INSPIRED: "Sleeping Beauty" themed wedding!

A lady on WeddingBee.com is having a Sleeping Beauty-themed wedding (colors are red, pink, and gold with a hint of green)! I dreamed up this inspiration board for her just for fun. What an enchanting site her wedding will be! I'm smitten...

Be back soon...

Hi everyone, we're heading out for Santa Barbara in about 10-11 hours from now for the fiancé's annual triathlon in which he'll be running, swimming, and biking for miles (there he is two years ago)! I know--seriously, what a hunk! ;)

I'll be gone for about two days 

I've got more posts in store for you...

In the mean time, please visit (and follow if you'd like) an amazing woman I am so grateful to have known her since high school--we served in the high school ministry at church together. She has blogged about her wedding, honeymoon, and continues to blog about the joys and adventures of married life, mouth-watering recipes that will make you run to your kitchen, crafty and creative projects that are affordable and so handy, etc.

Anyway, it can be rare to come by such a sweet spirit, and I encourage you to check out her creative outlet: SaleenaMarie.blogspot.com. She also has a website where she is renting out beautiful vintage and vintage-styled items she made and used for her wedding day to others to use for photo shoots, weddings, parties, events, etc. here. Enjoy! Here's a photo (for a visual) of Saleena and her husband. Photos like this make me melt. Aren't they adorable? :)

1. Photo: We Heart Photography.

Our Wedding Round-Up: Vintage Courtyard Romance!

Dreamed up a board based on our theme: Key to my Heart, our venue: A romantic courtyard at my University, our color scheme: Blue & Green (our favorite colors put together) and the overall style that we love: Vintage. This is as close of a photo of our wedding in the future I can piece together for you. Did you notice the centerpiece and how it has a "K" for Knisley?! So meant to be, right? Anyway, I've fallen for the chandelier thing. I will do my best to scout one down that isn't too blingy, but adds just enough glamour and garden-like characteristics. 

I guess you could say we love the movie The Secret Garden. I don't know, the fiance and I just love being outdoors. And I like flowers. And keys. And shiny things. And Ben loves classical music. Haha, we love every bit of it! :) My ultimate wish that I desire is for the decor and details to reflect our personalities, to not make the decorations the only memorable thing, but to simply display our love and commitment in a beautiful space. I want the burning love, exhilarating joy, and wholesome commitment to be the spectacle of it all. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy decorating and making things (and it surely plays a beautiful part in the wedding itself)--but after all, this is what a wedding is all about: happily becoming One.

Two is better than one.

Do you ever have those "oh-my-gosh-I-love-this-man-is-this-truly-real-life?" spur of exhilaration? It almost feels like you are watching yourself live your life (very surreal, I know), kind of like an outer-body experience if that makes sense? Sometimes I just sit and watch him talk away, and I'm not even processing a word he says because I'm just in awe of him. I wish life allowed us to have more of these pleasant thoughts, but I guess it's the undesirable times in life that make us appreciate the people in our lives as well as the good things we have. It's still funny to me that I met my future husband at the age of sixteen. I used to proudly announce how I wouldn't date until after college. My sister laughed at me. But real life caught up with me and my "dreams." Meeting Ben was something I cannot describe. The moment I saw him (and please don't laugh) it felt like lightening zapped my heart. I just knew, somehow, I was going to be a part of his life. I've never felt that way about anyone before. Everyone else seemed to be a blur in my life.

So yes, I'm one of "those people" that believe in love at first sight. I guess it's something that is different for everyone. You may or may not feel it at first, and that is more than okay; it's your love story. Not everyone gets to kiss feverishly in the rain like couple in Nicholas Spark's The Notebook. I knew I was going to marry him within a month of dating, and he expressed the same to me. I always secretly hoped and prayed we'd meet when we were young so we could not only be each other's high-school sweeties, but have that growing bond at a young age. Once college hit us, we started noticing how the saying is true about your high school friends; they come and then they may go out of your life. I believe the one thing that matters to us is not how much friends we have--but how much life, love, peace, strength and joy can be found in one person. There is no need for a facade or a guard over our hearts--that is a relief in itself. And I believe that is what we strive to give each other. After all, two is better than one. I can't wait to marry my best and truest friend.

1. Our engagement photos: Joanna Noel.

Better than a Promise...

There's my engagement ring. I'm enamored with it, can you tell?

My fiance was planning to purchase a promise ring for me for our 2 year anniversary. It didn't happen for us with our status as broke college students. I'm not the type that asks for jewelry, yet he bought me a beautiful pair of green, peridot earrings. Although, I was still secretly hoping for a promise ring because we had been discussing it a lot during that time. I have revealed a little about our ring story, I believe. In a nutshell, my promise ring evolved into an engagement ring. We knew we both wanted to marry each other early in our relationship and had many talks regarding it.

Driving home one night, he sweetly drove me home and stopped the car before we arrived. He was telling me all these sweet things I can't remember right now, but said, "Lauren, I want to discuss my plans with you." So, after telling me how he was planning on asking my family for my hand, I began to research ring styles I liked and ended up going to Robbins Brothers. I ended up picking something a little unexpected, yet something that perfectly suited my personality and lifestyle. I was going to let him pick it out, but my heart sort of jumped out of my chest when I tried on "the ring."

 So, no promise ring ever made it to my finger. Instead, the most beautiful engagement ring slid on my left hand a month before our 3rd anniversary in November 2010. It made me cry because we both felt that it was much more meaningful for us to take this huge and natural step together. And that was that. We became engaged soon after! It felt real once he sweetly put the ring on my finger after proposing to me on my birthday, alone, between hundreds of luscious orange trees. An adrenaline of excitement surged through my whole body, and I never thought (even though we both knew what was about to happen) that the moment the ring fit my finger, it changed me. It changed my fiance. It was thrilling, so emotional, so loving, joyously overwhelming--it was so real and so pure for us. Words cannot describe the feeling in that moment!

So happy! Oh, happy day! 

INSPIRED: Rain, Thunder, Lightening & Love

Woke up to the roaring sound of very unexpected thunder and lightening on the last day of JULY in SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. How amazing is that, fellow Bloggers? For some reason, it really inspired me--or, well, made me miss my future husband right about now. I can't wait to cuddle together in our cozy bed, listening to the sound of the rain, and having him hold me closer when the rumbling thunder frightens me.

I think of how weak, small, fragile, and human (flattering description, right?) I am when I hear the 'voice of God' through nature. It's so beautiful, but leaves me awe-stricken at the same time. Anyway, I can't wait to spend simple moments like that with my Mr. Knisley. That's what I love about cold weather, it brings you closer together. Le sigh...

P.S.

 I feel today would be a romantic & magical one for a wedding.
Rain or shine, life is incredible!

1. Photo: Ever After Visuals. 2. Photo: Lisa Boggs Photography.

Home is...

Goodmorning, fellow bloggers.

It's 12am here in hot and humid Southern California.

Just reflecting on life and something that's been on my mind.

I feel as if I live my life according to this quote, at times, and sometimes more passionately than other times. My family is far from the family I wish I had (you just can't choose your family and we all know that no one is perfect). Besides the fact that I love them like crazy, am able to be enjoy life on occasions with them, I simply want us to be a healthy family. My personal counselor at my University has told me a string of words that have never made more sense in my life before: You can create the family you want when you and your husband begin life together. I love that. We're so eager to begin that chapter. I'm looking forward to a life and future brighter than the dawn. Home is wherever I am with the people I love and adore.

Anyway, this is kind of a vent-post here.

Hope this encourages anyone who is enduring

hardship with their families--your life and your future

can be a bright one if you want it to. Keep that hope alive.

Come live with me, and be my love, 

And we will all the pleasures prove, 

That valleys, groves, or hills, or fields, 

Or woods and steepy mountains, yield.

- Christopher Marlowe

1. Print by Little Owl Designs on Etsy. 2. Personal photo (taken by Joanna Pickett).

I just want to say...

that I love you Benjamin.

One night you whispered to me,

"You are my family now."

I just love you.

I went crazy {for the first time in years} with my camera.

And I was so proud of my festive fourth of July outfit!...

{Please excuse the laundry hanging in the back! Big opps!}

Yay for a random ring shot at the stoplight.

It's a sparkly firework after recently getting it cleaned!

We ended up having a peaceful outside BBQ dinner with his parents, went for a mile walk with one of their dogs as we watched the neighborhood sky being lit up with a few fireworks at a time. It's times like these that we live to see and experience. It is peace. Maybe even pure joy. You feel it in your bones as you walk in the cool and breezy summer night air, at the cozy dinner with people who have so much love to give, as you watch neighbors say goodbye to their loved ones as the party is over, when you look up at the sky and see sparks you only see once a year and call it a good day. We ended the night sitting on my driveway watching the rest of the neighborhood make sparks in the air. For those of you in the States or for those of you who celebrated the fourth or wherever you're from and whatever you did today, I hope you found peace in your day.

P.S.

What's your summer plans?

If already said and done, post what you did

and the most memorable moment that gave

you the "this-is-a-good-day" moment.

INSPIRED: Cozy Shabby Chic

Inspired by a fun and wholesome, yet ordinary day.

What's more comforting than the casual beauty of shabby chic?

Spent the other day being carefree and goofy with my future husband (gives me a thrill to be able to call him that!) eating rise crispy cereal and watching educational/funny TV shows after helping me wash my car. We ended up cracking jokes together, danced terribly to our own made up dances and songs, and talked softly about life when we got tired. I didn't even put on makeup or give my hair the time of day to be styled. Felt so good to be relaxed and natural with the one I love. Most of all, letting go of life's constant stress is phenomenal when you make time to focus on other things. Fun things. Anyway, I feel so refreshed and ready to celebrate the fourth of July with my future family-in-law! I just love the summer at dusk, the smell of food on the table, and the sound of popping fireworks and children playing outside. Whatever you're doing today or whatever you're celebrating, enjoy your moment and have fun being a kid again! (we still play footsie when we go out to eat, ha, oh goodness).

P.S.

On a more serious note, my future hub made a good point.

Sometimes people can get carried away focusing on the wedding

more than the actual relationship and marriage. And finding a balance.

I'm pretty relieved we're having a courthouse wedding! 

Too busy and too broke to have a larger one.

But hey,
props to all of you who can dream big and

manage to plan your special day! :)
You are amazing!

Well, our funds are small right now, but the love is larger than life! ;)

It's time to start dreaming again.

As much fun and beautiful as weddings can be, 

I still love a small and quaint, quick ceremony.

It just feels good to dream.

If it came down to it, Ben & I both agreed that it will mean

 just as much to us. We often imagine ourselves and an old white

 chapel off the coast of Greece somewhere by the coast:

A warm sunset, a little white dress, 

no guests or shoes, just a man in a white shirt,

and a kiss that will change everything.

Sometimes,

I think simple brings us back to reality.

Forget the diamonds or champagne,

I just want to be married,

afterall.

P.S.
He sweetly tells me he wants to whisk me away
to Greece for the honeymoon. We'll see.
I'm happy either way.

(I love the cute couple above, too.)

1. Kosta Savva Photography.