guy walks in to a...

's funny how new people enter your life and expose you to new things.  While all too often I hear my new coworker friend shriek, "you've never heard of {fill-in-the-blank}?!" he's actually exposed me to some coolness.  I could structure this post in such a way where I express my gratitude for his teachings, listing all of said coolness, but that would give him way too much flattery.  ;)

Instead, I will share a cool company he told me about  today.  Health-nuts {and seeds} rejoice!  You Bar, a family owned company in L.A., is providing you with the tools to build-a-bar--where you get to choose everything that goes into the making of your customized bar, starting with the base right down to the packaging. You could DIY the bars using their ingredients list, but you wouldn't get their cool custom packaging.  The company lets you choose how much of a certain item you want in your bar, i.e. less / normal / extra protein, and also provides you with suggestions for quantity and combination.  Depending on the size you choose, a box of 13 bars ranges in price from $37.57 to $41.47.  Not too bad.

If you've been following my blog for a while, you have witnessed my excitement with sites that let you customize and create!  I've showed you virtual paper dolls, room compilations, outfit montages, etc.;  add custom snacks to that list now... Plus, anything that allows to me incorporate agave nectar is sweet!

Here are the ingredients for my 'guy walks in to a' bar I just made:

I don't necessarily care for dates, but they recommended them as part of the base so the bar won't be too delicate in texture.  I think these would be so fun to make for party favors.  Light bulb!!  Ohhh man, I hope the best friend slash bride to be doesn't read this before her wedding, cuz methinks I found a great bachelorette party favor.  My job as Matron of honor is to make sure the bride has 1) a kickass time and 2) coherent partyers watching her back.  These bars will provide sustenance for us while we're out at the bars {maybe? not giving away any party details!} and energy to party all night.  Watch out!  Now, to find the perfect name...  Got it!  But, it won't make any sense to anyone other than the bride.  Kinda an inside joke, so maybe something more universal.  "Got prenup?"  No, that's just wrong.  Help me out with some ideas will ya?

P.S.  The coworker friend is a virgo, so he gets major cool points for that.  No flattery, just fact.  What about "The ol' bar and chain" ?

i've been thinking a lot about leisure

Leisure, by definition, is time free from work or duties, or time available for ease and relaxation. 

... allow me to ramble on for a while before getting back to this ...

Perhaps it is the lack of sunlight combined with this annoying funk I have been in for too long, but I find myself looking at others' pastimes and glamorizing them to the max.  Just as easily as photos and stories that friends share on their blogs can inspire me, they can turn the magnifying glass on my own life for close observation.  Would you agree that Blogland can very easily do that to you?  I'm not complaining, and I know things aren't always what they seem, but my overactive imagination can get the best of me at times. 

For example, I won't name names {or blog titles}, but in the past couple of months I have discovered a beautiful blogger with incredible style, who is super crafty, and has the most picturesque family; another adorable blogger full of spunk and humor, and who has a stellar relationship with her husband; and another {younger} blogger who seems to never stray from her style and knows exactly her aesthetic.  I can't help but feel a tinge of jealousy as I follow these people, but I am trying to take a positive approach.  I think:  What about their photos or their stories or posts makes me feel jealous?  Do they have something I don't have?  Am I missing out on the fun?  Am I wasting my time and talents when I could be doing similar things that would bring me joy and that I could share with others?  ... Am I a total brat for thinking this way when I have so much in my life for which to be thankful?  I remind myself I am not alone, and I know if these people heard me asking these questions, they would assure me their lives aren't perfect. 

... this post has turned in to a rambling on 'vulnerability' apparently, rather than 'leisure' ...

  

Getting back to discussing leisure.  A year ago I canceled our television service, and we have proudly been a TV-free household.  I thought this would encourage us to make our leisure time more beneficial, and I think in some ways it has.  When I'm not feeling completely mentally drained {Virgos exhaust themselves without even trying by incessantly overthinking everything}, I leisurely take the dogs for a walk, reorganize a room in my house, spend time with friends, grab my new fancycam and take some shots, scout new recipes, or sketch room layouts.  But when I just want to turn my brain off, I pop in a DVD, read a book, shop online {dangerous!}, or blog-hop.  The bad weather lately is partially to blame for my spending most of my leisure time doing these brain-off activities, so I am desperately anxious for consistent sunny weather so I can improve upon that.  I look forward to riding my bike downtown to Ginger Elizabeth {Abby's fav} for delicious macarons--exercise + a treat!--and cranking happy-summertime-folk-tunes while sun-basking in my backyard.  Maybe that's it!  My creativity has been washed away by all this rain and crappy weather, that I need sunlight and warmth to recharge!  I hear the next few days are going to be sunny here, so QUICK, gimme some ideas to make the most of it!  I will take any/all suggestions to heart. 

I started this post with the intention of lightly joking about clichés, after watching a super cute video I saw on Isabelle's blog, but it somehow morphed.  Maybe I got caught in my own joke: the French make you jealous! hahahahaa...  So I leave you with said video with the hopes that it makes you smile.  And should you feel a little jealous of this cute Frenchie, just know, you are not alone. ;)

Happy New Year!!

I am currently LOVING Florence Welch and her band Florence + The Machine!  I've been listening to Drumming Song nonstop for days and it still moves me.
She is such a powerful force.  Talented.  Gorgeous.  And a Virgo!

My next resolution on the list: get legs like hers! ;)  She represents us pale girls well.

Happy 2011, friends!  Let's make this year even more AMAZING than last year.

{photo source: fanpop} Go out right now and buy her album LUNGS.  It will rock your world.  Promise.

gift ideas for the Virgos in your life

Mrs. Lilien put together quite the attractive collection for Virgos back in September, our birth month, but it can be adapted for this holiday season. 

A sophisticated agenda or journal is a must, and you couldn't go wrong with any one of these other items.  I can guarantee that all the Virgos in your life love them some blue, especially the deep blue in that Catherine Malandrino dress; so if you combined, say, that blue + a journal, well you'd be golden my friend!  What? You don't have any Virgo friends or family? Then you need to get yourself a virgo!

Don't just take my word for it.  Mrs. Lilien said it best:

And here in all her splendor is the dashing Mrs. Virgo - she's a decadent and delightful Mrs. I'll have you know! She's meticulous and unabashedly reliable - these traits are imperative to her success, this is undeniable! And while she's practical and diligent - she still loves her necessary indulgences and luxurious fulfillment! She's a natural beauty with a rather refined palette - you'd be crazy to try and pass off an onion to her as a shallot! Analytical, intelligent and sharp as a tack - she'll no doubt school you at a high stakes game of black jack! She can at times work herself ragged so to maintain her highest of standards - but ask her any question and she'll service you with precise answers. She makes for an absolutely perfect friend - she's wildly loyal from her front to her end. From the very moment you say hello - you'll fall head over heels with this Mrs. Virgo!

Thank you, Mrs. Lilien.  And while you're over there, make sure and check out her stylish gift guides--they're amazing.

M's baby shower

Yesterday was friend M's baby shower for baby boy #2, and it turned out so nice. 

Another friend, Tish, hosted the shower at her adorable house, which accommodated 40 or so adults / kids comfortably, and a few of us helped with games, food, and gifts.  Guests visited and ate the yummy food for the first hour, then we went round-robin and everyone introduced themselves + their relationship to M before we started the first game.  We played some traditional baby shower games that are always fun: the yarn measuring tape estimating how big around the prego mom is, a timed word scramble, and when cupcakes were passed out to all the guests, whoever had a Mickey Mouse sticker on the bottom of their cupcake wrapper won a prize.  Although the rain kept the party indoors, everyone looked really comfortable and happy, and every game went off without a hitch--rare, for such a large group!

I wanted to share with you my crafty contributions to the party, because they were a big hit and hopefully will inspire you in some way.  First, let me start by saying these are super-cheap projects and can be adapted for other types of parties.

Using only a piece of recycled craft paper, foam stamps + ink, I made a giant calendar for guests to guess the baby's birthday.  I specified the doctor's estimated due date, then offered dates three weeks before + after said date.  The most time consuming part of creating this calendar was measuring and drawing perfect lines to create the boxes for the dates {Virgo!}, but other than that, it was really simple and fun to make! 

Guests had fun picking their dates, and I announced to the group that when baby arrives, I will send out a gift to the person who guessed his birthday correctly.  Even some of the kids participated.  So cute.

Speaking of kids, they were the recipients of my other crafty project: lunches.  Seriously, I had so much fun putting these together with Gabriel.  The morning of the shower, he and I began cutting out frog-shaped bread slices {M loves frogs!}, slathering one slice in creamy peanut butter and the other slice in jelly to make fun kid-sized sandwiches.  

We used whole wheat bread {pretending we were making healthy lunches for our own kids} for the sandwiches, and also included tiny carrot sticks, colorful goldfish crackers, and a tiny box of raisins in the lunch sacks.  I found the sandwich-size lion baggies and snack-size polka dot puppy baggies in the dollar bins at Target {30 in each pack}.  Score! 

 

 

Gabriel used the foam stamps {that I had used earlier for the calendar} to stamp the word lunch in blue ink on each lunch sack.  Super easy, cheap, and adorable.  We had an assembly line going in our kitchen and joked that this is what it would be like everyday if we had twelve kids.

At the shower, Tish placed the lunch sacks on a podium marked kids bags on a shelf above a tub of chilled capri sun pouches.  This worked out so well, as it kept the kids away from the adult's food table, and the parents were able to grab a sack and give it to their kid and send them off into Tish's daughter's room to eat and play with the other kids.  It was awesome.  One kid hopped around the living room holding his frog sandwich, singing "yummy! yummy!"... I was touched and thoroughly entertained.  And at one point we spotted M's two-year-old E walking around with two baggies of goldfish, so he must have bartered with another kid.

I am still pleased with the entire event.  You know how sometimes you leave a party and think, they should have done this, or it would have been better if...  I wouldn't change anything about that day!  Adults were happy.  Kids were happy.  And most importantly, M is happy.  It went so well that a couple of us were joking that we should start a business throwing people's showers for them.  But I think we'll stick to our day jobs.

It's Monday!  And it's below eighty degrees in the capital city, so I'm content.  Have a fabulous week!

It's my birthday!

Happy birthday to me.

And happy birthmonth to all my fellow Virgos!

{photo source}

RUE: clever. all encompassing. not at all amateurish.

RUE mag is up and running as of today, and it does not disappoint.  I am only roughly half-way through the issue, but I am too impatient to wait 'til I am finished reading it to share with all of you!  Sometimes the procrastinator-Virgo takes on the extreme other end of the spectrum persona and introduces impatient-Virgo.

Some of my faves so far:

  p. 85  Victoria Smith's place.  Victoria, you took the words right out of my mouth and your home is breathtaking.  In her own words, Victoria admits:
"I fake it 'til I make it;"
"I'm pretty much a homebody with a social side;" and
"I think I missed my era, so I like surrounding myself with bits of the past."

I can relate to all of the above.  For example, I fake it with an IKEA Docksta table in my formal living room, until I can afford the coveted Eero Saarinen tulip table.  And like Victoria, Gabe & I agree we missed our era, which was late 50s - mid 70s, so we dot our home and wardrobes with retro vintage pieces reminiscent of the bygone era, which, mixed in with true antique pieces makes for a very pleasing and interesting aesthetic in our home.  If I do say so myself. 

  p. 138  It's Emily!  As in Emily Henderson of The Brass Petal and HGTV's 2010 Design Star.  Yeah, that Emily.  In this story, Emily got to live out her dream party with the help of the Rue team and some close personal friends.  Here's a behind-the-scenes look at the party. So cute.

Check out the premiere issue for yourself & discuss.  :)  Much love goes out to this very talented team!  I'm really looking forward to future issues, and, well, finishing this issue.

What's a BEFORE without an AFTER

Do you recall me asking you to give me a week or so to provide decent 'after' photos of our guest-room-turned-master-bedroom?  Well, I meant six weeks.  Procrastinator Virgo, remember?  And although I can't honestly call these 'after' photos, as I change things so frequently, I shall call them 'afterish'--how's that?
First, here's one {or three} before photos: 

  
:::drumroll:::  And here are the afterish photos:

A few notes about the room:

• We painted the walls a peachy hue which is very complementary to our skin tones, we've noticed ;)
• We replaced the outdated fan/light fixture with the same one we put in the old master bedroom
• I majorly paired down the wardrobe in order to fit everything in the {much smaller} closet
• I swapped out the drapery, replacing the IKEA curtains with scarves that I got from Target and H&M
• Other than the wall paint, we didn't spend a dime on this room; everything in it was taken from other rooms in our home. I love free!
• The wooden box in the last photo was already being used as a doorstop, and just so happened to fit all of my flip flops perfectly in it. Score! The rest of my shoes are hiding behind the bedroom door.

Things still to be done:

• Hang the dressing mirror on the wall
• Patch the hole in the wall where the previous owners had {I'm guessing} intentions of installing an outlet
• Hang art on the walls!  I mean, the headboard looks nice and all, but it's the only thing on any of the walls.  That just won't do.
• Get curtain for closing off closet, even though my stuff looks so pretty and organized... ;)
• Someday get bed linens that actually match.  Maybe.

That headboard and I have a love-hate relationship.  I made it out of plywood, muslin, and batting when I moved in to my first place 5+ years ago--back when I was on a staple-gun-craft-rampage--and have considered chucking it many-a-time.  I think, 'I would rather have a nice sturdy modern graphic headboard from like West Elm or somewhere,' but when it comes down to it, I can't part with my labor of love.  So, to give it new life, I drape a piece of fabric over it to make it work with the space.  Thank you, domino.

Hubby loves the new room.  Dogs seem content there.  All is well.  Don't be surprised to see more {completely different} afterish photos of this room in the future, though.  It's just what I do.

Technology is not my friend right now

Last night while performing a routine file-renaming on my beloved Free Agent Go, an earthquake shook my perfectly organized world.  Okay, so not literally, but metaphorically...Bah! I don't even know how it happened, but while viewing a file whose name I noticed was misspelled, {'Askansas' instead of 'Arkansas'} I right-clicked on the file name to fix it--like any anal perfectionist Virgo would do--but rather than just fixing that one file name, all the files in the containing folder were renamed!  I hope at least one of you reading this feels my pain.  I know I sound dramatic, but there is no fixing this!  I tried for hours {literally, this time} last night to restore the original file names, which contain pertinent information such as the source/my reason for saving the file/whose work it is/etc., and I think I made things worse.

At this point, all I can do is rummage through every file in my computer's downloads folder and hope some of these files' original names are still stored there.  From the looks of it, I lost the data for the past six months {up until my last driver backup I performed in March}, and because I save an average of four images a day, if you do the math you will realize how big of an issue this is.  I am mostly upset because I pride myself on my diligent research and proper sourcing.
Grr!  Too many interjections. Too few solutions.

Anyway, that is my sad little story.  There are worse tragedies, I know.  Please cut me some slack in the future if I share a photo for which I do not have the source.  In such a case I will be referencing this post, and asking for your help.  Fo. Sho.

Ya'll enjoy the Labor Day weekend!

quick rec for a year-round glow

Attention all fellow pale-whities!  If you are like me, you've embraced the fact that you will never {naturally} have that Gisele-Bundchen-bronze glow, and that's okay.  Having said that, should you need to achieve a skin tone that won't cause passersby to shield their eyes, I recommend using this.
I discovered NIVEA Sun-Kissed Firming Moisturizer a couple years ago and haven't since strayed because it is the sh!t. Allow me to gush enlighten you NIVEA virgins:

• Most importantly, it works
• It smells yummy**
• It doesn't streak or make your skin patchy
• It doesn't rub off on clothing
• Not only does it make you look subtly glowy right away, but it firms your skin, giving you a toned look
• You can build on the depth of the tone, depending on how many days in a row you apply it
• It's cheap
• It's not only a self-tanner but a moisturizer as well

The thing that got me thinking about sharing this product with you is my brother's impending nuptials, for which I am a bridesmaid.  The other maids fake-and-bake {no way, not this Virgo!}, so I would stick out like a bleached sore thumb.  I plan on getting in to a routine of applying it daily starting roughly two weeks before the big day, so at least I will feel like I tried.

I should note that unfortunately there is no SPF in the moisturizer--its only drawback--so if you plan on using it, I strongly recommend getting on dee boat, dee Banana Boat, before lathering up.  That's all for now.  If you try it, let me know what you think!   

**NIVEA smells good, unlike other self-tanners that make your skin smell like you were sprayed by a male cat, like that one company whose name begins with a J and ends in ergens.

Easy {free!} cake topper - WEDding WEDnesday

Isn't he cute? This was our final product, although it wasn't our original plan.

I spent months rummaging through Google Images for pictures of campfire scenes, s'mores, tents pitched in the wilderness and so forth, gathering inspiration for designing a custom cake topper to represent one of our favorite pastimes: camping.  Everything I thought to do seemed so tacky, though.  I could only imagine two figures holding tiny branches roasting mallows over a fondant log fire looking too whimsical for our taste. {haha. taste. punny!}  It wasn't until after we met with our baker, the awesome Kristine of Babycakes Bakery, that I decided against the camping scene for the cake topper. Gabe and I told Kristine we wanted a mini cake on the top tier of our cupcake tower, so we would have our own special treat for the day as well as something to cut into at the reception for the traditional cutting-of-the-cake-and-smashing-it-in-your-newlywed-spouse's-face moment {read on for more on that moment}.  When it came to deciding on the flavor of our mini cake though, there was only one choice on which Gabe and I both agree: lemon meringue.  :::Drool:::  Kristine suggested covering the entire thing in stiff meringue peaks, something she had never done before, and for us to decide on a simple cake topper to complement {not compete with} the textural mini cake.  From a design standpoint, this made total sense to me, and was also the moment I scratched the mental picture of the roasting scene.   

At that point I hadn't made any decisions, and in fact I didn't decide on what I was going to top our cake with until a couple of weeks before the big day.  Enter: Abby.  My dear friend with excellent style volunteered {along with other friends} to help my mom put on my bridal shower, and called dibs on the tablescapes.  And best of all, her gift to me was letting me keep all of the goodies from the centerpieces!      

 

 Gabe planted the purple flower plants in our front garden and they love us.

I fell in love with the chubby blue birds that held photos of me and Gabe throughout the years, and thought one would be just perfect atop our little cake at the reception.  Gabe loved the idea and chose the picture that the birdie would hold--one of his favorites.  

When it came time to cut into this beautiful scrumptious looking cake, we realized the restaurant forgot to provide us with a cake knife as promised.  Upon realizing this in a half-second, my Virgo problem-solving-mode kicked in to high gear.  I turned to our guests, who were all readying their cameras and shifting their weight to get a good view of our sweet moment, and asked {laughing}, "Does anyone have a butter knife we can borrow?"  The room burst into laughter and two people came at us quickly with the knives from their place-settings.  It was such a great moment, all the way through smearing meringuey goodness in one another's hair.  

Good times.  And now the little chubby blue birdies sit on our fireplace mantel, holding some of our favorite photos.  

Happy hump day!

Emily won!

Emily won! Emily won! Emily won!

WTF am I talking about, you ask? Emily Henderson won HGTV's Design Star! 
The winner {Emily!} was revealed last night, although she has known for some time now.  Keeping a secret like that would surely Benjamin-Moore-White-Dove some of those pretty blonde hairs, but now it's out and she can stress no more talk all she wants about her win--which she does on her fabulous and witty blog: The Brass Petal!

Her show, Secrets From A Stylist, airs this Sunday on HGTV @ 10/9c, so be sure and watch it!  Her concept is intriguing: taking your favorite pieces from your wardrobe, determining your style, and creating a space reflecting your style.  She is very mindful of every little detail, has a magnetic personality, and potentially could teach people a thing or two about their fashion in addition to their living spaces. 

I am just so proud of her and although the competition is over, I continue to root for her in this new endeavor.  If my gushing hasn't yet convinced you to follow Emily, how bout I entice you with this little tidbit: she styled many-a-Domino photo shoot, including the August 2008 cover.  Yes, she is one of us. 
Here are a few more photos from her design portfolio, all courtesy of HGTV.

  Design Star Glass House Challenge

{I think Emily was reading my diary when she designed this space}

Emily's apt in LA. Craspedias!

Emily's apt in LA

Recently I realized I don't post enough about my true passion, which is design.  I mean, ya'll probably don't even know how design-obsessed I am.  My comments can be found on just about every design blog, so I am definitely exposed to the design world daily, but I don't share enough with you this obsession.  And since I promised to inspire my readers, {in my personal manifesto} I will have to work on shifting my focus.  This may mean creating a new weekly installment, strictly to keep myself short-term-goal-oriented and keep my Virgo procrastination in line.  We'll see.  Back to Emily now.  Go read her blog, it's refreshing and inspiring, then watch for her on HGTV.  Methinks we are in for a delectable treat.

A Virgo Vampire

"Well I'm A Virgo. I like to be neat." -Eric Northman

True Blood
Season 3, Episode 9

Thought I would need navigation to return to the blogosphere + WEDding WEDnesday

Last week I was sick--random for this time of year--and had four birthdays back-to-back, plus a family wedding, which all add up to a pretty good excuse for being MIA in blogland, folks.  Weird how just a few days out of the loop can make me feel so out. of. the. loop.  However, I am back just in time to bring you another WEDding WEDnesday post, although this time I am changing it up.

Ordinarily I share with you the wonderful DIY projects and pretty photos of great ideas that actually materialized for our wedding, but for this week I am shoving my ego aside and laying out for you the plans that did not work out so well--some so bad I am still suffering.  Intriguing, no?

As a creative mind, I thought up a good billion ideas for my wedding day, some even before the ol' man proposed.
...Bouncy houses for all the children!
...Have our wedding turn in to an all-weekend tent-camp-out!
...$5000 Claire Pettibone dress!
None of which {thankfully} happened.  And in order to help reign myself in throughout all the planning, I started a file to organize all these ideas, and many many more, in what I named "Didn't Make the Cut."  I named each file using the reason I decided against it, just as a reminder.  This helped.

I shall begin with the worst.  What makes it the worst?  How about I'm still suffering the consequences of one seemingly harmless decision to this day, over a year after the fact.  This is also a {rare} case when my Virgo frugality and resourcefulness worked against me.  Here goes.  One of the perks of my job is having customers treat me to their product, and it so happens in this case, the product was two sixty-six pound sacks of milled rice {total: 132 lbs}.  At the time, I thought I had majorly scored!  I had no intention of eating it, but the creative juices were flowing for wedding projects.  Silly rabbit.

       Me & Megan.  So happy.  So naive.

As you can see in the photo above, my plan was to fill mason jars with the rice and enough pens for each table at the reception for people to write notes to us on our comment cards.  Buddy Megan and I knocked out this project in a couple of hours, several months before the wedding, and I stored the prepared jars on my bar countertop.  Well, in the subsequent weeks, I was noticing a bit of a pest problem in our house.  Yet, it took me a {too long} while to figure out the source of this problem.  In fact, I didn't figure it out.  Hubby did.
In our garage {or, ground zero} were the two giant sacks of rice, lying in wait to be used for my next project, infested with rice moths.  You've heard the expression, "breed like rabbits?"  Not even the same ballpark when compared to rice moths.  Luckily, we were fumigating one of my facilities at work, so I shared my huge household pest problem with my "fume guy," and asked his advice.  He sent me home with some pheromones and traps, and a number of terrifying images in my head.  He also told me to immediately dispose of every last kernel of rice, then go through every grain item in my pantry and either freeze the safe foods, or toss everything that showed signs of infestation.  Ewe ewe ewe.  Bye bye bulk organic cous cous, quinoa, rice, cereal, granola... And bye bye wedding-pen-holder-rice-jar-things, because when I popped the top on the cardboard box sitting on my countertop: the horror!  

Even after following fume guy's instruction, after killing roughly three hundred moths, and after a year, moths are still mysteriously hatching and showing up in my kitchen.  But, back to the wedding.  Since the rice was trashed, we instead used much smaller glass jars we had been saving from our pantry and fridge, cleaning and removing the labels from the jars as they were emptied.  We saved our jars from common items in our house like capers, olives, jam, sun-dried tomatoes, mustard, etc.; and instead put the pens in them for the reception tables. 

 {source unknown, sorry}

Another plan I had for the rice originally was to hold each guest's seating card, similar to the photo above.  Once we found the venue, though, this didn't really fit the aesthetics.  So instead, we made a poster using a photo of us taken at Disneyland, a frame from an old picture in our house, and my coworker's large scale printer.

All in all it was a free project that turned out beautifully, and most importantly, no bugs. 

The next few examples of projects or ideas that didn't pan out aren't as dramatic as the rice fiasco.  The first is kind of bittersweet.  My hubby was dead-set on growing all of the flowers for our wedding.  Sweet, huh?  He built a huge planter box and planted several varieties of wildflowers in the spring/early summer: sunflowers, ranunculus, dahlias, daisies, you name it. 

{Side note: Our yard is landscaped now and doesn't look anything like these photos.}  For months we got all excited watching our plants sprout and bloom...then came the bugs.  We only used organic methods to try and repel the insects that attacked our wildflower box, but were ultimately powerless against the damn things.  The sunflowers made it, but they bloomed way before our wedding day, so we enjoyed them in vases around our home.  When the big day was rapidly approaching and our plants looked like this:

...we had to make the call on Plan B.  Enter: Auntie Cheri!  Gabe's aunt used to be a wholesale florist, and she still had her "card," so she volunteered to help us order and arrange our flowers from a local wholesaler with whom she used to do business.  What a life saver!  By that time I was reaching my breaking point with wedding projects, so Gabe quickly took the project over, and together, he and Auntie Cheri worked magic.

       
They went over possible varieties that were in season, how to group the different varieties in an arrangement, and even had a few surprises up their sleeves that weren't revealed to me until the big day.  After visiting the wholesale florist and their {freezing} freezer of flowers, flowers were chosen, delivery was set, and prices negotiated.  I think we ended up paying less than $100 for all the flowers for our wedding day, including: bouquets, boutonnieres, tablescapes, etc.  I highly recommend going the wholesale route if you can, brides.
My cousin Heather and my sister's boyfriend Tyrel jumped in to help Cheri, Gabe, and the groomsmen the morning of the big day arrange all of the flowers in their vases/jars/wine bottles, the bouquet for the bride toss, the bridesmaids' bouquets, and boutonnieres for the groomsmen.  Here comes the sweetest part:  Gabe picked out all the flowers and helped arrange my bride's bouquet, which Auntie Cheri told me minutes before the ceremony was an old tradition for the groom to do for his bride.  Swoon!  He used the trim from my gown that was removed during tailoring for wrapping around the base, and added my favorite flowers: craspedias and Gerbera daisies.  :)  He even found a way to still use the handful of flowers that survived the bugs in our planter box for our guests of honor's boutonnieres, grouping them with some rosemary branches from our garden and wrapping them in leftover hemp twine from previous wedding projects.  The man is a rockstar.  One would think he had Martha Stewart locked in a basement the way these mini bouquets turned out.

   Cousin Heather touching-up Gabe's boutonniere before the ceremony.

My amazing bouquet and our 'first look' before the ceremony.

Gabe's grandpa, step mom, and dad with their salvaged-wildflower-and-rosemary boutonnieres.

In these cases, things turned out for the best.  We learned some valuable lessons along the way, and we had a fantastic support system to help us.  I've got more projects I could share, but I think this post is long enough already.  Perhaps I'll continue in an upcoming WW post.  Perhaps.  

Happy hump day!  Check your pantry.  ;) 

WEDding WEDnesday: giving thanks to our wedding party

Never being a fan of the Things Remembered trinkets, I knew I wanted to gift our wedding party with personal items they would use.  One would think a bride would know her attendants very well, since she chose them to support and represent her in the, arguably, most important day of her life.  And, same goes for the groom and his attendants.

Our wedding party consisted of mine and Gabe's best friends as our MOH and BM, respectively, along with all of our siblings: my two sisters and Gabe's sister, and Gabe's two brothers and my brother. 

 
I spent months gathering each of their gifts, as they weren't all found in one place.  And I had a blast doing it, mostly because I was taking a break from making decisions for my wedding day, and shopping for others {Virgo}.  Gabe and I really enjoyed watching our attendants open their gifts at our rehearsal dinner, the night before the big day.  Also, I didn't want to leave out Gabe's young step sister who was not part of our wedding party, but whom we had asked to help greet and seat guests at the ceremony, so I gathered all the new and vintage blue embroidery thread I had and wrapped it up in a cute gift box--her favorite color is blue and she makes these awesome friendship-style bracelets with this kind of thread--and gave it to her to open at the dinner with everyone else.  She was so tickled, which made us really happy.

Each groomsman received:
2 bars of homemade beer soap
1 vintage bow tie
1 Crown Royal bag

I found the beer soap on etsy, from a seller who makes them herself from several different brands of beer.  I custom selected each kind to give to each guy, wrapped the bars in a vintage silk bow tie {also carefully selected from a local thrift store Cheap Thrills, which they wore on our wedding day}, and packaged them in a Crown Royal bag.  And since my co-worker--who acted as our officiant--was watching over my shoulder as I purchased the soap and whined about how cool it was, I bought him a couple bars as well.  He told me a few weeks after our wedding that his teenage sons got a kick out of them! :)

Each of my bridesmaids received:
1 J.Crew tote
1 vintage magazine from the month & year she was born

The canvas and leather tote bags were luckily on final sale at my local second home J.Crew.  I wasn't shopping for them, but I saw a whole rack of the pink totes in the sale section while I was meeting with the tailor, and I couldn't resist.  I already owned this same tote in camel and use it as my everyday purse, so I knew the ladies would too appreciate how handy it is.  The magazines took the longest time to track down, as I had to find all of them on ebay.  I looked at local used bookstores and thrift shops, but did not have any luck.  Eventually, and all in good time before the rehearsal dinner, I found fashion mags from each gal's corresponding month/year.  The one shown above is a June 1989 issue of Cosmo, for my sister Hannah. Aaaand... Bonus!  My MOH is only a day younger than me, so her month/year Cosmo {September 1984} is mine as well, so I had a blast flipping through her's before I wrapped it up.  Note: there were several more cigarette ads back in the 80s in Cosmo.  And a helluva lot more text in the articles, in comparison to the 'gist' the writers give readers nowadays.

Lastly, as a gift to our parents for helping us with all the wedding planning and for, well, giving us life, Gabe made rosemary {from our garden} and garlic infused olive oil, bottled in the small green S. Pellegrino glass bottles, with a neon orange pourer, and handed them out to each set of parents at our rehearsal dinner.  They were so cute, and all the parents loved them.
 
Almost a year later, none of the guys have told me they have again worn their bow ties, but they did use up all the beer soap, so that's good news.  And the ladies all use their totes either for purses, overnight bags, beach bags, or shopping totes, which makes me extra super happy.  I love that we gave our wedding party gifts they could use and were happy to receive, because that truly means a lot to us.  Gifts should be meaningful.  Period. 

I hope this has inspired at least one bride/groom to rethink the flask or shot glasses and instead dream up a more appropriate and special gift for her/his special attendants.  It will really mean a lot to your party that even though planning your wedding has you totally stressed, you still found the time to hand-pick a gift especially for them. 

Peace and happy hump day!
 

WEDding WEDnesdays: for the kiddies in the wedding party

Wedding junk is expensive.  You with me? 

I could not bring myself to buy a fancy basket for the flower-girl or a fancy pillow for the ring-bearer to carry down the aisle.  So, being the crafty girl that I am, I made my own.  Luckily, I already had an old Easter basket that would work splendidly for the flower-girl to carry if I dolled it up a bit. As for the ring-bearer's pillow, I enlisted the help of my MOH, the talented Vicki, to help me make it from scratch. 

She sewed the pillow from a roll of muslin I had leftover from a college project (years ago!), using a cool zigzag stitch in dark blue thread.  Me?  I drank wine while plotting the pillow's ornamentation.  Yes, this is the same muslin I used to line the inside of my vintage train case that housed the guests' comment cards at the reception {mentioned here}.

My dining room was our sweatshop;  and although it looks insane, we were actually done with the project in only a couple of hours.  Put two Virgos on a project together in a time crunch, and you will see magic my friends.

Because I had read that it is a very bad idea to give a small child the responsibility of carrying your actual wedding bands at the ceremony, I faked it with two shiny key rings to decorate the pillow.  And because I have the corniest humor known to my circle of family and friends, I used buttons and one of Gabe's guitar picks to spell out the phrase, 'I Pick You.'

For the flower-girl's basket, I used the leftover muslin to line the inside of the basket, making it easier for her to grab the flower petals to sprinkle down the aisle at the ceremony.  I glued a strand of vintage ribbon around the outside of the basket, and wrapped a couple strands of pink beaded ribbon around the handle.  All of this material was supplies I already had on hand from previous craft projects, including the two faux dahlias I pinned to the base of the handle on each side of the basket, which were leftover from the bridesmaids' shoes project {mentioned here}. 

I used the same ribbon and dahlias, along with some vintage buttons and my old cheerleading hair ribbons, to make the flower-girl's headband as well.  Originally, my plan was for me to wear the headband, but after I finished it, I realized it would be much more fitting for the under-ten-aesthetic.  I gifted the headband to Taylor at our rehearsal dinner, and told her it was her's to keep after she wore it in the wedding.  I don't know who was more excited, her or me, judging by her reaction.

We gave Dino, our ring-bearer, a vintage bow-tie for his gift at our rehearsal dinner, so he would look just like the groomsmen in their vintage bow-ties.  But, that's another post.  :)

As you are probably noticing by now, if you have been reading the WEDding WEDnesday posts from the start, we did not go the traditional two-color-scheme route for our wedding.  Instead, we mixed patterns, styles, and colors, but for the most part kept within a certain color palette.  That palette was inspired by this photo:

{100 Layer Cake}

When I stumbled upon this beauty, there was no questioning what our 'colors' would be for our wedding.  We originally had planned on sticking to 'dark chocolate and raspberry' but eventually realized the visual was lacking.  I never wanted our color choices to be so obvious that they screamed theme, so we were satisfied with the palette we chose.  It also gave us focus in a world of chaos infinite choices, known as wedding planning.

More next week.  Happy hump day!