Christmas Traditions

My husband and I are Christmas freaks. We love honoring Jesus' birth (he is the reason for the season), the anticipation leading up to the holiday, the many traditions and much needed family time. This season makes me feel like a kid again, everything somehow slows down and becomes magical.

 I am super excited this year as it is a very special one for us as we will be flying back to Scotland for Christmas to be with my family. Carl has never been to Edinburgh and I have not been home in three years not to mention we will meet our new niece, Alana who is 3 months old, celebrating my sister and her boyfriend engagement and hoping  for a white Christmas. We have been counting down the days (yes, I have an app on my phone) til we leave for home - 10 days to go.

On both sides of our families we have many Christmas traditions that Carl and I hold dear to. I wanted to share with you a few our most favourite ones:

We break the no tree before thanksgiving rule.
We cut down our own pine tree.
We watch all of Christmas movies we own starting Dec 1st. Buying a few more every year to add to next years list.
Cookie baking & decorating.
We go on a special Christmas date.
Hot cocoa & walk the neighborhood lights.
Go outdoor ice skating.
 Watch It's a wonderful life on Christmas Eve.
Candle light service/Christmas Eve midnight service.
Cinnamon rolls & Mimosas on Christmas morning.
My dad reads the Christmas story first thing on Christmas morning.
Walk after Christmas dinner.
Boxing day celebrations with extended family.
Go to the Pantomime.
Freeze are butts off at a rugby game.

What Christmas traditions do you have?

Merry Christmas Everyone.

California Winter

Coming from a country where we have four seasons a year to then move to Southern California where it has barely two season is an adjustment. It is particularly hard in the "fall / winter season", I adore the changing colors of the leaves, the windy chill in the air and you get to snuggle up in blankets with your love. I have had to adapt to the warmth of December, having 90 highs and drinking ice tea on a so called winters day.

I did a double shoot last week that with this look and my most recent fashion blog, Antlers | Hubs Flannel. Ironically shooting a layered winters look and a warm winters day look.

A summer sunflower dress layered with this cream crochet detailed kimono to keep you cool in this California winters warmth. My favourite black riding boots and accessorized with sunnies and black leather purse.

Dress: Ocean Drive // Kimono: TJmaxx
 Riding boots: Old Navy // Sunnies & Purse: Forever21 

The Fabulous

Don't under estimate the importance of friendship.

Throughout our lives we will build friendships whether it was your baby buddy, next door neighbor, high school friends, room mates, church friends, but at some point you find that special one, or if you're lucky a handful of friends that you know will always be in your life. Consider yourself blessed beyond measure if you have those friendships.

“Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art.... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.”  ― C.S. Lewis

I grew up a tomboy. I rolled with the boys, playing football, skateboarding, wearing a backwards cap and thought barbies or anything girlie was gross. To this day I still find it a little easier to be friends with the boys. I never was into drama and (even though I myself am a woman) I know girls create a lot of it. It's annoying, most of it is meaningless and a waste of time. Don't get me wrong, I had girlfriends but they weren't exactly deep relationships. When I was 18 years old I took a gap year and moved to California for eight months, this is where I found my hidden gems of friends. The relationships that I made in those months caused me to lose a piece of me when I moved home, regularly breaking down in tears for no apparent reason other than I missed those I left behind. Well long story short two years later I moved back and haven't left since.

My fabulous friends are refreshing. Each one unique, gifted, and balance the dynamics of all our characters that we embody. Over the last few years we have each had our golden year and our torturous year, but we all have been in it together. Constantly sending group messages with inappropriate jokes, prayer requests, joyful news, movie quotes, being accountable, asking for urgent advice, as well as carving out special time together (harder than you think) to celebrate each other and get down into each others lives. We know each other deeply and accept one another for who they are, calling out each other's BS, encouraging the sparks of greatness we see, and being a little sassy to the world around us. Individually were all at different stages of our lives; married with kids, newly married, and in serious relationships. You would think that that would divide us yet we defy the rules and it only brings us together; joining in the new challenges and helping to navigate them. I honestly don't know where I would be or who I would be if it wasn't for these ladies in my life. I don't always have the words to express myself in the moment but hopefully this little expression truly shows the love and thankfulness I have.

We are battle buddies. We are adventurers. We are prayer warriors. We are fabulous. 

 "There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature.” ― Jane Austen

Antlers | Hubs Flannel

A little piece of winter. I did this shoot with a dear friend and fellow blogger moxie. Always commendeering my husband's clothes, I stole my favourite worn in green flannel styling it with slashed black Guess jeans, Forever21 ol' faithful grey tank, a pair of hand me down Mossimo olive boots, Nordstrom camel vest and accessorizing it with the star of the show A Deerivie copper tipped antler necklace. With a few curls I threw my hair into a bob top knot to add a little funk to complete my look.
 

I was extremely lucky to have won this one of kind copper tipped antler necklace from Deerivie last week. I am obsessed with antlers, we used full sets of antlers with flowers as our center pieces at our wedding. I will no doubt be featuring this piece of jewelry many times on my Instagram page, following_arrows. 

We spent our afternoon shooting a few looks (more to come) in downtown Fullerton with a lovely catch me up coffee date at Green Bliss. So many great little alley ways, stair cases and brick walls covered in ivy to take beautiful photos in front of.

Deep Thankfulness

We can all be thankful for our families, husbands, wives, kids, food, possessions, and so on but this Thanksgiving lets dig a little deeper: What is it that we are truly thankful for?

In my community of friends this year there has been a lot of heartbreak some have been harder than others. When I look back and take stock there was a lot of really great things that happened too; pregnancy, new jobs, relationships, engagements, marriages and healings from health conditions. I was talking with a close friend of mine one day who was struggling with the weight of the events of this year and as I listened I began to recount all the good that had happened to them and as I reminded her of those things the heaviness lightened and more joy crept in. I really want to encourage you to take a look at your past year individually and communally taking in the good with the bad and to be truly thankful for those things (even some of the bad). Thankfulness is accompanied by Joy, and don't we all need a little more of that in our lives?

I am personally really thankful for two things this year; first being that I made the biggest commitment of my life to Carl this year and have promised to live our lives together honoring God. I am obviously thankful to be married to my best friend but I am truly thankful for the mutual agreement we made in front of our friends and family on April 5th, that we would truly live selflessly for one another. There is so much security that I now have knowing that we are one and together we get to live adventurously, serve God together and deepen our relationship for the rest of our lives. That's not a simple task and making that commitment was not made lightheartedly either.

Secondly, I am thankful for my sense of stability. For the last 5 years I have been crawling through different avenues trying to attain permanent residency (hold a green-card) here in California. The not knowing whether I was going to have to uproot and move back home was always stressful, I was unable to make real future plans. Within that time period I was unable to travel outside of the United States for two years, which meant I didn't visit my family for a total of three years or get to go on any vacations or mission trips. Now I hold a permanent residency I have the stability to deepen my roots, settle in, plan for my future and have freedom to go wherever I want.

So take a few minutes to think, journal or whichever way you process and remember the blessings from this year. Go a little deeper this year and be truly thankful.

Happy Thanksgiving Lovelies <3

High Heels :: High Hopes

On a lazy Sunday whats better to do than meet up for a roomie breakfast date and catch up on deep and fun details of each others lives.Getting up at 8am in order to take a shower, pick out a cute outfit and have some morning cuddles with my handsome is an early start for me (I love to sleep in and wake up slowly).

I've started to lay out my outfits on the bed, so I can carefully piece together the details from which color pants to the delicate pieces of jewelery rather than trying on a million different combos and getting hot and frustrated. This morning I grabbed my current favourite slashed black jeans, cozy stag jumper, trusty black leather riding boots and newest graphic tee that I found in the middle of an overstocked Target sale rack for only $5. I love tees that have cute little sayings on them, I am still on the hunt for a coffee slogan tee.

CottonOn: Stag Jumper / Forever21: Sunnies / Old Navy: Black riding boots /

 Target: Graphic tee / Guess: Slash black jeans 

He is the best, he let me steal him away from watching his packers Sunday football game. I giggled as we walked back to our house hand in hand as I realised the difference in my husbands photography taking outfit compared to my photo shoot outfit.

 

Sister Sister Sister

 
************************************************** 
Francis Gillespie 

We are three sisters
Three sisters are we
I love each of you,
And I know you love me

We're not always together,
Life sometimes keeps us apart.
But we're never separated
We're in each others heart.

Now I know we've had our troubles,
But we always get thru.
The real message is you love me,And I also love you.

We have had lots of good times
That we'll never forget
Sometimes we worry
And sometimes we fret

But if God ever gave me
Something special you see,
It might have been the blessing of,
Three sisters are we.

The Lord above has gave me lots
Of happiness and glee
But the most special thing he did was
Make us sisters, all three.

**************************************************
 

This poem touches something so deep inside me, the bond and sacredness of sisterhood. I am the youngest of three girls and we are as thick as thieves. I am so blessed to have an incredible relationship with these two. I know that if am I need of advice, a giggle, a listening ear, accountability, anything that they are there no matter what. We have lived together and we have lived in three different countries at times but no matter where we are we are constantly communicating via whastapp, email, facebook, instagram, facetime, skype, basically any form of social media or communication daily.

We had our bumps in the road growing up but who doesn't, siblings fight no big revelation and I don't know where in the timeline we switched from being sisters to best friends but I am so honored that they are mine. With a five and three year gap between us we have entered different stages of life, sometimes in a different order than you would think whether it was university, traveling, marriage, or parenthood but we are always right there to support, encourage and celebrate one another. This is key, the secret...selflessness, we are always putting each other before ourselves. Every member of my family serves each other, celebrates the wins, commiserates in the lows, supports one another and is always willing to be together at a drop of a hat. Selflessness is love and we love wholeheartedly for each other all the time.

  From the outside looking in we are the weirdest, silliest, and ridiculous lot when we are together having an undeniable bond that no name change or distance could break. We are the 'Hart girls' or what we like to call 'the originals' as we are lucky to have welcomed David, Aiden, Alana, Neil and Carl into our beloved family.

Rebecca, is my eldest sister, wife to David and mama to the handsome Aiden and beautiful newest member of our family Alana. She is gorgeous, wise beyond belief, takes on every new challenge with patience and confidence, master of multitasking and always the first to help when anyone is in need. She inspires me to be the best me there is, the real me not what I want to project but who God has created me to be.

Kari, my middle sister. She is one of the most selfless, caring, compassionate people I have ever known, and lives life to its absolute fullest. She is bold, beautiful, full of unending talent and wears her heart on her sleeve, her love is bigger than this world. She inspires me to be a big risk taker, she adventures into the unknown and ALWAYS comes out on top. 

Sometimes it is hard for me to live in a different country knowing they are all together but this is my adventure and maybe one day it will lead me back home. For now I get the privilege of building my life with Carl in California with our first trip traveling home together this Christmas for two weeks to show Carl my old stopping grounds and enjoy some much needed and always wanted family time.

I am truly blessed and transformed by these two women. Thank you for being the best sisters in the world.  

We are three!

D I Y Hanson Home

My husband is incredibly good with his hands and has that natural knack at fixing and building anything he puts his mind to (or that I ask him to help me with)! Together we love being creative, crafty and as thrifty as possible, why spend $80 on something when I can make it for $10.

 Over the last year we have made some really fun pieces some big and some small to decorate our home. I thought it might be fun to share with you how we did three of my favourites.

First off our pride and joy pieces, Stag & Bear stencils on wood pallets;

>> Carl made our wood bases out of pallet wood; he dismantled the pallets, cut the boards to the size we wanted then attached two more pieces of wood to the back to make a frame and nailed them together.

>> I looked up silhouettes of the stag and bear on the internet. I purposely chose simple designs as we wanted them to be easily identifiable and easy to cut out.

>> I printed the silhouettess out on 11 x 17 paper and cut the stencil out with a steno knife.

>> We picked out our colors cream and green in matte spray paint.

>> We removed the inside stencil so the stag and bear would be in color, then using double sided tape stuck the paper to the wood,

>> First spraying the stencil lightly, that way the paint would not run underneath the paper and then we slowly added more layers til it was dark enough.

>> Waited 24 hours then removed the paper.
>> We used nail polish remover and cue tips to smooth some lines where the paint had run a little.

>> We used heavy duty picture hooks to hang them on the wall.

Easy & decorative. 

Second, our most recent finished piece for our bathroom;

>> Again, Carl made our wood base out of pallet wood the exact same way as above.

>> We bought four mason jars (or if you already have some), four hose clamps and picked out two hanging hooks

>> Next we lined up the jars exactly where we wanted them, nailed the hose clamps to the boards, aligned the jars to the same height and tightened the clamps.

>> Carl then screwed in the two hooks.

>> We wanted to darken the wood a little so instead of spending money on wood stain we stained it with my left over morning coffee grounds (I was happy to help) rubbing it in with steel wool so it would really get into the grain. Then swept it off when it had dried.

>> We tried to use the same picture hooks as our other project but it didn't work as there was no supporting beam where we wanted to place it. So we bought wall anchors and key hole mount brackets and they worked perfectly.

Simple & Functional

Thirdly, a cute romantic picture;

>> I printed out two maps from Google one of the United States and the other of the United Kingdom.
>> I drew half a heart around the cities were my husband and I were born.
>> Cut out the half hearts.
>> Got a sheet of 81/2 x 11 cardstock and printed our wedding date at the bottom.
>> Using regular kids glue aligned the hearts and stuck them down.
>> Next I used a reg gel pen and drew a little heart over Orange County and another over Glasgow.
>> Found a cute frame from TJ Maxx and place it inside.

Geographical & Romantic

We have many more projects up our sleeves with some really fun Christmas ideas, so maybe I will do a DIY part two post in a few months. 

Go and be creative.

Rollercoaster status

As you know I am originally from Scotland, and for the last five years I have been in the process of becoming a permanent resident (not a citizen).

Let me start from the beginning; I moved out here when I was 21 years old holding a 10 year visa not sure whether I would live in California for that long or move back home to Edinburgh. I unexpectedly was offered a job at my church to be the general office manager assistant, moved in with a family, who are now my American family and before I knew it had started to put down roots and make California my home.

About four years ago I started researching what it would look like to be eligible to file for a green card otherwise known as permanent residency here in the united states. A year of on and off research I hesitatingly decided that I would hire a lawyer and with their help try to get a green card.  Never having a peaceful feeling about moving forward but with much encouragement and support from friends and family I decided to go for it. So I filled out the paperwork, signed the check, waited...and waited...and waited...and waited...two months later I still had not heard a word back from the government. I thought,"This is strange, surely I would have received something by now," so I checked in with my lawyer who had been terrible at communicating. I spent the next four months getting his full mailbox, out of office sick or on vacation messages, vague email responses that were far and few between or unanswered, a few text message responses, then finally he fell off the grid. I was a victim of fraud! Still now when I think about it I am in disbelief, he had come highly recommended and been a former member of my church. So surely I had thought he was trustworthy but instead he abused it and taken my money never submitting any of my applications. Now looking back, having forgiven and let go, I realized that the turmoil that I had had in making the decision to go for it was a little red flag from God that I had proceeded to ignore. Piece of advice, always trust your gut, that is usually were God directs me. My spirits were down and hopes of staying in the states had dwindled. On a happier note I had three years left to enjoy life in California, then I planned to move home and be with my family (hey, it was a great conciliation).

A year had passed all the while planning to move home at the end of 2014, little did I know what was to come, God had a different plan. Over the next two years my friendship with Carl shifted from friends to best friends then we began dating (there is a lot of history with us, anyone who knows us and our story knows it was not fairy tale material potential, perhaps Rom-com though, but I will keep our romance story for another day). I had forgotten about the fact that I had to leave in Jan 2015 as I was completely enveloped in my love bubble with Carl, nothing else mattered at the time. On March 17th 2013 in the middle of Tuolumne Meadows, Carl asked me to marry him, elated, excited and so in love I obviously said, "YES!" There it was, problem solved, we were getting married which means I can automatically stay in America right? Wrong! After we had the wedding of our dreams on April 5th, 2014 so forth began the paper work, gathering evidence, medical screenings, vaccinations, and check writing once again. This stuff stresses me out to the max, any small mistake like misspelling a word or accidentally checking the wrong box means having to re-do the entire form. I had warned Carl that I get overwhelmed and frustrated with it all, bless him he stuck in there with me with all my bad words, snippy remarks and hissy fits. Over the course of a week or so we had filled out all the forms, done lots of photocopying, been to doctor appointments and had blood taken we were ready to submit.

Only having to wait two weeks before we got notice that I had to go have my finger prints taken and retinas scanned, it was all happening so quick I was shocked this was all actually happening. Then about a month and half later we got our second notice for the final in person interview. I gathered and organized all of our documents and copies in to two file folders, dressed nicely and off we went to the UCIS building. We sat in the waiting room for just over an hour in complete peace acting like children; giggling, annoying each other, using the bathroom too many times and showing public affection whilst everyone else sat in silence looking forward waiting for their names to be called. I made a bet with Carl that they would mispronounce my name because apparently no one knows that GE makes a J sound instead of a G. The door opened "Sarah Hanson" it took us a minute to register that she was calling me, she completely bypassed my first name because she didn't know how to pronounce it (ha I won). Forty five minutes later after verifying dates, times, looking at photos and personal questions, I was approved!!!

 I was happy and relieved but felt confused, like shouldn't that have been a little bit harder? Having had a few days to process it over the weekend I came to a conclusion that for the last three years I have lived in a state of uncertainty. I was bound to the US for the last three years and now I am free. I have a choice. I have freedom. I have control over my life again. It all sounds a bit extreme and dramatic but we couldn't travel outside of America which meant our honeymoon had to be in one the 50 states, if I had moved home I was no longer able to come back into America, if I had not been approved we were forced to move back to Scotland but now Carl and I have freedom to choose. It feels liberating yet feels the same all at once. 

We had booked flights to go home over Christmas, I haven't been able to return there for the past three years, Carl has never been and there a few relatives still to meet. Our officer said that it may be cutting it close as the process of getting your actual card may take a month or more. Exactly a week later low and behold my green-card arrived in the mail and it is actually green!!

Thank you to my loving & supportive husband, family, dear friends and above all God!

If anyone is reading this and is in a similar relationship and status but not sure of what is needed or stressed out on the process please feel free to email me at followingthearrows@gmail.com. I'd love to help in any way I can or just to chat.