inspire lovely:

Super late post but still making it in time for Thursday! I got an email from a sweet reader who linked her tumblr and there were so many well curated, pretty images - I wanted to pin so many photos and decided to just post some of my favorites here. So thanks to glad and young for all the inspiration :) Some of these photos make me want to unplug from technology and go camping.

via anthropologie

via Martha Stewart

via typographic verses

via Luxury and Opulence

via Gil Cavalcanti

via Katrina Herschell Management

via my foto log

via weranda

via oh pioneer

via Ashley Herrin

new orleans!

Hi friends, I'm heading to New Orleans today! I applied for the project through NOLAbound and was 1 of 27 to be chosen for this opportunity to go and explore the city from an entrepreneurial viewpoint. We'll be meeting lots of leaders, innovators, and business owners - I'm really excited to be a part of this opportunity. I found some lovely photos of New Orleans around the web so thought I'd post a few here:

via Erin Johnson photography



via Briole - here and here



via Alfonso Pompo Bresciani - here and here

I've never been to New Orleans and actually know very little about this city. Has anyone ever visited? Any readers actually live in New Orleans? I'm excited for this experience and can't wait to share it with you :) I have heard wonderful things about the food.. I'll be tweeting throughout my trip so check in and see what we're up too! I'll also try to post an update or two at the blog on the site .. NOLAbound is also on twitter and will be live-tweeting everything!

ps: I'll actually be hanging out in New Orleans all day on Sunday so
if you have been and have any recommendations, I'd love to hear them!

firefall:

Sorry for the very completely unrelated post but I just had to post this because I'm super proud of my husband :) If you didn't know, Nicholas is a video game designer and is currently working on a game called Firefall. If you're not sure what video game designers do, this is just one job of many.

His company produces a "developer diary" - so Nick and his coworker got to film one where they talk about their work. They are "world builders" - pretty sweet title! But they basically make the entire environments in the video game, essentially building a 'world'. Nick is on the right ;) My husband is so cute. He was telling me about how he had to film this and he was so nervous. He said it was really awkward talking into the camera so they did more of a dialogue (as you see in the video) between them instead. I have absolutely no idea what they're saying but the graphics are cool to see and I'm so proud of all the work he's done. It's nice to see something come out of all the long nights when he has to work overtime and comes home at 1am.

I'm no gamer. I like antiques :) Sometimes I wish Nick was a graphic designer like me and then we could have our own graphic design company and design awesome things together. But he wouldn't be who he is, he has amazing work ethics and we wouldn't have met if he didn't go to art school to study video game design. Perhaps your husband/boyfriend likes video games? Pass the word on about Firefall for me ;)

good cheer deal, A lovely little shop:

This week we have a sweet deal from A lovely little shop! These deals are awesome because you only pay $15 but will receive $30 in credit toward the shop. I love all the pretty creations from Chelsea's shop.

Item: $15 for $30 voucher for anything from A lovely little shop!
Retail Price: $30
Good Cheer Price: $15


To purchase this deal, click the Paypal "buy now" button below!
(Note: If you are using google reader, button may not appear)

- To redeem your voucher: Select the items you'd like purchase, proceed to checkout, and select "other" as your payment option. In the "Note to Seller" box, be sure to include this message: "I purchased a voucher at oh, hello friend Good Cheer Deals worth $30. My paypal address is (enter your paypal address here)" If you exceed the voucher amount, a Paypal invoice will be sent to you for the remaining amount.

- Only 20 vouchers available!

- This deal is open to all countries

- Voucher may be used toward shipping costs

- Click the 'buy now' button to purchase this deal. Simply use your paypal account to make payment directly to seller. If the 'buy now' button is no longer working, it means the item is sold out.

four favorites:

I pretty much am loving everything here today, which is I guess why all these items made it to four favorites ;)

Vintage: vintage fiberglass divided crate from Am Radio, $69

Type: Campi font by Paulo W available at myfonts.com, $28.90

Fabulous: pretty awesome pattern bath towels from Pendleton Woolen Mills, $48

Fashion: Wrap Watch (love wrap watches!) via Moxie and Oliver, $95

freedom:

"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" 1 Corinthians 15:55

Just wanted to share that Ramon passed away yesterday morning. on Thursday, the hospice nurse estimated he had 2-4 weeks left but it was just time for him to go. The image of Ramon completely healed with no tumors or cancer, no longer suffering but dancing and in the presence of our Almighty God brings tears to my eyes. We have such hope in death! If you pray, I would ask for your prayers for Ramon's wife, Allison and their family. I think the next days, weeks, and months ahead will still be very hard for them.

I want to thank you for all your comments from Friday's post. We are grateful for the good, and even the bad comments too. Nick and I were talking about how amazing of a community you all are, such deep and profound support. I think the post offended some, which was not my intention at all :( But the gospel won't resonate with everyone. It can offend some. and some of it sounds weird. It's just so hard because I whole heartedly believe in what I do and I know so many others have their own beliefs. and that's fine! You have complete right to believe in what you feel is right and true. Okay, I'm getting sidetracked but I wanted to say that I was so encouraged by so many of your comments. Seriously, I am deeply grateful and so blessed by you, I wish I could reach out to each and every one and hug you. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. and joining in on the conversation.

Regular posting will now continue :) and Good Cheer Deal's return tomorrow so be sure to check back! Hope you have a wonderful week friends.

ps: one of the comments left said that I would probably delete their comment. I actually never delete comments, unless they are spam or inappropriate/offensive. But you have the freedom to say what you want here. So if you have something negative to get off your chest, that's fine! I may have my husband read it first cause I get scared of conflict but I'll read them eventually ;)

our friend, ramon:

I know this blog is typically about pretty things and crafts and inspiration. But I was truly inspired by someone in a huge way this week. and I am really compelled to share with you.

Some of you may have remembered I mentioned my friend Ramon. We met Ramon at Rock Harbor in Costa Mesa back in 2010. We met with a weekly gathering of friends for several months. We would study the bible together, pray and laugh together and encourage each other. Eventually though all our schedules got crazy and our little group stopped meeting. But the time we spent together was pretty great.

Less than 4 months ago, on the weekend of December 10th, Ramon and Allison were told that what doctors originally brushed off as a sinus infection, was actually a tumor in Ramon's sinus cavity that spread to his eye and brain. They took a biopsy of the tumor and determined it was cancerous. on December 29th, they found out his cancer was stage 4 and had spread to his liver, spine, and hip. The doctors decided to start chemo immediately. On January 11th, they started the first round and then another round on February 1st. on February 25th, their oncologist informed them that the chemo was ineffective and radiation would be more harmful than good. Ramon was sent home.

We were able to visit Ramon this past Wednesday with a couple other friends. I wasn't sure what to expect but I was anxious about visiting. It wasn't like going over to sit and chat over tea, you know? We prayed beforehand and were reminded this was not about us. We were going to show Ramon support and tell him that we love him. I did not realize or even think about how the tumor would affect his outer appearance but as we walked into his room, I didn't recognize Ramon. We sat at his bedside and held his hand and let him talk. We joked and laughed with him about the times we shared together. Ramon asked us how we were doing and what was new. Who does that??! He has only weeks left to live and he still asked us how we were. Ramon spoke of Jesus and how at the beginning of all of this, he knew he wasn't going to be okay. Jesus was calling him home and preparing his heart. Even though he didn't look the same, Ramon was still the same inside. I didn't see death in that room, but hope. We saw courage in Ramon. and joy. and peace. Most of all, Ramon showed us Jesus that day.

I sometimes wonder why people are brought into our lives, if only for a moment. We only knew Ramon for a small time of our life while we were engaged. But his story will always remain with us. We actually found out my mom had cancer in 2010. At one of our bible studies, we asked for prayer. We asked to pray that it would be only stage 1 or 2, and Ramon said, "forget that, I'm just going to pray for a complete healing and that there would be no cancer at all!" That is Ramon.

As believers of Jesus, we are not called to a life of sunshine and unicorns and rainbows. We don't believe because we are promised a wonderful and easy life. We don't do it for the comfort it brings. Sometimes I've had people say to me, "well those beliefs work for you. sure. you have faith and something to find comfort in. it works for you." Dearest friends. It is so much more than something that just works for me or that I find comfort in. It is the air I live and breathe. It is in my husband, who loves me with such abandonment. It is in creation - in the ocean, and sunsets and sunrises, and the sun & stars and the whole galaxy (which is pretty big!) It's in my mom who was healed of cancer. In Ramon's wife Allison, only being married for 9 months, still acknowledging the Lord has been with them in this. It is in Ramon who wasn't healed but is still proclaiming Jesus at the end of his life!

If this story isn't inspiration at it's ultimate, I don't know what is :) Ramon showed me the most inspiration I've ever seen in my life. He reminded me what faith looks like. true, unwavering, unrelenting, immovable, authentic faith. Though Ramon's story may seem very sad and tragic, I wanted to share it with you that you may be encouraged and possibly seek Truth. What we've taken from Ramon's journey is just to be grateful for life. For each new day we get to wake up and have breath and live another day. For our loved ones. Words like love. hope. peace. courage. strength. faith. joy are not usually associated with death, right? but in Jesus they are. Natural human emotions would dictate us to be sad about Ramon dying at only 31 years. There is actually 100000x more joy than sadness for those who believe and have hope. The hope of heaven and Christ. Many years ago, because of His great love for us, Christ came and died for us that we may live and not be bound to the sins of the world. He just asks you to make the choice to believe and accept him. That's it. There aren't any strings attached, really and truly! There isn't any thing more you need to do. You don't need to do any good works or perform rituals at church. Just believe! He won't force you to believe. He allows you to come on your own free will.

Anyway, these thoughts are probably really scattered but thank you for letting me share with you - whatever you believe in. perhaps you share these beliefs. maybe don't believe in anything. or maybe you're skeptical of everything I've just shared. Maybe you don't want to read this blog anymore because there's too much Jesus here ;) Whatever the case may be, thank you for reading Ramon's story. Thanks you for letting me be vulnerable and share something I so wholeheartedly believe in with you today. ps: if you have any thoughts you want to share, perhaps some questions or even issues you have with this post, please feel free to comment below or email me!

Update: I want to update this post based on a comment I received to note that it is truly with all my heart not my intention to offend anyone through this and if I have offended you, I am deeply sorry for that. That is not what I want you to take from this post whatsoever. Whatever you believe, I appreciate you even reading and with a open heart. I can definitely see how if I read some other post about something when I believe what I do, I would be turned off too! I understand this won't resonate with everyone. but please know I mean no offense.

I thought I'd end this post with something Ramon said on his journal updates. He didn't write on it but his mom interviewed him asking him what he'd want to say to anyone reading. Here's what he said:

"Jesus Christ is Lord. Never let the cloudiness of what is seen take your attention from the unseen. There is a whole other world at work. If we lose sight of that, we lose sight of everything" - Ramon Vidaurri, January 29th, 2012

resource / scans:

Have some pretty vintage scans for you today! Red polka dot paper, vintage airmail envelope, index card, lace doily, and tag. Free for your use in designs, personal or business. Please just leave a credit or mention in a post if you use :) The file contains a .psd (photoshop) file with 5 scans, each one is on it's own layer along with the .png files on transparent backgrounds so you can drop them right into your design. Hope you like these scans friends!

Download the file here!

Collections / Business Card Round Up #3:

Haven't done a business card round up post in about a year! so I thought I'd put another one together. There are so many amazing cards out there, I think business cards are definitely some of my favorite pieces of graphic design. People can get so creative on a 2" x 3.5" piece of paper! ;) Enjoy!

jaqk cellars via graphic-exchange <-- go here to see tons more amazing branding!

Shyama Golden via lovely stationery

Joseph Parra via lovely stationery

Pinot Blogger

Reddy or Knot

Mike James

Crafting a Green World

Food, Wine, and Modge Podge

cool graphic cards from John Cheese

via Luke Elliott

Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie design via Lovely Stationery Designed by Glasfurd & Walker

Matt Whitwell

long ago tales

craftaholics anonymous

Urban Scarlet

Gold Spray Painted Edges via Camille Styles, Genius!

HEYLOOK

In case you missed it, you can see

all the past business card posts here!

If you're not into the whole DIY thing, printed cards have been sufficient for many years. Here are some great printing resources. uprinting.com print 3 sizes - which is kind of cool, wood business cards, and here's a great resource for cards.

Managing conflict:

Sweet friends. I mentioned that Nick and I attended a couples retreat our friends invited us to in Costa Mesa this past weekend. When we arrived, we found out the topic was about conflict management, which we were pretty excited about because we've struggled with conflict ever since the start of our relationship. We've known each other for going on 6 years now, been married for over a year -- and still haven't even come close to figuring out how to resolve our conflict. It's been a long journey.

Even though this may not be a topic pertaining to the blog world like "how to use twitter properly" or something like that, I thought I'd share some notes I took over the weekend because this is really kind of more important than knowing how to use twitter ;) It's real and deep life issues. and I'm sure we've all known and have had our own share of conflicts. We were really blessed by the retreat and the material we learned. Even if you're not in a romantic relationship, I think this material can totally be applied to all relationships. (I was thinking of ways to apply it with my brother, whom I get in big arguments with sometimes) If you're not big on reading a lot of content, I've included some pretty pictures in this post that you can look at too ;)

via Ruffled Blog

Is it normal to have conflict while you are married or in relationships? Sure. But it's about how you argue and how you manage conflict together. They introduced this model called "The Reactive Cycle" which is basically that every couple has a cycle that keeps us stuck. Emotional buttons get pushed and we so react a certain way.

Update: Alison noted that she's heard it called the crazy cycle,

which I kind of like better, haha ;)

Emotional buttons include feeling: unloved, unappreciated, disrespected, failure, inadequate, unimportant, disconnected, judged, not good enough, controlled, abandoned, worthless

Reactions can be: defensiveness, withdraw, escalate, belittle, blame, control, humor, indifference, sarcasm, rationalize, independence, anger or rage, criticize, isolate, exaggerate, withhold, emotionally shut down.

So we watched a video example about a wife and husband arguing about him watching tv. The fight isn't really about him watching tv. Her emotional buttons that are getting pushed are that she feels ignored and unimportant so she reacts in anger. His emotional buttons are that he is feeling controlled so he reacts in humor and he rationalizes.

I actually came across this pdf of an entire list of buttons + reactions and meanings if you want to take a look to help you better identify your buttons + reactions during those conflicts.

This was a big eye opener for us. A lot of the time, I think the arguments between Nick and I are really silly and I sometimes wonder what is wrong with us or why we argue about such trivial things. But it helped us to realize it's not really about that fight we had over McDonalds or buying the wrong item at the store. It's feeling unvalued, unloved, disrespected, worthless and so we react with defensiveness, anger, isolation. and it's a vicious cycle.

via Oh, Darling

Ways to break the cycle. There were a lot of great ideas discussed to break the cycle including things I can do and things you can do together as a couple.

1) Create space. You may need to create physical or emotional space. It's important to step away and figure out what is going on with your emotions and feelings.

2) Take personal responsibility. Sometimes it is so easy to think "my spouse needs to change" and if we remain in this thinking, ultimately we are powerless. Take time to open your heart and reflect. Call a time out. But it's important that the person who calls the "time-out" needs to get you back together too. Otherwise no one will initiate and then you'll just stay in conflict! (which has definitely happened to Nick and I before ;)

3) Pursue Truth. For me personally this was a big one because I really often buy into lies. Lies like "he doesn't care/love me" and really silly stuff like that. Check your motives and heart. One of the couples were telling us about an argument they had about money they each received for a gift. The husband wanted to put it away and save it or use it toward bills and the wife wanted to spend it on something for the house. The husband said he would fall into this thinking that his wife was selfish and he had to step back and ask "Am I really thinking this about her??" because it was a total lie and we need to be careful of this.

Make sure your hearts are both open when you get back to talk. Listen to help your spouse feel understood and cared for. Real listening takes place when I am more concerned with understand what you are saying rather than you understanding what I am saying. Try to replace judgement with curiosity and be compassionate to understand what pain they are feeling.

photo by Henrik Bulow via Le Love

We really need to understand the emotional subtexts of our relationships - the hidden issues and hurt feelings that need to be surfaced. If we can learn to learn to manage our cycles of conflict, then we can make our marriages more emotionally safe. We can cultivate intimate marriages when we learn to soften our responses and better care for our spouse's heart.

via Andrew and Carissa

They asked the attendees what we thought the secret to a happy marriage was? Grace. Patience. Love. Forgiveness. All these words were thrown out. The answer was friendship.

I totally would have chosen love or grace or something. But they explained that friendship is something established, a deep and abiding relationship. Friends that still enjoy the same thing, and spending time together. Makes sense!

via Kenzas

Edit: I forgot to add this from my notes but I think it's really important. If you don't resolve your conflict in a healthy way, be careful of the path you are heading down. The reactive cycle is so destructive because it sets you and your spouse up as adversaries and makes your relationship emotionally unsafe. When we feel emotionally unsafe, our hearts close and we disconnect. If this pattern continues overtime, you put yourself at risk to hardening and closing your heart to your spouse. Not good! :( also probably one of the most important points: Apologize! "I was wrong", "I am sorry", or "Please forgive me" are so huge. I've struggled with this my whole life, I have a lot of pride and it's hard to say these words. But they are powerful and healing words.

I am really glad we went to this retreat. Initially I had a quick thought like "Nick and I have a great marriage, we don't need to go to something like this" which is actually really terrible and dangerous thinking because there are always ways we can grow stronger and new things we can learn together as a couple. I really think a lot of the above information can be applied to anyone. For us personally, we will never be able to do it alone apart from God. A lot of the content also included aspects from the bible and a big one was prayer and seeking His will. Sometimes it's hard for me personally to pray when I am sooooo angry, but it is so important to pray to get my heart right and allow His love back in. In a society where divorce is so prevalent and the word love and it's feeling is so mismanaged, now more than ever we need to take a stand and be careful of allowing the devil to bring us down. he loves to spoil good things and rob us of our joy. But we have such a great hope and our relationship is rooted in Someone so much greater and stronger.

So what do you think? If you were able to read the content, I hope you are encouraged or blessed through it. It was actually great review for me to go through the notes and type key points out to share with you .. so thanks for letting me share! :)

Have you heard of this "reactive cycle" idea before?

Do you agree with this material? Disagree?

Would love to hear your thoughts and ways you've found to

manage conflict with your significant other!

oh, hello friend is hiring:

Whew, there are a lot of announcements this week ;) I was going to save this one but am pretty excited to start looking for someone so here it is.

oh, hello friend is looking to hire a part time assistant to help with all aspects of the blog & shop. Looking for a creative, responsible, resourceful, and detail-oriented person. Position is ideal for a high school or college student looking for some flexible part time work. Experience with photography or graphic design is helpful but not necessary.

Duties Include: Order fulfillment assistance, email correspondence with blog advertising and shop inquires, photo editing, & online shop admin.

Schedule: 10-12 hours per week, 2 days a week

Payment: Hourly

Location: Must be able to come to our warehouse in La Habra, California

Apply: Please download an application and email it to ohhellofriend@gmail.com. You can also mail it to the address on the application. Feel free to include any other relevant information you feel would pertain to the job!

Thanks friends!! :) If you have any questions regarding the position, feel free to email me.

Happy Friday / Macarons:

I found these images in my archive and just had to post them! They're pretty old. Jessica will probably laugh at how long ago this was. But anyway. I headed down to San Diego to bake with my dear friend. We decided to go for it and make Macarons! (not to be confused with macaroons) Here's how it turned out :)

Mixed up all the ingredients. She has a really pretty kitchenaid mixer. I need one.

But I wouldn't even know what to do with it ;) I need to take a cooking class.

We didn't have the proper bag so we used a ziplock and cut the tip.

It ended up making a little tip at the top of the cookies but oh well!

They ended up looking more like meringues!

I had heard and read stories about how making macarons is really hard, etc. But I think ours turned out well. Even though they don't look picture perfect like normal macarons, I really like how they turned out. and they were quite delicious too! I give all the credit to Jess, she's a great baker ;)

We had some fun and made a jumbo macaron :)

I wish I had the recipe to share with you, but it was so long ago I forgot! The middle was chocolate-ganache and that's all I remember ;)

All in all, even though they don't look like these, I almost like that ours weren't perfect, sort of like an anti-macaron or something ;) They were mis-shaped and not very smooth at the top, but unique and yummy and had the texture of a store bought macaron. Gosh, I am craving macaron's now!

Anyway! What are your weekend plans? This weekend we are headed to a couples retreat through Biola that some friends invited us to. It's just down in Costa Mesa, I am definitely looking forward to it! On Sunday we're going to try to fit in a date day and then a meeting with this lady to have a final wedding meeting to discuss the schedule and delegate jobs and everything - it's going to be great to get everything finalized. Excited to see Ruby & Linda too! Hope you have fun, lovely, wonderful, awesome weekends friends! Thanks for reading this week. xo.