We recently had the privilege to not only help 24 Carrots Catering on one of their opulent events, but this time we were also hosted by them to a beautiful meal. It was 24 Carrot’s Gratitude Dinner. A night where they treated their closest vendor friends and guests to a night of lovely connections, joyful conversation, and copious amounts of delicious food. As 24 Carrots does, every detail was meticulously thought of and everywhere you turned was another vignette that tugged at you and invited you in to experience it. 24 Carrots does an amazing job at turning a simple “dinner with friends” into a journey for the eyes, mind, and soul. We are so grateful to work with them as often as we get to and consider them friends. It was a perfect night.

We were so excited to work on this project because you could tell how meaningful it was to them. Every event that 24 Carrots puts together is carefully planned and incredibly thorough. But with this event, you could tell how deep the gratitude really runs though this team. We had a blast doing the unique signage along with some drink details, of course.

The gorgeous Ring Around the Rosé bar served guests either a still or sparkling cocktail. It was a tough decision between a “Stop and Smell the Rosé” (Rosé, Aperol, St. Germain, Chambord, Soda Water) or “Rosé Sil Vous Plait” (Rosé Sangria). I was a huge fan of the “Stop and Smell the Rosé”. We created these drink “buttons” for each glass and I’m 100% obsessed with them. They were so cute and so different from our popular stir sticks.

Our good friends at Project Watermark did this epic escort card display. A cascade of leaves, each had calligraphy with your name and table assignment. It was a huge hit. Searching for your name among all of the ribbon and leaves reminded you that you were in a garden, Franciscan Gardens to be exact.

I love this venue. The space is so versatile and has so much potential. There must be a hundred different ways you can host an event here. The outside garden area is spacious, yet intimate. The inside is stunning and elegant, but full of potential to personalize and create an inviting space for your event. On our way into the dinner area from the outside cocktail area, we cut a very large sign for a green hedge that pretty much summed up what was behind the wall. They set up the entire kitchen area just on the other side of the hedge wall, and that is where the magic truly happens.

Inside the space, gorgeous tables of pink and green overflowed with intricate floral pieces. Tall candelabras made the space feel intimate and warm. Each menu was personalized and informed you of the delectable dinner you were about to devour. In one corner of the room was a beautifully tattered buffet that was a display for the take home gift, along with a full belly and heart. Custom colored pencils and a branded coloring book to help you keep those creative juices flowing after the evening ended.

Midway through our dinner, Carizza, whom I am fortunate to call a dear friend, spoke on behalf of the 24 Carrots team. Full of sincerity and affection, she summed up perfectly about what the entire night was about, gratitude. Norm, owner and mastermind behind 24 Carrots Catering, spoke as well. Between the words spoken, the ambiance created, and the food prepared…the appreciation was brimming in the room.

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Of all the beautiful events we’ve been to and worked on with 24 Carrots, this one will hold a special place in my heart. This company has been a blessing to my company and therefore my family. Friendships have been forged, businesses have been elevated, and creativity has been bountiful. What more can one ask from a fellow collaborator.

Thank you 24 Carrots Catering for a beautiful evening.

Production + Catering: 24 Carrots Catering

Venue: Franciscan Gardens

Floral Design: Oak and the Owl

Furniture + Lounge: Found Rentals

Tabletop Rentals: Borrowed Blu

Linens: La Tavola Fine Linens

Photography: Brett Hickman Photography

Videography: Villa Visuals

Entertainment: Elevated Pulse

Lighting: Premier Lighting and Production

Calligraphy: Project Watermark

Laser Cut Details: Delovely Details

Photography by Savan Photography

When I first started Delovely Details, it was my business. It started out as a hobby but quickly grew. As it grew, it no longer was my business, but also Drew’s. Drew is 100% my partner in this. I would not be able to do any of this without him. While he also has a regular day job, he spends a lot of his nights and weekends helping me manage everything. The impact our business has had on our marriage has been a surprise in many ways.

1. Communication

Drew and I have always been great at communicating with each other. I’m sure sometimes he’d agree that maybe I communicate “too well”. However, I find that it’s been a big strength in not just our marriage, but also in working together professionally. Most business owners will say, “time is money” and so we try not to spend a lot of time beating around the bush. We can be very direct with each other. It can be hard to hear, and even harder to leave it at the door when we are home sometimes. Whether it be a problem with a design, how to handle a customer, accounting; we both are always more interested in solving the problem than exacerbating it with complicated dialogue.

2. Compromise

We both are big idea, creative, and passionate people; which can make compromising extremely hard if I am being honest. This is something we both regularly have to check ourselves with and something we both can probably get a little better at. One thing that has helped us is to have our main goals (for business and home life) clear and sometimes even visible. That way, when we are struggling to make compromises, we can look at our main goal and revert back to it to see if our compromise will help direct us to that main goal. If we have goals for our family, goals for the business, and goals for our marriage, it can help us make the RIGHT choices (most of the time anyways). The more we’ve compromised with the business side of things, the easier I find compromise is on the family side.

3. Partnership

I’ve been with Drew since 2001. We’ve known each other since we were basically kids. We’ve been each other’s support systems, cheerleaders, and back up for quite a bit of time now. When I started this business, it was mine. However, because Drew is my biggest support, it wasn’t long before he jumped in to help me. It was just his nature to do so. With that, I have a trusted partner in my business. I trust that he will do what is in the best interest for my company and therefore our family. I also respect him and he respects me. This makes delegating work very easy. It’s also great for our marriage in that the business only helps us further trust in each other.

4. Work-Life Balance

We struggle with this big time. It’s one of the biggest downsides that our business has been for our marriage. Even though we regularly make goals of changing it, somehow it never seems to happen. We both work 24/7. When we take date nights, we usually end up talking about the business. It’s really hard to completely turn off work when your spouse and you are both working for the same company. I can’t remember the last time we didn’t look at our emails for an entire weekend. We’ve never shut down our shop for a holiday or vacation. This is not ideal or healthy and we are constantly fighting off burnout mode. Having weekends be work-free is a dream of ours though, and while it sometimes seems impossible, we are both constantly working towards that goal. I am grateful however, that if I am going to be working on a Saturday, at least it is with my husband and my daughter can be with us both still.

5.  Disagreements

We are far from the perfect couple or business partners. We disagree, we argue, we can even hold grudges. However, sometimes if we have a fight about family life, it doesn’t mean that the business doesn’t have a deadline the next day. Or sometimes, we will disagree over a business matter, and then we have to go to dinner with each other’s families. So while we may want space from each other, it’s usually impossible and that can be frustrating. We’ve learned to compartmentalize a lot of our issues to get through commitments and then we find time to discuss them and work through them. I think at the end of the day, most times, we both understand that our disagreements are usually a small pebble in our journey and not worth more energy than necessary. We both also respect each other’s feelings if we just can’t get past things and might need to just be frustrated for a little bit.

Photography by Savan Photography

 This is how Delovely Details has impacted our marriage, it isn’t all good and it isn’t all bad. For better or for worse though, I think we would still choose this road. It has been far more fulfilling than not and we both feel that the business has overall strengthened our marriage. Is owning a business within a marriage for everyone? No. I’m actually quite surprised how well our marriage has adapted to it. Like most things that impact a marriage, if you’ve built your marriage on a strong foundation, it’s usually capable of weathering any storm. Our marriage is built of faith, love, trust, and empathy. So far, we’ve gotten through every storm we’ve had come our way. And believe me when I say, we’ve had our share!

ad·vent /ˈadˌvent/ noun

1. the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event.

   • the first season of the Christian church year, leading up to Christmas and including the four preceding Sundays.

With the holidays looming around the corner, I’ve really been thinking of traditions for us to start with Evelyn. Between Drew and I, our families are stock piled with traditions. All of which we love, but we aren’t sure if they are all ones that we want to continue with Evelyn. So which ones stay, which ones go, and what traditions do we start on our own? We aren’t big “Elf of the Shelf” people so we had to sit down and talk about this.

The advent season is very important to our family. On my side, we always had paper chains that we made to start the countdown to Christmas. In Drew’s family, they would always get their chocolate advent calendars. Actually, my mother-in-law still gets us chocolate advent calendars every year from Trader Joe’s.

When pondering about how we were going to celebrate the season of advent with our toddler, we wanted to keep it fun, festive, creative, and spiritual. I am absolutely dedicated to her understanding the “reason for the season”, but I realize it’s also a time for family and fun. It’s okay to get excited about Santa, presents, and food as long as we remember why we get to do all of those things.

Christmas Pajamas

One tradition we are tweaking is my parent’s tradition to give us new pajamas on Christmas Eve. I love getting our new pajamas on Christmas Eve, it was the one present we got to open the night before and it was just fun! However, as a mom now, I wonder why we would want to wait to give Evelyn Christmas Themed pajamas to wear on the last night of the season. So we are going to start our Christmas pajama wearing season on Thanksgiving night! We decorate our house the day after Thanksgiving (no thanks Black Friday, I’m not brave enough!), so it just makes sense for our family to kick of the season of advent by wearing our Christmas Pajamas. Maybe as she gets older and is no longer wearing Christmas themed PJs (teenagers probably won’t be interested in wearing Santa pajamas), we can switch back to Christmas Eve.

Paper Chains Craft

I also loved making paper chains as a kid. We did them for trips, holidays, back to school, everything! With a toddler like Evelyn, constantly needing to be kept busy these days, I think this is a perfect tradition (until she’s over it) to keep her occupied while Thanksgiving dinner is being prepared. Then every morning, she can look forward to tearing a chain off. Plus it’s fairly mess free and easily transportable. She can do this with her other cousins and create memories of being creative and spending time with her family where ever we end up on Turkey Day.

Advent Calendar - Toddler Approved

We really want her to get into the love we have for chocolate advent calendars. Drew and I get stupid giddy about opening up our piece of chocolate in the morning. Unfortunately, so far anyways, Evelyn has shown NO INTEREST in sweets. We can get her to have a bite of yogurt or ice cream occasionally but we can’t get her to try anything else. So she’s not quite ready for a chocolate advent calendar. Luckily, a quick search on google showed me THE BEST advent calendar for a toddler ever!!!!! Behold, the Little People Advent Calendar! Evelyn is going to go nuts for this. I am a little nervous at trying to get her to understand that she can only open 1 door a day, but I’m sure we will manage. This is so stinkin’ perfect and fun! It’s going to be her first introduction to the Little People world. I’m sure by next year, Evelyn will be ready to enjoy a regular chocolate advent calendar like Drew and I but until then, this will fill in perfectly! P.S. If you want one, they are on Amazon right now and I’d order it ASAP. I saw them on eBay for $80 bucks or more!

Spiritual Advent - The Giving Manger

Lastly, the most important part of advent, is to remember that we are celebrating this day because of Jesus. I got The Giving Manger before I was even pregnant. This book, baby Jesus, wooden manger, and straw helps families focus on the servitude of Christmas. To teach your children compassion, gratitude, empathy, and discipleship. It can start off easy, putting a piece of straw in the manger cause you listened to mommy the first time. As your family grows older, putting a piece of straw in for bringing in the trashcans, helping a neighbor, or volunteer work together. I’m so excited to see Evelyn participate in this part of advent every year. This girl already has such a big heart, I know she’s going to love it. If you want to order one for your family, do it soon! They are already sold out of half their inventory this season so don’t wait!

Watching life through Evelyn’s eyes has turned out to be one of the most amazing experiences of my life. Things that I forgot were truly exciting (yes, even bubbles) look totally different now that I see them through Evelyn’s amazement. While I am excited to see her reaction to all of these new traditions and experiences, I hope she grasps the true meaning of this time of year. The meaning of faithfulness, family togetherness, and gratitude.

What traditions are you starting with your toddler for the advent season?

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