This past February, Tim and I took a two-day trip to Savannah for my golden birthday. It was the first time I've been since I was really little (which is kind of crazy considering how close it is!). We had so much fun and were happy to discover a very refreshing, independent spirit oozing through the tree-lined, bicycle-laden streets of this charming, southern, walkable city.

I came back so inspired I thought I'd share some of our favorite experiences in guide format for anyone who might be looking for a short, sweet getaway!

We stayed at the Andaz Hotel on Barnard street. It's actually our second time staying at one of these hotels (we stayed at the Andaz Napa on our honeymoon) and we really, really love them. They serve local, organic food in their restaurants (including fresh pressed juices!), have impeccable interior design and construct their buildings in urban/walkable areas.

We drove up after a 1/2 day at work, so when we finished checking in to the hotel, we walked to Leoci's Trattoria for dinner. Some of the best Italian I've had in a long time! Afterward, we took a pedi-cab back to the hotel.

We started our first morning (my birthday!) off with breakfast at the Coffee Fox, followed by a hike to the "Downtown Design District". A visit to Circa Lighting was a must since we still need exterior lights for the house. They had a great selection, including a stockpile of clearance items across the street in an old, converted gas station.

One Fish, Two Fish was another favorite in this district. I loved their eclectic selection of furniture, fun books and Dash and Albert Rugs.

Once we finished scouting the interior shops (you can see a full list, here), we looped around to the main SCAD building, Poetter Hall, and got some maps and info so we could take a campus tour. Tim and I are both really passionate about architecture, urbanism and adaptive reuse (and SCAD has done an amazing job revitalizing the city) so we were very excited to tour their campus/buildings. Before the tour, we stopped by the SCAD store (where student and alumni created art and goods are sold), then ventured across the street to their cafe (housed in an old pharmacy), the Gryphon Tea Room for lunch.

After lunch we toured the SCAD buildings, favorites include the Jen Library, housed in a former department store; the Student Center, in an old synagogue; and Bradley Hall, a former U.S. Marine hospital. They've done so many other great restoration projects, and I'm such a sucker for history and preservation, I could go on and on, but you'd probably get bored!

For dinner that night we planned on going to Local 11 Ten (which is incredible, I hear), but somehow ended up at the The Public instead (equally incredible, I presume). Afterward we had birthday ice cream at the infamous Leopold's!

We were scheduled to leave late in the afternoon on Day 2, so the morning began with packing, eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant and checking out. Once we finished all that, we headed back into the city, on a self-guided historical tour. We walked through City Market, ventured into City Hall and trekked along the old streetcar line by the river (old streetcar walks always make me a little sad!). Then we visited ALL 22 squares, eventually making our way through to Forsyth Park. We were starving by the time we got to the end, so we went straight into Brighter Days' to grab fresh juices and sandwiches for an impromptu picnic by the fountain.

After lunch we headed north, back to the hotel where our car was parked. Along the way we stopped at few really awesome independent shops. Fabrika, hands down the most darling fabric store I've ever been to. Sylvester and Co., a contemporary style general store that offers artisan home goods and interior design services. And lastly, my personal fave, reCREATE, an art gallery/creative incubator of sorts that sells handmade jewlery, clothing, home goods and art crafted by locals.

Savannah was different from any other city I've been to in the south. We went for a quick getaway, and came back so inspired and refreshed! If you love architecture, urban planning, the arts, or just walkable cities in general, a visit to Savannah is a must.

Photos and guide picks by me, Mary Stonecypher Maslow. See my beach birthday party from a couple years back, here!

Our (DIY) Winter Park Wedding

After nearly four years, I am happy to finally share our wedding! Tim and I were married on a cool, crisp, sunny October day in Winter Park, Florida. Our ceremony was held at Rollins' Knowles Memorial Chapel. 

We worked very hard to keep the entire thing as intimate, sustainable and affordable as possible. Many of the items we used were either locally grown/made, purchased second hand or DIY. 

It took me forever to find the right dress. In fact, it wasn't until this May (5 months before the date!) that I actually found the one - a J. Crew sample sale gown on eBay. It was exactly what I wanted - perfectly romantic and sweet, and at a third of the original price.

Our invitations and reply cards were from Milkmaid Press (this style, but with blank backs, no faux bois), printed on recycled paper. I scouted eBay for pretty vintage postage that matched our style, and used a custom made stamp from Antiquaria to create our website cards. Once all those piece were together, I tied each invitation set with string before placing in the envelopes.

I was SO excited to do the flowers. Like many other aspects of our wedding, it was very important to Tim and I to take a sustainable, affordable approach to our wedding flowers. I ordered organic roses from Whole Foods and purchased locally grown herb and wildflower plants from a local nursery. I arranged the flowers for the reception early in the week and put the bouquets together the night before the wedding, after the rehearsal dinner. My maids, a few close friends, and my mom helped put the corsages and boutonnieres together while I worked on the bouquets. 

To keep things simple all the guys wore black suits. We didn't set a specific style or designer. Tim's was from J. Crew and my brother's, pictured above, mismatched their pieces from local thrift shops, Goodwill and various department stores.

One of my favorite moments from the day - the guys showering us with crepe myrtle blossoms while we were taking pictures. They went all over the place!

Our reception was held, just a few blocks from the chapel at the super quaint, historic Winter Park Country Club.

To save money (and make fun memories!) my mom, good friend, Kelly and I spent the entire Friday before, setting everything up. Tables, chairs, linens, candles, flowers, decorations - everything. 

Tim and I ordered food from Whole Foods and hired freelance caters/waiters to manage. The self-serve bar was stocked with our favorite wines, brews and champagne. 

On the porch, a photo booth was constructed out of Ikea curtains and dowl rods. An instant camera, stock-pile of film, gold washi tape, markers and an album was set on a table to the side for guests to sign as they took pictures. We be bought enough film for each guest to take two pictures, so they could take a memory home with them too.

The cake is sort of a funny story, because our local Whole Foods doesn't make multi-layer custom cakes and Tim was adamant that it be vegan/organic (which our conventional grocer, doesn't do). So he decided that he (who has never baked before… ever!) would make us a homemade wedding cake. I, myself, am a horrible baker so I quickly discouraged the idea. Tim, however, attempted anyway. So, we ordered all the special tools, like pans, icing knives, rods, etc, and two days before the wedding, he gave it a shot… but it didn't really turn out. The tops of the layers completely sunk in and the icing had a really interesting greyish tint. So, we ended up having to go to the nearest conventional grocer and order a simple, graduated, three-layer cake. I think it served it's purpose. :)

Our date, October 20th also happens to be my older brother's birthday (pictured below, in the suspenders). So, after our cake cutting, we lit the candles on a surprise vegan birthday cake that we got him and sang happy birthday. After that it was back to dancing our feet off until we had to leave for the airport.

I don't think we could have dreamt up a more romantic, magical celebration. It was worth every minute of anticipation and I am so thankful to all the people involved who helped make it happen. 

Oh and just incase this wasn't enough, you can see more pictures on my flickr page, here. :)

CREDITS: Photography: Kaylee Labor Photography, Flowers & Event Styling: Mary Stonecypher Maslow, Attire: J. Crew, Ceremony: Knowles Memorial Chapel, Reception: Winter Park Country Club, Invitations: Milkmaid Press, Website Card Stamp: Antiquaria, Catering: Whole Foods Winter Park & Kate/Katherine, Rentals: Kirby Rentals (Tables, Chairs, China, Etc), Cakes: Whole Foods, Publix, Guest Book: By O-Check from the Rifle Paper Shop, Reception Music: Local Gutarist, Evan Gibb

handmade t-strap shoes

I'm not the type of girl that has many shoes or spends unmentionable amounts for the ones I do have. I like to keep it simple, purchase a good, long lasting, versatile pair for the right price when I find it. These handmade, leather t-strap shoes from Aurora Shoe Co. might be just that. They'd be perfect right now with a pair of tights and a cute skirt and then later on with a long, linen summer dress.

pretty holiday napkins

Loving these customizable napkins over at Paper Source. Perfect for a holiday party or possibly even a wedding!

Morse Apartment Tour / 400 SQ FT

I'm so excited to finally share my apartment tour! We've been moved-out for a couple months now, but lived in the tiny apartment (approximately 400 square feet) for a full year. We picked the place so we could save money for a house and so Tim could walk to work and bike to school. The location was absolutely perfect, tucked just behind Winter Park's main street, Park Avenue.

As with many apartments, this one had it's pitfalls - super small appliances, tiny closets, no washer/dryer or dishwasher - but oozed with charm (and the location was unbeatable!). It was built in the 1920's and served as a boarding school for many years. Most of the features (doors, floors, windows, etc) were original. We were hesitant to move in, because we knew getting it prepped would be a lot of work (3 full weekends to be exact!) but I'm really glad we did. Not only were we able to save for a down payment on a house, but because of the location and walkability we were able to sell one of our cars, saving us roughly $450 per month!

Before we moved in, we painted the walls (they were an awful orange-ish beige color) in Benjamin Moore's Gray Owl and trim in Benjamin Moore's Super White using the Natura no VOC paint. We also re-covered, the nasty, old, white and super stained vinyl flooring in the kitchen and bathroom with self-sticking squares that matched the color of the wood. This helped bring continuity throughout the space.

As I mentioned earlier, we moved into the place to save money so I didn't spend hardly anything on decorating. Other than a few small furniture pieces and some souvenirs I picked up on our Portland trip, I mainly relied on fresh picked flowers from the apartment grounds or local parks to keep it pretty.

You can't see it here, but we used our dresser as our TV stand in the living room. It actually sat right next to the little cupboard pictured above. I found the bentwood chair, in the photo below, at Crate & Barrel on sale for $30 for being an old display piece. It was a shiny white lacquer chair when I bought it, so I sanded it down and sprayed it with matte black paint - for a total price of $37.

In such a small space, wall shelves, baskets and decorative boxes became my best friend. I scored those handy wall shelves (above left, in our reading nook) at Ikea for about $30 and painted them with leftover white trim paint. The robins-egg-blue document boxes were an absolute steal from See Jane Work (something like 50% off) during their Black Friday sale last year. One of my favorite things about the apartment was the sliding door entry into the bedroom (in the top right photo). Even though the apartment often felt like a studio, being able to close up the bedroom when we had company was nice. Another neat thing about the apartment, was the old rectangle on the wall behind our bed. It was where the chalkboard used to be when the place was still a boarding school in the mid 1900's.

Our bedroom was proportionally as small as the rest of our place, fitting only our queen-size bed and a small dresser. The room also had a small closet and an entry into the bathroom. I wanted to the bathroom to feel crisp and clean, so I kept the wall colors white and accessor-ized with a neutral colored hand-towel.

The the sink and the clawfoot tub in the bathroom were both original, so they were pretty banged up when we moved in. In keeping with the fresh, clean feel, we picked up a refinishing kit from our local hardware store (you can purchase online, here) and Tim spent a day sanding, painting and refinishing them. We also got new drainage covers.

I wish I would have been able to take more photos before we started and during the "processes" to share, but as with everything, we were in such a hurry and time just seemed to slip away. You can see these images, larger, along with a few others on my flickr page, here.

You can also see my inspiration here, and an exterior shot from out our window, here.

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed!

Design, Decorating and Photos by Mary Stonecypher

Perfect Summer Chair

Right now our yard is a jungle - literally a native Florida, snake infested jungle (pictures to come). I'm looking forward to the day when we have a small patch of grass to plop down a couple of these sling chairs and relax in the sunset. At about $100 a piece, I'm seriously considering snatching a few before they sell out. What do you think?

Islander Sling Chair, $100 on sale at Jamali Garden Supply 

Our Save the Dates

Hope you're having a good evening! I just wanted to pop in and share a quick shot of our save the dates! For these, Tim and I really wanted something that was simple and affordable, but personable too. Photo booth save the dates seemed to fit the bill perfectly.

I'll be sharing the full process/tutorial with sources soon, so stay tuned :)