Bonnie's Sew In Love Shower Hour

This past weekend was Bonnie's Bachelorette Weekend! Amanda knows someone with a Poconos house and she let us use it for the weekend and it was great! We basically just hung out at the house all weekend. The first night we imbibed a bit and Bonnie started her own dance party in the living room. I went to bed at 3am, and was told that it was a little shocking that I'd be the first to tap out. Ha. But I did, because I wanted to wake up the next morning and decorate for Bonnie's "shower".

Back story - Bonnie's family had a shower for her over Christmas in some other state, so we attempted to throw another shower for her (for us) but her fam was like "You crazies, we already had a shower for her!" or something not quite like that and we ended up cancelling but decided to roll it into her bachelorette weekend. Pre cancellation, we decided on a sewing theme (Sew In Love) for her shower, since she sews awesome clothes and stuff. Amanda and I (Amanda is one of her MOHs) had already been looking up fun sewing-themed DIY projects for the decorations. Even though we weren't having a shower, I still wanted to utilize these decorations because, um, do you know me? I love decorations. Anyway, I made these super awesome (as far as I'm concerned) button garlands and draped them around. I seriously could make button garlands forever. Remember Aunt Cheri's button jar? No? Well, while I was planning my wedding I needed buttons for stuff. Stuff like my bouquet and the men's boutonnieres. So Aunt Cheri basically forces tells me to take her big button jar that we have no idea where it really originated from. It may have belonged to my great grandma, or this woman we're sort of related to through marriage. Let's just call her Anne and leave the explanations out. Anyway, seriously, it's this huge jar full of buttons. I mean, this thing could have been from both my great grandma, Anne, and thensome. You know how when you buy something with buttons and they give you replacement buttons? Or when you buy buttons for something and they give you 800 of them in a pack (I'll never have to buy buttons). Imagine decades and decades of those just thrown in a jar. Then imagine my excitement of being given all those buttons that I actually have a use for! Then imagine Aunt Cheri's excitement of getting rid of this massive jar of buttons she didn't know what to do with. Ok, you probably don't know Aunt Cheri, so let's just say she was more than happy to pass them along. We also found more buttons in more jars, sewing kits, and spools of thread and all that good stuff while cleaning out my Grandude's house (and also some things my aunt had from Anne). I was like "Oooh more buttons!" and my mom and aunt were like "Great… TAKE THEM". I don't know why, but in my head, all I wanted to decorate with were old sewing things. I guess it's like that vintage, retro feel or something.

Spools via Google Image Search

If we were having a big shower, I think I definitely would have taken on some more sewing-themed projects - like these:

Yarn Flowers via A Subtle Revelry
(I would have done more toned-down, antiquey colors, but these are still fun) - check out the tutorial!

How cute are the utensil wraps?? Utensil wraps and cake below via LeslieSarna.com

Spool vases via LushLee.com

Test tube and spool bud vases - so cute!

Via TheHastackNeedle (photo originally via Rachel Ray)

Amanda was going to give sewing kits out as the favor if we had a big shower (so cute!):

Sewing Kit from DollarTree.com

But we were pretty much just having a little shower, aka "Bonnie's Power Hour Shower", so not too much decoration was needed. Confession - because it was small, I definitely had to fight with myself to keep it small. As in, restricting myself to minimal decoration.


(There are no pictures of any of us because basically I ended up decorating for breakfast. Meaning none of us had showered or put on any makeup. So you only get the decorations. Also, the lizard on the window is not part of the decor. He came with the house.)

I loved the garlands so much that I was determined to not throw them away. I didn't really know what I would ever use them for again (oh, hello, you're having a baby? Babies like buttons, right?? Lol), but I refused to trash them after spending so much time on them. As I was rolling them up (HINT: if you do button garlands, you should wrap them around a cardboard tube or something. These things tangle like WHOA and are pretty much impossible to untangle.), Bonnie asked what I was doing with them, and to my surprise, actually asked if she could keep them! Bonnie isn't really a "things" person, or at least not to the extent that I am (and yes, I'll admit, I'm excessive), so yeah, it was a bit surprising, not gonna lie. But I'm glad she wanted them! She said she'd put them up in her sewing room, which I think it perfect.

I also did button necklaces for us all for the weekend. We all had a different color. Guess what mine was.


Ooooh snap. I just found a "Cute as a Button" baby shower theme. Quick - somebody have a baby. Anyone but me. Come on. I have buttons. Will make garlands. Pick a color, any color.

-C
xxx

Photos that look like they're by me, are by me.

Discussion - Holiday Weddings

Via Google Image Search
Sorry for giving away your wedding dress before the big day, Bonnie...

My friend Bonnie is getting married on Memorial Day Weekend. I don't mind. It actually gives me an extra day to travel since it's a national holiday.

My friend Lela got married 4th of July weekend. Same thing. Didn't mind. Extra travel time. Plus, she's Canadian so she can get away with getting married on America's Independence Day. Lol.

I bring it up because there are some people that just aren't cool with it. I don't know whether I feel one way or the other about it, to be honest. "It" being getting married on a national holiday or holiday weekend. Some people do the same thing every year on certain days. For example, my family has our family reunion every year on the 4th of July weekend. I don't go every year, but some in my family do, and it may be a hard decision for them to make if they knew someone getting married that weekend. Personally, I guess I've realized that I don't really do the same thing on holidays every year, so I haven't had the experience of making a decision like that. (If I get invited to a wedding on Christmas, I may need to revisit this topic.)

Do I think people should take holidays into consideration when planning their wedding? Absolutely. I would certainly advise people to take into consideration that some people do have annual plans, and some people make holiday vacation plans well in advance as well. If the bride and groom decide to have it on a holiday weekend, that's their prerogative. They may have less people come because of it, or, depending on where it is, they may even have more people come because of it! The flip side is that some people think of it as having an extra day to travel, or an opportunity to make a vacation out of it.

Like I said, not really taking sides, just a topic that seems to come up from time to time. Would you have your wedding on a holiday weekend? Would you not go to a friend's if it was on a holiday weekend?

I don't think I shared with you guys my holiday planning story yet. I planned my wedding on Yom Kippur. One of the, if not THE, most important Jewish holidays. Yeah. I have some Jewish friends... but the main issue was that my boss, the woman we asked to get officiated and actually marry us, is Jewish. So yeah. And of course she's the one who discovered it. She actually said, "You didn't plan your wedding on Yom Kippur or anything, right?" That was a major facepalm. Maybe even facedesk or facewall. I plan events and programs at work, and know to always check a couple calendars - a regular calendar for any major holidays, the firm's calendar for conflicts, and the JEWISH HOLIDAY CALENDAR. So, yeah, needless to say, I should have known better. It all worked out in the end - we had rehearsal the night before prior to sunset, and the wedding started at sunset the next day (Yom Kippur goes from sunset to sunset), but still. All could have been avoided if I had just checked a damn calendar. That's right, I didn't even check a regular calendar, which also would have had Yom Kippur on it. I was like "Yay! September 18th! Nothing happens that day!"

Anyway, my point is if you're planning a wedding (or anything really), just check a calendar. If you want to have a holiday wedding then do it, but know that some people may not be able to come, and some may not be happy about it but will come. And, most importantly, if you want to have someone officiate at your wedding, make sure there's not a super important holiday in their religion on that day.


-C
xxx

Party Time! Excellent!

via Martha Stewart

I can't wait to start cooking things for our party. Former Bridesmaid/Now Wife Amanda and I are throwing a joint birthday party for our hubbies this Friday. It's BYOCC themed - which means Bring Your Own Christmas Cookies! It's going to be at their house, since ours isn't really conducive to having lots of people in one area (we have lots of tiny rooms on three floors, versus big, open spaces on less floors), unless we wanted to have it in the backyard... in December. Anyway, we kind of procrastinated on the planning, but this past weekend it kind of hit me, oh crap! We're having a party on Friday! So I went out and bought a bunch of crap... I mean, delicious food (that's probably not in the health food aisle). I decided to make spin dip (which I'm also bringing to my work's floor holiday party that day), decided to throw some Velveeta cheese and salsa in a crock pot for a quick and easy cheesy dip, decided on a cookie recipe for myself... I guess I was in panic mode that I wouldn't have time to do anything. But now? Oh now I'm finding more recipes I want to make and I'm going to drive myself (and possibly my husband...) crazy this week with all the cooking I'm going to do. But I don't care! I want to do it! It's Christmas, and you know what I think my problem is? I don't think I've ever... wait for it... wait for it... thrown a Christmas party. Yeah, so I guess I'm kind of on overload with wanting to do all sorts of things in addition to what I already listed above. Like making eggnog from scratch (yes, it's delicious if you don't buy it at the store), and making two kinds of cookies... and making deviled eggs with green and red food coloring! EEK!! That's my excited sound.

How am I ever going to be able to wait the two days before I can start making things??

I'm blaming Martha Stewart for providing me with a plethora of recipes.

-C
xxx

Phall in Philadelphia

via Google Image Search

If you don't live in Philadelphia, you probably don't know this, but people here like to turn F's into Ph's. Sounds stupid to the outsider, but I have to admit it's kind of fun - I mean, phun. Anyway, after getting back from our honeymoon, it was straight to work on our department's biggest event of the year. It basically consists of a lot of logistics for the people flying in, all-day programming for our visitors (and all the materials and logistics that go along with that), and the cocktail reception to cap it all off with (my favorite part). It's kind of a rarity for people in our industry to throw receptions and actually decorate, but I wouldn't have it any other way (and luckily my director wouldn't either). So we spend a good couple of hours, with help from our facilities men and on-site caterers, setting up and decorating for a good ole time to be had by 150+ people. It's stressful, but I love it. I love seeing peoples' reactions to all the decorations, hearing the compliments, and secretly knowing that I didn't spend a fortune on decorating it. Not that it's my money, but still. It's fun getting creative with things you buy at the dollar store, or some other cheap place online, and seeing the result looking like you spent way more on it.

We used to do a theme not to be mentioned (I'm just so sick of it I don't even want to talk about it), but I finally got to nix it and we ended up just doing a fall theme this year, which I think turned out great. Even though we had a ton of dollar store decorations, I think it looked classy. I hope it looked classy. I'm pretty sure it looked classy. We cleared the area of all the furniture and brought in a ton of high tops. We rented antique gold shimmer linens for our food tables and high top cocktail tables. We hung spiral fall decorations from the ceiling, had leaf confetti, leaf garland, tissue paper leaves, and I made floral arrangements from ($ Tree) fake flowers, leaves, and fabric petals. They looked great, if I do say so myself. The final touch was the gold balloons. I loooove me some balloons for a cocktail party. Especially gold ones. I feel like they're fun but being gold they're classy. So they're classy fun. We had delicious food and I bought a ton of candy and bags for people to take it home in (they really liked that). Autumnal fare, candy, pretty decorations, and alcohol. Who needs anything else? We didn't even have music, but it was so loud no one noticed anyway.

via Google Image Search

Next up? I'm off to Arizona to see Former-Bridesmaid-Turned-New-Momma Lela to help her throw a Halloween party. I'm hoping she'll let me put up decorations and help make fun party stuff versus changing diapers. I'd like to think she knows better than to put ME in charge of a baby :) juusssst kidding (sort of)

Happy Halloween!! What's YOUR costume going to be? I'm going to be a Panda!

-C

xxx

Bridesmaid/Now Bride Amanda's Wedding

Last weekend was Bridesmaid Amanda's wedding. It was very beautiful, and also very DIY'd (with help by yours truly) so I thought I'd share some pics.

Bonnie designed the Philly skyline "logo" for the wedding that was used on the programs, placecards, etc., and looked awesome. Here's a photo of the "suite" if you will (the three of us constructed all projects pictured, times 125 for the placecards, programs, and water bottles!):


Bonnie and I did the decorating of the rooftop where the ceremony would be held. It was ABSURDLY windy and caused us a lot of problems, and completely changed the plan we had. Aisle runner? Nope. Canopied huppa? Nope. (Almost didn't even have a huppa at all!) Fabric backdrop? Check. Swag on the aisle side of the chairs? Check. I guess this is a lesson to be learned. In the future, we need to consider the physics of everything or have a contingency plan. Double-sided tape can't fix everything! We did do very well with coming up with alternate solutions, though, although it did mean we only had 10 minutes to get ready for the actual wedding. And hey, guess what - we're not the only ones who had problems! The florist set up the flowers and they crashed and burned majorly because they were on the thinnest poles you could ever imagine. I mean even I knew that wasn't going to work! Lol, but that made us feel a little better considering they've been doing this for a lot longer than we have! (In the end, no one noticed, the arrangements were just put on the floor by their feet.) Oh, and did I mention the huppa fell down as everyone was seated (but luckily before people started walking down the aisle)? A couple of guests helped me put rocks back in the buckets that were holding up the poles. Oy. But, alas, it was still beautiful, and Amanda even said later on that the aisle runner was perfect... lol. Yes, I then told her there wasn't one. Just goes to show you're so focused on the big day you don't notice everything.




-C
xxx

Bridesmaid/Bride-To-Be Amanda's Bachelorette Bash!

Bridesmaid Amanda's bachelorette/bridal festivities were in full effect this weekend. We came up with the theme of "Hollywood Glamour" for the bachelorette party. Here's the pic I made for the evite:

We had everyone else wear black dresses because, well, just about everybody owns a black dress, right? And because Bride-to-Be Amanda wanted Bonnie (Un de Six) to make her a red dress. Pretty sweet being able to be like "I want this exact dress in this color to fit me exactly for my bachelorette party" and for your friend to be able to make it, right?? Here's the dress:


So Bonnie & I planned the bachelorette party last week. In a day. And it turned out awesome. But as soon as the plans were done I was like "Oh sh1t, I need something to decorate with and am NOT going to get a chance to go to Target or Michael's or any other large retail place that would have actual bachelorette party stuff!"* That's when the "Hollywood Glamour" theme morphed into pink and black (at least for the decorations). It just wouldn't have looked right with red and black unless we had like hollywood/movie stuff around to complete it, you know? And we were only decorating the first stop on our itinerary, so no use buying things like that that we were going to look at for like an hour and a half and then toss. So the typical bachelorette party color scheme of pink and black fit the bill. So, naturally, off to Dollar Tree I went. I went around looking through party stupplies, toys, and everything inbetween for just anything pink! I grabbed candy necklaces and jewelry for everyone, hot pink flamingo drink stirrers, hot pink and white polka dot ribbon, pink cupcake cutouts, and a couple other things I didn't end up using. Hot pink solo cups = so cool looking. But where would we use them? Guess we could have used them at dinner but oh well!

Then I hit up Hallmark which, surprisingly, didn't have anything for bachelorette parties at all! I thought that was odd. But I picked up some confetti there (that said "The party's here!"). The next day I hit up 5 Below (a cheapo chain in Philly, not sure where else they have them), and got some pink curling ribbon, sunglasses to complete the Hollywood theme, and some photo clips to hold up signs of the logo Bonnie made for the night:

(It's an upside down Philly skyline. Awesome, right??)

Didn't end up using the photo clips due to physics and gravity, but we put them up elsewhere (like on her chair, with lots of ribbon and balloons). Bonnie also hit up an "adult store" for some male genitalia straws and balloons and various other objects. I had no idea they made male genitalia whistles! Drinks were had, bulls were ridden (seriously), all in all it was a great night.

The secret project was for the shower. It'll be revealed next on the blog, so be on the lookout!

-C
xxx

*If you don't already know, I don't usually move my car during the week for two reasons. Ok let's make it three. 1 - The train into downtown Philadelphia is like 3 blocks from my house, so I walk there and take the train directly to the building I work in. Yes, it's pretty awesome. 2 - The neighborhood I live is notorious for its TERRIBLE parking. As in, it's really hard to find anytime after 5pm and nonexistent if it's after 10. I one time had to park my car so far away I took the train back to my house. Yeah. 3 - It's eco-friendly and wallet friendly. Do you know how often I buy a tank of gas? Ummm I'd say typically once every two months. Alright and we'll make a 4 - I sometimes forget where I've parked my car because I either haven't seen it in so long or just due to the fact that I have to park it in such different areas every time I move it. :)