twittering...

"suddenly, it seems all the world's a twitter." -newsweek

riiiiiiight. i think there's a prety good reason why ryan adams calls twitter "nerd gps." i've heard about it CONSTANTLY for four weeks straight but i refuse join it. refuse. absolutely. but if i WERE going to join twitter, here are the people i would follow (if they even twittered). in no particular order:

boone
orlegian snocones
ryan adams
my dad
harlan beckley
ira glass
pam and jim
kye risdol
krista tippett
gregory house, md
michelle obama
little bangkok
josh lyman
beth corrie
and
all my peeps (that's you!)

but i'm not going to sign up. nope, not ever.

music and lyrics (the first dance)...

man, i loved watching this couple's choreographed first dance and the bridesmaids' rendition of beyonce's single ladies. i'm definitely not the first one to post about it, but if you haven't seen it, WATCH it now.

boone and i decided that we couldn't pull off anything choreographed (although i am obsessed with Jai Ho from the end of slumdog millionaire) because:
#1 well, it's just not us, and;
#2 we'll be so full of excitement and nerves that there's no way we'd remember it. not in a million years.
but we will being doing an impromptu first dance. here are the songs we've narrowed it down to, but we're not totally sold on any of them:

--At Last, by Beyonce
great, classic song, updated by one of my faves, PLUS it's a nod to the Prez since he and Mrs. O danced to this version at the inaugural ball
--If I could Build my Whole World Around You, by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell
wonderful duet, perfect lyrics, and it's upbeat! if you don't know this one def check it out.
--You Are the Best Thing, by Ray LeMontagne
we heard this on the radio the other day think it's just perfect i mean with lines like "you are the best thing that's ever happened to me" what more could you want?

here are the ones that didn't make the cut:
- The Luckiest, by Ben Folds
- Better Together, by Jack Johnson
- Romeo and Juliet, by Dire Straights
- My Love for You is Real, Ryan Adams
- I'm Gonna Love You, by Wilson Pickett
- True, Fine Love, by Steve Miller Band

what song would you want to/did you/will you dance to with your honey?

do me a favor?

when i get home to the 'sip (in one week!!!!) my mom and i going to make a whole ton of teeny weeny pecan pralines (sweeeeet southern candy/cookies) and put them in little stamped brown paper sacks for our favors.

let me say as a caveat that i really don't think that people actually ever want a favor at a wedding. i know that I usually leave my box of mints or whatever in the hotel room or in the car by accident. but, if you're going to have one, i'm of the school that you should probably try to make it yourself to save some money and make it personal. I mean, what's the point of a favor except to say a thank you to your guests?

here are some other ideas for homemade favors that i've come across (most of which are edible):

#1 make matchbooks that say "a pefect match" (i know it's cheezy but i LOVE a pun). Here's a kind of simple example, but it could be jazzed up. also, here's a template so you can diy!


#2 here's another pun for you healthy people out there: "a perfect pair." it's apparently a trend to use fruit as placecards, but i say buy whole bunch of pairs and wrap them with a pretty label or tie one around the stem using this slogan.


#3 my favorite favor that's not very hard to make AND is the most delicious of all the favors: chocolate covered oreos with sprinkles. mmmm. i WOULD NOT leave this in the hotel. slogan "we go together like chocolate and white stuff" or something equally *ahem* as clever.


#4 and martha suggests all kinds of fun things to buy or make. my favorite is the thought of giving away homemade preserves or bags of grits for your guests to take home. this is fun, but again, who wants to leave a wedding after a few cocktails with groceries? not i.


photos from the foodnetwork, etsy, flickr, and martha.

yay!

it's the last day of class!
and it's friday so we're headed to NC for the weekend for the second half of pre-marriage counseling. happy weekend everyone!

photo from flickr

TA life, live!

went last night to see our favorite radio program (This American Life) broadcast LIVE in a movie theatre and it was FABULOUS. i rolled laughing at the beginning and was in tears at one point.
fyi: now i know what my hero starlee kine looks like and my ira glass crush is even bigger than it was yesterday.

here's the special edition poster that they had designed for the show... isn't it great? if you missed the show or want to see it again you can see the encore screening on May 7th.

Does your honey need stationary?

problem: your honey hates the idea of personalized stationary and would be happy using plain old notebook paper but has offered to write half of the thank you notes. you're pretty sure that all of your family's friends might get their panties in a bunch about it if he/she did.

solution: buy him/her an embosser with a plate that has his/her name or initials on it. this way, he/she gets a cool machine/toy, you save BUNCHES of money because the embosser can personalize an unlimited amount of blank notecards, you can change the paper color anytime, AND you can get your own plate with your initials and use it too! it's a win/win/win situation.

the good news is that paper source has just what you need for $70 plus whatever the cost of cards are.

my dress... boone, don't peak!

found this drawing somewhere (no idea where) and realized that it looks an awful lot like my dress. same straps, nearly the same cut, similar details... love it.

fyi, my dress is an older one that I've had since my, *cough* er, um... debutate ball.
eeeeeeek! biz who are you? we thought we knew you?
believe me, I know what you're thinking, but it's a family tradition and a southern thing or something, so don't hold it against me.

the good news is that I'm re-wearing the debutante dress for the wedding, because it's really the most simple, classic, lovely thing i've ever worn and there was no way i'd find anything i like more. PLUS it just makes sense.

happy earth day!

in honor of earth day (and because it's crunch time for me) here are a few of my favorite eco-friendly previous posts!

# a fab shoulder bag made out of a thrift store leather jacket

#2 recycled china given a face lift with a new coat of glaze


#3 eco-graffiti (it's MOSS!)




#4 beautiful, gigantic wall hangings made from found scraps of trash


#5 re-usable grocery bags that provide lunch for hungry children

you can't fool me, ziplock...

so last night i saw a commercial for these guys:


sounds awesome, right? i mean, freezer bags that you can get at the store that have 25% less plastic and come in a recycled carton?!? i'm totally tempted to reduce my plastic usage this way.. until i realized that they're still totally PLASTIC. they don't biodegrade and they fill up landfills. seems like an earth day marketing ploy to me. i just wonder why they didn't just make the jump to this:


entirely bidegradable cornstarch bags for trash or cellulose bags for sandwiches.

i heard about these two years ago but couldn't find them as a real option until now. they are totally biodegradable and are made for things that come from the earth, so when they break down they won't be bad...but they only break down over a long time and under extreme heat. get trashbags at amazon and sandwich bags at green home.

atlanta blog love...

so i found fab atlanta photographer's lara rossignol's new blog via sfgirlbybay. design, food, fun, famous people...you know you want to check it out.

do you know what day it is????

hooray!!!!!!!!!! can we go? please? pretty please?



thanks ben and jerry's for being so awesome and thanks cities on the cheap for alerting me to my favorite non-holiday day of the year! photo from flickr.

ode to neko...

a little monday eye candy.






isn't neko the coolest? wishing that i had some spare change to spend on her new album that came out in march. also wishing that tomorrow when i get my hair cut (eeek! hooray!) that i could get it this color red. but i won't.

happy weekend!

have a great weekend everyone! i wish you all a bunch of daffodils and plenty of sunshine!

more shopping...

...and i'm looking for shoes to wear with my wedding dress. looked online but there's no way to know how they feel (and this matters to me a lot). here's what i'm looking for:

going shopping today!

i'm going shopping with one of my girlfriends today...
i really don't do this much, but apparently i don't have anything to wear to the brunch the saturday before the wedding that my godmother is hosting for all of the out of town guests. found these three things online at nordstrom's, which are fab, but they're out of my price range, besides, i've got it in my mind that I want to wear something long and flowy. i'll let you know what i find out there...

need a couch?

so does anyone in atlanta want/need a fab, clean, comfy overstuffed loveseat? or two?
we may have ripped the slipcover on the back of one of the couches in two places (and by "may" have i mean we did), but i'm sure it can be repaired easily. if you're interested, let me know...we'll take $200 for the ripped one (and pottery barn sells new ones for $1300 so....)

crawfish boil = super fun engagement party!

so one of my aunts had an engagement party for us over our spring break (see the invitations?)
it was perfect for us because it was really laid back and fun rather than stuffy and formal because they mostly invited high school friends of mine and my aunt's group of friends plus a few other folks. see, my aunt lives on a farm with a lake waaaaay out in the country, so they had the party in her red barn and under a tent. it was a good thing they had the tent because it definitely stormed that night and everyone got stuck in the mud.

after we got everyone unstuck we ate and ate and ate crawfish and drank beer (a crawfish boil was our original plan for either the reception or the rehearsal dinner, but both got passed over by the fam. besides, a white dress and crawfish juice? ick.)

anyway, it mostly came to pass since boone's family was coming to the 'sip and people wanted to entertain them in some way. they were so sweet to do it for us and everyone had a fab time... i haven't seen any pics from out party, but kathryn at snippet and ink posted this party awhile ago, and i think you get the idea of what it was like. enjoy!

april showers...

it's been a really tough week here, y'all. trees falling in the roads making people ridiculously late, power outages in our new apartment for over 24 hours, someone hitting my car and knocking off my rear-view mirror and not leaving a note (really? are you serious? are you really serious?!?) plus meltdowns about school projects and wedding related minutia...and it's only Wednesday. and while i'm whining, here's the REAL problem: the ONLY real sno cone stand in ATL is NEVER open!

the good news is that things will get better. they will. :)

and i realize that some of this stuff isn't a big deal... i mean, the trees didn't fall on my house and the power did come back on. and after tomorrow my project will be completely over. and again, in the end (no matter how the ceremony and wedding goes) we'll be JUST as married!

photo from here

keep on keepin' on...

i'm all moved in! AND the easter service at Oakhurst was beautiful.... i got to take a deep breath and relax and celebrate during the service yesterday, which i NEEDED so badly.

but now i've got to get through this week with a big scary presentation, two papers, and wedding planning.

can anyone find me two matching sleeveless white flower girl dresses that are under $100? the plainer and simpler the better. i found some pretty, pretty ones on jcrew but they're over budget and another smocked one but my mom's none to keen on it. anyway, i'd love some help finding something that looks just like this!

i don't really like roses...

i know. this is strange... and by "i don't like them" what i mean is that i have a strong preference for other kinds of flowers, but will GLADLY take any flowers that are given to me and will love and cherish them as a gift. but, given the choice, i'll pretty much always pick something else.
which is why i was pretty thrilled when my mom and i met with the really great small town local florist, randy, and he noticed that not once did i mention roses when we talked about anything. i was more than thrilled.. i was impressed.

anyway, we're going with something really loose and organic and classic looking. and we're sticking with things in season (and that hopefully we can get most of it locally) all white hydrangeas, large and small gardenias, baby's breath, sweet pea, and maybe white peonies.
something like this, maybe?

or this?


and the boutonnieres will be just one single gardenia. they just smell like magic to me and will be blooming all over my hometown in may...mmmmm.


ps-- i have no idea where i found these photos. eek! sorry.. i saved them ages ago. let me know if these are yours.

dream vay cay #4...

pick #4: big sur, california








redwoods, forests, cliffs, coastlines... and i've never been to CA...

dream vay cay #3...

pick 3: eluthera island






snokeling, beautiful beaches and lots of sun, sunbathing, drinking, deep sea fishing. i mean, this = honeymoon right?