Happy Holidays

For your wedding, your life, and your loved ones I hope that you have a great holiday season.

I'm going to be bustling and busy, so my posts will take a break until the new year.

Love and good wishes,
Sez.

Country Club

Oh... I don't know.

So Daddy joined a country club this year, and that got me thinking about the idea of a country club wedding. And... I don't know. I think that a big part of me wants to get married at somewhere special, and the banquet hall of anywhere doesn't strike me as special.

But... wouldn't it be a delicious location to do traditional with a twist?

I love red and aqua right now- very dramatic. I think that it's perfect for a January/February affair, because you're ushering in the spring with the Robin's Egg/Tiffany box blue.

For once, when designing this wedding I paid attention to the model and her expression. She is so rocking this short dress, and she has a bit of a pampered prep school look to her. So I choose designer attire to match, complete with that fantastic Tacori ring.

Swoon.

So close...

Ahh!! Christmas! New Year's! Rose Bowl!

I'm so excited that it's ridiculous. No. It's full on redonculous. There is little to be done for it at this point.

I've actually been a bit under the weather, and even that isn't stopping my excitement. You see, NYE is my Absolute. Favorite. Holiday.

Christmas, you say? I'm no humbug, I love Christmas. But it isn't NYE. See, on NYE, you get to stay up late, have a fancy party with all of your friends, you're supposed to get slightly wasted, and you get kissed!

What isn't to like about NYE?

Nothing, that's what.

So Boy and I have friends coming over to our cute little townhouse for a NYE potluck/all night rager that will turn into a Rose Bowl celebration the next day. That means two solid days of friends, family, and ferocious pong skills. We may even get to squeeze a game of Celebrity- the world's hippest and most awesome party game (Tina Fey plays it. Oh yeah.)

Which all leads to me being so close. All of the friends, family, and awesomeness.... so close. Which got that song from Enchanted stuck in my head.

I'm not huge on purple, but this is some elegant eggplant.

Heart

This wedding was posted over on Weddingbee at some point yesterday, and I absolutely love every square inch of it. Clicking the "this wedding" link well get you bunches of pictures as well as the actual wedding budget (!!!), but here are some of my favorite pictures:





All of which got me thinking about what I really want and what I really do not want for my own wedding. I've been having lots of fun pre-planning, but I have a feeling that the time for fun and games is nearly over. In a very good way. So what have I learned?

What I absolutely must have:
Boy
Active, happy bridesmaids- think lunches, shopping trips
flowers done by family- bouquet party :)
formal attire... not sure about the black tie yet
unique, lengthy ceremony
our song, as arranged by me
dancing- lots and lots of dancing
excellent photography


What must be kept far away from my wedding:
faux flowers of any sort
drop ceilings
unnecessary bling, gloss, and "wedding necessities"

I solemnly swear:
Not to over-knot
not to make online purchases without first consulting Boy and/or 2 bridesmaids
to shut up when asked to stop talking about wedding stuff

and finally, not to snoop and spoil Boy's surprise.


That last one is a toughie...

As Promised

Well, I couldn't very well go onto Polyvore and come back without a new wedding set, could I?

I used plain old regular inspiration for today's board and came up with a pink and gold garden wedding:

Simple and formal at the same time. I don't see this as being an overly decorated affair, but rather set in a beautiful garden with Nature doing all the hard work :). It would be great if there was a hedge maze involved...

Complete Bragging

When I popped over to Polyvore to start today's board, I had a happy little note: I won a contest for one of my non-wedding boards!

Yay! The challenge was a teacher's casual Friday, which by the way is my favorite day of the week. I am a jeans and cute sweaters kind of girl! So, I know it's not wedding related, but here's the board:




What a nice way to start a Monday!

Inspiration

I hopped on over to Weddingbee Pro today for the first time and was immediately met with major inspiration. Enjoy the eye candy!





:)

Mrs. Darcy

I very badly want to make a t-shirt that says something along the lines of "Mr. Darcy is way hotter than Edward."

Crys may disagree on that point. Oh well. I used Kiera Knightly's dress from the latest version of Pride and Prejudice as the jumping off point for this, her second board:

I love this dress. It is simple, elegant, and full of personality without being showy. The countryside is in England- hello destination wedding! (I suppose it could be France...) You awesome readers already know how much I love monochromatic color schemes, and I'm at it again with this red. Love it!

Clearly I'm just eating this board right up. I may also have to order this locket right now, though I'm terrified to look at the price.

By the way, if you haven't already checked out the fabulous invitations of The Future Mrs. Darcy on Etsy, do so. Your inner geek will thank you, as will your design sense.

And here's another little treat to get you over hump day:



Can you tell I'm starting to feel better?

Betcha can't do just one

My bestest reader and commenter, Crys, challenged me to center more boards around others. So I've decided that she's up first.

Crys is my one and only married friend (who is my age), so long as you don't count her hubby (though I probably should.) Their wedding was beautiful and awesome, and you can see how it really played out by visiting her blog: A Bayside Affair. I wouldn't change a moment of it, because the whole time I kept my eyes on her hubby.

See, aside from "Tim" and "Drunky McGambling problem," his two alter egos who come out depending on how much delicious Massachusetts vodka drinks he's had, Nick is a kind of reserved guy. He loves his movies, select video games, and cannot make frozen pizza in the microwave. (To be fair, I think the microwave incident was blamed on Tim.)

Not so on his wedding day.



Their photographer, the fantastic Erin Antognoli, won an award for this photo.

Yeah. So re-imagining this day, as Crys puts it, is a tall order. And I want it to be clear that I loved their wedding.

So they won't be getting just one. They'll be getting several. With various themes. This, my favorite winter board, is the first:

I love the branches and the fantastic cream lace. I know Crys hates roses, but they are too much of a lovely contrast to the branches.

This little bluebird is back from an earlier board. I was walking Jack-Jack today, and when he stopped to sniff something I noticed that a nearby tree was full of bluebirds. The simple beauty that they brought was startling, I felt as though I had happened upon a moment of magic.

I always feel much the same about weddings, and I hope that mine comes across that way as well. That all of our guests are witness to moments of simple beauty.

I'm sure that a sense of perspective and fatigue will be banged into my skull once I finally have to start planning.

(Btw: You can see the inspiration for the board as connected with the couple by hovering over it. I alluded to their completely understandable love of lotr in the past as well)

Boy

I love him, really I do.

Yesterday, because he was sick, he washed all of the sheets on the bed, the down comforter, and a down throw that he used while lying on his deathcouch.

He also made cookies :).

Unfortunately, his boy upbringing did not teach him how dryers work (or more appropriately, do NOT work) and he put an entire bed and a half's worth of bedding into the dryer. At once.

The result was a tightly rolled wad of very wet bedding and 45 minutes of waiting after we separated the mound of sopping wet sheets. We finally decided to sleep under an old quilt.

I love him.

Wedding Fun

I'm super busy, so today's board will have to wait for now. I just wanted to quickly share two bits of wedding fun with you :).

Today's CakeWrecks post is all about wedding cake disasters, do check it out.

And also, this is being sent around the blogosphere today. I don't usually get political, but this is way too funny and features the awesome NPH:

Prop 8: The Musical

But please remember, don't hate on all Californians for Prop 8, and definitely don't be mad at all Americans... only those in California could have voted for it. Hopefully the system will work and sort it out so that love means love.

omg

This dress. Oh-em-gee. It is everything I want. Strapless, semi-original, fluffy, pickups. OMG.

So I saw this dress and it immediately sent me back to 9th grade and my original wedding ideas. Red and White. Contrast- I was all about contrast:

Oh, and Leonardo DiCaprio. I said I was going back to 9th grade... So I had a bit of a Leo crush. And by crush, I of course mean that I was convinced that I would meet him somehow and he would fall in love with me. And we would get married.

Sigh.

Eternal Sunshine

For some reason, as I made this board the theme to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind played through my head.

Your guess is as good as mine.

I'm back at work after a short break and trying not to dwell on the holidays too much. If I do, these three weeks will be torture. Adding engagement excitement to this mix may well kill me.

The desire to keep from dying of want is part of the reason this non-white wedding dress caught my eye:

And a whole reversal board came from it. I love the 'maid's dress, as usual. I think it's stunning, and I don't care that it's not rewearable. In cream, it isn't too "bridey," but I somehow like the idea of a colored dress bride with white dress maids.

It's also a very spring-like wedding. Maybe I'm dreaming of spring?

One thing is for sure, I need to chill. Because I for sure can't go on like this.

Maid #1: Tangerine

So I have this idea- why not give one of my colors to each BM? The MOH could take white (she has a great set of pearls already) and each other BM can choose her color. The accessories, chosen from Etsy natch, would be of their signature color... maybe even a flower in the hair or a bouquet ribbon?

I am so totally excited by this idea. While the black dresses unifies them- my (prospective) girls are all very different. Hmm. Mayhaps I will need more colors, or we can double some girls up. I'm thinking of 5 specific girls as mine own. Three are obvious shoe-ins, two are less so but could probably be deduced.

Well, at least I know who Miss Tangerine would be:

Obviously, she could choose her own dress. Ahhhnnd accessories. But since I'm obsessed with bridesmaids at the moment, I've completely planned out her outfit, including a dress that may or may not actually look good on her. TaDa!

The 'maids

This board, try as I might to make it about the bride and the awesome gown, is all about this fantastic black bridesmaid dress.

There are not words:

See, told you. She totally steals the show and I am most definitely ok with that. In fact, I'm all about it.

Don't get me wrong, I love being the center of attention- I'm a Leo if ever there was one. But I want my girls to feel like their dresses were made for them, carry gorgeous flowers, and look their best (and most comfortable). One of the things that I was most taken with at N and C's wedding, apart from the obvious awesomeness, was how great the bridesmaids and groomsmen looked. Everyone was so polished and couldn't look happier to see the couple off into wedded bliss.

I'm totally jealous and can't wait.

Colors

Right now I'm heavily leaning towards a black and white wedding with pops of color. This would mean black bridesmaid's dresses, which can be stunning and easy on the ladies. I love the idea of going shopping with each girl for her perfect dress.

Let's be honest, I love the idea of going shopping. Spending time with the girls is essential icing on an already decadent cake! I think that right now this is the part of planning that I am the most looking forward to, although that could be partially do to the fact that I haven't seen my two other halves (yes I know that makes me a 1 and 1/2 person... 2 whole people once you add Boy) in far too long.

I digress. My favorite accent colors right now are...

Sky Blue:
1. IMG_3550, 2. Doggie Paddle, 3. Doodling in the sky 2, 4. Untitled

Apple Green:
Yes. I think salamanders are cute. Wanna fight about it?

1. green in white, 2. Halogen Samba, 3. CYP0015759, 4. Red Backed Salamander

and Tangerine:

1. Golden Poppies, 2. The Blizzard of '05, 3. Fork Tailed Bush Katydid, 4. Floral Patterns IV

The pops of color would be in small touches, like ribbon on candles, napkins, programs (specifically: apple green programs with sky blue/tangerine sewn binding), and maid's jewelery.

By the way- the word "jewelery" always seems like it has too many "e's" in it. Now that I'm thinking of it, that's probably because I insist on pronouncing it "jewl-ry" with two syllables instead of "jewl-er-ry" with three. Phonics is Fun tells us that two syllables means two vowells, right Casey?

...anyway. Clearly I can't focus today. Oh well!

Here's what it looks like all together:

1. Just your typical SoCal sunset, 2. precipice, 3. Reach for the Sky!!!, 4. My Heart, 5. lines in the sky, 6. Fantasy I, 7. F1150021.JPG, 8. Siberian (?!) cat :), 9. light3, 10. Mexican Heat, 11. Up And Down, 12. The Church in Twilight

What do you think?

Click on back to my last colorific post to see how my palet has changed and play with these fun toys yourself!

Red Wedding Dresses

I'd like to say that I love the idea of being a red dress bride. I certainly admire all of them, they look fantastic, confident, and no-nonsense.

Unfortunately, the thought of me actually doing this makes me a bit dizzy.

When I imagine my own dress- I think uber traditional. Corset top. Strapless. Pouf. Lots and lots of crinoline. Maybe, just maybe, a hoop skirt.

Oh wow. That would be fun.

It takes me back to my very few times on stage, mostly during a summer production of Jekyll and Hyde, when during a particularly awkward costume change my ex-boyfriend's mother had to quickly (and painfully) lace me into a corset top so that I could go from maid in the Jekyll mansion to bar girl in under a minute.

And, to be honest, this dress has everything like that I would want- aside from it being red. A delicious shade of red that looks like red velvet cake. (Groom's cake? A tier of wedding cake? Oh, we'll get into cake.)

See, it's mildly gothic, more like dark romantic. Again, the white background is brightening here, but trust me it looked horrific with the black background. Think of it set in the center of a garden, with old statues. Think of the waltzing. I love the gloves, as well as the maid's dress. I wish it came in pure black.

Oh, and to clarify, the bride gets the long lace sleeves and the maids get the smaller lace gloves.

A dark Christmas, maybe? Either way it's a twisty, ironic occasion. I admire it, I love it (especially those shoes), but I do not have the ::ahem:: balls to do it.

Network TV

Sad news today from the blogosphere and beyond. ABC is not ordering more episodes of Pushing Daises (or Dirty Sexy Money and Eli Stone). Meanwhile, Heroes is getting progressively worse without the awesomeness of Brian Fuller, who originally left the show to create Daises.

The slight silver lining is that this means that Fuller can return to Heroes, but I preferred Daises.

I know, this is a blog about weddings, but it's also about me and Boy. And our awesome friends. Our love of the cult hit is what really brought us together. We mocked the mainstream horror flick we saw on our first date, went to midnight showings of our favorite comic book adaptations, and refused to let anyone in our basement who cannot correctly identify a movie quote on our wall "art". (It's Pulp Fiction.)

So in honor of Dead Like Me, Sports Night, Wonderfalls, and the almighty Rocky Horror, I repost my Pushing Daises board. It is still one of my favorites:

The skinny tie is a definite keeper.

A sigh

I don't know, maybe it's a sigh of relief. It's definitely a sigh.

Things are starting to calm down again, and I'm getting very excited for Thanksgiving. It will be the first break that we have had from school, because my district spent most of September on strike.

Yep. If you live in the Philly area- you know my school district now.

I haven't blogged about it because it's still going on. We're in a "work to rule" strike that entails no clubs, no staying late, and no extra work. Basically, that means no fun stuff. And it meant that I couldn't do yearbook or the fall play.

So I've been working. A lot. I spend almost every night at my part time job. It's still teaching, but it's for a tutoring company. I originally got the job after my alternative school teaching position didn't work out (lack of funding), but a year and half later, I'm still there.

It's too much. And tonight I'll be there until around 10:30, which will mean about 15 hours of work today.

Blarg.

This board is an attempt to relieve this stress and help me through until Thanksgiving:

A tall order for one little bluebird!

Busy Busy Busy

Quick board post to keep you happy :)

I've been toying around with this art deco board for a while, it's still a work in progress, but I think I'm happy with it:

Tell me what you think!

On Craftiness

I consider myself moderately crafty.

I can make greeting cards when pushed, own a bone folder, knit, and darn the holes and tears in Boy's clothing/hockey gear on a daily basis. So I am totally stoked about making my own wedding paper products.

Doing the actual invitations (which will be in the 150-250 range) will be a nightmare, so I'll probably end up ordering fantastic pocketfolds (hells yes I'll have pocketfolds! Even if I have to make them myself!) after extensive research. The STDs (hehe) will probably fall under the heading of a summer project, which will be perfect for this girl, who gets her summers off.

It's like, the only perk of being a teacher. Well, that and the awesome kids! Have I mentioned recently how much I adore my job?

But the first project I'll focus on are letters on custom stationery, inviting my best girls to be bridesmaids. I'll probably whip up a few much simpler notecards for Boy to send as well.

Totally inspired by the crafty Miss Snapdragon over at weddingbee, I've fallen in love with heat embossing. Here are some links on how its done:

Snappy's post on weddingbee
Scrapjazz
Embossing on Vellium- using your computer!
step-by-step

I am planning on lots of DIY to help save money and involve as many important "family" members as possible (I'm including close friends in "family"). I love the idea of saying "Oh, you like the programs? They were hand sewn by Becky, the fantastic MOH!"

Because, really, a wedding is about love.

::gag::

Idie rock waltzing

"Do you belong
to a song
does it drag you along by your tongue
at the top of your lungs?"
- The Matches, "Salty Eyes"

Boy and I both love music, and fortunately we agree most of the time about which music is good. Last weekend, we went to see some good down at the Trocadero in Philly. One of our favorite little up and coming bands, The Matches, was opening up for Bayside.

We took Boy's little bro, who is under 21, so we had to be on the floor. I hate being touched, and I think I realize why now- at a rock show you are smushed up against at least 8 people you don't know. And since I'm short, I'm smushed into their armpits. Gross.

Add to that the fact that the median age on the floor is somewhere around 15, it is most certainly not a place I want to be. The last thing I want is to throw an elbow at some little brat and realize it's a student. Not good. (It's impossible not to throw elbows if you want to be able to breathe)

That said, I love the song "Salty Eyes," and they played it. As they were playing, I imagined the wedding that would use this as their first dance:

Incidentally, I started this board with a Labyrinth theme, and it still has that feel to it. To me, it's romantic and a little bit twisty. I'm not sure how the maid's dresses would actually look on though. They would either be stunning or awful.

For those of you playing the home version of our game, this is the second post I've done using a song by The Matches as inspiration. (The other was the Edward and Bella board) If you missed out on giving them a listen the first time, don't let them pass you by again!

Non-wedding randomness

Hey, I started a non-wedding blog using tumblr. Check it out if you like: Peculiar Travel Suggestions

Have a great night!

Goddess

I love Ancient Greek lit, so what better way to celebrate a wedding than with a goddess gown?

Eh, I'm fairly certain that this would not at all be flattering on me. I am not the tall and slender type.

Still:

It would make for an awesome courtyard wedding. I love that watch, and am also lusting over those simple centerpieces... I have to have a night reception now, just so I can have candles!

By the way, if you've been clicking along, you may have notice that I have very expensive taste in shoes. I have no idea where this comes from- all of my shoes are from payless, target, or offline at deep discount. I don't think I'll ever be able to afford a pair of Choo's or Louboutin's on this teacher's salary, and I just can't justify spending over 100 dollars on a pair of shoes... although I really wish I could!

Distract me, please!

Since my usual blogs weren't full of updates this morning, I had to go searching for something to be distracted by. After very little digging, I came up with this very basic site, which features proposal stories. Definitely distracting, although not so much helpful in my current state of mind.

So, onto Polyvore I went, without much inspiration already. I guess I'm longing for the summer, which Boy and I usually spend partially down the shore (Philly speak for "at the beach, usually in New Jersey") with friends and family. I miss the people, beverages, and sun that make those weeks so special. As much as I don't think I'd be able to find a venue without drop ceilings in Ocean City, New Jersey (or all of southern New Jersey, for that matter)... I think that it would be fun and incredibly special to be married down there:

Wouldn't it be nice if this wedding also came with the hunk? I searched, but I couldn't find the black linen pants I wanted the groomsmen to wear sans shirtless hottie. OK... to be honest I didn't search that carefully. But can you blame me?

Distraction achieved!

Apparently I'm craving chocolate

And bored. Lots of lounging today was very relaxing, but left my mind free to wander. Which is dangerous.

Don't worry. I thought about chocolate:

I don't usually like yellow gold, and would never choose it for my wedding band, but I love these wood/gold bands. What a great idea!

I like having a food theme, and chocolate means yummy chocolate martinis. Of course, with a splash of orange one could serve a delicious Buzz Aldrin (tang martini)...

Oh, the possibilities...

DVR= Sunday board

Boy and I had some extra time because we decided to hibernate today instead of actually doing anything.

So we ended up watching some of our DVR'd tv, and finally got to watch last week's episode of House. It was a good episode, and I see some wedding bells in the future for a couple of characters. This is what their wedding would look like in my head:

It's very simple, even more so than my usual boards. I like it that way :)

Slacker

That's me!

It's Friday, and I had my long day yesterday, so I'm getting caught up on that grading I had been procrastinating on. The kids are in good spirits today, so I'm happy as well.

Let me take a quick aside to note how much I love my job. I am lucky beyond words to be 24, doing what I have dreamed of doing since I was a little girl, and living with Boy.

That said, I'm being a slacker on the boarding today because all I can think of is my wedding party and how I want to let these girls know that I want them to be my girls.

Also, engagement parties.

And cake.

And rings.

And kittens, apparently.

So not focused, at all. Who knows- maybe this eclectic state of mind will bring about an awesome board later. For now, you can do what I've been doing all day- scrolling down and cooing when I look at yesterday's board.

Chapter Twelve: Having a bad day

You know those mornings where everything goes wrong and you just wish you could climb into bed like it never happened?

Yep. I'm having one of those.

So I gave myself a little treat. Since I can't go shopping and I don't have any chocolate within reach, I put on Boy and I's song.

As it was playing, I thought about everything that Boy and I have gone through in our nearly four years. I thought about my student teaching and how he supported me. I thought about how I cheered him on as he looked for a job. I thought about our home, our pets, and our friends: the life we've built together. I thought about the stupid games we play, the peach schnapps that wasn't water, and the road trips. I thought about the little spats and the make ups. I thought about the choices and the compromises.

And, for the first time, I created our board:

Now I can't stop smiling.

Working Backwards

I'm procrastinating on grading. I know, it's bad.

I was a little back and forth with my inspiration when I started this board. I have a couple of ideas bouncing around in my head that aren't fully ready yet, so I have a couple of boards started. I decided on a clean slate for this one, and chose the dress first.

Apparently, it's a garden wedding. I just imagined what song would go with the dress and what mood the girl who wore her (not Madame Sourpuss) would be in on her wedding day. I decided on light and airy with "Kissing You" from the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack- an instrumental version.

A word on the anemones: I love anemones, but I usually shy away from using them in boards because of the flower hell that my favorite newlywed went through with her beloved anemones. It seems as though she has a love of them that rivals my love of peonies, and she designed her whole wedding around a beautiful red anemone. Unfortunately, bad news from her florist replaced her anemones with impostors (I think they were dahlias). They were lovely in their own right, but they weren't anemones. If I was Crys, I would have lost it. We're talking full-fledged drama. But she was awesome.

What do you do if you build a theme around a flower and weather, the economy, or a tragic lack of awesome prevents it from featuring in your day?

Effortless

That's the way I feel about this board. This wedding is formal, but has a classic elegance to it. It has roses, but still doesn't feel stuffy to me.

There would definitely be a ballroom first dance at this wedding. That's one thing that I'm really excited for. Boy and I are both So You Think You Can Dance fans, so he's all about taking dance lessons. At least for now :).

When I have some time, I'm going to start revamping some of my older boards, which look cluttered to me now. It seems like when I first started I was all about color and getting as much cool stuff on there as possible. Now I'm more into mood, which seems to be a step forward.

Thank goodness I'm getting this out of my system... although, I will be sad to see this part of planning go.

You're it!

Squee! (no, not the one you were hoping for. I'll let you know, I promise.)

I'm a blogdork, really I am. So imagine my sqeeness when I got a comment last week from E&E over at the hilarious and awesome I Hate Planning My Wedding. The idea that one of the bloggers I have followed since I started reading about wedding schtuff reads my schtuff, even periodically, is really flippin cool. Unlike that phrase.

Seriously though, she writes about the wedding process like a real person, rather than someone in a fantasy world of crinoline and taffeta. Her honesty and humor are always one of the high points of my day, so I light up when I see a new post from her in my blogroll. If you don't know her, waste some time at work by starting from the beginning of her story.

Obviously then, I was stoked when yesterday she passed along a nomination for an Uber Amazing Blog Award and tagged me to share a bit more about myself. Awesomeness.

Here are the rules:

1) Link back to the fabulousness that tagged you and list the rules on your blog, natch.
2) Spill 7 random facts about yourself.
3) Tag others, cause that's how the game of tag works.
4) Comment to let them know they've been tagged.

So here are 7 fun facts or things you never needed/wanted to know about Sezzy:

1) I am a Harry Potter freak still in shock over the moving of the release date of HBP. I am so freakish that I acutally used to pen a regular column over at Mugglenet. Yes, incredibly dorky, I know. Haven't we already established my geekdom?

2) I am afraid of the dark. Not just a little bit, like I'd rather not sleep in the woods; I mean full-on terrified. I refuse to take the trash out at night and will run at top speed back to the apartment if I'm forced to go outside when it's dark. I turn all of the lights in the house on as I go from room to room, causing continual annoyance and hilarity for Boy. Apparently watching me scramble to get to a light switch is hysterical. I'm also tragically uncoordinated (ala Tonks) and often fall down during said light switch scrambles.

3) Sezzy is a nickname. My real name is incredibly boring, plain, (and tall- haha) and I spent most of my childhood going by various nicknames because I hated it so much. Now I am called by Miss Lastname for most of the day by my students. I am blatantly coveting Boy's last name.

4) I love to watch kid's tv shows. I could sit for hours in front of Jimmy Neutron and Fairly OddParents. I'm aware of how pathetic it is, and I don't care.

5) I don't know my times tables. Seriously. Remember all of the moving I told you about? My times tables were a casualty of that. My old school hadn't taught them yet, and my new school already moved on to division. I have tried to learn them countless times, but apparently I missed the window.

6) I met Howie Mendel when I was little while waiting in line to see Lucy the Elephant at the Jersey Shore. He was very nice.

7) I know all of the words to Third Eye Blind's "Semi-Charmed Life," and once sang them on a bus tour of Europe while accopanied by Ukelele. True Story.

(Cue "The more you know" theme jingle)
So now you know. The secret life of someone who is no where near coordinated enough to ever be a bee. I nomitag: (Yeah, I can do that.)


Bayside Affair/Crystalliferous,
Drunky McGamblingproblem Loves You,
It's Words,
A Stepford Wedding,
and Schiver's Big Blog of Annoyances.

Have Fun!

Dreaming of Midsummer

When I was toying with what I should read for Jade's wedding, I came across this selection from the last act of A Midsummer Night's Dream,

Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be;
And the blots of Nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand...

It's Theseus' blessing of the three couples of the play, and I like it. Ultimately, I decided that it wasn't right for the occasion, but I still kept the idea of a Midsummer Night's wedding in my mind:

I think that some of the ideas here mesh nicely with my Alice board from last week. This would require a peaceful setting and lots of flowers. I love the cream bridesmaid dress, especially the way that it looks like it would shimmer in the light. I'm not usually a fan of tiaras, but I love the bridal hair ornamentation going on there. It suits the dress and the mood, which is probably why I'm digging it.

It would be perfect if you could actually have this wedding on Midsummer Night!

Swing, Swing

"Please leave all overcoats, canes, and top hats with the doorman
From that moment you'll be out of place and under-dressed."
- Panic at the Disco, There's a good reason these tables are numbered Honey, you just haven't thought of it yet

Yeah... that's the song title. It's awesome with a cool swing drive.

I need to confess some sincere jealousy I have for my engaged friends. No, not that they're engaged.

They swing! Dance! And I am incredibly jealous. I have wanted to swing dance since my high school boyfriend learned for his school play (I know). We tried, and for a moment it was that perfect movie scene: the cuteish guy throwing the geeky girl around. And then he dropped me.

So much for that fantasy. But still:

I think swing dancing definitely requires two dresses, at least that's what I would say if I was Engaged Girl! The words on the table idea is epic... like magnetic poetry on the tables. How much fun would that be, especially if you had a plated dinner? You could put the words in a cute little pouch (something I happen to have 50 of because of the previous mentioned Jade shower favor panic)!

Oh, now I'm excited again.

Too much fun

Sweet lord. Mrs. Cherry Pie over at Weddingbee, the holy grail of wedblogs, just posted what I'm certain will be my new biggest time waster: the Multicolr search lab. This allows to you click a nearly endless number of color combination and see hundreds of flickr photos with those colors.

It's amazing.

Not to hate on Polyvore, becuase I would never do that, but my favorite inspiration boards to look at are those without wedding pictures, the ones that just focus on the colors. This is the best way I've seen so far to test out color combinations. I tried it out using my current favorite pallet, and then put my favorites into a board using mosaic maker (clicky here, clicky there, all in all it took about 5 minutes, tops).


Check it out:


1. avenida de roma, sábado à tarde, 2. Sea World 2005 Samu, 3. Untitled, 4. _____________ _ _ _____, 5. otra vez casi en casa, 6. 2005-08-10_12-39-26_francia, 7. Untitled, 8. The real, reflected & the shadow of the autumn leaves, 9. Casablanca Poster, 10. amusement park rubble, 11. Temperature Inversion, 12. Touch the sky

I'm totally in love. Go on, give it a try!

Note: If you want to post your mosaic on your own blog, you will have to save it, and not just link to it. Apparently this is implied somehow b/c it is not at all directly stated. Sorry to those of you who tried to read this post before I fixed the problem!

Come here often?

If you're new here, welcome! Try these posts if you want to get to know me and what I'm doing here:
Introductions
On not being a bride
Chapter One
Chapter Seven

I've also added a carousel from Polyvore to the bottom of the page (scroll down) I wanted to do the side one, but it doesn't carousel, which is annoying.

Those of you who aren't new here can still scroll and check it out. I occasionally make non-wedding themed boards (I know, it's shocking), so you can see those there as well :).

Feel free to introduce yourself in the comments!

Bonus: Down the rabbit hole

I feel so much better. Still not calm, in a state of constant excitement, but ok with it. So here's another board!

A mad tea party! Hehe, I love it. Alice is one of my very favorite pairs of books, and I think a tea party wedding would be tremendous fun! I especially like the concept of these party dresses for the maids. They are all so different, yet still the same shape. This could easily be done by anyone with a seamstress friend, and it would be a great way to keep a unified theme without having paper-doll maids. How do the boys express themselves then? With hats, of course!

Silly, silly. Who's ready for the lobster quadrille?

Scarborough Fair

My apologies for not posting yesterday. I am attempting to create and maintain calm... and making a board yesterday just was not part of that plan. Usually I am incredibly grateful for all of you and the ability to get my wedding crazy out by boarding. Trust me, Boy is grateful as well!

But it's very difficult to stay... relaxed. I am not a relaxed person. If you see me on a couch for longer than 30 minutes (and there isn't a program on that I'm watching), I'm probably asleep. When there is something exciting on the horizon, I get wound up.

I am terrible at holding onto Christmas and birthday presents, I throw surprise parties with very little provocation, and when I'm going to see extended family or friends, I literally bounce up and down all week.

So, Thanksgiving. Friends will be home, family will be abundant. And this year promises no stress with Boy! Usually we have a few weeks of minor skirmishes leading up to Turkey day because we have to make the inevitable decision of his family or mine. For the past 2 years, we did both, but someone always got shortchanged. Not this year! Our families are eating at different times, so we'll be able to do both without issue.

Which, for some reason, led me to get "Scarborough Fair" stuck in my head:

I love the design of this bridesmaid dress, and I like the color with the rest of the palate, but I'm not sure about its re-wearability. Also loving the pear-shaped ring that goes with this relaxed garden bride. My favorite touch, the Warhol watch groomsman gift. It has the sage with that fantastic pop of orange that could be mirrored in the bride's bright bouquet. All could be had in a field of poppies, which you can't pick to put in a bouquet (at least in the state of California, which I am mad at for other reasons).

So yeah, the calm. It's not going so well. While I will keep trying to channel this imaginary bride's calm... I can't wait until Thanksgiving!

I'm too sexy for my wedding

We've established that I'm not cool. In fact, I revel in my dorkiness on a nearly constant basis. However, there are some days that I wish I was cool enough to pull off a slick wedding. A truely haute occasion on which I would wow friends and family with a shocking amount of style, panache, and chrome.

Until I tripped on my stilletos and fell into the cake.

Sigh. Fun to imagine though, right?

Black bridesmaid dresses are certainly slick, and also really kind. There are uber-reusable, as every girl needs a faithful LBD. I would have to go bridezilla though, and insist that each maid purchase a new dress so that there was none of that icky faded black color that you can sometimes get after repeated washes. There are also no conceivable places for peonies at this wedding, which presents a problem.

I think one of the key things to consider when planning is making your wedding a refection of you and your partner. Sure, this wedding would be fun to plan, but it wouldn't be mine.

Speaking of inspiration

If I really wanted to melt my Grandparents' faces off, I could pull some neo-Shakespearean inspiration from one of my favorite movies:

Bright, isn't it? I really love the cool, muted background tones. Really, even though the bright takes up a large portion of the board, it's only a few small things. The flowers adorn the bridesmaids' hair, matching the groomsmen's cuff links. The real spotlight would be on the table flowers and the cake. The bride? Simple, white, grecian, and innocent. I adore the white anemone bouquet.

I love the idea of mixing a bright invitation with formal surroundings, and really that's the theme for this whole board. Pops of bright in formal surroundings. The fireworks? A fantastic surprise to close out the evening in true Baz Luhrmann-Capulet fashion.

Did you guess the inspiration?

New Layout

I had a new layout for about 20 minutes, but it bothered me.

So I changed it back.

I'm feeling a bit blah today and there is no conceivable reason for it. Le sigh. I'm sure that all will be well :)

Destination Wedding?

A few years ago, Boy and I took a trip to Hawaii. While we would both love to go back for a destination wedding, we realize the reasons this is impractical.

So why not bring the destination to us?

My favorite spot on Oahu was Hanauma Bay. When we were there, we went snorkeling and were able to swim alongside baby sea turtles! It was a life-changing experience, so I'd love to make it a part of our wedding in a small way. I love the turtle charm for that. A charm can be worn as a necklace or sewn just about anywhere for a more discreet touch.

I'm also coming back to non-monochromatic bridesmaid dresses. I love the different shades of blue here, mimicking the shades of blue of the water in Hanauma Bay. It gives the bridesmaids the opportunity to be individually beautiful, and it could be unified with shoes and a hairpiece.

What do you think? Is it relaxing? How could you bring a vacation feel to a wedding that's closer to home?

Darkening

Here's a quick edit of my other Twilight board, this time with a darker background:

I think that darkens it up quite nicely. For reference, here is the inspiration song again:
Darkness Rising by The Matches.

Fangs optional

Please forgive my geeky sidetrack here, but I'm getting very excited for November 21st.

I love to read, and when I find a new series, I tend to get a bit obsessed. Such was this case this summer when I finally read Twilight. I was down the shore, and I had to go to the bookstore twice to pick up the sequels.

My excuse? The kids. My female students begged me to read them. Really.

At any rate, my favorite character by far is Alice Cullen. She is awesome in ways that Tonks wishes that she could be. We don't get to see her wedding to Jasper, but in my mind it would be something like this:

Alice loves all things high fashion, and can also see the future. Jasper is much more quiet, and can sense and alter people's moods. They're vampires, but I don't see either of them as very dark. Jasper's unhappy and violent past aside, they are about perception and subtlety.

I love this dress. I am also in love with gold as the only color. With gold and white you could create some major drama, which is the other thing Alice is all about.

So what about you? Are you a Twilight fanatic? If so, did you hate Breaking Dawn, too?