magic trick

Poof! It seems I made all of 2009 vanish without a trace--that or I just didn't post for one. whole.year.

Sadly, it's the latter. I can't believe I dropped this whole blog thing like a bad habit. I mean what's with me? The blogosphere rules! I hereby pronounce this day to mark the new beginning of my blog with a focus in the after-life of being a MRS. and a little recap of our wedding since I may have left you, dear reader, ahem... at the altar! gasp!

I'll begin with a little recap of our day, so without further ado....




We had a small intimate wedding with only about 75 guests at a private home in Healdsburg, Ca.




the Ceremony...







the kiss...






We did it!



Our wedding day was so amazing and when I look at the pictures now, I can't believe how much we are smiling and LAUGHING- a lot! what a fun day!



and LOTS of dancing...

Let's have a Feast!

I am so freakin' excited about our caterer!! "They are pretty much my favorite caterer right now..." as Napoleon Dynamite would say. When we went for our tasting I was blown away at the presentation and service and then the food was so incredibly good! It was better than many restaurants I have been to. Awesome! Check out their website: http://feastcatering.net/

It's On! Save the Date!

Well, in true bride fashion, I ended up changing my mind again about the save the dates and went with the adorable maps created by Laura Hooper. I have basically been blog-stalking her work for a good year or so now and really wanted to incorporate the maps somehow. I originally planned to send them as our save the dates, but then thought, I would try to have a go at being crafty myself and save a little money and make them myself. It turns out, I am clearly not a graphic designer! ha!

I was still stuck on Laura's work, so I finally emailed her in the 11th hour ,as they say, and asked her if she could make my maps in only a couple of weeks. She was so incredibly sweet and easy to work with and so on top of returning emails it was scary! She is clearly a hard-worker. When my STD's finally arrived they were wrapped up in little packages, with the cutest wrapping paper. It was truly like opening the best gift! We even asked her to create a larger version of our map to hang on our wall as keepsake. It all turned out so well! Thank you Laura! You just made me the happiest girl!

"They're Just Too Cha Cha for Words..."

If you love Steel Magnolias like I do, then you might remember when Truvy ( played by Dolly Parton) discusses how she buys shoes: " In a good shoe, I wear a size six, but a seven feels so good, I buy a size eight." Ha!

I feel like Truvy every time I go shoe shopping! I have been drooling over many shoes for my wedding day, but my absolute favorites? Well, they live in London.

I think I will send them a little love note for valentine's day. Maybe they'll invite me to tea.

ah a girl can dream....

It's as easy as click, add, buy!

I had high hopes of creating many elements of our wedding, and some of my favorite details, I have seen other DIY brides create so beautifully and even better than the original. I still have a long list of these projects I definitely plan on doing by myself, but it sometimes is sooo easy to knock things off my To Do list by just buying said "adored details."

Take for example these beauties from For Your Party.



With just a click of a button, these are now mine. No Fuss No Muss.
I know I could have easily gocco'd these, but that would take time wouldn't it? They have a section called "Grab and Go" that makes it easy to buy as is, and not make any more decisions on color, type style, blah blah blah... And instant gratification is so much more fun!

Let's Get Punchy!

So, I am working on my STD's with the Tie the Knot theme. I found a few options for hole punches that will cut out small circles in a row so it is easier to thread yarn through. Martha calls this a "Japanese hole-punch." After a quick Google search I found out what that was:

um, looks complicated.


Upon further research I found out Martha created things like this while using it:



she is so fancy pants!


So I found a few other options that seem to be a little more user friendly.

First up, the Fiskars Border Punch "Threading Water" for $14.99

It even makes the cute scalloped design with it! But what if you don't want the scalloped edge on every project? Well, you are in luck, my dear, there is also a second option I found called the McGill Craftivity Ribbon Stitch Punch (whew! a mouthful for sure) it cuts the paper to look like this:


This one you can find for about $8.00. I think both are a great value. The first one got over 70 awesome reviews on one craft website. The second one I didn't find reviews of, but it looks like it might be more versatile. I will have to let you know how it goes.

Martha, you are truly my Beacon in the Night....

The other night, I woke up at approximately 3:24 am in, what else?, a panic about the wedding. On the agenda this time? Save the Dates. I have been working on this project for quite some time now, never fully satisfied with my designs. but wait, could it be? I might finally have my design idea? Drum-roll please.....

I was perusing Martha Stewart for some new inspiration and then I saw the cutest idea! It was a card tied with pink yarn that was a take on the phrase "tie the knot" Here is the best picture I could find of this project:




I am planning to put a little twist on this and created a little bird design who is also tying the knot. eeh! I am so excited! I think this little idea may just be the thing I was looking for all along. I think I may still actually tie the card with yarn, but may opt to use a pretty robin's egg blue color to match the theme more. Stay tuned to see how it all turns out!