Ocean Springs Fun!

One of my best friends, Kati Lockley, is a talented designer.  She has worked in Fort Lauderdale on yachts, Santa Rosa Beach (in the beautiful area of 30A) on gorgeous homes, and is now expanding her services to Ocean Springs, Mississippi with the upcoming opening of her shop Abode.

Her shop is located in the quaint downtown area of Ocean Springs.  It will be the place to furnish your home, get design ideas, bridal consultations, or hire her to create a beautiful space for you to live.  She has access to GORGEOUS lines that no one else does in that area:  Lillian August (love love love!), Precedent, Visual Comfort, Cooper Grey, Ro Sham Beaux, Low Country Originals, the list goes on and on.

Check out the sneak peak of her shop below:

Her Grand Opening is the weekend of the Peter Anderson Festival!  Please stop by and say Hello and check out her amazing shop!

I am so excited for you Kati!

Jeremiah's Baptism

This past weekend Drew, Tristan and I drove to Cummings, GA for Baby Jeremiah's Baptism!  I have been anticipating this weekend for a while now.  My Aunt Jeanne flew in from Arkansas and my Nana and Papap flew in from Pennsylvania!  I was so excited to see Jeremiah and also for everyone to see my ever changing (and growing) sweet little man.

Lauren and Rin asked Drew and I to be Jeremiah's God Parents.  I can speak for both of us and say how much of a honor it was to be asked.  Jeremiah is such a blessing from Heaven and an answer to so many prayers.  He is truly an angel on earth.  We arrived at The Church of the Good Shephard and came forward to celebrate the Sacrament of Baptism!  I learned so much when Drew and I were catechist for our church, and I came to love and have a complete understanding of the Sacraments.  Being able to speak for Jeremiah and being a part of the gift of his Baptismal Promises was a wonderful experience.  He is such a lucky little boy for the parents he has and the family he will be raised in.  I feel that I will be able to answer any questions he may have about our faith and offer him an understanding of the Catholic Church.  I said a silent prayer for the children that are not as lucky as he.

Sweet Jeremiah Smiling!

The whole crew!  Can you pick out my little man?

After the Baptism, Lauren had a reception at her house.  Everything was decorated perfectly and the food was delicious (especially the cake pops).  Check out her decorations below.

Later on that afternoon, with the babies in tow, we went to Uncle Shuck's Pumpkin Patch.  I have to say everything is 200% more fun now that we have babies.

My Nana and Papap with the babies!

Tristan and Jeremiah with their Nana and Papap!

Aunt Jeanne

     Auntie Erin!

 Rin, Lauren and Baby Jeremiah

Me, Drew, and Tristan

Tristan and Jeremiah sat in the pumpkin patch, took photo opp pictures, and went on their first hayride.  This is just the first of the cousin's many adventures.  It was such a perfect fall day, along with a win for our bulldogs, and being with our family made it even better.  I was sad to see the weekend go, but I am looking forward to Tristan's Baptism coming up in the next few weeks!

3 month update :).  3 months is so much fun with our little active boy!  We watch Mickey's Club House every morning and he laughs when the club house pops out of the ground.  Tristan has also discovered his voice so he will talk and talk.  He is starting to teeth and I feel bad because I can tell he is hurting.  We go through a little fussy period every day now when he can't get comfortable (infant Tylenol and Sophie are lifesavers)!

Happy Tuesday,













Tina V

DIY Baby Door Announcements!

This time of year typically slows down for me with less trips and beach days I find myself at home working on my hobbies... D.I.Y- Crafts!

One of my favorite craft projects to make is baby door-hangers! This year definitely has seemed like the year of the babies. With many friends having babies this year I was able to experiment a little bit with the cute door-hangers.

The idea is to remember the door-hanger and bring it to the hospital whenever you go into labor. Make room to add the size, weight, date and time that the baby has arrived. When family and friends come to visit you they will know which door to enter. Also, with being so tired after giving birth you do not have to repeat how large the baby is they can just look at the door!!

The first one I made was earlier this year for my friend Stephanie. I had an idea of how I wanted to create it, but I just needed to figure out the execution. The first thing I do whenever I start any project is do some research. I typically start with Etsy or Pinterest to see how other people have created them. I then think long and hard on how I want to make mine look, and what supplies I need. After I figure out an idea of what I want to do I grab a picture of the baby's nursery or talk to the mom to find out favorite colors, etc! I then head to my favorite store Hobby Lobby.

Stephanie was decorating Madison's room in mainly pink, green and brown. She found a really cute crib set, and I used that as the inspiration. While walking through Hobby Lobby I was trying to figure out how I was going to execute her door-hanger. I decided wrapping fabric around canvas and placing it in a painted frame was the easiest way to go. I secured the canvas together by using a fun ribbon. The top canvas was 11x14, I purchased large wooden letters with the initials MBW and painted them the same color as the frame. Along the sides of the frames I also painted a butterfly and flower and placed pictures of Michael, Stephanie, and Madison inside. On the smaller 8x10 canvas I used stick on letters for the birth announcement! Here is the finished project.

The next one I made was for my sister Lauren who was expecting my nephew Jeremiah! When Lauren chose the name Jeremiah my mom immediately thought of the song "Jeremiah was a bullfrog." Well that started the frog buying :). It is an extremely cute theme especially for LO's. With Lauren's being the second one I made, I was kind of learning which adhesives work the best (hot glue is not the best). I bought wood glue this time because I had some challenges with Stephanie's letters staying on the frame. Another challenge was having to ship Lauren's. I was very very pregnant at the time and not able to attend her shower. When using the wood glue take the stickers off of the back of the wood pieces that way it should stay better (lesson learned). I still used the hot glue on the wood to fabric and found that regular Elmer's glue is better!

Here is Jeremiah's! I decided to go with other reptile's too. Something about the lizard climbing up the side of the frame is adorable :).

The last one I have made is for my friend Mindi and Baby Everett! Mindi was using the colors grey, light-blue, and a tiny bit of orange (love love this color scheme together). She had the bedding made and used a light-blue chevron print. Hobby Lobby happened to have a grey chevron print (how perfect). I didn't have the exact color's Mindi had used, but I tried my best to eyeball it with a picture of her bedding. When I went down the wood isle the zebra, and giraffe caught my eye. The zebra had grey in it and the stripes reminded me of the repetition of the chevron. The giraffe looked similar to the orange ribbon I had just picked up ;). It was starting to come together!

Finished product.

These door-hangers can be made anyway really! You can use your imagination and really come up with some great ideas! My friend Tara made one for me and Tristan. Tristan's nursery is decorated with a nautical theme. Tara used that and made an adorable door-hanger for us! Everyone at our hospital loved it. It also drew attention to how large my baby was! Stranger's wanted to see this huge almost 10 pounder :). We definitely had the cutest door down the hospital hallway ;).

Gautier Wedding!

The Vital family had another fun weekend!  On Friday we headed over to Mississippi for Kati and Luke's wedding festivities.

I have known Kati and Luke for a while now, and I was also there to witness the day they met.  Luke and I both attended Perk our Freshman year of college; he is one of those people that you do not forget with a fun personality who always has the entire room laughing.  Kati and I met at MSU and we seemed to have every class together.  Kati is such a good friend and always goes above and beyond for everyone she knows.   

In the Spring of 2010 Kati and I made a trip over from Florida to Mississippi for Tara's bridal shower.  After the shower we headed down to the Grocery (a fun bar in Ocean Springs).  Tara, Allison, Kati and I were hanging out and catching up.    Tara interrupts the conversation with "Was that Luke Gautier?"  At the same time I felt a gust of wind as someone had run past our table.  I look up to see  Luke run past us again, and Tara yelled his name.  He slowly came over to us and immediately tried to lock eyes with Kati (who didn't seem interested at all, although Luke tells it a little differently).  I really didn't think too much of their meeting until Tara called me and said Luke tried to get Kati's information.  Tara  responded to him that he had no chance at all.  As I got off the phone, Kati walked in texting and giggling (hmm...)  She looks up at me and says "Tina, so what is the deal with this Luke guy?"   I can not remember my response, but I probably told her the conversation I just had with Tara.   From that time on to now Kati and Luke have been together.

I have been looking forward to this wedding for a while.  I knew it was going to be a lot of fun, and I was not disappointed at all!  Kati's attention to detail is incredible.  She put the entire wedding together on her own.  She did the flowers, centerpieces, handmade the lawn games, decorations, the list goes on and on.  Before the wedding I walked around and took pictures, because everything looked like it was straight out of a Bridal Magazine.  By the way she will be offering wedding consultations with her new business!

The wedding was held at "The Old Place" in Gautier, Mississippi; where Luke Gautier's ancestors lived.  The house was a perfect sight for a wedding with a large wrap around porch, tables over looking the bay, and huge southern oaks with spanish moss hanging from their limbs.  For the food Kati and Luke had arranged for vendors to set up (like you would find at a festival).  We could walk up to their tents and order pulled pork sandwiches, home made chips, garlic potatoes, chicken, sausage dogs, funnel cake, popcorn, and of course cotton candy (I was not dieting this weekend)!  The wedding was very family friendly.  My mom, dad, sister Erin and Drew all attended and were very helpful with Tristan.  Tristan danced, walked in the grass, and I think had a taste of cotton candy thanks to Tara.  I had a wonderful time catching up with our close friends and taking pictures!

Luke and Kati I wish you a long happy life together with many blessings!  Kati you should throw another party soon; we had such a wonderful time!

Happy Monday!  Tina

Kati's creative programs!

Gorgeous Centerpieces

Event Posters!

Me, Tristan, Melissa, and Finnley!

Stephanie, Allison, Tara, Kati, Me, and Emily!

Happy Birthday Tara!

Hello October! This happens to be my favorite time of the year (although, I think Christmas will surpass it now that I have a L.O.). I have been busy pulling out the Autumn and Halloween decor, I have accumulated over the years, and decorating the house. As you can see I felt a need to decorate the blog with a Halloween background, and went ahead and put a picture of my cute little man as a pumpkin at the top!

October 2nd (today) marks the birthday of one of best friends, Tara Wineki-Smith!  I know she is not extremely excited about this birthday because of her post here, but she has been such a wonderful friend to me over the years and deserves to have an amazing 29th birthday!

Tara and I met in the 7th grade during art class.  We became friends that year although she was quick to tell me, at the time, that we were not best friends (I wonder if she remembers that convo like I do? lol).  I always enjoyed her sarcastic sense of humor, but at the same time if you are a close friend of Tara she opens up and confides in you (that is when you know she has accepted you as a friend).  I can't pinpoint when exactly we did become bf's.  Maybe it was in 9th grade Accelerated Biology when I thought I wanted to be a neorusurgeon (what was I thinking; I did not go that route at all), and of course was teased by the male population in the class telling me there was no way that was going to happen.  Tara stuck up for me; I can not remember what she said or if she even believed it, but she stuck up for me.

From that point on we were there for each other when we made stupid teenager decisions, and also decisions that brought us to our current lives.  Most of my high-school memories are about Tara and I.  After high-school we both decided to attend Perk she played soccer, and I was on the dance team.  We often refer to Perk as the best years of our lives (sorry Drew).   It was a time of little responsibility and more freedom then either of us ever had before.   I was there to watch Tara meet and fall in love with her soul-mate Craig and later blessed to be a part of their wedding.

Graduating from Perk brought us to Mississippi State.  We opted to get an apartment together and went pot-luck for our other room-mate.  We were extremely blessed to meet and live with Mindi Kern who became a best friend to both of us!  MSU brought many more memories and life changes.   Tara and I were there for each other after Hurricane Katrina devastated our home town.  She was there when I met and fell in love with Drew, and was a part of our wedding day.  Tara was also there for the birth of my son Tristan; she will never know how much that means to me.     

The thing about Tara is that she is a natural beauty.  Perfect skin without make-up (makes you sick), and gorgeous natural blonde long locks!  She is one of those people that is good at everything she tries; swimming, surfing, soccer, anything art related, and not to mention she happens to be a Doctor!

Tara I am sorry I can not be with you today to celebrate.  I know you are not thrilled to be 29, but 29 marks all of the wonderful things you have accomplished and all of the memories you have made!  30 will bring even more :)!  Have a wonderful birthday today, and I will see you this weekend!  

Love, Tina V

 Celebrating Tara's 28th Birthday at the Saints Game!

 Drew's 30th Birthday!

 Mindi's Rehearsal Dinner

 Bridesmaids in Mindi's Wedding!

 2005- Roommates Me (Whew, I look rough), Mindi, and Tara!

 Tara's Bachelorette

 Me, Tara, Craig, and Drew in New Orleans!

Stephanie, Mindi, Me, Tara, Allison, and Kati in New Orleans 2009!

Tara holding Tristan :)