Leaving on a jet plane...

{...}

This time tomorrow I'll be sipping something yummy by a fire in Whistler. We have to leave our house by 4am...and we're not done packing yet! Wish us luck on our first international trip with the little one. Posting will be light to none this week, unless I hurt myself or something. Do NOT wish for that! Have a wonderful week and I'll be back with lots of fun Christmas stuff the week of the 8th. :)

X marks the spot...

Seaside is a walking town, with darling cobblestone streets, not wide enough for cars and is basically built around a central square with the streets going out from it like the rays of the sun. All of this makes me think that we need a map to include in the welcome bags and I also adore hand-drawn maps, so I'm looking for any excuse to have one. :) I've been worried about size though, because I want people to be able to actually use it during the weekend, since we're having multiple events at different venues that aren't known by the general public, such as specific houses, location of our rental beach chairs, etc. So enter this darling pocket size example found on {Darling Dexter}. How cute is the size? It will totally fit in a pants pocket, beach bag and it's also looks small enough to carry in your hand without totally annoying you. What do you think? Yay? So, does anybody have a favorite map maker? I think I'll do a map post later today, instead of getting ready to leave tomorrow.  Also, does anybody have any idea how in the world to fold this? I'm not a good map folder!

{check out the rest of the invite here}

Dress me up...

Remember the promise you made to me about not giving up on me and all my mind-changing? Keep that in mind...

I want this dress. I need it. I must have it. It doesn't exist. Her name is Daphne and she's beautiful, isn't she? Couldn't you just imagine her on the beach? There is the small problem in the fact that the Daphne is no longer made, but have no fear...we have a wonderful friend who is a super talented tailor and I think he could make this in his sleep. After scouring the web for these pictures, I also found two other woman who've loved Daphne, but had to have her made as well. They're both beautiful {Darling Dexter and Jamie}! 

So, I think this one is it...really. No, really! I promise...

{here}

{all the above from here via here}

Oh and this is the fabric that I want to have the dress made in, I think. I love dotted swiss and this dotted organza (not sure what it actually is, that's my best guess) would make a great beach dress, right? I would also do lawn or linen, maybe.

Stop the madness...

From now on, I'm going to need everybody to promise me that you'll keep reading this, even after I start to drive y'all crazy with all my mind-changing. I know I'm a nut, but I can't help it, waffling is in my blood. I come from a long proud line of mind changers. I drive How crazy with all the back and forth, so I decided to start this blog to chronicle the process and keep both of us sane. I figure that I have 18 (!!!!) months to plan this celebration and if I tell him everything and change my mind all the time, he'll divorce me and there won't be a vow renewal to plan! So, please be my sounding board and help me out...you don't want me to get divorced do you?????

Whoever makes it to the end gets a prize, I promise! Also, if anybody could figure out how to make June 19th, 2010 come much faster, I'll be your BFF. ;)

What I'm thankful for...

Besides cupcakes, I'm thankful for my family, including my beautiful healthy daughter and my sweet understanding husband. I'm also thankful for my friends who constantly make my life fun and remind me that you don't need siblings to have unconditional love with somebody. I'm thankful that we have everything we do and we're able to live the way we live and I'm thankful that as a partner in a law firm, my husband has great job security and along with that comes peace of mind in these troubled times. I'm thankful that our country voted right and elected the man I hope will lead the US back to the wonderful country it can be. I'm also thankful for my little blog and the outlet it provides for me to share my thoughts and opinions. Thanks for reading and I hope you and your families have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Made a list...checked a few people off!

Keeping with my decision to buy as many handmade gifts as possible this Christmas season, I found these darling pieces on Etsy in Michelle Chang's store. She's a super sweet designer out of Brooklyn and I've fallen in love her dainty take on the big bad snake. My best friends and SIL will be soon gifted a snake necklace or three...I know they'll love them. I've included the pieces I bought and some of my other faves. It was hard to narrow it down and if anybody would like to send me a gift, I'll take the sterling snake bracelet with diamond eyes. Isn't it fantastic?

Those are some really cute snakes!

{buy these here}

Oh no...

Apparently I'll be a 3 dress re-Bride. I'll have two weddings, three dresses and a partridge in a pear tree...

{picture this...in white or ivory with a sleeveless shell or JCrew tank, which I wear everyday is warm weather...}

Daily Inspiration...

{I'll send a prize to whoever can find me a set of aqua bocce balls. Love these and they'd fit right in!}

{This might be too beachy for me, but I love it so much. I love coral, the color and the plant...I mean animal?}

{Love the flowers! Thats the color palette I want! As of right now, that is.}

Perfection in seersucker...

{think I can get How to wear this for our ceremony, minus the pocket square?}

Inspiration boards...

Since I can't make my own board {anybody want to help or make me one?? Please??} yet, I thought I'd share some of my favorite beachy themed boards from Snippet and Ink. Kathryn is so talented! We're planning on hosting our celebration {hate calling it a vow renewal for some reason} in Seaside, FL with a beach ceremony and the reception on their Lyceum Lawn...which is this huge beautiful green lawn by their community school. I'm thinking of doing bocce and croquet courts, since the lawn is HUGE and we're only having between 50-75 people. Anyway, there's a little background to go along with the boards. Aqua and red are pretty much the only two colors I'm set on, but that might change soon. 

Blast from the past...

How found these pics of Lil while he was cleaning on his email today. Think he's a little overdue for a cleanup? The top picture is from her first Christmas {6 months} and the last one is from Halloween of that year, so she's around 4 months. She still looks just the same to me, just bigger and louder! 

Have a great weekend!

Stunning...

{here via here}

I pulled a muscle in my back about an hour ago and my husband is out to a wine tasting and my sweet girl is already asleep. Now, the only thing I can watch is Love Actually, which is a great movie, so I'm not all that sad, but I did just watch it two days ago. Anyway, I'm kind of in love with the version of "All you need is Love" by Lynden David Hall. As usual, I google everything and I'm so sad to find out that he died on Valentine's Day 2006 from Hodgkin's Lymphoma. What a shame, he was such a young talent. He's the guy that is shown in the movie singing and is apparently on the soundtrack as well. Great song! Anyway, here's a montage of the movie with the song in the background. Fun!

{no clue where I found this}

How great would this canopy look on the beach? We're doing the renewal ceremony on the beach and I have to say I love the look of the orchids hanging down behind us. What do you think?

Oh Lela...

why do you play with my mind? 

Just as soon as I bought that J. Crew dress today, I find this beauty. It's stunning in it's simplicity and because it's Lela Rose, I'm sure it's impeccably made. I know in my heart that since I've decided on the much more expensive venue, I should go with the much cheaper dress, but come on!!!!! This is so unfair. Anybody want to help me justify the thousands that I'm sure this dress costs?

Inspiration...

It comes in all shapes and sizes and seems to be lurking around every corner. Here are two images I've seen lately that I can't get out of my head. 

This one is a very literal inspiration, because I love the use of the baker's twine and plan to incorporate it into our celebration. I love the modern, yet handmade look to these. The bride designed them and they're pretty close to perfect IMO.

{here via here}

This next image is such a great example of how wonderful a lot of colors work together if you don't focus too much on just one. I also have a strange love for paper accordion decorations like those.

{shocking}

Great STD...

never thought I'd write that title...

Found these on Brooklyn Bride and I'm kinda in love with them. It's weird, because they're not my normal style. I'm not a huge "black as a wedding color" fan, but the nods to CA and the fact that they're letterpress and have a giant orange on them is pretty rockin'. They were designed by the couple, which once again reminds me that I'm pushing my daughter to go to art school, not law school, like her father did. ;) I wish I had talent!

Feather goodness...

Oh C. Lou, how I love thee!!

{here}

My first letterpress card...

So cute!

{here via here}

$300???

IMO, this dress is close to perfect. Effortless, timeless, that great mix of casual/seriousness that I love in a dress...and it's $300 right now!! It doesn't look too much like a wedding dress that I'll look like a nut, but it's definitely a wedding-type gown. KWIM?