a wedding and one (very short) mini-moon later...

Well, I'm back to my normal life now, and I'm going to admit that I feel a little bit of a let down.  I mean we've been working on planning a wedding over the last five months or so and now it is all over and I don't know what to do with myself.  The day was beautiful and joyous and ended all too quickly.  The weather was overcast with some spots of sunshine and in the low 70s.  My dress was gorgeous (made by a good friend and colleague using pieces from my mother's 1968 wedding gown) and the flowers were bright and fun (the mister wore an air plant and the groomsmen thistles; I had fiddlehead ferns in my bouquet for goodness sake!).

After the marathon wedding weekend where we had friends and family from across the country surrounding us with lots of love, we took a little trip to the mountains of Virginia for a mini-moon.  Just two nights, but good food and some nice time for relaxing were just what the doctor ordered.  And boy, it was pretty romantic with the leaves turning and the bed so comfy.  But now it's back to work...and laundry...and unpacking.

thinking back

Autumn officially starts tomorrow and so I've been thinking back on the summer that we've had.  Boy, I wouldn't say that it was boring.
~ We made wedding decisions and sent out invitations for our September 29 wedding (right around the corner!)
~ We had a beach vacation with my family and a trip to Staunton, Virginia for the beau's birthday
~ We moved in together and began negotiating the whole co-habitating thing (schedules, cleaning, cooking, etc.)
~ We survived some family drama, like my grandmother's health complications and move to assisted living, as well as some other things
~ We enjoyed our respective bachelor and bachelorette events with our good friends

And now we are heading into a new season and a whole new set of experiences:  newlywed life.

But before that happens we have some good friends getting married this weekend (one of our matchmakers, to be exact) and so we are looking forward to a weekend of fun.  It is a potluck wedding in Eastern Virginia and I'm making my friend Christine's Chickpeas with Couscous to take along.

Have a great weekend everyone!

crowder peas and time to myself

For the first time in quite some time I have a weekend mostly to myself to do with as I see fit.  The beau works both Saturday and Sunday this weekend, so we'll have breakfast and dinner together, but otherwise I'm on my own.  And aside from running errands and cleaning the house, I have absolutely nothing planned.  This morning I ventured out in the heat to the farmers' market and stocked up on farm eggs, crowder peas, green beans, and some tomatoes (that I've set on the windowsill to ripen a bit more).  This past week we had a meal of crowder peas on cornbread that was very tasty.  So I truly stocked up this week around and we may have enough to freeze for later in the year.

Note to self: plant crowder peas next year.

We both took off and spent much of yesterday doing wedding stuff:  going over shot lists and venues with the photographer, doing a walk-through with the caterer and site coordinator, and buying 14 tabletop frames at Ikea for the food descriptions, favors, guestbook, etc. at the wedding reception.  The frames seem to be a favorite with many for weddings (I've seen them all over Pinterest), but at $0.99 a pop they are a trend worth embracing.

Ikea can be a bit dangerous, but we limited our purchases to just the frames and a new pendant lamp for over the dining table.  Now that night-dining is the norm, we discovered we needed just a tad more light.  The new lamp had to be something we could easily install at a rental (i.e. not hard-wired) and wouldn't overwhelm our little table.  I would have normally gone for a black or a white option, but the beau pointed out the aluminum version of this lamp, so we'll see how it goes.

Now, I have whole wheat bread baking in the bread machine and then I'll head out and run some errands.  Might fit in a little reading this afternoon.  From an actual book.  I'm kind of excited.

hitting my stride

 

Six days into vacation I think I have hit my stride:  wake up, coffee on the deck, cereal, bathing suit and sunscreen, beach, break, beach, lunch, shower, nap, gin & tonic.  It's a hard life.  The beau has only had the joy of vacation a couple of days due to his work schedule, but he heads back to join me at the beach tomorrow and I expect he's looking forward to a little beach, lunch, shower, nap himself (that's like gym, tan, laundry, except without the fist-pumping).

In the land of weddings, I got quite a bit completed prior to leaving on vacation.  Specifically, I sent out the invitations after a bit of drama over them getting printed just slightly off-center.  I did a little hand-trimming, but don't even know if others would have noticed.  But I noticed and cursed myself for trying to use an online printer and not splurging on the time it would have taken to get paper proofs mailed.  Live and learn.

Despite the off-center drama, the invitations did turn out pretty wonderfully.  We used an Etsy artist to design the suite of invitation, rsvp card, and correspondence card.  Jess did a really gorgeous job on our custom invites, incorporating our text and colors into a beautiful floral design that I absolutely adored.  I'll post pictures once all the invites have been received and the "surprise" is over. 

But with that task behind us, I'm enjoying the Olympics and hanging with my family and eating too much and drinking just enough.  We had a delicious arugula salad last night with fresh peaches and toasted pecans in a citrus juice/coarse mustard dressing.  I baked some tofu cubes to go with mine (the others had chicken) and it was the perfect summer dinner.  My mother can't remember where she got the recipe, but just throw those ingredients together and see if you like it too (no recipe really needed).

Okay, off for more Olympics-watching and G&T drinking!

*For other limited-budget brides that might happen across this post, just a little side note on the printing/ordering of Etsy invites:  just use an online printer if you don't already know a good local printer.  I searched high and low at local printers for high-quality paper (over 110lb cotton cardstock) and printing capabilities.  I wanted to use a local business to print the design that we had created by an independent artist.  I thought we were being responsible with how we spent our wedding budget.  But I got major attitude from the owner of the local invitation/print shop, who proceeded to lecture me about how I was putting the invitation industry out of business by using an Etsy invite design.  Needless to say, I did not give her my printing business even though she reluctantly agreed to look at my PDF file and see if she could print it.  Catprint.com had a great selection of papers and except for the off-center printing, I was really pleased with the outcome.

pretty stamps and the promise of new pens

I am sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee and have the backdoor open, listening to the rain falling gently outside.  Our heatwave has subsided a bit, although it is still muggy and the window units are running in the other rooms.  I know it may be a waste of energy, but girl's gotta find her little joys where she can.

I've been having bridal showers and receiving surprise packages from the UPS and postal service guys.  One just came yesterday that I'm waiting to open when the beau arrives this morning.  Hard to not open packages, but I'm trying to be good.  I did shake it a bit already.  That also means the writing of thank you notes, where I am absolutely behind already.  But I restocked the pretty stamp stash yesterday and we are going to Paper Source today so I can score fun envelopes for the invites and new pens, well, just because.

We are also seeing Grandma this weekend.  The first time since she moved at the end of June.  It is a little strange going so long between seeing her - I am normally visiting every other weekend, but with her move we've decided every month is more manageable.  I talked to her on the phone, though, and while it seems like she has her bad days (and my mother normally bears the brunt of that), she mentioned to me that the food is so good she hasn't needed Tums since she got there.  If that's not a vote for 'yes' I don't know what is!

napkin rings and a mayonnaise bowl

Grandma has officially moved into an assisted living facility near my brother, sister-in-law, and parents.  She's not happy about it this week, but last week she was doing okay so the hope is that it is just adjustment jitters.  Much like how I got a little homesick my first week at college, living in a small corner of a room shared with three (turned out to be wonderful) girls.  Assisted living is like college in some ways - meals are designated at set times like a college cafeteria, and you have "classes" you should attend (but don't have to) in the form of planned social functions.  But I know this is a huge transition for a 90-year-old woman with a very independent spirit.  So keep your fingers crossed for Grandma that she settles in and feels at home very soon.

Preparing for the move, the beau and I helped my parents pack up and clean out a bunch of stuff from Grandma's house.  These "P" napkin rings (my new married initial) came home with me.  She particularly wanted me to have her wedding crystal, and so I packed it carefully and have already been trolling eBay and Replacements for pieces to fill in the set (just bought a mayonnaise bowl off eBay since Grandma had the stand and ladle, but not the bowl anymore).  I've also added some pieces of crystal to the wedding registry, although I know getting fancy crystal glasses for our wedding isn't the most practical thing to do.

P.S.  Didn't my grandmother get married in a more refined time?  I mean, a mayonnaise bowl, ladle, and stand was part of her crystal service.  Really?!

uneventful

Well quite a bit has transpired since my last post here, although really nothing major has occurred.  Memorial Day weekend the parents met - over a lovely dinner at Tru Luv's and brunch at Foode (the beau's parents are divorced, so we had two different events).  And then on Monday I was without house guests and the beau had to work, and so I was left to my own devices and I sat on the couch, scoped out wedding photographers online, and watched a whole lot of "Bethenny Ever After" on Bravo.  It was wonderful.

And then this past weekend I a) went wedding dress shopping with my mother and b) met our likely wedding photographer with the beau.  Intermixed with that has been family drama (Grandma in the hospital again) and car drama (my car is in the shop right now; the beau got a flat when we drove to meet the photographer).  But all in all pretty uneventful.  Oh, there were some tornado warnings thrown in there too.

one year ago

May Day is here and it was one year ago today that the beau and I first met on a blind date that had been long in the works due to our mutual friends Cathy and Jen.  We are so thankful for those girls and the random urge they had to set us up!  We became Facebook friends before the date and when we finally met up at an arts festival at the Carillon, I gave him a hug (as I'm a 'hugger'), which I think may have freaked him out a tad.  But darn, it just clicked and I think we both knew.  I remember telling my friend Elizabeth that I was smitten.  And I still am.  I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with this boy.

And how are we celebrating?  By stuffing our faces and going shopping!  I think tonight we are doing dinner and a little registry browsing.  Although I have a pretty good household set-up, we do need flatware and basic dishes/glasses.  We both love to cook and I have a feeling we'll need dinner party supplies once we move into a house that can hold a dinner party.

In garden news, the huge oriental poppies in the back garden have 'popped' and the purple & yellow irises are blooming.  I need some quiet time this weekend to mow and weed and tend to the garden.  And Cathy gave me some homemade Pimm's, so maybe I'll enjoy a little cocktail out there when I'm through.

tables, chairs, and a golf cart ride

Talking with my married girlfriends (and reading just a few blogs), I know that picking the venue for the wedding is really the first step on the wedding to-do list.  That and actually knowing how many of your friends and family you can host for said wedding.  While the families compile their lists (hopefully keeping it to 100 or under), the beau and I began the venue search.  Before we committed to site visits, we discussed what was important to each of us.  For him, it was having a ceremony that was a real ceremony (with a minister and all) and serious (in a good way).  For me, it was having the ceremony and reception at a place that actually had meaning to us as a couple (i.e., no venue we'd never ever been to together).  I am also drawn to an outdoor element, but realize that outdoors can be risky in Virginia during hurricane season (September/October).  Our ideal was the Carillon, where we first met and were engaged, but no dice.  They book one year in advance and we didn't want to wait that long.

So let the venue tours begin!  I contacted about six different sites and researched a bunch of others (thank goodness for the internet) and we settled on visiting three: 
Maymont - a city park in Richmond that has an amazing Japanese garden with waterfall and pond filled with colorful koi carp (the inspiration for a vintage necklace the beau gave me after our first visit last fall)
The Valentine - a small history museum with a Federal period house and enclosed garden
The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts - large art museum with outdoor sculpture garden (and it is also a spot we went to on our first date)

Two of the three have been visited and assessed.  We met with coordinators and discussed timing and costs.  We saw the tables and chairs and changing rooms.  We even got a golf cart ride at Maymont (fun).  We have one more site to see (VMFA) on Friday.  But we may put a hold on Maymont in the meantime.  It's a little stressful, this venue hunt.  You want to make the right decision for you as a couple (and your family/guests), yet you know that time is of the essence.  Fingers crossed it all works out and we get married.  Oh, right, that will happen regardless!  And that's really what I'm trying to keep in mind as we go through this planning process...

Words of advice are always welcome.  And if you want to see what I'm currently thinking (dreaming) about, you can find my Big Day board on pinterest and leave all sorts of comments.