gelato break

Mom and I had time to kill before I took her to the airport last week so we *needed* to stop in at Paciugos for some gelato! This is their gelato smothered in hot chocolate drink that I tried for the first time. Needless to say, it was amazing.

And hey, this was wedding research as well as I hope to have them as one of the caterers at our wedding!

I am off for the weekend to visit a college roommate. I hope everyone has a great weekend and I'd still love to hear your opinions on the previous post about incorporating friends and family in your wedding in ways other than being a bridesmaid, wearing a prescribed dress, standing up front with a bouquet . . .

I'm not trying to be a scrooge just looking for options. Thanks! Kelly

flower girl

you may recognize this little miss from the photos on the wedding colors post
she is one of my favorite paper dolls from my childhood
I found the whole box of them while helping my parents do some cleaning out last year

she could be a sweet little flower girl, don't you think?

In reality, I am leaning towards not having any child attendants or any bridesmaids and groomsmen for that matter. I feel a little "un-mainstream" but I am okay with that. There are just so many people I could pick. Has anyone else gone this route? Any suggestions on incorporating people you love in a different way than having a parade of people in matching clothes? Kelly

dress inspiration book

I decided that I wanted to contain all the pics of wedding dresses I'd torn out of magazines in one place along with the articles about what sorts of questions to ask when ordering a dress, etc. so that when I went shopping I could just take them with me easily. While waiting for the clock to finally tick to time to leave to pick my mom up from the airport (I was so excited to go get here and time was dragging.) I distracted myself by putting together this little book with some 11x17 cardstock, a few scrapbook paper scraps leftover from a project I did to decorate my classroom, some felt ribbon I bought at the one and only time I have stood outside The Container Store early in the morning on the day after Christmas, a tag, what I thought was one of those rub on quotes but ended up actually just being wording on vellum that I rubbed and rubbed and wondered why it wasn't transferring :), a silk flower embellishment and a scrap of ribbon. It must have done the trick because I HAVE A DRESS! It's beautiful and presently being made in Spain! For some reason, I really like that fun fact. :)

update - pantry progress

Remember the great pantry organization? It's still pretty organized, thankfully! Not the fridge as much but the pantry and shelving. Anyway, just wanted to show these vintage labels I found. They are self adhesive and came in a little book. A lot of the labels were torn out (showing someone used this!) but there were several left. I made color photocopies and labeled my big jars. I like the way they look and also that it's easier than ever to tell the flour and the confectioner's sugar apart at a glance! :)

DIY Wedding - birdcage

One of the neat things about visiting different venues to choose one for our wedding and reception was that we learned at least one thing from each place, even the ones that we didn't choose for our wedding. The take away from a downtown venue that we liked was that many people are using birdcages to hold the cards on the gift table these days. I liked the idea and began keeping an eye out for one.

I had actually been keeping an eye out for birdcages for over a year now because they're rather "in" but that means they can also be "more than Kelly wants to pay". As my mom and I were shopping last weekend she was great at spotting them and calling my attention to them. We saw ones priced in the $20s, $30s and even over $100 (it did have a cool stand but really!?). Then there was this one!! Ten dollars and it even has a heart! I think I'll probably paint it robin's egg blue and tie a nice orange bow on top. Adrian's also going to cut a few of the bars for me so cards will fit in. What do you think? Kelly

wedding colors

Wanna see the wedding colors?

photo: items in wedding colors displayed on two chairs. large chair belongs to Adrian - a gift from a lady at his church in Missouri, small chair from a set of table and chairs that my grandpa made for me when I was one or two, picture frame on floor holds photo of my brother and mom dancing at my brother and sister-in-law's wedding

Robin's egg blue

&

Pomegranate orange

this chair holds an orange metal sap bucket, robin's egg blue ribbon that I took off of a gift or something and kept in my ribbon stash, pomegranate ribbon that my future mother-in-law bought for me at Costco in Pittsburgh way back in July (which by the way, if anyone sees this great ribbon at a Costco near them I might need some more so let me know if you see it, thanks!), robin's egg blue corner shelf that I bought while antique shopping with my mom last weekend after deciding on wedding colors. I think it might go on the coffee service table with flowers, sugar cubes, etc. on it. We'll see. Any suggestions for it are welcomed. One of three robin's nests I bought last weekend as well for wedding serving table decor. An R for soon I will be Miss G no longer and will be Mrs. R! Creamer, teacup and saucer from my tea set, milk glass compote with slips of paper that represented my "hope to do" list on my day off last Monday which I would draw out and then do :), two paper dolls from my childhood, don't worry, I'm not actually planning to wear Stephie's (she's the blond) outfit to the wedding or anything, but she fit the color scheme. :) oh and there are also a couple of ceramic robin's eggs peeking from beneath the orange ribbon

I like them. I think they will be great for the fall and will work well in our space. Oh yes, I don't suppose I've mentioned that we know where we're going to get married! It was so very exciting to find it! We both really like it and it's very "us". It is an historic building and unique.

small chair holds: blue book I picked up last weekend called "How to Make Something From Nothing". Not only was it the right color and the right price but the title just reminded me of how God is making something (a new marriage) out of nothing, not truly nothing I suppose but just the idea of Him creating something new in our lives from what wasn't there before. another of the robin's nests, more orange ribbon from costco, one of my cake pedestals (I have a small collection of these but would love more for serving at the reception if anyone has tips on where to find some cheap. I like this simple and plain style.) Antique mason jars that my friend Marcella gave me filled with flowers for my birthday last year. Antique saucers and a silver spoon.

I don't think this color combination is very often used and I like the individuality of it and also that I like both colors! I like that both colors can be used within a range of related shades.

When my mom was here last weekend I took several objects including some ribbon from my apt. to hold up in the actual space where the wedding will be to test out colors and I think these will do quite nicely! If you have any ideas for how I can use these colors I'd love to hear them. Hope everyone is having a great weekend! Kelly

it's fun being engaged

It's just a fun thing being engaged. I thought I'd share this pic of the "announcement" on the dry erase board at my school. Fun, huh?

Sweetie's bread recipe and dress shopping

I am happy to give you Sweetie's bread recipe since there were requests. I hope you enjoy it!
I wanted you to get to see Sweetie herself so I'm including this picture of my first foray into dress shopping. She is the beautiful lady seated next to me. The other beautiful ladies are my sister-in-law standing to my right and my mom standing on the other side of Sweetie. We had such fun shopping together. This pic was taken two days after I got engaged when we went dress shopping in Houston. The company was great, the dress shop wasn't my fave.

Yesterday though, my mom and I went to the Bridal Boutique
in downtown Lewisville. It was the most wonderful dress shopping experience.
The room was filled with the froth of beautiful dresses and our helper,
Hannah, was amazing! She helped us so, so very much!

Oh yeah, back to the recipe which is the reason I
sat down here at the computer to write this post.

Sweetie's Bread

1 cup milk
1 heaping Tablespoon sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tablespoons shortening, margarine or butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 package yeast in 1/4 cup warm water
Flour - start with 3 cups, adding a little at a time and then add more if needed until the dough is not sticky

Bring milk to a boil. Add sugar, salt and melted butter. Cool. Add yeast mixture and beaten eggs. Add flour. Let rise for about 2 hours or until dough doubles in bulk. Knead dough on floured board. Divide and place in greased pans. Let rise for about an hour. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes! Easy as pie!

Note: When you knead the bread and divide it to put in the pans, you can roll it out and put grated cheese or cinnamon, sugar and butter or any type of filling that strikes your fancy and then roll it up and place it in the pan.

Let me know if you make it! Thanks! Kelly

planning weekend with Mom

Budgets are fun!

My mom came this weekend for a fun time of wedding planning!

It was so good to have her here! We had so much fun!

Things really are going well with the planning!

Photographers?

This one's for all of you local bloggers. We're in the process of choosing a photographer for our wedding. Have any suggestions? We like someone creative . . . with a photojournalistic style . . . within our budget(!) . . . a huge plus is for us to be able to own all the digital negatives AND we prefer someone who we will really WANT to be around all day long on our wedding day and not someone we'd be annoyed by. So, what do you think? Thanks! Kelly

Sweetie's bread

I got inspired Saturday morning to do a little bread baking. We call my grandma Sweetie and her bread recipe is my standby for loaf bread. I made one loaf with cheese in it to go with our dinner and this loaf with cinnamon/sugar and butter in it for breakfast! YUM! Thank you for the recipe, Sweetie and thanks for being a technologically savy grandma and always reading my blog. I love you! Kelly

content

1Timothy 6:6

"But godliness with contentment is great gain."

I've been looking at lots of magazines, design blogs, etc. lately and there's a lot of beautiful, colorful, glossy stuff out there. I like a lot of it. This morning though I looked at my own bathroom shelves and thought, "I really like the way that looks!" The colors, the vase, the old locker basket, towels at the ready stacked "just so" and yet that's just how they got put away after the laundry was done. It is good to be content with what one has. Thank you God for giving me so many blessings in this life.

One Thing You Learned

We're getting married!

Of course you already knew that from the last post but it's quite fun to say!

So here's the thing. Anyone out there peruse Martha Stewart Weddings?

My favorite part of each issue is "One Thing I Learned . . . "

It's where real brides and grooms (mostly brides) write in and tell something that they really learned from their weddings. REAL LIFE HERE PEOPLE!

That is valuable, not what some wedding book tells you or all the people out there who want to sell you something and all that.

As I'm entering this wedding planning process I would love input from YOU my readers, lurkers, occasional drop-ins - whatever you'd like to call yourselves.

There will probably be specific topics from time to time or questions but first off I'd just love any comments you care to leave with general wedding planning advice garnered from your own personal experience in planning or attending weddings.

***now for the disclaimer: my dear friend Marla just today told me that what she was sharing with me was her opinion, one opinion, and that I would be getting lots of those so to just remember that it was an opinion and to do what I want. I like that. Please don't get your feelings hurt if you leave a comment and I do something different. Thanks! Kelly