Hey y’all! Katie, here! I think most of you know me by now if you have followed Brighton for the past year and a half. But if you haven’t caught any of her stories with me in them, then Hi, nice to meet you!

Here, I am wearing one of my favorite, favorite, favorite pieces from Mi Golondrina. Each piece is one of a kind (which really is so special), but check out all their pieces here!

5 things you should know about Katie

Brighton and I thought it would be a good idea to give you some scoop on me, as we plan to make this a monthly thing.. or so we hope, we shall see ;)

1. I grew up on a farm

Yep, I grew up on a cotton farm in Louisiana and loved every minute of it. Louisiana will always be home, and I am lucky all my family still lives there (and on the farm!) Although I love the glitz and glam of Dallas, I truly am a little country, small town girl at heart. I spent so much time outdoors as a kid, barefoot and running around with my cousins on the land. I cannot imagine my life any different and I am so glad I know that “home” will always be right where I left it! What brought me to Dallas was the job opportunities here. I currently work for a tech start-up as a Client Service Executive, so my usual week is centered around emails, client calls, reporting, meetings .. ya know, the ush (is that the abbreviation for usual??) Whatever, you get my point!

2. I love to be active!

I love to exercise and am willing to try just about any new workout! I’m an early riser and try to make 6/6:30 AM classes most days, as I like to “wind down” after work. My main workouts are Tread classes, spin, Rise-Nation, and I love just going on a plain old run! I am newly trying out Pilates (literally went to my first class this morning haha) but am thinking I am about to add it to the list! I always love to go on walks on the trail with friends; like I mentioned above, I just really like to be outside and find fun “active” things to do! In other words, I have a problem sitting still!

3. Family is important to me

This one is pretty basic/obvious… but it’s the truth! I love my family, and I am so lucky to have so many loving people in my life. Thankfully, my hometown is only about three hours from Dallas, so I usually make it home at least once a month. My mom and dad are amazing, My dad is the sweetest little farmer you’ve ever seen, and my mom is THE BEST. I talk to her probably 3+ or more a day on the phone (sorry, mom). I’m super close with my sister, she recently had her first baby (my niece!) and my brother and his wife have a little boy(my nephew), so now that there are little ones in the picture- it takes everything in me not to sob when I leave! We all are so close, and when I go home, I pretty much just hang out with the fam. I’ll elaborate on my mom and sister further down, as they play a role in another part about me!

4. I love to be creative

I’m super creative, which is honestly what is leading me to share some of my interests on Brighton’s blog in the first place! One of my passions is creativity. Anyone who knows me knows that one word that would describe me is “creative.” I get this from my Mama. She comes from a line of artists, my sister has her own paper/product brand (Sweet Caroline Designs.. so honestly, she really beats me in the “Creative” category”.. but that doesn’t mean I didn’t get the trait too!) Growing up, Mom always made everything for us. She made every meal we ate, she made and decorated every birthday cake and every cookie that was brought to our elementary school class for the upcoming holiday. She went ALL out for birthday parties, Halloween costumes.. created our own birthday invitations or stationery (which is funny that my sister got into that industry!). She taught us to scrapbook.. Not even kidding, I was probably 7 years old the first time my mom took me and my sister to our local scrapbook store, dropped us off, and said “have fun!” We’d stay for hours, scrapbooking the latest things we’d done. She is an amazing designer, as she has designed and decorated our home all herself, and currently, she creates pottery and other works of art. I could go on and on, but I needed to give you some sort of background on where I got this talent from. Which leads me to my last bullet point…

5. I love to make things!

All this to say, I have some creative hobbies that I am passionate about. Again, if you know me from Brighton’s stories, you’ve most likely seen the cookies I create! This actually started from a hobby I had before cookies— Calligraphy! I have ALWAYS been a doodler, so when calligraphy kinda took off a few years ago, I said to my mom “Mom, I think I’d be good at calligraphy, I need to take a class.” We took it together (cause of course creative Mom wanted to do it, too) and we left and my mom then said, “Yep, that’s your thing!” And it went from there. Unfortunately, when I moved to Dallas, I was so busy with work, making new friends, adjusting to life in general, I did not have much time to practice ( which is KEY in that industry).

Moving onto my second hobby, COOKIES! I kind of “conjoined” two passions of mine- baking with painting/calligraphy- and my little side hobby business “Dallas Deaux” was born. Due to my work schedule, I still call it a “hobby” right now, because I have very limited time on when I can actually take orders! It’s such a process (multiple days and hours) so I have to be committed if I tell someone I can do them!

I’m excited to try something new and share a little bit more of my creative side with y’all via Brighton’s blog! This week I’ll be sharing photos and tips for hosting a dinner party. I can’t wait for y’all to see! The plan is to guest post once a month and see how it goes. I’m new to this whole “blogging” thing but I’m excited to experiment and get to share a little more of my creative side.