Giada for Target

Two of my favorite things together...Target AND Giada?! Pretty much every Saturday includes watching the newest episode of "Giada at Home" and a trip to Target, so this collection couldn't be more me. Too bad I seriously do not need one more thing for our kitchen since we got SO many gifts for the wedding. Where was her stuff a year ago when I was creating our Target registry?

Bye for now Conan

I have been a fan of Conan since I started staying up later and later once I went off to college, and I'm so sad to see NBC let him go. It's incredibly unfair that he only had 7 months to do his dream job, but I can't wait to see what he does next. I hope he has the rights to the string dance.

my dress

Today's my birthday! So it seems only fitting to dedicate today's post to one of the most wonderful gifts I've ever received. My wedding gown. I won't ever be able to thank my mom enough for it. And it deserves a montage:

My sister-in-law Vanessa was responsible for the buttoning, and I think I love those buttons a lot more than she does.

(all photos: *Print, except the 4th photo: my collection)

the honeymoon

As I noted , a couple weeks before our wedding, swine flu was all over the news, and Nathan and I decided to cancel our honeymoon trip to Mexico. After hours on TripAdvisor, I suggested we go to St. Lucia instead and more specifically, Discovery at Marigot Bay. The cost was much more than the trip to Mexico would have been, but the island is so wonderful and lush and we couldn't have been more pampered during our stay.

view from our drive to the resort


with Husband


our room and private pool


the harbor


poolside


view from my pool chair


the Pitons from a boat while on a land & sea tour


all geared up to go zip lining


at the breakfast table on our last morning

(all images: from my collection)

the invitations

New year, new motivation to continue posting here. I have been trying to figure out if it's worth it to continue with the blog since once again my blog's name rings true and I've remained indecisive for months. Yesterday I got a little encouragement, and I've been watching a couple of my friends (Jenny and Lindsey) maintain blogs, so I've decided to post lightly again. Though more frequently than last year hopefully!

I've been wanting to pick up an SLR camera again and relearn how to take photos beyond my point-and-shoot. Nathan was a photo major in college so I have a nice camera at my fingertips, and I took a photography class in college, so I just need to take the next step. Due to my tendency to procrastinate, I've been delaying posting my wedding invitations because I wanted to get a few more close-up shots beyond what my wonderful photographer (Christa at *Print) captured. For now, here are a few shots of the finished pieces.



The original plan was to print these with a gocco, but my boss was incredibly generous and, as a wedding gift, paid for the cost of letterpress. This then freed up some money in our budget to mail boxes instead of envelopes and use custom Zazzle stamps again. (Yes, I'm a crazy cat lady and addressed my sample-to-be-photographed set to the cat, who shares her name with a fabulous actress.)


Instead of an inner envelope, I decided to group the pieces with a ribbon and use a tag to list the names of the people invited. I had my parents help punch those out, which was quite an entertaining event. My mom helped again by putting the grass in all the boxes while a couple bridesmaids assembled the groups of papers and tied them together and Nathan cut and singed the ends of ribbons to keep them from fraying.



For the printing I worked with Travis at Parklife Press, and his printing exceeded my expectations. I seriously still can't get enough of the texture of the printed pieces. There's nothing better than letterpress! It was an exciting morning when FedEx dropped these off and I got to see my designs the way I'd always hoped instead of just on my computer screen.


My RSVP cards are my most favorite part of the system, and I really love the texture created by the polka dots on the ceremony card. Plus I need a photo of the front of the return envelope. So I'll get a few more shots of those up, eventually.

(all images: *Print)