IDoYouDoWeDo

Time for a little announcement! Yes, I know I promised I’d show you the invites and floor pillows and all that other good stuff. And I will, at some point! We’re down to the wire here… less than 3 months to go! We’ve been banging out projects, my wonderful bridesmaids and mother threw me a bridal shower two weekends ago (I’m working on “thank yous”, I promise), our wine is brewing (or aging, I guess),  our invitations are stamped and ready to go… but I have some other exciting news to share.

The Fiance and I are having a BABY!! That’s right, as if planning a wedding wasn’t exciting enough, we’re throwing a baby into the mix! We’re expecting our little guy (mm hmm, a BOY!) in late November… about 7 weeks after the wedding!

So, not to make excuses, but that’s where I’ve been the last couple months (sleeping mostly) and trying to plan our wedding/work/live my life while I’m awake! I’m going to make an effort to at least post photos of our progress during these last few weeks of planning!

Have a great weekend!

Where have I been? Have you heard of 1000 Markets? I hadn’t! Not until this morning while I was making my usual blog rounds and stumbled across the super sweet image above on this lovely blog. Turns out, it’s a print made by 1000 Markets seller Whimsyloo.

1000 Markets is “a community of marketplaces,  large and small, connecting artisan merchants with the people who love their products.” Essentially, instead of being one of thousands of shops all listed in a big online mall, sellers have congregated into smaller Marketplaces making it easier to browse their products and find exactly what you’re looking for! They’ve just opened their shops and are hosting a Sneak Preview. I’ve only had a few mintues to browse, but definitely check out the FoodCrafters Marketplace, mmmm! And stop by the Modern Simplicity Marketplace , it will surely leave you inspired (and maybe a little lighter in the wallet)!

Woo Hoo! Look at this! I entered a giveaway drawing on Style Me Pretty for one of the  Paloma’s Nest ring bowls (which I’ve been admiring from afar for soo, soo long) and I won! 

Our rings are going to look so “sweet” in this lovely little bowl!

Thank you Abby and Paloma’s Nest!

Did you hear about this? The Fiance told me this story and I just couldn’t believe it! Apparently, it’s true, the BBC says so!

On New Years Day, a German couple was foiled in their attempts at eloping in Africa. The (incredibly) young bride to be, Anna Lena, five, and her would be six year old groom, Mika, were apparently “very much in love” and decided a destination wedding in Africa “where it’s warm” was exactly what they wanted!

With Anna Lena’s seven year old sister in tow (as an official witness) the kids walked over half a mile to a bus station, where they hopped a bus to the Hanover Train Station, with every intention of catching a train to the airport! They had packed sunscreen, swim suits and sunglasses and were all set for a wedding and honeymoon, when a guard noticed this unsupervised group of mini travelers and contacted the police, who intervened. Apparently, they were given away by all of their summer gear.

When two officers questioned the the young lovers about their travel plans Mika answered, “We wanted to take the train to the airport, and then catch a plane, then we would unpack, and get married once we arrived. Then we wanted to go for a little holiday.” Anna Lena added, “We wanted to get married there and enjoy ourselves.”

The officers gently persuaded the children to cancel their plans, since they’d be hard pressed to make it to Africa with no money, passports, or plane tickets (not to mention parental consent)! The almost newlyweds were disappointed, but to help console them, the kids were given a special tour of the police headquarters before their relieved parents picked them up from the station.

I know kids are growing up fast these days but SHEESH!

{Photo from here}

Seeing as I won’t be around tomorrow (or in any condition to anything other than don my sweatpants and recover from the inevitable food coma that will ensue) I thought I’d wish you a Happy Thanksgiving a day early! 

Can’t wait for that dessert table! MMM!
 

{Images: Wedding Cake Jamee Photography via The White Aisle. Cake Table from Martha Stewart Weddings 2007 via Brooklyn Bride.}

Last night the fiance and I went out for mexican and ended up at El Fuego (seriously great burritos). While we each chowed down on our 2lb. spicy chicken burritos (like I said, really great) the talk turned to wedding (as it so frequently does these days, as in every time we’re alone together, which is often, as in always). The latest topic of discussion?

The tent. I don’t want a tent. Buuuuuut, I do want a tent.

Apparently, I’m having tent anxiety (thanks Moms).

I guess our biggest concern with having no tent is rain. But look at these beautiful tent free weddings! No rain there!

I suppose it helps when you live in California though because contrary to popular belief it is NOT always sunny in Philadelphia. Then again, I could live with this tent design. I love the branches. I don’t know how I feel about the paper laterns though… I think I’m over them.

What about a partial tent? It’d be useless against the rain, but it’d be so pretty!
Can someone decide for me? PLEEEEEEASE!!

Images from top to bottom: D’ette Cole via {frolic}; Leigh Miller Photography
via Snippet&Ink; Real Wedding via Snippet&Ink; Real Wedding by Pollen; Rebecca Cole via {frolic}; Real Wedding by Oh How Charming via Style Me Pretty.

No, NO! Not that first time! God! My mom reads this blog!

My first time being “Tagged” and at the same time nominated for The Uber Amazing Blog Award by the hilariously funny Engaged and Enraged at I Hate Planning My Wedding! Thanks E&E!

So,  getting tagged apparently means I’m supposed to share 7 random facts about myself, as well as share the rules associated with being tagged.

The Rules:
Link to your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
Tag 7 people at the end of your post by including links to their blog.
Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog!

The Goods:
1. When I was little I hated my naturally curly, naturally red (and I mean really red) hair. I desperately wanted smooth, black flowing hair, ie. Pocahontas.

2. Now, as I quite frequently receive compliments about my red hair, I secretly and maliciously enjoy that you can’t get this color from a bottle!

3. Before I became an Interior Designer, I went to school to be a Marine Biologist.

4. My last name happens to be the German word for my all time favorite spice, pepper.

5. I despise any food that has the consistancy of pudding (applesauce, any and all pudding, jello, oatmeal…) just the thought of them makes me shiver.

6. Growing up I swore I’d never have kids, now that I have a (almost) stepson, I can’t wait to have more!

7. My favorite books are the Harry Potter series. I’ve read them all, at least twice.

And now, onto the main event!

You’re it!
All three brothers of TUCOS
Emily of Once Wed
Kat of  a kat in a bird’s world
Amy of Pikaland
Darci of With This Nest

And, I also present each of you with The Uber Amazing Blog Award!

This blog award is given to sites who:

• Inspire you…
• Make you smile and laugh…
• Or maybe gives amazing information…
• A great read…
• Has an amazing design…

Last night the fiance and I sat down to do some wedding “stuff”. We worked the kinks out of our logo (I’ll show you that later) and talked invite design. We talked about materials, came up with a method of mailing (woo hoo… gonna be neat!) and decided on the logistics of execution for Project Invites. (Get ready for some DIY fun Bridesmaids!) After about 2 hours we had a layout and size nailed down, as well as a plan of attack. Now we just need to actually work through the design and gocco those bad boys and… assemble them… mail them, CRAP!

Anyway, I was feeling pretty good about our invite ideas when we went to bed, actually about wedding stuff in general. I think we’re making decent progress!

Then it happened… another nightmare.

The first nightmare happened a couple weeks ago. As you know, if you’ve been paying attention, I have a small case of OCD. I can’t help it, it’s the designer in me! So, in this, now reoccurring, nightmare all of our planning has gone great. We’ve made it to the Big Day and all is well in the world, my world anyway. My bridesmaids are off getting ready and I’m patiently waiting for my turn at hair and makeup. Except it never happens. I can’t remember why, but my stylist never shows up! Somehow, I end up looking like I got caught in a thunder storm and then a tornado! I have hair everywhere, it’s ridiculous and everyone keeps telling me it looks great, in a it-really-doesn’t-look-great-but-we’re-trying-to-make-you-feel-better way. So, I guess I got over it because next thing I knew we were at the ceremony, which was perfect. When it was over, our guests went to the cocktail hour and the fiance and I went to check out our reception tent and get some photos taken. When we walked into the tent it was a disaster! Our mothers were in there “decorating”. (Now, I love both my mother and the fiance’s mother very much, but neither of them has very much style (sorry!) let alone the ability to decorate an entire tent moments before the party is supposed to start and have it be on par with our vision.) None of the tables are set, as in no linens, no plates, silverware, no centerpieces. Chairs are stacked in one corner of the tent. The dance floor is in pieces in another corner, and there are mint green plastic tablecloths steaked to the grass! Yea, exactly… mint green plastic tablecloths stuck to the grass! WTF?

This morning I woke up in a cold sweat, again. When I called my mom to yell at her about mint green tablecloths she just laughed “What? You’d have a problem with that?”

It’s too early for me to be loosing my mind, isn’t it? We’re still 11 months away!

I had something else I was going to show you in honor of today but when I saw these I immediately changed my mind. Aren’t they incredible? They’re like boxes in costume! This is just a small sampling of the amazingly outrageous body of work done for the box doodle project. Definitely worth checking out! Happy Halloween!

Maybe you can make your own box doodle! If you do, let me know! I’ll make sure to post your box doodle here! I found out about the box doodle project via Pikaland, one of my newest daily reads.

Clockwise from top left box doodles were created by: David Hoffman,  David Kurz, Sophie and Manuel da Ros.

So, I was really having trouble getting into the spirit of Halloween.  Our apartment has been decorated for Halloween since mid-September, we’ve even been to a pre-Halloween Halloween party (to which I wore my vintage costume, yes, vintage… I’ll show you that later) but I guess there’s just been too much else going on to enjoy it! My TO DO list is never ending and I feel like I haven’t been able to do any of it, we have three un-carved pumpkins sitting on our dining room table, just… waiting and I have the fall sniffles, so I’ve been feeling kinda blah.

On top of that, the fiance’s son, the boy, needed a costume. I volunteered to make his hat, because it’s a special kind of hat and I thought it would be special to make his hat with him. So, the boy and I decorated the fabric together. He informed me of the correct configuration of decorations on these types of hats and complimented my use of glue.  We talked about how cool Halloween is going to be because of his costume choice. And silver and blue glitter abounded. We made a mess (which I’m still vaccuming up) but we had fun! And when the glue was dry, I set out to sew the hat.  While this hat decorating and sewing ensued, the boy’s mom searched high and low, across the whole tri-state area for the rest of this costume, to no avail. When we took the boy back to his mom’s house, after our weekend he told her about our hat making adventure. She said, “Oh?! Does Manders know how to sew?” Yep! “Would Manders want to make your costume?” Sure!

So, I made my way to the fabric store, gathered some supplies and set to work. The hat was done! I just needed to make the rest of the costume and a few accessories that the boy requested. On Tuesday, night the boy came over and I had him try on the costume. I wasn’t done yet, but I needed to make sure the size was right. So I stood him on a table in front of a mirror and slipped it over his head. When he turned around to look in the mirror he had a huge grin on his face and said “It’s so cozy, everyone is going to love me!”

With the help of the fiance, I finished the costume but then I remembered the accessories, well, one main accessory! CRAP!! The boy specifically asked for an owl! I hadn’t even started it yet! The fiance told me not to worry about it… “It’s after midnight!You can make it later and give it to him on Halloween before Trick-or-Treating.” No Way! He has a party at school! He asked for an owl, he’s going to have an owl! So, I whipped out some felt and started snipping and stitching and gluing. At around 1:45am I finished sewing the owls wings on. I attached some Velcro to his bottom so he could sit on the boy’s shoulder and went to bed.

The next morning, eventhough I was exhausted, I practically jumped out of bed. I was so excited to show the boy his finished costume. So I woke him up, pryed him from his bed and dragged him to the costume. What do you think?, I asked him. Yea, it looks good. That was it… no big hurrah. So, I packed it up and got dressed.

We all had breakfast, got in the car and headed off for school and work. While in the car he asked to hold his owl. So I got it out for him and after looking at it for a minute he exclaimed “I really love my costume!”

That did it! I love Halloween!