baby Bean

{due to the nature of this post there will be a lot of !!!! }

Sooo, this happened on Wednesday to all of Facebook. Yay for baby Bean!! I can't explain the joy this has brought to Ryan and I already. I can't even imagine what it will be like when the baby is here. LOVE OVERLOAD.

I love the fact that my due date is so close to our wedding anniversary so I had to include our wedding photo. Don't worry this is not changing into a baby blog. I might include some information here and there and will def. put pictures up as the nursery evolves (you know I have to find out the sex because hello, I have to decorate!). 

Thank you all for the kind congrats and well wishes. Having you all as a loving support system makes it all the better. 

Btw, I bought swiss chard as a cheap solution to fill in a flower bed in our backyard and it has turned out to be the hardiest and yummiest plant. It's a beast! 

To try and control the supply I made this swiss chard quiche last night from the Little Hedgehog and it was delish (I used parmesan and farm fresh eggs I found at the local feed store). I need more recipes for swiss chard just to keep this plant under control. Any ideas??

HAPPY WEEKEND!

fur clips anyone?

As a girl who has always been into everything vintage and a jewelry aficionado(which probably started by being totted around as a child by my mother and grandmother to garage sales and estate sales), I have quite the little vintage collection going. Some pieces I use in my designs which usually brings on withdrawal like symptoms when they leave my possession and others are forever locked in my "private collection". Above is just a glimpse of my pin selection that I posted on my Instagram. I'm an addict.

shine on

So the article that I mentioned prepping for in this blog post came out online yesterday!!! I was both humbled and honored to have a feature in 360 West Magazine about my volunteer organization, You are a Jewel.

Read the whole article and take a browse through the magazine HERE. {And a special thank you to Meda and Jill!!}

I have a session planned for April 6th at 10:30 at a Fort Worth shelter. I am still looking for 2 volunteers so if you are in the DFW and would like to volunteer please email me at: merrick@merrickjewels.com. You can also help out by donating ANY unwanted jewelry/beads/broken jewelry parts. Monetary donations are also accepted. Anything helps to make this a special event for these women in these shelters! Please contact me by email if you would like to help out.

Also, let's not forget about the gift of Good Friday and Easter. I hope you all have joyous times with friends and family. I'll leave with you a couple of fun images for the weekend.

1 // 2 // 3 // 4 

homegrown

I remember how excited I was when Ryan built me a raised vegetable garden out of cedar planks and industrial hardware that reminded me of south Austin. At the time, I had this idyllic vision of being able to harvest a whole weeks worth of groceries out of a 4x8' plot of land, you know mother earth style. Ambitious? Yes.

code red

Those of you who happened to see a couple of my Instagram photos yesterday know that fun things are going on in the Merrick Jewels camp! There might be a little "sumpin' sumpin'" coming out in the April edition of a local magazine... maybe something that I have blogged about in the past {hint hint}?? You will have to wait and see. I was so honored by the opportunity but immediately had to pull a code red when informed that one of the photographers needed to come over and take *gulp* head shots and *double gulp* pictures of my workspace/studio. Seriously, CODE RED. Report to battle stations...

rocky mountain high

 

Hi friends, how I've missed you! I seemed to skip over last week because we had a little family vacay to Summit County, CO. I lugged my computer all the way up there intending to plug in but fresh snow, mountain scenery, and Elk steaks pulled me away... plus a marathon of Duck Dynasty of course {I believe my in-laws are hooked}.

the kitten wedge

image via

The image above originally got my head spinning about warmer temperatures and spring sandals (especially the pair on the right). Now, I have gladiator sandals, high wedges, thong sandals, and some summer-y bling bling shoes in my closet but do not have any low height wedges. I've been seeing these guys pop up here and there so I'm going to go ahead and call this a trend for spring/summer. Ladies rejoice! Finally a trend that involves comfort! The low wedge heel is enough to be flirty yet super functional. Plus, as I approach the 'dirty thirty' maybe a lower heel wouldn't be such a bad idea... I'm on board. 

I've put together some of my favorites for the season. Loving the mix of metallics and soft nude leather, I'm debating between #1 and #5.