merry and bright!

this is the christmas card i designed that I mentioned in yesterday's post ... i could hardly sleep last night because i wanted to share it with you! i know it's no award-winning minted design, but considering i used microsoft publisher (no adobe photoshop in this house!), free fonts, and got them printed on moo, i'm pretty pleased. We took the picuture last week when it snowed (in mississippi! in early december!) and the bayou looked really pretty. these light trees decorate the bayou and downtown, so we thought it'd be fun to take a picture around them. unfortunately, the snow and damp air got the best of my hair, but maybe no one will notice... ;)

anyway, merry merry!

she's making a list...

did i tell you my folks are coming up to see us for Christmas? I know....hosting a holiday is a really grown-up thing to do, so we're feeling really excited about it and a little nervous about getting everything pulled together. i made a list and have been checking it twice (or thirty two) times a day to make sure i don't forget anything.
on the list since Sunday:

design and order Christmas cards
get a tree
wrap presents
laundry
make stockings
make peanut butter balls
buy gifts for the work secret santa
mail Brett's family their gifts
decorate tree
CLEAN everything
create arrangements for bookcases
plan menu for Christmas morning
get a new outfit for cocktail party/nye
finalize boone's present

i finally finished the Christmas cards today, and I LOVE them. ;) I figured out that I had publisher on our PCs and that I could use that to create a less homemade-y postcard than the "haaaay" one...so i did.
in fact, i placed our order with Moo only minutes ago while boone put all the lights on our REAL christmas tree. that's right, folks. we've got a real tree. sure, there are only 2 weeks until Christmas, and sure, we JUST got the tree, but you can bet we're going to enjoy the hell out of it from now until then. ;)

and last night i made 5 burlap stockings... one for my mom, one for my dad, one for boone, for me, and one for smidge.

;) they aren't the fanciest things, but I MADE them, so i'm feeling pretty awesome about it.

 

 

i only have about a zillion more things to make happen before now and next Thursday when my family comes, but i. am. relentless.

what do you have to do to get ready for the holidays?

bali batik...

forgot to share the photos from the batik gallery...


totally fascinating!

LOTS to report!

so friends, we're finally IN Singapore! i'd be lying if i said it was a loooooong trip (we traveled for 26 hours or something crazy to get here.. and we landed in Tokyo for two hours so now we can say we've been to Japan) but it's totally worth it to be with our family on the other side of the world. we can definitely tell that we're RIGHT at the equator because it's HOT,also the smells are stronger here than anywhere else I've been, and we've been spending every waking minute with our four nieces or walking around the city, so i haven't had much time to blog, BUT i wanted to tell you that we're HERE! and it's WONDERFUL!
also...really quick i wanted to share my mom's calligraphy.. she did this for me since we're throwing one of my dearest, prettiest friends an engagement shower in July. Isn't this FANTASTIC?



i know.
anyway, ta-ta for now... we're off to the singapore bird park!

mama's on the interweb!

my mama is FINALLY on the interweb... she's been getting so many requests for her calligraphy that we decided she needed a blog so people can see what she can do! go visit it ASAP to see how talented and fabulous (and internet-savvy) she is!

i heart job hunting...

back from the delta and now i'm off to houston this afternoon for a job interview!
who knows how it'll go? in the meantime i'm practicing my answers to these questions....

and wishing i had this tshirt to wear...

this is a great interview outfit, right? ;)

boone's christmas present...

doesn't he look manly? (in case it isn't obvious what he's doing, then here's a hint: visit his instructor's personal blog here and his other one here.) he had a blast and brought me the most beautiful handmade candlestick! I can't wait for him to paint/stain it!

just dreamy...

i love sketching figures, yet none of my doodles are (or will ever be) as effortless and ephemeral as these beauties by mats gustafson. they make me want to edit my wardrobe to only white and black pieces (which i've considered many, many times but can't bring myself to get rid of all things mustard, blue, and plaid.) sigh.





found here, here and here

shape and color...

flowers? jellyfish? fungi? who cares? yellena james perfect artwork is beautiful...

who's got the button?

aren't these mixed media collages from marie o'connor just so lovely?





i love it when artists use tiny everyday objects and minimal color palates, don't you? check out more fun illustrations and design at the peepshow collective.

a little love...

sewn paper is the coolest... and though i'm not really into valentine's day, i'd definitely give boone this kind of love note.




love it, hope.

gift guide: my dad

i got this request from sweet anna today:
"Dearest Biz, What about gifts for the Dad would has everything!? Your guidance welcome..."
well, as you would have it, my dad HATES christmas gifts. as you can imagine he's a hard one to shop for but maybe one of these fun things will strike his fancy.

what about a book by his new favorite author that will make him want to wander the world?


my dad calls himself an "old folk singer" so maybe i'll get him this usb mic let's him record his tunes on something with a better sound quality that his crappy old tape recorder...

what man doesn't like scotch whiskey? so what about a membership to a tasting society? (fyi the uk branch of the society is cooler) it comes with whiskey and tasting lists. i know. probably too rich for my blood this year, but one day...

what about four or six fresh steaks of his favorite cut of meat from a local butcher? this way, he gets to eat his fav thing and spend time with me while we cook it.


or a space-age golf glove (it's cheap and really useful for golfer dads who live in balmy climates or like to play in the rain)


my dad told me recently that my crusade against plastic grocery bags had "ruined his life" (aka it was inconvenient to have to remember his own bag) but here's a tiny bag he can keep in his pocket that's proceeds go to GREAT cause. plus, their made out of men's ties, which seems pretty appropriate for a dad.


also, anything that i made/painted/wrote myself is usually a big hit. maybe i'll try to whip up some of these cool handmade guitar picks. he's also a big fan of mix cds, so maybe i'll make a cd case like this one and fill it with mixes. get your own ideas of what to make your dad here or here.

autumnal fuzzies...

well, there's been a lot of blogger buzz about these velvet pumpkins... and seriously, they're awesome. but honestly, are they any cooler and more autumnal than these felt acorns?


obviously not! i'm in love and want to get some to and make a giant pile in the middle of my coffee table or decorate with them at Thanksgiving...


also, stay tuned! i'm feeling waaaaay better and we've started the $30 challenge over! details this afternoon.

have your cake and eat it too...

y'all, will you indulge me just a few more wedding photo posts? I know it's narcissistic and frivolous, but it's so FUN for me to have photos of all our stuff in one place. ;) anyway, don't worry.. there's can't possibly be too many more after this one... and now, for the cake!

i think that the groom's cake was one of my fav details about our reception...

so, boone wanted little apple pies instead of a traditional cake, and my parents (who are brilliant and generous) and this sweet lady, Tex (who's like a great aunt) made this incredibly huge apple pie from scratch plus a zillion teeny bite-size apple pies. they were fantastic...




and here's the wedding cake... i didn't want one at all, but i couldn't get off the hook about it. we had to go with a professional for this one which was disappointing, but in the end it was delish and v. pretty.


photos from esta and joe.

our programs...

so we made our own programs... it was kind of a giant ordeal and huge hassle since we stupidly waited until the week before to print them and put them together and then the office max copy machines ate tons of the only green paper we had and kept printing the wrong things. BUT, finally, we were finished and i think they turned out pretty well.




my favorite part was the quote on the back from where the wild things are that read "And now, cried Max, "let the wild rumpus start!" this was supposed to signify the beginning of the party, but apparently some people thought it was an innuendo. (can't you just see my cheeks turning bright red at the thought of it...ack! eeek! yikes!) oh well.

the deets...

so my mom is really probably the most creative and capable person in the whole world.

i think i told y'all about all the incredible things that she made for our wedding and how special it was to me, but here are some bonafide photos of all her personal details.

for her first trick, my mom made this veil for me the reception! we were worried that her cathedral length train would get muddy and trip everybody up (especially me) so she just whipped this one up after seeing a much more expensive version of it in a bridal boutique.
not everyone can even cut toole straight, much less make a handmade veil out of feathers and silk flower petals!



next, my mom and i took aluminum flower buckets and attached green ribbon around them so they would hang "just so" on the backs of the ceremony chairs. since we were planning to be outside, we knew wouldn't need much to decorate the space (hello... nature?) but we wanted something. these looked simple and still really pretty when the florist filled them with gardenias and rosemary from a neighbor's yard, and a little baby's breath. they smelled just like magic and it was so easy.



now, the my favorite detail...
my mom made us a Quaker wedding certificate! really... she wrote it with her own two hands, and another friend who's also an artist painted a border of morning glories for it. if you don't know what it is here's the rundown: since Quakers don't have ministers, every member of a congregation acts as a witness to the couple's vows. by having our friends and family sign this, we implicitly expressed that they matter to us and that the support of a community is important for a marriage.


that's all for today, but i've got a few more details to share... if you get bored with wedding stuff, don't worry. i'll get back to posting other random thoughts and inspiration really soon!

happy weekend!