The planning is the most fun.

Apparently, unlike some girls, I had no idea what my wedding would one day look like. Literally, no idea. I have always felt like I wanted for it to be outside, but without any real ties to a particular area (state/ city) or place, I never had a site in mind. Until one fateful evening. J and I took two of our really good friends to an outdoor concert at The Hermitage. We packed up our picnic basket full of treats (dinner), and headed to see the Town Mountain Band. Which, by the way, was really good.

The second we walked on the grounds, I knew. We knew. I'd figure out how to make it work with my budget. Regardless. Our wedding (and reception) had to be there. And the ideas started forming. The magnolia tree practically begged me to put low-hanging lights on it. And basically, everything about the site wanted to have an ethereal, magical feel.

So I went with it. The ideas/ mood board:

I enlised a dear friend of mine to start throwing out ideas. Any idea was accepted. And pinned. After a few weeks of brain-dumps, a clear direction emerged. Mostly because the both of us get distracted by shiny things. See below:

J and I are also drawn to slightly whimsical things. And I want this wedding to be about US. This wasn't just my wedding. It was our wedding. So he had say in quite a few things. Like what his groomsmen and him would wear. (Shopping with J for his wedding suit was hilarious, btw.... "BABE. I LOOK AMAZING IN THIS SUIT.")

Anyway. 

Color palette: Gold glitter.
Flower: Baby's breath.
Food: Traditions Catering. (AMAZING)
Lighting: Blue Steel Lighting. (Pricey, but soooo worth it.)
Site: The Hermitage. (Also pricey, but soooo worth it.)

So there you go. The ideas. They'll come to fruition in the next post.

My fingers hurt. But they're pretty.

One of my most favorite crafting projects seems to be making fabric flowers. I made them for Meghan to cheer her up, I made (a ton of) them for a friend's wedding as table decor, and I knew I would be bringing them in to my wedding somehow. (friend's wedding setup below...)

I started playing around with a bunch of types of fabric: laces, silks, and even a good bit of muslin just for the sake of fun (and to see how the fabrics responded to being made in to flowers). I took inspiration from these bouquets, but I wasn't quite bowled over with the idea of an all-brooch bouquet. But I still wanted a good bit of bling represented. So off I went on some thrifting adventures to purchase brooches, with a $5ish limit!The inspirations:

I used fabrics from a good friend's wedding dress remnants (little did she know), lace inserts from my mom's wedding bouquet, and some plain ol' good and simple fabrics I found at Jo-Anns. (I later added some pearl sprig-things for a bit more texture.)

After each flower was crafted (sewed), I glued on a circle of felt (with two holes cut) to the back, inserted the wire stem, and glue-gunned the heck out of them. Some of them got brooches, some of them were just fine without. I made enough of these flowers to start forming my bunch, saw what was missing, and filled in the rest.

From past weddings, I knew that heavy bouquets are THE WORST. Especially for the maid/ matron of honor. So I wanted it to be fairly small. Hand-size, if you will. So, um, yeah. Here she is.

The best year ever in the history of ever.

Yes. I'm very late on any kind of blog post wedding-related. It feels like life has (kind of) started to settle down a bit. We live in a tiny two-bedroom apartment with three dogs crammed with two houses worth of furniture. Soooo needless to say, things are rarely organized and always cramped. That shouldn't last for too long, though. ANYWAY. Wedding. Right.

I knew quite some time ago that most of my wedding-related paraphernalia would be crafted, and I also knew that J and I planned on getting hitched sometime in August. So when we started talking... really talking... about getting marriaged, I started crafting. Yes, wedding planning started before we actually got engaged. Don't hate. Pinterest came in extremely handy throughout this process, but I had to be stealth about my pins. I couldn't exactly create a "wedding" board, seeing as how I wasn't exactly engaged yet. So I made a "party" board. Naturally. I'm so sneaky. (Not really at all, though.) After the engagement, the official board was created, though. (See here.)

Knowing that I wanted this wedding to be about J and I's future lives together, and our guests' involvement throughout our lives, I wanted them to feel welcome and special. Oftentimes, guests attend weddings without much interaction with the bride and groom... I wanted our friends and families to know how appreciative we are of them, and I wanted them to feel like we understood how big of a deal it can be to travel and come to a wedding. Ergo, I decided to sew their gift bags... aka, reusable shopping bags for them to have for years.

I found the free pattern here, and got to sewing. I believe I ended up sewing around 15 of these bags, and was able to do it in a couple weeks by cutting out all the pieces and going at it assembly-line-style. And knowing the importance of delegation, I asked Mom to fill them with treats for our guests.

Next on the crafting list? My bouquet. Stay tuned.

Almadean-y

This post actually started in 2000(ish). Big Poppa's Mom (Almadean) passed away around the time I was graduating/ going to Baylor. (Sic 'em Bears.) And, as families do, we had to go through all of her things and pick what stayed and what went. I chose a few baubles-- costume jewelry, mostly-- to keep. A few of those were kept in a special place-- to one day be used at my wedding. Namely, a necklace that I (eventually) re-fashioned into a headband, and two necklaces I strung into one. 

I woke up on the morning of the wedding and headed to brunch with all my fave ladies (hey-oooo)!! Lo and behold, Aunt Amy (Big Poppa's twin brother's wife... catch that?), showed up with a GIANT box and demanded I open it immediately. And to my complete surprise and amazement, I found the rest of her jewelry. Things that I figured had been sent to the thrift store for some other person just like me to find and enjoy. But noooo. IGETITALL. It was probably one of the best presents I have ever gotten in my whole entire life. I found rings, necklaces, bracelets, clip-on earings (BOOM.), and in just about every color combination possible. I was in heaven. 

I returned from the honeymoon to a (merged) home with junk in seemingly every crevice (still feels like that at times). And the one small hope for the second bedroom is that it would one day turn into a relaxing, homey, wonderful place that would (somehow) showcase Almadean's jewels. (I say jewels loosely. They're all fake. DON'TEVENTHINKABOUTSTEALINGTHEM. Amidst all the clutter (seriously, embarrassed to show you a picture of the rest of the room), I find respite on top of my dresser and on the walls (trying not to turn around to piles of clothes and/or dogs and/or dogs on top of the piles of clothes). 

This is my new favorite place to be. (Other than in my lover's arms. OOOOOHYEAHIJUSTDIDTHAT.)

Last Night.

As we prepare for domestication, we spend most of our nights cooking (and eating) dinners together, followed by crossing things off our to-do list.

Last night's to-do list was as follows:
Work out (body by Heath for me!)
Grocery Shopping (J's favorite chore)
Cut J's hair (my third attempt, with successful results.)
Practice songs for a wedding this weekend (obviously, this was not my task.)
Wrap wedding presents (obviously, this was not J's task.)
Wash dishes from dinner

It was in the last task where we arrive to our story. My house is about 40ish years old, on a crawl space, and near the beach. Aka, I have bugs. Lots of them. Big ones. Frequently. I've been pretty good about killing them myself, always having a flip flop around with which to kill them, and disposing of dead bugs. Except for last night. Conversation was as follows:

GAHHHHHH! COME HERE! BRING YOUR SHOE! HURRY!
what? OMG THAT THING IS HUGE!... WHERE DID IT GO?
BEHIND THE SHELF. Hold on. I'll move this stuff out of the way. (pause. pause. pause.) THERE HE IS!
WHERE DID HE GO?
OGIAOIGNSGOIN!!!! (flick giant cockroach to the floor)
WHY DID YOU TOUCH HIM?!?! (smash)
Gross. His head and his body are in two different places.

Welcome to the House of Gold.

a little more about him...

Shortly after getting engaged (as in about 2.5 hours after), I was asked by a girlfriend how I knew he was "the one."

Imagine, for a second, what it might feel like to continue to want to be around someone after a few months. And not only that, but be constantly delighted by them. A man that recognizes if you are unhappy and encourages you to talk about it with him, even if that involves tears. A man that will carry you over a puddle, getting his feet wet, so you don't get your running shoes wet. A man that repeatedly makes you proud to be associated with. Someone that makes you laugh when you're cranky, makes you smile when you're sad, and makes your heart bounce around inside your chest whenever you think about seeing him next.

I knew, within weeks, that this was the man I was to marry. There was never a doubt in my head that, for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and health, this man is to be my other half. He makes my life better, richer, healthier.

This man makes me proud of him on a daily basis. He is excellent at everything he does. Or, if not, strives for excellence in everything he does. He is a gifted musician, incredibly intelligent, compassionate, diligent, caring, strong, manly, and worth my respect. He has been through much, and has proved himself to be a man that seeks after God regardless of his circumstances.

I have 47 days until I can call this man my husband. It is a fantastic thing that I will be able to spend the rest of my life loving and caring for him.

My friends.

I have some very funny friends.

 me:  i want stretchy pants tonight.

so bad.

unnamed friend:d:: i'm not even wearing pants....

ha

May 27, 2012

The day started in a typical vacation-y fashion. I woke up in the RV after sleeping in a bit, and received a text from J... "Good morning love! It's a beautiful day in paradise!" This immediately triggered my spidey senses, seeing as how I normally wake up to a text of... "I feel like crap", "I'm so tired", or (my personal favorite) "It tastes like a cat took a dump in my mouth." I replied with a hearty "You're all sunshiney today", replied with a "Because you're in my life shuger face britches head." (side note... I love this man.)

I went ahead and got ready for church, along with Mom and Dad, where we met J and his 3 besties from out of town. They came over for a cookout at the RV after church (but not before J's car broke and I had to go rescue them), which consisted of about 3ish hours of hanging out. (side note... the car was fixed in 10ish minutes by our amazing mechanic-friend.)

J started the whole process by telling me Saturday night that he wanted me to go with him to the beach Sunday night, so we could hang out... just the two of us. No bros. I was hesitant then, seeing as how I enjoy my quiet time. He persisted on Sunday afternoon, telling me that the bros were all going to go to the beach and fish, inviting me to go along. I was not interested in doing that. He asked again, saying it'd be fun. I thought it would be more fun to go back home, put on some stretchy pants, and scratch Ed. Finally, minutes before the bros were to leave, J swiped my keys and informed me that he would be driving me back to his house, where we'd all change and go to the beach. I had no choice.

Mysteriously, all the bros had to go to Kroger to get shrimpbait for their fishing escapades. I sighed with some relief, knowing that I'd have some alone time with J. We went to one of our favorite beaches that had zero people on the shore, set up our blanket and chairs, and spent some time just catching up. (side note... he kept checking his pockets on the drive over there. Spidey senses were once again raised.)

He pulled a note out of his pocket (one of my favorite things to get from him is notes), and had me read it. (It was real nice and even had a drawing of the two of us and our dogs. The man knows how to draw his stick figures.) Then we chatted some more, and he pulled a second note out of his pocket. (Spidey senses on code red high alert at this point.) It said... "Will you marry me?" and had three boxes to check... all of which were variations of "yes". Then he pulled out the ring (the exact one I was hoping for). Through happy tears, I said yes.

Then all the bros popped up over the sand dunes like prairie dogs and congratulated us.

It was a good day, spent with some of my favorite people.

I can't wait to marry this man.