study time

i will be sitting here in this spot studying for the next two weeks and i am curious, has anyone taken the NCIDQ interiors qualification exam? do you have any advice for me or any general tips? obviously i am nervous, but i will be so glad to have my professional exams behind me. although it is a long story, this feels like a big step for me. i have had a few difficult years wavering between jobs and constantly transitioning and i am ready to move forward with healthy decisions for my future. what are you up to this weekend?

thank you in advance for any advice.

madeline

things of late

hi friends... i am going to act like i haven't neglected you all for the past month and a half...and just pick up where i left off.  how does that sound?  life has gotten busy - i am studying for my professional exams, working through taking them, and traveling for work. between these things, it seems there is not much time left in a day.

today we went for a long hike and are setting up for a fire tonight.  please excuse how old some of these photos are....i'm still catching my breath from christmas, people. let's recap since december....obviously besides our nyc trip and work.

{christmas gifts, christmas picture, our christmas card, new/old polaroid toy}

{happy new year, juice cleanse, flying home from nyc, open window weather}

{outdoor movies, flowers from my valentines, leed exam studies, valentine's date}

nyc pics coming this week.  also...we can't stop watching this.

xoxo madeline

gift guide and holiday inspiration

does anyone else use pinterest for gift inspiration? i worked really hard on these gift guide pin boards...and then got too busy to post them.... but if any of you are procrastinators like me, then you still have some holiday shopping to do! follow my gifts board if you still need some inspiration for christmas or follow my holiday board for decor, party, and cocktail ideas. there are some awesome items....i would be thrilled to receive any of them!  

follow my gifts board on pinterest:

also follow my holiday boardfor wrapping ideas, decorating ideas, cocktails...etc:

oh, and naturally follow madeline made on pinterest.

once you purchase, be sure to check out my gift wrapping essentials.

xoxo madeline

film series favorite | greece

last week we watched the final movie in one of our favorite trilogies, richard linklater's before sunrise series. the film is called before midnight and if you haven't seen the whole series, you should (go. start it now). the first film is the story of two strangers who meet on a train and agree to spend one night together in vienna, austria. the trilogy takes place over 18 years and three cities. and it is based off a real story. the second movie is best, but we loved this one because of the scenery in the greece, where we travelled last year for our anniversary. the movie posters make me nostalgic for beautiful santorini and these spots.

i hope you love jesse and celine's love story as much as i do.

all images are my own.

xoxo madeline

date idea: outdoor movie night and firepit

i'm back this week after last week of no blogging. it was a crazy week. to relax during this time of year, we love to pull out our adirondack chairs and have an outdoor movie night. at the beginning of november before the leaves had fallen, instead of our typical date out at a restaurant or movie we decided to stay in.

our s'mores essentials are simple: marshmellows, graham crackers, nutella or reeses cups, fruit preserves, and roasters. when we host movie nights, we like to have options for everyone to get something they like. we recently invested in a projector screen and roku player to stream movies and have really loved it. we hung simple s hooks indoors and outdoors to mount our projector screen. all you will need is a roku player, speaker, and screen or white wall. we used a sheet with grommets for a long time to save up for the screen (which was surprisingly inexpensive). josh made these adirondacks for us to enjoy year round and they are so comfortable even for a 2 hour movie. i will be doing a tutorial on how to build your own adirondack chairs soon!

we chose the woody allen thriller, match point. we love to play thrillers or old movies; it just feels drive-in-esque. the fire is really perfect throughout the movie to keep warm and we brought cozy blankets out also. here are some essentials that we recommend...

1. stump from west elm.com. 2.cross blanket from terrain.com. 3. matchpoint movie from amazon prime. 4. marshmellow roasters from terrrain.com. 5. roku player from amazon.com. 6. firepit from terrain.com. 7. projector screen from amazon.com.

happy monday.

xoxo madeline