Score!!!

So exciting! Lots of people are cleaning stuff out up here at school. Then they'll put out an e-mail saying something to the affect of "junk available upstairs by such and such storage room, come and take what you want". Well, I just scored a rug that Adrian and I can possibly use in our new home and a box of metal stand things that can hold table numbers, etc. at the wedding! There are also some glass vases that I'll have to look through and see if they'd be good for the wedding or if they are a little too cheapy/generic florist-like. Anyone with ideas of ways to spice up glass vases, please share! I'm so excited to take pictures and post them for you to see as well of my scores of the day!

repast

simple loveliness

a crystal vase given to me as a gift filled with carnations and greens given to me by the first grade teachers at my school for a job well done on the first grade musical and chocolate angel food cake - yum

A Lovely Weekend

Adrian and I had a wonderful weekend!  We road tripped to attend a wedding of a childhood friend and visit my alma mater.  We got to stay with my cousin and his wife, saw many longtime friends, enjoyed a white chocolate/espresso shake at my favorite coffee house in the world, saw some favorite professors, basked in the beauty and meaning of a wedding ceremony, looking forward to ours upcoming, and stayed with a set of "adopted grandparents" on their farm and enjoyed a home-cooked "farm dinner", wonderful visiting and a stroll along a country road.  Perfectly delightful.  

I'll leave you with one photo of the beautiful wedding but don't want to post anymore without securing the bride and groom's permission.  

Heart-warming Wedding Toast

I saw this wedding toast on Masterpiece Weddings' blog. It completely warmed my heart! I love it! Take a look here. What a neat tribute to their friend Amy on her wedding day! Especially if you like musical theater, you've gotta watch it! Have a good day everyone! Kelly

teacher appreciation week

Last week was teacher appreciation week.

I received this lovely rose from a second grade boy and it continues to bring me enjoyment.

God makes beautiful things, doesn't He?

Our PTO brought us these cupcakes with our pictures on top!

And they brought us a little breakfast treat one day with a water bottle with our pic on it, and a little crystal light to go packet, a yogurt and a muffin!

It was a nice week. Tonight is my first grade musical, I also got a strange urge to rearrange my classroom (which I did) and after this week there are only three weeks left of school! Here comes summer! Kelly

Ribbon, Ribbon Everywhere!

I ended up having a ribbon bonanza last weekend. I bought these pink hued ribbons at a booth in Canton (the world's largest flea market) for pretty presents and packages.

On Friday, after school, I had stopped in at Michael's to buy a birthday gift and per usual sorted through the dollar ribbon bin to see if there was anything good. Lately I haven't found that much but last Friday I hit the jackpot so to speak. I bought this brown gingham ribbon. I don't know if it will fit into the wedding in anyway (welcome bags?) since brown is a fall color but it's not really the wedding colors but brown gingham ribbon can be used in so many ways for packages, decorating, etc. that I snatched it up.

These are my wedding color ribbon finds of the weekend! Spools from Michael's dollar ribbon bin and striped ribbon in glass canister from Canton. Doesn't it look like ribbon candy? Yellow has not figured into the wedding colors before but I liked this color yellow and perhaps some little snatches of yellow will make an appearance in a few places or perhaps not. We'll see.

If you have ideas of what I can do with any of this lovely ribbon for the wedding, I'd love to hear them. Have a great day! Kelly

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

I appreciate you so much and am so happy to call you mine, not only my mom but also my friend!  I am really enjoying sharing this time with you and also appreciate all your help!  I hope you have a very happy Mother's Day!  I love you!  Kelly

Meet me in St Louis

Two weekends ago I went to visit one of my college roommates, Jenny in St. Louis.  We had the best time!  

A mother/daughter brunch at her church that I had the pleasure of going to with she and her mom, getting gelato in St. Louis, vintage clothing shops, cooking dinner, a tour of her garden, sitting outside on Art Hill in Forest Park, talking weddings and catching up.  It was a great trip!  Thanks, Jenny!  

Sacred Threshold

Wow, that was a long gelato break!  Actually, since my last post I got another taste of gelato in St. Louis with my friend Jenny, went to Ben and Jerry's with Adrian and our friends Marla and Trey, made (and ate!) rocky road sundaes from the recipe in my cookbook from the Serendipity III restaurant in NYC, and have consumed not a small amount of ice cream from my own personal stash of Ben and Jerry's pints in my freezer!  Whew! 

But you didn't really come here to read about my ice cream eating habits, now did you?  :)  

I am excited to be back to blogging after my long break!  

I wanted to tell you about the best wedding related book!  Thank you, Mindy, for telling me about Sacred Threshold by Gertrud Mueller Nelson and Christopher Witt!  It is really, really good.  I got it from my library's inter-library loan program which I have now learned is ILL to all of the cool people out there who know how to ILL.  :)  

I have greatly enjoyed flipping through and reading many a bridal magazine, book or especially blog recently.  I have begun to notice though the "magazine mentality" that I thought I was so immune to.  I mean really, does anyone think real life turns out just like the photos in a magazine?  Well,  it's easy to want that "picture perfectness" and to even think it's "normal" and what "everybody" has.  

This book, Sacred Threshold is a breath of fresh air!  It explains the history and significance behind so many of the customs that surround weddings and just gives you a chance to decide if it will really bring meaning to you and your fiance and your wedding together!  

I want to say so much about it to recommend it to any and all of you readers who may be planning weddings but not feeling able to adequately sum it up at the moment, I will leave you with words from the book itself.  

"Wedding celebrations "work" when everyone present feels brought together - even bound together - in an active, holy, and deeply satisfying undertaking."

"We wrote this book convinced that it is possible to plan and celebrate a wedding in a way that both reflects and enriches your love." 

"You do deserve the best - which has little to do with what money can buy.  You deserve the fondest support, the dearest expressions of love that family and friends can provide.  You deserve the blessings of God.  It is your special day - a special day for you both - but it is also a special day in the lives of everyone who loves you.  And it can be perfect - not flawless, but perfectly wonderful, right, true, joyful - as perfect as our less-than-perfect world allows.  And its perfection is nothing you pay for but exists because of who you are as a couple and because of the Spirit you invite to the wedding."  

Wow!  Isn't that good stuff?  I'd love to know your thoughts!  Kelly