Penelope Bloom Christmas 2015 from Jeremy & Elsie Larson on Vimeo.
My brother made this incredible video of Penelope as their “Christmas card” this year. I just wanted to share it with you because it’s so adorable. xx- Elsie
HAPPY HOLIDAYS friends!
What a crazy year.
We did it. We moved somewhere really far away. We didn’t plan to do this. Actually we planned not to. My whole life I loved Springfield, Missouri (still do). And when Jeremy and I met he said he never wanted to move away. I was cool with that plan because I didn’t want to move either.
And then last January something changed and we decided to move. It felt rather impulsive at the time, but I know now that we were somehow preparing subconsciously for a while. It was a weirdly easy decision to make.
We’d visited Nashville maybe six our eight times when we decided to move. So it was a pretty familiar city. But most of our experiences were fun, social things. Book signings, concerts, meeting friends for brunch or coffee. We didn’t know the first thing about the neighborhoods, the schools and the different pros and cons that come with living on the different sides of town (oh, and spoiler- we’re still learning all those things, there’s a LOT to learn).
Our timeline looked a little like this…
January- Initial talk of moving.
February- Serious talk of moving. Visit to scope our neighborhoods and feel out the idea.
March- House shopping. We looked at six houses, picked our favorite and made an offer.
May- Closing day and the beginning of a long renovation process (it’s still not over).
June- Realizing we’re probably not going to be able to move in July (due to renovation delays).
July- Realizing we’re probably not going to be able to move in August (same reason).
August- Deciding we’ll move in September even if it’s basically camping.
September- Moving to Nashville, it’s basically camping. But hey, we’ve got running water in the bathtub… the perfect place to brush our teeth AND do dishes. ha!
October- Firing contractors, hiring better ones and making a lot of progress (but still no stove, no running water in the kitchen and we’re doing dishes in the bathtub). Oh yeah- and we traveled to Europe and Iceland for two weeks.
November- Happy Birthday to meeee! Finally have a working kitchen. We promptly became hermits because we were SO tired of eating out for the past few months. ha!
December- Here we are! We’re alive, we’re still married, WE LOVE OUR HOUSE and even though it’s not even close to finished yet we’re so thankful for the progress we’ve made.
I guess that’s the end! Like I said on Instagram, beautiful photos (like these) make life look perfect. That’s not fair to the picture, to the real life behind it or to the person looking at the picture. But hey, that’s life. Our year was awful. But it was also AMAZING. It was so much of both. These photos show the amazing part and I am very thankful for them.
*I maybe left out a few juicy stories. So I’ll save them for next time we’re out for cocktails. Ha! It’s just better in person. I can’t type that stuff out for the internet.
Photos by Darling Juliet Photography.
Amsterdam + Iceland.
Earlier this autumn we traveled to Amsterdam and Iceland… just two weeks after moving to Nashville. To say this year has flown by would be a gross understatement. It was too fast. It was also a really hard year. Jeremy and I felt pushed to our limits and (by the end of it) felt closer than ever.
But that’s another story for another time. Here are some photos from our trip to Amsterdam and Iceland!
Amsterdam was comfortable for me because I’ve been there a couple times before and I knew what to expect. But since it was Jeremy, Emma and Trey’s first time it also felt fresh.
I have a couple favorite memories! We met up with one of my longtime friends for drinks and then indian food. That was probably the most relaxing night. Also J and I went to a street sale one day (kind of a mix of flea market, fabric market and some food too) and I got one of those trendy shibori blankets for real cheap and he got an amazing pair of knee-high lace-up snow boots…. which is pretty bold for my J.Crew-only man.
The other memory I really loved was one night we got sushi and brought it back to our apartment and we spent the ENTIRE night analyzing filters for our new app and debating which ones were strong enough to move on to the test audience phase. It’s a really long process, but we all got SUPER into it.
Iceland was a weird trip. Definitely one of my favorite trips of my life, but also SO F#%@&x$ cold that for some of the outdoor tour I just could not enjoy it and was crying like a baby. That said, I definitely want to go back (in the SUMMER) and do the rest of the things on our list that we didn’t have time to do, plus spend some time driving around the country and definitely do all the things we enjoyed like 3 or 4 more times.
I LOVED THE BLUE LAGOON. I fully realize why some people say it’s not as authentic of an experience as, say, standing on a cliff. But I love it SO much and I don’t care AT ALL that it’s a touristy spot. Actually- it’s kind of my pet peeve when people write off touristy things because A LOT of the time they become that because they are really great places. I’ve been to a lot of “tourist spots” where I had SO much fun (rant over, sorry)
I definitely want to go to the blue lagoon again next time . It’s basically a giant blue hot tub where you can drink champagne. Here are some more photos…
That color. I can’t…
If you pay money you can ride a little elevator to the top of this church just for this photo….
Worth it? Yeah- but only once. Those rooftops! 
This little courtyard was basically Instagram heaven. And since we were all working on testing app filters at that time the colors were PERFECT.
Is it too cheesy to say I was genuinely inspired by whoever made all these murals. Thank you, whoever you are!
Did I mention yet that Iceland is really expensive? Worth it for that potato pizza though.
We went to get that pizza two times. It was that good.
We’ll definitely be back to Iceland! We loved the three days we had, but it definitely was just an introduction and not enough time to do it right.
I’ll be back soon to share something about our moving experience. I’m still not sure how much I want to share. We’ve collected some pretty crazy renovation/contractor stories, but most of them feel more appropriate for your second glass of wine with friends if you know what I’m saying. xx!