Last day of school.

Teachers are like:

Parents are like:

True story. 

Happy summer to all the teachers out there!

Public display of affection.

Sometimes... you just have to be a cornball. 



That is all.

House-a-what-now?

Real talk: this past year has been flown by... it's hard to believe the house-a-versary is upon us! Over the last 365 days we've done far less to Casa Willi than my Pinboards would suggest. I can't say that I'm surprised-- I'm indecisive to a fault, and the other Willi doesn't really care all that much about home decor.

Year one was all about making the house OURS... paint, furniture, light fixtures, first holidays, friends and family... and all the projects that make it seem as though squatters aren't actually living here.

Some of our faves:

Tiegan made it hers by getting her never ending supply of dog hair into every nook and cranny of this place.

Year two and beyond will be about making our house a HOME-- and the "to-do" list is lengthy...

• Art and photos (finally!)
• Turn our sad, empty study into something awesome. Right now, it's a catch all.
• Figure out our [read: my] decor style. This will be life-changing!
• Outside beautification. A's on a mission-- he's motivated.
• Backsplash. The search is on for the perfect tile. 
• Tackle the gallery wall. It will be my Mona Lisa.
• Refurb or build a wine cabinet. For our liiiittle habit.

All with a camera, of course ☺

Cheers!

Tiegan Tuesday

In and out of about 90 seconds...

cute. 

not so cute.

Silly poochie.

3.

And you,

 I could not imagine, 

 Never ever, having had ♥

Happy anniversary, baby! 

Let there be light.

Builder grade light fixtures can be hit or miss. Luckily for us, most of ours are a hit-- but the dining room light was a big. fat. miss.

Exhibit A:

With Casa Willi's impending holiday debut, we needed to fix the fug, stat. Of course it didn't have to be a rush job, considering I bought the light fixture way back in May.

First things first. Remove the original fixture. Not as easy as it sounds.

After far longer than we care to admit, we could finally get to work. 

Apparently, West Elm thinks we're electricians, because they gave us a lamp with a plug and wires we needed to remove... and not the most specific installation instructions.

Despite my frustrations, I got a little wire cutting and stripping happy-- if that's even a thing. 

This little do-hickey and the screw inside are the only thing that keep the fixture holding on. Suspension wires are the bomb. After figuring out which wires belonged together, and cutting and wrapping at just.the.right.height, we were ready.

Two screws on the outside to set it into place...

After a couple hours, we finally got the sucker up! It's true what they say-- a couple that installs light fixtures together, stays together {if they don't say that, they will now}. 

I love you, West Elm-- but you need to seriously reconsider your installation instructions. For two very smart {and clearly modest} people, we had quite a time with this little job. I suppose this was all just a sign that I need to keep on the grind if I'm ever going to be a bonafide DIY diva! 

Leaving it to the pros.

We needed photos. Badly. And while it was very tempting to put my camera on a tripod and use a remote, I knew we needed to call in a professional to get this right. 

Enter, Heather Avrech Photography! Heather is an amazing photographer based in San Jose, California. Lucky for us, she's also a friend! We were in SJ over Thanksgiving weekend, and were able to schedule a session (woo!). Heather's use of natural light makes me swoon-- so I was very excited to have photos taken by her. Here are a few of my faves:

And just when you thought we could get through the morning without 

completely losing it...

All Photos taken by Heather Avrech of Heather Avrech Photography

These photos were the perfect Christmas present for Moms (and Grandmas) who've been requesting pictures for a while now! I couldn't be happier☺