My Little Life in Lexington
Hello everyone! So this website and blog has been a LONG time coming. I have finally figured out exactly how to juggle my time between teaching, painting, being a part-time wedding and event coordinator, spending time with family and friends, and now this whole business side of being an artist! I am so excited to be able to share some of my ideas, tips and tricks, travel adventures, and my creative process with all of you. This post will be short and sweet, but I wanted to first introduce myself to anyone who has never met me!
My name is Kayla Weber Nord, and I live in Lexington, Kentucky. Ever since I was a little girl my mom gave me crayons and a coloring book and I have never stopped creating! I took art classes all throughout middle school and high school, developing a love for painting. Going into college I knew I wanted to be an elementary teacher and began my journey at Transylvania in the education department. My junior year of college, I realized (with the help of a very smart advisor) that I should switch to Art Education, rather than just elementary education. By doing this, I was able to study abroad in Florence, Italy, and further developed my art skills. Traveling had always been a big part of my life, due to my extended family's reunion trips all over the country (thanks Gramma Joan!!), but my travel bug was solidified after my four months living in Italy.
A shot I took overlooking Florence my junior year of college!
After graduating from Transy, I got a job that summer at Southern Elementary as the Art Teacher. Not long after, I started dating the P.E. teacher who taught across the hall from me! After about a year and a half of dating, we set off on a summer European backpacking adventure through Ireland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and Italy! It was an amazing trip and to top it all off, John proposed in Florence, overlooking the city. I was on top of the world (literally!).
Right after John proposed at Piazza le Michaelangelo (my favorite spot in Florence!). Ignore the purple teeth... we had some red wine!
Coming back, I started planning for the wedding and trying to find a venue. My parents own a garden center and landscape business on an old tobacco farm. On the property there is a 1930 white tobacco barn, which I have always loved. Ever since we bought the property when I was 6 years old, I always knew I wanted to get married there. Now that I was actually engaged, I brought up the idea to my parents, who quickly shut my idea down. I kept working on them both and eventually convinced them to start cleaning up the barn, add a floor and some chandeliers and get it ready to host my wedding reception.
The old tobacco barn before updates!
I come from a perfectionist family, and with that being said, we all put 110% into making the barn the perfect venue. After 6 months of hard work, lots of antique shopping, and bouncing ideas off of each other, we turned it into an incredible event venue. We planned every detail of the wedding and reception (I went completely overboard on all of the minor details and artsy pieces), but had an absolute blast leading up to it. John and I were married on July 18th, 2015 and it was a perfect day (minus the 97 degree heat!).
The tent for our 250 guests! The clear tent allowed for beautiful lighting, being able to watch the sunset and didn't block the barn!
Our bride and groom pictures on the farm! Thank you Rachael McCall!!
The inside of the barn! Could it be any prettier?
Everything turned out perfectly and the day couldn't have gone better! It has been such an amazing journey and now my family and I are sharing this venue with other brides. As soon as John and I got back from our honeymoon we had so many inquiries for future weddings, and we jumped right into being an event venue. I absolutely loved planning, styling, and doing the details of mine, so now this is another business venture that we have set out on! So far, we have had 7 big events at the barn and they have been amazing!
Side view of the barn with the lights over the dance floor!
If I'm not teaching, painting, traveling or coordinating events, you can find me hanging out in my little Cape Cod style house with our golden retriever, Bulleit! John and I have been blessed with amazing neighbors, family, and friends that are always ready for a backyard barbecue or for watching football on the weekends. We host a lot of small get-togethers and truly enjoy just kicking back with good friends!
God has blessed us so much and we are thankful for this chapter of our life together. Stay tuned for more updates about our little life in Lexington and for more inspiration, adventures, and art!! Thank you all for reading!!
Kayla :)