Dainty Kitty

The Acorn Arrived!

I got a new camera!  Not much to take photos of in my neighborhood on a Friday night but I'm looking forward to going to Cox Arboretum tomorrow afternoon to really try it out. 

Anxious

For the first time UPS is telling me it's going to take five days for something to arrive and it's actually taking five days.  For safety, Matt had this particularly fantastic acorn sent to my home because I'm there when the mail arrives most days.  Then we found out it's being sent via UPS which means I probably won't be there to sign for it.  I'm really hoping our regular driver picks up our packages at the office tomorrow (when it's scheduled to arrive) because he also delivers to my neighborhood so it should be in his truck.  They throw a sub in the mix every once in awhile, though.  If that's the case, I might have to wait because my apartment complex office has been closed all week so he can't leave it there and I don't know any of my neighbors (including the new one right next door who had a [loud] party on the patio on Monday night.  Who parties til one on a Monday night?  I'm getting old). 

I check the tracking number a dozen times a day, no joke.  I'm crazy anxious. 

A Favorite Detail: The Birdseed Toss

I loved the wording this tutorial used but wanted to simplify it a bit.  This is one of my favorite wedding details - it's immensely aesthetically pleasing.

I'm going to bed at a crazy early hour tonight.  Between registering yesterday, getting up at a crazy early hour this morning, working on details at Mom and Dad's house all day today and knowing that I'm going to go back to finish a few more things tomorrow night...going to bed sounds like the most wonderful thing in the world right now.  :)

Wedding Music

At Last	Lou Rawls & Dianne Reeves
Sleepwalk	The Brian Setzer Orchestra
Might Tell You Tonight	Scissor Sisters
Love Song	The Cure
Feels Like Home	Randy Newman
All I Want Is You	Barry Louis Polisar
For Emily, Whenever I May Find Her	Simon & Garfunkel
The Luckiest	Ben Folds
Hotter Then Mojave in My Heart	Iris DeMent
You Are the Best Thing	Ray LaMontagne
I Will Follow You Into the Dark	Death Cab For Cutie
Banana Pancakes	Jack Johnson
Holding Hands, Feeding Ducks	The Brunettes
Walkin' On Sunshine	Katrina
Lucky	Jason Mraz w/Cobie Caillat
Got Me A Woman	Levon Helm
Into the Mystic	Van Morrison
Moon River	Perry Como
Our House	Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
Memories Are Made of This	Dean Martin

I know I said I wasn't going to post much but I did put together a wedding music cd for Matt and thought I would include the playlist here.  We're using my iPod as our deejay and searching for songs has really been fun (suggestions are still welcome!). 

We're thinking about using Feels Like Home by Randy Newman for the processsional.   There are other versions that most might find more appealing but I like the original.  I've also always loved the idea of walking down the aisle to Brian Setzer's version of Sleepwalk.  We're using All I Want Is You, from the Juno sountrack, as the recessional.  Juno was the first movie we watched together and it sparked the conversation that really got the "I want to spend the rest of my life with you" conversation going so using a song from the soundtrack makes sense.  This song is happy and perfect for the moment when we get pelted with birdseed as we walk back up the aisle. 

Got Me a Woman by Levon Helm is pretty funny as is Hotter Than Mojave in My Heart by Iris DeMent (couldn't find a link, though). 

Our House: Catching Up & Looking Forward

Somewhere over the last couple of months I seem to have misplaced my ability to blog.  Maybe I left it behind at a thrift store while I looked for beer, wine and champagne glasses for the reception or at Michael's or JoAnn somewhere in the ribbon or flower aisle.  Or maybe it just got filed under the wrong category in my bridal organizer.  You know, under Guest List rather than How to Have a Life and Plan a Wedding at the Same Time. 

It's really not that bad, though - I've been incredibly lucky as it's all really falling into place - but it is mentally and physically time consuming.  My apartment seems to stay in a constant state of cluttered and I haven't finished a knitting project in weeks.  Let's not even start on the idea of packing up/selling my belongings. I think the majority of that will happen after we get married - although I'd like to have some of the organizing done before Matt gets here.  I (hopefully) won't be working and we'll have at least a couple of weeks as we wait for the spouse visa to go through. 

My idea of keeping a written journal for each of the 101 days up until the wedding, sadly, lasted about a week and a half.  I do want to take a few moments to write a few things down eventually, though, and in a couple of weeks it'll be time to start thinking about the vows.  I'd also like to take some time to think about what I'll be doing once I get over there.  The side of my brain that pushes practical thoughts away wants to make the rooms on the other side of that window beautiful and cozy.   It also wants to knit Real Projects and explore the kitchen like I haven't before.  The practical side of my brain that does need to think about an income still wants it to be creative - maybe using my newly organized craft room by selling on Etsy rather than always buying or my growing (thanks to Matt) stack of writing books.  I want to write again for sure - even if it's just to blog more often and with more substance.  I'm hoping that, with this new life in a new country, blog topics won't be far out of reach. 

It's a lot to think about. 

I don't expect to blog much until June or maybe even July.  Hopefully, though, I'll have some exciting photos from the trip home (as in my future home) and our adventure in Rome (what I'm calling our pre-honeymoon) here in a few weeks.  I already know there are a few pre-wedding details (like the birdseed toss packets - they turned out so cute) that I want to photograph and post eventually.  And I'm sure there will be wedding photos.  I haven't mentioned it here yet but Punch Pink (and I like this one, too) is going to be our photographer.  I'm super excited about that (and, thankfully, so is she).  I think there's something really comforting about actually working with someone you know and like. 

Blurg, see what happens when you don't post anything of note for a month of Sundays?  :)

Purchases for My New Home

After a little "what do you think of this?" chat with Matt, I ordered this poster (on sale!) from Studio Violet today.

 
Photo courtesy of Studio Violet

Their blog is equally cute, too. 

Last night we started registering online.  This is a difficult task when your other half lives 4,000 miles away.  I'll be registering in person as well - with my Ginny, my fill-in-groom - but we had to start somwhere.  After a few minutes of floundering, we started to discuss colors and I think we at least came up with some good ideas.  We're basing the kitchen on a set of measuring spoons that I bought at Williams & Sonoma last weekend as well as a matching set of meauring cups and mixing bowls, so the three things we did register for last night are all orange.  Every English kitchen needs an orange scale, right?  :)

The idea of (carefully) packing and shipping what I have is very daunting but the thought of being able to build a home together is a wonderful reward. 

Dresses and To Do Lists

I have a fairly long list of things I'd like to accomplish this weekend.  Here it is, the close of Friday, and I've managed to cross off three of them already.

- Talk to my fiance
- Try one of the new teas I bought (more on that in another post) while dress shopping last Sunday with Ginny, my Mom and her friend Carmel who is getting married in October.
- Find a wedding dress.

I put the last one on as kind of a lark.  I think I mentally put it on my list of things to do each and every day - even if I'm not going to be any where near a dress shop.  It's the last Big Detail we needed to complete. 

Tonight I went out shopping with Mom and decided to try on a few dresses at Macy's - including one that I'd tried on about six times on Sunday.  Just because I couldn't stop thinking about it, I also grabbed the very first dress that I tried on - a simple yet beautiful, almost fifties-ish, true green dress.  I had originally just tried it on to give my mom an idea of what I was looking for - how dressy I wanted to go (not very) - but didn't consider it because it wasn't white.  I was okay with wearing a color but was willing to search out white for a bit.  A short bit as there aren't many to be found.  Sunday I tried on all kinds of colors so all bets were off. 

This really is just what I'm looking for and the green will really compliment my wedding colors (pink, orange and yellow).  And i love it which is really all that matters.

We got it for an embarassing steal, seriously, so we ended up looking at other dresses for the Rome trip at the beginning of May.  In the midst of my next trip to visit Matt, we're going to Rome for the premiere of his documentary.  I'm beyond excited - I've ALWAYS wanted to go to Italy.  I already have a little translating app loaded into my iTouch and I picked up a travel book last night.  Anyway, I ended up wtih two more dresses - one that could be dressed up but that will be great for daytime sightseeing (because there's just something about Rome in May that makes me want to be girly and wear dresses when I normally wouldn't) and a longer, dressier blue number for the premiere.  Oh and a cute shirt that's going to have to take a quick trip back to Penney's when I get the receipt from Mom because they forgot to take off the security tag.  I'm glad I wasn't buying it to wear out tonight or anything.   And that kind of proves to me that the tags really don't work at all. 

As we were about to leave, someone tapped my arm and I turned around to see a woman I used to work with, years ago.  When I told her that I was there looking for a wedding dress and that I was getting married and moving to England she said, "That sounds like you."

I loved hearing that. 

Nom Nom Nom

When I found that I was putting every one of her recipes in my Gmail recipe box, I decided that Omnomicon is my new favorite (okay, food) blog. 

101 Days

 

I started a new 101 project the other day.  Instead of 101 things I'd like to do in 1001 days, this is a daily hand written journal I'm planning to keep in the 101 days leading up to our wedding day.  Thoughts on the things we have left to do, what I want to do once I move, a new 101 in 1001 list, vows and general gushiness. 

I haven't been blogging much because, honestly, other than wedding details like the first cake tasting last night, there's not a lot going on here.  I did finish a couple of knitting projects, though, which I'm going to block this weekend.  So there might be a non-wedding related post in the not too distant future. 

My Neverending Love for All Things Etsy

The presentation of the little acorn earrings Matt bought for me from lillyella on Etsy was 100% blog worthy. 

 
 

I was especially impressed that the cuteness didn't end when I came to the little envelope that held the earrings - nope, it carried on inside in the form of a cute little ribbon tying the two together. 

I'm 99% sure these will be my wedding earrings - espspecially if I find a dress in the style I'm looking for: less dressy/gowny, more summery.   We're finding lots of little, almost secret ways to incorporate acorns into our day.  Most recently, Matt found an acorn windchime to perhaps put in the tree under which the ceremony will take place.  We wanted to hide a few in the branches and then send them as gifts to our parents after the ceremony.  We're testing one first, of course, because, you know, we'd like for everyone to actually hear us exchanging vows. 

And, yes, for those of you who don't read this from a feed, I really did add one of those wedding countdown thingys there on the right.  Why now?  You (hopefully) only get married once, right?