Modern Baking Necessities

Disclaimer: I promise to start a series of "wedding moments" posts in the coming months. I'm toying with drawings and I have some ideas in mind. I swear!

Moving right along to current matters: Baking.

Now that I have an all powerful and fabulously blue kitchen-aid my true status as Baking Maven (or Baven) can be acknowledged at optimum power.

If it is in your power to procure a kitchen aid, I highly recommend it. Don't go accessory shopping right after you get it like Drew and I did, it's highly depre-nsive (ie expensive therefore depressing). There's an ice cream maker attachment for a batrillion dollars. Need I say more? Don't ask me what ice cream is worth to me Retail Gods, you can't put a price on pure joy!

Really, flashy tools aside there are only three things that need to be in the kitchen with you at all times while you bake this holiday season.

They are:

1. Obnoxious music

2. Santa

3. Your 5 year old self

You see, recipes will have you believe that their "recommendations" in the form of "measurements" are holy laws written by the flying spaghetti monster on sacred tablets with raw lightning. This is not true. They are instead written by and edited again by the most uptight people you know. The ones who ask for a "sliver" of cake, break your cookies into bites smaller than the chocolate chips themselves and correct your grammar without smiling.

Are these the people you want to make Holiday treats for? I didn't think so. You want to feed SANTA and his belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly.

So, crank up that obnoxious music to encourage deviant behaviour and plant Santa on one side and 5 year old you on the other. These are your trusted advisors.

For example: There is no such thing as a "pinch" of anything, and definitely not cinnamon. COMMIT TO THE CINNAMON. Santa loves cinnamon and 5 year old you likes watching inertia huff avalanche like bombs of cinnamon onto your spoon and into your bowl as you try to measure with the exactness of a NASA scientist.

NASA scientists also like cinnamon.

Sometimes in your haste and enthusiasm to compile the ingredients for your latest venture you may find you have accidentally procured the incorrect ingredient. Fear not.

Today, for example, I bought a pound of shredded carrots for Martha Stewart's "Carrot Cake Cupcake" recipe.

As an aside, Martha Stewart recipes are like the sphinx of baking. You must answer their riddles three and pass all their tests to succeed. They will use words like "unsulfured molasses" making you think to yourself "Wait, there's sulfur in molasses?" and "sage leaves cut chiffonade" with a nice bracketed (optional) next to it to acknowledge with cutting precision what a rank amateur you are at life (if you're me they also lead to adventures at the grocery store, the place that used to be your friend, but since "chiffonade" is a cold, dark place where people think you are insane) These recipes also call for more bowls than most people own, to test your true commitment to the sport of baking. So load up on dollar store bowls and make sure your inner rebel is pumped and primed for the baking olympics when you pick up her books. And imagine how EXTRA satisfying it is to slightly alter Martha Stewart's recipes. You're imaging it aren't you? Excellent.

Back to the shredded carrots.

I got home to realize I had instead bought two bags of "french cut" carrots. I worried this style of cutting was too bulky for the unspeakably tasty delicacies I was preparing to create. I considered trying to slice french cut carrots even finer than they already were one-by-one with a kitchen knife and found this idea filled me with apathy and despair. Then I remembered Drew's magic bullet. I turned to Santa, who now sported sunglasses and was perched on a Harley as he pointed to Drew's magic bullet and proclaimed, "Let's do this."

5 year old me, excited by watching things blended to a pulp, ground her fist into her other hand for encouragement.

So I half pureed, half left them french cut and continued on my epic quest for delicious freedom. (currently finishing up in the oven after making 2 and a half dozen cupcakes and a loaf)

Why should you defy recipes even if it's in the smallest way? Because. Now that you are grown up and you've had the joy of realizing no one really has any idea what they're doing you spend your time divided between clinging to the false comfort of exact rules and having moments where your life is a grand musical and you are getting on the next train to adventure (the next train to adventure might be little more than changing an excel formula at your desk, watching it work and being flooded with a sense of omnipotent power, this is perfectly ok.)

Baking is one of the times you should remember that you have something new to bring to the game and you are unafraid to try. And being a grown up should be about making it up as you go, in the best possible way. With cinnamon. And Santa. And 5 year old you high-fiving your efforts. And the soundtrack the most obnoxious music you've ever liked.

For me it includes defeating Martha Stewart with subtle defiance, but you go ahead and find your special thing.

The End.

Photos

I promised these so long ago I'm ashamed.

engagement shoot photos--> Toronto Musical Gardens

wedding photos ---> King Edward Hotel

All credit to the fabulous Calla Evans and her lovely assistant Rachael! :)

Married!

So I did it! So much to say, photos to post, stories to tell I'm overwhelmed.

I'm actually debating trying my hand at a cartoon series of best and craziest moments.

Then I need to cartoon the honeymoon, and getting to the cartoon (aka worst travel experience ever)

Also to come: Pro and Con lists for major decisions, like changing my name. Possibly a series from this titled "Nat vs. Ontario Gov't"

Bottom line, my love for Drew, writing and writing about being married to Drew will no doubt explode into some kind of blog series.

xo, the Garsides.

2 weeks

Dear Future Brides,

As I sit here 2 weeks away from my wedding, after washing sharpie marker off my future husband after his bachelor party, after coming home from a Hawaiiain themed shower thrown by my girlfriends with so much love and care, after submitting the last of my numbers, my seating charts, my meal requests and our ceremony choices...I look back at all the ups and downs I have had planning out this day and all the different ways I have looked at it throughout my life until this moment and I find at the end I am just profoundly grateful for the people I get to share it with.

My advice to you, future brides, is as follows:

- remember to thank everyone

- reward yourself for the big tasks (like doing the seating chart - do this while eating really delicious cake, that is what *I* would do looking back now)

- give yourself unwind time (mine includes jane austin movies)

- have someone to confide in besides your partner (my amazing stepsis was like a ship of calm for me) and let yourself talk out your feelings

Brides, planning a wedding involves taking a lead with your own wishes and opinions in a way more public and yet personal than most of us are prepared for. We tell ourselves we're prepared but it can be overwhelming and emotional to assert yourself so much and feel the weight of the statement you are making about your life, your love and your future. It comes with so much happiness and excitement - but also so many decisions that state who you are to the people whose opinions matter most to you in your life. Do not feel guilty about acknowledging the intensity of that.

Overall however those same people who matter most to me are drawn closer during this time and I am reminded even more than usual about what I love best about each of them and find myself profoundly thankful to have each and every one of them.

Thanks loved ones, friends and unexpectedly delightful people I've met along the way. And biggest and best thanks of all to Drew, for choosing me and offering friendship, partnership and marriage with a sincerity that rings out like a note of music in honest harmony with everything I hold dear.

xo

Life & Times When You Love a Highly Distracted Man

There are so very many things to love about my future-husband.

He has a thousand dazzling little mannerisms I've enjoyed documenting in our time together and I find I look forward to the reoccurrence of each as a charming catch-phrase of lovely nature. Each one another reminding proof of what I love best about him.

Highlights include: a delightful 20's accent he uses when stuck in a huge crowd in the rain and holding my long umbrella . He holds it aloft and declares, "Out of my way shitheads!" and it makes me laugh every single time.

His observation out loud of things occurring right in front of us in tones of such objective honesty that they light up with humour.

The way babies immediately regard him with looks of recognition and adorable shenanigans follow.

Our mutual enjoyment of moments like this one: A guy in front of the Air Canada Centre in a t-shirt with the words "What's going on here?" written on it looking at the large crowd outside the place and declaring "What's going on here?"

However, the rich volley of these delights I enjoy on a daily basis must be continually punctuated by interruption because my future husband....is easily distracted.

Yes the world is a buffet of such distractions:

- nearby conversations (I often here the phrase "Did you hear what that guy was saying!" to which I reply, "Alas, I missed it over the sound of my OWN voice as I talked *to you*!")

- local wildlife (sea gulls flying in slightly more personal arcs than one might expect can derail even the most dramatic of conversations)

- regular noises from the apartment whose volume or location has changed (that creak was in the west wall last week - sorry what were you saying?)

- old men riding barefoot down king street on skateboards (ok this one was genuinely distracting)

Today's treasure came mid-hug and astonished me with its distance. Standing in our kitchen getting a very nice hug when 22 floors down from the window across the street at the lights someone walked by wearing head-to-toe red.

Yes, mid hug the words, "Whoa, that is a lot of red!" greet me and I turn around and struggle to find the source of this distant yet all-powerful distraction.

Happily after this minion of hug destruction was out of visual range I got the other half of my hug. :)

So many people go into a wedding...

Time to call out some of the added resources to the wedding buffet :)

1. Eini & Co Cupcakery - Willing to make me cupcakes with zero food colouring and put one at each place setting in a clear chinese take-out container as our favour :) They also donate a portion of their charges to a charity of your choice so I get another opportunity to support the Canadian Cancer Society.

2. The Vintage Gardener - Recommended by my planner these guys were SUCH a pleasure to deal with. Elaine is one of those rare people who truly and deeply loves what she does, you can just tell. They also had a package of flowers that worked out perfectly for me :)

3. Talen Events - Amalia is my planner and I truly cannot say enough about having her. Her knowledge of vendors has saved me (and her voice of calm), she is super organized and has thought of things I definitely would have forgotten. Knowing she will be there the day of is a true comfort to me. I can just relax :)

4. Meringue Stationary - These guys are making up my table numbers and place cards and are remodeling an Eiffel Tower canvas design for me to do it. I saw the sample this week and am SO excited :)

Further highlights:

5. Calla Evans Photograpy - I mentioned her before let me mention her again because we just love love love her. She did our engagement shoot recently (a fave proof to the side there) and she is just so warm and easy to be around it made the photos feel relaxed and easy. :)

A gallery of photos to come when the digital high rez are ready :)

6. Breia Noble - King Edward Hotel - Our wedding coordinator at the hotel deserves a dedicated blog post (possibly a monument in her honour) of her own. She has been warm and wonderful and has honestly spoiled us rotten. She didn't just make our wedding & reception dreams come true, she made our honeymoon dream come true as well. We pretty much feel that choosing the King Eddy and meeting Breia was the luckiest decision we've made :)

7. Etsy Artist Ceeb Wassermann - This Australian Jeweller made my bridesmaids necklaces by hand. The Sakura one linked above was for Jenny and I sent her a sketch of a moon & star version for my sister that she happily designed to perfection. The girls loved them!

And one last thing! Finally found my 'evening drink' dress for the day of on the lovely Ruche online boutique. Hooray! Waiting for it to arrive by mail :)

Shoes & Ties

So, Drew got his shoes at the Bay and they are Kenneth Coles with a nifty sneaker ankle/sole for comfiness.

Mine are satin dye-ables bought for a song at a shop called "Celebrations" where the shopkeeper crafts shoe details by hand as a hobby. The shop has beautifully decorated shoes hanging all over the walls. She sold me two hand-made flower clips (seen below) that have rare egyptian gauze (yeah the kind used on mummies!) and little swarovski crystals in the centre. There was such love and care apparent in her for making these. She sewed up one of the petals right there :)

Groomsmen ties are from Tom's Place (so is Drew's wedding suit that we fitted him for this weekend past) and his tie is from the Bay :)

His cufflinks also arrived today - they are spitfire planes - cause Drew, you may not know this, knows every plane in existence and names them in the sky for me :)

Wedding details? Check.

Love in the Time of Dishwashers

Well Readers,

Like you I sometimes only find the energy to load yesterday (or the day before's) dishes after I get home from work. I'll keep on my headphones and collect all the cups and plates from around my nest with a renewed desire to see it tidy and happily pull open the dishwasher - only to find my future-husband has already been in there loading some dishes himself.

I love my future husband but I sometimes wonder if he loads the dishwasher on recreational drugs. It's like Escher hurled in there. Dishes coming out of other dishes. Dishes defying the laws of time and space. I half expect David Bowie to emerge in full Labyrinth regalia, spinning those inimitable glass balls.

My future husband works in IT. He identifies, categorizes and resolves major computer issues by discerning patterns in chaos. How is it this same mind looks into the dishwasher and jenga's our dishes at trigonometry angles that pythagorus could not write formulas for? Does this mean I should expect avant-guarde lego constructions from our children? How powerful does he think the jet/soap combination really is in our already leaky condo dishwasher?

As a rule I enjoy attempting to unravel what is often a baffling train of thought or series of distractions that lead him to an amusing amount of non-sequiter revelations in our relationship. This particular one however, speaks to a certain disquiet with spacial relationships which I already have in *my* genetics.

Sorry future-kids. Looks like none of you are going to be those solve-the-rubix cube types. I'll save myself the 20 bucks on those 3-D puzzles and stick to letting you re-write the code in your father's computer.

Cupcakes & Jewelry

I've been neglecting this lately as RSVP's start coming in and I update my spreadsheet (yes, a spreadsheet, the saddest of bridal accessories).

However, the last of my booking is done! Hurrah!

Cupcakes - which we're going to use as our favours since the tea comes with a lot of sweets.

http://www.eini.ca/

This place has agreed to make me chocolate and vanilla cupcakes with icing flowers and....no food colouring :) I'm very excited to NOT have to pick the pretty flower off my cake for...you know....the first time ever!

The hotel recommended this cupcake vendor and my experience with them has been very warm and positive. And I love that they donate a portion of their cost to a charity of your choice (for me the Canadian Cancer Society).

Each cupcake will be at a place setting in a chinese take-out container. (like in the picture - but all white)

I've been hunting around for jewelry on Etsy (I frigging LOVE Etsy) - I did want to wear pearls since it's tradition, but I'm not a huge pearl jewelry fan. Then I found this necklace....really simple and delicate. And the artist has agreed to make me a tiny matching bracelet. She's an artist in Tel Aviv (this is another reason I love Etsy)

I'm happy I found something gold, since our rings are gold. It's funny, growing up I never liked gold ...but when it came down to it, it just felt so old fashioned and romantic for a wedding. :)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/48109197/gold-filled-and-lily-pearls-necklace

the invitation

I ought to have put this up earlier as it's been designed for a while. I'm actually very proud of it. We based it on a wedding invite we saw here, and made it our own with help by the fabulous Jessica Walsh who hand illustrated all the little pictures you see.

It's the story of how we got together :-)

Hope you enjoy...they're at the printer now and will be out in the mail soon! (with matching RSVP's :)

the rings

The rings came! My mom had them made for us and mailed them.

And did I take a photo of them *on* us

and did we practice putting them on each other? Hellz yes!

Honeymoon Shopping

Dear readers,

Today I discovered that googling hotel reviews is a lot like googling symptoms of an illness you're unsure if you have. It can terrify you into never leaving your home again.

I have always wanted to visit Hawaii. You see, I shamelessly admit that locales in movies (especially romantic movies) become beloved idols upon which my worship and excitement can be generously bestowed.

The first time I saw the Eiffel Tower I forgot all my jet-lag, emitted some kind of inhuman sound and started running towards it - leaving my boyfriend to gape and in his also jet-lagged state, wonder if some kind of dangerous emergency might be taking place. Eventually he caught up with me and gently explained that it was probably much further than it looked. I had nearly left the Louvre grounds by this point and was heading into traffic.

So imagine the lush, tropical paradise, unspoiled by reality that I imagined in Hawaii! Yes, long white sandy beaches, hammocks strung between palm trees and incredible sunsets everywhere I go. Hula dancing and of course surfing which I would watch from the shore, much as I watch roller coasters from the ground.

Looking up hotel websites was an excellent way to confirm all my fantasies. Tag lines like "where heaven and aloha meet" fed my already bloated idealism. Photographs of (conveniently empty) pools spilling into pools, lagoons and waterfalls all mere steps from the beach bathed my eyes in soothing confirmation. And every room photo appeared to have prime oceanfront situation, usually with a private balcony.

Then I thought to myself, I ought to look up Fodor, Frommer's and Lonely Planet and learn the sites to see, weather and seasons. It was as I perused the delights of this information (rainbows everyday! Whales singing you to sleep!) that I encountered "hotels" and realized, not only had travel guide's reviewed them, but actual visitor's had as well.

Actual visitor reviews are like....well, the reality TV version of a hoity theatre review. Awful, but you can't look away.

Things like "The room was so dirty I had to buy my own wipes and clean it." from not one, not two, but THREE previous guests of one hotel.

"Our partial ocean view was 99% parking lot and car alarms kept us up all night."

"People got up at 6am and reserved all the best lanai's, then went to breakfast so no one could sit anywhere." (this lead to the delightful discovery that you must rent daily, your lanai/chairs)

The lists went on and on. Bugs, hidden costs, time share rope-ins, crowded pools, resort meals costing a fortune a plate. And through it all these little pass-on's of "here's how to scam this, or sneak that, or negotiate this." Which I truly dislike.

I started to think the hotels I was looking at must be duds (though one miraculously managed to garner 99% positive reviews - I think because you could snorkel and see turtles) so I looked up the very best hotels there were.

People crapped on the Four Seasons. Seriously.

"The pool wasn't big enough." You're on an island with like 1000 beaches and your pool isn't big enough? That is like complaining about your book in a LIBRARY.

Fortunately this helped me file some of the reviews under Chandler's amazing line from Friends: "Oh no two women love me! They're both gorgeous and sexy. My wallet's too small for my fifties and my diamond shoes are too tight!"

Then I made the mistake of clicking the "stay healthy" link on Frommers. o_o

A variety of decidedly unpleasant insect life greeted me but hey, insects are everywhere. Mosquitos? Meh. Centipedes? Well, yuck, but you can step on them.

Scorpions? W.T.F. Why are scorpions allowed in Hawaii? This is a gross national oversight.

Then we get to marine dangers. This is where things took a turn.

There is a jellyfish in Hawaii called the Portuguese Man of War. Why is this title necessary?

WTF is THAT?! I grew up in the Maritimes. I have seen jelly fish. THAT is not a jelly fish. What is that JAWS??!? That is just so not right.

Then they have "box jellyfish" that are pretty much INVISIBLE to the naked eye. Yes, like giant hornets of the ocean, but you can't see them.

Just....why God why?

Finally, this delightful "stay healthy" page concludes with a link to an article entitled, "Everything you ever wanted to know about sharks!"

I am not making this up.

To conclude, do not google "jellyfish stings." You do not want to google this. Really google ought to prompt you when you make stupid search engine choices. "Are you sure you want to see that? It's horrifying and gross." Have some moral accountability google and know me better than I know myself.

Back to Hawaii.

Though the shark-like maniacal jellyfish did add a fright factor to paradise I could definitely have done without the pro con list still reads like this:

Cons: tourist mash-up, hidden costs, man of war jellyfish, invisible jelly fish, scorpions (for real?!), jet lag, terrifying hotel reviews, jellyfish.

Pro: Hawaii :-)

It's the weekend, don't forget to have fun.

I love you drew, now I will crush you.

Bridesmaids dresses!

Ordered and en route!

I wanted to be one of those "cool" brides that let her bridesmaids pick the style they really liked (and you know, didn't choose a colour that could be observed from space) and happily my girls are not only willing to wear any colour I choose (including those visible to our alien neighbours) but they picked out two of the prettiest dresses EVER.

Maid of Honor's Dress: chosen by my sis Gill

Bridesmaid dress: chosen by my beloved Jenny P.

And yup, those are the colours. I must put up a "crafty" post and share the little place cards I started making by hand in my colours. I have a triad of pink going, deep kind of berry purply pink and then two shades lighter. I think it will make for a nice bouquet and table accents and of course dresses :-)

The room has a lovely light sea-green carpet that I also think a deep pink will look nice with.

I didn't think I'd enjoy picking out colours since I can never decide, I always like them all. But I'm really happy with my choices.

Once finalized I'll include a post with the invite too. I'm very proud of it :-)

Details

I love shopping around for those little details that say so much at your reception. It starts out fun and creative and everything else to be enjoyed in wedding planning.

For example:

http://trulyweddingfavors.com/products/eiffel-tower-place-card-holder

Your thought process if you have read my engagement story will probably look very like mine:

1. O..m..g..! Eiffel Towers! How perfect!

2. On sale for just $1.51 each! Excellent!

3. One hundred and fifty of those will cost me.....wait a second....

Why must everything cost a lot when multiplied by 150?

This is just another reason I dislike math. It joins forces with money and ruins my life.

This time it used the Eiffel Tower.

I might have to spring for these anyway.

So. Awesome.

My husband.

I have started this blog much as started my livejournal, without much artifice or preamble, just dutiful points, lists, pictures and so on. In my mind, I thought documenting my planning process would prove valuable later somehow.

But I realize the result feels stale and says very little on the part that is probably the most important to me: why I'm getting married and to who.

So in that vein, I'll toss aside the clipart (but promise to do a later entry on wedding drama, which I had decided to avoid, but have since amended to 'who cares? everyone loves a little drama'.) and do an entry on the best part of getting married:

My husband.

Let me begin with a little context here: I realize the entire definition of marriage has become a shifting landscape and like all pillars of yesteryear has fallen in and out of fashion with dizzying frequency. So here is what it means to me.

1. My parents got married young and spent 7 years travelling and doing everything they dreamed of before having a family. I thought this was unequivocally awesome. Marriage was like a partnership of superhero proportions the result of which was a realization of 'living your twenties' potential I didn't think anything could top.

2. I'm a fairly shameless romantic. When asked, "Have you watched such-and-such show or movie, I think you would like it." my first question is "Does anyone get together in the end? Is there romance?" If no, you must do a fairly convincing dance to get me interested.

So thanks to 1 & 2 I was pretty much genetically and experientially conditioned to love the idea of marriage. Partnership enriching life and realizing an ultimate concept of self? Sign. Me. Up.

But then we come to the rest of my list:

3. Divorce. There's rather a lot of it around, and in my family, my parents included. You'd think this would make me a cynic or shake up my faith but it actually does the opposite and here is why:

a) I never measure myself or my expectations in comparison to others

b) When adversity strikes I take it personally and an alarmingly powerful pride instinct kicks in whereby I am determined that I will not be struck down by the ills that befall other mortals.

So, being that I am committed to the idea of commitment, no mere statistic will be slowing me down. I never liked statistics anyway. Statistics is like an entire math devoted to the notion that the glass is half empty and therefore Murphy's Law reigns.

So 3. simply resulted in my determination that I would redefine my own concept of marriage. One wherein my partner clearly understood that ours was to be an adventure of the first merit navigating the landscape of life and repainting it with the optimism of happy expectations and a deep rooted sense of 'getting it'.

4. Twenties = series of 'not-to-be' relationships.

This was probably the hardest on me. As hard as graduating University and continuing to work a series of go-nowhere jobs. It's hard to float on just your own optimism. It's good to have another person to help you re-fuel.

And I did have to stop looking before I found it. I had flagged marriage as one of my big checkmarks. Achieve it, or feel unsuccessful in life. The End.

That's not really how it works though. In a wierd way you have to accept yourself as the version of you that won't have that, before you find that you will. At least I did.

Enter Drew.

There is an almost comical series of moments that follow a get-together between two people who've acclimatized to a lot of relationship bumps and challenges and compromises.

There's some giving each other the stink-eye of suspicion. Some over-reacting. Some true startlement at the notion that this person performs differently in a relationship and 'oh-my-god they don't think like that! I never have to worry about being misunderstood again!'

There is also a truly great buzz to be had by navigating the smooth sailing of bottom-line compatibility.

It isn't sharing the same philosophy. The same taste in music, books, food.

For me, it is always finding open arms when I want them. It is that person who wants me next to them on the couch at the end of the day when nothing else remains but to share the warm glow of companionship against the untidy landscape of home.

Bonus if one person is always warm and the other cold. (If you're the cold one, this is a bonus, not sure how warmie feels about icy feet tucked under their leg at night)

The best part so far has been how unwavering the buzz really is. Years go by, it still feels almost too easy to be together and I'm still washed over by happiness realizing it. I guess the compatibility has to be there in how you appreciate each other and where you place that in the scheme of your life.

For me the best possible life grows out of a well-tended happiness.

I have finished more writing, written more songs, and been physically healthier in the past three years than ever before. Your body knows when you're in a good place I think.

So now, after my philosophizing and idealizing of marriage as a tradition heavy rite of passage into romantic fulfillment, I find myself walking into it older, with a friend by my side, a little less rose-coloured-glass over my eyes, but an incalculably precious appreciation of what I truly have and what it means to who I have become as an adult.

I look at the mark of Drew in my future and it brings me only happiness.

I can be a sappy romantic and tie up our anniversary cards with ribbon and he will huggle me appropriately.

I can high-five him for our awesomeness and he will cap the moment with a great one-liner.

He will muddle along with me in comfortable contentment, then astonish me with a compliment that reveals a true insight I forgot he had looking at me through my best and worst.

He will be my husband in the old fashioned way and look for little pockets of praise when he inadvertently performs a "duty". He will be my husband with quiet pride on our travels together, taking my hand and wearing our rings and appreciating our partnership. He will be my husband with a laugh poking subtle fun at the institution because he knows he can get away with it, because underneath it all, we both understand what it really is.

He will be Drew, who met me at the airport shuttle stop looking taller and possibly skinnier than I remembered and revealing inexplicably just by his posture in walking over to meet me, that I had made the right choice. He will always be that Drew and every Drew after and the boon of that is immeasurable. But marriage feels like a good start.

shoes

I'm no shoe afficiando though as I gracefully navigate my thirties ;-) I find a little blossom of appreciation for them has taken root near my shopper's heart.

So here are shoes and shoe accessories I've admired for el wedding:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=42176798

Silk & crystal, these clips go on your shoes making them bridal pretty. I thought the idea was cute and the pictures are very convincing.

Thoughts?

I'm always partial to shoes with fabric down the middle. It's like having a shimmy-shimmy dress for your foot...

http://www.myglassslipper.com/wedding-shoes/martinez-valero/corrine-5627

I do love an old fashioned shoe as well...

http://www.rachelsimpsonshoes.co.uk/range.php?range=2&name_id=23&style_id=148

The shoe above was my first fave.

:-)

Wedding Update

Long overdue I know!

I hit January and realized that my time for scavenging, searching & budgeting must end and my time for booking, acknowledging financial reality and coming up with a strategy that made me exhale properly again had come.

Conclusions?

Some things in the wedding planning universe were much less expensive than I expected. Like music!

Other things, like photography and stationary, blew my mind.

So I did up a "this is what it will really cost" spreadsheet (yes, work has crossed over into life, how horrifying) and worked out how much we could save between now and July (realistically) and felt a little better. :)

So here is what I've managed to get booked:

1. Music: http://www.classicstringquartet.com/

I really wanted live music and figured it was wildly out of budget. Turns out it's roughly the same cost as a DJ and 1/4 of the cost of a) what I thought and b) photography. We're going to have a string trio for the ceremony and a piano/bass combo for the reception :)

2. Photography: http://www.callaevansphotography.com/

Through a nice twist of karma we lucked in with Calla through a friend at work. I just adore her work :-)

3. Officiant: http://www.gordkushner.com/

Recommended by our venue and delightful to meet in person we feel really lucky to have found Gord. He gave us a duotang (how awesome are duotangs?) of possible ceremony/vow/reading combos and encouraged us to creatively mix & match. He's super experienced and even offered to take Drew tux shopping....awww :)

Semi-Finalized:

4. Schedule - it's looking like:

August 21st, 2010

11 to 11:30 - ceremony

12-4: Reception & Revelry

4-6: married couple relax and enjoy a dinner together at the hotel

7: meet the married couple for drinks (we wanted Canoe but it's closed Sat.....thoughts?)

Btw, meeting later for drinks allows me to do something so awesome on my wedding day I'm thrilled just thinking about it: Buying a second dress to change into. Egggggcellent. What bride could ask for more?

So far I like this one:

As an aside I pretty much like everything in the model photo. I wouldn't mind her hair, that wall art, those house plants. Dammit anthropologie. Dammit.

Left to finalize:

- Invitations: These are going out in March if it kills us. I think we've decided on a style: http://www.i-do-it-yourself.com/2009/06/diy-invitation-jill-matt/

I've written up "our story" and Drew is having at it. See, I'm great at writing a lot. (see here) and Drew is great at being concise. Hopefully this will result in the perfect wedding invite ^_^

- Flowers: Not looking forward to these, or their horrifying cost. Maybe I'll just carry one big flower....that I grow myself.

- Honeymoon: Our venue co-ordinator Breia, is currently scouting Hawaiian sister hotels and trying to get us a good rate. Pray for us people. Seriously.

Oh Martha Stewart Weddings dot com.

You have the neatest things....

Like a calendar board where guests pin their name to the year they met you.

And eye spy with camera for kids.

things I like

Since my folder of loved items now has the opportunity for a refresh with the death of my laptop (RIP old friend) I shall start again and use el blog to store them.

Tone-on-Tone bouquet - very pretty.

http://www.marthastewartweddings.com/article/tone-on-tone-bouquet