Wedding Bliss

Babies! We were babies!This year Jason and I will be married 10 years. That means that it's been about 10 years since I've obsessed over weddings... well, with a reason to. I am the woman that IF I have 10 minutes to myself will sit alone at Barnes and Nobel, sipping a coffee and thumbing through Martha Stewart Weddings and if I *happen* upon a wedding website, just may stop and take a look around. 

*SIGH*

I loved my wedding. The only thing that I slightly regret was that I was a little too young to really get into the WHOLE WEDDING THING. I didn't truly love paper yet, and I was 100% thrilled with my $60 Nina shoes and no name dress and didn't have the slightest clue about flowers. Luckily my mom worked for an event planning company and I ended up with a positively perfect day. These days, I would probably be the snootiest bridezilla ever. 

So, for the past few years I've been content to glance in from the sidelines and wonder.. wonder how my day would be different if I was getting married August 5, 2010 rather than August 5, 2000. But who are we kidding.. I would be walking down the aisle in Christian Louboutin's at this age.. 

But then a few months ago something wonderful happened - wonderful in SO MANY WAYS - one of my dearest friends got engaged.. and.. and.. she's letting me help! I don't think Carrie understands how excited I am about her allowing me to send her daily emails with flower ideas and pretty dresses. I'm not taking over her wedding - or trying to relive mine through hers - but I'm loving having a reason to look. And I swear that I am one of the only people in the world that can sit and talk weddings for hours upon hours.

But it has been awhile, and I am a bit out of the loop of wedding websites. As I hate to even admit, back when I got married the web was still pretty new. We had AOL dial-up and the only real site was the Wedding Channel.com. That being said, scouring the web for wedding ideas is a new thing for me.

One of the ones that one Carrie's other friends stumbled upon is 100 Layer Cake. A site who's pictures of real weddings make the photographer wanna-be in me squeal. And of course there is the blog from the QUEEN of the dessert tables, Amy Atlas, and my go-to party inspiration mama Hostess With The Mostess. But who else?

When you need ideas, or inspiration, where do you look?

Please and Thank You

Have you ever gotten a Thank You card in the mail for no apparent reason? Something that you did for someone, that you didn't even realize was worthy of the time for a thought-out thank you? I love that. 

But even "expected" thank you cards can be special. The final note of a great party. 

After Zoe's birthday party, I wanted to use one of the special pictures from the party, but I wasn't sure how... I browsed a few sites like Shutterfly and Tiny Prints but after nothing really "grabbed me" I then wondered though the Paper Source (happy place) for inspiration. What I ended up with a simple card, with a heat embossed thank you "tag" on a ribbon holding a picture.

While normally I would keep with the theme of the party, this time I used the picture of Zoe to set the tone of the colors used. 

While simple looking, the heat embossing of the tags, then cutting them out, did take time. The effect looks simple and somewhat effortless, one of those things you think you can bam out, but in reality, it did take a few hours. Additionally, while there is something to be said about a "handwritten note", I personally can't stand my handwriting. I do include a personal note in Thank You cards, but I do them on the computer, print them out and glue them in. 

My favorite finishing touch of late is to line the insides of the envelopes with a beautiful paper...but since I ha close to 25 of these guys to get out, I opted for plain green envelopes. My biggest problem is over-doing it, then it becomes stressful and zaps the fun. Remember that simple can be elegant and just putting a little thought into the project is what makes it special!

Journal your Xmas 2009

I have blogs and facebook and photo albums - but what will I have for the kids to sit down and look through when they are older?

I've always said that I'm not creative, but in the past few years I've realized that's not all that true. I do crafty-crap and I love it. I'm not really a scrapbooker at heart. My SIL Heather is. She's an amazing scraper and does weekly sessions with friends and once a year 48 hour retreats. I'm jealous over her beautiful books for 3 kids... but I can't compete. 

Last year Shimelle.com ' s "Journal your Christmas" caught my attention. Shimelle is amazingly creative. They type of creativity I drool over but don't quite have. Everyday for the month of the December she sends out "prompts" with ideas and thoughts and how-to's for pages in a Christmas journal. It seems daunting. We all are busy enough this time of year! But actually, it's fantastic! I don't do it everyday, but a few times a week I take some time at night by myself and just spew thoughts, feelings of the moment, pictures, etc. Its wonderfully cathartic and at the end, I have a beautiful little book to remind me of that year's holiday. 

I will take pics and post them here as I go along... If you want to join me on this ride, it's not too late to sign up!!

Thankful

Even if it's only close family and a few good friends, I really do believe in making every holiday a presentation. I love the detail of things and love putting that little extra effort into something to make it special. The day to day grind makes us lazy.. I know we use plastic plates and bowls over our "china" on a regular basis. So why not take those few special days a year and make them special?

This year I was inspired by Hostess With the Mostess - my IDOL. She got me thinking creatively about what I could do and I flat out used her idea for a thanksgiving centerpiece , then took it a step further with a matching hanging banner sign. 

We are lucky enough to be able to eat our turkey outside in San Diego (even tho we all were wearing sweaters and scarves!) so I set up on our patio outside. When I got married 9 years ago, my grandmother gave me a set of gold flatware that, at the time, I had no use for. Over the years I have pulled it out more and more often and found that I really like the gold flatware looks on a simple table. The same type of effect as gold hoop earrings with a t-shirt make. 

Other touches I like to include these days are the use of a proper dessert table and bar. Dessert tables are just fun... even simple desserts are beautiful and make you happy when you look at them. Why keep them stashed away in a paper box or covered in foil when they can be out making people smile? It's also a great place to get creative in a whimsical way. Cookies on a cake plate can be a centerpiece on it's own.

how does that NOT make you smile?

My "bar" area came from a simple thought - I didn't want people rummaging through my cupboards for glasses and openers, etc. Additionally, wine is beautiful and displaying the vintages that you researched and bought for this particular occasion/meal. Lately I've been loving large glass holders filled with drinks, decorations or whatever. Staring at it, trying to figure out what to do with it, I decided to fill it with ice and use it to hold/chill the white wine. Some candles and a garland of leaves (from Michaels) in the back and VOILA!