Veggie Inspired!

You may think this is about eating healthy – WRONG!

 Fabulous Dish Towels from To Dry For

Today I want to get some reader/friend/family input – yes even from you who read and don’t comment!

Today I am inspired by eatable plants – mainly from my new favorite blog, Design*Sponge.  They include a couple posts a day that inspire apartment decor and design, stationary, city architecture, all delicious things that deter me from work!  Today they included dish towel designs, a LOVE I inherited from my mother who send me towels for most holidays – these towels are from To Dry For.

So what I need you for is this idea I’ve cooked up in my head!

I am going to design a fun collection of cards featuring your ever lovely vegetables; radishes, rutabagas, celery, carrots, beets, squash, etc.  I will be taking care of the illustrations if you can help me with the words!

If you think of a clever saying including a vegetable or a reference to vegetable (and fruit, I don’t discriminate) then I want it!

Need an example?

• Orange illustration – “ORANGE you glad I didn’t say Banana?”
• Grapes illustration – “Love you BUNCHES!”
• Celery illustration – “I’ll be your stalker.”  (Okay, so that’s not the greatest – this is why I need you!)

I will send the 10^th person to comment a free set of cards when they are printed – a potential Mother’s Day gift!!

I've booked my weekend -

Saturday - Friends' winter wedding!

Sunday - Renegade Craft Fair!

I am excited to attend my friends' wedding and see how they put together their winter theme, it should be spactacular!  The bride is a crafty little thing and he is a music loving dance machine!  Tell me how much you love this: at her bridal shower she had everyone make an ornament for a Christmas tree she's displaying at their reception!  I've also caught wind that their introductions will be Michael Jackson themed!  Awesome?  I think so!

To extend my fun-filled weekend I am so excited for The Renegade Handmade Craft Fair on Sunday.  Renegade Handmade is a local shop in Chicago that sells only handmade products - talk about supporting small business!  They started the fair in 2003 and now have over 150 artists on site this year!  This is my kind of thing!  I am ecstatic to be attending!  One day I hope to be one of their vendors! 

The fair makes it possible to complete your Christmas shopping list!  

Renegade Craft says "those looking to shop handmade and support small business this holiday season will surely find something for everyone – from jewelry and clothing, to ceramics and stationery, with everything from bath products, housewares, posters, comics and plush objects in between – at this large-scale, free-to-attend art, craft and design extravaganza!!"

Happy Holiday Shopping Everyone! Next year come to Chicago!

when it's all said and done...

I like to think that I created my wedding the best I could - I loved what I did. 
It won't be for everyone but knew I did what I thought Nolan and I would like and we did like it.

But man, it's always the way when you're all finished you end up finding other elements you would have love too!!!

I found this wedding today - if I could have copied a wedding - this would have been it!  I love their style, photography, simplicity, personality, fun!  We actually incorporated many of the same things, maybe that's why I like it!   On top of all the same ideas - she included some of the ideas Nolan and I thought about but just couldn't manage to figure out - like ice cream instead of cake.  I love ice cream!

Check outPeter and Dianna’s backyard wedding on Budget Savvy Wedding - LOVE!

FOR SALE - Fall Wedding Items

I've spent enough time holding onto these jewels thus far. Would you like to buy them?

I live in the city of Chicago - if you live here too I can meet up with you off the red line.
I can mail them as well, with the addition of shipping costs from postal code: 60657

For Sale:

Ivory Pearl Clutch - $17
Quantity: 1
SOLD

White Clutch with Gold and Brown Sequins - $17
Quantity: 1
SOLD

 

Ivory Canvas Bags - $12
Quantity: 22
SOLD

Clear Cellophane Bags (10" x 4" x 2.5") - $3
Quantity: 50

Beads (size 10/0) bronze metallic - $1
Quantity: 40 grams

Beads (size 5/0) bronze metallic - $1
Quantity: 40 grams

Brown 5/8" Satin Ribbon - $7
Quantity: approx. 50 yds.

White Doily - $1
SOLD

3"x4" Brown Organza Pouches - $3
Quantity: 10

4mm Cream Pearl Beads - $1.50
Quantity: 1 string (about 75 beads)

Leave a comment if  you'd like any one or several of these items.

Favorites - Homegrown Details.

a FAVORITES series

So among all the great people that helped make the wedding happen, were Nolan's mom and sister. 


I can't say enough about them, as they took on  projects that I wanted to but couldn't because I didn't live in Nevada while planning the wedding.  I envisioned pumpkins, fall flowers, and personal touches that I couldn't accomplish in Chicago. 

I was shy at first to ask... that changed quickly.  Both Susie and Ric take pride in their gardens, they grow divine flowers, fruit, veggies and what-do-you-know - pumpkins!  Nolan's sister, Ric has actually transformed her love of gardening into a profitable business, Chickie Baby Blooms.  So they were eager to pitch in when they could and I am eternally grateful! 

Their decor contributions included orange and white pumpkins (large and small), the bouquet flowers, the ring pillow, and the ring bearers' ties.  Obviously listing them doesn't do them justice as they made our wedding that much more PERFECT! 

Photos above:

TOP: Susie and Camille at Camille's bridal shower in August 2009
BOTTOM: Bryant, Ric, and Ethan at Camille and Nolan's wedding in September 2009

Photos below:
Inspirational photos
TOP: Ties from Bella Bows
BOTTOM: Ring pillow from Martha Stewart online



Susie is a sewing machine so she took on the task of sewing the ring bearers' ties and the ring pillow.  I looked for little boy's ties for a while but came up with zilch.  I did find an Etsy seller, Bella Bows, who inspired me, but her fabric wasn't right, so I took my 40% off coupon to JoAnn's and purchased some fun orange polk-a-dot fabric!  I bought a pattern and gleefully handed it off to Susie.  The ring pillow was a similar story, I didn't find any that suited my taste but soon found this Martha Stewart photo that included hankies and ribbon.  Both my grandmothers and Nolan's had many handkerchiefs, so it was pretty fun to incorporate something old from our families into our vintagey wedding.  Susie sewed it like the ones above, bringing all four corners to the middle, attaching a ribbon and voila - a ring pillow!  It was so special to have our something blue as the handkerchief from my Dad's mom, to top it off, I was delighted even more when Susie sewed on one of her mother's circular doilies on the bottom. 

After I handed off projects to them, I knew I didn't have to think about or worry about them again.  Having supportive, creative, helpful people around while planning a wedding is priceless! 

The ties were so fun and the ring pillow was just amazing.  Here is a photo of them in action!  (I will have to include a detail shot of the ring pillow, this just doesn't do it justice.)

Nick - Ring Bear

By the time the wedding rolled around, the end of flower season approached.  We were hoping that some of the fun teddy bear sunflowers would stick around but our wedding was a week too late for a lot of the flowers.

Not to fear, Ric was able to pull together 6 bouquets worth of flowers and brought them up to our Tahoe vacation home the day before the wedding and we assembled our bouquets!  That was a bonding experience that I am so glad I incorporated.  All the girls were able to meet if they hadn't and get their creative juices flowing.  They all made their own bouquet and Ric tied them up! 

All the girls choosing flowers.

Contemplating color

Ric tying up the bouquets

 My bouquet in action!

Below are the pumpkins in action as centerpieces!

I am so thankful that we had all of these pieces in our wedding.  It made my day to know that our  grandmothers were present and that our homegrown elements brightened up the day!

It's A Family Affair

I am ecstatic to be only 11 days out of our big celebration!

I am busy finishing last minute details before I head out to the West Coast on Saturday. One of the most important things to me was to incorporate family into our celebration. I really want all of the people attending to see how much our family means to us. So one of my initial ideas was to have our tables numbers include family photos, but not just any photos, their wedding photos!

So feast on these fun photos that I will be including! How exciting!

Camille's Paternal Grandparents

Nolan's First Cousins

Camille's Second Cousins

Nolan's Paternal Grandparents

Nolan's First Cousins

Nolan's Parents

Camille's Maternal Aunt and Uncle

Camille's Maternal Great Aunt and Uncle

Nolan's Great Grandparents

Camille's Maternal Great Aunt and Uncle

Nolan's Great Grandparents

Nolan's Maternal Grandparents

If you're even thinking of doing this, my biggest piece of advise - Start asking for photos EARLY! People don't respond, emails get lost, etc! You never know when a new photo will pop up in your inbox, so it's been fun collecting all the family wedding photos. I am so excited to display these at our wedding.

08/08/08

ONE YEAR AGO

It was one year ago that Nolan asked me to marry him. By Lake Michigan with a fantastic view of the city, Nolan asked me to be his wife.
Happy Engagaversary to US! :)

Today I spent our engagaversary purchasing flatware from thrift stores! My hunt involved trying to find a broach for my wedding dress, but I just seemed to find a backpack full of flatware. Either way, I accomplished something. I was able to pick up enough flatware for 70 people at $38, that is about $.17 a piece.

I am really stretching my dollars for my bargain wedding!

So let's return to what we really like reading about...

Fun Wedding Finds, Fun Times, Good Eats and Great Friends!

It's been quite sometime that I've loved vintage items. It may not have been known but I really do! I love antique malls that are 5 stories high and flea markets in stadium parking lots and garage sales at 7AM on Saturday mornings. I love finding the deals and steals out there on the truly great vintage style. I've inherited the love of the old from my dad, king of antiquing! He'll go way out of his way to visit an antique mall and might even schedule a vacation around an antique visit. Dad spends money on the old, has antique furniture and restores pieces he's had for sometime. All of those items I love and have now become special family heirlooms.

This love of mine was something I found in Nolan! As unusual as it seems, Nolan and I both love visiting old antique malls and playing for days, it's been something I've loved in him since finding out by filling a boring day early in our relationship with a walk around downtown Reno that turned into a 4 hour adventure in an antique mall (that old two story one that was part of the wine walk and recently closed.) Because of our love of the old I wanted to include a few vintage flares into the wedding decor. I'm using our family's wedding photos, some from 3 generations ago, and asked Mom to incorporate some heirlooms she thinks would fit.

To get back to the point, Reno was full of antique malls that could fill a Saturday or Sunday. They were easy to get to and fun to explore.

Since moving, the closest antique mall I've visited is an hour ride from my house, leaving a void where I would typically fill with my guilty pleasure. To say the least it was a fun trip, but man, not having a car and relying on public transportation can become cumbersome and frustrating. Yes, I know Chicago has many vintage shops, but they usually specialize in clothes and that's not really what I like expoloring. In turn, I've satisfied my antiquing guilty pleasure by looking on eBay and finding vintage furniture, photos, books, lamps and other items on other sites,(the good ones are few and far between.) But, since I've begun my wedding planning I've done more research than I can stand and have found sites that have vintage sections. This brings me to fun finds!

Etsy.com - a crafter's dream! This site sells homemade crafts from silly buttons to well tailored hand bags to vintage wedding items.

Vintage Glam Weddings - a blog specializing on vintage weddings! They not only include wedding ideas, but they include a Craig's List type of element to their site: An online Flea Market: http://vintageglamblog.com/classifieds/. This online flea market includes all sorts of wedding items that you can buy or sell! I am impressed with the idea, it's great to have another opportunity to buy a used item for cheaper and possibly put it back up for sale after the wedding. I like helping other find those great deals (that's reflected in my Sunday ritual of coupon clipping).

Fun Times!

Mom just got back from Miami! I hope she had a great time, I think next time she goes she should take the kid that is stuck in the 20 degree weather and sideways falling snow! I hope you had a great time!

Good Eats!

Green Lite Bites - a new recipe finder I have been browsing the last couple weeks for lite inspiration for keeping my lbs dropping!

Great Friends!

Last weekend Jackie's sister and brother-in-law, Lucas came through town on their way to Mexico. I always enjoy when they come into town because it seems natural to have them around, without putting on a song and dance for them as they have seen Chicago and they just come purely for our company and are easy to please! We played a board game, ate a great dinner and had a few adult beverages! They are a blast to be around! Also on the Newport Hostel radar is another fun filled weekend with friends from all over coming to stay with us! This week, Crista (Reno), Danielle (Baltimore), Stefan (Reno), Buddha (San Bernadino) are all coming to hang out! It is Jackie's quarter life celebration so we are all excited to be honoring her this weekend with the prospect of drinking one too many!

So that's the more upbeat portion of the blog, stay tuned for more as we head into warmer days!