Welcome to my monthly favorites blog post! This month I am thankful for quality time at home with my husband, a newly-discovered coffee shop, and uncontrollable giggles. 

1. potato art – Spring tends to be a busy time of the year for us, and so by the time Easter rolls around, we can’t wait to spend a weekend at home and cook a delicious meal together!

2. GEICO commercial – ‘Happier than Paul Revere with a cell phone. I’m not a big fan of commercials. Unless they’re funny – and this one makes me laugh out loud every time it plays. :-)

3. more home projects – We are still ‘settling’ into our new home and storage + decorating are constantly on our… my mind. Recent projects have included putting shelving units together, creating wall art from our wedding readings, and getting *all* my purses off of the floor in the closet.

4. game nights – When we’re not working, we’re playing! My parents taught us how to play Mexican Train with Dominoes and we’re both getting pretty good. We’re just hoping these snowy days will be done soon so we can turn our yard from dirt into lawn!!

5. Caribou Coffee in Mitchell – For one whole year, there has been a Caribou Coffee in the County Fair Foods store in Mitchell – and I JUST found out this month!!! Now, this may not be exciting news to many of you reading this… but for this girl, whose last fuel-up before her non-stop trip back to Rapid just got a dose of tasty caffeine, this is big news. :-)

6. warm spring days – Exactly two weeks ago, we were having a fabulous spring. 60-70 degree weather, constant sunshine, birds singing… and then last week we had a record 20 inches of snowfall in one day. That still hasn’t melted. And now they’re predicting another 8-12 inches this week. I am SO ready for summer. Or to go back to Hawaii. Either would be just fine.

 Sunny days, birthdays, craft days, tasty days. March for the win!

1. Lance’s Birthday – we celebrated by going out to eat at our favorite pizza place in town – Piesano’s Pacchia – and ordering our favorite pizza – Chicken Alfredo!

2. Hello, sunshine!! We’ve had plenty of 70+ degree days here in Rapid City this past month, which means engagement sessions and weddings are just around the corner!! Yippee!!

3. Silk Mocha Iced Latte – With these warmer days, I’ve been sipping on iced coffee in the mornings and this is SO tasty – especially with a splash of caramel mixed in. You know how I love me some chocolate and caramel. :-)

4. My custom nail polish display shelf!!! Somehow, my nail polish collection has continued to grow over the past few months, and I was in desperate need of a way to contain them *and* see them all at a glance so I wouldn’t *accidentally* get duplicate colors. So I researched on Pinterest and searched through Google images. It seemed my only options were to a) build one from scratch, or b) get a spice rack. Now, I’m a pretty crafty girl, but creating a shelf from scratch is just not within my patience levels. So as I’m searching online for spice racks, other kitchen organizing gadgets caught my eye and I found this expandable bamboo utensil tray at Bed Bath & Beyond (similar one here) – I even brought my tallest nail polish to the store to make sure they would fit. I found the perfect utensil tray, took it home, super-glued the expandable drawers in the ‘expanded’ position, and Mr. Helpful Husband took care of the installation in our closet!

Oh February… you give us more daylight and a wonderful excuse to stuff our faces with endless amounts of chocolate. Let’s be friends forever, k?

Number 1 of my monthly favorites for a reason… the one and only card I received for Valentine’s Day – from my 5-year-old nephew. But don’t think my husband didn’t spoil me just because this was the only card I got – he surprised me the day before with Mostly Chocolates caramels and a lovely bouquet from Jolly Lane – which is still looking great two weeks later!!

2. Bailey’s Caramel Irish Cream Cake –  This Pinterest-inspired cake quickly became a disaster when we decided that flouring the 9″ pans was unnecessary  My friend Halley and I were picking up large crumbs off the counter to re-assemble the layers of cake before using the ganache as a glue and pouring the frosting on, since spreading frosting onto this cake simply would not do. This was definitely not a pretty cake. However, it tastes WONDERFUL and so we have been too busy chowing down to stop and take a photo… until now… when it is half-eaten… and even less pretty. :-)

3. Colorful file folders – Twice a month, the creative side of me would dread filing my receipts. My folders were all different colors, the tabs didn’t match, and some folders weren’t even being used! I decided that by prettifying my file drawer, my right and left brain would both enjoy this chore.

4. Crafting bracelets – February is the perfect month to snuggle in with a blanket on the couch and mindlessly string beads while watching Live with Kelly & Michael.

5. Shamrock Shake  – mmmmm hmmmmm!

We just got back from our week-long honeymoon in Hawaii, and while looking back through my camera roll for this month’s edition of ‘laura loves’ I kept thinking to myself “that seems like it happened SO long ago!!” Christmas was not even a month ago? It seems like last year! Ha. Ha. :-)

1. My 31 Bits bracelet – I have been admiring this company for some time now, and I just purchased my first piece from them this month! And my favorite thing about them? They now started a wedding shop!! Makes me want to get all new jewelry and dress up in my wedding gown again!! :-)

2. Homemade Christmas cookies from my mom – she and her friends get together and have a ‘baking day’ before Christmas every year. They make all different kinds of cookies and candies, and then take home a little of everything. Lance’s favorite: peanut butter balls. My favorite: Grandma Braun’s date pinwheel cookies. And spritz cookies. And peanut butter balls. I like Christmas treats, so what?

3. Camera gloves!!! One of my wonderful 2012 couples sent me these gloves – perfect for taking photos out in the cold!!

4. Fixing puzzle – This is only the second puzzle I’ve ever fixed *mostly* by myself. Lance will walk by and pop a few pieces in place once in a while, but this one was tough! It was a painted scene from ‘Gone With the Wind’ and there was no ‘full view’ of the image on the box. Edges were cropped off, and there was a ‘Gone With the Wind’ logo covering the top left. Since I couldn’t figure out that final corner by color, I had to organize all the pieces by shape and go down the rows until each piece fit. We finished the puzzle just in time to leave for…

5. Our honeymoon!!! One week in Kauai, Hawaii, 70-80 degree weather every day, beautiful drives, awesome hikes, great food, breathtaking views. This is the last photo I took before I wiped the sand from my toes and put on my cold weather clothes for our flights back to South Dakota and below freezing temperatures.

I am so excited, thrilled, and honored to share this with you!! Trevin + Audrey’s wedding has been featured in the newest issue of Black Hills Bride Magazine!

And Audrey is their new cover girl!!

Trevin + Audrey drove all the way across South Dakota yesterday to be one of the first to see the new 2013 magazine at the launch party last night. It was awesome to see them again!! We only had a little bit of time here and there to catch up as we were mingling with the creators of Black Hills Bride Magazine as well as other wedding vendors. It was a whirlwind of an evening, and it was so wonderful to share it with these two!

Audrey couldn’t help but pinch herself to make sure this wasn’t all a dream, and towards the end of the night, Trevin said, “Walking in here tonight and seeing Audrey’s face on the magazine just brought back all those wonderful, magical feelings from our wedding day.” I promptly turned to Audrey to let her know she married a good one. :-)

Trevin + Audrey – Thanks again for being such a wonderful couple to work with! It was so great to see you again and I can’t wait for our cupcake date in Sioux Falls!! :-)