Beautiful Bolero... Part Deux!

Who knew there would even be a part deux to this post? Not this girl. But guess what - I'm getting my beautiful bolero!! No, I didn't win. I never win anything.* But I got lucky this past weekend (not like that!) and got an offer I couldn't refuse. The offer? "I can make you a bolero." So I thought long and hard about it... for like a milisecond, and that was only being like "whoa, is she serious??" and the deal was done.

Bridesmaid Amanda, Bonnie & I went to my bridal shop (where I bought my dress) last weekend because they were having a jewelry trunk show. Really all I wanted to do was try my dress on again, with some of the 800 green jewelry options I now have in my possession. My real dress won't be ready until April, but I never got any pictures of me in the sample! Done.

You like? :)

Sorry, the FH reads my blog!

So after that trip is when the infamous offer was made and we decided right then and there that we were taking a (10 minute) roadtrip to go get the fabric for said bolero! Done and done.

The fabulous Bonnie of Un de Six is going to make me my dream bolero. Why? Because she's awesome. Am I friends with a super cool clothing designer who is custom making my dream bolero? Yes. Be jealous. I would be if I were you.

:)

-C
xxx

*I really don't. Seriously, if I counted how many wedding-related contests I've entered (and subsequently not won) in the past 5+ months of being engaged I would probably cry. Ok, maybe not cry, but I'd at least get slightly annoyed.

Greenspiration

As my blog gets bigger, and my reader reach expands *joyous tear*, I'm starting to take a second look at my posts before I publish them. I hope nothing I post bothers anyone, but please people just realize that I've been told I'm funny by so many people at this point that I'm under a lot of pressure to keep that reputation up. Ahem. So, what shall we talk about today. Hmmm... how about inspiration boards? Safe enough topic, no? The boards below are not only be-a-u-tiful, but there's also something I'm doing at my wedding in each one!

Wedding by Color

Lily and Company

Kelly Oshiro Events

SJB Wedding & Events

Well shoot! Looks like I'm not the only one doing the whole black, white and green thing! And here I was thinking I had come up with something no one had ever done before... :) It's ok, I know mine'll be unique. If for no other reason than all my terrible DIY projects (that you all will have to put up with my posting pictures of for the next 7 months) that I insist upon doing.

Lots of bloggers make inspiration boards online and post them for the world to see, and that's really awesome and all, but for some reason I'm terrible at it. I am creative and good with technology, which should be the perfect formula for creating such a thing, right? I mean, some might even say I'm trendy, fashion forward, a FANTASTIC dresser, and just all around super cool (no? just in my dreams?). Well, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I realized some time ago that I'd much rather look at all the purdy ones other people create than make my own online inspiration board. BUT, I do have my own real life one! Now that, for reasons unknown, I can do. I can cut little pictures out of a magazine and pin pieces of ribbon to a cork board with the best of 'em. Mine is a bit different than most, though, in that it's straight up inspiration, not just color inspiration. Oh, there are plenty of pictures of green beauties on there, but there are also pictures of invites and programs I aspire to do my best impression of, that unfortunately the magazines I pulled them from didn't have listed in every color (how dare they!).


There she is! It's not full and I'm glad it's not. I've still got 7 more months of magazines left! What would I do if it was full already??

Get another corkboard, that's what.

-C
xxx

PS I found the clip "Emerald City" in one of the mags and that's kind of what I've been calling my theme in my head... except for the fact that my wedding's not in an urban setting whatsoever. Minor detail.

Behind the... Yellow Veil?

Maybe I should change my blog name to Behind the Yellow Veil? I've started noticing an odd obsession I have lately with just about anything yellow. My love for green will never die... but I think I might have to say yellow is now my second favorite color. Last spring I bought a mustard yellow jacket... I then had to have an umbrella to match (white with yellow flowers)... then when I was in the market for new rain boots I became obsessed with a pair that are yellow, white, black and grey (by Kamik).How freaking awesome are they?? I mean, it was a hunt spanning from North Jersey all the way down to Southern Maryland to find these boots in my size. The mission was successful and I love them. Then Valentine's weekend I bought a new work bag... yup, mustard yellow. I really hate the term mustard yellow by the way. Mustard's gross. But, I suppose it describes it better. Otherwise you could be picturing me with this stupid neon yellow bag or something. Oh, right, and my bathroom has somehow become a haven for my yellow obsession, too. I've tried to limit it to sunflowers so I don't end up just throwing everything yellow into the miniscule bathroom that we have. Cuz that could, quite literally, get real ugly, reaaaal fast. Yeah... and I'm wearing a yellow and purple shirt today. I think that was when I truly realized I had become obsessed. If someone stopped me on the street today and asked what my blog name was (because, you know, that happens all the time), they'd be like "But, strange person I stopped on the street to ask what their blog name was, yellow appears to be your favorite color!!" They would be wrong. I would then have to tell them that at the moment, I think yellow is my favorite color to WEAR, but my heart will forever belong to green.

Ok to now prove my allegiance to green and assure it that I'm not leaving it for yellow, I've gone and found some super cute green potential bridesmaid-type-dresses (not for mine, they already have theirs). In order from most to least expensive:

Isabelle Oliver - The Asymmetrical Dress

ModCloth - Grecian Green DressThe Limited - Sleek Strapless Dress

LuLu's - Beyond Gloss Dress

LuLu's - Hello Sunshine Dress

oops... how'd that get in there... :)
(I may or may not have already purchased this one...)
If anyone's in the market for a green bridesmaid dress, or non bridesmaid, or actually any color really, check this site out:
http://www.camdendrive.com/green-dresses.html
Sites that let you sort by color rock my world. For obvious reasons.

-C
xxx

Bridal Brain

This is your brain:
This is your brain on weddings:Seriously, I think there might be studies on this. There are studies on a lot more stupid things, so there must be. I think there should be a disease called Bridal Brain (or something much more clever). Something happens to us the moment we get engaged. (I'm going to generalize here and say that all brides are like this, but really I think it's a certain type of bride. One that wants to plan her own wedding I think would really sum it up. If you don't care about the small details and don't want to plan your own, you'll obviously be in a very different mindset.) The world seems to stop. You can't work, can't sleep, can't do anything... without thinking about your wedding. And just because in my case it's mostly about the decor because I'm crazy like that, doesn't mean the same doesn't happen to other people who are more worried about the guest list, the food, etc. The disease is brutal, and causes you to bring up your wedding like it's some guy you've just started dating.

You'll be in the middle of a conversation about hotdogs*

which makes you think of pigs in a blanket
which then makes you think of hors d'oeuvreswhich then makes you think of weddingswhich then makes you bring up something unrelated about your wedding

Does this drive the non-engaged person in the conversation insane? Probably. No matter what the conversation topic, somehow the engaged person's brain always finds some way to relate it to their wedding. We just can't get it off our minds. We can't help it. It's a disease I tell you. BUT, if you are anything like me, it will happen to you someday and you'll see just what I'm talking about. Remember now, when you're getting annoyed by yet another wedding reference by your friend, that this will (more than likely) be you someday. I'm being completely truthful when I say it is NOT (for most people at least) about always talking about yourself and being the center of attention (or being a one upper). It may look like that, but really it's not. Wedding stuff is just always on the brain and so if there's any sort of connection to a present conversation, our brain will make it.

I'm a planner. I plan things down to the tiny details. Some people don't, so they don't get why you're so worried about those tiny details, especially so far from the big day. I like to focus on the tiny details first, as a matter of fact, specifically to get them out of the way. I'm sorry if I'm driving some of you crazy. I didn't realize I was driving anyone crazy but myself. I actually was under the illusion that I was making things pretty easy for everyone (again, except for myself). As a matter of fact, it comes as a shock to me that I'm not. I guess even me talking about my own stress bothers others. I'll try to keep it to myself from now on. I think the only person to whom I can truly relate right now is my bridesmaid Amanda, because she's planning her own wedding and is very much like me in that every detail must be covered. I actually aspire to be more like her as a bride-to-be because she's basically DONE since she started everything so early, and she's still got 4 months to go.

Oh yeah, and another side effect of this disease? You start to forget lots of things because, lo and behold, your wedding is taking up too much room in your brain. So while on the outside, you may look the same as you always have, on the inside you're not paying attention to that meeting you're in because (somehow) the carpet inspired you of a way to do your centerpieces (making this up, I didn't really get inspired by carpet... not yet at least).

Anyway... I hope this will at least provide a heads up to those who are yet to be engaged. This is what you're in for. Planning your own wedding is extremely stressful - and may strain relationships and cause memory loss.

-C
xxx

*You would NOT believe how many dirty pictures come up in a google search for "hot dog". Seriously people??

Proud Mama

In the beginning, they were just boxes from (necessary, of course) purchases...

they slowly started to morph together...

until they were as one.

And then I made them pretty :) wait for it...

wait for it...
Voila! I present to you my fabulous, completely hand crafted, so very GREEN cardbox!
(Yes, the lace is also green!)

I will be embellishing it, but haven't decided exactly how I want it yet. So this is my partially finished, but at least covered, made out of Amazon boxes and thrifty find fabrics, cardbox.

I love it! Just, uh... don't get me too big of a card (the slot's 5 1/2 inches long - should fit most vertically)! lol

And in case you're wondering...

The bottom box is a "tuck top" so I can just pull it out and out come the cards!
You like??

-C

xxx

Bouts Bouts Baby

I meant to type up this post first thing this morning, but then I happened upon Endless and got waaayyy too distracted by all the green shoe options! I swear I checked there a couple months ago and they had nothing! Today a quick green shoe search (love websites that have the color option in their search!) turned up about 1,600 shoes. Of course, probably about 1,000 were hiking boots, but I'm currently in the middle of looking through the "pumps" search that turned up 246. *swoon* Don't worry, it wouldn't be right if any of the gorgeous shoes I found actually had my size. So looks like none will be purchased today! Damn me and my average shoe size. But check some of these beautiful babies out:

And now back to posting. So this weekend I took a bunch of my craft "ingredients" home to see what I could come up with while watching back to back Criminal Minds episodes with my laid up mom. We always joke about how my Grandude "supervises" reaaaally well, because he can't do too much these days at the ripe old age of 83. Sure doesn't stop him from telling us the right way to do things from his chair! My mom was definitely supervising me this weekend, which is fine, I understand. She's gimped up and has to hobble around (or crawl on the floor... got some pictures of that!) to do anything. So when I say that "we" did any of these projects, I mean I. She watched and occasionally cleared a space for me to work in.*

Like I said, I brought a bunch of supplies home, not knowing exactly what I was going to get the urge to work on. Then I randomly started working on the Bouts (part deux - for the grandpas and future father in law). I honestly have this new obsession with floral tape. It makes me feel awesome (is that weird??). Let me clarify - it makes me feel like I'm a pro faux bout maker. I started just bunching together some white flowers (trying to make them look a little different than the groom/groomsmen bouts) and the next thing I know my fingers are flying and 3 bouts are floral taped and it's onto hanging out with my new BFF Gluey the glue gun. I busted out some off white ribbon, wrapped and glued away, and the next thing I know I'm putting some light green ribbon around the flowers in some funky manner that just so happened to end up looking like a heart. Score! So now, for the moment you've all been waiting for, here's the final (for real this time... I think) installment of the bouts:

My BFF (Gluey) and I hung out a lot this weekend... we also worked on the super secret mystery project that I guess I stumped everyone on! There's not much more I can show without giving it away, though, but for now, I'll show you it constructed but not yet covered...

Can you guess what it is now? Yes, those are Amazon boxes. Don't judge me. I'm repurposing! And heck, why not?? Wait til you see it covered... on tomorrow's post!

-C

xxx

* While I was there this weekend I favorited my blog for her on her laptop. She read all my posts while I was there - hilarious! I heard my full name several times (CYNTHIA FAYE!). Followed by laughter, of course, lol. The day after I left she went dress shopping... don't worry, she ended up buying 2 dresses and is taking both back. The saga continues... :)

Towering Above the Rest...

I went home to visit my ma this weekend/get some projects done since it was a 3 day weekend. It actually helped that my mom and bro only have laptops so there's no computer constantly set up to taunt me and distract me from getting things done. This week I'll be posting pics of a few things I accomplished/just want to show you. I know you can hardly stand the suspense. Try to remain calm.

Anyway, last week I saw this picture of a cupcake tower and got uber excited. You see, I have one that looks just like it! And it was FREE. That's right, FREE, and KICK ASS because it was my Meamaw's. I love incorporating not only repurposed items in my wedding (and everyday decor, might I add), but especially love incorporating repurposed Meamaw items. It helps me pretend like she's there in some way. I found it in her garden shortly after we were engaged and immediately thought, "CUPCAKE TOWER!" So to the right is someone else's cupcake tower in action (don't know where this photo is from, so unfortunately can't give it credit where credit is due, but someone posted it here on Project Wedding), and below is mine! I told you I'd be posting about my finds because I get so damn proud of them! *sniff*


It's funny how two (great) minds can think alike. I mean, people are repurposing things left and right for cake/cupcake stands, but it's really funny (to me...) that I just plucked this out of my Meamaw's garden, something she's had for a gazillion years, and someone else appears to have done the same thing (although I'm pretty sure she didn't take it from my Meamaw's garden).

We're going to paint ours black* and either do a semi circle around it like the action shot above or put some on raised cake platters... or both! Any suggestions for the overflow? Obviously we are having cupcakes. Sorry for ruining the surprise if you were planning on attending my wedding. You'll (probably) never guess what kind though! So there's still a reason to come :)

-C
xxx

*FYI, my wedding colors are several shades of green (duh) and black. White and off-whites mixed in as well. Painting lots of the thrifty finds black.