bridal shower: two.

the food probably took up the majority of the prep time.

alex and i were baking all day friday

and my mama spent the whole morning making sandwiches and salads

but everything was quite tasty if i do say so myself

we also had strawberry cucumber water and fresh homemade lemonade (made by alexandria)

on each of the tables. yumm.

tea. red velvet cupcakes. homemade cinnamon swirl coffee cake.

we also had banana bread (soooo good) and the most adorable powdered sugar tea cookies you've ever seen

main course: 3 kinds of tea sandwiches

chicken salad with apples on country white, egg salad on shepherd's and cucumber mint sandwiches on wheat

we also had a gingham salad, a recipe from our awesome neighbor across the street

not to mention tons of cheese and crackers

and ham and provolone roll-ups

oh the toilet paper wedding dress game. so fun.

the "brides"

yes that is a pom pom on my mother-in-law's head

another shot. the short dress 2nd from the left was the winner

it also had a flower poof in back with a train.

we also played the "who knows the bride best" game

a necklace game somewhat like the one played at baby showers but using the names of the myself and my fiance, "ring" and "wedding" as the words that had to be avoided

and a game involving a poem

thanks to miss whitney (my other maid of honor)

for putting together all of the games!!!

toilet paper, and tea sandwiches, and pastries oh my!

bridal shower: one.

the bridal shower was a success.

although my maids, mother, mother-in-law and i may have lost some sleep

it all came together quite wonderfully

and it wouldn't have without all of their help, patience and hard work

thank you thank you thank you

it was a GORGEOUS day out (which i was nervous about)

i have so many photos i'm going to have to break it up into a few days of posting

first: the decorations

i don't know how many of you out there enjoy bubbly wine but in our house we LOVE lambrusco from trader joes

we drink it-often.

one of my maids of honor came up with a great idea for re-use of the bottles

we filled them with baby's breath and created a pathway through the backyard to the shower

thank goodness for all the rain lately: it was so green!

pom poms were everywhere...we had been working on them all week

i woke up at 6 am the morning of and arranged all of the flowers in the various vintage vessels (alliteration) i've been collecting.

see, everywherrre

along with using several of my pieces for the flowers, i got to use a lot of the mismatched china i've been collecting as well.

next up for tomorrow: food/games

shower preparations.

okay. so

here are all of the things i've been working on

which are responsible for my poor blogging habits.

my shower is TOMORROW!!!

and i'm so so excited.

the projects have been my favorite part of it all

here are a few:

favors (wildflower seeds from here)

sooo many pom poms

thank goodness for all of the maids who have been over this week helping me make them

not to mention my beautiful mother in law

and these are a few bunches of flowers i picked up today

to do all of the arrangements

did you know that vons and even albertsons sell "market bunches"

at albertsons they come in 3's for $12

if you are doing your own flowers for a wedding or any event..i would certainly

recommend heading to the grocery stores

not to mention trader joes and their phenomenal flower section

until monday beauties.

and then i will have plenty pictures of it all come together to share with you

wish me luck! (i'm slightly nervous)

apologies

so sorry my blogging has been non-existent for the last week

(ugh) has it been that long?

i.need.it.

must process.

okay. anyway. it's been a crazy week leading up to spring break what with

finishing up assignments and projects for the shower but i promise

you many goodies tomorrow

including many shower delights i've been working on

and of course photos of the actual event!!! (after it is over, of course)

i'm so exciteddddd

on the agenda for tomorrow:

-shower/blowdry/straighten

-turn in paper

-pick up a few last minute groceries

-buy flowers for arrangements (apparently i've discovered, vons and albertsons have a phenomenal supply of "market" bunches that they sell at 3 for 12$

-make more pom poms

-bake, bake, bake!!!!

-post projects

miss you beauties.

goodbye: at least for a few days

so. the week after next is my spring break

and

i am SWAMPED with assignments to complete

not to mention projects for my upcoming bridal shower next weekend

AHHH. going crazyyy

this is what is due:

-senior sem paper-completed draft

-senior sem-presentation of thesis/paper

-college algebra- paper

-approaches to grammar- final draft of paper

-world history- book report

therefore...i am sad to say i am putting myself on a blogging/facebooking hiatus

for a few days in order to try and complete everything that is due next week

by this weekend so i can focus on the projects for the shower.

ughhh. wish me luck.

i'll leave you with some more swap meet finds from the past weekend

swap meet delights/ebay finds

found these gems on ebay/bonanzle this week as well as at the swap meet this last sunday:

tea tins/silver goblets to use for florals

bucket for florals/washer

i could go to thrift stores/swap meets all day everyday.

it's like disneyland for adults.

happy place.

find any special delights for weddings or perhaps to decorate your house lately?

bridesmaids:update.

yesterday,

a few of my maidens and i went out to the rosebowl swap meet.

it was de-lish

sooooo many things. everywhere. that is the best way i can describe it.

anyway,

a few of them found dresses:

one of them...not pictured is green and amazing.

it will be worn by one of my maids of honor (yes i have two)

the best part about all of the dresses:

1. we were able to find ones for each of them that fit like a glove

2. the most expensive of the bunch was $15

yesyesyes!

4 down: 4 to go

pom.

so. i figured. as i've been working on my pom poms

that i would make my own little tutorial ;-)

i found a great one here

but. the one difference is that i did mine without floral wire

perhaps this will help other brides out there make some killer pom poms:

what you'll need:

-lots and lots of tissue paper (various colors)

-scissors

-fishing line

1. take 8 or so sheets of tissue paper and pile them on top of one another

(depending on how large they are, you might consider cutting them in half to make smaller poms)

2. fold the layers accordion-style

3. cut the end of each side into a triangle or rounded shape

(this part was rather hard with so many layers of tissue paper...it might be a good idea to use kitchen shears or an exacto knife)

4. after tying a fairly tight knot around the middle of the layers of tissue, flip the layers face up

5. finally, begin to pull out each layer from the center

(be careful not to pull too hard and rip the tissue paper)

i hope this helps you all!

p.s. the floral wire isn't really a necessity...the fishing line worked great!

bouquet.

(greenweddingshoes)

just obsessed with her bouquet right now

and the font on the programs

ooh la la

busy.

midterm today. wish me luck!

it's grammar...ugh.

however...here are some of the "as it was happening" engagement photos promised

i'll even share the one with my facial mask on. oh yes.

will you?

YESSS!

probably something like: "are you kidding me, I have a facial mask on right now!"

ring shot

so happy! (at this point i had washed the mask off)

so there they are. recently found on my roommates computer.

the fact that it was so unexpected (obviously, i had a white mask on my face and was in my comfy clothes about to study for a test) was so perfect.

i wouldn't have had it any other way...

ps. if you haven't been over to 100layercake today, you MUST! eunice and daniel's wedding is too phenomenal to pass up! so whimsical.

reminiscient.

sorry for not posting yesterday! it was crazzzyyy school wise. i am trying to be more religious

about posting every day each week.

anyway...i just recently uploaded a bunch of old photos from my digital camera that had been

sitting on there since i got a new laptop and they threw me back

since i don't get to see noah very much because we are both so busy i often just look through my pictures of us...or facebook stalk him..one of the two (haha)

do you all ever facebook stalk your men?

maybe i'm weird. oh well. i just love him to death and he's pretty to look at

i thought a couple of these photos were especially amusing considering how young we look/were and how far we've come

check em out:

one of the first pictures we ever took together.

babiessss.

and now to this...

our impromptu engagement photos done by one of my maids of honor

i don't know if i ever told the story on here...but when he proposed i had a facial mask on (obviously for the photos i washed it off) maybe i'll get some of those on here for you!

have a beautiful tuesday!!

weekend checklist.

this weekend is much needed but is going to be anything but relaxing

weekends are my getting stuff done time

first on the list:

just bought 20+ packs of these at the 99cent store

to make a whole mess of these for the bridal shower/wedding

via (greenweddingshoes)

also need to:

-finish research paper due monday

-figure out bridal shower gift for guests

-hit up t-joe's for some tasty treats

-finish term paper proposal

-study study study for my grammar midterm (ughhhh)

-work, twice

-hang out with the fianceeee!!!

here we go...until monday beauties!!

bridal shower.

next up on the agenda: the bridal shower

plan---pom poms (so many), tea/kitchen tins, big bloom flowers, scones, tea, champagne, baked brie, finger sandwiches, glee.

i think i'm going to go to paper source and make some of these:

these are the invites! water-colored pom poms painted by my beautiful roomie/maid of honor alex. so excited about them!

i will be working on these for the next few weeks:

going to do the florals myself--this is the inspiration:

at first i was stressed about pulling this off so soon. now i'm just looking forward to all these fun projects. and the pom poms and tins can be used again at the wedding!

so excited.

hankies (explanation)

perhaps i should explain the hankies...

i was considering keeping it a surprise. at least for the guests.

but i'm sure it will be more special when they actual receive them. anyway...

i am going to use them for the invite suite! originally i had thought of screen-printing

them for the save the date...but then i thought (although that's a great idea!) that if

guests got that as the save the date, they would probably expect an entire quilt or something

for the invitation.

so then, i decided i'd just use them for the invites. so i found an AMAZING lot on ebay of over a hundred a while back (as a result i've become an ebay addict) and am currently working on the format and font for them with Haley.

I am SO excited about them.

inspiration time:

(the above is a picture from my actual ebay lot)

holly and billy...oh man.

via (oncewed)

hankies/plates

some photos of the hankies and just a few of the plates i've collected so far...

little blue

yellow roses

little greeny w/roses