colors & tuxes

hey readers out there who like to follow along with my wedding planning...

i thought i would give an update since i ACTUALLY GOT SOME THINGS ACCOMPLISHED THIS WEEKEND. this is big, big news.

Saturday my friend Bethany accompanied me to the mall where we shopped for shoes and some other wedding-y things. i did purchase a pair of shoes and they are perfect in color and style, but they are a wee bit too high and probably not too comfy, so i'm on the lookout for something else. i'm leaning towards funky flats (purple) or kitten heels. we were not successful in shoe finding (and i need to do this ASAP cause i kinda need to get fitted for that dress pretty soon...).

we WERE successful, however, in finding some awesome fake flowers for color inspiration. i'm tossing around the idea of using fake for the ceremony decorations, so these would be perfect. so, i'm pretty sure i've nailed down the colors (i really wanted something physical to say - "no, it should match this," instead of saying, "no, not quite so bright," "more orangey," "less red, more pink," and so on and so forth). i'll have to take a few pics and post them.

also, did you know there are only 157 more days till the wedding? EEEK!

another thing i did this weekend was register for the guys' tuxes. since we have over seven people i got a sweet deal at American Commodore, plus their shirts, vests and ties are included (many places those are extra, plus shoes!!). now we're working on what shoes the guys are gonna wear - make them rent for $20 or find something they can purchase and keep for $25-$30.

also i was able to get an appointment for THURSDAY with my hair stylist and friend Ellen who will be doing my hair for the wedding. we're going to try out doing low lights, plus i have split-ends out the wah-zu (how do you even spell that), i need it cut again.

so, things are progressing slowly...but they are progressing. hopefully i can get more things accomplished this week and firm up a date for my first fitting (shoes or no shoes!!). i'll post some pics of the flowers and maybe the shoes i love oh-so-much but are impractical, just to see the blogosphere's opinion!

wedding inspirations: flowers

my sister sent this picture to me before josh and i were even engaged. the purple, orange and pink has been my desire for the wedding since, and is the current color palette i am attempting to create!



i love these flowers. the picture is from a get-together my parents had in August of last year. I LOVE THOSE PINK HYDRANGEAS. they are going to be perfect. i hope to use a mixture of these garden flowers for the centerpieces at the reception and decorations at the church.



i love this bouquet. i found it when i googled "hand tied bouquets." i can't remember where i got it from, but i love the ribbon, i love the bright pink, i love the simplicity of it. this is my bouquet inspiration.



again, i don't remember where this image came from, but i love the fish bowls and flowers and circle-ness and simplicity. i ordered a sample bowl (cheap, too) from a website, but i'm hoping i can rent bowls just like this for less (cause i really don't want to be stuck with 28 of these bowls). but i love this!!

recovering

[me after lunch, on the webcam.
i wasn't unhappy at this point, but i was about to enjoy my pudding,
so...i mean, i should have been really excited]

well the 2 wisdom teeth that i have are now gone. i was at the doctors at 830 [taken by both my wonderful mum and first-mate dad], in the operating room passing out by 845 and waking up and almost ready to go by 915. i was told it was one of the quickest some of those nurses have seen. and they "didn't have to use any drills"! that's comforting. :)

i've been sitting on my couch at my parents house all day...dozing on and off or chatting on IM or Gmail with some of my favorite girls. as i've been laying here, 15' away and outside my door we had a deck going up. amazingly enough, they didn't seem loud at all and i didn't really notice them at all. the deck looks freaking awesome. the railing from our previous stairs was busted [we had concrete ones, they were the width of the door - very inconvenient when bringing large items inside because there was nowhere to set the items when opening the door]. now we have a deck about 6'x15' on the side of our house. it looks great!!! too bad they do it the weekend after i move out. i also helped my parents in buying new windows for my room - because mine are BAD - and they don't do those until next week. so i didn't even get to enjoy them! oh well. i just keep thinking how these things are going to help them when the have to eventually sell there house [if they ever do].

anyway here's some shots of the deck....

here's a shot of the flowers i just got from my bosses & co-worker [literally JUST GOT]. they are so thoughtful!

i dont have my good camera at my parents house, my mum has my tiny good camera but no connectors to get it on the computer...so we're stuck with webcam pics and iphone pics for today! have a great weekend everyone!

pictures

things have been absolutely insane lately. i can't even get my head around how busy i am. and yes, here i am blogging. but this is all this post is going to say.

something like a picture update

i've been staying at sissy & brian's since last friday. it's been fun...i tell you - that 12 minute drive to work is wonderful! however, sleeping has been SO comfortable...i've been getting up later...and later...

tycho was trying to get a moth yesterday. i didn't get a great picture of it - but at one point he was literally HANGING onto the wall. it was so crazy.

and he's pretty much as bad as is the ushe. if you don't give him enough attention, he climbs on top of things and knocks things over [remotes, cell phones, glasses, candles, earrings, rings, napkins...]. he also kept trying to help me cook yesterday, mostly w/ the raw chicken.

mum and dad came over for dinner last night. i made this easy Betty Crocker Cheesy Chicken Casserole - with chicken, frozen veggies, cheddar cheese sauce & Bisquick/Parmesan biscuits on top.

Tuesday went something like this...
i went to see the kitties again...

then mum and i went to our friend Diane's to see her and her new baby girl, McKenzie!

the josh came over and we watched the new Futurama movie!

The Joys of Chicago

Can i just say i LOVE Chicago? it is by far my favorite big city [ok, i've only been to Washington D.C., Baltimore, Toronto [but only saw the airport], and Pittsburgh...if those are even considered "big cities"].

Our Sunday flights from Erie to Detroit to Chicago went without a hitch. We got into Chicago about 10 i believe [that'd be 11am Erie/Pitts time]. We got to our amazing hotel, i took a short nap, and we went to an absolutely insanely awesome place around the corner for lunch owned by The Cheesecake Factory - Grand Lux Café. The decor was awesome, let alone the delicious food. We had two appetizers, AJ got soup, and Dory & I had awesome entrées. We split the New Orleans Beignets for dessert...absolutely amazing. When we left the café, it starting pouring insanely, so we waited it out. I guess a bunch of flights were grounded going to Chicago, so we heard a lot of horror stories about waiting for flights and delays and missing luggage. We were so lucky to have left earlier!!!

Sunday afternoon we changed and went to the Merchandise Mart for a dealers-only showing of the Knoll Showroom. They had expanded from last year, and it was awesome! I took way too many pictures.

Sunday night we had a party at Shaw's Crab House for Spec Furniture, then went over to Hotel 71 for a party for Versteel in the Penthouse.

Monday morning was the Knoll Dealers' breakfast, where they unveiled some new things and gave us an overview of what's going on with the company. Then we headed back to the mart to visit some more showrooms [Nucraft, OFS/First Office/Carolina, Sit on It and Inscape].

Monday night we went to Fulton's On The River for a Sit On It party, then to Carmine's for dinner. It was soooo tasty, but i could barely eat all my food.

Tuesday morning our flight left at 10:10 from Chicago. Our Detroit-to-Erie flight was a little irritating...overbooked...boarding late...they filled up the fuel tanks too much for the Erie airport so we had to sit off to the side on the runway for about 45 minutes...turbulance sucked, i was at the back of the plane, i was tired & nauseas...but we got back to Erie at 315, safe and sound and tired...

I have a bazillion pictures, and you can check out my favorite...300...here. but here are some of my best of the best:

Grand Lux Café

Limencello Lemonade & White Sangria - Grand Lux Café

New Knoll Fabrics - Luxe Collection

More Knoll Fabrics

Knoll Showroom - Graham Collection

Knoll Stools

New Loewenstein Collection

Inscape Showroom - Conference Room

Knoll Fabrics & Ottomans

Chicago!

Nucraft - Neos Collection

colors &....that's all.

i got my hair cut & colored yesterday!!! yeah, it looks almost black and i love it!!!



Also, tonight is Meta Café! So all you Erieites who love games and fun - come out!

Yay for Friday and Four-Day Weekend for me!!!!!!!!

oh and here are some pictures thanks to the awesome lilies sitting on my boss's desk [but taken outside]:

oh, saturday...how i love thee

today is an absolutely GORGEOUS day! i believe the weather channels said it was going to T-storm all day, but, heck what do they know.

i used Josh's iPhone yesterday to show him my hair color at the time of Staci's wedding last year, which means i used the "Facebook for iPhone" application, which means i fell in love with the iPhone some more. yeah, that's right, i like that application. a lot.

so, kt, beware. come september i'll be schrute bucking the crap outta you.

enjoy your weekend!!!

weeeeeekend!

[spring photos from my aunt & uncle's yard]

saturday my sister and i planned on taking my mum "flower shopping" for her mother's day gift. somehow it ended up being a whole family outing with my dad as well. we piled in my dad's new Nissan Murano [despite the large TV in the trunk], and set out on our way. i'm glad that even though we may fight and get on each other's nerves...it always ends up in laughter.

i made the Cookie Dough Cupcakes thanks to Big Red Kitchen's recipe/idea. i was going to make the cookie dough, but i opted for some pre-made dough. rach helped me make them, and we were in quite a hurry, so we had to cool the cuppies in the freezer while we made the frosting. i used the frosting recipe also suggested at Big Red Kitchen. personally, it all turned out amazing. [plus, the mocha cupcakes that are suggested with that frosting look like a great one to try...]

rach said that i should start blogging about all the weight i gain from all the cuppies i make. can't say i've noticed any additional weight gain...but it did inspire me to try to do some sort of "healthy" cupcake. i'm not really sure what to do here. some ideas include:

• using applesauce instead of oil
• zucchini, banana or carrot cupcakes [doesn't necessarily mean healthy...but...it could be...]

ok, so those are my only ideas really. anyone have any other suggestions??