wedding wednesday....the wee ones #2

how pretty are these outfits for the flower girls? i don't care if the little girls wear these dresses in particular, but asked brett's sister to find something simple, not too dressy, and white.
anyway, i love these because they're so sweet... and they look like little girl dresses and not big people clothes in minature. i don't know..i've just got a thing about children to dress like children, i guess.





dresses via jcrew.


but then, there was this wedding... and i love they way these kids are dressed too. it probably won't work for me, but just enjoy the feel...



in the end, it doesn't really matter what they wear, or if they make a scene... (in fact that's something that we can tease them about for the rest of their lives... hehehe)
for me, it just matters that our family plays a big role in the ceremony and enjoys themselves a lot. but even if it doesn't really matter, the whole "aesthetic" is just so fun to think about! thoughts?

wedding wednesday...the wee ones #1

I know that kids in/at a wedding aren't for everybody...(if you don't believe me, refer to article here). but i really love them.

and i really love that they bring spontaneity and unpredictability (which to me =fun and humor) to really emotional events. on top of that, it seems like a good way to take the pressure off you and your honey if you don't relish the idea of a hundred or so people staring at you for forty minutes. anyway, if you're going to have children in/at a wedding, then you probably shouldn't expect them to be excited to do all the normal grown up things (like dancing and drinking) that your, er... more experienced guests will be excited about. anyway, since we're having my little cousin who is a bad (in a fun way) as our ring bearer, and boone's nieces as our flower girls. right now there are two, but my May there may be four! (they're in the middle of the adoption process) anyway, here are some ideas i found keep them occupied during the reception.and having fun during the reception... please share any others you've got.





i mean, what child (or grownup for that matter) doesn't like to color on tables, play little game of dress up, jump rope, or pirates?

images from: ?, the brides cafe?, picasa, inmagine

c is for cookie! that's good enough for me...

rather than give each other presents this year, my girlfriends and i decided to bake and decorate christmas cookies together... i'm really glad we decided to do it because it was so fun.
the cookies didn't quite turn out like these from martha...but they were still pretty tasty. and not too bad to look at, either.

i would definitely recommend the giving of time rather than stuff as an alternate gift idea this holiday season (or any time!) other ideas include: cooking a big dinner together, going to see the nutcracker or some other show/concert, planning a picnic, or renting a cabin for all of your friends (and significant others, even!)

comfort and joy!

so i'm headed to the land of dial up internet, so my posts will be more sporadic until mid-January.... keep checking in, and know that i'll be thinking of all of you and getting actual wedding plans made. keep your fingers crossed that i get back to atlanta with tons of ideas and other things settled.

also, i'll know by Monday where the wedding will be (i hope, i hope, i hope!) so i'll try to find some real internet and fill you in on the details. and...happy holidays and much peace, comfort and joy this season!

gifts for my (own) mother...creative/organized/loving woman that she is

i head to the 'sip for the holidays tomorrow... and also to do some actual decision making regarding the wedding. the plan is to have a place NAILED DOWN by monday! hooray! anyway, since i'm going home, i thought it might be fun to brainstorm and share some holiday gift possibilities for the lady in my life who rivals martha stewart in creative energy, uses the phrase "bless her heart" with reckless abandon, has the best taste (but still wears orange flip lipstick) and is more organized than the container store ... my mom!

gift #1: these fun blue dansko clogs so she can look fashionable but be comfortable while sewing a couture sweater out of bananas, coke cans, and ikea bags (for real...she's that good y'all).


#2 the Alison Krauss and Robert Plant cd she heard on Oprah (or something) right after Christmas last year has has been talking about since...


#3 a hilarious book from her high school friend that describes accurately the next 4 to 5 months of mother/daughter/fiance/dad wedding planning in the deep south (yikes!)

#4 measuring tape tape.... to make all of her sewing/crafting/home decorating projects sooooo much easier.

#5 snarky cocktail napkins or coasters from mikwright...for... duh, cocktails.


merry christmas momma!

gift ideas for the mother (in law)!

how WONDERFUL is it to have a holiday break? Soooo wonderful.
i've been spending the past few days with boone's parents in his hometown and it's been so great. anyway, his mom is a baker and last night she let me help make these little chocolate-covered peanut-buttery holiday goodies and then i watched her ice a PERFECT coconut cake for a party. and apparently she may or may not have fed me poundcake with whipped cream and berries. Then, this morning before we went on our all-out christmas present scavenger hunt, Boone's dad made some perfect pancakes. let's just say when i finally do try on my dress i'm not going to be able to FIT my big toe in it.

all that is to say, i came up with a holiday gift guide (inspired by a cup of jo, again) for the "fiance's mom, who loves the south (but grew up in the midwest), the former preschool teacher who bakes like julia child and would have an affair with the President Elect if the opportunity arose."

gift #1 : The Junior League of Jackson, Mississippi's award winning cookbook...because it's the only classic deep south cookbook she doesn't have.


#2 a precious and warm sweater because it's as cute as she is... and she needs to keep warm up here in the mountains.


#3 some vintage milk glass mugs and serving bowl to go with her FAB milk glass dessert plate collection.


#4 a hilarious novel for reading between meetings, playing with her grandchildren, and baking delicious treats.


#5 a commemorative poster from MoveOn to celebrate the other man in her life's election



:) i dig her...let's hope she digs her gift!

wedding wednesday... inspiration

the wedding inspiration:
so this isn't really the look we're going for these days, but it's definitely the feel. Kathryn at snippet and ink designed this for me ages ago just for fun (because, ahem, we're like peas and carrots and she knows my taste like whoa) and it turns out that i still LOVE it. maybe that's because she's brilliant and fabulous. it's hard to say.

(please notice the yay flags and the brown paper invites please. just fab.)

anyway, in the future i'll try to come up with a more true-to-life inspiration board, but for now here's a taste of boone+biz 2K9.

hug it out...or something like that...

today is our FIRST premarital counseling sesh. YIKES. we're doing all the get-to-know-you stuff and then getting into the down and dirty with marriage expectations and conflict/conflict transformation.

How do I know, you ask? because i wrote out the questions... yep. that's right. i said me.

we were going to use some kind of book... but the thing about premarital counseling books is.. that they're all REALLY awful. we looked/researched a few and either they were all not in depth enough, had pretty icky theology (ie. "The Bible says A marriage is Between a Man and a Woman and that the Woman needs to Submit to the Authority of her Husband) or weren't actually for PRE-maritial counseling, but rather for couples who were facing tough times.

None of these fit us, and since our awesome minster was ok with it...i just came up with our discussion points for the first meeting. no biggie fries.* ;)

it may turn out to be a HUGE disaster. if so, then we'll abandon ship and get a book pronto. i'll keep you posted.


*name that reference and i'll send you something.

in the navy...

i love navy walls... and i especially love shiny navy walls! keep it up mrs. howard

cheap, cheap, diy giftbags...

i should have been studying harder for my exams, but this weekend we made the packaging for the christmas presents for some of our co-workers and friends. it was so fun, that i wanted to share it.

the BEST part is that you don't need a gocco machine OR block print carving tools for this printing project....

ok, here's the idea: make holiday printed bags from a styrofoam meat tray (a la linoleum block printing)!

first, draw your design on your meat tray using a blunt pencil then scratch out/press in the parts you don't want to print.*

*i made the HUGE mistake of forgetting that the letters have to be carved backwards otherwise they print completely wrong... so, I had to cut out the letters from the meat tray and stick them onto a piece of card stock. It still worked, but it was a little more trouble. just remember, your letters should be backwards, but if you look at them in a mirror, you should be able to read them.



after you've got your print block "carved" slap on some acrylic paint and make your prints. then, when the paint is dry, just take your little gold paint pen and add a some jazzy decorations!



put your delish winter bark (recipe here) in the bags wrapped in some parchment paper and you're done! Christmas for everybody cheaply and stylishly!

exams make me....

confused and exhausted.


photos from flickr.

all around fab decor...

another stick tree!!!! LOVE it.

and, um, also i'm really in love the wooden table/painted chairs combo... how lucky for me that i actually have mismatched painted chairs under my dining room table right this moment AND that boone and i bought ourselves our very first SHARED piece of furniture at the auction part of the museum gala.... and it's a table that looks an awful lot like this one. hm. wonder if my man'll go for it?

photo from design is mine blog

a couple of gift ideas...ala a cup of jo

whew! two exams/papers down and 3 to go!

thought i'd celebrate by sharing this fab gift idea post by a cup of jo. apparently she is engaged to my boone...or a guy JUST like him!

Last year, boone and i weren't even dating but we got each other really fun, super cheap things.Usually i'm BIG into making my own gifts (ornaments, journals, meaningful sketches/drawings but i've been a little busy) Anyway, since this year things are a little different (but cheap is STILL VERY good) here are my Christmas gift ideas for "handsome, bearded fiances [with glasses] who always kisses you like it's the first time ever" but fyi, boone... not one of these is actually YOUR gift. or is it? ;)

without further ado... the list!

#1 a cooler than cool hoodie ('cause you stole his fav red one and aren't giving it back)

#2 a pair of tickets to see the most hilarious David Sedaris live in ATL since he enjoys great humor more than anyone.


#3 super masculine stationary (aka man notes) to replace "the way too fancy" stuff he's got.



#4 a manscarf in his undergrad alma mater's colors... because he knows he'd look good but thinks it might be a tad goofy.


#5 a new messenger bag JUST like the old one..because the old one is awesome (and is so very Jim from The Office), but covered in ink stains.


#6 a lifetime supply of his most favorite thing in the whole world...


#7 woodworking lessons because he's been talking about them since you met him and is really crafty and rugged...


and probably the best idea #8 make/commission a painting or drawing of the two of you for his wall so he never forgets how perfectly you fit together...


oh dear! i got carried away thinking about all the things i'd like to give to my man this Christmas! the thing is, he's so easy to please that he'd be just as happy (and so would i) if we just gave each other the gift of time and made dinner in then snuggled up with a movie...

but let's be honest, finding/making great things to give then suprising those you love with them is most fun!