because cats love family photos

tonight we decided to do family photos with the cats, and by we, i mean me. 

this year i made PJ partake in the event, but it is impossible to get all of us together. i don't have a tripod... hmm, christmas gift idea (hint, hint). just kidding, pj is getting me my most favorite lens for christmas, and i am really excited about it! it snowed a lot today, i actually had to shovel. shoveling is not fun, and it made me almost throw up because i am so horribly out of shape. the snow was so heavy, because it was sleeting for 2 hours before i got out to my car. so tonight i came home, had some hot chocolate, some white fudge covered oreos, and looked at the christmas tree. i love christmas trees.

their faces crack me up so much, they both look so miserable. and they were, except mugsy was just uncomfortable, that cat will do anything. my kids are doomed. 

christmas time is the best time

it is impossible not to be happy around christmas. i love being at red lights, i love green lights, not so much yellow lights... i don't get road rage (as easily) around christmas time, and i love going to the mall more than ever. mall christmas decorations remind me of being a child, being dragged along on christmas shopping trips with my mom and sister. we got our christmas tree this weekend, which is my #1 favorite christmas outing. we hiked up a mountain, and fought through some pretty fierce wind to find the perfect tree. our apartment smells soo nice, and mugsy loves the tree. at first, he was petrified and hid under the bed for hours, now i can't get him out from under it. he loves christmas! 

long time no see

PJ lost the USB cord for my camera. I blame him for losing it, no way on earth I could have lost it... So, I was basically unable to get any pictures on my computer for a while. Then I fell into a wedding slump, which I blame on DIY indie/vintage/cool wedding blogs/websites/ideas. I feel so angry every time I read something about how some trendy bride had a DIY budget wedding. When I look into what vendors they used, they had their wedding at a barn with a $7,000 site fee, and their dress was $5,000 dollars, but they made their own boutonnieres! Which in essence, probably cost them more than buying them from a florist. It is so frustrating, and it gives brides to be this false notion that they can have a wedding just like theirs. So for a while I felt really angry, and frustrated with the way weddings are being portrayed as budget/DIY weddings, and they still cost a fortune. I basically decided to stop looking at wedding blogs all together, I will still rummage through theknot.com, and project wedding, but otherwise I am staying far away. I don't mind looking at beautiful weddings, but don't try to trick me into believing they were cheap, or low budget, or easy. Between the DIY blogs, and the Mormon blogs, I can barely stand it. I feel so inadequate from BLOGS, that I just needed a break. 


We booked our Honeymoon, to Antigua.

I am excited, but currently not so excited at the INSANE prices of plane tickets. I am trying to not have an anxiety attack that the prices aren't going to drop significantly. I deal with stress horribly, I may never make it to my wedding day, or I will look 52 years old. So, all I do is force Mugsy or Mona to hug me and lay on me, to help calm me down. It doesn't usually work, because whenever I want them to love me, they want nothing to do with me. 

ha, i just love catching mona in the act of licking her chops. 

serious cupcake business.

i stumbled upon the best blog, ever.


it is a blog all about cupcakes. with pictures. 

www.cupcakestakethecake.blogspot.com

here are a few that i want ASAP:

there are basically thousands of amazing cupcake pictures. there was even a french toast cupcake with bacon on top. ridiculous!

cinderelly, cinderelly!

so i decided tonight, i need two weddings.


one will not do.


i need a formal, princess wedding


then, i need a fun, party, informal, casual wedding.


i need both though, because coming up with an in between is so hard. this wedding is going to wind up looking like our apartment. a mixture of so many different styles, because i can't just pick one. from our antique furniture, to our country kitchen table, to our modern kitchen cabinets, to our  flat screen tv, to the chandeliers on the ceiling. 


but seriously, is it just me or would this not be the greatest way to arrive at your wedding?

i am a sucker for cinderella everything. if i had a cinderella themed wedding, i'd wind up taking it so seriously i'd name my first born son Gus, and expect birds to come and fluff my pillows in the morning. ok, so i am over the cinderella idea... 

i found these on an ezine, www.utterlyengaged.com

and i think they are so cute, 

except i can't figure out where they exist.

the little article just shows pictures of them, but doesn't seem to 

explain where they come from... not cool. 

i want this cake, this cake exactly. if i decide on green bridesmaids dresses, this will be even more perfect. i love the fading of dark green to light. this cake was from the Ace of Cakes website. 

lastly, i like this combo of mums and roses. especially the mums, because it is no secret i love mums. i stop to admire mums in front of peoples houses. i will excitedly point, and make pj slow down in the car to admire mums, wherever they may be. 

dress up

today i plan on making my way into new paltz. there is this vintage shop there, and i want to see what kind of goodies they have to offer. i need some ideas! i hope they don't mind the large camera i am about to drag inside with me! 

i have been getting all giddy about dresses, and i definitely have a certain style in mind. i think it's pretty obvious when i post some of the dresses i am most interested in. cascablanca has really won me over; they aren't too expensive, and i think they just make some really beautiful dresses. 

this dress is my FAVORITE. i love almost everything about it, except that i wasn't looking for a strapless dress. i believe this particular dress is from their spring 2008 collection, if that is incorrect, it is listed under their bestsellers. 

www.casablancabridal.com

here is another from casablanca. i think it really contours the body nicely, gives so much shape. i also love the color of the dress, plus the lace and beading, which is what i am going for!

these three dresses are from the Kleinfeld collection, which if that name sounds familiar, it's because you must watch say yes to the dress! these dresses are pricier, but really gorgeous. i especially love the second one to the right. it is like that princess wedding gown i always imagined as a child, but really stylish. 

this dress is from a designer named St. Pucchi. This dress is amazing in my opinion, but unfortunately totally out of my price range. here we are talking $5000+ :( 

this veil, named a mantilla veil, is what i have recently fell in love with. it's a spanish style, and i think it is just BEAUTIFUL. i have no other vocabulary that fits. there are so many types of veils, and for a while i thought i liked the birdcage veils. but they are everywhere. etsy shops are flooded with them, and i don't necessarily want to have what everyone in the year 2010 has adorned on their head. 

Oh, and lastly! I have found a cheaper alternative for an invitation. I have been hemming and hawing over whether the Lucky-Luxe orchard invitations are worth all the money. I am so picky when it comes to stationary, but I think, THINK, i like these:

these ones are made by hellolucky, weird that they have similar names. anyway, their digital prints are very reasonably priced. $150 of these, digitally printed, would be $335.00. Include RSVP cards, add another $205.00. My soon to be sister in law recommended I check out a wedding lady/land based printing place for prices. I need to do this, in order to get a true idea of what my pricing options are. Letterpress is expensive, but it is so classic, and how i always imagined my invitations to be. if only i could find someone just starting out...

i am hoping to hear back about touring some reception places today. some of these places are GREAT with emailing me back quickly, with tons of information. others, not so much. right now pj and i are looking into Twin Lakes, in Hurley, NY. and West Park Winery, in West Park. Both have good rates, we are excited!

a year away, oh my!

i think we have set a date!!


october 2, 2010. it is the day before our anniversary, and next year that will be our 6th year anniversary, and the start of a new. i am even more excited, and have a touch of anxiety thinking about it. i am most torn on wedding colors. i know i want a vintage fall theme, but what colors?! black, orange, gray?! it isn't that i love gray, but the dress i really love only seems to look good in gray. plus, with some bright flowers i think it would spruce it up a bit... it's from jcrew. i just really like the style of it, but i don't like the way it looks in any of the other colors. 

i am also into the incorporation of hay, and fun signs such as:

I love this, but it definitely needs mums. it's not quite colorful enough for me. but, the pumpkins! and the background is breathtaking. I think we decided on a church wedding. I am disappointed in the fact that I will have no breathtaking background, with pumpkins, mums, and hay. But, I have to make a sacrifice for PJ. Church means a lot to him and his family, and I wouldn't want to disrespect that. When I was little, I always imagined having a church wedding. Kingston has beautiful churches, hundreds of years old. The dutch church is really great, I will have to take some pictures if I ever get out of work before dark.

all of the above i found on theknot.com, and are pictures from real weddings. 

yummy apple pie!

Last night our friend Pat brought over a congratulatory apple pie. I had some for breakfast, and it is delicious. He earned his way into PJ's wedding party for sure. I spent most of the night last night looking at invitations, trying to find ones comparable to the one's from Lucky-Luxe. There is no such thing, her prices are much better than any other letterpress sites I found, and the designs she has are really beautiful. 


PJ started a blog, which I barely want to promote due to the nature of his first post, but I need to support my fiance. He was up until all hours of the night trying to fix the fact some weird latin appearing language was appearing at the bottom of his post. He wound up having to make a whole new blog in order to fix it. He is loving that blog, it's cute. Except, I still think the first post is gross, and I refused to read it for a few hours. 


Anyway, I stayed up searching invitations, and different stationary. Some were nice, and definitely much cheaper than lucky-luxe, but PJ and I both agreed nothing could top her designs. I love her apple invitations, and her handkerchief save the dates:

Soo pretty, you have to visit her website. Her prices are definitely reasonable for what she is offering. All this apple talk had me thinking how awesome it would be to get married in an apple orchard. I don't know if any orchards around here offer such a thing, or would be interested. I can't even find any examples of orchard weddings, but I barely tried. I did find this, which I think looks incredibly cute:

big white balloons, homemade fabric banner, basket of apples, homemade apple butter, and apple cider. perfect! This was a DIY idea, and I really love it. I might have to use it... Here is the website: DIY Orchard Wedding Table

and lastly, i fell in love with these hair pieces, and i can almost guarantee i will wind up having one...

LoBoheme has many more listed at their etsy shop. They even do custom designs. I really love the one the flower girl is wearing. I don't know if we will have a flower girl, but if we do, I hope she has long enough hair to wear that headband. 

pretend money

sometimes i like to go on websites and pretend i could buy allll the things i want. today i did that with fishs eddy. maybe once a week i will order one thing from there. if i lived in the city this plan would absolutely happen. i like how i can make plans to spend money every week, but have trouble planning to save money every week. this is why i never have any money. anyway, there were a few items that struck me as definitely needed items on the website; 

i wish i could raid my grandmothers closets 10 years ago, because i know she had identical glassware and pitchers. unfortunately, she got rid of so much stuff when she moved into her senior living apartment. wish i had an interest in these things when i was 11. 

i can't wait to make a registry. where will i make it? target? fishs eddy? who knows... i am exhausted tonight. goodnight!

weekends are fun

i wish it was always the weekend. today i hated my job more than i usually do. i hate driving, and they have me traveling more than i wanted. it doesn't take much to make me hate my job more than usual, but traveling and crappy hours are a fast way to make me dislike a job. 

must

find

office

job.

ok, so this weekend i visited jamie in the city. i picked out my REAL engagement ring, and had lots of fun with my bestest friend. 

this is jamie and scott's super cute and fun cat, oliver. i loved him, and he is super photogenic. 

then we went to pj horgans for dinner, and their hamburgers were sooo good. i want one now.

then we went to the dog park, wish i lived there. this pic is super cute, it seems to be coming out weird on the blog, but i swear it is really good, jamie!

thennn we went to fishs eddy, and i loved it even more. especially their cake holders? i am not domesticated enough to be familiar with actual terms:

then i made apple cinnamon muffins from scratch, inspired by jamie. i had a lot of baking stuff left over from my birthday cupcakes, which i apparently didn't take any pictures of, so i figured i'd make something yummy.

AND most importantly, the ring:

without the wedding band(s), and with. i love love love love it.