Let's see-where to begin? I have turned 40, spent a weekend at Serenbe, become friends with Ginny Branch and Amy Osaba, traveled to Austin for work and Savannah for Salted and Styled, had two procedures on my back, enrolled Byrd in 3 different schools, enrolled Woodson in two, watched Byrd graduate from preschool, welcomed my parents, Lauren and her family, Aunt Myrt and Aunt Sunshine into our home, planned a wedding, became very familiar with Rainbow Dash, watched Lane play baseball, chased after Woodson, had a few dates with my handsome and kind husband, fallen in love with Gail K., decided on a school for Byrd and not to send Woodson at all, found some great babysitters and interns, become wonderfully great friends with Michele, had the ice maker, the dishwasher and the oven fixed for the first time in over 5 years, found and visited every Target within a 30 mile radius of our home, learned to drive without the use of my GPS-and this is just to name the things I can remember off the top of my head.

i am super excited to start looking for a few extra sets of hands to help me with a current project that also happens to be one of my all time favorites! you simply need to be creative and organized and curious. pretty is the priority around here at the byrd collective, and i need help making things pretty! i must also tell you that i don't have the world's greatest back (if you haven't heard, it's broken) so i will need a few gals or guys who do indeed have a strong backbone. email me ash@thebyrdcollective.com and i will send you more details! hope to hear from some of you soon.

xoxo-ash

image by the lovely brooke schwab

it's been awhile since i have written and i have so much to tell you all. today is my sweet dad's birthday, and maybe it is because i get my sentimental gene from him that i am particularly excited about the opening of The Sentimentalist tonight!!!!!!

The Sentimentalist is a designer and vintage bridal shop on Atlanta's Westside (my area of choice when I venture out of the burbs). It is a mother/daughter venture-so Southern, so sweet, and I just can't wait to meet these ladies. I can't wait to ogle the gorgeousness that is sure to fill this store-tulle, lace, flowers, veils, headpieces galore. They had me at vintage bridal......I hope to see some of you there!

the weather was nice enough today for me to strap woods into the jog stroller and walk around my georgia hood. many miracles happened while outside on this short walk....

1. i walked with woods in the jog stroller for the first time since the accident. it was the first time that i have taken him by myself out for a little nature walk, and that felt good.

2. i broke a sweat-probably don't need to go much more into this other than i literally didn't go too far.

3. i did not have to wear a sweater, a parka, a raincoat or any other protective gear. neither did woods.

4. i saw humans. outside their houses. that were young-with children, and they spoke-to me. and were very friendly and welcoming. i was somewhat dumbfounded, honestly. it made me very happy.

5. i ran. yes, i ran. on accident and with little speed or intensity, but i ran.

6. i had a moment to think.......

i have some friends who are truly not happy about turning 40 this year. now i can't say i am excited about it, but i am happy to be here on this earth to celebrate another year of life with my friends and family. so i will be middle-aged in a few short days, but so what. i think i am pretty damn impressive for an old lady with broken bones and scars to boot!

I think it is interesting the way the world works. The role we all play in each other's lives. The direction we are all heading. Our destiny, if you will.

Eight months ago to the day, Lesley Graham reached out to me via email. She was putting together a post about my favorite cocktail for Annette Joseph. I had already sent over the images and text (just a few days before the accident), but Lesley had heard about the accident and just wanted to reach out and send a little love my way.

Months past and Brad and I decided we needed to move back to Atlanta. I began reaching out via social media-looking for creative friends, and complaining about Marietta on Twitter. Like a little star in the darkness, Lesley Graham tweeted me back letting me know that she lived in MARIETTA! Honestly, I barely even remembered our email conversations since I was loopy there for a long while.

I love them. I am addicted to them. I go weak in the knees for them. So when Brad offered to drive me into Atlanta to visit Cut Flower I just about did a back flip flop (in my mind). The people that work there are nice and helpful, the cooler is arranged in this crazy perfect color combo way. Poppies, local hellebores, lilac, tulips, garden roses, snow berry, privet, bush ivy, daffodils, oh my gosh! Heaven for a girl like me. I spent an hour in there holding things, pricing things, admiring things, swooning over things, smiling at it all. Brad was not one bit surprised when I reached the car I had a box full of delicious blooms.

The act of processing the flowers now is a joy for me-selecting which vase each blossom will live in for a few days (until I can actually arrange them) is a treat as I have a pretty extensive selection.

I waited a day to work on my Salted and Styled post, and once done (it is super cool, by the way) I made an arrangement to take to Byrd's sweet teacher. Brad suggested we keep the flowers with us, but for me, one of the greatest parts of doing flowers is being able to give them away. Make someone happy, especially when it is a compete surprise.

I have pretty much been fighting the decision to send Byrd to kindergarden in the fall, and I was winning the battle until we went to see her new pediatrician last week. She said something that I hadn't even thought of-embarrassingly. She said after meeting Byrd for about 3 minutes "I think she will get bored if you hold her back". Wow-I had been thinking of all the reasons to hold her back, not the reason not to. Byrd lacks focus, but is holding her back a year really going to change that? I think I need to worry more about her not being pushed hard enough, not being challenged. Her little brain is smart as a whip-and its not only me who says that. One of my best friends always says she is advanced-hah!

I also think that I, as her mother, have not been willing to admit that she is ready. That she is kindergarden age. That she will be in REAL school this fall. I am so nervous for Byrd-will she be bullied? Will the older kids be mean to her? Tease her because of her name? Her wardrobe choices? As a parent, I understand that these are all very normal and healthy feelings. But she is my booga, my baby and I just want her to be safe from all the negativity that is out there in the world.

So, I am currently enrolled in Holly Becker's online BlogBoss course. How I have the time to get there is truly hard for me to even understand-so much so that I didn't finish my homework last week. But this week I am making myself sit down and do it because it is important to me and because i LOVE the subject! Holly asked us to list our 8 favorite blogs out there and why so here we go......

Amy Merrick Seeing that I am a florist, I love having a look at what the madly talented Amy is up to. She is just a force-a quirky, whimsical force. I can't remember exactly how she said it, but it was something like "I am just a flower appreciator". I love that-not a florist or a floral designer. She is a great writer who also contributes to Design Sponge. What she can do with a flower is truly magical, and she as a person and friend is equally magical.

I wanted to give you all a look inside my real house on a real day in my real life. Hopefully this will make you all feel better about your everyday existence. Life is not a photo shoot-at least not in our house. Looking at these images really makes me think about all of the clutter in our lives and how much we actually need. I imagine that if I sat down in each of these rooms I would find that at least half of the room is a want, not a need. I believe in goodies and gifts and trinkets and stuff, believe me. Right now as I start to really hunker down, save, see what is important, I want to rid myself of so much, shall I say, "junk"? Scroll through the whole gallery down there-there are lots of images to peruse. Can you tell I live in the creative side of my brain?

Recently I have been ambushed by quite a few concerned friends in regards to my weight. Let me start by saying these people are my rock-my total support system and I love them. I understand their concern, I do. I am currently looking for a doctor here in Atlanta so I may discuss such concerns. On that note, the people that see me daily (like my husband) are not concerned, nor are my parents. I know i am thin, I do. I also know that I posted on here about loving being thin, and I do. Can any woman ever really say that they don't? Call me crazy, but I don't find this to be unusual.

Since moving to Georgia I have gained a significant amount of weight and I have been trying. The doctors told me that it would take a solid year for my body to start behaving normally. For example, I just had my first period since the car accident which is a VERY good sign that my body is healing. And that took 8 months-almost an entire pregnancy. I have also started to exercise for the first time consistently in my adult life which i think makes a difference on my frame. Add on top of that the fact that we have removed all gluten from our house (bread, pasta, everything that makes you fat) and we get to where I am today. Oh, and then there is the fact that I seldom drink anymore.