soon enough

When do I get to start wearing this (now on sale for only 16 dollars!) ? Apparently, it'll be sooner than later since the forecast calls for a low of 31 degrees tonight.

(I have such mixed feelings about this time of year):
pros-
01. sweaters. in all kinds of colors.
02. cuddling.
03. pro football.
04. colored leaves.
05. scarves.
06. caramel apples.
07. soups and stews.

cons-
01. early darkness.
02. homework.
03. colds.
04. having to stay inside.
05. being cold.
06. the harsh WI wind.
07. having to wake up to a cold morning.

*Do you have mixed emotions about the fall months too?

song on repeat

Dark was the Night is one of those albums that after I bought it I listened to it for 2 weeks straight. One song on that album in particular struck a chord with me (no pun intended... :)

The train song.

{sung by Ben Gibbard and Feist}

The video below is a video with the original artist singing the song:

{originally found by deb}

When browsing youtube, I stumbled on this video of the train song being performed by Feist and Justin Vernon(!) at Radio City Music Hall:

a tale of two friends

Sit back and relax as I begin the tale of my adventures last Thursday night:

It all began when I caught a little bit of my sister's cold on Wednesday. I had been feeling ill the whole day and I called work and spoke to my manager who really preferred that I stayed home (which I definitely did not mind doing). I was all set to lay in bed, read the story of Ree and her Marlboro Man (if you haven't read it; I suggest you do. It's so heartfelt and will make you want to go find your fiancee and give him a kiss-or 12.) The phone rang and it was my sister Hannah at the volleyball game at her high school. I just assumed that she wanted to borrow a sweater or movie or something, but when I got to the phone she informed me that Dani was at the gym right then.

Dani, as I've mentioned before, is a new mama and a friend from high school and beyond that I hadn't seen in two years. She's someone that I always regretted not staying in contact with over the years and tried so hard to remain friends. Time and distance definitely didn't help our friendship, but on Thursday I was about to see if it changed us completely.

After I hang up the phone, it only took me about two minutes to brush my teeth and run out the door after yelling up to my mom that I was leaving. (She, obviously, didn't think this was wise, since I wasn't 100% well, but I think my exact words were "I don't care mom, I'm going to see Dani") The whole 25 seconds it takes to drive to the gym (I live about a mile away), I was shaky and I had that feeling. The tingly feeling you get when you're anticipating some major event or waiting to see someone. (I think I'll have the same type of feeling right before I walk down the aisle.) I get to the gym and see her right away and crawl over her in-laws just to sit next to my long-lost friend.

At the beginning it was weird-it wasn't us. It was like we had to force the relationship that had be so severely severed from the time not staying in contact. We talked like adults-about weather, and filler stuff like that. It hurt me that it wasn't the same. Yes, it was still us, but it was strained. I sent up a prayer begging God not to make me endure this horribly awkward conversation anymore. The conversation took a turn for the better though when we talked about one of our mutual friends-it was like no time had passed. I listened to her advice and the wise words she said. The night ended with her little one getting hungry and cranky in the incredibly warm gym and us going our separate ways promising to see each other on Saturday afternoon.

Saturday afternoon was simple joy. I drove over to her parents house (a route that I've traveled so many times I could do it with my eyes closed) and spent 4 bliss-filled hours with Dani, Zoey, and Dani's parents, siblings, and grandparents. This was what I wanted. Time to heal our strained relationship with no other people around except her cuddly baby and her family. We talked about all kinds of different things-husbands, weddings, God, congregations, babies, school-all while I was holding her dear baby Z curled up on my chest.


{little monkey Z}

{Dani with her baby Z and mama. Both photos taken by Dani's sister Jackie.}

The night ended with hugs and 'love you's. We promised ourselves and one another that we would never let this much time go without talking and catching up. I missed so much from those years apart, conversations that we never had. That much time apart will never happen again. I won't let it.

to an old friend

This post is dedicated to Bertha, the van that my parents had for ten years, but traded in order to take advantage of the Cash For Clunkers program.

Farewell Bertha:
(1999-2009)

With Bertha, I remember:
-getting into the driver's seat the very first time in the parking lot of the school that my dad works at in order to practice driving. We went really slowly and only turned the wheel about 4 times before my first driving lesson was over.
-going over to the north side of town the day before my driving test with Chad and practicing parallel parking for over 2 hours
-going 360 on the way to the mall last winter on one of the busiest roads in my town. It was icy and I was unbelievably lucky that my guardian angels were working overtime that night.
-listening to John Tesh (reluctantly, I might add-does anyone else out there hate listening to JT?) at night since Bertha didn't have any sort of tape deck/cd player. (Seriously, we only had the radio in this van.)
-gripping the steering wheel driving home from school last winter in the worst storm of the season (I don't even live that far from school, but I was bawling by the time I safely put the van in the garage. I remember my dad unloading groceries from the truck and I got out of the van, crying, and he just came over, put on his Superhero cape and gave me a hug and said "I know it's scary driving through that. It's okay.")
-blaring the radio whenever I heard Justin Timberlake's 'Sexy Back' or any other pop song that I liked (Admit it, you like some pop songs too...)
-the day after Thanksgiving, when I could finally turn the radio to 98.1 and sing along to Christmas songs while driving Bertha. My mom has always been firm that we won't have Christmas music on before Thanksgiving; there's always an opportunity to listen to it, before that though because 98.1 starts Christmas music in October.
-driving barefoot in the summer. (My feet get sweaty in those hot WI months.)
-drumming my hands on the steering wheel waiting for the green light.

Yes Bertha, you and I had some good times that I'll always remember. You were the first vehicle that I ever drove. I know that you had to be traded in for the younger, sleeker, gas mileage god Honda CR-V, but you're the best. (Not really because the CR-V that my parents bought is awesome . I'll be making memories with the (unnamed) Honda for the next -8 months, but you, Bertha, you were awesome.

with love

These beauties were waiting for me as I got into C's car on Friday night. I love these 4 flowers-they are so simple and he didn't get this big, overdone arrangement. He knows that I want to walk down the aisle while holding orange and pink gerber daisies, so he went to the supermarket and handpicked 4 gorgeous flowers for me. We haven't had a lot of time to spend together ever since school and working at night started so he wanted to show me a little love.

{And as you can see, these beauties are now my banner!}

Wedded Bliss: Reception Decor

(Note: As you can see, I started this post a couple weeks ago. I've been so busy with school that I'm just finishing it now-enjoy!)
I discovered something today: I like talking about my wedding plans. Today was the first day of school after Labor Day for me and so many people that I hadn't seen in a long time wanted to know about what I was doing for the wedding. That made me think of my lovely blog readers who might be interested in knowing a little more as well. Thus, I give you, The Reception Decorations.

1. Paper Lanterns
Our reception venue is big and beautiful. It has a high slanted ceiling that, although is gorgeous, needs a little something from us. It's so high that we'd like to lower it a little in order to make it more cozy and give it a romantic feeling. Our thought is to hang paper lanterns throughout the entire room. We're going to need a lot. Our colors (pink and orange) will be used for the majority of the lanterns, but we'll also have some white in there. These pictures are our inspiration:




{all found at the knot-additional credit within the site)
Luckily, I've found a website that sells them and another place for even more inspiration. In addition to the paper lanterns, we will have strings of twinkly lights all around the perimeter of our venue (thank goodness, the Christmas season comes before our wedding-we'll be able to stock up on so much!)

2. Mason Jars
The next element that we'd like to feature at our wedding reception are mason jars. And, we don't want to just feature them, we want to stuff the reception with them. Ideally they will be used for everything that needs a holder; from the flower vases to the candle holders to the pen jar and more. We want to have them be a part of everything.




{1.cattales 2.apartment therapy 3.Once Wed 4. the knot}
*this is almost exactly what we want to do with the flowers

3. "Love is" Notes
When I saw this post over at Once Wed, I immediately put it in my 'must-do' virtual wedding file. They had such a wonderful idea and instead of putting the notes on clothesline, we will probably find a glass jar (big surprise) and set everything on a table.


4. Husband and Wife Silhouettes
For the head table, we'd like to have 4x6 or 5x7 framed silhouettes of our profiles right in front of where we are sitting. Thankfully, the unbelievable Marta once showed us the simple way to make a silhouette. I also saw another way to make them from Norma.


{second photo found here}

5. Ancestors Wedding Pictures
We are also tracking down the wedding pictures of all our ancestors, as many as we can find. We are hoping to display them in frames on some of the tables with a note saying who is in the picture and how they are related to us.

6. Our Favorite Lyrics
We also plan on putting some of our favorite lyrics on some of the jars that we will tie on with ribbon. We spent a couple nights this month scrolling through both our iTunes and thinking back to the early days when C used to make me mixed cds. Planning and writing all those lyrics down was so wonderful because it was all about us and how much we've grown as a couple. That was by far the best time I've had doing something for the wedding. It was us, thinking about committing ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives and trying to incorporate as much of ourselves into our wedding.

That's about all we have planned right now. I've really been trying to think about things other than the wedding. If I don't-I become way too overwhelmed with the planning process. So for now, since we have roughly 8 months until the wedding, I'm just organizing the day. I'm not thinking too hard about the details (and when I slip up I simply think to myself "I have plenty of time to decide that".)

I'm excited:)

Music Purchase: recent

Want to know what I've been putting on my iPod recently?

Mat Kearney: City of Black and White
(I bought this album because we went to see Keane in concert and Mat was one of the openers. It's awesome music to listen while walking to school.)



Dark was the Night: A Red Hot Compilation
I heard about this album from C a couple months ago and surprisingly found that my co-worker had a copy of the album. After listening to it for about 3 weeks straight whenever I was at work, I figured I'd by my own copy. It has some of my favorite artists-The Decemberists, Feist, Ben Gibbard, Iron and Wine, Sufjan Stevens and of course, our city celebrity, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver.


Coconut Records: Davy
I stumbled upon Davy through work again. Although it's a short album (only 10 songs) it's very sweet. The first song 'Microphone' is adorable.


Camera Obscura: My Maudlin Career
This is another band that C got me hooked on. This album is so sad. There's a song called 'James' that these lyrics- "Oh can't you see that you belong with me?...Oh James, you broke me, I thought I knew you well."
Isn't that just heart-breaking?! These song lyrics are unbelievable.


The Daredevil Christopher Wright: In Deference to a Broken Back
My sister has known these boys for 5+ years and was always playing their music. I totally support them since they're another local band and I always find myself listening to this album when I'm driving the car.


Ray LaMontagne: Gossip in the Grain
When I was scouring his website, I saw that he's going to be in Minneapolis on November 13th...unfortunately, it's sold out. Although, we'll feel like we're at his concert when we are at our reception since we could play all of this album and be perfectly content.


Feist: The Reminder
I bought this album right before we went on vacation and I haven't gotten tired of it yet. It is purely wonderful.

Do you have any music recommendations to share?

playin'

Like I said before, little Uj ain't so little anymore. Last time everyone came over to visit, my sister brought along his new favorite toy. She got it through an amazing deal of sales and gift cards and he loves it! He loves looking at himself in the mirror, turning his head to see all the different toys around him (and then proceeding to put them in his mouth), kicking the pad that plays a little tune every time; it was clearly a good purchase.

9.9.9

In honor of all the attention 9-9-09 got yesterday, I will give you 9 pictures that I've taken that I adore. (I would have posted this yesterday on the actual 9-9-09 date, but I didn't. I was too tired from the last couple of days that I actually had to force myself to roll over and turn off my bedside lamp at the end of the night...I'm not kidding.)
So, while people were lining up in Vegas chapels to get hitched, I was complying some of my favorite shots that I've taken:

*Taken in August 2007 when we visited Seattle. Have I mentioned that I love taking pictures of skylines? (The different buildings and shapes and sizes...I'm in love.)


*My family walking around Boston Common in 2006 (I think it was 2006-Laura?). I love this picture because it's my family doing what we do best on vacation-looking like major tourists, while I hover around like their own personal paparazzi.


*C and A on my Banquet Day in 2006. (Banquet was my school's version of prom, just without the dancing.) We were only 9 months strong when this picture was taken-don't we look like babies?!


*Okay. I know this picture might seem odd to have in my favorites but let me explain. This was in San Francisco when we toured Alcatraz Island on our last day of the trip. The island was named Alcatraz because it means "the island of pelicans" in Spanish, and the island holds true to its name. There are seagulls everywhere. This image, in my opinion, captures Alcatraz. Not only do you have the seagull sitting in (probably not its own) crap on a broken-down rock, but you can see the city of San Francisco in the distance-something that the prisoners longed for (wouldn't you?).


*On the same vacation that we went to Boston, we also went to Rochester, NY and toured the George Eastman House. Good ol' George pretty much invented Kodak, an invention that I'm forever thankful for. How else would I have been able to capture his stone fence in the front yard? Thanks, buddy.


*C in Missouri this past May when we went down there to visit his aunt's family. This picture sums up our time there-relaxed. beautiful. lots of fishing in their pond. quiet.


*6.26. The day we promised to become man and wife.


*Little tiny baby UJ 4 months ago. This was taken by Chad at my sister's house when UJ was less than a week old. You should see him now-huge (and still totally swooned over by this aunt.)


*A secret bench overlooking Half Moon Lake (I'm not going to tell you where it is because then it wouldn't be a secret.) C and I went fishing close to this spot and I just imagined how romantic it would be to sit there with my fella looking at the beauty surrounding us.

The nine are over. Thanks for veiwing!

P.S. Saying 9 9 9 over and over really fast reminds me of the movie that I just saw last Sunday. (There's a scene in the movie when Hitler says it.) Has anyone else seen it? It's a movie that I know my sister and her hubbie would see-they likey the Tarantino films. I won't spoil the movie for you with a review-just go see it if it's something up your alley. And if it's not up your alley, too bad. You might just have to see it with your man (who wants to, trust me).

*friday love* vintage fashion

The thing you have to understand about me is that I am the most simple dresser that has ever walked the planet (okay, that's probably an overstatement). Take for instance the outfit that I have on right now: a plain white tee 'borrowed' from Chad's dresser, a pair of red warm-up pants that I've had since 8th grade (yeah, that's about 10 years ago), and a pair of flip-flops. Pretty simple if I do say so myself.

Even though, I dress simply, I love dreaming about how I would dress if I was from another time. I could imagine myself wearing one of those big poodle skirts of the '50s or a straight line sheath dress of the '60s. I don't know if it's all the musicals I've been watching lately or what, but I've been thinking about all this fashion a lot lately. So, today I scoured etsy and here are some goods I found:


1950's Vintage Ruby-Red and Metallic-Gold Sun Dress


1950's Avocado Raw Silk Dress


1980's Hot Pink Empire Dress


1970's Flutter Sleeve Maxi Dress


1970s Peach Lace Shirt dress

{Love these and so many more! Hunt around etsy-you won't be disappointed...}

*thursday love* handbags

Remember when you were younger and you were in the Christmas program or when you got dressed up on Easter Sunday? You'd have on your itchy pastel colored dress and would carry around a purse that your mom let you take with only if you promised not to play with it during the sermon. All you'd have in it would be 3 ripped up tissues, a Lip-smacker (not me though, my mom didn't let me carry that around) and the bulletin folded up several times.

I've been infatuated with handbags ever since that first one.

I'm always on the hunt for a good handbag, whether it be at the mall or at a garage sale. I, unfortunately, am a snob when it comes to handbags. I have to be the one that picks them out. I'm way too particular when it comes to the amount of pockets, the length of the strap, how deep it is, etc, etc. (See, I told you I was a handbag snob.)

I can't help hunting for them whether it be in the store or online. Old Navy is the mecca of clothing for me, so I found their sister store, Piperlime, to have a lot of great eye candy.




1./2./3.

What accessory has stolen your heart?

*wednesday love* blogging

It's hard to truly say how much I love doing this. Blogging. I was bit by the blogging bug in January and haven't recovered yet (nor do I think I will in the near future). I love it. I love coming up with ideas for posts and scouring the internet to find pictures and inspiring articles. I blog as a way to organize and document all the things that I like and to share with you feelings and thoughts that I have.

Where else can I find:

*beautiful weddings to inspire me daily
*pictures that I daily (sometimes several times a day) save via the Google Reader 'stars' {have you guys ever saved posts with this feature? It's a godsend.}
*my Hollywood gossip
*a place to go dream about my wardrobe and what I'm missing from my closet
*in my opinion, the most inspiring blog I have ever come across

Yes, it is hard work. It's hard to stay consistent and on top of my blog and not get overwhelmed with posting and feeling like it's something that I have to get done. It's hard not to feel like I have to be as good as the other blogs that are out there and feel like I can never match their level. But I blog for me and my enjoyment. I do still devour the comments that you leave me {devour them like a plate of potato salad made by my almost mom-in-law} and I will forever grateful for the fact that some of you care about what I write and think. It's such a rewarding experience and I'm so happy that I'm in this blogging community.

You are all the greatest.
I'm sending you all an imaginary Tootsie Pop. And Skittles. And Milk Duds. And puppy chow. And banana bread.

{It all sounds so good right now.}

XOXO-Me

season greeting

Today my parents and I went on a spur-of-the-moment outing, to Bushel and a Peck apple orchard. (Isn't that just such a quaint small town name?) We've never gone to the apple orchard this early in the year, but my parents had a hankering for some apples. Apparently, my dad knows the owner and we got the V.I.P. treatment; we got to pick apples from trees that usually no one gets to pick off of:) It was just such a perfect way to say hello to autumn.

How did you greet September?