategically in 2018. While I was at her office working on some shared 2018 goals, I noticed that her son had some holiday-themed legos, and upon further inspection, it turned out to be an advent calendar! 
Christmas & Star Wars Themes

I’m getting one of these for myself next year, as well as all the kiddos in my life!

Puppies Crash Christmas on Hulu

It’s hard to explain, but if you’ve ever seen the Puppy Bowl, it’s along those lines, but without the kitten halftime show.

Ability to link Amazon and Hiltons Honors

I used to travel a lot for work, so I’ve been lucky enough to benefit from free reward programs. It takes some time to accumulate points, but eventually, I find something to use my points on.

I’m not how I found this, but Amazon has an option to link to a Hilton Honors account so that you can use points to purchase items. I did, and my 3,000 points are worth around $6.

Perhaps it’s less than life-changing, but I thought it was notable!

What inspired you in 2017?

Invitation to Love: City Garden Party

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Last summer we got in touch with Michael Owen, a local artist we adore, to design and install a mural to add a little life to our back patio space.

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We didn’t give the mural the celebration it deserved last year, so we decided to have a city garden party in early June. I knew I would need some help with the planning, so I called on my girl Heidi at Casa Pena Designs for some assistance.

If you’re interested in event design, take a look at the rough plan for this party.

I love the mural so much and wanted to try to share it in a tactile way; I wanted everyone to have a part of the mural.

I tried to accomplish this by creating and printing invites featuring the mural design. Once printed, I wanted to send to invites through the regular mail – everyone loves to receive mail.

Because Michael Owen let us keep the stencil (which I cherish), I used it as the starting point and went from there. I started with another concept in mind, but here’s what I came up with: