{announcement} new venture

in lieu of my {thursday + thankful} post i'm making a rather important announcement:

Blair Britt Events will be a vendor at the upcoming "Groves" flea market which is held on the campus of Irvine Valley College the second sunday of the month, and this month will be August 7th!

as some of you may have noticed...

 recently i've taken a fancy to antique + antique-inspired pieces such as these little tables

it's only natural that i enjoy antiques since early on in my folk's marriage they bought, sold + refurbished antiques... i guess i've now got the itch too!

and wouldn't these awesome tables be the cutest for a wedding lounge set ups?

fun claw footed tables with neat beveled glass inserts in the table tops!

i'm starting to pick up more furniture pieces in hopes of refinishing them to rent or sell to interested clients... or how cool would it be to buy a piece you can use for your wedding, and then later use in your newlywed nest!?  that's where these pieces tie into my wedding business =) i totally can't wait to reveal the before and after's of all the pieces we've collected

we will also have some one of a kind letter-pressed posters from Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tn. 

here are just a few sneak peeks:

we'll have some other fun antiques, decorative items, and some great cash and carry items made from these cute fabrics we picked up awhile back

i hope you come out and say hi, we would love to meet you!  here's the info for the flea market, oh and it runs from 7am-2pm... just a little warning, i may look like a zombie because of the early morning =)

hope to see you soon, 

*blair

{thursday + thankful} support and encouragement

hey there everyone, sorry i didn't write last week, not to worry i was flaking on last week's post

only because i was en route to this gorgeous place...

... unreal right?? so on thursday i took a break from "my blogging schedule," since it's such hectic schedule {oops just a little sarcasm there}, to get to the above location... i'm pretty sure you would scrap blogging for that view too right? 

.... ok, so the reason i'm writing these {thursday +thankful} entries is an attempt to be real with my readers and to share a little bit about who i am for those of you who haven't had the "pleasure" of meeting me in person {uh oh, there goes that sarcasm again} =)

but seriously though i truly love when i am given a chance to "get to know" the bloggers that i enjoy following, and when they share about themselves it gives me a glimpse into who they are as people and makes me feel like i'm reading an update from a friend... so my hope in sharing these things is that those people that google analytics swears visit my blog every week can get to know who blair britt is just a little bit better.

this week thursday july 21st i'm thankful for:

                             

of course returning home from vacation i needed to get my bearings again life, family and of course business-wise... which if you're a small biz owner you know how hard it is to take any time away because you always seem to pay for it after you come back... anyhow, i figured since i had such a wonderful trip i'm paying for it now.... after an emotional week, a series of frustrating events in the past few days i reached my boiling point today! go figure i would "break down" on the day that i post my happy thursday + thankful post.... after getting out of the house for a few hours and getting away from the things that were threatening to rob me of my emotional stability {well not totally}, i realized as i have many times before.... i am SOOO incredibly thankful for the support and encouragement i get all the time from my amazing friends and family.  God really, truly has blessed me with a pretty rad support group {that sounds odd, huh?} scratch the group, make that support system!  when i had reached my limit today i called my mom and she helped talk me off the emotional ledge, consoled me and helped try to encourage me through what i was seeing as a MAJOR disaster, but was really just a minor blip in the big picture.... she's done this repeatedly throughout my life and has been my perma-cheerleader, and has believed and encouraged me in everything i've ever pursued... and i know that's not just the case with my mom, but it goes for my whole family.  we may have one big crazy family, but we all love, care and support each other.

after i got out of the house i talked to a friend, one that i know i can always confide in and i told her about the past few days i've been having and she was so positive and complimentary of some recent projects i've worked on and offered to pray that the rest of my day would go uphill... it's one thing to have the support from your family, but they're family you would hope they'd always be there... but friends get busy, you don't talk as much as you'd like, but it's so humbling to know that i have friends that i can be 100% myself with, loose it for a few minutes and they'll still love me even if i am having a "moment."  again its such a huge blessing to know that i have strong friendships to the point that they'll help get me back on my feet after falling down and going boom.  

i figure i could be headed off to bed right now saying how brutal today was, but ending on this note helps try to even out the tone of today from one that caused me to be super bent-outta-shape to one of thanks and gratitude.... not for the negative in today, but the positives that seem to be forgotten on the "good days."

i found this quote on pinterest recently and "blair-ified" it, i thought it was pretty relevant to the topic of this post.

{pre-vacation distractions} pins of interest

i have to say i absolutely have a love/hate relationship with my pinterest account... so thankful for all the amazing images, ideas, and inspiration that site provides me with... but.... i hate how much time can be consumed by scouring the site looking for fun new things, discovering new blogs i had never stumbled upon before, and obsessing over finding every known washi tape pattern under the sun!

i seem to do a lot of my pinning right before bed, which i'm very seriously considering changing that habit seeing how i have a very creative brain and here's what happens when i sift through hundreds of images that get my creativity going right before bed.... story of my life!

Source: allamaduck.tumblr.com via Blair on Pinterest

since i'm getting ready to head off to Jackson Hole tomorrow, i of course would rather do anything but pack {i.e. blog, pin, go to the pool} so i thought i share some of my favorite pins from my pinterest account... lucky you =)

here's something i'm hoping to try out for an upcoming event i'll be vending at

                                                    Source: bungalowblueinteriors.squarespace.com via Blair on Pinterest

i absolutely ADORE these shelves constructed of crates, so much visual interest! 

                          Source: greenwellies.tumblr.com via Blair on Pinterest

i just love all the quotes and statements i find to pin, especially this one... there's something to be said for an "old school" work ethic... i know it did my self-made grandpa a lot of good as an entrepreneur too!

Source: google.com via Blair on Pinterest

while i do love the South, i don't believe it'll rise again =)... but there is something really special and beautiful about this feminine union jack pillow - love it!

                                                

again, another inspiring quote, this one is showing off on a favorite of mine {a gold ornate frame w/ a chalkboard in it} i also dig the roughed up dresser, and the awesome little accessories used to 

style the shot

                                Source: missmustardseed.blogspot.com via Blair on Pinterest

and now this one.... now that i'm off to take a break from some work {poolside} i'm going to paint my nails like this... but with blush pink polish + gold glitter

     Source: tickledwhimsy.blogspot.com via Blair on Pinterest

.... and i'm going to make one of these for myself by the pool!

                                 Source: designsponge.com via Blair on Pinterest

i hope you enjoyed all my random pins, and if you'd like to follow me on pinterest you can {find me here}... if you need an invite to join just leave me a comment with your email address and 

i'll shoot you an invite!

happy wednesday,


*b

{thursday + thankful} vacations and relaxation

{PS. i'll have you know that i posted this at 12:02am... man i missed "thursday" by 3 minutes, maybe next week i'll get this written in time!}

today, july 7th, i'm very thankful for:

while these two words may see a little frivilous, but to a self employed individual the are not, they are actually two things that are very hard to come by... any other self employed folks who agree that when you decide to create a business to call your own that you find yourself caring and working so much harder than you ever did for a J.O.B.?  i believe because we are so focused on building something of our own that we pour 110% of ourselves into our little businesses... and that's not even counting the other areas of life for us multitasking ladies... you might be married {so there's a hubster and a relationship that needs your daily attention}, you might be a mom {with little ones who need attention in addition to your hubs}, and then there's your household {which i think we all know is no easy task to keep up from one day to the next}.... the list could go on to list a day job, pets, carpool, etc, etc, etc...

needless to say after rambling off that list of life's areas where you commit yourself, your energy and attention... it's hard to imagine anything else sometimes!  no matter where you find yourself i think we can all agree that vacations + relaxation are essential from time to time! everyone needs to take some time for themselves to sit still and recharge the batteries.  for some reason when i think about vacay + relaxation i'm always reminded of the verse in Pslams that says "Be still and know that I am God..." and in a place like Jackson how can you not to that?

and.... for me vacation and relaxation is one week away! hooray!!! this time next week i will be en route to my husband's family's place in Jackson Hole, Wy... if you've never been, you must! it is amazing there and so different from the hustle and bustle of southing california, and that my friends is a wonderful thought right about now.  Jackson is such a special place, since my hubby grew up visiting there every summer of his childhood, and then when we began dating i too fell in love with it.  then in summer of 2007 my family and his were there when he asked me to marry him in that special place... and sadly i've only made it back once since 2007, since summers have been getting busier with weddings and events, so i'm beyond excited to get there and do a little relaxing.

here's the view from where we stay/where my hubs + i got engaged...

photo shot by my BIL, he takes pretty sweet photos!

yeah, i know... it's a rough view =) i'm so thankful to be visiting again this year, i can't wait!

new blog topic {thursday + thankful} healing + remission

so in an attempt to create better blogging habits for myself {since i post so randomly + not so consistently} i thought i'd post about what i'm thankful for... i think it's way too easy to look around and make note of the things that aren't going right in life, and it really takes a BIG effort to notice the things in our lives that we're thankful for! i know some people do WIWW {translation: what i wore wednesday, check out my SIL's posts, i admire her for posting about it, but that's a whole other blog post} and so on, so i thought i'd start {what i think to be} my own little creation, "thursday and thankful"... it has a fun ring to it!

so like i mentioned, sometimes life and circumstances can really get you down... but after doing a little reflecting {and listening to some advice from mom} i agreed i've gotta focus on what i have, rather than have not, and i encourage you to do the same as well... your outlook will be so much healthier for doing so!

this thursday, june 30th i'm thankful for

those are two very important words to me especially today because last year on this date i was with my mom in the mall going for our mani + pedi date when she got a phone call that she had been diagnosed with lymphoma.... that's one way to ruin a mom + me date!  needless to say we still went for our girl time, and cried most of the way through it... but even in those first moments that seemed so scary and so uncertain while my mind was racing a million miles a minute, i had to remember that God has the power to do anything, including healing my mom!

i know i haven't really mentioned much about this on here, but this past year has been quite interesting because of this, it's put a lot n perspective for me, and it's made me even more thankful for the parents i've been blessed with and the relationships i've made.  and i'm even more thankful that fall of 2010 we got the news that a healing had taken place in my mom's body and that her stage 4 lymphoma was already in remission... we don't know why God allows us to go through certain trials, but we do know that when we get to the other side of them we can be thankful that He carried us through it.

i love you mom, and i'm glad we could celebrate this milestone with our mani + pedi date without crying our way through it! =)

and because i can't help sharing a photo, here's one of my mom and i on my wedding day in 2008.

photo courtesy of memories by michael