PaintedMyDays

Oh, Christmas tree...

2011-12-24T16:36:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas to you all!

Pray for Jeremy.

2011-12-23T09:03:00.000-08:00

Hey, so let's ignore the fact that I haven't posted in forever, shall we? Thanks. Technically, my excuse is that I created a Word Press site to unveil my new event planning name and then I got stuck on the customizing and aesthetics, so it's all on hold. But, we're ignoring the large gap in time, right? Is anyone still here?

I'm writing today to ask all you praying folk to join me today in prayer for a dear friend. He's the worship leader at my church and has big plans to move to Nashville in a few months to pursue his music career. Well, on Sunday, he was admitted to the hospital after some major swelling in his face and neck led to the discovery of a very large mass in his chest.

You can visit a site with updates and such about Jeremy here.
Originally the doctors thought it was lymphoma, but the official biopsy diagnosis has revealed that it is actually a rare form of cancerous tumor, but that the hopes of recovery are very high.

As his father has said, "We received a diagnosis and it changed from the preliminary diagnosis! Jeremy has Mediastional Germ Cell Tumor Seminomatous, evidently a dormant tumor that has developed a life of it's own and is really big and malignant. The aggressive chemo starts tonight. The treatment cycle should end in about 4 months. The outlook for healing is very good with some dark, dangerous days and weeks ahead. We covet your prayers throughout this whole process. More details will be posted tomorrow."

A group of friends and members of my church are getting together at 1:30 (pacific) at the hospital to pray over Jeremy as he begins chemo. Please join me if you will. I believe in a God who is Mighty Healer and who has great plans for my friend. Thanks.

Ruche look.

2011-09-10T10:28:00.001-07:00

Ruche by paintedmydays featuring silver flower jewelry

Sleeved dress
$53 - shopruche.com

Tight
$48 - anthropologie.com

Bow heels
$39 - shopruche.com

Silver flower jewelry
$15 - shopruche.com

photo op camera case
$30 - shopruche.com

I apologize for posting this with no explanation - I meant to just publish the board to Polyvore for later use, but I guess it decided to publish it to my blog automatically. Anyway, this is a fun look I decided to create from items I've been loving over at Ruche (except the tights - they're from Anthropologie.) I'm so looking forward to cooler weather so I can wear fun ensembles with tights to work. We're getting close - I'm wearing boots today!

Friday fun.

2011-09-02T12:33:00.000-07:00

Just a few links I've been ~~wasting time with~~ enjoying:

Hipster dress-up: I loved paper dolls as a kid, so what's not to love about creating your own hipster boys and dressing them in the hippest fashion? haha. I love how I've been able to create exact replicas of basically every one of my guy friends.

I'm working on plans for a retro formal cocktail party for my (and a friend's) birthday - I found an awesome playlist and bar signs from Formal Fringe.

My Buffy/Angel binge is about 95% complete now (I've finished Buffy and am in the last season and Angel) - here's a super helpful episode guide if you want to binge as well and like things in order.

I guess that's it for now - what fun links have you been enjoying lately?

Finally, after 50+ years...

2011-08-29T07:37:00.000-07:00

Barbie and Ken have finally tied the knot. They've broken up, they've gotten back together, and now they're Mr. and Mrs. Want proof? Just look and see...

photos source.
Photographer Beatrice de Guigne was lucky enough to shoot the classic couple's wedding. You can see more of it and read the details on her blog. She also shot some boudoir sessions with the lovely bride.

Haha, awesome, right? Actually, I was definitely more in the cool rather than crazy camp before I saw her more "artistic" boudoir shoot. Either way, they're some great photos that must have been a ton of work to pull off. What do you think of Barbie and Ken's wedding?

Engagement Shoot WIN!

2011-08-22T11:27:00.000-07:00

Oh. my. If you read weddingbee, you've probably already seen this e-shoot (heck, it's probably all over the internet already), but I could not help but share.

Looks like a pretty typical cute vintage picnic engagement shoot with an adorable couple and a great photographer, right? Wait, what's that creeping in the background?

See the whole series of shots here.

images via weddingjojo and Mrs. D'orsay.
A couple that can kill a Zombie together and still look that cute is sure to have a long, happy, and awesome-filled marriage. I love it.

Monday eye candy.

2011-08-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Sarah Shreves posted sneak photos from Regina and Bryan's wedding. Remember their dreamy engagement shoot? It sure looks like the wedding didn't disappoint.

source.
I just love how the bride, groom, and photographer all came from my tiny class in high school. Man, my class had some beauty and talent, don't you think?

Happy Monday to you all! I'm working on a major life revitalization - eating better, working out more, crafting, and overall a more effective use of my time. Convenient that I'm soo close to finishing my Buffy binge.

edit: do the photos look insanely huge to you? I re-size them, but for some reason they still show up full size for the first few hours on my blog. ???

I'ma bake you a cake.

2011-08-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

Ever since an educational event with Bliss Events at Sweet Cheeks Baking Co., I've wanted desperately to try my hand at baking a cake from scratch. I even went as far as inventing party ideas just so I could bake a cake for it. Turns out, I didn't need to invent a party - my side job was celebrating their one year anniversary since opening last June with a potluck!

Banana cake with peanut butter and nutella filling - It's not the prettiest thing I've ever seen, but it was fun - and delicious! The cake recipe is from here. I don't necessarily recommend the book because it was written in Britain and the recipes require fancy (read: more expensive and harder to find in America) ingredients like self-rising flour and caster sugar, but the cover is super cute and the cake was delicious. I made this peanut butter filling for one layer and used Nutella for the second layer of filling. (You might have noticed baking chocolate in the original ingredients photo - I was going to make my own chocolate filling but got lazy. Nutella is delicious, anyway.) Then I made a buttercream frosting, but I don't remember where I got that recipe. Um, as you can see from the photos, buttercream melts in the sun. But, I didn't care - it was tasty.

My only major cake baking advice that you may not already know is this:
1) Bake the cake (and the fillings and icing if you like) a day early and stick em' (unassembled) in the fridge. Assemble after it's all cooled and settled.
2) pipe your outside icing around the edges of the layers - it keeps the filling from seeping out. (As you can see in a photo above.)

After days of kitchen fun, I headed out to the beach (thank goodness I got someone else to drive me so I could carry the cake - I'm a crazy person for baking a three-layer cake, putting it on an antique stand, and expecting to be able to drive myself across town with it.) After we all got our fill of the deliciousness, I promptly won a sandcastle contest (and re-used the cake's decor!) Hooray for crazy adventures.

all photos personal photos.

Lovely Lake Tahoe.

2011-08-03T09:11:00.000-07:00

I got to spend the weekend here.

and now I'm spending some quality time with my old college roommates and the newest addition - Leslie's beautiful baby girl.

Another Summer Work Day

2011-07-26T11:00:00.001-07:00

Another Summer Work Day by paintedmydays featuring a gold necklace

Ribbed tank top
$20 - witchery.com.au

V neck tee
$17 - alloy.com

Miss Selfridge high waisted skirt
£22 - missselfridge.com

Rip Curl Girls flat sandals
$40 - swell.com

This is today's outfit. I'd probably be happy wearing a pencil skirt every day for the rest of my life. Okay, that's not true - I love jeans. But I'm loving the more casual get-ups with pencil skirts these days.

I'll be heading up to Lake Tahoe for a family reunion this weekend and I'm in charge of photos and video, so I'm sure I'll have some to share. Until then, I'm hoping to get some past adventures us that I still haven't posted about.

Have a happy Tuesday!

Ruche Look Book.

2011-07-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

I love pretty pictures. and pretty clothes. and shoes. Oh, and I love sunsets in California, vintage luggage, and vintage beach cruiser bikes. All of these things make appearances in Ruche's Summer Look Book. Plus, the models are adorable.

You can view it here. Gosh, I've been all about clothes lately. I guess it's from the wardrobe re-invention that a change of season brings.

Summertime.

2011-07-18T10:25:00.001-07:00

This is almost exactly what I'm wearing at work today. Pretty much everyone is out on vacation, and summer has tended to make things quite a bit more lax, so I opted for sandals and a tank top.

Summertime. by paintedmydays featuring beaded thong sandals

Ruffle top
$45 - modcloth.com

BKE v neck tank
$12 - buckle.com

Halogen knee length pencil skirt
$46 - nordstrom.com

Steve Madden beaded thong sandals
$25 - lorisshoes.com

I'm doing my best to enjoy my summer days - which leads to busy late-night outings, and hours watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer (ahhh, I totally get all the girls I've known who have been madly in love with Spike now!) But please bear with me - I haven't abandoned this blog, I'm just figuring out what I want out of blogging. I love any and all of you who are still reading - please don't stop.

Maxi dress mayhem.

2011-07-09T09:20:00.000-07:00

So, I've really been craving some retail therapy lately. I've been working my weekends away with day-of wedding coordination, church/work events, etc. that I feel like I've earned a pretty bit to spend.. and apparently that leads to the burning a hole in the pocket scenario. So anyway, I peeked into Anthropologie for just a moment last night and I bought this dress:

source.
I bought it in a size that was way too small and justified the $70 price tag because it was originally a ridiculous $268. I got it home, forced myself to admit that the biggest size they had left at all the stores in the area (yeah, I had them check) was still too small, and miraculously found a bigger size available online. I rushed a purchase and raced back to the store to return the first one just as they were closing. This morning, mere hours later, the dress is completely out of stock and unavailable online.

Funny story: I did a Google search for this dress this morning because it's no longer available on anthropologie.com and found a picture of a girl from my class in high school wearing it. (She works at an Anthropologie store and apparently they had a fashion show that someone blogged about.)

I couldn't just be happy with my fortune - oh no. Now that I was officially shopping online for a dress, I also bought this:

From Ruche.
It was $20+ less than the Anthro dress and looks promising. Oh, and there's only one left as of this morning on Ruche. Apparently last night was the time to buy.

So now I'm waiting for both dresses to come in so I can try them on and decide on one and send the other back. Let the waiting game begin. I just want my maxi dress, dangit!

Summer Wants

2011-07-06T14:52:00.001-07:00

Summer Wants by paintedmydays featuring summer evening dresses

Tibi summer evening dress
$446 - my-wardrobe.com

Miu Miu patent leather high heels
$550 - net-a-porter.com

Backpack bag
$41 - kohls.com

Marc by Marc Jacobs oversized aviator sunglasses
$98 - piperlime.gap.com

I'd love to throw on this lovely Maxi dress and stroll around Balboa Park or the beach today. I've been wanting a long sundress, nude pumps, a new white bag, and some oversized aviators for quite some time now. Today, I just realized how nicely they'd all work together.

Daddy Day

2011-06-19T12:40:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's day, Daddy.

I love you.

Where did May go?

2011-06-01T22:10:00.000-07:00

I love this man.

I also love that I took this photo at Steak'n'Shake while enjoying a delicious meal while celebrating a whole year of marriage. Wait, what? It's been a year (and some change) already? Yeah, I missed the whole post wedding pictures and reminisce on your anniversary deal - it's not even our anniversary month anymore. I owe you an anniversary post, sorry.

Tabletop organization.

2011-05-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

I've been plagued by piles my entire life - give my family a flat surface and you're sure to find piles upon piles of mail, magazines, junk you just don't know what to do with, you name it. My dad actually claims to have a "master plan" for organizing his and my mom's house - which really just means more piles. Anyway, I definitely inherited my dad's pile genes (and married another pile-prone man.) Want proof? This is what our little pantry table looked like on a good day:

Full disclosure: this was after I spent a good hour sorting through the piles on this articular space - I recycled, shredded, and filed away more than three times what you see here. Anyway, this spot has always bothered me - even when our little house is otherwise spotless, the piles just make the whole place look cluttered. I decided we needed a plan, and fast.

After some good time recycling, shredding, and filing away most of said piles, I came up with this:

Isn't it lovely? The suitcase was a wedding prop, the roses are from my mom's yard, and the great little organizer was a part of a kitchen set wedding gift from my aunt. Now, as long as we can remember to stuff our mail and coupons in the organizer and get rid of the junk, we shouldn't have the regular piles. The best part? I was able to store tons of my craft stuff in the suitcase and finally get rid of that bright green/pink box that it's been in since the eighth grade.

Now, even though the rest of the house is a mess, I can breathe easy when I look at this spot. Amazing what a little organization and charm can do to a space.

Another World.

2011-05-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

I love this quote by C.S. Lewis. Inspired by some of the beautiful graphic work floating around Pinterest and the internet as a whole, I decided to take a crack at an illustrated quote.

Recognize that globe? I made the print on Illustrator last night. It's not perfect, but it was done ver quickly and I certainly have not been trained in graphic design. I'll always be my worst critic anyhow.

I tried printing it out on off-white cardstock, but the teal text printed out dark blue. Any ideas how I can fix that? (It might be as simple as changing my ink... but what color would I be low on to make it darker?)

Anyway, I love the idea about creating my own prints to frame around the house - the quotes can be so personal that way.

Chalkboards revisited.

2011-05-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

I re-pinned both of these images on Pinterest this morning

They're completely different in design and function, but they're both chalkboards. Beautiful chalkboards. They reminded me of my love of chalkboards in design and the fact that I have this guy sitting around from the wedding still:

Sorry, that's the best photo I could find of him - see him hiding among all the other wedding stuff?

Anyway, I was always planning on re-selling my wedding chalkboard to make up for some of the cost, but it's been a year now and I still have it - In fact, I think it's still in the trunk of my car from driving it home from the wedding. My chalkboard is an a-frame stand with a board on both sides (more like the first photo), but I'm wondering if I could take on a little DIY power and attach it to the wall (like the second photo) - it really would be nice to have a menu board, or perhaps a calendar, like that one.

I guess I'll play around with it and see what I can do. I hope you're all having a fantastic week!

Reminder.

2011-05-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

I was scrolling through old posts and was reminded of my goals for the year. Let's see how I've done now that we're in the fifth month.

[1] sell something on etsy.
[2] fit back into my skinny jeans.
I now fit back into my regular jeans and not just my fat ones - that's a step.
[3] celebrate our one year anniversary in Julian or outside of San Diego.
we're going to Vegas - to be crossed off soon.
[4] travel somewhere I've never been.Vegas.
[5] ~~advance in my job / or have a new job that works towards my goals.~~
Yay! New job with some event planning included.
[6] send Christmas cards to friends and family before Christmas.
[7] cook a full dinner at least once a week.
eh, I don't know if I've succeeded every week... I'll have to remember to work on this.
[8] cook/bake something new (following a recipe) once a month.
Again, I just need to remember this goal.
[9] read the Bible / spend significant time in prayer every day.
Fail. Never too late to start, right?
[10] have a day/night full of adventure - and photos to show it.
so far this year has provided some good times... the photos are lacking though.
[11] be the head coordinator for someone's wedding.
[12] regularly sell things on etsy.
[13] prioritize weekly date nights with my husband.
Success! We've named Monday night our official date night and done pretty well keeping it.
[14] ~~join bank accounts and budget so that we're actually saving.~~ Done!

So, a few items in progress or to be completed soon and two items completely done - that's not too shabby, right?

Creation.

2011-05-02T10:57:00.000-07:00

Have any of you seen this stunning time-lapse video? It captures the milky way galaxy among many other beautiful scenes from nature in such an amazing way. It really makes me so grateful to love and serve a God who can create such beauty.

The Mountain from Terje Sorgjerd on Vimeo.

The video is by Terje Sorgjerd and a bigger version of it can be seen here. Found via Stumble Upon.

Have a beautiful Monday!

Headshots.

2011-04-28T09:15:00.000-07:00

When I went to the Flower Education Event with Bliss, I got some headshots taken. We had Shannon from Studio Carre with us so that we could get good group shots for the website, and Shannon decided to throw in some individual shots of each lady.

I've already ruled out a few where I look ridiculous, but these two turned out pretty well.

Yes, I realize they are almost identical - I just can't decide which I like best. What do you think? Which of these photos looks best to you?

Daily Wear: Black and Blue at work.

2011-04-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

After a great workout yesterday morning, I felt like dressing up a bit for work. This dress is not necessarily something I would normally buy - I tend to shy away from busy prints, but it was way on sale at the Banana Republic factory outlet, and it's become a nice item to have in my closet.

Please excuse the cut off head in the first shot. It was the best photo of the clothes, but the absolute worst of my face.

It was nice to bare my (extremely pale) legs and hope that the walk to and from my car provided them with a bit of much needed sunlight. David and I had a date night out for Italian food this evening, so I got to stretch this outfit further. Amazingly, I wore these shoes all day with absolutely no pain or troubles - granted most of the day I was sitting at my desk.

And yes, as you can see, we currently have the awesome street-find couch outside. It absolutely will not fit in our house and we've exhausted our storage options. I'm thinking it's probably time to consider re-craigslisting it. Maybe I can make a profit. Don't worry - it's under an overhang for the night.

Dress: Banana Republic Factory Outlet, $19?, Jacket: Banana Republic (with suit pants), Belt: Modcloth, $15, Necklace: Antique store, $5, Shoes: Nordstrom, $45?

House tour: the bathroom.

2011-04-22T08:05:00.000-07:00

Happy Good Friday to you all - I'm super excited about the Easter events my church has going on this weekend.

I've been working on perfecting our living room so that you can see the main area of our house, but for now I have the smallest spot in the whole tiny house to show you - the bathroom.

Seriously guys, it's tiny. I had a hard time finding a place to stand where I was far enough away to show anything in the photos. That first photo is from the bedroom looking through the door. In the second, I stood on the back edge of the bathtub for the shot, and in the third I was backed way into the corner by the door. At least it's easier to carry a theme through a room this small - plus it was super convenient that the trash can and wall color that were already there matched the colors in our shower curtain and towels.

You may have noticed I moved the little q-tip and cotton ball jars between taking the second and fourth photos - that's because I can't decide where they look best. Also, I would love to have some kind of pretty vignette going on with that shelf above the toilet, but I don't want to add clutter. I've been thinking about looking around for some kind of vintage toothbrush holder or soap dish or something. The art is a piece of cardboard that I painted with the paint on our bedroom walls and drew on with sharpie - should I frame it or leave it be? Also, I think the cabinet is too high - shouldn't it be the same height as they mirror? This has bugged me ever since our landlord put it in (but I've loved having the extra storage otherwise.)

I'm pretty sure my someday dream bathroom will look much different than this one, but it makes me happy for the time being.

Dreamland.

2011-04-21T09:13:00.000-07:00

Good to know that all I have to do is find free ~~junk~~ (awesome funiture) off the street to get you guys to comment on my blog - haha. Anyway, I know these people!

Sarah Shreves did an engagement shoot with a couple who were both also in our tiny class in high school. The photos look straight out of an anthropologie catalog/dreamland. Enjoy!

Sarah is calling this her best shoot yet, but I'm still partial to our engagement photos - I guess I'm biased. Either way, I hope these photos provide some lovely Thursday eye candy / inspiration to you.

Street-side finds.

2011-04-20T06:58:00.000-07:00

I was browsing craigslist yesterday afternoon when I saw a post that said "beautiful antique couch - FREE! I just put it out in the alley - come quick!" And that had been posted three hours before I read it. I decided it was worth checking anyway (even though it was probably gone and we don't have a vehicle that could even begin to carry a couch), so I got David to begrudgingly accompany me on an adventure.

We reached the alley in question and saw a furniture item ahead. Upon closer inspection, it was not the couch at all - but an awesome leather overstuffed chair - something I've been wanting for a while. We shoved it into our car (because this chair, unlike a whole freakin' couch, was small enough for the back seat) and went on our way. As we were about to pull back onto the street, we saw it - the couch was in the alley on the other side of the street. We pulled up, sat on the couch to claim our prize, and called David's dad with an Expedition to come pick it up for us.

And that, my friends, is the story of how we came home with not one, but two ~~new~~ old but awesome pieces of furniture.

photos by me.
The couch should probably be reupholstered and the casters on the chair are rusty if we're talking serious, but they were free. David wants to take the casters off anyway, and maybe I'll invest in some good upholstering someday. So far, we have no idea where to put these lovelies, but I'm working on that.

Pearly.

2011-04-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

I've been making a lot of these pearl (bead) necklaces like I made for my bridesmaids lately and have been seriously thinking about selling them on etsy. I've been wearing one around a lot lately to test it out, and I love it. What do you think - would you buy one of these?

photos by me.

White Kitchens.

2011-04-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

I love color in a kitchen. I've always thought the best kitchen was one with sunny, yellow walls. I've also fallen in love with the poppy and aqua trend in kitchens these days. I mean, just look at my kitchen - I think there's more color than space. But today, I'm lusting after these open, airy, spacious, white kitchens.

found on Pinterest.
They're elegantly styled yet also conjure dreams of baking with daughters or hosting dinner with friends. I can't wait until I have a kitchen big and bright enough that I truly want to spend time there.

ABC.

2011-04-12T08:00:00.000-07:00

Photo by Sarah Shreves.
A. Age: 24.

B. Bed size: Queen. I used to have a full size to myself, so this one's starting to feel a bit small.

C. Chore you hate: I kind of enjoy dishes when I'm in the right mood, but i absolutely cannot even begin to think about doing them when there's more dishes to be done than space to do them in. I get overwhelmed.

D. Dogs: I love them. David and I are getting a Dachshund as soon as we can prove to ourselves that we'll be home enough to love on him. Our current favorite pastime together is to call out to all the dogs we see.

E. Essential start to your day: Brushing my teeth. Then e-mail.

F. Favorite color: Teal. I'm also loving yellow right now.

G. Gold or silver: Gold. It was silver my whole life until recently and now I'm obsessed with everything gold - see my wedding for example.

H. Height: 5’3"ish (that's probably over-guessing it)

I. Instruments: Haha - funny story. I would love to play an instrument, but seem utterly incapable of doing so. You should have seen the fits I threw in fifth grade when I struggled with the Recorder.

J. Job title: Administrative Assistant / Team Member / Assistant Coordinator. (Yes, I have three jobs.)

K. Kids: I've seriously been surrounded by babies and pregnant ladies lately - making me think a lot about kids. We're definitely not ready, but I can dream.

L. Live: San Diego. Anyone want to help me appreciate my beautiful city more? I'm thinking about working through a list of places to go and see on a regular basis.

M. Mom’s name: Dee Anna (separated like that - it's her first and middle name - her sister's name is Chris Tina. True story.)

N. Nicknames: When I was younger, I used to bemoan the fact that I'd never had a nickname. Somehow, I ended up being called "Ladybug Laura", "LauraLoo", "Loo Loo", "Laurora", "Aurie", etc. from there. Now, I don't really have any, unless you count the people in the kitchen at work who call me "Laurita".

O. Overnight hospital stays: Probably my birth? I don't think I've had any real hospital stays at all since.

P. Pet peeve: When people spell friends' names wrong on their facebook where it's written there a billion times for them. Oh, and so many more.

Q. Quote from a movie: I'm not a big movie quoter. I may come back to this if/when I think of something.

R. Right or left handed: Right. I secretly wish I was left handed.

S. Siblings: Sisters. They're twins.

T. Time you wake up: 8 almost every day.

U. Underwear: boy shorts mostly.

V. Vegetables you dislike: mushrooms, olives.

W. What makes you run late: Any time I turn on my computer in the morning, I get distracted.

X. X-Rays you’ve had: Teeth?

Y. Yummy food you make: I've made some tasty Pioneer Woman recipes. I guess chicken dinner (maybe a post soon?) is my best go-to comfort food.

Z. Zoo- favorite animal: Vern the Zebra.

Stumblin' around.

2011-04-10T16:01:00.000-07:00

Have you discovered StumbleUpon yet? I'm pretty sure this is my new favorite obsession. You start by checking off things you like in a long string of interests and then it starts showing you websites calculated to fit your interests. And, much like Pandora does with music, it caters even more and more to your tastes as you "like" or "dislike" things along the way. Look at some of the amazing things I've found in just my first few "stumbles."

Map Heart Vignette from Pinterest (which I've now requested an invite for), and Roasted Tomato Mac and Cheese found here from here.

I've also "stumbled upon" a site that recommends books based on titles you've already enjoyed, and another that provides recipes that you can make from what's already in your fridge!

In addition to these new sites that I'm sure I'll be visiting often, StumbleUpon has brought me to some of my favorite music videos, great DIY projects from other blogs, and some amazingly beautiful photographs full of inspiration. I love it.

Small house win.

2011-04-09T18:58:00.000-07:00

I found the bedroom on apartment therapy and just fell in love.

In fact, I love the whole house - found here. It's a 350 square foot cottage so very similar in size and layout to ours that I am pulling some major inspiration. I hope to someday (soon, maybe?) have the house designed (and clean!) enough to post a whole house feature kind of like this one.

Thanks, Beth and apartment therapy, for giving me a new-found love of my house.

A rose by any other name

2011-04-05T09:11:00.000-07:00

I'm jumping on the name post wagon. Feel free to jump in and answer these yourself, too.

a close-up of my Bliss flowers. Photo by me.
How did your parents decide on your name?
My mom wanted to name me Aubrey, Audrey, or Audra, but my dad didn't like any of those. They somehow settled on Laura - it's actually a compromise, I guess, because the way they pronounce my name still has the same "au" sound.

Do your initials (first/middle/last) spell anything funny?
My initials are the same with my married name as my single name - LCS. When I was in jr. high, we had dry erase boards instead of chalk boards, and the eraser/marker company we used was "LCS." They were the crappiest dry erase markers and erasers I'd ever seen.

Did you take your middle name from childhood or did you drop your middle name and take your maiden name as your middle name?
My middle name stayed the same, so I dropped my old last name all together. Mostly it was because my middle name sounds much prettier than having a last name as a middle name.

Are you or will you name your children systematically? (ie, same first letter, same orgin, etc)
When I was a kid, I wrote the beginnings of a story where a family had, like, 12 kids whose names went alphabetically - for example, the eldest was Amanda, then Brian, Cameron, Deborah, etc etc. But no, I've known too many families with obnoxiously same-y names to follow any real theme. The meanings and origins of names really interest me, though, so we may end up with some common ground on those levels.

Did you decide on baby names as a little girl? Did you stick to them or change your mind?
Yes, I have wanted to name a daughter the same thing since the fifth grade when a friend of mine and I thought we made the name up while playing.

Does your family have any names that have been passed down through generations?
My middle name is my aunt's name, and my sisters' middle names are those of our grandmothers who had both passed away by the time they were born.

Do you look at the meaning of the name or just the name itself?
I definitely consider the meaning - in fact, there are some names that I would never consider because I think the meaning is bizarre. Example, I kinda like the name Addison on a girl, but I can't get past the fact that you'd be naming your daughter "son of Adam." I think the sound of the name itself trumps the meaning in most cases, though.

Do you name pets with human names or pet names?
We plan on getting a dachshund and naming him Winston. We call every small dog we see "Bobo" and bigger dogs "Clarence" or sometimes "Floyd."

Are there any names that you have an affinity or dislike for based on a childhood experience/someone you once knew?
I'm sure there are. I think it's strange when anyone names a kid the same name as someone they know well unless they're specifically honoring that person. But yeah, I'm sure we'll have that "No, we can't use that name - that's someone I hated in high school..." conversation many times.

What are some of your favorite names & why?
An old friend of mine just named her daughter the name I've been holding on to since fifth grade, so I don't really want to go around sharing it so much anymore. But here are some other pretty names.
Girl: Damaris, Adelle, Aislynn, I'm sure there are more, but nothing comes to mind.
Boy: Sterling, Greyson, Aidan, (David has added that he likes Ethan and Samuel - both I could live with)

Behold: Anthro Weddings, Part 2 - Accessories

2011-04-01T13:31:00.000-07:00

Sure, the dresses are lovely, but I think some of my favorite items from BHLDN are among their accessories.

Just feast your eyes on some of the pretty little things BHLDN has to offer:

Hats! Shrugs! Jewelry! And Shoes, oh the shoes! Since many (or all) of these could be worn outside of a wedding, I lust after them all the more. Besides, it's much easier to buy a pair of earrings online than a dress. Oh, BHLDN accessories, you've stolen my heart.

Daily Wear: Springtime Office.

2011-03-31T07:20:00.000-07:00

It was warm and sunny yesterday - the perfect excuse to embrace springtime with my wardrobe. It was the first time since getting my new job where I can actually dress up for work that I haven't needed to dress for warmth.

The pants are super comfy, and they were on sale at the Banana Republic outlet. The pink top was my gift to myself around Christmastime with a Nordstrom Rack Groupon (I was able to buy both of my sisters' Christmas gifts and a pair of earrings with it all for the $20 or $25 Groupon.) I've had the white tank top forever - I honestly have no clue where it's from. It went a long time in my closet totally forgotten until I re-discovered it recently. I love its girly ruffly shape and eyelet design. (edit: I just checked the tag - it's from Aeropostale - a shop I wouldn't even think to shop in now. Funny.) The staple which the whole outfit was built upon, though, are my shoes.

I was never one for wedges - until I found these cuties at the J Crew outlet in Napa just after graduating from college. I love the colors, and they give me some significant height while still being comfortable all day.

Necklace: American Eagle - gift. Rose top: Nordstrom Rack with Groupon. White eyelet top: Aeropostale ages ago. White tank. Navy pants: Banana Republic Factory Store. Plaid wedges: J Crew outlet. I don't remember the prices on anything, but it was all on sale significantly.

Flower education.

2011-03-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

Sorry guys for being MIA and whiny lately - I guess I'm just in a rut. I really do enjoy blogging and have things I'd like to share. I can't promise how regularly I'll post, but as long as there are still people out there (anywhere) who enjoy what I have to say, I'll try to find the time to say it. Thanks for the comments/suggestions/suport.

A few weeks ago, I had the chance to attend an assistant education event with Bliss Events - where I get to assist with weddings every now and then. For the event, we headed to Paula from Rae Florae's shop for some tips for assembling and fixing bouquets and making boutonnières with limited supplies on the wedding day.

Some helpful hints I walked away with were that when assembling a bouquet, the stems should all rotate or spin the same direction in the handle so that nothing crushes anything else, a bridesmaid bouquet can be pretty easily dis-assembled and made into two if an emergency calls for it, and when pinning a boutonnière, folding the edges of the jacket lapel in makes it a lot easier than trying to bend the pin around the stems.

What I found most interesting, however, is how many different aesthetics you can create from the same bunch of flowers. At the end of the event, after sipping champagne and snacking while watching Paula at work, we were each given a vase and given the freedom to use any of the flowers to assemble our own bouquets. In the photos above, mine is the last one - see how different it is from the rest? Each bouquet - made by we mere amateurs - had it's own unique style. And they were all beautiful.

All photos were taken by Shannon from Studio Carre who joined us for the event and took some great group photos for the Bliss website. I honestly think one of my favorite parts of the night was when we each got to put on one of Paula's cute Anthropologie aprons and pose with our creations.

I feel so blessed to be a part of the Bliss team and can't wait until the next assistant event - where we get to learn about (and eat) wedding cake!

Also, check out this feature on the event on The Bride Suite by Exquisite Weddings!

In hiding, kinda.

2011-03-16T22:42:00.000-07:00

So, I've disappeared again. And right after I posted with a promise of more to come the very next day. Bad Laura. I could blame my new 24 hour fitness membership, or the fact that said new membership enhanced the sickness that I've recently gotten over. But really, I'm just trying to figure out my purpose in this here world wide web. Blogging was so much easier when I had a clear topic with a specific to-do list and tons of fun projects and details. Now, with no wedding to plan and everyday life bringing more and more to do outside of this blog, I'm not sure what to do. I really really want to start my etsy site, but I'm afraid of the time it's going to take up - time that I'm apparently unable to spare for a measly blog post here and there already. Any advice or guidance? Encouragement or specific things that you like about my blogging or would like to see more of? (no, I'm not just looking for compliments... though they're always nice...) Help?

Behold: Anthropolgie does weddings.

2011-02-21T07:43:00.000-08:00

There's been talk for quite some time about Anthropologie starting up a wedding line - an idea that makes perfect sense and sounds so appealing I could hardly wait for the outcome. Well, their wedding line, BHLDN, was finally unveiled (if you will) on Valentine's day (appropriately). Here's just a taste of the beautifully vintage and girly dresses they have to offer.

source for all photos.
Lovely, yeah? It was really hard to narrow them down to choose some favorites to show on here. My thoughts at first glance were definitely much more positive than other wedding dress lines I've anticipated in the past - Kirstie Kelly's Disney line to name one. David overheard me oohing and ahhing the dresses the other night and thought something was seriously wrong. And, on second look - the prices aren't really that bad either. Sure, the bridesmaids dresses run a bit higher than the already way overpriced dresses that the Anthropologie stores offer, but compare the wedding gowns to many of the designer wedding gowns out there, and these aren't bad at all. Anyway, it's a good thing I'm already married because I don't think I would have been able to stand not having the chance to try some of these dresses on, and so far they can only be accessed by ordering them online.

What do you think of the BHLDN gowns? Worth the Anthropologie name and all the hype? I plan on sharing some of the lovely accessories they have to offer tomorrow.

Love day.

2011-02-14T17:51:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's! I hope you've felt the love from everyone around you today.

I was given a welcome gathering this morning at work. In addition to these beautiful flowers, they provided cake - raspberry almond cake. How my new workplace was able to read my mind and give me a cake with my two favorite flavors is beyond me, but it sure was tasty.

Daily Wear: Sunday funday.

2011-02-13T13:25:00.000-08:00

I've decided to join the ranks of bloggers who post their daily outfits. Good idea or no? I figure I have more to post now that I have a job where I get to dress up in cute office attire instead a uniform. I don't know how often I'll post an outfit - I guess it depends on if I can figure out a regular system of setting up a tripod or how many mornings my husband is still at home once I'm dressed and ready to go (he normally leaves much earlier than I do on the days I work in the office.)

I'm starting this series on a Sunday because Sunday has always been my favorite day to play around with new clothes. Our church doesn't really enforce any kind of formal dress code, but I still love to dress up a bit. It's a great time to experiment with fun outfits.

Top: Anthropolgie - $25 (sale), Tank: random cheap store, Necklace: gift, Belt: Nordstrom - $12, Skinny Jeans: American Eagle - $20 (sale), Boots: Target - $25*
This outfit basically put itself together the other day when I was shopping with my mom - I was already wearing the jeans, boots, and tank top with a different shirt over it when I walked into Anthro. I wouldn't have given the shirt a second glance because I normally don't do well with prints and it was a way smaller size than I would have thought I could wear (it was the only one left from an older season and way on sale.) My mom encouraged me to try it on, and it worked so well with the rest of my outfit. I had literally just bought the belt and wondered what exactly I would wear it with - so, I grabbed it out of the bag, and as soon as I put it all on together I was in love.

Thanks to David for taking these pictures. We snapped them on our way into church in the harsh early morning sunlight, but they work alright. But boy oh boy do I need to re cut and dye my hair... my bangs just blow around in my face now which is why I have my hands in my hair in these photos.

* I know there are mixed feelings out there about posting the prices of each item, but I think it's a great way to show that you don't have to spend a ton of money to look and feel great in your clothes.

Little succulent garden.

2011-02-12T10:45:00.000-08:00

Part of our lease agreement is that our landlady takes care of the outside of our house. She loves gardening, so when she waters and mows the lawn, sometimes new little surprises arrive. We've had new potted plants arrive on our patio and stay for a few days as a holding spot until she's ready to plant them in her yard. The new arrivals always make me smile. Recently, we've gotten some new arrivals that seem like they're ours to stay - a little bunch of baby succulent plants that have been planted right in front of our house.

I love them - especially the tiny one in the center photo (it arrived first all by itself and when I noticed it, it made me so happy.) It's nice to notice and appreciate the simple beauties in life. And I love that we have a landlady who cares enough to leave us nice little surprises.

I'd been meaning to photograph and post about these precious plants for awhile now, but I've never been home and ready in good light. Today is a beautiful day, so I jumped outside with my camera all ready to capture them - it was not until that moment that I realized that the succulents are always covered by the shadow of our house. Thank goodness for Photoshop actions.

So Much Love: Guest Bags.

2011-02-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Since about half of our guests spent the entire weekend out in Julian with us for our wedding, I wanted to be sure to include some sort of out of town bag in their rooms. Unfortunately, this was a project that got left on the wayside, and was barely finished. My lofty ideas turned into something very simple.

Each bag contained a few water bottles and a granola bar (I originally intended to encourage guests to go hiking on Saturday before the wedding officially began - before I knew how cold it would be), Werther's originals - the most "rustic" candy I could find, a flyer/postcard from the lodge, a Julian information pamphlet, and some printouts with maps and information. I originally planned on making pretty wedding-themed cards with a timeline and other information, but it never happened. Amazingly, people seemed to get on just fine without it.

If you look really closely at the top left corner of the bag you can see my pitiful attempt to make it themed. I used the gocco screen and frozen/dry ink left on it from the invitations to print our globe monogram onto the bags. It only really showed up on a few of them, and I doubt anyone even noticed. That's what lack of supplies and time plus laziness will get ya.

Nobody really left the lodge for anything except breakfast on Saturday, so these were really not all that necessary, but I am glad that Sarah noticed my efforts and documented them.

Newness all around.

2011-02-08T20:56:00.000-08:00

As you have probably noticed, things look quite a bit different. I figured that a new look might get me out of this funk and excited about posting again. The funny thing is, I come up with ideas for posts and even take photos and such for them quite often, but once I'm on the computer I lose my steam.

Anyway, the new look. It's a work in progress - is it a good move so far? I like that the posting area is bigger, so I'm able to post bigger pictures. I'm thinking I need a new name since I'm not really planning or discussing my wedding so much anymore. Is it worth changing blogs completely? If not, should I put a new name in the header anyway? Any suggestions?

The photo above is of a gift and card for my sister-in-law's birthday last week. I made the card with my Silhouette, which I plan on talking more about soon.

Vintage Pyrex = love.

2011-02-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

I had a lovely day.

I also got lovely mixing bowls.

ooh, new.

2011-02-03T16:55:00.000-08:00

So, I got a new job. Hooray for accomplishing something on my year's goals already. Also, I'm re-discovering the gym - to attempt to accomplish more of said goals. However, that means I'm spending my time figuring out how to juggle those new things and basically re-inventing my life/schedule. I have all these awesome posts planned... I promise I'll be back to share soon.

House tour: the kitchen.

2011-01-06T08:05:00.000-08:00

I've shown you my bedroom, so now it's time to start seeing the rest of the house. I'm not quite as satisfied with any of the other rooms - our bedroom is the only room that feels complete with fresh paint and all the photos I want on the wall. There's not too much I can do with the kitchen - it's tiny - but, the many items I've collected off our wedding registry, and some beauties from Anthropologie have helped spruce it up.

We have a little nook with our dining table just outside the kitchen door, so I consider the entryway - with these beautiful dictionary prints I bought off etsy - a part of the kitchen.

I love yellow kitchens, so I was super excited when I first visited our little house from a Craigslist ad. The view isn't great - that window looks out to an alley behind the house -but, it's nice to have sunlight streaming in while I'm cooking and washing dishes.

As you can see, we have very limited counter space, but I somehow get by. I love the black oven - our fridge (to the left of the stove. not pictured.) - is also black. I think it makes the blue and yellow accents pop.

I love my Kitchenaid stand mixer. It's the king of the wedding registry, I tell you. The yellow just screams "happy kitchen" to me. The utensil jar was an Anthropologie buy that I lusted after for months. The little red rice cooker was a gift, and I love how the red goes with the yellow and teal.

Our limited space means we had to choose our appliances sparingly. Instead of trying to fit a microwave and a toaster, we compromised with a toaster oven. So far, it's worked pretty well, but there are definitely times I wish I had a microwave it definitely forces us to be creative with our leftovers.

So, that's our kitchen. More than one person in there at once, and you're guaranteed to bump into each other, but I think it's pretty cute. I'm working on some art to put on the far wall.

Twenty ten: a review.

2011-01-05T13:09:00.000-08:00

I think the best way to appreciate a year and begin a new one is to look back on everything I've done that past year. Here's a month-by-month recap - an idea shamelessly stolen from other bloggers.

January:

It was wedding planning madness as the year we were to wed began. I focused on what I really wanted from the wedding - the moments. I was inspired, worded, and drafted our invitations. My mom, David, and I cut bottles to be votives and vases. Finding shoes became a struggle. My parents and I visited my grandparents in the desert, and I discovered Home Goods. After a brief mixup, my love for Paper Source grew, and I was ready to start the invitations. We got David a suit, and I pondered the brooch on my dress.

February:

February was still chock-full of wedding planning. I struggled some more with shoes, but got closer to a result. I broke out the Gocco and officially started the invitation process. I discussed why I would change my name. We were getting closer to taking engagement photos, so I gathered inspiration and considered what to wear. I reached a weight loss goal, and landed an assistant coordinator job. David and I celebrated our last dating anniversary. We got rained out of our e-shoot, but it gave me time to scout out the best e-pic location ever. I made boutonnieres , and my momma got a dress.

March:

We spent a day in Julian, finalizing wedding details and visited a baker, which made me temporarily re-think our cake buffet. Celebrating was to be done when I sent out our invitations. We took our engagement photos and I waited ~~patiently~~ to see the photos. I got sick. My sister in law/maid of honor had spring break and she brought me our lovely table runners. And finally, my wonderful bridesmaids finished off the month by throwing me a bridal shower.

April:

I moved into our cute, little house - which apparently kept me from blogging too much. I hit a wedding planning wall. We made this wedding stuff legal by getting our Marriage License. David booked our rehearsal dinner. I made last minute projects, solved my shoe situation, and discovered Costco's flowers.

May:

We got our e-pics in, and I showed them off. Just weeks before our wedding, all our photographer's gear was stolen. I completely broke down on the phone with Costco over flowers. Last minute wedding stuff got crazy, and I didn't blog the two weeks before the wedding until I checked in among the madness. And, finally, we got married! (And then we went on our honeymoon in Jamaica - which I apparently never blogged about!? I will fix this soon.)

June:

After the wedding, my blogging turned into full-blown recap mode. I recapped the week of the wedding in full detail. David and I worked on unpacking his stuff and getting fully moved in to our home. I worked my first wedding as an assistant coordinator. I dove into a new job - working as a team member for the second biggest Chick-fil-A opening in the chain. I took a small vacation to visit my sister-in-law in the bay area and celebrate her graduation. And then, finally, at the very end of the month, Sarah Shreves gave us a sneak peek of our wedding photos.

July:

In July, I finished the pre-wedding recaps, and we got our wedding photo disc in the mail, so I started to recap the day of the wedding in many posts. Apparently I was busy with work and recaps because I didn't posta about anything else - nor do I have photos or memories of much else.

August:

August brought more wedding recaps. I took a break to paint our bedroom on the hottest day of the year. Then, I posted a few more recaps. I ended the month with the most awesome week full of friends, silent movies, food, petting baby giraffes and zebras, and overall adventure with the people I love.

September:

In September, I did not post, but I had a very full month of finishing a big project at work and some major letdown that I'm still pretty bitter/hurt by and unable to discuss. On the bright side, I had a fun beach day with Nicole, and got to experience clinging to my husband in the middle of big disappointments and fears.

October:

Blogging was still pretty light, but I posted recaps of our ceremony. David and I splurged and used our leftover wedding gift money and cash we'd been saving to take a trip to Disneyland with some dear friends. For a grand finale, we took a trip to the Bay Area for a roommate's wedding, and to celebrate my birthday (and I found Sunrise!)

November:

I made up for the few months of non-existant posting by taking part in NaBloPoMo (but somehow stayed out of every photo taken this month - the one above is technically from October). This brought some more wedding recaps. I celebrated my birthday with the in-laws with an awesome cake. I discovered the joy of Photoshop actions. I started working mostly opening shifts at work and longed for a true autumn. I shared my favorite parts of Thanksgiving and my favorite all around food. David and I celebrated Thanksgiving with my family, and I worked Black Friday. I succeeded at posting every day, and won a month long contest at work with a grand prize of one hundred bucks cash.

December:

I got in the holiday spirit, posted about wreaths, and decorated a table for a party. I attended five Christmas parties in one week - including one for David's work, my work, and my small group - complete with hilarious gift exchanges, good food, and friends. I decorated the house and wrapped pretty gifts. David and I both entered the world of smart phones with new free phones which helped me document the month. I made Christmas cookies with my family, looked at lights with friends, cooked Christmas eve dinner for both my family and David's, and celebrated Christmas at my parents' house and David's grandma's. Also, I apparently went another month where I stayed out of photographs. Maybe another goal for 2011 will be getting more photos of myself.

twenty eleven.

2010-12-31T20:35:00.000-08:00

I'm ringing in the new year sipping on tea, spending the itunes gift cards I've been collecting through the holidays (I've still got a few - any suggestions?), and just overall relaxing at home with my husband. We had lofty plans that involved seeing Tron and seeing our friends in a band play a show that doesn't start until 1 am, but we've decided that home seems more inviting on this cold night. I promise to be more adventurous in 2011.

That being said, I'm compiling a list of goals for the year. They're not "resolutions" because I hate the idea of promising to do something every day / swearing off something / etc and then just forgetting about it a few weeks/days later. These are goals which I am compiling and would love to complete by the end of the year. I may add more as they come to mind, and I'll re-visit this list through the year.

[1] sell something on etsy.
[2] fit back into my skinny jeans.
[3] celebrate our one year anniversary in Julian or outside of San Diego.
[4] travel somewhere I've never been.
[5] advance in my job / or have a new job that works towards my goals.
[6] send Christmas cards to friends and family before Christmas.
[7] cook a full dinner at least once a week.
[8] cook/bake something new (following a recipe) once a month.
[9] read the Bible / spend significant time in prayer every day.
[10] have a day/night full of adventure - and photos to show it.
[11] be the head coordinator for someone's wedding.
[12] regularly sell things on etsy.
[13] prioritize weekly date nights with my husband.
[14] join bank accounts and budget so that we're actually saving.

A new year brings up some questions about this blog as well. Who's reading this? Do you like the way I've been posting lately - with personal life details mixed with inspiration and wedding recaps? Would you rather read a blog full of just crafty inspiration and DIY projects? Or perhaps you would rather I stuck to the wedding talk I started this blog for? I really want to get a grasp of who's reading and what I should make of this blog. I've thought about focusing more on my crafting to help inspire me to accomplish numbers 1 and 12 on my list - or would you rather I make a blog just for crafting - perhaps a collaborative effort with other artists?

I honestly appreciate your feedback and wish you the very best in the coming year.

Merry Christmas from my phone!

2010-12-23T17:22:00.001-08:00

In an attempt to document all the Christmas-y things I've done this December, I've snapped a few photos. I've given up on listing every day's events, so here's my December in a nutshell via Android and the FxCamera and RetroCamera apps.

Christmas pretzels, secret santa gift, work party, decorating, wrapping, church Christmas service, new life, shopping, Christmas cookies for the neighbors, and more - it's been a good December.

Looking on my phone, I was a bigger fan of the FxCamera app (the smaller, longer photos), but on here it looks like maybe RetroCam (the square ones) takes a better photo. I like the real polaroid shape of RetroCam, but I like some of the other options available (especially the Toy Cam mode) on FxCamera. What do you think? Do you have a Droid phone and use either of these apps?

Anyway, I'm super excited to have the next few days off and to celebrate with my family. Tonight, David and I are watching White Christmas, and tomorrow morning we're opening our gifts to one another. Tomorrow afternoon/evening his family will be joining my family at my parents' house for dinner - and then I'm upholding my favorite tradition of watching It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas eve. Christmas day it's my parents' house for presents and breakfast, more presents at David's parents' house, and lunch at his grandma's. Christmas, here we come! I hope ya'll have a very merry Christmas and build memories to treasure.

Gifty.

2010-12-21T19:11:00.000-08:00

Wrapping gifts may be one of my favorite parts of the Christmas season. I love it so.

Aren't they pretty? I was originally just going to go with a white, gold, and snowflakes theme like the three on top (the snowflake ribbon and tags in the second photo was bought for that plan), and then I came across some rolls of the red and brown wrap at Ikea for only $.99. Eventually I just started using anything and everything around to pretty up my packages. The polka dot ribbon was cut from the fabric that we've been using as a tree skirt, and the ornaments on top came from our own tree (a fifty ornament pack), and will make a great bonus gift for that recipient. I've wrapped a few more since I took these pictures, but they all pretty much go along with these. I'm so excited to deliver these to our loved ones.

Twas a week before Christmas...

2010-12-18T14:23:00.000-08:00

... and all through the house...

Christmas. On a super low budget and not nearly as much DIY time as I'd like. I repurposed the ornament exchange decorations to dress up the tree and our little side table. The tree itself and the lovely topper were $20 each from Target. That lovely star/shell ornament was a honeymoon souvenir from Jamaica. We plan on collecting ornaments through the years from memorable trips/occasions/etc. I'm off to decorate Christmas cookies, but I'll be back soon to share some of my favorite gift wrappings and more on these lovely days leading up to Christmas.

Christmas Table-time.

2010-12-12T13:30:00.000-08:00

Last week, I got sick and was unable to attend a Christmas ornament exchange and potluck like I'd planned. I was, however, responsible for decorating one of the tables, so I sent all the supplies with my partner in decorating crime, my sister-in-law, and our plan was executed beautifully.

The giant bowl, red ornaments, schnapps glasses, and votives are from Ikea, the gauzy fabric was found at home, and the plates, wine glasses and gold ornaments are from Target. Everything was super cheap and already owned or will definitely be used in the future. I plan on using the whole candles on upside-down stemware thing a lot. Isn't it great?

I know throwing ornaments in glassware and calling it decor is a bit overused now, but I love how it displays both a modern and traditional look of Christmas at the same time. Also, I am all about red and gold this year - plan on seeing lots more of it in my future posts.

Thankful Tablescape.

2010-12-09T16:57:00.001-08:00

Um, hi. Is it too late to talk about Thanksgiving? I know you've all probably moved blissfully on to full-fledged Christmas mode (I mean, I certainly have), but I just received some photos from the table settings I did for Thanksgiving from my sister who was the only person with a camera on hand (thanks sister!) Can I show them to you?

So, it was Thanksgiving day, the turkey was just finishing up, and we were about to sit down to eat when I realized the tabe was a disaster. Not only was it not set or festive, it was covered in junkmail and such. Well, I came to the rescue - It's decorating time! So, with basically less than nothing to work with, I pulled this together.

The runner is a mat runner that my mom uses on behind the couch furniture to place photos on (and at Christmas, it acts as the "straw" ground for our nativity set - look, this post is about Christmas too!), the bouquets are bridesmaids' bouquets from my wedding that my mom saved and placed in that vase, the pine cone type dudes and branches are from the backyard. The table cloth and napkins (hello cummerbund fold that I learned while assisting wedding coordinators) are an antique set my mom inherited (as are the plates). Anyway, it's not the best setting ever, but the point is that you can make a beautiful table out of almost anything. There's never an excuse to not decorate. ;)

I want to eat this. now.

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled Christmas/Holiday posts. I'll be back soon with a Christmas tablescape and some more fun.

DIY Wreath Roundup.

2010-12-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

There's still plenty of time before Christmas to take on some DIY decorating projects. I remember making a pretty awesome wreath out of a wire hanger and cut up trash bags as a kid, so my heart definitely has a soft spot for homemade wreath goodness. These are a far cry from my childhood school project, but they're still super easy to make from supplies you probably have at home.

Paper:

make them here and here.

Yarn:

instructions here and here.

Fabric:

make me and me.

And More:

source and instructions.

I'm not quite sure which route I want to take for a wreath of my own. I love love Stephanie's (above) and definitely think it would last longer than the paper ones, but I'm also a sucker for the homey look of the wrapped yarn ones. Which is your favorite?

December days: 1-5.

2010-12-05T13:13:00.001-08:00

Okay, so I got sick and didn't take photos or blog about my Christmas exploits these past few days (thank goodness it happened after November). I promise I did do at least one little Christmas-y thing each day, though. For starters, I've had some kind of pepperminty beverage at least four of the past five days, I wrapped at least one gift a day, and I went shopping for decorations for a Christmas party that I ended up too sick to attend. I do have pictures of the table I helped design, though, so I'll be sure to share those with you. I've also enjoyed listening to Christmas music to and from work as well as all throughout the work day since a holiday station has been diligently tuned into on our XM radio.

This coming week (including this afternoon), I have three Christmas parties (David's work, small group, my work), the finishing touches of my gift shopping, and so much more planned. Stay tuned.

What have you done so far to get into the Holiday spirit?

Victory lap.

2010-11-30T15:00:00.001-08:00

Well, hello, last day of November - how are you? Today, I am celebrating more than one victory - I successfully (while maybe not wonderfully) blogged every day in November and I won a sales contest at work which lasted the whole month of November. Assuming they really do judge it by items sold and there's no curveball thrown in at the last minute, I should be getting a very nice $100 bonus. Since I've already completed most of my Christmas shopping (I know! I'm shocked too - more to celebrate!), I'm thinking about treating myself. I'm torn between picking up one or two of these guys:

source: Anthro, of course.
Or, going on a nice, expensive dinner date with my husband, something we haven't been able to afford in quite some time.

What would you do with an extra hundred bucks?

Also, be prepared for the blogging more often (or even every day) thing to continue, because I've got some December fun up my sleeve. Ever since experiencing finals season in college when it was supposed to be Christmas season, I've vowed to always do at least one Christmas-y thing every day of December - from drinking something peppermint or wrapping a present to full-blown ice skating and looking at lights. That way even on normal and busy work days I can still feel festive, and the season won't pass me by. I plan to hold myself "accountable" by blogging about my daily Christmas joys.

Tim Walker.

2010-11-29T11:50:00.000-08:00

Today, I am oh so inspired by Tim Walker Photography. His images are very whimsical and imaginative. I just want to live inside them.

sources here, here, and here.
Isn't the art of creating an entire dreamland for a photograph so interesting? I love a good portrait or landscape photo, but high fashion and imaginative shoots like these are so lovely.

Anthro wrapping.

2010-11-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

I've picked up a few gifts for loved ones so far and David and I are talking about getting our Christmas tree in the next few days. Clearly, the next step (and the one I'm most excited about) is wrapping the gifts so they can go under said Christmas tree. I've become pretty inspired by Anthropologie's gift wrap and baubles.

source.
Sigh. Oh, how I love pretty packages. I'm thinking about picking up some Baker's twine, using these downloadable gift tags, and possibly splurging on some of this pretty paper or some from paper source and going wild. I do think using butcher paper, tissue paper, and other papers with pretty ribbons and tags and such will also look great. Time to get a'wrapping!

Shuffle Time.

2010-11-27T14:33:00.001-08:00

Stephanie tagged me on facebook with one of those music shuffle things, and since I can't think of 25 people on facebook who would really be interested in playing along, I decided to post my list here instead.

Once you've been tagged...
(1) Turn on your MP3 player or music player on your computer.
(2) Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
(3) List the first 25 songs that come up--artist and song title--NO editing/cheating, please.
(4) Choose 25 people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you. Other people can join in too.

[1] Polyethylene Part II - Christopher O'Riley
[2] If I Needed Someone - The Beatles
[3] Grapevine Fires - Death Cab for Cutie
[4] Drive My Car - The Beatles
[5] You and I - Audrey
[6] Hey, Soul Sister - Train (I didn't even know I had this song...)
[7] Save Tonight - Eagle Eye Cherry
[8] Hills and Valleys - The Rocket Summer
[9] Violet Hill - Coldplay
[10] Strawberry Swing - Coldplay
[11] I Want None of This - Radiohead
[12] Happy Boys and Girls - Aqua (Yesss! hahaha)
[13] ABC - The Jackson 5 (definitely added for the wedding)
[14] I Believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness (more wedding gold)
[15] Street Spirit (Fade Out) - Christopher O'Riley
[16] The Way You Shine - Tyrone Wells
[17] Pity and Fear - Death Cab for Cutie
[18] Map of the Problematique - Muse
[19] Sandstorm - Darude (wedding for sure)
[20] Isn't it a Lovely Night - The Decemberists
[21] Fog - Radiohead
[22] The Wind - Cat Stevens
[23] Phone Call - Jon Brion (Eternal Sunshine score)
[24] The Hazards of Love 1 - The Decemberists
[25] Here Comes a Special Boy - Freezepop

I cheated and skipped a few songs because all my iTunes wanted to play was Christopher O'Riley and Coldplay songs over and over, and I figured a little more variety would be more fun. This is really a very small portion of my music collection because this computer was used for our wedding music and is missing a lot of my music that wasn't used in the wedding.

You're welcome to play along and post your list in the comments or on your own blog. Happy Saturday!

Black Friday.

2010-11-26T20:52:00.000-08:00

I opened at work today - needing to begin an eight hour shift at 6 am means no early morning shopping for me. I did, however, get some great deals at Target this afternoon. I was able to pick up a comfy sweater at half off, some super cheap dvds, an ornament set for our soon to exist Christmas tree, and a pretty sweet gift for David at almost half off. Did you know you can print out tons of Target coupons from this site? You pick and choose which ones you want and print 'em out. You can only use one per transaction, but I'm not above coming right back in for another transaction. I got an extra $5 off my ornaments and David's gift added to the Black Friday sale price with those babies.

This is a sad sad excuse for a post, and I just barely made it today as it is, but I have Thanksgiving photos to share with you as soon as I get them from my sister's camera, and I'll be back in full posting swing next week.

Happy weekend!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2010-11-25T07:35:00.000-08:00

source.
Today, I'm reminded how very blessed I am. This year, I'm most thankful for my husband, home, health, and hope. Oh, and all you readers, too.

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Puddin'.

2010-11-24T17:02:00.000-08:00

My main Thanksgiving responsibility and the thing that I am second most looking forward to (next to my mom's sweet potatoes of course) is our chocolate pudding pie.

source.
While not a typical Thanksgiving dish, this pie has been a traditional staple in my family for as long as I can remember. To make your own, grap a couple boxes of Jello stovetop pudding (NOT instant, trust me, it makes a difference and all the stirring on the stove is worth it) and follow the instructions on the box. Yum.

Xapu Notep.

2010-11-23T19:06:00.000-08:00

I saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1 on Friday, and it reminded me of some photos I've been holding on to.

You see, in college I worked in the third largest library in the world (bested only by the library of congress and Harvard's library). My job - in the interlibrary loans department - was to receive and process the books that we borrowed from other libraries because we somehow didn't have them in our library so that students, professors, etc. could access them. Some grad student was apparently studying languages. or Harry Potter. or Harry Potter and languages. or something. Anyway, they borrowed these:

Really, I have no idea what kind of research these were for, but they were actually the least of the strange books I saw come through. I was actually reading the Harry Potter series when I processed these and it was really fun looking through these and comparing them - seeing all there different character names and other things I might recognize in whatever languages these are in.

But yeah, who has seen the newest movie? I enjoyed watching it, but it was pretty anti-climactic knowing what's to come and not being able to see it. While I think it was a pretty great adaptation of the book (er, of the first half anyway), it was definitely not a stand-alone film. I know they've made it clear that parts one and two are a single film released in two parts, but can you imaging someone who hasn't read the books or at least seen the other films trying to make sense of it? What did you think?

To do list.

2010-11-22T11:12:00.000-08:00

Today is a day off. This week is Thanksgiving - which means I will very quickly be hurdled into Christmas mode where I will have no time for little things like cleaning and such. Plus, we need to magically find room in our house for a Christmas tree. Thus, here is today's to do list:

1) 6+ loads of laundry. Is there even time for that in one day?
2) deposit at least 2 paychecks that have been sitting around.
3) magically transform furniture/house so there's room for tree.
4) attend to all the cleaning that magical transformation requires.
5) grocery shop so husband and I have food through the holidays.
6) return unwanted items at Macy's for possible Christmas gift money.
7) finish watching Dollhouse on netflix instant now that I'm addicted.
8) sit. sip hot cider or cocoa and bask in the joy that is the end of November.

oh... and 9) blog for the day... um, does this count?

Zucchs.

2010-11-21T16:21:00.000-08:00

My favorite, most simple food to cook up fast is zucchini - which I jokingly and endearingly call "Zucchs" (zooks). Hear me out: I had no idea how to prepare zucchini or squash of any kind until a college friend and I decided to journey through one of her cook books for our weekly dinner together. What we discovered (aside from the most amazing ice cream dish) was a super easy, super delicious recipe for zucchini as a side dish.

Basically you take 2 tablespoons butter (or oil if you're good - I normally use half of each, but the butter really makes it delicious), 2 minced cloves of garlic (if you have a garlic press, use it), and 2 sliced zucchinis. Brown the butter and garlic in a frying an for a minute and throw in the zucchini. Fry it up until it's softer and tasty. Simple, yeah?

I honestly got addicted to zucchini after making this for the first time. It's simple and really nothing special, but I love it. You can also play around and add ingredients. In the photo above, I sprinkled the zucchini with some lemon pepper seasoning, and I often add soy sauce to eat it over rice. Yum.

Also, I promise this isn't becoming solely a food blog - I guess I just have food on my mind with Thanksgiving around the corner.

Baby it's cold outside.

2010-11-20T20:16:00.000-08:00

It's been chilly and rainy today which really puts me in the mood to sip hot cocoa, go Christmas shopping, and curl up with a blanket. It also makes me wish the rain and cold could be a little more - maybe like a nice, snowy day.

personal photos circa 2006.
Happy Saturday everyone!

Sweet, sweet potato.

2010-11-19T07:46:00.000-08:00

I was going to share my absolute favorite Thanksgiving dish with you - with pictures and the recipe - after I made it on Thanksgiving day. But, while perusing The Pioneer Woman Cooks!, I found the same dish - Of course, she beat me to it. Anyway, since posting her recipe saves me time and gets it to you all before Thanksgiving so you all have time to try it yourselves, that's exactly what I've decided to do.

So, here I give you the best Sweet Potato dish ever. Honestly, it puts shame to that marshmallow-y thing I've seen on other tables on Thanksgiving day.

Get full recipe and more delicious photos here. Yummm.
I grew up with this dish on our Thanksgiving table for as long as I can remember, but for some terrible reason I never even tried it until a few years back. Now, I find myself opting out of a taste of the delicious pies we make just so I can have seconds of this baby. Actually, come to think of it, my mom's recipe has coconut in it (so, it's even worse for you than PW's - awesome), which is why I wouldn't eat it as a kid (I fooled myself into believing I did not like coconut. and nuts. dumb kid.) Maybe I should try Pioneer Woman's recipe this year - or I could make both and compare them. That way I can still post about mine.

Anyway, try these sweet potatoes. You'll thank me.

So Much Love: Dinner Details, part two.

2010-11-18T06:49:00.000-08:00

I'm so glad that my mix-up of projects, ideas, and collections turned into what I consider to be very beautiful tablescapes. Here are even more details from our tables/dinner.

My wine bottle votives were put to good use, scattered along the tables, providing lovely candlelight.

Each place setting had a name card which I Gocco'd with the little monogrammed globe from our invitations and save the dates and a mini Moo cards with an engagement photo and instructions for how to share and upload wedding photos.

David's and my places were even better, with our amazing vintage champagne glasses. I loved toasting with and sipping out of these lovelies, and they sit on display with my other stemware (honestly, I love any and all stemware!) in our house.

Those salads were as good as they look. We were served salads at our tables and then everyone was released to get dinner from the buffet. Everyone was very happy with the food - I've heard nothing but rave reviews. David and I were supposed to be served before people got up, but either by misunderstanding or my servant husband being too humble, we ended up eating last. But, don't you fear, I did eat at my wedding!

Ah, now I'm salivating. Dinner was a great time to sit, eat, soak in the reality of the day, and joke around with my new husband and our siblings (who were sitting at our table). The night had just begun!

So Much Love: Dinner Details.

2010-11-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

After the cocktail hour, it was time to move on in and take our seats for dinner. We did not to a formal grand entrance. We must have been held back talking to the stragglers, though, because I don't remember seeing anyone taking their names from our seating chart map (which we also have no professional photos of - it was one of my favorite details, but I don't know how much of an impression it made.)

photo by lifesaver friend (for many reasons) M. Thanks, M!
The little tags had our guests names and the location on the map matched the location pictured on their table. I added the numbers to each region and table to make things easier. This method for a seating chart proved very useful because nothing was set in stone - we ended up having to make a lot of seating changes and shifted a lot of people, and we were able to simply move their tags to show their new table. The engagement photo to the left is in an awesome vintage frame that I found while rustling around in my grandfather's garage way back when. I stuck the frame in one of the boxes to bring to the wedding, and I'm so glad I did.

Anyway, everyone found their seats, so the map must have worked. The chairs had all been moved back to their places, and the dining room look amazing.

I'm so grateful to my maid of honor for making the beautiful table runners, and to my sisters and friends for setting the places so beautifully.

I had such a love/hate relationship with my DIY centerpieces, but I think they ended up looking rather nice on the tables. The head rounds in the front got my and my bridesmaids' bouquets as centerpieces.

The above photo also shows a great example of the regions from the seating map. Each table got a frame with one of the regions (and number) where the name tags on the main map were. The Alaska one above was by far one of my favorites.

Those frames came in a pack of three for only $2.50 at Target. They were a great deal, but they came in a glossy white. Painting those darn things gold was quite the challenge. To make things worse, the glass did not come out, so we had to tape over it to keep from painting it. Three+ layers later, my mom and I were very tired of the frames, but pretty proud of our work.

And, believe it or not, there's more. I can't believe the details on the tables alone take more than one post. To be continued...

* All photos, unless otherwise stated, are by Sarah Shreves Photography.

ImagineNations.

2010-11-16T07:56:00.000-08:00

It's pretty obvious that I adore antique globes. When I saw these adorable "updated" globes on Design*Sponge, I was smitten.

Wendy from ImagineNations decoupages recycled materials onto antique globes to create creative and interesting artwork for the home. I love the look of antique globes enough as they are; and I think they can always add interest to a room, but Wendy's creations take them a step further. Still, I think I like the ones (Like the "Bon Voyage" globe - top and second left photos) that still show the original map look.

See more globes from Wendy here.

A happy bedroom.

2010-11-15T07:29:00.000-08:00

If you recall, I mentioned that I was painting our bedroom awhile back. Well, It's time to show it off! Our landlady mentioned to us that her husband hated the pinkish color on our walls and that she would love for us to paint if we'd like. I took that as permission to paint the room pretty much any color I'd like that wasn't pink.*

Here's my inspiration photo:

source.
and now for our room:

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

all personal photos.
What do you think? I think it's amazing what a little color can do.

I still have some work I'd like to do. I would love your suggestions for attractive storage on top of the dresser (it easily becomes a junk collection spot), and I'm working on the best way to display the cosmetic case and mirror on my night stand.

Obviously this photo was taken before I painted, but it gives you a good idea of the space. What do you think, should I hang the mirror? If so, on which wall/side of the corner? Also, I like the lampshade, but I don't know if it quite goes. The lamp is from Ikea and I'm willing to replace it and/or the shade if necessary. Any ideas? Oh, and don't worry; I've replaced the tissue box under the lamp with a stack of old books.

* Both the landlady and her husband came into our house a few weeks after I painted to work on something. They noticed the paint right away and told us the liked it, for the record.

Holy Quickness!

2010-11-14T15:46:00.000-08:00

source.
These photos are from the wedding of some friends of mine that happened yesterday. Their photographer already has an entire album (70 photos!) posted from their wedding on facebook. Way to be on the ball, photographer. I tip my hat to you.

Twins?

2010-11-13T05:01:00.000-08:00

I'm pretty sure I found a hole in the universe. These girls are two different people I know - through totally different friends. They are BOTH named Tori, they don't know one another, live in different states, and probably have no clue they're the others' doppelganger. But, I'm pretty sure they're the same person.

I've met both girls they talk alike too. I mean, really!? Do they really have to have similar looking significant others too? I wonder if there's another me out there somewhere - with an identical profile picture and everything.

Anyway, that's all I have for you today - I'm working from 6 am to 7 pm... opening shift at work and a wedding to coordinate. Have a great Saturday!

Anthro my sweet.

2010-11-12T14:49:00.000-08:00

I try not to even look at the items at Anthropologie until they go on sale, and even then they're normally out of my budget. Here are some sale lovelies that I'm currently longing for.

You can buy them here, here, and here.

Ode to Autumn.

2010-11-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

photo by Sarah Shreves.
I miss fall. A Southern California autumn means a constant back and forth between dry, hot, windy days, and those slight glimpses of rain and cool air mixed with mostly the typical nice weather days we get all year 'round. And a town riddled with palm trees doesn't exactly have many colored and falling leaves. What becomes a cool, crisp month full of scarves and hot cider in most places is our fire season. Having grown up in Southern Indiana, I've known the joy of leaping into a pile of freshly raked, crispy leaves.

I've been working opening shifts at work a lot lately, which gets me up in the morning early enough for it to still be pretty cool out. I like to fool myself into feeling like the weather really has cooled down. And you'd better believe I take every chance to sip a hot beverage while curled up in a blanket and to wear my scarves and boots as I can get. Oh, and every little crispy leaf on the sidewalk - few and far between - be warned: I will go out of my way to crunch you.

Regina Spektor's "Time is all Around" comes to mind. I love the lyrics - "Leaves become most beautiful when they're about to die - when they're about to fall from trees - when they're about to dry up." Enjoy.

So Much Love: Soda Pop Hour.

2010-11-10T17:08:00.001-08:00

Another thing that had to be moved inside was our cocktail hour. If you recall, we were going to have our cocktail hour on the deck so we weren't to close to the alcohol in respect of some guests. I honestly don't even remember discussing the move inside on this one, but it must have been communicated because the appetizers and sodas got set up in the pub, and all the guests got shuffled in there for an hour while the chairs got moved back for the reception.

The lodge provided appetizers - fruit and cheeses - that I don't remember trying, and we got permission to bring in our sodas. We ended up with a whole bunch of Mexican coke, and a variety of real cane sugar sodas in old fashioned glass bottles from Trader Joe's (win!), and they were a huge hit.

As soon as the ceremony ended, David and I moved into the pub and our guests followed. This period of time was a huge bur of the most extreme love and joy I have ever felt. We ended up having an impromptu receiving line where we got to hug and greet each guest. There was a LOT of hugging.

Somewhere between that first photo and the second, I hugged an old roommate and she somehow stepped on and pulled off my veil. That thing wasn't on long. Good thing I was planning on removing it for the reception anyway. ;) The beautiful momma in the last photo is A, the bride who's wedding we went to see in Berkeley last weekend.

The hour (if that's how long it really was) flew by while I took as much time to talk to each guest as possible. I truly felt out of body as I heard a voice that did not sound like my own saying "Thank you!" over and over and grinning my face off. I have never felt the way I did during that hour, surrounded by the love of so many amazing people in my life, and I don't know if I ever will again. I found myself thinking, "Now, THIS is joy."

Some of my friends also took the opportunity to take photos with me.

Don't these ladies look like they could have been my bridesmaids in those lovely dresses?

some of the sodas making an appearance...

and there I am with a Mexican coke of my own! I owe the person who brought that over to me so much, if only I could remember who it was. The card in my hand is the cutest hand drawn card ever from my cousin's son.
The time went so quickly and there aren't many photos, but our cocktail/soda hour was one of the most amazing hours of my life. I truly cherish the time we got to spend with our guests and couldn't imagine having to wait until the reception to be able to hug everyone. The moral of this post? Getting all of our formal photos taken care of before the ceremony so we could go straight to our guests afterwards was the best. decision. ever. The end.

*The first four photos in this post are by Sarah Shreves Photography, and the last three are by wedding guests.

Ready, Set, ACTION!

2010-11-09T14:51:00.000-08:00

I've heard rumors about how amazing and simple Photoshop Actions were, but I was never really ready to download them and try them out until now. Last night, I downloaded The Pioneer Woman's Actions (for free!), and I am so glad I did. Actions are basically an awesome Photoshop cheat sheet - you press the button and the computer automatically edits your photo to look the way you've chosen. Just look at what these little wonders can do!

Here's a photo - straight out of camera - that I took on one of my trips through California's central valley. I was very disappointed with the way it turned out. It just seemed... bland.

And this is the exact same photo after applying the "Seventies" and "Dim the Lights" actions (and a teeny bit of previous touch-ups on iPhoto.) Amazing, no?

Still not convinced? Here's more:

Another SOOC image - this one's from an engagement shoot I should have never convinced myself I'd be able to do successfully. Thankfully it was for free for friends and they still loved the pictures.

Here it is again, after I ran it through the "Seventies", "Boost", and "Quick Edge Burn" actions. I like.

And, for comparison's sake, here's the same photo after I waaay over-edited it on iPhoto in an attempt to give the couple some "artsy" and salvaged shots from the day. This took many alterations and tons of time trying to make it right (which I may or may not have ever achieved... you decide) while the one with the actions above literally took three clicks.

So, I can make drastic changes to "blah" photos - but, what about improving ones that I already like?

Everybody loves a picture of a happy baby. I took this photo (shown here SOOC), brightened it up a bit on iPhoto and it was good to go, right?

Well, here's the same happy baby using the "bright and colorful" action. One click, instant improvement. Awesome.

And finally, this one's okay SOOC, but the focus isn't on her eyes as much as I'd like.

Using the "boost" and "b&w beauty" actions (and fading it slightly), we get a completely different, crisper, awesome photo.

I admit I know next to nothing about Photoshop, - without these actions I'd be at a total loss on the program - but I will for sure be getting a lot more use out of my Creative Suite purchase now that I have these awesome tricks up my sleeve. Thanks, Pioneer Woman. Download her actions, ya'll. Do it.

Berkeley Birthday: Part 3

2010-11-08T09:35:00.000-08:00

I know I skipped Part 2. That's because Part 2 is the wedding, and I'm saving it for the pro pics - it will be worth it. That being said, the "pro pics" from my birthday are up - Sarah Shreves accompanied me, David, and my wonderful ex-roommate A in San Francisco for adventures on Sunday, and she just posted some wonderful photos from the day on Facebook - which I am shamelessly stealing for this blog post.

this photo is by me.
We started the day at Venus in Berkeley. In the four years I lived there, I had never been to Venus, and I'm so glad I've now had the chance to experience it. Sarah and I split and egg scramble and the pumpkin pancakes so we could both have sweet and savory, and it was so good.

And then, we headed into the city.

The day acted both as a great way for me to spend time with friends on my birthday and explore places I love and miss and a way for me to show off some of the great areas of the city to Sarah, who had not been back in San Francisco since she was on a family trip when she was ten. After a quick stop in H&M, a view of Union Square, and a jaunt through China Town, I knew the places Sarah would most appreciate were a bit farther away. So, we jumped on a bus and headed toward Golden Gate Park and the Haight/Ashbury district.

I love love love Golden Gate Park. If my love for Balboa Park in San Diego weren't so strong, I'd probably list San Francisco as my favorite place in the world - the San Francisco that includes Golden Gate Park, The Presidio, and The Palace of Fine Arts. Oh man, I miss being able to call both San Diego and The Bay Area home.

It was about dinner time when we headed toward Haight St. After browsing amoeba (and finding my Sunrise DVD!), we enjoyed some tasty burgers, onion rings, and sweet potato fries at People's Cafe, got me a free birthday scoop of half baked ice cream at Ben and Jerry's, and explored a fun book store before we were ready to call it a night.

Let me tell you, San Francisco is a great place to be on Halloween and during the World Series - even if you're not actively participating in either. I had a great birthday full of so many things I love dearly, and oh boy would I move back to San Francisco in a heartbeat if the opportunity provided.

* all photos (except that first one) are by Sarah Shreves.

Gifted love.

2010-11-07T07:26:00.000-08:00

Now, this is a holiday look I can get behind. After my post on Anthropolgie's holiday catalog, Stephanie from love&lace linked me to Gifted Magazine, and I can't get enough of it.

I am definitely using their wrapping tips and DIY decorating tips for some of my own projects this year, and the gift guide has some super cute ideas for everyone (including pets!)

Check out the magazine, and be sure to give the creator some love on her blog. (I'm officially a fan!)

The Best Birthday Cake.

2010-11-06T07:30:00.000-07:00

I celebrated my birthday with my in-laws last night, and my sister-in-law (who also happens to be my best friend) made me this lovely chocolate raspberry cake.

excuse the image quality - it was this or a photo I took with my cell phone.

The cake was great, and I especially enjoyed picking off all the raspberries from the leftover piece of cake - it was my birthday cake after all. I think to me desserts are a lot like the wrapping on gifts - the pretty exterior almost excites me more than whats inside. So, thanks, S, for making me a cake that was not only tasty, but beautiful. :)

I also left their house with two bags full of fabric scraps - let the crafting begin! I'll be sure to share whatever I come up with.

An Anthropologie Holiday

2010-11-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

Most of my mail is still delivered to my parents' house which is about 30 minutes south of where David and I now live. I go down there about once a week or so to visit my parents and watch the newest Desperate Housewives on abc.com (I got my parents hooked one summer when I decided to revisit the early seasons which led to a full-blown marathon of every episode made to date. Plus, they have a 62" HDTV and a cable to plug in my laptop.) Anyway, I digress. Whenever I go down, there's a stack of mail waiting for me on the kitchen counter. Last night, Anthropologie's newest catalog was among the mail in my stack. Today, Apartment Therapy was so kind as to post a sneak for those who may not have received the catalog.

source
Missing from the AT sneak are photos of a llama wearing Anthro necklaces, pigs wearing scarves, a duck wearing boots, and more. Apartment Therapy's post points out that this is Anthropologie's Holiday line, which gave me pause (I must have missed that charming "Merry Christmas" garland) - this is their Christmas theme?

The photos range from super cute to unique to just plain strange in my mind, but until I read the AP post, they certainly did not strike me as being very Christmas-y. I love when holiday aesthetics take on new themes and use colors and elements that aren't your typical Holiday decor, but I'm still not quite sure how I feel about this being the best Anthropologie has to offer this Holiday season.

That being said, I have been pondering what theme or look to go for this year for my annual Christmas party - is this the way this year's Christmas trends are heading?

What do you think about Anthro's new catalog? What direction should I be looking to head for my own Christmas look this year?

So Much Love: Ceremony Details.

2010-11-04T07:13:00.000-07:00

If you'll recall, having our ceremony moved inside at the last minute meant that I didn't see our ceremony space at all until the moment I walked down the aisle. The inside ceremony space doubled as the dance floor, so I had scattered some of my DIY decorations around the area, but the beautiful details that made the space beautiful should mostly be credited to my wonderful friends who pulled together and made. it. happen. the day of the wedding. I am forever grateful.

The mantle above where we stood - and the room's focal point was breathtaking. I had placed the wine bottle vases and baby's breath on the sides around the fireplace to decorate the reception, but it was my awesome friends who created that gorgeous arrangement in the center. Honestly, ya'll, this photo doesn't do it justice. They did more with baby's breath and roses than I ever thought possible. The vase was one of my first wedding purchases, and though I brought it to the lodge, I was pretty sure I wouldn't find a use for it. If you have extra stuff once everything is planned, bring it anyway - magic may occur. The letters on the sides were originally hanging from the altar/arbor outside - I'm so glad they got moved inside.

The programs were a late project - I printed the fronts on an inkjet (ps - stardream paper + inkjet = nightmare) and the insides had an ivory page with the wedding party and another with the order of the ceremony. The back was an ivory page of cardstock, and it had a nice thank you to our guests inside. I simply folded the cardstock, added a bow (some burgundy, some lace), and attached it all with a brad. I kept them in a sage green basket that I picked up at Michael's, and I'm pretty sure that's where most of them stayed all night. I forgot to get someone to make sure they got passed out. I saw a few guests with them, though, so I guess it was okay.

I love love love how the color of our bridesmaids' dresses turned out, and I think I did a pretty good job making them baby's breath bouquets at the last minute. They definitely achieved the lacy look I was going for, don't you think?

We don't have any close-up photos of the guys bouts, but I'm happy with how they turned out. Also, here's proof that letting guys get their own suits - with limited guidance on color - can turn out just fine. They match just enough, but look more natural and less stuffy, I think.

Seating was a tight squeeze inside, but I love this photo of everything in action. If you notice in the bottom right corner, people were seated right up against the tables in the other part of the room (so much for keeping the reception decor a surprise), and I actually didn't walk down the whole "aisle" - I had to cut in front of some rows.

I think our ceremony space turned out beautifully in all it's craziness. I was amazed at how quickly the event staff could get all those chairs back to the reception tables as well; by the time the cocktail hour ended, the room had been completely transformed.

Sunrise.

2010-11-03T08:46:00.001-07:00

While we were on our trip, I had one major thing in mind to find at amoeba records - Sunrise by F.W. Murnau. It's a silent film made just before/during the transition into "talkies", and was made by German director, Murnau, in Hollywood - in the classic Hollywood style... sorta. This film beautifully mixes German Expressionism, French Impressionism, and Soviet Montage styles all while keeping the feelgood Hollywood style we love. The film won "best picture" in the 1927 Academy Awards, but seems pretty unknown otherwise. I fell in love with it in a class in college, and I've been searching* for it ever since.

I found it on my birthday and gladly snatched it up for myself. (I even considered wrapping it for myself, but that's just because I'm crazy. Oh, and I love love love wrapping presents.) It came in a "best picture" collection of films - including All About Eve (1950), Gentlemen's Agreement (1947), and How Green Was My Valley (1941) - all of which I have not seen. Are these favorites of any of yours? Which film (after Sunrise, of course) should I watch first?

* Yes, I was searching for a long time for a copy of this film. I had checked Amoeba previously and asked around at other retailers. However, fear not: if you would like to see it, Netflix has it for rent, and I found it on Amazon, but it appears that someone has just torn apart the collection and is selling the DVDs seperately.

Berkeley Birthday: Part 1

2010-11-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

David and I were gifted a Southwest Airlines gift card as a wedding present, so when we were invited to my old roommate A's wedding, we knew that we would both like to fly up and make a long weekend of it. The fact that the wedding was during my birthday weekend, many of my dear friends were invited (and vendors!), and it was in Berkeley - my college town and home to many of David's and my favorite restaurants and spots to visit - was just icing on the cake (which was delicious!). What followed was a weekend full of public transit, reuniting with friends, tons of good food, and lots and lots of love.

Even though we had a gift card to put towards our plane tickets, we still wanted to go as cheap as possible - which meant flying on weekdays (which are significantly cheaper than weekend tickets.) We flew into Oakland on Thursday night and played in the Bay Area all the way until Monday early afternoon. It gave us plenty of time to visit friends, wander both Berkeley and San Francisco, and give a whole day to the wedding.

We were to spend Thursday and Friday evening at my friend G and her husband S's house on the peninsula. Our flight was delayed a good 2 hours, but that didn't stop G from greeting us at the airport with some delicious (and still hot) Zachary's Pizza. She was sweet enough to wait for a late dinner with us, so as soon as we got to her apartment, we scarfed a few too many slices and headed to bed.

The next day, G's husband S was so kind as to drive us to the BART station where we took the train all the way from the end of the line on the peninsula, under the bay, and into Berkeley - where we promptly walked to Crepevine for a delicious breakfast. We explored a few stores that we'd been missing - Games of Berkeley and Amoeba - and then we met up with the lovely Sarah Shreves for lunch at Cheeseboard. Roommate A loved our wedding photos so much that she booked Sarah for her own wedding - it was so awesome having college friends and high school friends together for the weekend.

If you've spent time in the Bay Area and you haven't been to Cheeseboard, I'm ashamed of you. No, but really, these people make magic happen everyday on sourdough crust. They make one type of pie a day with a variety of fresh vegetables, awesome cheeses, and garlic olive oil, and people line out the door and down the street to try a slice.

After lunch, we left Sarah and walked back to BART to travel all the way back to G and S's where we promptly drove to Half Moon Bay for dinner (I told you there was a lot of food.) We ate at Barbara's Fish Trap where we enjoyed fish and chips, clam chowder, and some beers.

We returned to G and S's house where David gave me my birthday gift (which G helped him wrap out of a shopping bag - so cute) and we played a little Quiddler.

So far so good on the whold good friends, good food department. Day one - a super success.

*In case you were wondering, David's gift to me was Explosions in the Sky's album "Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Die, Those Who Tell The Truth Shall Live Forever" which he purchased while we were at Amoeba that day. He doesn't like anticipation, so he gave it to me that day instead of my actual birthday. ;)

Post fest.

2010-11-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

I just made the sudden decision to participate in NaBloPoMo - National Blog Posting Month (I can't stand that acronym)... I have friends participating in NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month, and I figure if they can get thousands of creative words written every day, I can push out a measly blog post. We'll see how this goes.

Right now, I am writing from a hotel room in downtown Oakland, basking in the Berkeley foods, wedding joy, friends seen, and San Francisco adventures I enjoyed this weekend. I have pictures and stories to share with you when I get home, but the best pictures and videos were the ones taken by miss Sarah Shreves herself, and I can't promise if/when I can get those to you.

It was so nice to come to a familiar but no longer home place with little concrete plans, fill the time with love, and call it a vacation. Exploring new places is wonderful, don't get me wrong, but I had been really missing Berkeley.

Anyway, I sure hope this counts as today's post even though it's lame. I'll post pictures from our trip tomorrow and jump back into the wedding stuff soon. Hooray for November! (Where the heck did the year go!?)

So Much Love: The meat, part 3.

2010-10-14T07:16:00.000-07:00

We said our vows, we cried more tears of joy than we ever thought possible, and we exchanged our rings. We had already included all of our guests with our ring warming, but we really wanted to do something special for just our parents. I attended a wedding a few years ago and right after the bride and groom said their vows, they presented both sets of parents with a bouquet of flowers. There were hugs and tears all around and it was the most beautiful moment I've ever seen in someone else's wedding to date. We wanted to do something like that - flowers weren't really the best choice since I was DIYing our flowers at a minimum and everyone was staying at the lodge the whole weekend (I mean, what would they do with them after getting them?), but we wanted to have that kind of sentiment all the same. So, after Kevin said a beautiful prayer to seal our vows and commitment to one another,

we turned our attention to the people who brought us this far, our parents. David gets the credit for writing this part, which Kevin read:

In days like these; when separations seem as common as the unions that precede them, it is encouraging to see couples that have stayed strong with one another. David and Laura would like to honor and thank their parents, J* and D*, and T* and V*, who have been strength to their children, and to each other. They also ask that you parents will continue to support them with your strength and your wisdom, reassured by your enduring love. Thank you!
and we went over to hug our parents - new and old respectively - one by one.

This photo of me hugging David's mom is the only one we have from this time - probably because it all happened so fast and the photographers literally had no space to move around and get the shot. But, I am glad to have this one.

Then, David and I returned to our spots in front, and Kevin pronounced us husband and wife!

We kissed, and the room was filled with the sounds of the most joyful artist I know - The Rocket Summer's So Much Love (and the title of my re-cap posts). Take a listen - you can't help but love this guy.

And we danced our way back down the aisle - this time together as husband and wife!

* Parents names abbreviated for privacy.
** All Photos by my dear, Sarah Shreves.

So Much Love: The meat, part 2.

2010-10-13T07:26:00.000-07:00

So, we were mid-ceremony, our rings had been passed and prayed over by our loved ones, and it was time to seal the deal: it was time to say our vows, and, you know, get married.

Pastor Kevin read Mark 10:6-9:

6"But at the beginning of creation God 'made them male and female.' 7'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, 8and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. 9Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate."
And then it was time to say our vows. We had written personal vows for one another and hed kept them secret from the other until this very moment. David went first.

He read: "I vow to give you all of my strength, all that I can endure. I vow to do my best to be slow to speak, quick to listen, and as slow to wrath as I can be. I vow to keep you as my one and only, to speak of you fondly, to remember you happily, and to keep you with me.

I vow to seek the Lord my God in all things, to remember the sacrifice of His Son, and to possess the gift of His Holy Spirit. I give my entire heart, mind, and soul to Him, and what He returns to me for my own use, I vow to you.

These are my vows and promises, and in prayer and faith I will seek to keep these all the days of my life.

We decided to include part of the traditional vows as well, so as soon as he was finished reading, Kevin led him through the "I do" part. Then, it was my turn.

This is the ugly cry face at its finest. I could barely choke out the words I had written.

I read: "David, as I stand here today, I’m in awe and so grateful that the man who has a heart to love and serve everyone has chosen me. You are such an honest and selfless servant of God, and I am proud to stand by your side and become your wife.

Like breathing – like my heart beating – loving you is involuntary. It’s something within me that will always remain. I feel like I’ve always loved you. However, love is also a choice – an action, a very voluntary thing. Thus, today – in front of God, our families, and our dear friends, I vow to choose to love you each and every day. I vow to make the choice to put you first, consider your needs, and truly love you - as an action that I will live out for you – no matter what.

I promise to be your wife – your partner in everything, respecting you as the head of our house, and supporting you as we follow God’s awesome plan for our lives together. I will love God more than I love you, so that He can be always teaching me how to love you. I will say I’m sorry when I’m wrong, and really mean it. I will bring you chicken soup when you’re sick, hold your hand when times are hard, laugh like a fool when times are good, and never take our time, health, and love for granted. I will respect you, honor your decisions, and love you more every day so much so that our future children will never doubt our love.

I will stand by your side – your wife – today and forever.
I honestly don't know how I managed to say all of this - of course I had to shoot myself in the foot once more by making our ceremony so entirely perfect that it turned me into a wreck. I remember not being able to recognize my own voice as I choked out the words, and there were certainly more than one pauses to try to contain myself. Then it was my turn to say those legally binding words - "I do", and we were ready to exchange the rings that had been so lovingly warmed and prepared by our friends and family.

You'd think at this point we were done emotionally destroying each other and our guests, but no, we still had a few more things up our sleeves until we could officially be announced husband and wife. To be continued...

*Yep, all photos by Sarah Shreves Photography.

So Much Love: The meat.

2010-10-11T07:58:00.000-07:00

In wedding planning we so often get carried away thinking about so many things - the dress, the guests, the reception, the food, the decor - and it becomes easy to forget about the most important detail - the ceremony. After all, it's the wedding part of the wedding. Without it, you're just throwing a big party - not actually getting married. Thus, I consider the ceremony the meat of the wedding plate.

David and I decided that we wanted to write our own ceremony. It meant a lot to us that every word that was said be for us specifically and that we shared ourselves with each other and our guests as much as possible. We spent some time outlining the whole deal together and then wrote out and chose specific passages that we wanted said. Finally, we met with our pastor and compared notes. He showed us what he was planning to say in our ceremony and we filled in the blanks, re-arranged, and shared our written passages with him. I don't have a copy of his own words and notes, but I will be filling in this post with the passages that David and I wrote - imagine some pretty great pastor wedding stuff in-between.

From the moment I came down the aisle, I saw David get teary. Seeing him cry made me come very close to crying myself - little did we know that we had written in the true waterworks to come soon. After Pastor Kevin said a statement about marriage and the Bible and a declaration of our intent, he asked my father to "give me away", and then he prayed for our union. Next came the ring warming ceremony. We wanted to give each guest a chance to hold/pray over/and bless our rings before we exchanged them. Here's what we wrote for Kevin to say:

As members of Laura and David’s friends and family, each of you hold a very important piece to their past. You have helped shape them into the people they are. Today, they ask that you also become a very important part of their future together. There is a reason we have public wedding ceremonies – not only is it a joy to celebrate this union with you all, but Laura and David also ask something very important of you. In addition to asking that you witness their commitment today, they ask that you support them, remind them where they’ve come from and where they are headed together, and continue to help shape their lives – now as a married couple.

Soon, Laura and David will exchange wedding rings. These rings are a visible and symbolic sign of their commitment to one another. But first, they would like to invite you all as family and friends to take part in the warming and blessing of their rings. As the rings are passed, Laura and David ask that each of you hold them for a moment, warm them with your love and make a silent prayer for this couple and their future together. When these rings come back to be exchanged, they will contain, in their precious metal, that which is more precious, that which is priceless – your love and hope and pledge of support for their union.
and, as the rings were passed from the back to the front (while sitting on the lovely last-minute gifted ring pillow, this song began to play. (Note: I cannot find this song on youtube or anywhere else that might allow me to embed it here. Please click the link in another window to enjoy the song for the remainder of this post.)

These photos of our parents and grandparents praying over our rings are some of my absoute favorites from our ceremony.
Oh boy, including the people we loved in such a way while listening to that song was such. a. bad. idea. The floodgates came pouring open. We were a crying mess. It was beautiful but so very hard to stay composed.

Once the rings were brought to the front and given to David's brother to hold, Kevin read "Union" by Robert Fulghum:

You have known each other from the first glance of acquaintance to this point of commitment. At some point, you decided to marry. From that moment of yes to this moment of yes, indeed, you have been making promises and agreements in an informal way. All those conversations that were held riding in a car or over a meal or during long walks - all those sentences that began with “When we’re married” and continued with “I will and you will and we will”- those late night talks that included “someday” and “somehow” and “maybe”- and all those promises that are unspoken matters of the heart. All these common things, and more, are the real process of a wedding. The symbolic vows that you are about to make are a way of saying to one another, “ You know all those things we’ve promised and hoped and dreamed- well, I meant it all, every word.” Look at one another and remember this moment in time. Before this moment you have been many things to one another- acquaintance, friend, companion, lover, dancing partner, and even teacher, for you have learned much from one another in these last few years. Now you shall say a few words that take you across a threshold of life, and things will never quite be the same between you. For after these vows, you shall say to the world, this- is my husband, this- is my wife.
And it was time for the real meat - the legally binding words that would make us husband and wife and the symbols that followed. To be Continued...

The moral of the story thus far: Writing your own ceremony is great and makes such a wonderful personal memory, but if you don't want to be a puddle of tears by the end, maybe don't include every personal detail.

* Again, all photos are by the lovely Sarah Shreves.

So Much Love: Walk of a lifetime.

2010-10-08T07:09:00.000-07:00

Okay, I promise I'm alive. I really am sorry about my blogging hiatus, but it really was a much needed break. I have been pretty down about some real-life junk, and blogging was just starting to feel like work. Now, though, I am super excited to finish off our wedding re-caps, and ready to start blogging about anything and everything that I enjoy - I want to make this a celebration of the good in my days so it's a joy and not a burden. Anyway, re-living our wedding is certainly no burden, so back to the re-caps we go! I sure hope you've stuck with me throughout this break, because we're just getting to the good stuff - the actual wedding. :)

After we took family photos, exchanged gifts, and remembered my veil, David, our wedding party, our families, and I stood around in the pub adjacent to the lodge's lobby (where the ceremony was now taking place) waiting. I peeked out the windows and watched as so many people who are so dear to me arrived. It was surreal to see loved ones from all different aspects of life gathering all the way out in Julian.

My mom checked on the ceremony space (which I still had not seen set up) and on guests as the arrived,

and the men started to line up as my ladies probably continued to fuss over me and fix my veil.

Then, they began to pair up,

and, before I knew it, David and his parents left the room to walk down the aisle with my bridesmaids and his groomsmen in pairs close behind them while an acoustic version of The Beatles' In My Life (very similar to the one in the video below - click to play and set the mood if you'd like) played.

Then, suddenly, the room held only my parents and me.

It was my turn. The music changed (though I assure you, I was unaware of any music at the time) to a loop of the first beautiful minute of Ray LaMontagne's Be Here Now. (The edited loop was created by me very roughly on iMovie sometime during the week of the wedding or so. Again, you can click the video to listen.)

I was suposed to walk with both of my parents, but since the hallway from the pub was too thin, my mom met us when we reached the actual aisle. I'm sure you've noticed that none of these photos are from the actual aisle walk (What? The women's restroom sign and lack of seated guests didn't give it away?), and that's due to the fact that the room was literally jammed full of people. There was absolutely no space for the photographers to get around for good shots. Add the lack of good natural light and I'm impressed and appreciative of every good shot they did get from the ceremony. Anyway, pictures or none, we all made our way to the front, and it was time - for real, this was the moment - for me to marry the man of my dreams.

* Of course, all photos are by the amazing Sarah Shreves Photography.

lame-o.

2010-09-06T09:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm pretty much the worst blogger. ever. I have been putting off blogging abut our ceremony because I want to be sure it's good - there's just so much to say. Add that to the fact that things in my personal life have been draining, and you get two weeks straight with no posting. I'm sorry. Please stick around - I promise to get my act together soon.

favorite things week.

2010-08-25T19:36:00.001-07:00

That's what I'm calling this week - and it doesn't allow much time for blogging.

On Monday, a dear college friend called me and said she was in town. She invited me to see a silent film accompanied by it's original score on the Spreckle's Organ in Balboa Park. It was a wonderful evening spent with about 3,000 of San Diego's coolest elderly folk.

Yesterday, I got to see Sarah one last time before she moves to LA. We had CPK and then came to my house for some homemade Root Beer Floats in David's awesome A&W mugs.

And today, I've filled myself with pizza and am now watching David and his brother play the new Scott Pilgrim video game.

Tomorrow through Saturday, I get to have a reunion-adventure time with some of my closest friends and I absolutely cannot wait.

So, it's a great week - leaving me no time thus far to sit down and invest the hours it will take to blog about our ceremony. It's coming, I promise. Until then, have a great end of the week and weekend!

So Much Love: A forgotten detail.

2010-08-20T07:22:00.000-07:00

Have you figured out what I forgot to put on or bring with me when I was getting ready and all through our pictures yet? No? Well, neither had I at this point.

But suddenly, literally just minutes or maybe even seconds before everyone was supposed to walk down the aisle, - honestly, we were all getting lined up - it hit me. I yelled out "VEIL!" and everyone turned and stared at me. How the heck had I forgotten my veil? No really, how had nobody noticed that I was missing my veil all this time? Apparently my veil, which was originally hanging by my dress, had been moved out of the way for pictures of my dress, and it had been completely forgotten about. Awesome.

So, my dad - my hero - ran out to save the day. He rushed to my cabin, frantically searched around a bit, and valiantly returned with my beautiful veil - which my mom and David's mom proceeded to place on my head.

While I desperately wish I had some outdoor action shots of my veil in the wind, - and more pictures of my veil period - I love love love these photos. This was such an unplanned, crazy, yet intimate, beautiful, and special moment. I love that both mothers and my bridesmaids can be seen helping me with my veil, and I ~~love~~ appreciate that my crazy bride-brain forgetfulness was documented in this way.

So now, with my veil finally placed on my head, I was ready to get married!

* all images by Sarah Shreves Photography.

So Much Love: Gifts for the groom (and bride!)

2010-08-19T07:38:00.000-07:00

EDIT 10/07/10: I realize this post may not be as clear or may not have come across the way I'd intended. The lesson I learned here and wished to express stemmed far more from the realization that women tend to have lofty expectations and it's our own fault when we're sad they're not met than anything I may have implied about men and their thoughtfulness. My husband is very thoughful - I just tend to be more wishful and imaginative than is good for me.

The original schedule for our wedding day gave us enough spare time that David and I would have a good 30+ minutes alone together after pictures and before the ceremony to just connect, breathe, and exchange gifts plus an additional 30+ minutes after that to be apart (with our wedding party) before I walked down the aisle. Yeah, not so much. After we finished the family photos, everyone was all around milling about that we couldn't have gotten away to be alone if we tried. Add that to the fact that the time had completely run away from us, and David and I moved on to a new plan. We still wanted to exchange gifts before the ceremony, so we chose an empty corner in a very crowded room (crowded with our wedding party, family, etc.), and went ahead and had our moment.

A note to brides: if you want to have a special gift-exchange moment with your grooms, make sure you communicate that to him beforehand. Let's be honest, most guys just aren't wired to be as thoughtful a many of us are, so expecting such thoughtfulness often leads to a letdown.

I had told David I would like to exchange gifts at the wedding, so he got me a gift, but I forgot to mention a card. You see, I spent a few evenings leading up to the wedding composing the perfect note to present to my (soon to be) husband. I chronicled our memories together, inside jokes, reasons I loved him, and all the things I was looking forward to in our marriage. I poured my heart out in that letter, and I hoped to get something like that in return. You see, David can write a mean love letter. I spent half of our first summer together living in Italy, and David wrote me many a letter that brought me to tears. They were so full of love, beautiful language, and poetry. Since David spent a few days before the wedding out of town, I imagined that he would scribble a similar note for the wedding while missing me in his hotel room. The problem is, my daydreams didn't quite match his own rationale. So, while I was getting ready on our wedding day, David and I talked over the phone about when and how we should exchange gifts. I asked if he had written a note, and he said no. In order to "save the day", I had an extra thank you note that I had made sent over to him, and asked him to go ahead and write a letter.

When I opened the letter, it said:

"Love,
This token is a small thing, but a promise of so much more to come. Picnics and Adventures, wherever life takes us. You are a blessing from the Lord.
Yours."
Yes, it's sweet - beautiful, even. Actually, I'm tearing up just reading it right now. But honestly, on our wedding day, it was kind of a letdown. You see, I had concocted this grand idea in my head of an epic love letter given to be from my groom, but I had not shared my expectations with said groom. Lesson learned. The poor guy's not a mind reader - if you ladies want something specific from your man on your wedding day, let the guy know!

Anyway, back to the gift-giving. I opened my gift (a picnic basket/bag - which we still need to use... must get on that), we shared a kiss, and moved on to David's gift from me.

I got David a box full of bottles of Moxie soda. The very first time David and I talked before we dated included a conversation about Moxie. David loves the stuff, and I had (still) never tried it. It's impossibly difficult to find, so I was pretty excited about giving him his gift.

He seemed pretty excited too. :)

Unfortunately, we later discovered that this Moxie was not the original elixir, but a new recipe made with high fructose corn syrup (vs. cane sugar). Who does that!? This soda is clearly not made in bulk, and it's packaged in old bottles and marketed as the original soda. Why it's recipe has been cheapened and modernized is beyond me. Anyway, David doesn't like this new Moxie nearly as much, but it's the thought that counts, right?

We kissed again, and it was just about time to get married!

* all images by Sarah Shreves Photography.

PS: these are some of the only photos I have of myself sitting while wearing my dress. If you're worried about sitting in a trumpet/mermaid gown, have no fear - it was awkward at first, but worked in the end. Plus, I think it looks really great in these photos.

painting is tiring.

2010-08-18T07:32:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know I promised more frequent wedding recaps without interruption, but I just spent yesterday making my bedroom look a bit like this:

source.
which, apparently is quite in style right now. (Really? Can there be a color of the year? What happens when the year is over?) For the record, I picked the color before I knew it was in because, you know, I care about not being a sell-out or whatever.

Anyway, I'll be back with wedding recaps (and then pictures of our pretty new room!) asap. <3

So Much Love: We are family.

2010-08-17T07:38:00.000-07:00

After ensuring that our wedding party froze, but not too much, and getting our group photos, we headed back to the lodge for another type of group photos - our family portraits. Family pictures - where the subjects are all lined up and smiley - are my least favorite part of wedding photos, and I vowed that our family pictures would be more interesting. I brought props - suitcases to mimic Mrs. Avocado's (aka Jenna from That Wife) family pictures - but they apparently got lost or forgotted in the shuffle. Speaking of lost in the shuffle, did you notice that none of our couple, bridal, or wedding party photos included my (or my bridesmaids') bouquet(s)? Yeah, we totally forgot. Thankfully, we remembered in time for family pics. (Note: There was still one pretty major aspect of my bridal look that I had still completely forgotten at this point. Can you guess what it is?)

Anyway, we didn't get super interesting family photos, but I love them. They're pictures of dear people whom I love and support me no matter what. What's not to cherish? That being said, I totally understand if pictures of my family don't interest you, so feel free to skim or skip this post - the ceremony is next!

We started with everybody. That's my family on the left, and David's on the right.

Then we got just my family. I can't decide if I like the standard smiley one or the more candid one best.

Family pictures certainly feel like a lof of shifting people around - almost like a bizarre game of human tetris - but, I sure am glad to have all the different combinations.

We snagged a photo of us with both sets of parents and moved on to David's family.

David got a photo alone with his siblings since I already got one with my sisters during the wedding party photos.

We added David's awesome grandma into the mix, and then moved up the stairs for photos with my grandpa and his wife - my grandpa has bad knees, so we saved him from coming down the stairs.

These photos with my grandpa are especially dear since he hasn't been in the best of health for quite some time now, and every moment with him is very special and full of emotion. He was so grateful and touched to witness our wedding day - more on that later.

We ended it all with a few more glamour shots of me - man, being the bride is hard work, ya'll. ;)

Getting these photos was quite interesting - guests were staring to arrive and we were walking all around some very open areas with full view from the lodge's lobby. Family members were very kind to try to walk between doors and windows and myself, but I'm pretty sure many a guest saw me before the wedding. Oh well.

These family photos are a bit bittersweet for me since they show off exactly how beautiful our ceremony photos would have been if we had kept it outside. I am glad our guests didn't freeze, but I wish we could have said our vows under those beautiful trees for the pictures' sake. Again, oh well.

So Much Love: Wedding Party Par-tay.

2010-08-11T07:30:00.000-07:00

Remember how I said we rushed through our wedding party photos so our friends didn't have to freeze? Well, because of that, we have exactly three photos of our entire wedding party. Sure, I wish there were more, but these three are pretty great, and our maids and men stayed happy.

We really did have an awesome wedding party, and don't we all look amazing together? I wish we could have had more time hanging out with this group - I've seen wedding parties do whole weekends, trips to Disneyland, and other group celebrations together - I wish we could have taken the time to do that.

Which of these wedding party pictures is your favorite? I'd love to get a big print of our awesomely amazing friends.

* all photos by Sarah Shreves Photography.

So Much Love: Bridesmaid Beauties.

2010-08-10T07:15:00.000-07:00

The bridesmaid photos were really fun but super quick. While David and I were more than willing to brave the cold for our photos, we didn't want to expect the same from our friends. I wish I had a few more fun poses for my girls, but I love the ones we got and am glad we could accommodate everyone.

I love this photo. We were all wearing our pashminas for warmth, but I requested that they be taken off for the photos (mean bride!) So, the girls all started throwing their pashmina scarves at the guys. This, apparently, was hilarious. If you look closely, you can see that bridesmaid J is about to throw hers.

Somehow all the scarves ended up in David's control. Since it was so windy, he had a bit of an interesting time holding onto them all.

I'm convinced that left photo looks like it's straight out of a Fellini film, yeah?
Once we were de-scarved, we got some pretty cute shots.

And, of course, I got individual shots with all my girls too. If you'd like to read more info on each lovely girl in my life, go here.

Definitely make sure you get pictures with your bridesmaids individually. I adore having these photos with the girls I love.

* all photos by Sarah Shreves Photography.

So Much Love: Groomal Party.

2010-08-09T07:26:00.000-07:00

Okay, wedding posts in chronological order it is! I'm excited to show you the rest of our wedding and start to dive into life after the wedding, too.

Isn't this photo of David and his brothers the best?
All images in this post are by Sarah Shreves.
Once our wedding party joined us, we girls crammed into my parents' car to stay warm while the boys took their turn taking pictures.

Again, which is better - the color or the back and white?

I realized I've never formally introduced our groomsmen to you, so I would like to use these individual portraits with David for that purpose. So, I now introduce to you, our groomsmen:

P is David's youngest brother/sibling. Though they're ten years apart, David and P are best friends. They can talk and joke for hours on end to the point that nobody else can possibly get a word in. They just get each other on such a great level.

L is David's oldest sibling/younger brother. I will pretty much always view L as being older than David (although he's younger) since I knew him in high school when age was a bigger deal. L and his wife also got married in May three years ago. Their wedding was a huge step for David and me early on in our relationship.

J has been David's friend since J was in Kindergarten and David was in first grade. David was a guest of honor at J's wedding, so it was great to have him as a groomsman. David and I love to go on yogurt dates with J and his wife.

N has also been a friend of David's since elementary school. He is the lead guitarist in David's band and a good friend.

J2 is another bandmate - the drummer - and David's elementary school friend. His suit - obviously way too big - just goes to show what can happen when you leave dressing the guys up to the guys. We asked all the groomsmen months ago to please purchase a grey suit. We even sent photos of David's suit and some examples of the darker grey we were going for. Each guy left getting his suit to pretty much the very last minute. J2 told us after he arrived at the wedding that he had a "black" suit that fit better than this one, but he thought it needed to be grey. I turns out, the "black" suit looks just like the suits the other guys wore. I half cringe/half laugh when looking at the pictures J2 is in, but eh, there are certainly worse things that could have happened on our wedding day.

As soon as Sarah was finished shooting the guys, we girls were invited over for our turn. Stay tuned for our sassy bridesmaid photos.

What do you wanna see?

2010-08-06T06:47:00.000-07:00

This photo, another favorite of the day,
somehow escaped our first look post.
Image by Sarah Shreves.

Starting next week, I'm going to try to post more regularly - which leads me to ask, what do you want to see? I definitely have many more wedding re-caps up my sleeve - do you want me to keep posting them in chronological order, or would you like me to mix them up? Which posts from the wedding are you most looking forward to? Also, I have quite a few musings on being a newlywed, cooking, setting up the house, and some work I've done - would you like to see those posts in-between the re-caps, or should I wait until the wedding stuff is finished? I want to post what you want. Help me out here, yeah? What would you most like to see, and in what order? Thanks guys, I love you mucho!

So Much Love: A chance for some bridals.

2010-08-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

After romping through downtown Julian, it was time to meet up with our wedding party. David called back to a groomsman to confirm a meeting place, and he then offered to wait for them - giving Sarah some time to shoot photos of just me.

I may be hiding it fairly well in these photos, but I. was. freezing. See those grasses blowing my direction? Yeah, that was icy wind blowing right at my naked arms. Seriously, quite possibly the coldest I've ever been. (Minus the time my dad decided to pick me up from Sea World after eleven consecutive rides on "shipwreck rapids" (read: I was SOAKING) in the middle of winter late at night on his motorcycle and proceed to drive me home on the freeway. That was pretty cold.) But yeah, I froze - but all for the sake of the art. There was nothing going to stop me from getting good wedding photos.

I'm. so. cooooold... I mean, I swear I'm not freezing. la de da. happy bride..."
Minus the cold, this was a really fun moment of the wedding day. I got to just stand in the field and soak in my wedding day. My wedding dress was blowing in the wind, and I got to flaunt it and love being a bride. I know that many people get bridal portraits done on a day before or after the wedding, and many women talk about how free, beautiful, lovely, empowered, etc. it made them feel. I got to sneak a small peek into that feeling on my wedding day.

and of course, we had to get some shots of my shoes:

Take a closer peek at my legs. Look at how blotchy they look - proof of the freezing cold, yeah?

As quickly as this impromptu bridal session began, it ended - the groomsmen and bridesmaids had arrived and it was time for some fun group shots!

So Much Love: A sweet surprise.

2010-07-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

During the madness of the wedding morning, it dawned on me that we had absolutely no plan for how the rings should be held while they were to be passed in our ceremony (we did a ring warming ceremony - each guest handled the rings... more on that later). The rings arrived to the wedding in their boxes, but other than hidden in those, the rings would have to be passed on their own - an option that didn't seem safe. My bridesmaids worked on constructing a ring pillow out of a fabric flower I made that wasn't being used, but nothing seemed to work just right. Caroline, a dear friend from high school was in the room at the time and mentioned that she may be able to have her mom bring a ring pillow for us. Her brother had recently wed, and her mom, brother, and sister-in-law were to be joining her in Julian for the day before the wedding started. Caroline thought they could bring the ring pillow from her brother's wedding. Just before I left for my hair appointment, though, Caroline got word that her brother and sister-in-law no longer had their ring pillow.

I thanked her for the offer and put the ring pillow out of my mind - I trusted the situation would be remedied somehow. Later, when we were taking photos in downtown Julian, we ran into some familiar faces.

photos by Sarah Shreves.
Caroline and her family were enjoying the sites downtown - it was exciting to run into friends while in my wedding dress but outside the venue and wedding atmosphere.

It turns out that Caroline's mom had brought us a ring pillow. She actually hunted one down at a bridal salon in San Diego and bought it for us - her wedding gift to us. It was such a wonderful surprise, and quite the life saver.

guest photo.
Here she is in action - we don't have any good pro pics of the pillow alone, but it sure saved us a lot of grief by doing its job well.

Have there been any important little details that others have lovingly taken care of for you like this?