{Happy Easter} Alleluia

*image via Michaela Noelle Designs

Easter; a day I'm so grateful for, a day that truly gives us new life, as we know our hope can be placed in God. What a beautiful celebration of life, love, the Lord's power, and ultimate faithfulness.

Happy Easter, loves! Enjoy your day with family and friends.
xoxo

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Easter Buffet Decor

Easter is on Sunday and I'm excited. It's one of my favorite holidays, because Easter changed everything. It's the reason we're given breath, life, and a second chance through Christ. We always go to church in the morning, then come home for a big, tasty family dinner. We're hosting Easter dinner this year, so I've been helping get my parent's house ready. I styled the buffet using a birdcage, beautiful hand lettered print by Dear Lillie and some cute Easter egg candles {which sadly are the only Easter eggs in our house this year!} It's simple, but does the trick.

My mom has been working on sprucing up the yard for Spring, too, and it's just stunning. Our flowers are in full bloom just in time for Easter.  Here are some pictures!

*all images by Michaela Noelle Designs

Can you believe those flowers?! I just love that they are right outside my window, soaking up the spring sun. Thank you, God, for saturated hues of orange in our California Poppies! 

Have you done anything to decorate for Easter/Spring?
Enjoy your long weekend!
xoxo

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{House Update} Urge to Paint!

You guys, I have a problem. I just can't sit still! I've been dreaming of repainting our hall bath at my parents house for a few months now {ever since I changed the knobs!) and I think it's finally going to happen this next week.  I love that they let me design and redesign our house :) Currently it's a yellow color, but in order to have it blend in more with the hall wall color and create a more cohesive flow in the house, I want to paint it a more subtle, soothing gray with a touch of blue. I mocked it up down below for you to see.  The color I want to get is even a bit more gray than what's showing up here in the image. What do you think?!

Do you have any color name/brand suggestions?! Would love to hear any insight...

Have a wonderful Thursday!
xoxo

PS. This weekend is the last weekend to reserve an advertising spot for April. Email me at michaelawarner90{at}gmail.com for more info!

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The One With the Ponytail

Ladies, let me tell you- I don't wear ponytails often {I normally wear it down with waves or braid it back}, but when I do, I try to make it look effortless {even though I totally have to play with it to get it lookin' good.} It's hard to get that messy-I'm-not-trying look, when you actually have to try! Can anyone else relate?! I thought this video was pretty helpful, so I "threw" together a ponytail of my own. This might be the first time my hair has been in a pony on the blog. What a big milestone ;)

*image by my talented friend, Christine Donee Photography

Here's what I did:

1. Loosely curled my hair 

2. Tipped my head over to shake out the curls

 3. Pulled up the crown like they showed in the video

4. Pulled out a few pieces around my face to make it appear as though I didn't try :)

5. Lightly hair spray and viola!

With Spring in full swing {minus the bad weather in some parts of the country still!} what are your go-to hairstyles? I will be back soon with some tutorials of my favorite styles.

Happy Wednesday!

xoxo

This is a sponsored post by BlogHer, but the written content is my own. 
Sweepstakes rules | Prizes & Promotions

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My Cousin's Wedding Sneak Peek

Sunday was my cousin's wedding. It was a beautiful affair of blush pink, white, cream, lace and glass details.  Just stunning! It was beautiful not only in the decor and styling {which my talented Aunt did with my cousin} but also in the love the couple shares. So very lovely.  Remember the ribbon back drop I made with my cousin? It was a hit in the photo booth! They had fun props and we were able to take pictures with a cute polaroid camera.  Here are just a few pictures I took of some details from the wedding day. 

My dress is from De La Hooke 

Guess who caught the bouquet?! 

Yours truly ;)

 some polaroids from the photo booth :) | Photos by Michaela Noelle Design

Hopefully I can share the professional photos on the blog here soon. Hope you have a wonderful Tuesday, friends!

xoxo

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Home, Closet & Friends {Round 2}

pillows / rug / wallpaper
maxi dress / tote bag / pink cami dress
"You are a Peach" notecard / kitchen & bath towel / earrings

Hi! I hope your weekend was lovely. Mine was spent enjoying many wedding festivities for my cousin. The wedding was Sunday and it was stunning! Hopefully I can share pictures sometime soon, but for now you can see some details on instagram (@michaelanoelle). What did you do this weekend?

Last time I did this series I had so much fun putting it together, I thought I'd do another edition. This week I pulled some pretty patterns for your home.  A fun floral pillow, gorgeous flowered wallpaper and bold geometric rug will definitely brighten your place up for Spring!

I'm not sure about you, but I've been dying to get into some dresses lately and can't wait to add another maxi to my closet this summer. I'm going to try my best to stay away from stripes and go for something floral. No promises ;) This tote bag is amazing, too. I've seen it in person and I'm probably going to bite the bullet and make the purchase soon because this girl's in need of a big, sturdy school bag. 

My favorite section of this round up are the things for your friends, because one of my New Years goals was to put together little packages of things for a friend once a month. This "You Are a Peach" notecard might be the most precious thing I've seen in a while, the pink dish towel is the perfect hostess gift, and no friend of mine would say no to some Kate Spade earrings!

What's your favorite thing above? And have you discovered any good finds recently?!
Happy Monday!
xo

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On My Desk No.4

Happy Friday! And can I just emphasize the HAPPY in that statement?! I'm done with finals, friends!!! 

This week I'm showing you a sneak peek image from an inspiration shoot I helped style last weekend with my friend Christine.  This is a photo I took to practice my photography for fun, so just wait until you see the final images from Christine. Stunning!

I'm also showing you a final project for one of my classes. I designed and drew this perspective drawing by hand then rendered it using markers {which is serious business, let me tell you.}  Next, I scanned it into the computer and tweaked a few things in Photoshop to get it just like I wanted it.   All of the furniture you see on the boards is the furniture I chose to put in the room, and the drawing reflects all of the specs.  I'm pretty excited about how the final product turned out, but let's just say I'm not planning to offer rendered perspective drawing services when I open my business. Anyone who has done one knows how much time and effort they take, and would probably agree :)  A labor of love, that is for certain.

Me at 10pm when I finally finished it. Proud and d.o.n.e. :)

That's a bit of what I've been up to.  I'm currently on the road driving home to the Bay Area for my Spring Break. Hooray! A whole 3 weeks with family and friends. What do you have planned this weekend?

Happy Weekend!
xoxo

PS. I still have a few ad spaces left for April. Email me at michaelawarner90 {at} gmail.com for packages and pricing.

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{Fashion} Go-To Dress & Gold Ring GIVEAWAY

*Thanks to my friend Alexa for snapping these top few shots of me!

Details | Dress: Madewell; Shoes: Tory Burch; Belt: J.Crew; Ring: c/o H.Finn

This striped dress is a favorite of mine.  You may have caught it a few weeks ago when I wore it to the Design Blogger's Conference.  I think it's my go-to dress, because it's casual, black and white, comfy, and well, striped.  #ihaveaproblem #lovestripes ;)

I don't love many things as much as I love stripes, but something right up there with my stripe obsession is my gold fascination.  You can imagine my excitement when I received my H. Finn gold sparkly stacking ring.  It was love at first sight. I can't wait to get a few more in the future and stack the rings on top of one another!

Fabianna, the beautiful and kind owner of H. Finn Jewelry, is giving away one of her stunning gold stacking rings to one lucky winner. And trust me, you'll wear it everyday. It's totally become a staple piece of jewelry for me, which is saying a lot considering I keep my accessories to a minimum.  If you can't wait to scoop something up for yourself, Fabianna has graciously given you the code MICHAELA at checkout for $10 off your first purchase. 

H. Finn SHOP
In order to enter the giveaway, simply use the Rafflecopter tool below.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and happy Thursday!
xoxo

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She Love Me, She Loves Me Not: Standpipe and Sprinkles

My dear friend Katie from Standpipe & Sprinkles is here today dishing on her loves and Love Me Nots!

Katie is one of the kindest, most genuine ladies in all the blog land, and I'm forever grateful to call her a friend.  Her sweet personality, beautiful writing and insights on motherhood and life leave me inspired daily.  I know you'll enjoy her current loves and love nots! Take it away...

***

Hi, I'm Katie! I'm so happy to be here at Michaela's blog, today, sharing my Loves and Love Nots. Thank you for having me, Michaela!

1. The labor of love that is our daughter Maile's room. From the birdcage chandelier carefully selected and hung by my husband Tim, to the balloon shade my own mama sewed ... It's taken us almost two years (I am a seriously indecisive perfectionist, and we live very frugally), but her space is finally starting to come together!

2. Ooey-gooey baked treats that I don't have to feel too guilty about.

3. Tiny braids, and a certain little girl who is very opinionated about what barrette she wears! Maile's confidence is positively contagious. Every day after I finish her hair, I say, "Okay, look at Mama!" and she tells me she's "boo-ful" or pretty -- I hope that never changes.

1. Grumpy, rude people. Those individuals that stalk around the market with what seems like a permanent scowl on their face. You say, "Excuse us," with a smile. They begrudgingly let you pass, boring imaginary holes through your skull. One thing that both my faith, and motherhood, have taught me is the power of a positive attitude. Life is just much, much too short to go through frowning. We all have our days, I know, but let's put our happy hats on, and encourage each other -- family, friends, and strangers alike. Let's embrace the beautiful mess that is humanity, and love those who love not.

2. Some things just can't be unseen, and this video of Ryan Gosling, Justin Timberlake, and and JC Chasez "singing" back in their Mickey Mouse Club days, is one of those things. Don't say I didn't warn you! ;)
***

Thank you, Katie! Wow...Maile sounds so much like me! I used to be very picky about my hair as well, but mostly would just try to do it myself, which I'm sure you can guess how that looked at age 3! ;) I can't wait to see Maile's room reveal. Anyone else dying over that chandelier?! 
Friends, I'll tell you what I'm not loving: my history of architecture final is today and it's 90 questions {!!!} over any of the images we've seen this quarter. I have to know the name of the work, artist/designer, time period, and what is significant about the piece. All of this studying on no caffeine {finals is a great time to learn I'm allergic!} is a horrible combo.  Prayers appreciated!

Go say hello at Standpipe & Sprinkles today! I'm telling you, it's a must-read. 

Happy Wednesday! What are YOU loving and not loving this week?!
xoxo

Guest Posts Invitations are extended to bloggers I know, love, and appreciate their personal style and character. Thank you so much for understanding :)

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