Wednesday and Windmills

I am in love with windmills. And this one just so happens to be right out my front door.

I don't know what it is about windmills that I'm attracted to. 

It might have something to do with their towering presence on the wide open landscapes of endless grass on the prairies. 

It might have to do with their ability to give life to the dry, barren ground as the water they pump from the depths of the earth spills over the edges of the water trough. 

It might have to do with my love of watching animals drink from the water.  Like how a horse's ears pump back and forth while they're sucking in the water as they quench their thirst or how a chicken dips down and gathers water in their beak and tips their head back to let it run down their throat.

Or it might have to do with where the windmills are that I love the most; on the places I call home.

This one is on my family's ranch.  Dylan, my mom, and I were having fun with fall sunset.

My love for windmills spilled over into some of my wedding decor.

My love for windmills has even made it into my home decor.  This windmill is in my concrete shower! 

I will tell you more about my windmill shower in a later post. 

My next windmill home decor addition is going to be this! 

Found on Pinterest
http://pinterest.com/pin/7599893091069172/

What about you?  Do you love windmills or am I just a weirdo? Nevermind...don't answer that! Ha!

Oh and don't forget to get signed up for the fabulous Turquoise Tuesday giveaway! 

Hope everyone is having a fabulous Hump Day! 

Keep dreamin' and Carpe' diem!

Whitney

My Brooch Bouquet

A recent trend in weddings has been for brides to carry a bouquet made of brooches.  And a certain celebrity wedding this last spring made me want to carry one in my own wedding!

Blake Shelton & Miranda Lambert wedding photo
Image from *here*

For Miranda's bridal shower, each guest was asked to bring a brooch and then a designer put together all of the brooches into a bouquet.  Miranda's bouquet was put together by TheRitzyRose.

Miranda and her brooch bouquet.
Image from *here*

So after I saw the photos of Blake's and Miranda's wedding that was styled by the fabulous Junk Gypsies, I was completely taken by the brooch bouquet along with everything else.  But after I did some research on the internet on brooch bouquets, I found out how expensive it was to purchase one and trashed the idea of having one for my own wedding.  But little did I know...my mother was MAKING me a bouquet out of brooches that I had collected, as well as brooches and jewelry of my mother's, grandmothers', and great-grandmothers'! 

Dylan & I on our wedding day.

My brooch bouquet

I'm so LUCKY to have such a craft savvy mother who is also a queen of junk! I have many blog posts planned to show you all of the incredible things my mom has done to what many would consider pieces of junk!  My big bro, Rock, (yes, that's his real name...and if you know him, you know that the name fits him perfectly) and my papa also helped my momma make the bouquet. It was quite an undertaking to twist the stiff wire to make the stems for each brooch pieces. I know my momma was happy to have some strong men help her with that!  My papa is also quite the handyman and builds quite a few things that my momma is working on.  In their house it's not the 'Honey-Do list'; it's the 'HGTV list'! 

The thing that I love most about my brooch bouquet is the story and the history behind each of the pieces in the bouquet.  The turquoise flower is one that my dad picked out for me, because as you know...I love turquoise! The cow pin is one that my mother-in-law had placed on a bow of a gift she had given me for my birthday.  The watch was my paternal grandmother's and my mom set the time to 11:11, which is said to be the time that angels use to let us know that they are there with us.  The angel pin is my mom's that she was given from her nursing students. 

The blue brooch above is actually an earring of my maternal grandmother's from the 40s or 50s.  It's a clip on earring with these horrid spikes that latch into your skin!  I can't imagine the pain that the women went through to look beautiful! 

The other thing about brooch bouquets is that you get to keep the bouquet forever.  You don't have to dry the flowers or worse, throw away your beautiful bouquet!  These bouquets are a beautiful reminder of your wedding day, as well as the memories that each piece of the bouquet has. 

My mom also created a 'wedding shrine' which included my brooch bouquet, as well as our ceremony program, wedding pie topper, wheat boutonnieres, crystal pie/cake stand that was my grandmother's, and a few other odds and ends from our wedding.  The 'shrine' is in a 3 foot tall by a foot deep plexi glass case.  You can also see a photo of me as a youngin' on the shelf on the left side.  I think I was about 9 when the photo was taken.  I was camping out for a friend's birthday party and my friend's mom had brought along dress up clothes so we had a fashion show on the prairie!  I took on the role as a pioneer bride! 

My beautiful momma and I on my wedding day.

I must say...I clean up pretty good!  Well actually I didn't do my own makeup or my hair...I owe that all to my wonderful hair dresser and friend, Nikki!  Every other day of the year, my hair is in a pony tail, no makeup on, and I'm usually covered in dirt!  But that is the life of a farmer and rancher and I love every second of it! 

What about you?  Are you planning a wedding? Or reminiscing of your own wedding?  I'd love to hear about your wedding plans or memories! 

Thanks for joining me down the dirt roads tonight.  Dream big and Carpe' Diem!

Cheers,

Whitney