Simple Woman's Daybook - Take 2

For Today:

Outside my window... they told me it would storm (severely) all day. It's bright and sunny outside!
I am thinking... I would strongly prefer to be outside in the lovely sunshine
I am thankful for... my cousin called me back this morning!
From the kitchen... Southwest chicken casserrole?
I am wearing... my "skinny pants!" cuz all my working out is finally starting to pay off!
I am creating... discharge plans for my patients
I am going... to one of my favorite people's baby shower this weekend!
I am reading... Chuck Klosterman. I love him.
I am hoping... that I get to talk to my cousin tonight
I am hearing... my colleague on the phone behind me
Around the house... our gardens are looking fabulous!
One of my favorite things... sleeping in (and skipping the gym)
A few plans for the rest of the week... Matt and I are meeting with a mortgage broker to get a better deal on our mortgage!
Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

In honor of Father's Day coming up this weekend...

Me and my sister with my dad.

Daddy's Girls.

Simple Woman's Daybook. Give it a shot.

Inspiration!

Ok, so like pretty much any bride who's planning her wedding, I've seen a lot of wedding photos over the past few months. All kinds of pictures from all kinds of affairs. And I keep being inspired by so many things. Even things that would never work for our wedding. There are so many beautiful, interesting, incredible images out there. Here are some of the ones that I've looked at and thought, "Wow. Now that is awesome!"

First things first. I came across Mrs. Dolphin's wedding on Weddingbee the other day. I loooooooove her dress. This is exactly what I hope I look like in my dress, cuz it's very similar. She's a gorgeous bride, isn't she?

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I'm not big into jewelry. I don't plan to wear a necklace, and I only decided to wear a bracelet because I found one that I fell totally in love with. But I am so drawn to this picture of this bride. That statement necklace (as I've learned they're called) is just stunning!

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I'm also not at all a shoe person, but have found that I'm looking at tons of pictures of shoes, trying to find something that I like to go with my dress. Every now and then, I see a show and feel a bit of Carrie Bradshaw rising up within me. Seriously! Sometimes, I actually gasp. I mean, look at these!

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And these!

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And...oooh, sparkly!

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And then maybe something a little more fun than a pair of regular ole flip-flops for the reception. Like these.

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I love this picture of (what I think is) the wedding party. It looks posed but natural at the same time. And everyone looks like they're happy and having a great time!

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If we were having a summer wedding, I'd probably want to do at least the ceremony part outdoors. And I would definitely want to incorporate these. Somehow. Maybe down the aisle.

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It's funny. I love watching cake decorating shows: Ace of Cakes, the cake showdowns...all that stuff. And yet, I really couldn't have cared less about our cake. We didn't really even want a cake. We wanted to do a display of petits-fours "cake pops," and give each guest 2. However, that's not to say I haven't looked at wedding cake pictures. So...if we really cared about our cake, and had a limitless cake budget, I would love to do something like this.

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That cake, by the way, is from a bakery in Philadelphia, in my old neighborhood of Chestnut Hill. I've never had their cakes, but their homemade ice cream is freaking awesome. I also love the simplicity of this one:

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We're not using calla lilies in our wedding. Don't get me wrong, I think they're beautiful flowers (we have them in our own garden), but they're not what I was picturing for the type of wedding we wanted to have. But for real? How. Cool. Is. This?

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So that's it. Some of the many photos that I've tucked away as inspiration for our wedding day. Working out a way for them to maybe make an appearance on our special day, but in our own special way.

DIY - Three Down!

We are banging out the DIY projects like it's our job! This one, in particular, was really fun. We spent a few minutes each night for the past week or so printing, cutting, and folding our place card holders - the cootie catchers (or fortune tellers)!

So how did we do this? I downloaded the template for the cootie catchers here. I copied it and created 3 separate slides in powerpoint. We came up with some trivia questions, and each slide had slightly different questions for the trivia on the "petals" of the catcher. I went through each slide and made all the inner lines invisible, but left the outer square there so we'd have a guide for cutting them. We printed them on some ivory paper (think resume paper), and cut them using my new rotary trimmer (one of my most important investments for this DIY process!). Once they were all cut, we started folding. As our guests approach the place cards table, they will be greeted with the cootie catchers looking like this:

But they'll have a card in them stating the guest's/couple's names and their table assignment. Once they get them to their table and start playing with them, they'll reveal some fun trivia about me and Matt. There are some questions about me, some about Matt, and some about us as a couple:
The answers are under the flaps, of course. And when the cootie catcher is fully opened up, they'll see their menu for the evening!

I seriously cannot wait to see people playing with these and quizzing each other on our trivia. I suspect that there will be very few people who actually know all of the answer. We have had so much fun making them. See?

I kid you not when I tell you that each one I folded, I played with it.

Food! Part 3 (The Cake)

Sorry! I did the first 2 food posts and then got caught up with everything else that was happening wedding-wise! So here we are, back to the food for the event... You've seen the dinner choices and, if you're anything like me, you've drooled over the appetizers. So are you ready for the cake? Cuz it's gonna be awesome.

Ok, well, aesthetically it's not going to be all that special. It'll be something like this:

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Except just 3 tiers - round, square, round. All three tiers will be white, but they will have that swiss dot decoration. Obviously the flowers will be different. And the ribbon around the bottom of each tier? One of the best parts - navy blue, apple green, and brown fondant, all braided/mushed together to make a tie-dyed awesome-ness of color to match our wedding colors!

We're getting our cake from Linda's Cakery, in Mt. Joy. She offers tons of flavors and fillings, and as I perused the website, I was thinking, "Seriously, how do I even choose?" When I spoke to her to schedule our tasting, she said she'd come up with some good options for us to try. I trusted her. Everything I read on the internets told me I should, so...I did.

And boy am I glad. She started us off with...well, honestly I don't remember. We tried a few, but the first one that really stuck out was a turtle cake, which she'd just made specially for a bridal show she was doing later that day, but she let us try a piece. It was good, but...meh, not quite what we were looking for. Next she brought out a french vanilla cake with raspberry ganache. It was all downhill from there...and I mean that in a really good way. Man, that cake was awesome! Then she gave us the pink champage cake with strawberry whip filling. It was all. over. Holy crap, that was honest-to-goodness the best thing I've ever tasted in my life.

So, we decided to do the following: a sheet cake of chocolate cake with peanut butter filling (this is a favorite among many people in our families/friends). Then, the bottom tier of the "real cake" will be the french vanilla and raspberry ganache, and the top 2 tiers will be the pink champagne and strawberry whip. All of them will be covered in Linda's white chocolate buttercream icing, which is for-real to-die for.

On a side note, we decided to skip the whole save-the-top-layer-and-eat-it-a-year-later thing. It just sounds absolutely disgusting to us. Plus, we save a ton of money by not having her make a layer that is just going to look pretty and then sit in our freezer for a year. We decided we'd rather go out and get a nice dessert somewhere in the City. Don't get me wrong, I understand the appeal of pulling out your wedding cake a year later, remembering how pretty it was and how awesome the day was, but...that's what pictures are for. I don't need to eat stale/frozen cake to remember how fantastic our wedding was. I'm fairly certain that October 23, 2010 is a day that I will never forget.

Simple Woman's Daybook

I came across this idea on another blog, and thought it was really kind of beautiful. Simple, yet thought-provoking. It forces you to step back, take in the big picture, and enjoy the moment in your life. I need that every now and then - my job as a social worker can really make me jaded and pessimistic sometimes.

The Simple Woman's Daybook was created, it seems, back in January. People post their own daybook entries to their own blogs, and then link them back to the main site. I love this idea. It really gives you a chance to even further reflect on your moments and appreciate where you are.

So, with no further ado, my daybook for the week (I will try to do this weekly, but I make no promises):

FOR TODAY
Outside my window... blue skies, green trees
I am thinking... so far, it's been a good day
I am thankful for... Matt getting up to drive me to the train station, even though he has the day off
From the kitchen... Matt's simmering a pot of his homemade meatballs today for meatball hoagies for dinner
I am wearing... a green shirt with white dress pants - I love that I can wear white pants now
I am creating... a thousand (ok, 90) cootie catchers for our wedding
I am going... to try harder
I am reading... wedding blogs. I should expand
I am hoping... that Matt's "surgery" goes well this afternoon
I am hearing... the noisy air conditioner in our office
Around the house... we got a lot done this weekend!
One of my favorite things... when Matt and I sit on the couch and make silly faces at each other, just to hear each other
laugh, and then talk about how if other people saw us, we'd surely be committed
A few plans for the rest of the week... Friday night I'm having my own "girls night in" while Matt is away
Here is a picture for thought I am sharing...

I saw this little guy hanging out outside the window of my apartment last year. On that day, he and I were totally in similar states of mind - I had just gotten back from lazying around the pool at my apartment complex.Enjoy!

DIY - Two Down!

I had absolutely no intention of giving myself another DIY project. None, I tell you. And yet, as I was perusing Weddingbee, I came across the post of one Miss Frog and found myself desperately wanting to do cute little tissue packets.

People are going to cry at our wedding. I mean, not to sound, like, whatever, but they will. It's been a long time coming, we've been through some serious stuff, and people are crazy happy that we're finally taking this next step. Not that people aren't usually crazy happy about people getting married, but...whatever. You get the point. Not to mention, we have friends/families who are really emotional. I mean it. My mom and I cry at commercials. It's sick. So yeah...there will be plenty of tears during our ceremony. People might as well have something cute to cry into, right?

I echoed most of what Miss Frog did. After looking at both Michael's and A.C. Moore, I decided that I should also check out ebay for the glassine envelopes. I ended up getting them there, ordering 3 sets of 20, for about $4. I honestly didn't think I'd use them all, but I thought, "Well, it'll be good to have extra." And I got ribbon from Michael's - I ended up using 2 spools each of brown and green - only $2. I found the tissues at Target - I bought 2 packs of 60 tissues for $2. I also picked up address labels at Target - 10 pages of 80 labels for about $5.

I stuffed 2 miniature tissues into each glassine envelope, then tied a ribbon around it (like a present). I put the bow on the side where the envelope is open, so people can open up the ribbon and easily open the envelope without having to deal with the sticker. I printed the stickers with a cute little saying I came across on another Weddingbee post (I'm a little bit, possibly unhealthily, obsessed with that blog) - "Tears of joy, tears of laughter, tears of happily ever after..." I placed one sticker across the "intersection" of the ribbon. Finished product:

I mean, not to toot my horn or anything, but...how cute are they? I'm planning to put them in a basket draped with ivory or navy blue fabric - whatever I happen to have readily available (it just might end up being a pillowcase....shhhh....). They'll be at the front of the church, so people can grab a packet as they're heading into the wedding. I can't wait to see people tearing into them during our ceremony, and wiping away their tears of joy...

Etsy Love

Have you been on Etsy? You should. It's awesome. I'm obsessed. Since starting to plan our wedding, I have now purchased several items from various sellers. Etsy is basically an online marketplace of handmade goods and vintage wears. You can find anything on there. Here are some of the uber-fabulous things I've found...

Remember those wine glasses? The ones that were my inspiration for the color scheme of the wedding? Well, I contacted the seller and told that she was my inspiration, and asked her to set up a "registry" of items for us. And she did. She created (custom-painted) champagne flutes as well as salt and pepper shakers. They were purchased for us by Matt's fabulous aunt and cousins. Wanna see?

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The champagne flutes are actually painted in our wedding colors. The salt and pepper shakers are as-shown, and we put salt in the bronze one and pepper in the white one so that the feathers really stand out. They're GORGE!!!

Ok, next! The feather fascinator for my hair. I don't know how I came up with the idea to check out Etsy for this, but I'm so glad I did. Seriously...how pretty is this:

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This will be my only hair accessory - no veil, no headband. Just this pretty little thing and some curls. So simple and understated. Love it.

I wasn't really looking for jewelry. I don't wear a whole lot of jewelry on a day-to-day basis - my engagement ring, the aquamarine ring my mom had designed for me for my 21st birthday, and my watch. Since we got engaged, I have not been wearing my opal ring, but once it gets resized so I can wear it on my right hand, I will have that. [I used to wear it on the middle finger of my left hand, but Matt wants my left hand to have only my engagement and wedding rings. Too sweet to say no to, right?!] Oh, and my ever-present hair tie, even though my hair is short and I virtually never pull it back. Nonetheless, I found myself perusing Etsy one day, looking at jewelry. And I came across this:

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Technically, that's a necklace. And I don't want to wear a necklace. So I contacted the seller and asked if she'd be able to make it into a bracelet. She did, and made a custom-sized bracelet (small chain for my tiny wrist and smaller feather). I just got it in the mail yesterday, and it's beautiful.

Oh, and we also ordered our wedding invitations from a seller on Etsy! She has worked with us really closely (well, through email), and has kept us up-to-date on her progress. She consulted us on every. single. aspect of the design process - colors, font...everything. She sent us samples of the cardstock she has so we could pick out exactly what we want, and also sent us samples of the 50 different fonts she frequently uses (but was also open to suggestions about other fonts if we had something else in mind.

I've also purchased a few other items (mostly baby gifts for the thousands of my friends and family who are having babies this year). Every single transaction has been pleasant, smooth, and easy.

Seriously...if you haven't checked it out, you should. You'll be hooked. But you'll thank me for it.