Play Nice and Be Polite

Ok, ok, so I realize my engagement isn't official-OFFICIAL yet, as in I don't have a ring on my finger yet. But I don't need my ring (yet) to know I will spend the rest of my wonderful life with the most perfect man on the planet -- most perfect for me, that is. And that is all I need to know. We've made plans and we're on the same page. The ring is a beautiful symbol...but it's just a stand-in for the real thing (that thing we have, called Love). I realized I had begun to undermine what we know in our hearts "until I get my ring." I also know I wouldn't have him any other way than just the way he is. Practical. Pragmatic. Frugal. Calcuated and Reasonable --- everything I'm not!! Which is why he can take his sweet time and surprise me. Everyone else will just have to realize that the ring is merely a small detail of the whole process of getting married. In the meantime, I'll be wedding blogging and DIY-ing. Thankyouverymuch.

And that brings me to my main point of this soapbox post: Polite Courtesy. Or better yet, Genuine Appreciation. The Thank You card. A grueling task for any newlywed, new parent or new graduate. But it really shouldn't be a task should it? The thank you card should be the least we can do for the generosity someone has given us. I read a great post today by
Offbeat Bride in which she words it well:

Yes, it's courteous. Yes, it's a way of showing how much you truly appreciate people's generosity. We all know these things and honestly, they should be enough to motivate each of us to carve out a couple nights to sit down with the new spouse and get to work on some cards.

Then there's the issue of what constitutes a "gift." Did your 15-year-old cousin help you with your iPod playlist? That's a gift. Send 'em a card. Did your college friend give you a blender, but then also spend half the reception tending after your vomiting drunk uncle? Send 'em a card, and acknowledge BOTH gifts. Did your coworker who wasn't invited to your family-only destination wedding help you surreptitiously print out programs on the office printer? Send 'em a card. When in doubt, anyone made your wedding planning easier or smiled at you when you were freaking out? Send 'em a card.




Can I just say that I went to a wedding 4 months ago for a friend I hadn't seen in almost 10 years, traveled pretty far, and spent way more money than I had at the time on a gift, AND made a great effort to close the gap (of 10 years!) at a bachlorette....AND... I never got a thank you card? It's not that big a deal; I'm sure she appreciated the gesture and I bet she is very busy. At the same time, it just doesn't seem quite polite.

My goal: to make thank you cards less of a chore and more of a pleasant way to notate the nice things people do for you.


I think the cutesy whimsy of Red Cap Cards should help motivate just about any reluctant thank you card writer!

Paper Flowers!

As I mentioned before, I have been working on a paper flower arrangement to compliment my real flowers at our wedding reception next spring. Thus far, they are coming along great, and didn't take very long to make. Unfortunately, I don't have much time lately...but here is what I've done so far:

Drawing inspiration from Martha's Encyclopedia of Crafts, I fell in love with these fringed paper flowers:



I also happened to have paper that I thought would be perfect for my flowers. The flowers above are made by Quilling, which is basically the art of shaping strips of paper into various forms such as letters or flowers (usually in tight scrolls). To do this you will need strips of paper, glue and a Quilling Tool (a slotted tool used to hold the paper as you wrap it around). This tool, small and simple as it is, is actually quite important. It holds the paper firm and allows for tighter curls. Don't bother looking for this tool at AC Moore or Michael's--they no longer carry it. Looks like only old ladies, Martha and myself are into Quilling these days. I did find what I needed at www.quilling.com and www.acmoore.com (search Quilling Tool). Cost: $8.00


(as you can see from the tag over the photos this pic was liberated from a quilling expert-- InCreations.blogspot-- who is also Russian? Sorry to borrow a pic...mine came out blurry and I'm too lazy to re-do)

I cut my paper into strips and got to work. I didn't really read the instructions as the twisting looked self-explanatory to me. I scrolled a center for my first flower with strips of light pink paper. I cut the strips by hand, although I do have a paper cutter, I just thought the less perfect the cut, the more texture there would be in the flower. After I created a flower center ---



I went to work on the rest of the flower. I used a darker pink paper with thicker strips that I then cut the fringe into. It really is a simple technique, you twist and glue! I added more paper fringe as I saw fit, when the flower needed more depth. I am very pleased with the result. Boyfriend really liked them too (as much as a guy can like paper flowers, that is) but he did brag to his mom about how nice they turned out!

where did the week go?

oh my gosh it's Thursday already??!!! Clearly my life is a fog lately. Last Saturday I got my hair all gussied up, was writing a check for the highlights/cut and asked "What's today's date? The 12th?" --- She just looked at me and answered: "Ummmm, the 20th." Point is, my life is swirling around me and I am only Mostly Participating. TWO JOBS SUCK. I am relatively used to it now and IT STILL SUCKS. I'll have to check back in when I locate my thinking capabilities. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

the mondays

no words are needed for Mondays...

after I get this day over with I will upload pics of the fringed paper flowers I have been working on. So far, they look great!

daddy's day!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to my pops, the swellest guy in the whole world. I am a Daddy's girl and I always will be; he's the best. For his big day, we got him SOCKS. He actually wanted SOCKS. Turns out we haven't been giving him enough of the usual Dad gifts lately and he was running out of socks without holes. I'm sure for his birthday he'll ask for underwear. He also will beg us not to spend any money (as he did for father's day and every other holiday) because his fear is that we will spend too much money and somehow we'll need money from him and his present will end up costing him money. Awww, Dad, we're all growd up now, we can pay for it, we promise. Gotta love how practical he is though! We threw in a nice shirt, a book and a bathing suit to go with the socks all the same.

After dinner, we sat around laughing and joking until talk of my wedding came up. Daddy gave me the "are you sure you want to get married next spring? are you really sure???" Yes Dad! "Well ok, but I am writing ONE check for an amount I decided and not a penny more!" He reminds me of Spencer Tracy in Father of the Bride (one of our family's favorite movies--the original version is SO much better than the remake!):


and that was about the face he made when my mom pouted "she's my only daughter and this is for me too and if I want to pay for something extra I will!" I love my parents.

Shoes, a girl's Other best friend

This week is BABY WEEK on Discovery Health, with plenty of spectacular winners like "Obese and Pregnant," "Amazing Births"--and this one IS amazing-- all kinds of Delivery Rooms shows and my personal favorite: "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant." I have the DVR on overload and I can't wait to catch up on them this weekend. Babies are an obsession for me but that currently has to be put on the back burner. Boyfriend is so sweet to tolerate me re-telling of all the outrageous stories I watch on Discovery Health or TLC (isn't he a keeper???) but seriously, I just can't think TOO much about babies just quite yet...

Soooo back to wedding stuffs:

AND SHOES!!

I bought my wedding shoes! Or I think I did anyway.

What I really wanted were: COLOR, preferably bright fuchsia pink (possibly aqua blue), and Kitten heels. Of course it is easy to find plenty o' fab pink heels but not so much in a kitten heel. I did find a lovely pair at JCrew.com in silver. Silver falls in the category with gold and black shoes; great and necessary, just a tad BLAH. But they went on sale (!) and then I got an "extra 20% online coupon" --- so I bought them. I was too afraid they would sell out of my size. They are adorable, I am just not 100% about them. Thankfully I have them and maybe I will decide that I just can't be bridezilla about every little detail. Maybe.


They are also very comfortable-- But we will see if these are the ones!

OR

If I wanted to spend $715.00, I could go with these saucy Manolos:



Ummmm, no I do not wish to spend $715.00 on shoes as I do not want to scare my Lovebug off just yet!!


Check out other brides shoes on Wedding Bee's real budget series:The Bee's Shoe Budgets

Quickie!

Aggghhhh...I promise am not giving up my blog--I just have SO LITTLE TIME! If I wasn't working so much I would be updating all my wonderful ideas and inspiration twice daily. BUT in the meantime, I ran across this beautiful rehearsal dinner on Style Me Pretty:


This is precisely the casual elegance we are aiming for!

36 years and going strong

Yesterday was my Mom and Dad's 36th wedding anniversary. 36 years together and they still couldn't imagine life without the other - (although sometimes Daddy swears he would be just fine without my brother and I!)

They fell in love their freshman year in college. So the story goes, my Dad had a crush on my mom AND some other girl, forever known in our family as "The Tuba Player." After their freshman year, Daddy went home to Chapel Hill and my mom spent the summer with her family in Gloucester, Mass. They wrote each other over the summer (as in they wrote LETTERS--how cute is that??) and promised to meet back up in the fall. The fall of their sophomore year, my Dad got back to school and decided to check out both my Mom and THE TUBA PLAYER! Well, the Tuba Player had gained 20lbs over the summer so my pretty and still slender Momma won out. Mom tells us she always knew there was no contest.

The rest is history!


I think my Pops looks especially dashing in his bow tie! My mom made her wedding gown--even staying up late to finish it the night before, and as far as "budget" goes---Mom says: "Budget?!? Our budget was ZERO!!" But they were happy and in love!

They married on June 9, 1973 in Chapel Hill, NC. I had always planned to marry at the same church someday, and sadly, it was recently torn down. I was heartbroken! We had toyed with the idea of a destination wedding before, but once we realized that we can't marry in the church I always dreamed of -- We will *settle* on a wedding in paradise instead (some compromise, eh?).

DIY fun!

This past weekend, while not dreading my now hated 2nd job, I picked up this sweet puppy:


Like most artsy-crafty-chic ladies, when all else fails, I go to Martha. She is always full of ideas and her website is a cornucopia of creativity. Of course, she has legions of people helping her, but all the same, I unabashedly love Martha. Before I discovered the big wide world of wedding blogs, I had www.marthastewart.com/weddings. There are tons of templates on her website, so I perhaps I didn't need the Encyclopedia of Crafts...but I know I will use it a ton and it was only $35.00 ($28.00 with my big bro's B&N discount!).

I am most excited about the sections on handmade flowers -- from paper and from fabric. My mom would disown me if I don't have real flowers for my wedding bouquet or centerpieces, and I wouldn't consider not-- BUT I am excited about cutting my floral budget WAY down by making some gorgeous handmade flowers.

Note: To me, there is a huge difference between "fake flowers" from Michael's or JoAnn's, and "handmade" works of art that take their cue from nature's beauty. Just sayin'...

Here are some goodies from Martha's Encyclopedia:




Please excuse the crappy pics (it's late!)...I plan on getting to work on the fringed paper flowers ASAP with some lovely stamped paper I have. As of now, I think that I might make a large dramatic paper floral arrangement for the cake table, since I am decorating my guests' tables simply with single Real flowers in bud vases. I do need to get to work, because while I still have a good 10 months-ish until our wedding, time is at a premium these days. I'll post pics as I make them though!

2 jobs

I'm tired. Really, really tired. I've worked three 14+ hour days this week and I can truthfully say: IT SUCKS! But Boyfriend is working 2 jobs too, and we both decided that it was for the greater good and, most of all, it is temporary. It's going to be a LONG summer though. I already miss the pool that I don't have time to lay beside. My bestest best friend sent me a text tonight in the middle of my grueling 2nd job: "I know that's not where you want to be right now--just try to smile and think Wedding Bells" --- It worked; thinking about my wedding next year makes it all okay! I am too tired to smile however.

And speaking of weddings, I've done lots of work making plans and trolling the 'net for ideas--I will update soon!! xoxox