Out With Old, In With The Joyous - 'Happy' 2017

Via Pinterest 

First of all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!   2016 felt like a train wreck, and I've never been happier to see a year end. It was a year of a lot of downs; whether we were saying goodbye to Ziggy Stardust, wishing for a spell to bring back Professor Snape, or when our hearts ached for Brussels and then again for the people of Nice, France; meanwhile closer to home, we held our breath for our brothers and sisters in Fort McMurray.  And that's not even taking into consideration the results of a certain presidential election which sent shockwaves around the world. As the kids say, 2016 had zero chill! So, April and I are hoping that 2017 will bring a tide of rebirth and hope, and that in a world that showed us just how precarious living day-to-day can be, we hope that you and yours stay safe and happy as the year unfolds. 'Happy' sounds like a simple concept, but it's a lot bigger than we realize and affects so many areas of our life.  We hope that you all find your own personal happy; whether it's mastering a headstand or surviving bikram yoga, celebrating your work and not being ashamed of it,  prioritizing your health and reaping the positive benefits, finding your footing in your career, feeling content in your relationships, saving up to splurge on something luxurious for yourself or even committing to spoiling yourself once a month with a massage - in all your quests both big and small, we hope you are able to embark on a journey that brings you happiness. We'll keep bringing you all things wedding, but if you'll allow us, we'd like to share little gems that come along and have made us smile or given us a dose of figurative sunshine.  There's been a lot of darkness as of late, but when we can catch those pinpoints of light that permeate the inky black veil, well, those lights are that much more beautiful, no?

Wishing you a day as limitless as you are~
Lisa and April

TBT - Viola Davis Edition

Forget thigh gaps, model friends and enough selfies to fill a book - how about happy as the #squadgoal?
Via celebitchy.com

Let me say one thing, right off the bat. Viola Davis is a queen.  Juilliard-trained, she is as multi-faceted as a diamond, and shines just as brightly, in spite of a system in place that handpicks the same kinds of jewels over and over again. Her career started on the stage before her transition to the screen and she is both a Tony-award winner and a SAG award winner.  Her most recent triumph has been her role as the deeply flawed, sometimes unlikeable but always compelling Annalise Keating on "How To Get Away With Murder" and she continues to cement her A-list status and wow us with her immense talent.  She is also a producer, having founded  JuVee Productions with her husband Julius Tennor, and to date they have both short and feature-length films under their belts.

How refreshing is it to read then, that in Hollywood, where marriages can have the shelf-life of yogurt stored on a windowsill in July, Viola renewed her vows for a second time over the Valentine Day weekend? 

Beautifully happy!
Via pulse.ng

For her first wedding in 2003, she admitted to wearing an off-the-rack skirt from Express; for her first vow renewal she wore a more 'traditional' wedding dress. But the third time was definitely a fashion charm, as she wore a custom Carmen Marc Valvo dress that was perfection and romance rolled into one stunning package. Hew vow renewal just happened so it's not technical a 'throwback' wedding but the idea and sentiment behind the renewal is a nod to a notion we think is long-gone and from days long ago - the concept of til' death do us part, one marriage, for keeps.  Isn't love grand?

*~I Do! I do, I do, I do, I do I do! Viola Davis' renewal warms my heart!~*

Wishing you a day as limitless as you are~
Lisa and April