my words, your voice. |
Amanda L. Reviere
Girl Friday
about meHi! My name is Amanda; designer, writer, lover of travel, good food and wine, and all around badass (in my own mind at least.) No matter where I go, my heart remains rural, my days eclipsed in a life where the country is on the edge of the world and the city is at my door.
I grew up in a pretty small town in Louisiana and moved to the ‘big city’ just after I turned 18. It’s not THE ‘big city’, but when you go from a population of 10k to 100k, it’s kind of a big deal. After a very quick stint as an engineering major, I graduated college with a degree in Interior Design have been practicing for about 15 years. I’ve done a little bit of it all, but my favorites are residential construction and grocery store design. (I know, random!) My husband and I got married in 2015 after becoming friends in design school and reconnecting a few years after graduation. After eight years and two cross-country moves for grad school (him), we got married in the wedding of my mother’s dreams. Ok, let’s be honest, if it was the wedding of her dreams my invitations would have been full of embossing and calligraphy and not the more modern typeset fonts we used, but my dress did have a train and I did wear a veil… We purchased his grandparent's home and renovated it a few years ago. I've never seen so much pink in one place that didn't involve Barbie, but I guess Mamie Eisenhower really did lead a trend in design. We tore down a wall, flipped the function of the rooms, added a 8' long dining table and now we’ve become the de facto location for all things holiday and party. Speaking of party, my friends rarely turn down an invitation to come over for dinner and we're constantly on the lookout for our next culinary adventure. So far we've almost mastered pasta, next it's on to sous vide and/or buratta. When we're not in the kitchen, we're looking ahead to plan the next trip, and with 6 of us turning 40 in the next 5 years, it's bound to be a wild ride! |
about LooseLeaf Design GroupI have a problem. I’m obsessed with paper and pens, markers, pencils, you name it. I have an entire stack of notebooks that I haven’t written in because I cannot decide what is WORTHY of marking up such cute paper products. About 10 years ago my best friend and I were looking into opening up our own paper studio – aptly named Looseleaf. That never happened and we returned to our regularly scheduled lives, she as an elementary schoolteacher and me as an interior designer.
An then, friends started getting married. I’m still not quite sure how it happened, but one moment thrust into the limelight with a microphone and a glass of champagne turned into an engagement toast, to a wedding toast, and almost to an MC for an entire event! Like a true designer who’s projects are complete but never finished, I would find myself replaying the toast in my mind – oh I should have said this, or I bet they would have loved if I mentioned that. The attendees were none the wiser to my constant "what ifs" and years later we still talk about some of those early toasts. Finally, at a group dinner and after a few drinks, a couple of girlfriends managed to convince me that I should try my hand at ghostwriting toasts for people. I called it the Cyrano Effect…they referred to the scene in The Wedding Planner when J.Lo is feeding the best man his speech. Eh, same thing. So here we are… Chances are you found me because we're alike in one of two ways...you're either (a) an overachiever who's determined to make a room full of people emotional with your witty musings on the day's events, but you're a perfectionist who cannot decide when your words are "just right" so you want to delegate the task to someone else or (b) you're a procrastinator who works best when you're backed up against a wall, but for whatever reason this time, you're just out of time (probably because of reason a). So welcome to my little corner of the online world! That's why I'm here. My words, your voice. |